A Hard Way

From the hill above, Karium Maselli observed the lady he met who turned out to be the Princess of Avaria.

From the very beginning, she seemed so powerful, powerful enough to use some men to look for him in the capital, freely on top of that!

Why did the fact that she was a royal never crossed his mind?!

Well, it was not easy to guess.

Everyone said that the Princess of Avaria was an elegant, well-mannered, kind-hearted and well-sheltered Princess with unrivaled beauty. However, when he first met her, she was alone in the middle of a huge forest, practising her swordsmanship and... depressed.

The rumors surrounded her was such a joke! In reality, she was a wild and tough woman, sharp-tongued and... cruel too. Only the rumor about her beauty was true!

From the hill up in the left, Karium Maselli followed the Avarian Princess with his gaze never leaving her. He watched as she returned to the camp of the Avarian soldiers and entered a tent.

He already saw it for himself but... why did he still find it hard to accept? What was wrong with him?!

*

The moment Yara Amiel entered her tent, all her calm facade dropped in an instant. She abruptly sat on the chair and slammed the table with a darkened face. "The Welahans... who do they think they are?!" she growled as she clenched her fist.

No one had ever dared to stand her up like that!

General Zaria Movan instantly entered the tent. He knew the Princess quite well and the Yara Amiel he knew would never be able to stay calm after facing such a disrespectful situation, especially from the Welahans.

Just as the General expected, the Princess was struggling to keep herself in check even when he entered.

"I will try to find out what the problem they mentioned is, Your Highness. Please be patient for a while," he said to the Princess as he stood opposite her.

"Karium Maselli is even more daring than I thought," Yara Amiel grunted. "He called us to that place only to send his General and inform us that he cannot make it. Did he really think that he will be on top forever?"

"Please calm down, Your Highness," Zaria Movan patiently said. "Maybe they really have some problems. From all the rumors that I heard about him, I don't think the Prince of Welahan is the type to go back on his word."

Princess Yara maintained her silence, trying to calm down herself. Though she easily gets annoyed and offended, she wasn't the type to be blinded by anger, not anymore. She learned it in a hard way.

"It seems like I still won't be able to return soon," she finally muttered. Her face hinted at how she wasn't pleased by it.

"I will send a letter to His Majesty and inform him about this," General Zaria suggested to the Princess.

Yara Amiel gave a quick thought before she said, "I will do it myself. If not, my brother will be worried again."

"I understand. Please have some rest, Your Highness," the General promptly responded. Then he bowed and walked out of the tent.

After Zaria Movan left, the Princess hurriedly wrote a letter for her brother the King and ordered a soldier to deliver it to the palace in the capital.

* * *

Karium Maselli was sitting up in the hill, keeping an eye on the tent of the Avarian Princess. However, the Princess only came out once, briefly on top of that. So, he decided to return to the camp. By this time, the sun had almost set.

The moment he was back to the camp, General Cassius quickly ran towards him and... the Prince was well aware of his intention. They had stick together for too long.

"Your Highness, what happened?" the General promptly asked. As the Prince had no intention to halt his steps, he followed him a step behind. "Where were you the whole evening?"

Why was he acting so strange?! Just what did happened?

General Cassius was curious to death but... Prince Karium didn't say anything, much more like he can't!

Should he say that the Avarian Princess was the one they met in the Muric Forest and they even spent a day together? Not a chance!

Still maintaining his silence, the Prince walked inside his tent with General Cassius still following him. However, they both abruptly halted when they saw one young woman inside the tent.

They only saw the back of the woman as she was busy observing the things and maps in one corner but... maybe she sensed their presence. She quickly turned around.

Seeing the face of the woman, Karium Maselli let out a sigh and continued with his steps again. "Lena, what brings you here?" he asked and without even bothering to greet her, he took a seat on one of the chairs.

When General Cassius identified the guest of the Prince, he slightly bowed and walked out of the tent. It seemed like he had to hold back his curiosity once again.

The young woman named Lena Parish walked to Karium Maselli with a disappointed face. "I come all the way here, Karium. Will it hurt to greet me just once?"

Karium Maselli looked at his friend with his usual calm face. "Aren't you here for official purposes? Why else would you come here if it's not for your Commander's order?"

Standing opposite the Prince, Lena Parish let out a sigh. "Must you always be too smart, Your Highness? Do you know how boring it is?" she exclaimed and shook her head.

"If you're here to play around, then just return to your Commander," Karium Maselli simply said. He glanced up at his friend while maintaining a calm expression.

The young woman let out a sigh, feeling defeated. "Alright. I indeed come here in Commander Niklaus's order. He wants me to check if you need his help in anything," she bluntly said with displeasure written all over her face.

Finally, there was a little smile on the Prince's face when he saw his friend's expression. He had already predicted that would be her reason but... he loved to annoy her at times as she always started it.

"You won't change, Lena. You're still easy to provoke" he remarked as he shook his head with an amusing smile.....