“What are you talking about?!” Jason demanded angrily, “I don’t know anything about Lady Lirya Thro-”

He trailed off and his eyes widened in realisation.

Jason looked at Lirya, who would not meet his eye, “Lir… ya?”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you… I just didn’t want you to look at me that way too,” She said softly, looking away.

The Lord’s daughter!

It made sense all of a sudden. How she had never set foot outside the castle and how he had not seen her before.

Why did I not think of that possibility before? He mentally reprimanded himself, I would never have brought her out here if I had known!

Alarming thoughts raced through his head as he thought of the punishment that awaited him.

Damn it! He thought furiously, Today of all days! Why did I invite her to go with me?!

Because she looked so frantic and I wanted to cheer her up?

Because I wanted a friend?

“I didn’t know she was the Lady!” Jason said pleadingly, “I’ve never seen the Lady before in my life! Honest!”

One of the guards slapped him across the face, snapping his head back.

“Shut up! Lies won’t get you out of this!” The guard shouted.

“Reylous!” Lirya cried, “Stop them! They’re hurting him!”

She stood a bit away, kept within a protective circle of guards. Reylous was among them, as the captain of the Guard.

“My lady, he has taken you to the town, undoubtedly with the intention of kidnapping you! Why do you protect him?” He said tonelessly.

“He’s a squire at our castle! And I was the one who decided to come with him!” Lirya exclaimed, “Please, Reylous!”

He nodded reluctantly and gave the order, “No one hurts the boy more! It’s the Lady’s order!”

The guard who beat Jason scowled, but turned away muttering, “Don’t know wha’ that gurl sees in ya boy, but if I had my way yer’d be dead!”

Were the guards always this hostile? Jason thought, They were always friendly enough when they saw me on errand duty.

Satisfied that Jason was out of immediate peril, Lirya approached Reylous again.

“Is it possible… that you could let him go? Forget about this incident? It’s all just a misunderstanding anyways.”

“We are only concerned for your safety, my Lady! After everything that has happened, we don’t want you to get more hurt!” The captain said.

Lirya looked away with a frown etched over her face, and her thoughts wandered back to the subject of her father and how he used to resolve issues involving her.

There had been an attempted assassination a couple of years ago and the perpetrator had been caught, beaten, and brought to the lord. Lirya had taken pity on the assassin and begged her father to not hurt him anymore. Lord Rowan had agreed with a small smile and let her go off to play, saying he’d deal with the matter.

“Oh… I wish I could see my father…” Lirya whispered, “He always knew what to do…”

Reylous hesitated but then offered a reassuring grin.

“Actually, my Lady, perhaps we might be able to help you with that,” Reylous smiled, “We must report directly to the Lord that someone tried to kidnap you, after all!”

As the full implication of Reylous’ words struck her, Lirya began to smile.

“Thank you, Reylous!” She grinned, “You don’t know how much this means to me!”

The captain grinned, “Actually, I think I know exactly how much this means to you. We all do. We’ve all seen you, waiting to see him daily, after all.”

The other guards nodded and grinned at Lirya. It was then that Jason realised, They adore their Lady… that’s why they were so angry.

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“We’ll take the boy to see the Lord, but you’d better make sure he doesn’t get sent to the dungeons.”

“Father would never do that! I’ll tell him that Jason is a friend!” Lirya replied fiercely.

Reylous, who had witnessed many unfortunate souls who had been sent that way, said nothing.

The dungeons were located deep in the bowels of Throeyns castle, where secrets stayed. It was a world unknown to Lirya, who had lived a protected life in a gilded cage.

<--<< >>-->

“So let me get this straight… you’re the only daughter of Lord Rowan Throeyns and his wife Lady Aylusa?”

“Yes,” Lirya answered.

Jason walked with his hands tied in front of him and was held by a guard. It was a rather startling revelation, although he had had some idea lurking in the back of his mind, that she was not born a commoner. Despite her plain clothing, she had something of an aura, but he had refused to see it.

Lirya looked sideways at Jason, noting his long, feathery eyelashes and golden-blond hair.

“You… you don’t come from here, do you?” She asked bluntly, broaching the subject with the delicacy of someone who dozed off in etiquette class.

He winced at her direct wording, but answered anyway, “Yeah… I always did have fairer hair than my siblings. Father told me that I’m adopted, but he’s more like family to me than whoever my real parents were.”

Jason chuckled, “He single handedly raised three children, one of which wasn’t his own blood. Father really is amazing…” He smiled fondly at the memories of his family, “I didn’t really want to leave, but father’s getting old and we’re not exactly well off. The job of squire pays quite well and it’s fun too! I might even become a knight at this rate… Ah! Sorry… that probably bored you,” He glanced at Lirya, but she was listening to his every word.

“So that’s how a normal family lives? Wouldn’t you live happily ever after if you had enough money?”

I guess she really doesn’t know this world. Guess she wasn’t lying when she said she’d never been outside the castle before, Jason thought.

“Uh... yes, but not everyone has enough money.”

Lirya pondered over that, then said, “Then why don’t nobles live happily ever after? We have plenty of money, so why isn’t everything nice?”

Well… money doesn’t buy happiness. It only aids in finding happiness.

Jason told Lirya that and her face fell. Seeing her sigh, he asked her about her family.

“My father used to be really nice, but now he won’t see me. Mother’s been really ill for many months now. Maybe she’ll die,” Lirya said with no emotion.

“You don’t care if your mother dies?!” Jason exclaimed.

“Well… she barely ever talked to me, even when I was a kid. I know she wanted a boy… now she’s hiring tutors to make me ‘the perfect lady’ so she can marry me off to some fat, old lord and better if I snag a Whiterose or Ravenstorm.”

That was often the problems that noble families faced, Jason noted. In order to rise up in the social hierarchy, the nobles married their sons and daughters to form bonds and elevate the statuses of their houses. Most sons were expected to marry above their rank, whereas it was considered lucky if a daughter managed to marry someone of equal or slightly higher status. In many ways, living as nobility was harder than the simple lives of peasants. Arranged marriages to heirs many years older was common among the noble daughters.

“How many fat, old men can the noble houses have?” He joked, hoping to lighten the mood, “Surely you would marry someone your own age?”

“I don’t know! I heard that the Whiterose heir is really strange and… does the Ravenstorm house even have an heir? The only ‘normal’ heir I know of is the Blackrose crown prince, but Throeynses don’t marry royals… our house is too insignificant for that! I wish I could just marry a man of my own choosing, regardless of his house’s status. I’d sooner marry a peasant and live in a shabby hovel for the rest of my life than marry a noble in an arranged marriage!”

They had entered the castle gates and were nearing the long main corridor that would lead them to Lord Throeyns’s audience chamber. The group’s footsteps echoed and shattered the cold silence.

Jason considered Lirya’s statement and then asked, “So… would you marry a noble if it wasn’t arranged? If you fell in love?”

She snorted derisively, “As if that would happen! They’re all rotten to the core. All they care about is money and power!”

His reply was cut off when the guards halted in front of a large door at the end of the corridor. The door was massive in size and built out of sturdy pine wood—an abundance within the Throeyns lands. It was decorated with the Throeyns emblem—two neydeer facing inwards. Their antlers joined at the centre of the door where the handles were.

Neydeer were magical creatures. Much like regular deer, neydeer had large antlers upon their heads. However, their pelt was more thick and shaggy and a mossy green colour. It was often said that their furs were actually grass and that theory was backed up by the colourful flowers that tended to grow on the more mature neydeer. They were rare creatures, whose pelts allowed them to blend in seamlessly to the forests that they lived in. Neydeer were also notoriously picky about the forests they dwelt in, living only in the elven forests and roaming in the Ahyeld—meaning ‘shield’ in the old language—forest within Throeyns territory. The Ahyeld was an ancient forest—however, unnamed and unexplored until well into the Golden Age—so large that the name was derived from the way it shielded Throeyns castle and the inner kingdom from the first Demon War.

Two seasoned guards stood outside the doors and greeted the group. Reylous and Lirya were both well liked within the castle.

“Please inform Lord Throeyns that we have caught another kidnapper,” Reylous said.

“Another?!” One of the guards exclaimed, “Of course we must tell Lord Throeyns right away! I hope he rots away like the last one!” He glared at Jason, “And a squire of this castle, too! Did they pay you to take her, or did you enter as a squire with the intention already?!”

The other guard, while harbouring similar feelings of anger, hushed his companion before they could annoy the Lord.

“I will inform the Lord immediately,” He said, bowing his head in deference to his captain and Lirya.

The guard left, pushing open the large doors enough to enter. Moments later, he returned and gestured for them to enter the antechamber.

The antechamber was spacious and had doors leading to the Lord’s private suite and office. A second set of doors, lighter and made of plain wood, separated the Lord’s office from the visitors. Few servants lingered in the halls, but one stood ready to open the doors the moment the Lord commanded it.

“Come in,” A rich voice sounded from within.