TO HAVE SOMEONE TO MATCH YOUR COMPETITION!

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The officer lead the way and the Princess followed.

He read out loud all the amenities inside the portico and the security arrangement as to how it was changed after the end of each day.

The gate was highly protected and guarded around the clock and after sunset, no more way out was allowed.

Ambrosia kept her ears and eyes open, strictly listening to the officer as they moved more inside.

It was refreshing to see how there was a part of the palatial property, extended and she had no idea about it.

The Queen had kept the kingdom safe so far because she was too good at hiding her secrets and how to protect them too at the same time.

"And this way, my Princess..."

The officer pointed his finger at a narrow channel, to her left, dark and concealed from the eyes of any newbie.

"It leads straight away to the safe passage through the kingdom forest up to the valley peak. "

He explained it to her and then walked forward, opening up the lead and she could see a hole, no light being reflected from it.

"It is in case of emergency for the guards.

The Queen has her safe passageway through the kingdom in the palace.

And this one is for the guards so that they could assemble in valley peak and plan out a contingency against the enemy once again. "

It made sense as to why there was a need for such a passage for the guards as it had been long estimated that the number of enemy troops would outcross theirs this time if the war were to happen, anytime in the future.

So protecting their troops in turn was a big necessity. She nodded at the Officer, thanking him for taking the time from his busy schedule to show her around.

The Officer was grateful to have gotten a chance to serve the Princess of the Palace.

But it was time that she had returned back to the palace before the time of supper, without making her mother suspicious about it.

She smiled back at the officer, put her clock back, she walked forward to move out. But saw the palace guards and Hamza, stationed by the entrance with her horse too.

The line of vampires had decreased and only a few were there by then. It was going to be sunset anytime by then.

"Princess!"

Hamza bowed down and Ambrosia rolled her eyes at him. She had a strong distaste for this warrior vampire.

He was one of the contendings and willful vampire warriors. When Ambrosia outed him from her personal troop for monster hunting, he went ahead and made his troop.

They had always competed. There was another reason for disliking him, not because he was always giving hard competition to the Princess or dared to go against her.

Hamza possessed the ability of Clairvoyance, which could able him to see places and visualize events that were happening elsewhere or someplace.

And he had made the wrong usage of it to get to his fame.

There was a time when they had gone hunting and on reaching the borders, the Princess was against leading her troop anywhere far from it.

They were chasing down a radioactive monster, that had escaped its way out from the gates of the Moribund lands, and before it could enter the Lands of Saunders, through the bordering Mirror forest, the Queen had demanded it to be slayed.

And the Princess was out with her troop, Hamza was a part of it back then. He had already known that the monster was hiding in the village of scavengers but to slay it on his own, he guided the troop and the Princess out of the border.

"I do not see the reason to go hunting for it if it had already run away to the hell hole."

The Princess restrained herself from leading her troop forward but Hamza was adamant that through his ability of Clairvoyance, he could see that if spared today, the monster would return with double its number.

And believing upon his words, the troops decided to follow in even though the Princess had no heart to do so.

Hamza claimed that if needed he would stay back and be ready to call more of their troops by riding back to the capital, reassuring the troops of its safety.

Going far away from the border, was never a good call. It was a pond of misfortunes and the Princess was not ready to risk the lives of her troops. They were pretty young too.

"I give you all my words that I will send help if anything were to go wrong."

And they had ridden forward, dwelling the Princess to have no option. These vampires were young and full of enthusiasm for exploring the beyond.

No wonder why she wanted to postpone the hunt till her old troops returned but it was upon the insistence of the Queen that she had to go ahead.

Midway, as expected, they faced a life-threatening obstacle when the land started to crack.

The Princess got off from her horse and she levitated up in the air when the others fell right in through the crack.

The land was dried up, barren, and uninhabited, no wonder that it started to crack the moment it was moved with the strong galloping of their horses.

The Princess tried her best to revert the undoing, trying to save as many as she could but it was a defeating case.

On calling out for Hamza to ride away and get help, there was no sign of him. Spending the entire day, giving away her everything to retrieve the ones hanging by but it was a losing case, sooner or later, they had given up and fallen straight inside.

When the Princess had returned back to the capital, she was welcomed with a hearty celebration and saw Hamza with the head of the monster on the capital pedestal.

"You see Ambrosia, there is someone in the kingdom matching your competition after all."

The Queen chuckled and even though everyone else had fun about it, Hamza could not smile, peeking at the Princess.

And she had burned down his right hand, screaming out and projecting her wrath at him, for misusing his ability to climb up the ladder of the frame.

She remembered it all and without a word, rode up her horse. He had no shame in flaunting his burnt hand to her.

No wonder there was no need for any spies when the Queen had Hamza. He could easily tell what was happening as she sat in the comfort of her throne.

It was for this reason that she needed to be more careful than ever to let them have no inkling about her upcoming move.