— …so now we use them for games instead. We throw them at the wall and see who’s meatball will stick the longest. I’ve been the winner for three times in a row now. — Felix announced proudly while taking another bite of the cookie in his hand.

For the past couple of hours, he was chatting with the Princess about various subjects, and the most current one concerned the state of the meals served to the guards. Most of them were hardly edible, but the biggest offender were the meatballs. Not only were they weirdly chewy, but the guards discovered that they were able to stick to just about any surface.

While the true intention hidden behind Oriana’s invitation to tea was to get Felix to share as much as he knew about Valeria, hearing about the terrible state of the cooking in the barracks was no less enlightening.

The Princess made a mental note to talk with her father about this issue at the first opportunity.

Noticing an opening while Felix was focused on the cookie, Oriana decided to get the conversation back on track. The sun had almost set, which meant that she didn’t have much time left to get any dirt on Valeria.

— Has there been anything interesting lately that happened with the Commander?

Felix pondered the question while sipping the tea.

— Not really, no. The Commander seems quite busy lately, and she’s rarely in the office anymore. We mostly get to see her during training. — he paused, realizing something — Although, now that I think about it, there was that time the Dragon Princess visited our training.

Oriana raised her eyebrows.

— Lin Xuelan visited your training? What for?

Felix shrugged.

— It looked like she came for the Commander. She even brought lunch made specially for her and everything.

Lunch?

— They did seem quite close — he continued.

Close?!

It was the first time the Princess heard about Valeria being close with someone else other than Kyra, and for reason unknown to her, the knowledge made her quite uncomfortable.

Completely oblivious to the storm brewing inside Oriana’s heart, Felix kept talking.

— Though, I must say, it’s a bit surprising to see the Commander and the Dragon Princess together. There was always talk around the Palace about how it was the two of you who would surely be together, but with you, Your Highness, marrying the Prince, I guess it was nothing but rumors, huh? — He scratched his cheek awkwardly. — Do you think that the Commander is going to leave for Liung-Mun once she marries the Dragon Princess? — he asked suddenly, realizing that his beloved Commander might be gone soon.

While Felix was engrossed in the process of devouring every single pastry laid on the table to fill the hole inside him created by the possibility of losing his mentor, the Princess was facing a surge of unexpected emotions.

MARRIED?! But she just brought her lunch! How are they getting married all of a sudden?!, Oriana nearly jumped out of her seat.

She knew that realistically, there was no reason to believe that there was some secret, passionate romance happening between Lin Xuelan and Valeria. Even less likely was that the Commander would leave the Palace. And yet that didn’t prevent the unpleasant feeling from budding deep within her heart.

The two had known each other for a very long time, and for the majority of it, they were fighting about nearly everything. That didn’t mean, however, that she hated Valeria. Even though they had their differences, there were also moments when she felt closer to her than anybody else.

Not to mention the times when she would be willing to even disobey her father’s orders because Oriana asked.

Like during the Warrior Tournament a couple of years back.

The Princess didn’t know all of the details, nor did she fully understand the reason why the King was so hellbent on having Valeria win in it.

All that mattered to her was that it nearly cost the Commander her life.

— I will hate you forever if you go to that arena again! — Oriana yelled, tears blurring her vision.

It happened during a break in the final fight. She rushed down to the preparation area for the combatants from the loge the moment the judge called for a time out.

She still remembered the pain in her chest when she saw Valeria.

Battered and bruised, with cuts all over her body, she was barely standing on her own, yet she still wouldn’t let go of her saber, determined to go back and fight.

It was an order from the King. Disobedience like this could end very poorly for the subordinate, and yet, when she heard Oriana’s words, Valeria withdrew from the Tournament without asking for his permission.

If I said that I will hate you if you leave, would you stay with me forever?

 

When Valeria came back to the Palace, the sun had already disappeared from the horizon. She immediately rushed to the King’s office to report to him everything she had learned during her investigation.

She described, with great detail, what she saw at the scene of the attack, which resulted in Gideon’s complexion to go through various shades of red and green, until settling on a sickly pale for the rest of the conversation.

Then, Valeria told them about the visit she paid to the noble and the Adventurer’s Guild. In the end, however, she decided to omit the part about following the Mysterious Person, and went straight to the part where she found the weird coin.

— Do you know which organization it belongs to? — The King asked, while studying the copper piece Valeria showed him.

— I don’t, but one of my guards might have seen it before. I was planning to go to him next.

— Good. If there’s nothing else to report, you’re free to go.

Despite his words, Valeria didn’t move. There was still something she didn’t tell them.

When talking about the place of the attack, she decided to not mention the tracks being an illusion. She had no way to explain how she figured it out without revealing her identity. Nevertheless, the possibility of magic being involved posed a great danger to the King, and the entire nation.

Lucius gave her a suspicious look.

— Is there something else, Commander?

Valeria chewed on her words for a moment.

— There’s a possibility that someone capable of casting magic was involved.

Both the Adviser and the King widened their eyes in shock.

— Magic?! Do you have anything to back this preposterous idea, Commander? — Gideon asked, not hiding his disbelief.

— Just my intuition, Lord Gideon.

— Intuition? That’s it? Commander, I must say, I thought you were a more reasonable person.

Valeria was expecting this type of reaction. Not having any tangible proof, and being unable to disclose the real reason why she was suspecting magic was at play, it would be a miracle if anyone believed her. Nevertheless, she had to at least try to warn them.

Having said everything there was to say, she left the office and headed straight to Oriana’s chambers.

 

To no surprise on Valeria’s side, once she came inside the Princess’ room, she saw her having a tea party with Felix. Although, the vaguely somber mood that they both seemed to be in was something that she didn’t account for.

Seeing the Commander come back, Felix shot up from his chair, wiping his teary eyes and saluting with more eagerness than usual.

— Commander! Welcome back! I missed you…

— Your Highness… Why is my guard crying? — Valeria asked carefully, eying the sobbing Felix.
Seeing Valeria after everything she heard, Oriana’s emotions started overflowing.

— Don’t act as if it’s my fault!

— Well, he was fine in the morning when I met him…

— If I’m such a horrible person, then maybe next time you should leave him with Lin Xuelan! — Oriana turned around on her chair with a dramatic “humpf”.

Hearing the Dragon Princess being brought up, Valeria felt even more at a loss.

— What does she even have to do with anything? Ah, whatever — she waved her hand — Felix, come with me for a moment. I need to talk to you.

The Commander exited the room, and waited for the guard to follow her.

Shortly after, the young man showed up at the door.

— Can I help you with anything, Commander?

— You have cookie crumbs on you face. — Valeria gestured at the corner of her own mouth.

— Oh! S-sorry. — Felix hurriedly cleaned his flushed face.

The Commander took out the copper coin from her pocket and passed it to Felix.

— Do you recognize this symbol? — She was hoping that while growing up in the streets, he could have seen it before, or had an idea to which organization it belonged.

The guard studied the design for a few minutes.

— No, sorry, Commander. I have never seen it before. — he said, disappointed that he wouldn’t be able to help her. He was about to give the coin back when he suddenly remembered something. — But I think I know someone who would be able to find out.

— Good. Just don’t do anything risky. If there’s any sign of danger, just let it go. I can take care of this myself.

— Don’t worry, Commander. I know what I’m doing. You can leave this to me. — he answered happily.

 

Being done with Felix, there was only one last thing for Valeria to take care of - figuring out why was Oriana angry at her this time.

When she came back to the room, the Princess was sitting in the same place as before, the only change being a book that she was holding in her hand.

Valeria looked around. She noticed that her sister wasn’t there.

— Where’s Kyra?

— I gave her the day off. — answered Oriana without taking her eyes off of the book.

— I see. — The Commander sat on the chair next to the Princess. — Is the book any good?

— Very.

— Even though you’re holding it upside down?

Realizing that her ruse was found out, Oriana shut the book, and placed it on the table next to her.

— Why are you still here? I told you Kyra had a day off. She should be in her room by now.

— I want to know why you are angry at me.

Oriana didn’t know what to say.

After all, she couldn’t understand her own feelings herself, so how could she explain them to someone else?

She had been feeling these unknown, overwhelming emotions for a while, and yet she wasn’t able to comprehend any of them.

She couldn’t understand why was she angry with Valeria in that moment, even though she didn’t do anything.

She couldn’t understand why she felt like crying, thinking that there might be something between the Commander and Lin Xuelan.

She couldn’t understand why she felt happy hearing that Valeria stayed and tried to talk to her.

Among the storm of emotions raging inside her, she felt as if her own mind was a stranger to her. It was suffocating.

— I’m not angry. I’m just tired. I want to go sleep, so please leave. — In the end, those were the only words she was able to say while looking away.

At the other side of a small round table, Valeria felt that there might as well be an entire ocean between them.

It wasn’t the first time that the Princess was angry at her, and yet this time, it felt different somehow. If it was just another squabble about something irrelevant that would be forgotten by the time morning comes, she wouldn’t worry as much.

Seeing the Princess like this, she couldn’t help but want to do something to cheer her up. She wanted to tell her that everything will be okay.

That she will be there for her any time, no matter how many times she messes up. She was even willing to apologize, albeit she didn’t know what for in the first place.

No matter how long she thought about it, however, she wasn’t able to find the proper words to convey any of those feelings.

— Alright. — Valeria got up from the chair and went to the door. — I’ll come back in the morning. Good night, Your Highness.