The Prince's Mate

Leaving The Castle

"I thought I was gonna be able to at least trust him to be different, he did save my life after all, but I guess it was too much to ask for..." Cecelia sobbed on Lifa's lap as despite being told Princess Naomi would be there in a bit neither of them had made a move to get up or do a thing. "Are like that as well?" She turned and looked up at the end and she smiled back down sadly.

"Even if I was, I wouldn't be able to act against you lady Cecelia, if anything happens to you I would be killed or imprisoned right away, and I do not know anywhere outside of this castle as I have been in here for over a century, the world has changed more than I could imagine I am sure, I have seen the rise and fall of three kings in this time, but the current king I can assure you is kind, unlike his wife and sons, and similarly princess Naomi is a good person through and through, which is why she is in the circumstance that she is." Lifa sighed and looked 9ut the window at the white day moon. "Queen Isabel is originally not Jakharan, she is from a neighbouring country, married to the king as the ambassador to a treaty of peace and good trade, she quickly showed her colours afterward, and had the King not been a strong willed man she would have taken his throne back then, but he was smart enough to change certain laws and strip her of a number of rights as a Queen ahead of time; that said she still has a large influence in a lot and her cruelty is unmatched by any queen before herself, and as it is, her sons have inherited that same wicked heart as their mother, and she has secured a place for princess Naomi in her own country, but it is so far away it would take months by any means of transport to arrive there, which is how long simple letters will take as well, she is getting rid of the one person who would oppose her ludicrous ideas as has been the case for a few years now."

"Their mom huh?" Cecelia droned as she was on the verge of falling asleep again. "I'm ready to wake up and let this all be a dream now." She commented and sighed as Lifa slowly massaged her scalp with her fingers.

"I assure you, this is no dream lady Cecelia, and as much as I would like it if you remained here in my company like this we have to start the day, so please get up." She shook Cecelia when she closed her eyes causing the woman to groan and shake her shoulders like a child.

"She's sending her off where her influence will no longer reach her, she will be completely alienated from her entire family for years won't she?" Cecelia shook s she slowly arose from Lifa's lap, with a stretch. "That's too harsh, doesn't she have any love for her own daughter?"

"I am confident in the security of this resident, lady Cecelia," Lifa spoke up kind off like she was alerting Cecelia of another presence. ".. however I am not confident in the privacy, after all you are labelled as the prince's plaything, so to secure their safety I suspect they may have means of seeing and hearing what we do, especially in your case, with you being who you are and all." She warned her.

Lifa knew for a fact that she was being watched, an intruder from another world would never be trusted by the kingdom, that was only the tale of optimistic storytellers, in reality such a thing would be impossible, and just as her first encounter had proven she would have more likely been seen as a threat and killed, people never changed no matter the time or age, or world in their case, it simply was what it was. "Alright." Cecelia sighed again and did was she was told without complaint for once, taking what the elf had said very seriously.

And it seemed like everything was going smoothly until several hours passed and Naomi didn't show up, it was odd because she was need late for anything, and she would never provide excuses, but as the day passed with Keya making frequent trips inside for small snacks while Cecelia was being taught everything she needed to know about the mark on her back they eventually started to get worried that something had gone wrong, it was a while later down in the night that they were informed after leaving the west hall that the princess had left to visit one of her noble friends on a two week journey, what was also weird though was that there was a carriage that had apparently been waiting for them all day to attend that same event and yet they hadn't been informed about it.

"After her return she will immediately leave, this might be the only chance to hear her out, and it seemed like she had very important things to say too." Lifa sighed and looked at the carriage. "And yet, I do not trust it, something about this entire day has felt off, it makes my ears itch."

"What normally happens when your ears itch?" Cecelia looked at the elf curiously, but she never received a reply from Lifa and was instead partially ignored as the aforementioned actually reached for her ears and massaged them slowly, but after a few seconds of silence she looked up at Cecelia and shook her head.

"Well, even if you are a special case, I find it odd that you would be invited so far away, and I find it even more odd that as prince Lucas's first mate is being partially ignored, not that you are gonna be praised as a concubine but the other staff related to this incident have been avoiding much contact with us today, they seem on edge, and also, does it not feel strange to you that you are being allowed to leave soon soon after you were bonded?" Lifa looked at her and Cecelia thought about if for a few as she remembered what had happened the night before in great detail and held the base of her belly where the phantom pains still troubled her if she moved roughly.

"I am not going to get into it, but he did say that I have no place I can go where he can't find me, just in a different way, at any rate, we're ready now so we should be leaving, if he is pooped to me going anywhere then he'll definitely send people to get me back or come after me himself, if he is truly that kind of possessive type he will do it exactly as I imagine his kind of person would." She gave Lifa a straight answer and the elf sighed and accepted it as it came, even if she wanted to argue in the end Cecelia was the one in charge and her as the servant girl was only there to assist and she couldn't be a part of Cecelia's decision making, only suggestions, and Cecelia was already fully aware of that fact, not that she would allow anyone to affect her own choices unless it's a personal or emotional one. "Let's be on our way then." They started off to the carriage when Dylan came racing around the corner laughing, and there behind him was Brute, the first guard that Cecelia had met, chasing Dylan who was wearing his helmet as he ran and laughed, seeing this Cecelia chuckled and stopped at the stairs allowing her son to run right into her. "Have you been good love?" She chuckled as Lifa grabbed him before he could crash completely into his mother and then held him there.

"Cecelia, this child is ruthless," Brute sighed and panted as he took the helmet of Dylan's head and fixed it on his own. "He has made my days hell."

"It's only been two days though." Lifa looked at the tall bulky man strangely but brute was very serious as he turned his back to them, revealing that his cape had been doodled on and his legs had words she didn't understand. "Lady Cecelia what does that mean?" She asked as she saw Cecelia hold her mouth and sigh with a big smile she couldn't hide.

"The writing on his cape means captain butt head man, and those on his legs mean pretty lady." She chuckled again before her and Dylan burst out laughing as Brute's face went pale, apparently Dylan had used a mineral he found that made all marks hard to remove, it would take weeks to get rid of that even if he spent days endlessly scrubbing, so he'd likely have it on him for months, pics too chuckled at Dylan's sense of humour while brute held his forehead and put his helmet beneath his arm. "We have to leave now, Dylan, I might have laughed but you know better than to mess with things and people that don't belong to you, if you want to draw come see me, or let me know and I'll come see you."

"You're busy all the time though sis." Dylan pouted, and Cecelia took his cheeks in her palms to grab his constantly shifting attention.

"No excuses, what you did was wrong, and when I return I'm going to punish you for it." She stared him down and he huffed with a sad side glance at brute who had a small smile as he reached for him and picked him up like a bag of potatoes beneath his other arm and nodded to them before stepping away, "Please try to keep him out of trouble pretty lady." Cecelia looked at Brute's legs again as her, Lifa and Dylan as well as one of the guards at the door burst out laughing before suddenly going quiet when brute looked around, she was only that comfortable with leaving Dylan because Lifa had assured her than in all her stay she had only seen kindness and content for children no matter their race or origin, that much she had been completely sure about, Morhaven treated their kids like gold.

"Yeah, this does feel weird." Cecelia finally felt the unease after they reached the gates, looking through the small window she stared nervously back at the castle nobody had seen them off, and aside from the queen at one of the many balconies behind them they hadn't seen another soul of the royal family all day, when they'd all been there, especially Lucas who was apparently very busy all around the castle preparing for something.

"Rest assured, I am here as well." Kaya said from the front of the carriage with their designated driver. "Should anything happen I will show you exactly why I am your personal guard."

"I'll count on you then." Cecelia responded as the large gates opened up and the horses began pulling the carriage again, her own mind now replayed Lifa's nervousness and she herself began getting nervous, but the elf being her only pillar now held on to her arms from across the other side of the four person vehicle and smiled at her, and then she whispered the taboo words.

"As long as we remain within the security of this carriage we will be fine lady Cecelia, and the journey is merely a few hours long at a leisurely pace, what could possibly go wrong?"