Your name is Thea

On one side, huge money and a helpless teenager standing before him for the help, and on the other side, there is a high risk of getting caught and attaining a bounty on his head. If she were not the princess, smuggling her into the Academy would be an easy task. But Eliora, here, is a high profile target.

Not only will there be Raiders but there will also be bounty hunters looking for her. The portal point to the academy is also far away.

After much consideration, Agastya took a deep breath and nodded. "Alright."

Priestess Isabella took a step back, her golden eyes sharp with urgency. "I will create a distraction," she said, her voice leaving no room for argument. "It should buy you a few hours before the Raiders catch wind of your movements. That time will be crucial."

Agastya leaned against the counter, arms crossed, watching her carefully. "And what exactly do you plan to do?"

Isabella pulled her hood back up, her form already shifting with the light energy radiating around her. "I will lead them elsewhere—away from your path toward the sea of tranquility." She turned to Eliora, her expression softening. "From this moment on, you follow him. He will take you to the Celestial Academy. It is the only place where you will be safe."

"Priestess…" The young princess stiffened, gripping the edges of her cloak. Agastya noticed the hesitation in her silver-blue eyes—the conflict, the fear. It was understandable. She had gone from royalty to fugitive in the span of a single night.

"You can be assured," Isabella continued, placing a hand on Eliora's shoulder, "he will bring you to the safety."

Eliora bit her lip but finally nodded. Agastya, standing in the background, rolled his eyes, trying to exude confidence now that he already decided to take it.

"Alright, alright, enough of the dramatics," he said with a smirk. "I get it. Big responsibility. No need to make me sound like some noble hero—I'm just doing my job for the thing I got paid."

Isabella cast him a look, unimpressed. "Then do it well."

With that, she turned on her heel and left, vanishing into the night.

For a few moments, silence stretched between Agastya and Eliora. Then, with a sigh, he gestured toward the worn-out couch by the corner of the room.

"Please sit," he said.

Eliora hesitated before slowly walking over and lowering herself onto the couch. She kept her posture stiff, her hands folded neatly in her lap as though she were still seated in a palace.

Agastya sat across from her, resting an elbow on the table and propping his chin on his palm. "You hungry?"

Eliora shook her head. "I'm fine."

"Thirsty?"

"No."

Agastya studied her for a moment, then let out a small chuckle. "Princess, you do realize you're on the run, right? Sitting here all stiff like a noble at a tea party isn't exactly going to help."

Eliora frowned slightly but said nothing.

He stretched his arms and leaned back. "Anyway, we can't leave now. Any vehicle or personnel who move in the middle of the night, it will just look suspicious. If you want to survive, you need to blend in. And that means looking less like her highness, the celestial-blooded princess, and more like a regular girl from the slums."

Eliora's brows knitted together. "Change my looks?"

"Obviously." Agastya stood up, cracking his neck. Then, to her surprise, he reached into thin air—and pulled out a set of hair dye bottles, a compact mirror, and a worn-out set of clothes.

"Wha…" Eliora's eyes widened. "How—?"

She couldn't help but wonder whether it was spatial magic or the creation magic. Either of them is extremely rare.

Agastya smirked, leaving her in suspense without offering any explanation or so whatever. He set the items down in front of her. "Now, let's see how to make you not look like the most wanted girl in the empire."

Eliora glanced at the items before looking back up at him, uncertainty flickering in her gaze.

For the first time in her life, she was going to erase the identity she had carried since birth.

And there was no turning back. "Okay, please be gentle."

Eliora sat stiffly as Agastya moved behind her, scissors in hand. She heard the sharp snip of metal slicing through strands of hair, and she watched in the cracked mirror before her as golden locks fell around her shoulders and onto the floor.

A part of her wanted to flinch, but she remained still. What did it matter? Her long, flowing hair—once a mark of nobility and grace—was now nothing more than a liability. But that didn't mean she liked her new hair cut. If anything, she hated it. It looked absolutely disgusting. This grand image Agastya gave off earlier dimmed a lot.

"This should do," Agastya muttered, tilting his head as he examined his work. Her once waist-length blonde hair was now cut short, just barely reaching her chin. Messy, uneven, but effective.

Without another word, he pulled out a small container of black dye. Eliora caught her own reflection in the mirror and felt a strange detachment. "I already look different. But it's not enough, is it?"

She kept her thoughts to herself as Agastya ran his fingers through her hair, coating every golden strand with the dark liquid. By the time he was done, not a single trace of her original color remained.

Next, he handed her a small case. "Contact lenses. Put them on."

Eliora took the case and opened it. Two dark lenses lay inside. She slipped them in without complaint, blinking a few times as her blue eyes were swallowed by an abyssal black.

Agastya leaned in, inspecting her closely. "Hmm. Not bad. You could almost pass as an ordinary girl now."

He then tossed a set of clothes onto her lap. "Put these on."

Eliora picked up the garments and examined them. A loose, oversized shirt, a pair of shorts that seemed just a bit too big. They were old, slightly worn, but clean. However, the perfume still lingered on the dress. It was the Royal Jasmine-Tuberose fragrance. It gave off a regal, intoxicating scene that felt both elegant and seductive.

She glanced at Agastya, surprised. "These are… female clothes. And the perfume… I'm sure it belonged to Cloud."

Agastya smirked. "What, you thought I was going to hand you my spare tunics? I do have some common sense, Princess."

For a moment, she considered asking where he got them and whether he had any special relationship with its owner. But she swallowed the question. No… Now is not the time to ask unnecessary things.

She simply nodded and turned away, heading behind a makeshift divider in the room to change. The loose fabric draped awkwardly over her frame, the shorts slipping slightly on her thighs, but she tightened the drawstring to make it work.

When she stepped back out, Agastya gave her a once-over before nodding in approval. "Not bad. You look like a completely different person now."

Eliora turned to the mirror. Gone was the princess of Iberica.

What stared back at her was someone new.

"One last thing," Agastya said, stretching as he walked toward the door. "Your name is no longer Eliora Bat-El. From now on, you're Thea. No last name, no status, nothing. Just Thea. Got it?"

She hesitated. A name was more than just words. It was an identity, a history, a legacy.

So, if she wanted a new name, obviously, she wanted to pick her own. But, Thea seemed like a nice suggestion too.

She nodded. "Understood."

Agastya grinned. "Good. Now let's wait for the dawn, Thea."

With the first light of dawn breaking over Valencia Nova, they stepped out into the streets, vanishing into the waking city in a vehicle.