On the other side of the mountain, Alphonso and his men camped for the night. They had been following the group ahead of them for the whole of the day. It was easy to follow the boy knight and his people. They did not know that they were being followed, and even if they did, they would be terrible at hiding their tracks.

One of his men walked up to him.

"Captain, there is news," the man said as he walked up to him.

The captain was sitting in front of the tent that the men had laid out for him. In front of him, the man stood at attention.

"What is the nature of your news?" the captain asked.

"I think I saw the princess with the men we are tracking."

"You think?"

"Yes sir."

"Are you sure you saw the princess? What would the princess be doing out here?" the captain asked before he remembered what Sheer told him about the boy knight and the princess. They were in love. He chuckled. The princess did not really know who the boy knight was. Sheer told him this morning just before they set out on their journey to follow the boy knight. Once he finds the sword, they would end him.

The news of the princess being in the other camp would have been a disaster if Alphonso did not immediately get an idea of how to handle the matter.

All he had to do was to get in touch with the princess and let her know the real identity of the knight that she had fallen for. She would naturally come to their side. Hell hath no fury as a woman scorned. They would be long done with their mission by the tie she would realize that she had been played both ways.

"I have to speak to her," Alphonso said." Where is she?"

"Speak do her? Does it not defeat the purpose of our mission?" the spy asked.

"It helps our mission, you blind fool. Take me to where you saw her at once."

Alphonso crept with the spy towards the camp of the boy knight, aware that the boy could still pull off surprises even though he had been underestimating him. If the boy was not good at what he did, he would not have been able to successfully fool everyone at the palace.

The king, the princess, even Sheer, the advisor. It was only through the advisor that he had been able to realize what was wrong. The boy knight was no knight at all. He was a street urchin, posing for the king of Kora, lying his way through the royalties. His stories were so compelling that it was hard not to believe the words from his mouth.

Stolen novel; please report.

Yet, there was this lack of refinement about him, especially when he spoke with his 'servant' and his 'dressmaker'. They looked like they were best of friends. They called each other by their names. It was off.

"Here, captain," the spy said.

From here, the camp of their targets was visible. The sun was still at the top of the sky. Alphonso saw the three friends almost immediately, then looked around for the fourth person

The princess was not close. Alphonso sniffed, turned to the spy, "you can go."

Even as he said it, he felt his heart take a sudden lounge inside of him. He was sending away the only backup he had in case things went south, but at the same time, he wanted to talk to the princess along.

Once again, his eyes swept through the forest and the clearing as he searched for the princess. But there is no sign of her.

"Maybe another time," Alphonso said and was about to move when he felt the cold sensation of steel at his nape.

"You move, you are dead."

Alphonso remained on the ground where he had lain to be able to see the camp of the buy-knight with being seen. The sword pierced further. Alphonso wondered if he could reach for his gun before the sword would hit something in his neck.

"What do you want?" Alphonso asked.

"Not you, definitely. What are you doing here?" It was the princess. Her voice was still as tiny as he remembered.

"Same thing I wanted to ask you, princess. What are you doing here? Your brother would not be happy."

"Screw him. Screw the both of you."

"Maybe you should include the boy knight, the one that fills your mind at night."

"Shut up!"

Meredith pierced the tip of the sword further into Alphonso's nape. The latter could not move. Already Meredith's sword was drawing blood from the soldier's neck. If it went any deeper, the soldier might suspect fatal injury.

"Why did you come here?"

"We were sent to find you," Alphonso lied.

The sword left his back, and he heard footsteps as the princess started walking away.

"Hear me out, my lady," Alphonso called.

Meredith would not stop moving away. "There is nothing to hear. Tell my brother, your king, that he should not look for me. I will come back later or I might not."

"It is about the people you are with, my lady. The king found something about the men you are with. They are lying."

"They cannot be."

"Your lover, Greg, is a poor orphan who rips off noblemen of their wealth. He works with a team of his two friends, and they go about sneaking into places they are not supposed to be."

"That cannot be true."

"Why do you think the two talk to him as if he were an old friend? Look," Alphonso said and pointed down at the camp where Bonnie and Tum were arguing. The two could not hear what the boy knight and his dressmaker were arguing about, but it did not seem like a master talking with his subordinate. In that instant, it was clear to the princess.

"Why have I not seen this before?" she wondered to herself.

"He made you fall in love just so he could rob you. What punishment do you think he is deserving of?" Alphonso asked.

Meredith was suddenly enraged. She had been made to wait while servants and peasants discussed whether she would stay with the man she loved or not. She hated him now. She wanted him dead. If she could, she would skin him alive till he died of bleeding.

"I have a plan that you would love to hear," Alphonso said.