She gasped at his end of the speech. She didn't see that coming. No way that was the same person she was talking to back at the hospital.

She didn't notice herself loosening the grip of the mop, slipping off her hand, and crashing on the cobble next to her as if she lost control over her limps.

The impact of the mop to the ground, made her jump off her place, slapping her out of her stun. She tilted her eyes towards the downed mop, staring sheepishly, blinking, without taking any action to retrieve it.

"Oh, allow me". Louis rushed to grab the mop, handing it to her. As she took it with a wavering hand. Meeting his smiling lips once again.

She grabbed the mop tightly, or better put, she hugged it. She wanted help. NOW.

That warm feeling came back and more passionate than ever. She no longer feels the difference between reality and a dream.

"I-Is this a prank?" She said spontaneously. She was unsure what to say. She wasn't even sure if she responded right.

"No. Diana. It's not. I am more honest with you now than ever. I do have a feeling towards you. I-I...ah...well, you see I am clumsy man. Not good with words. But I know this , that you deserve way better than this treatment. The way you spoke with me in that woods, made me realize how humble and beautiful your personality is...and for that, I will not ever regret the admission of my feelings"

"M...My personality..." She felt uneasiness during her speaking. She couldn't identify what she was feeling at that moment, she never experienced such lawless psychology because she missed that feeling. To be loved once more for being herself. Even if it's not at the same level as her father's natural love.

She felt the blood rushing to her cheeks, making her face look like a tomato.

In response, he took one last step forward, making his taller body closer to her short one.

"Diana" he pleaded fairly, gazing down at her astonished face while going for her right hand, squeezing it gently between his fingers. He bowed on one knee like the gentleman he is. Causing Diana's eyes core to expand in a stupor.

Not trying anything sketching. He asked straight ahead. "Would you accept my Love?"

If only the answer was as smooth as the question

She blinked. She knew that she had to make a hearty call. But she felt conflicted. She knew she needed time to think. Why didn't her father advise her about this matter?! Or maybe her long passed mother could have helped right now, she had that moment one day before, right? Some adult experience won't exactly harm her now.

She had to think of the consequences of her next words very well.

"But why would I?!" Her voice echoed inside. She felt empowered by herself to do whatever she wanted. Her father is not here to consult so pretty much it's her judgment that would make a difference.

But again, that's the same confidence that led her to the past troublesome scenarios with the king...

On the other way around, she wanted happiness. The prince was describing her state as well as his. So What was stopping her?

Finally, she closed her eyes.

No more hiding feelings and No more overreacting drama.

She looked straight into his eyes with her light pretty smile. She left the mop on the wall to focus on him more. She harshly pushed the answer through her tightened dry throat. Words which was long waited to come out.

She kneeled on both of her knees, making her eyes at the same level as his. "If only you accept me first, an unpretentious girl who possesses nothing special. I was a simple washdisher in my town. And when I entered this palace I became the humble maid that served your aunt. So I am not getting any rich in the future and pretty much I got nobody with the same prestige as you as well..."

She straightened her posture with confidence. "Would you still love me with those terms? A girl that never loved a boy so much as you?". Her cheeks burned as her heart shrieked in anticipation of his answer.

A beaming smile was drawn on the prince's face, "I would be honoured"

She fixed her gaze up, lost in the details of his young face that were sunk in the broad smile of acceptance, while her hand slipped behind his head. She felt a bit embarrassed by the flooding emotions that she could no longer hide.

Smiling to each other, with their spirits mixing in harmony, united in a full circle of bashing emotions.

They stood up together, and glimpsed at each other's eyes, forgetting where they were. Imagine the world around them dissolving, allowing their hearts to blend into one, while their heads shifted nearer and nearer, with their nose picking at each other, opening the doors of their souls for glee to invade them.

He whispered. "Then how about we drop the nicknames for good, Hm?". He smiled more

She chuckles playfully. "Agreed"

They felt their breaths interwind. She didn't mind his hand gradually touching her upper back. Slightly pulling her towards him while their noses continued cuddling toward each other.

They were so close to achieving the equilibrium and having their first kiss...

To the extent, that they didn't know who was watching from the shadows.

There was a pair of eyes trespassing behind a corner. The owner of those evil eyes clenched his fist in denial. He refused to believe what he was viewing. It was against all the rules he appointed. Breaking all his assertive principles. He couldn't uphold that fornication- as the way he was seeing it...

...and he decided to interfere.

"How Dare You!"

He shouted.

The new couple's perfect world shattered into millions of fragments, instead, they were consumed by the presence of the third hostile party.

Diana's heart dropped to her toes, her eyes widened in disarray. She knew that it felt so good for fate to leave her be.

Louis's reaction was different. He was fast. He hopped with his cat reflexes to the front, using himself as a shield. Trying to protect Diana from the upcoming wraith as the trespasser came to the territory of light. Declaring the beginning of the long painful chapter in Diana's life.

It was King Wain who caught them.

He stepped towards them, with his devilish face feature. Accompanied by two royal spear guards.

"So that was your plan all along, ha?!! Tricking royal blood to fall in love with you, then use it as your way out, right!? YOU'RE ONE PATHETIC GARBAGE!" He shouted at Diana.

"Hey, Stop insulting her!" Louis began, standing his ground. "This is my life and my choice!! So You better deliver some respect to her, sir!"

Wain raised an eyebrow. "Are you an idiot, kid!? Of all the women in the kingdom, you chose A MAID?! What happened to your dignity?! Haven't you thought about what people would say, is that how you lose your father's honour, to be used in some feminish scheme !?"

"My Dignity?!" Louis blows air from his nose.

"Oh, spare me the fucking lecture! My dignity didn't save me when poison was a mere sip away from reaching my intestine, which was made by YOUR servants in YOUR party! and it sure didn't strike down a four-leg beast double her size and she didn't run away, seeking freedom for herself when she had every single reason to" he yelled.

"This girl here saved my life not once but twice. Choosing me over the freedom that guesses who stole it, that's right. YOU!"

Diana was shivering the whole conversation. She never witnessed someone rebellious and brave enough to shout with rightness in the face of Wain before. She could've been punished for such an act in the past. But for a prince, even by the title, Louis managed to put a halt to the angry turbulent man.

Though, She felt hopeless and powerless. She wanted to defend herself by herself. But who is she bluffing?! She couldn't bring herself to defy Wain. Not again. She sure doesn't have half the confidence that Louis had.

Her looks at Louis who was still arguing- were filled with blushing that filled her face, and her lips quivered. She was trying to hold back her smile. If this isn't a true love then at least she got herself a gritty valiant friend.

Wain frowned. "You really think that I am the reason for all of this?! Wake up, prince! This is all but a reference to how the palace became in danger after this muggle girl put her foot inside!

...and I thought you had a better taste, boy". He shook his head like he cared.

He moved his head around Louis towards Diana. "Should have trusted my guts and hanged you when I had the chance. Oh well..." he taunts.

"It's never too late..." he creepily smiled.

He bumped his finger. Subsequently, the two royal guards changed their position, pushing the tip of their spears toward them.

"What, you are going to kill her now!? instead of awarding her for her unconditional loyalty!". Louis stood his ground.

Wain pointed his finger to himself. "I am the only one who decides who's worthy to be called loyal!"

He motioned for his guards to capture her.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

"Louis...!" She cried. Grabbing his back.

"I won't let them take you!" Louis said. Shielding his precious jewel with his arm. He considered using his dagger but he still hoped for diplomacy.

They retreated backwards, trying to put some distance from the steadily advancing spears.

"Diana!" A voice shouted behind her and it wasn't a friend in particular.

"Ph-Philip!" She eyed with a heavy gulp.

The royal guard came with 3 other guards, trapping the couple between two different groups of soldiers.

"No..." she cried even more."I don't want to die, Louis" She dug her head into his clothes.

"I assure you, that is not gonna happen!" He comforted her with great unrealistic confidence

Philip's blue eyes shone toward the king. "With all due respect, sir. May I have a word with the maid?" He asked Wain.

"Do whatever you want! but I want this shit out of my palace!" the king shouted.

Philip nodded, he asked his comrades to stand down and they did.

"Diana, listen to me very carefully. There is no exit from this hall but to the prison..."

The girl felt the blow of the word like a slap of a hammer.

"The Only person that will go to prison is you! Just wait till the news reaches the queen !" Louis shouted. Putting himself between her and Philip

"Precisely, my prince," Philip said, following it by an unexpected act.

He winked.

Louis clutched what Philip meant.

He looked at Diana's crying eyes. "He is right"

"But you said..."

"I know what I said, but let's face it. We can't withstand that smug face on our own, not until my aunt comes back. Only then we will have true ground to face him on"

She stared at him, speechless, with her tears falling and her morale flattened.

He touched her cheeks with his one hand, whipping all those tiny drops off her face, and pulling her to his body, hugging her. Resting his head over hers.

He whispered. "Let him think he won. for now. It won't last. Trust me, I will get you through this, my love. You hear me, I will not leave you alone, I promise"

She took some time to react, it was a huge trust test. But it may delay Wain's judgment till Anna returns. After all, she is a maiden of Lady Anna, and Wain's influences strictly end at his mistress domain. They all know he must tread carefully if he doesn't wish for a direct collision with his wife.

She wrapped her arms around his body. Squeezing each other a bit.

"I-I-I know, just be careful Louis..." she sighed.

He demonstrated fearlessness in the face of adversity and succeeded. She realized it would be unwise not to trust him now.

"Ok, that's enough. I will handle this myself!" Wain rushed from between his men, towards the couple.

Grabbing and Pulling Diana's blond hair. Snatching her from Louis's arms. With gasps from everyone, those who saw cruelty in itsmost forthright form.

She screamed with tears of pain, causing Louis to enrage and to try and lung at the king.

The royal guards barely caught him before using his dagger and he violently resist their robust use of weight over him, disarming him from his weapon.

When He found there was no use of his banzai charge, he impended Wain with curses with his highest voice, knowing very well how empty those yells were on Wain.

"Hey, get off him! The prince has an injury, you pigs!" Philip shouted at the men, pulling them away from him.

"You ok, my prince?"

Louis clenched his teeth, blowing fumes, he looked up to see Philip's extended hand.

He accepted it, regaining his foot quickly. "THAT SON OF-argh!"

He flinched, catching his injured arm. He felt pain crawling under the bandages.

He looked carefully at the hand that touched the bandages, and there were stains of blood on his fingers. He was bleeding.

"Now Look what you have done to yourself" Philip waved his hand, with blame.

"That bastard, I can't let him get away with this, what does he think himself?!"

"The king. A sad fact we all have to accept sooner or later, my prince. You said it yourself. There isn't much to do against his arrogance. Our chance now lies within our lady Anna's influence"

On the night of the next day :

It was cold. There were echoes of water hitting the unpolished bricks, driving whoever heard it to lose his sanity.

The light was dim, the torches in the area were few and the moon was washed with clouds. The food was good as poop. That's if she actually managed to taste whatever she was eating.

She couldn't feel safe with the two big tail vermins roaming around like watchkeepers. Their squeaks prevented her from sleeping sometimes.

Yet, She was grateful that she was alone in her cell, which was the only good thing she experienced. She wasn't that person who would go along with the criminals anyway.

"At the very least, I had the rare enjoyment of watching you two fight on that dead cockroach the day before..."

She talked to the two rats roaming in her place as if they would report back, unbelievably satisfied with that stomach-puking entertainment sight.

"Well, it's getting late. Might as well kill my time before that perv comes for my hair again"

She frowned. She would be grateful if she had a mirror to help her do her hair again. Like how her father does.

Now she had all the time to think of it. Back at Endora, Her father advised her over and over again to cut her hair short. Too bad she didn't listen, despite thinking how it was pretty to watch it swing in front of the mirror.

Suddenly she heard a voice. No, it was some kind of...Whispers.

Attention swallowed her. She hopped out of her place with focus. It was coming from outside.

Maybe the guards are talking. If I am lucky I Might as well know what would become of me

She hopped off the bed, along the freezingbrick-stoned surface of the cell, towards the cell door. She leaned her ears on the steel door and it was true. There was talking outside.

Unfortunately for her, the iron door was too thick, it prevented Diana's lousy curiosity from catching any understandable word.

However, she recognized three different tones. Three people were talking. Which was strange in a way.

Mostly, and by default, one or two guards would be plenty to guard a teenage defenceless maid. They had already taken her blade away. So...Who is the third person? Could it be my lady Anna?!

She still had some seeds of hope that Louis had found a way to get her out. His promise that was full of loving-kindness was the thing that kept her attached together. Holding her from drowning in her own despair.

However, no matter how she lowered her loud breaths and focused on listening, she didn't get away with a single clear word.

She frowned in disappointment, taking her failure with her to her sleeping spot

"This is pointless. There is no guarantee that my queen will come to save me. Hell, maybe she would agree with Wain. I didn't consider her opinion when I said yes to the prince. knowing what affairs hiding between me and my Louis may lead her to switch her attitude toward me"

Crash

She heeded suddenly

"Wait...Something just struck the floor just now...from its sound, it seemed it was something heavy"

Bam

Another one? what is going on outside?

Click

She stood up. Alerted and afraid.

Someone just inserted the key into the lock and rotated it. That keys can only be held by the guards, which meant it was time to know. Whether Queen Anna succeeded in busting her out, or...else.

The rusty Iron door opened with a noisy squeak and the bright light emerged from behind the figure that opened the door. Blinding Diana's eyes for some seconds. Her eyes shifted away naturally from the dazzling. They were adjusted to darkness for far too long.

So she needed a moment before uncovering the person's details ahead.

He looped the keys in circles around his fingers, leaning against the wall and smiling with his humorous cunning smile

"No matter my mother told everyone that I am a really bad boy"

Diana's mouth was shaped into a surprised smile.

"Louis!"

She ran towards him, hugging the boy. The memories of the two past horrible days she spent in that shithole, were erased on his sight.

She gave him a tight hug, ignoring his arm of him that was screaming for breathing.

He touched her cheeks to warm them up a bit. They were as harsh as rough ice.

"Told you I won't leave you. C'mon let's get you out"

He stuck her weak body by his clean arm to his body, rubbing her arm gently, inducing the safety again.

However, one step out of the door, and she discovered what happened to the guards.

She saw the two on the ground, unconscious with two broken jugs with a lot of expensive wine spilled on the floor.

"Wait!" She pulled herself away in horror.

"Did you just kill those two!!?" She pointed at the fallen guards.

"No, just a sleeping potion in some wine. Now we must hustle, we must leave the canterpool tonight!"

"Wait what! H-Hold on, I don't understand. Didn't my queen..."

"Failed...we failed. Wain is still delusional by his own 'principles'. Even for my aunt. She used every persuasive trick in her sleeve, she even pressed on by trying to charm him. But he saw through her acting and clung more to his relegation. He said it was for the 'greater good'

My aunt did not give up and a fight broke out between them"

"So we are fugitives now?!"

"Isn't that better than dead" he stated a fact. Regardless of how it impacted Diana.

He grabbed the girl's hand and squeezed it gently.

"Look, I know it's hard to take in. But believe me, no matter what happens to you, I won't let you face it alone"

She blinked and nodded with a grateful smile. She looked at the guards with sympathy. They were going to tolerate troubles because of her. They don't deserve this. No one does. She hadn't ignored that the good guards allowed her to keep the necklace out of goodwill. Is this how she repays them? They don't deserve this. No one does.

Suddenly, the ruby necklace unleashed beams of dark lights everywhere. It shone in black.

"This is bad," said Louis pointing to the necklace.

Confirming this, the couple sensed footsteps closing on their position.

"Follow me," said Louis bursting to a run. The girl and the boy ran to the first room that intercepted their way and blocked the door with a box from inside.

"That should buy us some time"

They turned around to examine their surroundings.

The room was very big and had a lot of items, most of them once belonged to the long gone criminals that were previously imprisoned. One of those items was Diana's dagger. She found it on the spot.

"Hey, I think I have found my dagger," said Diana with great joy while examining it.

"and I have found our way out," said Louis pointing to an open window 3 meters high above his head.

"How about we take the stairs instead?" Diana said, refusing to share the same opinion of Louis.

He opened his mouth to respond but he was interrupted...

"SOUND THE ALARM, THE MAID HAD ESCAPED!" said a shouting man outside.

"Great, they found out about the sleeping guards earlier than expected, we don't have much time now," said Louis nervously.

"Lend me a hand, I have an idea" Louis said

The boy and girl jumped into action; it took some minutes before they made a mountain of boxes stashed they can organize to reach the window.

Louis climbed up, deciding to take the first look at the window view.

What he saw, made him think twice about how he will explain that to Diana.

Louis turned his gaze to Diana. "I have good news and bad news, which one do you want to hear first?"

Diana stared with an eyebrow.

Louis was awkwardly put. "The good news first then...The window is overviewing a narrow lane that leads to the main street which is full of markets and crowds of people, once we reach there our escape at this point will be much easier and we will disappear within the crowds"

"And let me guess the bad news, we are very high?"

"Yep, Do you have a rope by chance?"

"I mean, we can search the room for one in all those stuff"

"We don't have time," he said, trying not to panic. Till his eyes caught something...

"I have a dangerous option, come take a look"

Diana climbed until she reached the window, and it was true. She saw the terrible view through the window that was 20 meters high above the ground.

Diana wasn't exactly surprised, she knew she climbed up many stairs to her cell. So it was expected to see such a sight, yet the height was so high that it dazzled her mind for a second.

"We could jump on that" Louis pointed towards a dark brown tent with a lonely female merchant trying to sell any of her goods.

The tent was just beneath their nose. From their point of view, It was a brown dot on the sidewalk.

"What! No way in hell we are going-"

Click...

"Someone blocked the door of the storage room. They are here! Break that door this instance!!"

The sound of the Alerting guards sent the creeps under their skins. Soon after, the door began to receive hulking knocks and bangs.

"If you want to say hi, be my guest. Or trust me to flush us out of this"

"You mad!? This is suicide! What if we missed the jump?!" said Diana nervously

"You already know the answer to that, and let's face it. If those men tore down that door, we will still be Dead, but only in the ugliest and more humiliated way"

Diana's heart's sound could be heard, echoing in her eardrums. She never tolerated the sight of high places, not to mention jumping from them.

"Just hold my hands, that should make sure we fall in the same way down," Louis said, unsurely about his own advice.

The boy extended his hands and Diana took it. Ready to make the risky leap.

She wished if the banging on the door would halt for a minute just enough to organize her screaming thoughts.

She stared at the long way below. She had to face her fears. Her father always warned her about the day when she wouldn't have the comfort of evading her worries as usual rather than facing them.

That day had come.

She gasped, feeling her breathing quickened. All the air around her thickened and it became unbearable.

Her final thought was if they failed or one of them hesitated to jump, They would pay their lives as a cost for their wrong decision and they wouldn't live long enough to regret it.

The door broke open. For the guards to see the last moment of the couple as they leapt downward...

...vanishing to the unknown...