Suspect

Princess Sapphire woke up the next day to her alarm. She shut it up but she wasn't one to sleep twice. Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes and brushed hair off her face regretting why she didn't have it in a bun or something before going to bed. She felt the bed stand. There was her laptop. Sapphire gave a small laugh. Honourable Avila knew better than to deny her for long. Her mind went through all the action that happened the day before. The prince's tale sounded... interesting. They had agreed to talk about it more today. With that thought, she leaped out of the bed.

A few hours later, she sat reclined on a couch in the room balcony and Honourable Clarissa Carter her personal attendant stood over her styling her hair. In addition to being her attendant, Clarissa Carter was a family friend and naturally, the two girls got along pretty well as she could be considered the closest person to the princess.

"Saffy, for crying out loud we're in the modern world! How is it that you still prefer these fairytale ball gowns!" Clarissa said failing to hide her disgust. For some reason, she always got away with calling the princess without any form of title. The princess frowned and Clarissa continued. "Now look, if you don't mind I could make you a nice velvet...."

"But it's more comfortable don't you think."

"Comfortable," Clarissa scoffed. "And so what? Does that mean you should go around the palace looking like cinderella's step sisters!"

"Hey! That's no way to joke around."

"Well I'm sorry but..."

"but nothing." Sapphire countered looking somewhat fierce. "After all, no one lets me run around in trousers either. And you'll be surprised what this... this...." The princess frowned deeply. "Well it does look a bit too bally... and cinderellyish, old fashioned...." She mused in a low voice.

"Exactly..." Clarissa stopped when the princess cast the a sharp look. "Sorry, you were talking to yourself." She muttered.

The princess ignored her and was about to continue when she stopped dead and glanced in the room.

"She's here again...." She said in a low voice.

"Who?"

"Shhhh!" Sapphire countered and clapped a hand over Clarissa's mouth. "The little scoundrel is here. And this time I'm going to catch her!" She whispered fiercely.

Clarissa glanced between the humble maid doing her job and the princess. But there was nothing suspicious about her, right?

"Well if you say so..." She whispered back adding the last hairpin on her hair.

The princess snorted. Of course, no one would believe her, this sly little maid had disguised to perfection but Sapphire was hard to fool. Even now as she watched her closely through the mirror, she saw the girl slip something under her apron and staring intensely at the walls. Then, perhaps realizing that she would soon get noticed, she took her brush and moved to dust the window.

"As you must have noticed," The princess began walking into the room. "Everything is absolutely tidy. If you're looking for extra job as an opportunity to snoop," Sapphire stopped a little in front of her and pointed calmly at the door. "I'm sorry but you won't find it here."

"Your highness..." The maid fumbled looking flustered.

"That's right, out you go."

The maid bent her head low gathering her tools and hurriedly left the room, looking back a couple of times.

"Honestly, is there any need for the act?" Sapphire muttered in distaste.

"Now that was quite rude!" Honourable Clarissa stepped into the room, disapproval etched on her face. "What would the governess say if she was to hear of it?" In her opinion, no one had the right to talk nasty just because they had authority. This was very unlike the princess.

"And what could she do?" The princess scoffed. "Honestly, it seems like I have to pull this rascal's mask off myself!"

"Even if you suspect her, open confrontation is not the best idea right? Even a fool would be on guard now."

Without bothering to reply, the princess slipped her hands through the shoulders of her gown, wriggled a little and her head popped in too. She parted a tent like door and crawled out in full ninja outfit. She dusted herself up and drew down the sleeve of her black turtle neck top which had styled silk black leggings to match and a pair of light footed boots. The princess smiled at Clarissa's open mouth.

"You didn't think I'll stay put in a gown all day did you?" She nodded at the ball like gown that was still standing. "I had to make my own transitions. Though I'm still working on it."

She grabbed a pair of knuckle dusters from her tool belt on which the dagger from the day before was still strapped on, donned a black hoodie and pulled on the hood professionally.

"Now if you would excuse me, I've got an intruder to catch." She slipped through the door and turned back with a sweetest of smiles. "Polite enough?"

Honourable Clarissa watched with her jaw dropped as the princess melted into the corners and out of sight. Then she shook her head vehemently and picked up the dress.

"Well that's a hell of a princess!" She humphed.

In the training room, the prince engaged the commander's son in a close quarter combat. It was just some minutes past five but Raphael had decided that he had a lot to catch up on the rest of the knights.

"The sun ain't even out yet." Frenzel complained with a convenient yarn before blocking a kick.

The prince glared at him knowing fully well that was a well calculated attempt to annoy him. He lashed out in a fierce combo but if Frenzel was sleepy, it didn't affect his performance.

"You should have picked a wea...." Frenzel stopped talking as the prince judo flipped him landing his back hard on the ground and drilled a punch into his chest.

"You were saying something?" He brushed some stray hair off his face innocently.

"Man take it easy would ya?"

The prince helped him up and dusted his robe. "That's one one. Ready for round three?" He asked with a light smirk. "Maybe with weapons this time." He suggested eager to try out his new spear in a real battle.

Frenzel narrowed his eyes. "As you wish prince." He said a bit subdued from his defeat. He wanted a clear victory with no need for a third round. if only I hadn't concentrated more on annoying him….

The prince took his newly found spear from the rack and spun it in his hands with a smile. "Enjoy."

Frenzel drew out his sword with a slight frown. That spear, he had seen it before in some ancient book. The serpent mark, he was sure it meant something. He was still trying to place it when the prince rushed towards him spinning the weapon dangerously and he had just enough time to block as the spear would have got him in the guts. The impact threw him off balance putting the prince at a great advantage.

Sword clashed with spear and this went on for minutes. It was like those video games when the player went to upgrade his weapon, Frenzel thought. He decided that if this went on for too long, he might actually loose.

"Let's end it..." He muttered executing a secret disarming technique that was riddled with feints. Without the Prince's spear in the way, the rest was easy. In a matter of seconds, he had him pinned to the ground with the tip of his sword on his chest.

"Sh*t." Raphael swore.

"You caused me a lot of trouble this time around."

"Well, get it off me."

Frenzel sheathed his sword and the prince stood up retrieving his spear.

"Nice right?" Raphael held it up, its diamonds glinting in the light.

"Sophisticated... deadly, and I could swear I've seen it in history book before. Let me have a look." Frenzel turned it in his hand. He couldn't still place it. He was never a fan of history books. The tips looked new and deadly sharp but yet there was something ancient about it. Enough to give him the hunch that this weapon had deep story behind it...and that story had not been funny.

"Here," He gave it back to him. "I suppose commander would let you use it. It definitely increases your chance of defeating me in the future."

Princess Sapphire had a lot of confidence in her stealth skills. The ninja outfit allowed her to blend perfectly in the shadows. The passage way wasn't as large as the one in the castle but it was wide enough to move without being seen and provided convenient amours to hide behind whenever her suspect looked behind. It wasn't in her nature to poke around other people's personal life...well, unless she really needed to prove a point and this was one of such times. She followed her all the way down to the first floor and was really starting to frown when the maid walked towards the servant quarters.

"Hmmm, maybe there's nothing to her after all." She thought in disappointment.

"It was the room in the right wing..."

Sapphire's ears stood on alert as the maid whispered to herself and immediately clicked on her phone's audio record and willed her to continue. But the maid walked on and was almost inside the servant quarters when she stopped with a frown and looked back. The princess docked behind a rose bush. Deep brown eyes scanned the area feeling certain someone had been there but as other of the workers passed by, she shook her head and gazed at the villa a last time.

"Unless of course, he meant the other right."