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Laylin spent the past hour in disbelief.

Every muscle in her body ached. The worst was her back that he had insistently banged against the wall but she felt numb. Laylin couldn’t find it in herself to put her guard down even as the sun began to set.

'Nobody is coming to arrest me.' She murmured. Trembling maids went about arranging the room and tending to her but it didn't seem like she was being arrested for being a witch.

'What the hell is happening? Why ae they not...' She would clutch the blanket tighter in incredulity.

She shuddered as the servants fussed around her. Initially she freaked out when unfamiliar maids barged in to take her to another room but... 

She was sure of it now! 'Really, no one was coming to arrest her or burn her at the square. What happened then? Why is the King letting her be?'

But the oddest thing was the Falcon that sat on the window with his sharp Hazel Green glare trained on her. It was an odd color for a bird of this kind. She tried to shoo it away by calling the servants but they wouldn’t even go within a ten-mile radius of it.

“.... Lin! Princess Laylin!” an unfamiliar voice called out for her, suddenly breaking the silence and her trance. She jolted in surprise, and blinked back into focus, “Princess Laylin, can you hear me?”

She looked up to find a man and a woman standing there. Their attire could very well distinguish them from the crowd that stood behind them. The woman stood right in front of her, and bellowed out her name repeatedly.

The first thing she noticed was her eyes. Hazel Green, just like the Falcon.

Shaking her head to get back in posture, she straightened up her act, “Y-yes.” She cleared her throat, before trying again, “Yes, I am Laylin, Princess of Ehan.” she hastily replied.

The Princess and Chamberlain were both stupefied by the exotic beauty. They could tell she was not from Rakhbar at a glance but more importantly, it was hard to see anything past her pretty face, even when she was beaten bloodied, and blue.

Laylin hurriedly fixed her appearance, but there was nothing much to fix. Her hair was let loose and she couldn’t even stand to greet them as she was still in a nightgown under the blanket. So instead she greeted them with hesitant nods.

'...They can't be here to arrest me with such wide smiles, right?' Her heart was anxious as all of it hardly made sense.

The woman beamed at the sight of her and Laylin wondered why. She kept her formal and practiced smiling face as every single person in the room assessed her.

“Ah! Great, I’m Princess Scarlet, the Royal Lady of the Palace and second cousin to the monarch and this is Chamberlain Hazi.” The woman introduced them while the falcon flew inside the room sitting on the table quite leisurely.

Ah! Laylin eyes slightly widened in recognition. Oh, so... She was the only royal that was spared in King Ambrose's rebellion. “I greet the Princess and Chamberlain, please excuse my feeble courtesy.” She extended her hands to offer them the seats that were already placed.

Princess Scarlet and Chamberlain both took a second to reevaluate her. Did this foreign Princess just offer them seats like she was the hostess and they were guests? 

The princess was quick to recover and smiled. 

She will need to assess her a little more before drawing the last slot, “Oh! With pleasure, dear!” She took the seat, “Don’t just stand there Hazi, you are making us seem uncultured.” She jabbed at the stiff Chamberlain. He was scoffed before taking a seat.

The Foreign Princess clutched her trembling hands and looked between them, "Your Majesty... Where might he be?" She cautiously asked in an attempt to understand why the King was not issuing a warrant to arrest a witch who assaulted him.

Lycans despised and actively killed witches. 

Luckily for her, they thought she was asking just because she was traumatized by his lycan.

Scarlet patted her hand with sympathy. "Oh, you can relax and recover in peace. The King won't be here for several weeks. Last night... it was hard on his lycan too."

"Oh..." Laylin quickly processed the new information. 

So when he climbed out of the window, he left the Palace! The only one who knew of her true identity was the King and he had left yesterday after almost killing her. This gave her weeks to make her escape! 

With a sigh, Laylin took a second to collect herself. “I may not be the hostess but shall I offer you some tea?”

“Oh that would be lovely, thank you.” The Princess nodded but indicated to the servant herself. Hessy got to work.

Now that tension left her body, Laylin almost slumped back.

“Are you alright, dear? You look rather pale.” Princess Scarlet worriedly asked as she carefully looked over Laylin’s general appearance. Laylin only laughed embarrassingly, nodding in a placating manner.

“I’m just alright, I must not have slept as well as I assumed I did,” she replied, smiling politely at her, but her audience hardly looked convinced by her current battered condition. “I’ve had a long night, I’m sure you will agree,” she added, knowing she had to give them a little something to leave her be. 

“And what would that mean?” Hazi who was laid back on the seat and was watching the women bullshit each other back to back, frowned offendedly, “Ah, so you didn’t sleep well? While it’s good to know, won’t you tell us what you are trying to insinuate when you are the one who insisted to see the King?” He admonished sitting up, sounding so sure he was convicting her.

Laylin's jaw dropped. 'I Insisted?'

Oh, so they were pretending yesterday was her fault? That yesterday, they didn’t dare send her to her death and she almost became a midnight snack for their beast of a King?!

'But... it might be for the best.' If it was publicized that there was an assassination attempt on her the first night she arrived, her father will demand a hefty compensation and will have solid grounds to put the blame of the next assassination on Rakhbar. 

“I was explaining my situation and asking for your understanding. Instead, I’m more curious about what you think I must have meant.” This time Laylin didn’t bother smiling. If he was orchestrating her she saw no sense in extending an olive branch till her arm ached.

He seemed ticked off: "Let me make it clear, Princess. Rakhbar's stance is of peace. We have never tried to endanger your life. Last night was an accident, caused because you failed to report your arrival at the Main Palace. I suggest we move past it for peace of our borders."

Laylin was ready to retort this silver-tongued politician's suggestions to bury the incident when the servants cut.

Announcing their arrival, they prepared some cake slices for them. Laylin took her own separate serving. The maid began to fix both of them with some tea. When she came forward for Laylin’s, she waved her away.

“Don’t mind him. Where he is from they don’t place much importance on humble politeness or morals.” Scarlet was the first to speak. Hazi’s head snapped at Scarlet in utter disgust. "But... I do suggest you forget what you saw last night too. For the sake of 'peace'. The Princess is a smart lady so I'm sure you understand the consequences of rashness." The threat in her subtle suggestion was obvious. 

Even Laylin knew this was the only way. If an investigation took place it's possible they will bring up traces of yesterday night's fight. How could she ever explain them without exposing herself? 

Princess Scarlet brazenly cut the cake into two equal slices, unaffected by the thick tension lingering around. She brought out two plates and forks. Passing one to Laylin and keeping one for herself while Hazi watched on.

“Rather you should really learn to take better care of yourself, Laylin. Life can be tough in Rakhbar.” she continued to admonish her. “By the way, how would you find being my guest for a fortnight?”

"Your Highness!" Before Laylin could part her lips, Chamberlain Hazi cut in, “The Princess lodging is being prepared in the Flower Palace as we speak. I find no reason for her to be a guest anywhere.”

Flower Palace was the place where the King's lovers and concubines stayed.

The Princess was quick with her snarky retort, "That is why I mentioned I would invite her, and the last I checked the Internal Palace wasn't managed by the Palace Administer."

"It's an honor for any woman to reside there-"

“Oh well, I guess that would make sense to other courtiers,” Princess Scarlet hummed, taking a dainty sip of her tea, before setting it back down, “It must be difficult for them to find all those rare and precious views. Still, Princess Laylin is a Royal like me and her due hospitality shall be paid. As the only Royal Hostess, I shall take my responsibility seriously, don't you agree, Princess Laylin? " 

“Yes.” Laylin smiled stiffly, she didn't know anyone here but Princess Scarlet looked far more compromising than Hazi who was set on ending her, there and then “How considerate of you, indeed.”

“Oh, so you agreed! That's wonderful. My residence truly is one of a kind, you know,” Princess Scarlet proceeded, completely oblivious to the discomfort of Laylin, or maybe she could see but chose to conveniently ignore it “If it were any other aristocrat, I wouldn't care to extend an invitation, but I have a lot to talk to you.”

Laylin opted to take a bite out of the cake, not wanting to contribute to pleasantries right now. She was in disbelief. 'Can she really be this lucky? She really brushed past death but even she didn't believe this luck won't run out so the best course would be to get out of here. 

And so the Princess spoke on of her palace, with Laylin occasionally making agreeing sounds and humming as though she was listening attentively to her. The fact was, she knew what they were really curious about. 

They wanted to know how she was alive.

.... 

After Princess Scarlet and Chamberlain Hazi left the Princess alone, they reached the King's Chamber. Unsurprisingly, Black General, Ivan, was already there. Princess Scarlet halted when she saw him but soon dragged her feet.

“General!” Princess Scarlet paused, clearing her throat as she looked curiously at him, “Did you find anything amiss? The Ehanian Princess looks like she had brushed past death last night.”

“Hmm, maybe that's what she did.” Ivan piped up softly, without meeting the eyes of the woman, “It looks like a hurricane swept by here. I can't believe she's alive.” He replied, smiling at the scene, yet it did not reach his eyes.

"Oh, the scene is really disheartening." Scarlet lowered her eyes in sadness before looking up. "Did you find the culprit?"

Ivan gave her a side-eye-knowing look. "Surprisingly, I found their corpses instead. Someone got to them before me. Who do you think it might be?"

Scarlet covered her smirk behind her handkerchief, "My, my. I'm not aware of such matters so I think I'll hardly be of any use to you, My Lord."

Ivan's eyes narrowed at her but before he could say anything, Hazi cut in. "So? What happened? Was it the work of an accomplice trying to cover up tracks?" 

Ivan sighed looking at Scarlet. 'No, the bodies were mutilated gruesomely and thrown in Lady Magny's garden. It was a warning to the culprit."

Hazi instantly glared at Scarlet but she pretended to be ignorant. If it was known in the inner palace something like that had happened, Scarlet would be the one the king would kill first so they understood the need to bury this incident but like always scalet went to far in her crueulty.

"Well... It's better to let Magny be with this warning then. We can't afford a civil war when the country is already in turmoil from natural disasters." Hazi flippantly dissolved the discussion and they nodded in agreement.

Scarlet proposed: "I'll deal with her as I'm the person she has offended." 

Magny's father was the head of the aristocratic faction and convicting her legally could easily lead to political unrest so Scalet intended to do the dirty work...

"You will do no such thing." Hazi snapped, turning away from the disgruntled Princess glaring at him. "I'm more curious about what happened here." 

"I want to know too. Look here." Ivan pointed to the furniture stacked up by the right wall. The heavier objects like wardrobes or shelves were misplaced or flipped over in that direction. "The Princess couldn't have done it. But why would His Majesty bother with this arrangement?" 

“Only the King would know so we will wait before opening this case again. There's nothing else to draw any other conclusion from anyway,” Hazi answered with an air of finality, "We need to wrap this up for now. Let your speculation not leave this room. We can't risk a civil or national war now."

He turned to the Princess and raised his brow, "Am I heard?"

Princess Scarlet pressed her lips into a thin line before giving him a stiffened smile and nod of affirmation. 

"Sure thing."