The next second, she jumped out. Ashen’s heart dropped, but right after, he heard the familiar flap of the wings of a dragon. So her father’s dragon hadn’t left after all... He didn’t know how to feel about that. Eventually, a smile appeared on his lips, and he had to hide it with his hand when the servants walked in.

The bold Princess hadn’t changed much, after all...

Cessilia landed effortlessly on Krai, but it did remind her that her body was indeed still healing from the previous night. Maybe Ashen wasn’t wrong about waiting a little... She grimaced a bit, and adjusted her position on the dragon’s back, patting its neck.

“Krai, you’re g-going to have t-to learn t-to give me some p-personal space now... I need t-to have a life without-t you watching me all the t-time.”

The dragon growled a bit, unhappy with the idea. Krai flew off quietly around the castle, taking Cessilia farther away, over the sea. Since the downpour from the previous night had passed, the waves seemed a bit calmer, letting her enjoy the gentle morning breeze. There were a few boats still at sea, fishermen coming back late from their morning outing. Some let their jaws fall or pointed at the dragon in awe, and to Cessilia’s surprise, a few even waved at them, perhaps some of Naptunie’s relatives. She smiled back, but they were quickly beyond the fishermen’s line of sight, with nothing but sea ahead. On the dragon’s back, she made Krai fly lower so that she could see the sea animals jumping out of the waves, probably unaware of the dangers of a gigantic dragon above them... A couple of unlucky fish found themselves jumping out of the water, never to return after being eaten in one bite.

Cessilia let the dragon eat as it wanted and enjoyed the warmth of the sun and the freshness of the wind on her skin. She loved flying. Her father had taken her to the skies since she was a child to get her used to it, for when her own dragon would be big enough to let her fly on its back... Her heart broke a little each time she remembered Cece. Her dragon would have loved the Eastern Kingdom and its sea...

“K-Krai, let’s find T-Tessa and Nana now,” she said.

The dragon growled happily, making a little joyful jump in the air, and slowly began to turn around, heading back to the Eastern Kingdom. It looked like the Black Dragon definitely associated Nana’s name with the perspective of a yummy little treat... In just a few minutes, they were back above the Eastern Kingdom’s Capital. Far ahead, on the horizon, Cessilia could see the very large chain of mountains that made up the border, sometimes replaced by man-made walls. A little nostalgic smile appeared when she thought of her family, and she wondered if her younger siblings missed her. As the eldest sister, she was often the one who helped her mother look after them, and as a result, all the younger ones had grown close to her, especially Sadara, her littlest sister. She missed each of her siblings, as well as her parents, but it was also her first adventure away from them, and she felt a little proud, for someone who had rarely left her family’s domain... She was starting to understand her sister Kiera’s feelings, as she was constantly running away from familial surveillance.

Krai let out a little growl, and Cessilia looked down. The dragon had already found her cousin and their friend, both waving at her, Sabael with them. They had apparently decided to have breakfast downtown, near the port. The dragon swiftly landed on one of the ports’ docks, under all the fishermen’s shocked eyes. Krai was larger than any of the boats there, and, although the dragon’s front paws got on one of the docks, the lower part of its body was quietly floating, or maybe paddling underwater. While the large dragon curiously sniffed the closest stalls, Cessilia jumped off its back, Nana and Tessa running to her.

“Lady Cessilia!” exclaimed Nana, all smiles. “How are you? Are you feeling better? I am so glad His Majesty came to our rescue yesterday... Oh, good morning, Sir Dragon!”

“G-good morning, Nana. I’m alright, th-thank you. How about you g-guys? D-did you get back safely?”

Now that she saw them, Cessilia realized she had no idea about what had happened to her friends after the attack last night, and felt awfully guilty about it. Luckily, they seemed fine, although she spotted some green scales on Tessa’s arms and a bandage on Nana’s shoulder. Her cousin sighed.

“We’re fine,” she said. “Looks like those people were targeting you more than us, Sab and I had no trouble getting rid of them, it just took a while... We tried to capture some of them, but they committed suicide.”

“We think they were hired,” grumbled Sabael, his eyes on the dragon. “They had common mercenary tattoos on their bodies. I put in a request at the Guild, but I doubt those who hired them had a proper contract. We found some money on several of them.”

“Which we confiscated, of course,” added Tessa with a cunning smile, “which is why we’re having a victory feast this morning... Have you eaten, Cessi?”

Cessilia could tell her cousin’s question was not as light-hearted as it seemed, as Tessa was tilting her head with an accusatory look. She blushed, realizing her cousin was definitely going to roast her for spending the night with a man, and the King himself, no less... To avoid Tessandra’s stare, she turned to Nana, who was already convincing one of her uncles or cousins to feed the dragon before Krai helped itself.

“I’m s-sorry for leaving you, N-Nana, especially when you c-came b-back for me...”

“Oh no, don’t worry! It’s not like I was of much use anyway... I am sorry I couldn’t help much, and glad we all made it back safely...”

Cessilia sighed but walked up to her to hug the young lady, who happily hugged her back. When they parted, she could see that Naptunie’s expression was a bit serious, the young lady frowning.

“You know, Lady Cessilia, I’ve decided. I always wanted to become a scholar, but I really wasn’t sure what kind. From now on, I will work hard to become a Royal Counselor, like my uncle. I hope you will become Queen, so I can keep helping you and advising you this way! I may not be a fighter, but I have confidence in my knowledge!”

“Th-thank you, Nana,” said Cessilia, smiling. “You will b-be an amazing c-counselor.”

The young lady blushed, smiling widely and visibly proud of Cessilia’s comment.

“Oh, what do you want to eat?” she asked. “We’re having some of my cousin’s herbal soup and of course some buns, but I can ask for more for you!”

Cessilia let Nana take her to the market, while Krai stayed behind, its tail making little waves in the water, very happy to be fed by the curious fishermen. For a while, Cessilia was only too happy to eat what she was given and chat about the soup’s rumored healing properties and ingredients; however, it was hard to ignore her cousin’s intense, suspicious stare on her all the while. Tessandra was following closely, her arms crossed and her lips pinched in a pout that reminded her of their grandmother on bad days...

After a while, they finally found a little spot to sit in the open market. Cessilia had noticed the girls had chosen more practical clothes than their usual dresses today. Tessandra was wearing a long, red, double-slitted skirt and a fitted top, while Nana was wearing a flowy and colored romper, with a cute, matching ribbon around her neck and flat shoes. Even Sabael was wearing his full armor today, all in dark leather and metal, which made him stand out in the middle of the market. Had they decided to be a bit more cautious, in case something else happened? Cessilia noticed how Nana seemed to glance to the side from time to time, as if she was wary of someone watching them, and Tessandra kept her hand on her sword.

“...I’m s-sorry ab-bout what happened,” she finally said after finishing her meal. “It was my d-decision to g-go outside of the C-Capital again and I p-put you all in d-danger.”

“Cessi, I also came here to protect you,” sighed Tessandra. “Plus, you were the target, it’s not your fault. We need to find whoever hired those mercenaries and make them pay for trying to kill you.”

“Any of the strong families could have ordered this,” said Nana with an upset expression. “Mercenaries are expensive, and there were so many of them too... It has to be one of the other candidates.”

“They also had enough power to bribe the guards,” groaned her brother. “Not many families are that powerful. I reported those men to our headquarters, so there will be an investigation. Hiring mercenaries is one thing, but bribing guards is another. I have never seen those guys before either, so they might have been new hires...”

“I say the next time the Royal Guards don’t let us in, we fight our way through,” declared Tessa with a bitter look.

Sabael frowned at her.

“You can’t do that...”

“Why not? We played by the rules and had our papers in order, and we couldn’t get in! I hate corrupt officials. If this was the Dragon Empire, they would–”

“This is not the Dragon Empire,” Sabael retorted. “Can you resolve anything without using your sword?”

“You’re the one with full-on armor right now!”

“I am a Royal Guard.”

“You’re off-duty, love.”

Cessilia and Nana exchanged knowing glances. They were now both used to those two arguing back and forth about Tessandra’s quick temper, and it was obvious Sabael was getting much better at handling it too. For a while, they watched as the two of them bickered about the laws and punishments for corruption while drinking their soup in silence. Cessilia loved this a lot. The four of them, like any group of friends in the bay, having breakfast in the open air and tasting new things. Leaving her brother and Tessa to their argument, Nana sat a bit closer to Cessi.

“I am just so glad that His Majesty arrived, Lady Cessilia. I don’t know what I would have done if anything really bad happened to you... I was a bit curious, ahem... You didn’t come back to the suite last night... Where, uh, did you...?”

Cessilia blushed a bit. It couldn’t be helped that she would get questioned, but unfortunately, Nana’s whispering didn’t escape Tessandra’s ears. She lifted a finger to interrupt Sab and turned to her with a frown.

“Cessi?”

“I was with the K-King all night...”

“Oh my!” squealed Nana, covering her mouth with her hands, excited.

Opposite her, both Tessa and Sabael’s jaws dropped, staring at her with blank expressions.

“Seriously, Cessi?!” her cousin exclaimed. “Are you mad? You spent the night with the King? After everything that happened, you really think that was a good time to–”

“We d-didn’t d-do anything!” Cessilia protested, blushing. “We really d-didn’t... We j-just slept t-together, nothing else hap-happened...”

She was even more embarrassed as her stuttering was made worse by stress, which felt like a confession in itself. Tessa clicked her tongue, a noise that made the siblings jump, but her eyes were on Cessilia, with a suspicious stare.

“...He really did nothing?” she insisted.

“N-nothing... I was hurt t-too... I j-just left th-this morning b-before anyone saw me. We th-thought it would b-be best t-to k-keep it a secret...”

“Oh my gosh,” squealed Nana, all excited. “This is like one of those romance stories! The Princess runs off through the window so no one knows she’s the King’s secret lover... So romantic!”