“I-I am sorry,” mumbled Nupia, bowing again and again. “We are really just servants, my lady...”

“D-do you t-train servants to f-fight?” asked Cessilia, her eyes going to Yamino.

“Of course not!”

“Then they are not j-just servants,” she quietly said.

The triplets kept exchanging glances, visibly confused. Yassim was also trying to understand. Cessilia seemed so sure, but the triplets also seemed genuinely shocked, and the look of fear on their faces too... Still, the young woman was the War God’s daughter.

“How do you know, my lady?”

“The b-boy didn’t flinch when T-Tessa sent that knife, neither d-did Lupia,” she simply said.

Yassim was astonished. He glanced aside, but... indeed, it made complete sense. If the triplets had really been shocked, they would have very briefly lost their grip on the dishes they were holding. The knife had flown close to them and almost injured their older sister, so they should have been at least shocked. Some of the contents of that teacup held on the plate would have been spilled, and those grapes on top of the fruit bowl looked like they were just about to fall, yet still there. If she hadn’t said anything, Yassim wouldn’t even have noticed their lack of physical reaction, and been floored by their acting. They were both faking their surprise so perfectly, but Cessilia had been able to notice it. Not only that, but... she even could tell those two apart? Since they had left the room and returned together, Yassim just couldn’t tell which one was the boy or the girl, but Cessilia obviously had no doubt.

A shiver went down the old man’s spine. There was definitely more to that young woman than meets the eye.

Realizing they were discovered, the triplets exchanged glances, and immediately got down on their knees, apologizing together.

“Our apologies for deceiving this Princess! We were told to quietly and secretly watch over the Princess, we would never try to harm the Princess!”

“...Who sent you?” asked Tessa, who was playing with another knife already. “Don’t you lie, I’ll really cut your tongue if you do. I only need one of you to talk.”

“The King, my lady! It’s the truth!” quickly said Nupia.

As she was repeatedly bowing and hiding her face, Yassim had no idea how to tell if the triplets were telling the truth, but Tessa and Cessilia were visibly satisfied with that. Tessa glanced toward her cousin and put the knife down.

“K-King Ashen t-told you to p-protect me...?” repeated Cessilia.

This time, she wasn’t doubting the triplets, but there was surprise in her voice. Tessa frowned subtly too. What was going on there... The triplets nodded quietly again, visibly still afraid of the cousin’s dangerous knife-throwing ability.

“...I see.”

That was all Cessilia said, and no one dared to ask anything else. Instead, as she slowly stood up, they all did, and she put back on a gentle smile as if all of that hadn’t happened.

“Is it alright if we g-go now?” she asked Yamino.

“Of course, my lady! Nothing better than a little digestive walk, right?”

“You three are coming with us,” immediately said Tessa, glaring at the triplets.

All three immediately complied and cleared the table in record time while the girls took out their coats.

“Maybe we should wear something d-different?” suggested Cessilia.

She had probably noticed the difference in clothing from the rest of the nobles.

“There will be plenty of clothes in the market if you ladies want to buy something,” nodded Yassim. “They may not be as luxurious as the Dragon Empire’s fabric, but we have some of the best clothing shops of the Kingdom in the Capital.”

“Oh, for sure! Naptunie will happily take you, Princess Cessilia,” nodded Yamino. “My niece loves going downtown.”

Their little group soon got ready to leave the room, and Cessilia did notice how Nupia carefully closed the room behind them and walked back to her, handing her the key.

“From now on, Princess Cessilia, you are the only guest allowed in the Cerulean Room and the only one to decide who will be allowed in or not. The sentence for trespassing is death, my lady.”

Tessa scoffed.

“I hope you’ll remember to let me in, Cessi.”

The two cousins chuckled but did not mention anything about allowing the older Counselors in again. Instead, their little group walked out and back into the corridors. This time, Yamino was leading them, while the triplets followed behind. Cessilia was a bit excited to get out of this castle. She found this place a bit sad and stuffy; most of the corridors were bare and the atmosphere heavy anywhere they went. The few people they walked into quietly bowed to their group and disappeared, out of the way. Either the news of an Imperial Princess coming had quickly spread throughout the place, or those people knew they should stay away from the guests; no one talked to them.

“My niece should be in the library,” said Yamino as they arrived at a lower floor. “She is a clever girl and loves reading, she is a bit of an indoor flower, you see.”

“I know someone like that,” said Tessa, smiling at her cousin.

Cessilia smiled back. Perhaps Naptunie could become a good friend indeed... Plus, now that he had mentioned it, she was a bit curious to discover that library. Cessilia had read almost every book she could find in all three of the palaces she lived in, and her grandmother even gifted her several books for each of her birthdays, just so she could have something new to read. In fact, in the Dragon Empire, it was rumored that the Princess’ love for books had multiplied the circulation of books within the Empire and inspired more of the youth to read, as she and her mother regularly donated books to the schools, orphanages, and charities.

However, Cessilia found herself a bit disappointed when they entered the library.

The room wasn’t as big as she had hoped, nor filled with books. In fact, some of the shelves were half-empty and seemed too large for their contents. The old oak wood seemed about to crumble, and the colored leather of some books was standing out too much among the decrepit ones. Seeing the disappointment in the Princess’ eyes, Yassim stepped forward, a bit apologetic.

“Because of the recent war, a lot of the books are now in the people’s private properties rather than in the castle’s library... They became extremely rare and valuable due to many of them getting burned too, so it has become harder to replenish these shelves. They were once filled with dozens of amazing books, my lady. All of the Counselors have been trying to bring more books back, but...”

“There are too many thieves,” sighed Yamino. “Because the books are so valuable, some are getting stolen every week, despite His Majesty putting some guards here.”

“Th-that’s sad...” muttered Cessilia.

Slowly, she stepped into the library first, her green eyes going to the shelves without touching any of those books. This place felt... forsaken. It was as if a few people had tried to take care of it, then abandoned it. There was dust on the shelves, and only the books with the prettiest covers seemed to be properly taken care of. The oldest, ugliest ones had their back covers falling apart and were piling up dust. Cessilia’s eyes were reading one title after another, most of them completely unknown to her. She was still very curious to read each of these books, but her heart was pained when she witnessed their poor state. She grabbed one of the very old books.

“Anyone c-can take a b-book here?”

“Anyone, Princess.”

The voice had come from the other side of the shelf. Cessilia’s green eyes looked in between the books, and sure enough, a pair of dark eyes appeared, with a smile on those red lips.

Jisel was staring at her from the other side, her eyes smiling.

“We meet again, Princess. What a coincidence...”

“...Lad-dy Jisel,” simply said Cessilia.

“I’m flattered you already remember my name, Princess Cessilia of the Dragon Empire.”

She slowly stepped to the side, her red dress floating around her. She was even prettier up close, but not strikingly beautiful. Jisel had a pointy chin, a long nose, and thin eyebrows, and her long, red hair was flowing elegantly over her bare shoulders, showing her collarbones and silver earrings.

“...You were right, Counselor,” scoffed Tessa. “They really let anyone in here...”

“Oh, women are welcome to instruct themselves as well,” said Jisel, “...even the whores.”