Chapter 26

Arya, dressed in a green robe, made several books fly off the shelves. They jumped off the shelf and flew over to Arya's bed.

"It was nice of Ezzy to install bookshelves and a mini library for me in my new room."

Arya's attention turned to a heavy and thick book on her bedside table. It was the book of myths and legends that Baron Pax gave her.

She focused on it and it slowly lifted itself into the air inch by inch until it floated off the table and floated over to her. It dropped like a rock onto her bed and Arya sighed.

Heavier and bigger objects were always a pain in the ass for her to move and control.

She had been working on it and she was able to move about 70 pounds now after weeks of grueling training that was meant to hone their ability.

A teacup or book were easy.

Chairs and swords? Also no problem for her.

A statue or tree? That took some effort but was manageable.

She was getting stronger everyday now.

She indulged in a smile and looked through the books she randomly selected.

Romeo and Juliana: A tale of a Forbidden love of a slave and a princess

A Midwinter Dream 

The Queen of the Seas

Rise of the Mercenary King

You could really learn a lot just by paying close attention to your surroundings.

Speaking of which, Ezekiel seemed to be having feelings for Myna or was it just her imagination?

She swore she saw him blush when Myna handed him his plate of cookies and their fingers touched.

Myna was pretty and gorgeous, that was for sure, but she was the "plain and simple" kind of pretty you really don't notice unless you looked really carefully for it.

Maybe Myna…No, Arya snapped out of that thought.

Even if Myna was a noble-or ex-lady more exactly-she wasn't in any way suitable for marriage with a Crown Prince. Besides, Myna expressed zero interest in dating or boys so far and she seemed happy to be single and unmarried.

Arya picked up "Rise of the Mercenary King" and opened up the book.It looked promising.

Nothing like a good book to relax and unwind.

She cracked open the book to the prologue.

This is the story of how a young mercenary warrior became a king.

He was just a…

Arya got absorbed in the story and she didn't even notice it was dark outside until Myna burst into her room and started to busy herself with picking out a dress for Arya.

Arya was almost half-way through the story now and she saw it was dark outside her bedroom window.

She was starving too.

Times sure fly when you're caught up in an amazing and action-focused story.

"Hello, princess. I'm here to get you ready for your dinner with Prince Ezekiel. He wishes to eat with you alone."

"Me?"

"Yes, you.". Myna pulled out a blue silk gown and a pastel pink and green gown trimmed with pink ribbon and white lace out of her closest.

Arya sighed.

Dress up time again.

….

Arya allowed herself to be put into a pastel pink gown.

She sat down with a book to read while Myna did her hair.

"Rise of a Mercenary King" was really good. The main character was an orphan-turned-mercenary by the name of "Jacob" 

Catalina and Elijah weren't really around anymore as they were busy with their royal guard duties. Baron Pax was back at his job as a Royal Academy Professor and Ezekiel was well…doing Crown Prince stuff.

Myna was really the only person she had these days and she was like an older sister or mother to Arya than a friend.

But even now she is busy with her maid duties these days. Being a personal servant didn't exclude you from having to do the cleaning, cooking, wash, dust, etc that other servants did.

Myna shook her head before turning her attention to a small box of hair accessories.

"Butterfly or flower…which one do you like better?"

In Myna's left hand was a small butterfly hairpin made of gold and diamonds. The veins of the butterfly's wings were lined with gold and diamonds filled up the empty spaces.

A small rose hair pin made from pink diamonds, emeralds and silver. The rose was made from pink diamond, the leaves from emeralds and the stem from silver.

Arya shook her head.

Myna put the two back and pulled out a blue hair bow.

"Aha!! This will look nice with your dress, princess!!"

Myna pinned the bow to the back of Arya's hair.

"It looks lovely on you, princess. I think your hair has gotten much longer now."

Arya nodded.

She saw her hair growing out over the months and now it was half-way down her back down in loose waves. 

"I can finally get to style your hair now. I like a braid, that would look nice or maybe we should leave your hair loose so that everyone can admire your beautiful locks of hair?"

Arya just smiled. Lovable and sweet Myna.

She got up.

"Let's go see Ezzy."

….

Catalina was patrolling the halls of a rather isolated area of the palace.Torches lining the wall lit up the dark hallways.

Royal guard duties consisted of patrols these days. An increase ever since the king was killed.

His death was covered up and kept hidden from the public.

The assassin was never caught.

Catalina's senses were alert and focused.

Even here, she could still be ambushed.

She stopped suddenly.

She sensed the presence of two people.

 Catalina heard someone talking. 

Well. Two voices talking to be more exact.

One was a low and deep male voice and the other was a soft but harsh female voice.

Something about those voices sent shivers running down Catalina's spine. They were definitely human but something seemed off about them. Like something pretending to be human. It sounded too fake and hollow like a mask.

They seemed to be exchanging greetings and the female voice was telling something to the male voice.

"...Yes, Yes…I succeed, my lord master. I found a piece of your mana core!"

"As expected of my favorite servant, you never fail to exceed my expectations, Kakia. Come back as quickly as possible. The pieces are falling into place now and we will rise again."

Catalina was frozen in place in shock. Was she the assassin who almost killed the crown prince and was responsible for the king's death? What were they even talking about?

"Hello, sweetheart, what are you doing here?"

The same female voice suddenly came right behind her and Catalina felt someone breathing down her neck.