Followed

While Princess Amelia was making her plan to secure the throne, her friend, Lady Miria Evans was tasked to handle another affair.

Ever since early morning, Miria has been spending her time around the city, as per the Princess's instruction. At this time, she was walking around the market leisurely.

She stopped at the nearest shop and picked up an apple.

Her eyes were on the apples as if she was checking for their quality while in truth, she was observing her surroundings.

From the corners of her eyes, Miria could see two kids, chasing each other happily. Then in another corner, a man leaned on the wall unsteadily with a flask in his hand.

At the first glance, one would assume that this person is a drunkard with the way he acted, however, Miria knew better that the man was not merely a drunkard.

After observing her surroundings for a while, Miria put the apple back on its box. Then, she moved to another stall and did the same thing all over again.

From the corner of her eyes, Miria noticed that the man continued to observe her. Whenever she went to another stall, the man would follow her around with slow, staggering steps.

After a while, Miria decided to stop at another stall and purchased two boxes of berries. As the merchant was packing her stuff, Miria took the chance to get a proper look at the man. Her eyes darkened upon noticing that the drunkard was the same man who has been following her for a few days.

"Lady Evans," Jurin, her most trusted guards, whispered. "Should I confront that man? It has been days and he is still here."

Miria shook her head quietly. Her lips curled into a faint smile. "No. Let's play pretend that we have not noticed him for a while longer. If he knew that we have seen him, then, they will send another man to trail after us. It would be troublesome for us to look at our surroundings again. Moreover... The princess's enemy might be suspicious of us when we're too cautious. It's not wise to raise an alarm towards our enemy."

"My lady is wise." Jurin nodded. She helped to carry the box of berries and followed her master to a village. "My lady," she whispered. "Her Highness should be planning to meet with His Majesty soon. Should I contact the others and prepare something for us to escape from the spies?"

Miria pondered at her guard's suggestion and shook her head. "No. That's too dangerous. We still haven't figure out how many spies they have sent to monitor our movement."

At this time, she had only noticed that there were at least two men, spying on her movement. However, the ministers might send more than two men to monitor them.

"But, My Lady, the meeting is at midnight," Jurin whispered. Her expression turned anxious.

"I know that." Miria frowned. "But we cannot take a chance and risk of exposing His Majesty. We just have to think of something else."

The two stopped their conversation as they entered the village in the slum. When they arrived at the area, Princess Amelia's maidservant, Rae, was with one of the Knights, called Kain.

At this time, Rae was chopping some carrots along with the others, while Kain helped to stir the porridge in the big pot. As the Princess was could no longer participate in this weekly activity, both Rae and Kain were asked to accompany Miria to feed the villagers.

"Young Miss!" A small girl was seen running over to Miria. Her clothing might be a little dirty, but the smile on her face was bright. The little girl peeked behind Miria and the smile on her face disappeared when she could not find the person she was looking for. "Where's your friend? Didn't she come with you today?"

Miria knew that the girl was referring to the Princess. Princess Amelia loved the children, and the kids loved her the same. The last time the Princess had come over to this village, she had played around with the children happily.

A soft sigh escaped her and Miria crouched down so that she was on eye level with the little girl. "My friend can't make it to see you guys this time. She has something important to deal with."

The small girl pulled a face. She glanced towards her group of friends, and they too had unhappy looks on their faces.

Seeing their faces, Miria was a little hesitant. "But if you have a message for my friend, I'll be happy to pass it to her."

The small girl pondered for a moment. Then, a smile returned to her face. The little girl ran to the small shack behind her and retrieved a folded paper with smudges of dirt at the corner of it. She handed the folded paper to Miria and smiled. "Can you give this to the nice lady?"

Miria took the paper from the girl. "I'll make sure to deliver this to my friend." Her hand stretched up to pat at the little girl's hair. "Little girl, what's your name?"

"It's Eri."

"I'll make sure my friend will get this letter, Eri." Miria held on to the little girl's hand and smiled. "I brought some berries with me. Would you like to share them with the others?"

The little girl's face brightened up. They have never tasted berries before as they were quite expensive. Seeing that the kids were a little excited, Miria gave a signal to Jurin and asked her to distribute the berries to the villagers.

Then, Miria went to check up on the village.

As she walked past the Princess's Knight, Kain nodded towards her as a form of greeting.

From the corner of her eyes, Miria saw that the drunkard was still following her in a distance. Suddenly, Miria turned to Kain and wondered if the man noticed the drunkard as well.

Kain was, after all, the Prince's guard and trusted man. It would be impossible if he did not notice that there was someone suspicious hanging around the village.

A while later, Kain passed the large wooden spoon to the others before he went over to Miria.

"Lady Evans," Kain greeted. His voice was low as he was afraid that others might overhear their conversation. "I don't mean to alarm you, but it seems that you have a few admirers trailing after you."