Sasha to Scarlett

Sasha's breath stilled, she shook her head slowly as she painstakingly tried to deny his words. It was easy to tell that she was lying.

"Hah! Don't lie to me! It's pretty obvious you guys are related!"

That seemed to have shaken her resolve, as Sasha looked at him strangely.

"How does that make me a princess?" She questioned.

"Hehe, I know he is the third prince!"

"How the fuck do you know that? He barely shows his face in public!" Sasha yelled trying to cover her identity.

"Heh! I just know! Details aren't important now!" Raymond raised his eyebrows at her. "Tell me, you're a princess right?"

This time Sasha felt the seriousness in his voice. She had a feeling their relationship would only worsen if she lied at this point.

'Urghh! Fuck it! I was going to introduce him to my father anyway!'

With a low shudder, Sasha nodded. Her heart shook with anxiety thinking about the consequences if her father found out about this.

"Sigh, I guess there is no point in hiding," Sasha said with a shake of her head and pressed her palms together.

"Release."

Her short red hair cascaded down, gracefully reaching her hips, and their fiery tresses turned into a crimson shade. Her lustrous strands came to life like a mythical phoenix and embraced her figure, giving her an enchanting allure.

Her previously soft features became more chiselled and refined, each line carved with an air of regality. Her eyes, framed by the vibrant tangle of red, sparkled with an intensified brilliance, reminiscent of smouldering rubies. High cheekbones accentuated her sculpted face, bestowing an aura of noble elegance upon her.

Raymond observed her majestic transformation with curious eyes. She was probably one of the most beautiful wome— wait what?

Raymond blinked his eyes a couple of times as his gaze went down to her chest. It was still the same old flat one.

"Cough!"

'Guess, everything about her wasn't an illusion!'

Raymond thought as he hid those strange trains of thoughts behind his fake cough.

'Don't go there! It's dangerous territory!'

A voice warned him from the corner of his mind. Strangely, the voice sounded a lot like his grandpa!

"As you can see, that was not my real appearance!" Sasha said having resigned herself to get a punishment from her father if he ever found out.

"I am the seventh princess of the FireBorn Empire!" Scarlett spoke in her regal voice which commanded the attention of everyone in her presence. "And my name is Scarlett Clara Phoenix, named after the colour of the evening sun when I was born."

"I see…" Raymond trailed off hearing her proud voice as she introduced herself. He really didn't know how to feel about this revelation. Should he be angry at her for hiding who she was? Wasn't he doing the same?

If anything, it was better if he didn't know her real identity. Whatever reason she had for disguising herself, he was better off not knowing them. Raymond had asked if she was a princess out of curiosity. He was hoping for her to deny his words so that he can use them as an excuse to keep his distance from her.

But she surprised him by revealing her identity. What was he supposed to do now? Should he tell her his real name and identity?

He was going to leave the Capital, no, the whole empire after the Phoenix festival. There was no point in telling her who he was. It was highly unlikely that they would meet again after he left.

Scarlett frowned at his lack of reaction. This was the first for her where someone wasn't awed by her presence, recalling his absurd powers, it really hit home how insignificant her presence must have been in front of him.

She was unaware of the myriad of thoughts running through his head. As such she believed her being a princess didn't hold that much importance to him.

After all, this man before her was capable of killing a level 9 beast with his bare hands, and not only that, just now he had defeated a Martial Emperor— who was in the same realm as her father.

Scarlett sucked in a cold breath of air. She had to put in some effort if she wanted him to value her presence. For the first time in her life, she found herself on the other end of the spectrum.

"Huh? Scarlett? Is that you, sister?" Her thoughts were put to a stop as her brother's voice rang out from below the tree. "I knew it was you from the moment I saw you! Haha, How can I not recognise my dear sister?"

Egon spoke with a forced smile on his face.

'Just great! I had to be rescued from her. Now she is going to rub it in my face.'

"Ahh! Third brother, don't exert yourself, you're still recovering!"

Scarlett said as she jumped down from the tree top and walked to her brother.

Raymond looked at Egon, to see if he would recognise him.

"Ok, ok, if you say so, sister." Egon nodded as he looked up at Raymond.

"Ohh! Sister, would you do me the favour of introducing this man who saved my life?"

'Looks like Lyla's pill did wonders on him!' Raymond heaved a sigh of relief and jumped down from the tree.

"No need, I will introduce myself." He said with a small smile. "My name is Ray, I work as a mercenary."

"Hmmm, I see, that's great," Egon spoke as he extended his hand toward Raymond. "I am Egon Phoenix, I am the third prince of this empire."

"Haha, I guessed as much from your resemblance to Sa—err Princess Scarlett! It's nice to meet you!" Raymond replied as he shook the offered hand.

"You're really strong, I am very impressed with your display of strength. How about joining the ranks of the Imperial Guards? That way you can have a more stable job, I will even put in a few good words for you to be promoted quickly." Egon said as he stroked his imaginary beard like a sage. "Consider it a repayment for saving my life."

Raymond's lips twitched in annoyance. "Haha, I will consider it." He managed to keep his temper in check. This guy was stingy as fuck, he didn't even acknowledge the life debt between them.

"Hah! What's there to consider? It is an honour to serve your empire as an Imperial Guard! It is the dream of millions of commoners." Egon said animatedly trying to bring him to his side. If he could have someone strong like this at his beck and call, he would never have to worry about getting kidnapped. "Think about it, I will ask for His Majesty to assign you as my Imperial Protector, that way you won't have much work to do!"

Egon appeared beside Raymond and whispered.

"I rarely leave my library to go outside! You will have an easy time being with me, I have plenty of books to keep you engaged for years! Don't you think it would be cool to get paid for doing nothing but reading and lazing around?"

Egon tried to entice him with an easy life, Raymond was even tempted for a second. But looking at Egon and imagining himself being ordered by this tight-ass made him give up on that idea.

"Ahem! Third Brother, why don't you sit down and take a rest? I still have some things to discuss with our friend here."

Scarlett spoke with a thin smile on her face. Egon had an eerie feeling his future wouldn't be smooth sailing if he went against her right now.

Nodding his head in understanding, Egon rested near the tree.

"Don't mind my brother. He usually doesn't talk that much. It must be his way of coping with the recent trauma!"

Scarlet tried to ease the awkwardness between them as she could tell Raymond was not at all happy with her brother's attitude.

"Alright! That's not important! Now that I have kept my word, it's about time you do the same, Princess." Raymond replied as they walked a few yards away from Egon.

"Huh? Why are you calling me a princess? You don't need to act all stiff, just call me Scarlett. It would be even better if you called me Sasha!"

Scarlett took out a sizable silken pouch from her spatial ring and handed it to Raymond.

"Uh, okay, Sasha. How many coins are in this pouch? Is it 15000 gold coins?"

"Huh? Why would it be 15000?" Sasha asked with confusion.

"Eh? You promised to give me 5000 extra for taking this mission."

"Really? I remember telling you to give you 5000, only if you couldn't find my brother."

"Haha! You must have forgotten because of everything that happened! You said you would give me 5000 for trying to find your brother plus the reward money if I did find him. So, doesn't that make it 15000?"

Raymond tried to bullshit his way to some extra money. It seemed to have worked as Scarlett took out another pouch and handed it to him dumbly.

"Nice! I knew you would keep your word!" Raymond happily put both of the pouches in his pendant. "Sigh~ it's already too late, we should head back."

With that, Raymond accompanied them till they were inside the safe walls of the Capital and ran towards the inn.

Scarlett had already changed into her mercenary disguise and had done the same for Egon, so as to avoid leaking the matter of a prince being kidnapped.

"Sister, I know who my kidnapper was!" Egon spoke in a sombre voice once Raymond went far away from them.

"Really, brother?" Scarlett asked with a furious voice. "Who was it?"

"It was Tim!"

Scarlett's eyes widened in shock. Did she hear it properly?

"Care to repeat that, brother? I thought I heard Tim's name!"

"Hah! You didn't hear it wrong! It really was Tim, one of the Imperial Guardians!"

"Well, shit!"

*******

-Creak!

Raymond opened the door to his room slowly to avoid making a noise but the bloody door creaked like someone was strangling a chicken.

"Ahh, master! You're back!" Jasmine said from where she was sitting beside Lyla's still sleeping figure.

"Silly girl! Were you waiting for me?" Raymond shook his head at her. "You should have slept already."

"Hehe, it's okay. I wanted to help you wash." Jasmine smiled sweetly as she led him towards the bathroom.

"How is Lyla? Is she okay?"

"Yeah, she is just sleeping."

Raymond nodded as Jasmine helped him undress and started pouring hot water for him.

"I found out something crazy today!" Raymond said as he felt her soft hands massaging his back. "You know that Sasha from the guild?"

"Mmmm. What about her?"

"Turns out she is actually under a disguise! Sasha isn't her real name either!"

"W-what?"

"Yeah, it gets even crazier! Her real name is Scarlett Phoenix!"

-Crack!

Something broke inside Jasmine as she heard that name.

"W-what did you do after knowing her name?" She asked, barely controlling the furious scowl on her face.

"Sigh~ what else? I just made small talk with her and quickly parted ways with her." Raymond replied casually.

"Master? Don't you know who Scarlett Phoenix is?"

"I know who she is! She is the seventh princess. I even heard it from her directly!"

"Do you REALLY know who she is?" Jasmine shouted in his ears trying to assert how important this matter was.

"Urghh! Why are you shouting like that? I told you already I know who she is! Stop acting like she killed your pet cat and massage my legs." Raymond said as he remembered that shadow figure. "I stepped on a little shit today, I need to wash my legs properly."

A beautiful smile blossomed on Jasmine's face upon hearing his answer. She knelt by his legs as he sat on a stool and started kneading his shin.

"Of course, Master! I will give extra care to massage your legs~"