“Lance, raise your head. You and I are friends first and foremost, so I would save you no matter what. Second, your father has also entrusted me with your safety, so even if I hated you, I still would have saved you. But for assassins to be able to get into the castle so easily…. We need to hurry to the King.” I was worried for the King’s safety. While I know he has many strong people around him, but by the fact that an assassin was able to make their way to the entrance where only royalty was able to enter through goes to show that this was definitely an inside job.

“You are right. Faith, can I ask you to help this man’s arm and.…”

“Your Highness, he has already passed….” The knight that was holding the assassin on the ground frothed at the mouth, and his eyes had rolled up into his head.

“Damn!” Lance cursed. Something he does not do very often. “Bring him with us. I want his body searched for any clues as to what organization he works for or who may have hired him. Also, lock down the castle! No one is allowed in or to leave.”-.

“By your word, Your Highness!” The night replied before turning and giving out orders to the other knights.

“Faith, how did you know he was going to harm Brother?” Adel asked.

“The way he looked as he bowed when being yelled at by Lance. When he knelt down, he showed signs of reluctance, and instead of admitting to his wrongs as a normal knight would, he went to question Lance instead and even raised his head. That was why I reacted as I did. But Adel…. I will say this once.” I reached out, balled up my fist, and bonked Adel on the head with it. “If you ever leave a barrier I set up around you again, I will force you to eat all the green habbagins in the capital.”

“What, no! Not those! They are sour and disgusting! Faith, I’m sorry! I just…. When I saw you get stabbed, I panicked and wanted to race to your side.” Adel had tears in her eyes as she spoke, which made me feel slightly bad, but I had to stay firm on this. Whether she was worried about me or not, that barrier was there to protect her. If there was more than one assassin, she could have died.

“Even so!” I turned and looked her seriously in the eye. “Even if you were worried about me, never leave the barrier! That was a foolish thing. What if there were more assassins and the first was just a decoy? What then!? What if you got killed while I was saving Lance!? Do you really wish for me to live with that!?”

I know my words are harsh, but I have no choice. This is something that must be said. She had to understand that she has a whole kingdom on her shoulder. She is a princess who is very well loved by her people. Lance is also the next King who upholds the ideals of his father when it comes to demi humans. Even if I was seriously hurt just now, it would have been fine because I am a dragon. With my current stats, even a stab to the heart wouldn’t kill me.

“I’m sorry….” Adel lowered her head, tears rolling down her cheeks.“Faith, That’s enough. I think she understands.” Lance spoke up, stopping me from continuing.

I took a deep breath and placed my hand on Adel’s head. “As you worry for me, I worry for you. In a world where my kind is disliked, I have made friends with an incredible person who befriended me without discriminating against me. I do not wish to see you get hurt. Sorry for yelling at you.”

“Noo…. It’s me who should say sorry. ” Adel shook her head as she wiped her tears. “You do not need to apologize. I was at fault. I should have more faith in my bestfriend.”

“We were both wrong. Because I know you care about my safety as well. I should have been easier with my words.” Life is hard sometimes. When you want to protect someone, and at the same time, they wish to protect you. I, for one, should have been more vigilant. But I was not.

“Let’s go see father.” Lance spoke up, cutting the silence that had filled the air. Both Adel and I nodded and made our way to King Gravos.

—

“I see…. I will have my people look into it. It seems it has come time to really do some house cleaning. If nobles think they can do as they please within my kingdom, then they have another thing coming to them.” I could tell King Gravos was doing his best to keep calm. We were currently in the throne room with a few nobles along with the Prime Minister, whose name was Pholin Segri. To be honest, he was someone who did not give off good vibes.

“Your Majesty, I will make sure this incident has been thoroughly looked into. So please leave the investigation to me.” The Prime Minister stepped forward.

“Pholin? Alright, you can do the investigati….” I for some reason could not stop myself as I stepped forward and said: “I object!”

Just call it a hunch but the feeling this prime minister gave me did not sit well with me. It was as if he did not want anyone to touch the case. But I guess my interjection was not welcomed because I soon heard the prime minister yell out: “Insolence! Who gave you the right to speak when the King is speaking!?”

“Who?” I tilted my head to the side and whispered: “Bell….”

“Faith you called!?” A little figure suddenly flew out of my hair and hovered in front of me with a sweet smile on her face. She looked very cute but at the same time the prime minister seemed to be sweating.