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Just as Vivian and Edith parted ways, these two interesting messages appeared. The last words Vivian saw on Edith's Tarot were the emotions that she was "Shocked" and "Betrayed".

"Not by me, right?" Vivian was still worried that she was a bit rough on Edith but she needed to make a mystery.

If the whole situation seems like there is a danger lurking in the shadows and Edith is unaware of it, she might get scared or something.

In truth, Vivian was the worried one. The moment she got into her carriage, she melted away on the chair from the stress.

The pressure inside that Royal Palace was nothing short of intense. Something was just too damn frightening and to think that poor little princess grew up in a place like that, Vivian felt so much pity towards her.

Even Vivian had to wear one of those fancy lady clothing just because she was entering the Palace. Suffocating! She was thinking so hard about asking Edith for her tailor's contact info.

But either way, the interrogation was dodged this time around with that little angry act and Vivian arrived home without any trouble.

"Esmeralda…♪♪" Vivian walked in looking for her maid and the Hulking girl descended so fast on the stairs.

"Yes, Miss."

"My babies, where are they?" Vivian asked.

"Excuse me?" Esmeralda was caught off guard.

"The guns, girl, the guns!" Vivian explained.

"Upstairs in your room, Miss."

Esmeralda only needed to say so and Vivian was on her way up with the speed of the cheetah and the vigor of the panther. Once she entered her room, she grabbed the four guns and hugged them tightly.

"I am so so so so sorry. It is our first day together and I am already a bad mother. I shouldn't have left you like this."

"This… is not healthy."

Watching Vivian doing so, Esmeralda was at a loss for words but once she turned around, she saw Logan standing far in the hallway and looking towards Vivian. As he felt that Esmeralda had spotted him, he turned his head away.

Esmeralda closed the door to let Vivian have some motherly time with her babies and walked to Logan.

"Was Miss Vivian alright out there?" She asked.

"You tell me. I didn't go into the Palace with her and she barely talked on the way back." Logan replied, looking at the woman who was taller than him by a head. Logan is tall for a normal human, reaching a tad over 6 feet but Esmeralda is a striking 7 feet in height (2.1 meters) which, as far as Logan is aware, is short for a Hulking.

Still, Logan was pleased that Esmeralda was showing special care for Vivian.

"Merciful Saints! I am not even sure how it will end for me and the Miss." Logan thought out loud.

"Can't you check on her if you're so worried?" Esmeralda asked him.

"How can I after last night's blunder?" Logan said with a shaken smile, "I am not sure if I can fit to be by her side at all."

To what he said, Esmeralda smiled warmly.

"It was an obvious setup, Sir Knight. And if you felt this way, how do I feel when I froze up in front of a tiny knife held by a woman half my size."

On the surface, Esmeralda seemed collected but she had her demons running in her mind. Logan tensed up a bit and brushed his long hair with his hand to the back.

"From the looks of it, she recovered faster than the two of us." He said, looking at Vivian's door.

"That she did. It's incredible!" Esmeralda agreed.

"Well, you do what you can to recover, Esmeralda. You may have spent a few days with us but our lady is infamous for her eventful life. Make sure to keep up." He said and walked downstairs.

"Yes, Sir Knight." Esmeralda bowed slightly and walked back to her house duties.

***

"Esmeralda!" Vivian called.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Yes, Miss."

As the twilight descended, Esmeralda entered the room, catching Vivian in the act of rising from slumber. Vivian had only just returned from the palace a few hours earlier and, exhausted from the ordeal of removing her gown, had succumbed to sleep while hugging her guns. Upon waking, the pangs of hunger rumbled in her stomach akin to the relentless beat of war drums, reminding her that she had not partaken of any sustenance throughout the day.

"I'm hungry." Vivian spoke with sad hunger noises.

"Dinner is being served downstairs, Miss. I'll help you dress up." Esmeralda replied.

"Did father not call for me?" Vivian asked.

"When I told him that you were sleeping, he told me not to wake you up." Esmeralda replied.

"Hmmm!" Vivian hummed, "Alright, I'll be down."

She said and moved out of her bed in her short pajamas.

"While I admire the fact that you can casually run around in those, Miss Vivian, I think you should be more reserved when walking out of your room."

Esmeralda forced a gown on Vivian who was making more hunger noises while being dressed. She rushed down the stairs and emerged before the dinner table.

"Good evening, Father." She greeted the Count and sat in the chair on his left.

There were only the two on the table which made her look around.

"Good evening, Vivian. Saskia and Robert went out." Count Julian said.

"On, it's our date then. Sorry, I didn't dress up." Vivian said in a playful manner which made her father chuckle.

"You are in big trouble, little lady, and you are in this good mood?" The Count's smile lasted for a few seconds before dropping… "Just like your mother."

"…" Vivian couldn't say a word because she hadn't much recollection of the mother he was talking about.

"So…" The count noticed her curious look and returned to the subject, "I heard you have served the Princess well."

"Yes, Princess Charlotte was over the moon with her garden back in her care." Vivian replied, "I thought you were going to be upset that I caused trouble today, to be honest."

"On the contrary, you have done great, child." The count replied.

"So you are impressed?" Vivian asked while eyeing her quest window on the "Impress Count Julian Quest".

"Not exactly impressed. You are a smart child so I expected you not to get yourself into trouble." The Count said.

Apparently, she can't get that quest done yet.

"Alright, now I am feeling a bit conflicted. What exactly do you think I did great in, Father?" Vivian asked.

Lord Jillian put his knife and fork back on the plate.

"You have made a rapid comeback thanks to the Princess but you didn't just rely on her, you exerted enough ability to show the High Society that you can still move the biggest decision-makers in the Nation. While it is not wise to oppose the Prince again, you made it look like you were caring for one of the Nation's National Treasures."

"The Princess?" Vivian asked.

"The Garden." The Lord corrected her.

"Right, the Garden." Vivian nodded, "The Princess is quite the National Treasure too."

"Sadly, once she comes of age, she will get wed to a powerful figure to support the Nation's Dominance. Treasure or not, her fate is to marry outside the nation and away from her subjects." Lord Julian lamented.

Vivian felt dejected for Princess Charlotte but it is quite normal for the ladies of High Society to marry once they come of age to powerful figures that can have a ridiculous gap of age between them in many cases.

"Wasn't I just the same?" Vivian blurted as part of her wasn't coping well with this era.

"You were happy you were becoming a queen at some point." Lord Julian said as if he was remembering something from the past, "But I am not a father who forces his children into such choices. To be honest, I am relieved you are no longer betrothed to this Crown Prince?"

This Crown Prince? Vivian caught on the last stray words coming from the count who realized he may have slipped more than he should because of the wine.

"As… there was another Crown Prince before Liam of Elgard?" Vivian, however, kept pursuing the Count.

"Yes…" He replied, "It is not that much of a secret in the upper circles but before Prince Liam, there was Prince Charles whom I supported."

Vivian's eyes widened.

"So that's why I was betrothed to the Crown Prince since birth." She realized, "Meaning that I wasn't originally meant to marry Liam. And you thought I should know just now?"

"You were not meant to know." Count Julian replied, ignoring his daughter's anger, "That Prince was long since dead and buried. Sadly, your engagement didn't die with him and our promise to the king had to be honored."

"So that's the reason Liam hates me." Vivian realized and massaged her temples.

"He didn't show such emotions all these years until recently. I don't know how or why he used a commoner girl to be your replacement but if he was trying to insult you, he would be insulting himself for choosing a commoner over a Noble." The Count said.

"Matilda Ambrose is backed by the Temple though." Vivian said.

"And why would the Temple, which has the entire continent at its beck and call, interfere with the inner politics and arrange weddings?" The Count debunked Vivian's thoughts, "My contacts in the Temple said that she is but a simple disciple under an old Mentor that retired from the Temple of Saint Florence."

"Hence her obsession with herbs." Vivian nodded.

The Temple of the Saints followed the teaching of the Seven Heroic Saints of Albion. One of which is Saint Florence the Healer, the Patroness Saint of Medicine and founder of the modern medical systems.

"So you investigated her this much?" Vivian asked.

"I did what I had to do to help my daughter." He said, not justifying his actions.

Vivian smiled warmly. If her father would protect her with extreme prejudice like that, she wouldn't even hate it at all even with his usual callousness.

"Speaking of helping you." The Count continued, "It seems you have a guardian saint by your side."

Vivian tilted her head unaware of what her father was talking about.

"Miss Edith Black has dropped your name off the suspects list in that murder investigation." The Count said.

Vivian's being remained in the state she was in until she rebooted her hearing sense again.

"How did you do that?" She asked, fully taken by surprise and suspecting her father to be behind it.

"I did nothing. You were the one who did a good deed today." The Count finished his meal, wiped his mouth, and turned to his daughter, "Remember, Vivian. No Bad Deed goes unpunished, and no Good Deed goes unrewarded."