We decided to have a quick lunch and sat by the fountain in the middle of the square. I saw the knights patrolling around, glancing this way---- either to me without knowing who the man next to me was, or either to the man without knowing me. Or maybe they didn’t know either of us or they knew both of us.

After finishing the chicken sticks I bought, we sat there in silence. Until he broke the ice.

“Who exactly are you?” he asked. “You aren’t going to pull down your hood are you?”

I clenched my jaw, careful not to crack my teeth. How should I lie? Obviously if I randomly said a name he will search it and find out I was lying. Hmm. But looking at the bigger picture, it doesn’t matter?

“The shopkeeper seemed pretty fond of you.” he continued, staring at the kids frolicking around. “He even led you to the basement where he keeps precious things. I only got to go in once and I had to buy over 20 weapons to earn it. Also, you didn’t seem surprised when you saw the Emblem of the Lune household, one of the most powerful families. Who are you?” he asked. Without waiting for my answer, he reached out, nearly pulling off my hood. He was dangerously sharp. Were all past people so smart?? I grabbed my hood.

“I cannot tell you about who I am, clearly. But,” I stood up ready to make a run for it, “you will definitely see me soon.”

With that, I walked away, called a carriage and headed home.

As I was fiddling with the gemstones I bought few days ago, Sara came in. I brought them to a Jewelry professional guy and had him examine them.

“Those are quite rare gemstones. Your Majesty.” he said. “There is, Turquoise, Obsidian….” he mumbled.

I pointed to the stones. “Can you repeat?”

“Excuse me for my attitude. This black one is called Obsidian. And the light blue is Turquoise. The red one is Carnelian, although I’m not quite sure. And lastly...” he examined the gemstone I chose. “My heart tells me it is Jasper but… It seems to have blue in it… Your Majesty, if you want to know it accurately, I’ll have the designers check it. Would you like that?” he asked.

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“No, it’s fine. Thank you.” I thanked.

“Your Majesty. The letters.” Sara’s voice brought me back to the present. She put down a box full of letters.

The letters reminded me of the tea party I was meant to plan soon. But then again, we’ll have the debutante ball so maybe I didn’t need to do it.

I rummaged through the letters. I found a letter with a stamp emblem of the Choud Family. I ripped it open.

「Dear Your majesty,

I have heard that you are volunteering to help the Kingdom next door. I wish you all the luck. Oh, and if you are busy, you don’t have to host the tea party. I am free anytime for Your Majesty.

Amira Choud」

I chuckled. Although our age didn’t differ much, I found her cute. I immediately wrote back to her. I wrote that I would host the Tea party as more like a ball. I rummaged through other letters. There was one from Ian! I quickly opened it and read it.

「Dear Rela,

It is going okay here. We just arrived and are still building our camp near the Halio Castle. We are also teaching the citizens some basic self defense. BTW how is it going with the sword competition. I’m very curious.

-Ian-」

I sighed with relief. At least he arrived there safely. But this letter must’ve been something from 2-3 days ago.

I rummaged further in the letters. Ah, a letter from the Imperial knights. That reminded me yet again, to host it soon.

Hmmm. which comes first? The tea party ball or the competition? The normal thing first or the fun stuff at the end?

Well, of course I should keep the fun at the end!

“Sara, will you inform the Choud family that we’ll host the tea party in 16 days time,” I wrote down a couple more invitations. “And also send these.” I handed her the invitations.

“Now, now.” I stretched like a cat who has just woken up. “Let’s plan the competition.”

The tea party ball went smoother than I expected. Although I was afraid of meeting Young Duke Lucian, that he’ll find out that I was from the square, he remained indifferent even after a dance with him. I wanted to talk about where to find the best weapons, just to provoke him, but then I remembered he was sharp as a slaughter knife. He might suspect me as the person he met at the square.

But today he seemed a little more at ease than the first time I saw him. He didn’t look like someone hard to talk to.

The song ended. We curtised.

“Thank you for the honour of letting me have a dance with you, Your Majesty.” he said.

“Thank you too.”

After a few hours of having tea and laughing with Amira Choud, the party cooled down as the guests retired to their bedrooms.