Author's Note: Second chapter of the day, I hope you all enjoy!

 

After dancing with Elena and Amber, the rest of the party was mostly uneventful. Rather, I spent the entire time conversing with nobles such that I didn't even have time to eat.

As time passed and eventually the guests began to leave, it seemed like the time for the guests of honor, us, to take our leave as well. Giving a loud yawn, I approached the King only to have Alvus block my path.

"Ah, excuse me, I'd like to request something of the King."

Though I said this, Alvus refused to budge. Instead, he looked down at me silently with his dead fish eyes and a furrowed brow. Thankfully, the King had heard me and acted for my sake.

"General Alvus, please allow the hero through. We cannot be treating our precious guest this way, can we?"

The King nodded his head as he spoke and waved me over as Alvus stepped begrudging aside.

Taking a step past the grumpy general, I turned my head to look him in the eyes.

"What exactly is your problem with me, General?"

In response, Alvus bluntly snorted.

"Ever since we first met, my instincts have been telling me that you are a danger to the King. And my instincts are solemn, if ever, wrong."

As Alvus somehow managed to narrow his eyes at me even further, a task I hadn't even thought was possible, I smiled back at him.

"Genral Alvus!"

The king barked out, forcing Alvus to take a step back and bow to him.

"Apologies, my liege."

As I walked past Alvus and towards the King, I bowed my head properly this time, unlike our first encounter in the throne room.

"Excuse me, Your Majesty, but I think that both Amber and I have had a long day. I'd like for us to head back to our room now, if at all possible..."

The King nodded in response and waved to one of his surrounding attendants, an older butler with white hair and a weathered face, to come over. However, I stopped him before he could finish.

"Ah! If I may, Your Majesty, I would like to request that Princess Elena escort us there herself as she did on the way here..."

"..."

Silence hung in the air for a few seconds as the King looked down at me, likely wondering why I would ask for such a thing.

"The Princess, is it? I suppose there would be no issue... though I hope you are not of mind to court her like this."

"Worry not, your majesty, I have no such intentions."

I coughed a little as I thought about something like that happening. Dating a girl like Elena, that'd be a dream for any guy, and probably a solid number of girls, too. A beautiful, kind, courageous girl like the Princess was probably out of my league, but a guy can dream, right?

Who knows, maybe I'd have a chance if I tried? I mean, judging from the spoiled noble brats at the party it didn't think I had much in the way of challengers.

Hiding my thoughts about his daughter, I looked up at the King with a calm face as he called over Elena. Beside the blue-haired beauty stood Amber, who followed as the Princess came towards us.

"The heroes will be going to their quarters now, Elena. They requested that you escort them."

"I would be honored."

Elena looked over at me with slightly red cheeks, something that did not escape her father's eyes as he raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

However, he didn't have long to think about it, as Elena soon set to work guiding us back through the palace halls to our room.

Of course, the glint of white following a ways behind us didn't escape my perception.

---

"Thank you, Elena!"

Amber said as we approached the still-unfamiliar door of our room.

It seemed like the pair had actually gotten somewhat friendly with one another during the banquet. I'd heard them laughing together as they complained about the dizzying dancing they were subjected to at the hands of the younger noble boys.

However, as Amber waved goodbye to Elena, I instead grabbed her hand to prevent her from going.

Though this resulted in a cute, high-pitched "Eep!" from Elena due to her surprise, I tried my best to ignore it for the sake of staying focused.

"I'd like you to come inside..."

As she looked back and forth from my eyes to my hand, Elena's face once again turned bright red as she tried to stammer out a response.

"W-w-we should wait for mar-!"

Hearing her loud voice, I quickly covered her mouth with my hand again.

"We have to be quiet. Please, just follow me."

Grabbing her hand, I pulled her into the room as Amber followed.

"W-what the hell are you doing to the Princess, you idiot!"

Amber, somewhere between confused, surprised, and angry, managed to stammer out, but when she saw the look on my face she froze.

There was no cocky smile, no over the top confidence.

Instead, there was simply a serious determination as I put a finger to my lips.

In the distance was the sound of footsteps, a single pair. The loud thunk of heavy boots on a wooden floor.

"Damn it, it was outside of my expectations that he would act this early. He's either way dumber or way smarter than I thought."

I muttered under my breath, annoyed. Still, I could make this work, it would just speed up my plan a bit. 

Grabbing Amber's hand as well, I pulled them both into the large closet at the far side of the room and closed the door. Spotting a pincushion in the darkness by a set of dresses, I grabbed four sewing pins from it and leaned back, peering through a small hole in the door about the size of a quarter from a distance.

I placed myself in front of Amber and Elena as I pushed them deeper into the closet, placing two of the sewing pins in each of my hands. As I did so, I could see the two looking visibly distressed from beside me.

"What's going on here, Jonathan?"

Amber whispered to me, her usual snark nowhere to be found. Instead she just looked... worried, scared.

As I glanced at Elena, she had the same look on her face.

Seeing that, I felt a pang in my chest. Damn it, why did I have such a weak spot for beautiful girls?

Putting on my usual smile, thought it was slightly more tense than usual, I tried to soothe them.

"Don't worry, Amber. I already promised you, didn't I? I won't let you get hurt until I find a way for you to get back home."

As I finished speaking, the door to the room slammed open and a figure slowly stepped in. They lingered in the doorway for a moment uncertainly after seeing that nobody was in the room before beginning to wander aimlessly around it.

"Hm... they should be in here..."

The figure spoke with an unnaturally deep voice, likely disguised by some gadget or magic, and the girls behind me froze stock still as they heard it walk around the room checking places where we could be hiding.

As the figure wandered around, it eventually came into view from our vantage point in the closet, causing Elena to quietly gasp.

I immediately turned to her.

"T-that symbol..."

She whispered in my ear, her breath tingling my skin.

I gazed at the figure through the hole, taking in its appearance. A black cloak was draped over all of it, obscuring its face in shadow. On the back of its cloak was a monochromatic white symbol of a snake baring it's fangs, one of them dripping with venom.

"It's one of the royal assassins!"

As her urgent whisper reached my ears, I simply gritted my teeth and gripped the pins in my hands tighter.