With each spurt of laughter, the man in front of me got more and more of a nastier face and then he threw something at me!

“Had enough!?” He yelled.

I stopped, it didn’t happen straight away, but I did, eventually, stop laughing…

“I’m sorry, it’s just ironic!” I said in a laughing voice and shrugged.

I was a merchant, then a princess, then a maid, now something else…Wouldn’t I be stupid if I didn’t find it funny!?

“What’s ironic?” He asked in a strange tone of voice.

I smiled at him and shrugged once again, “Life…Life is ironic!”

The man shook his head in irritation and then got up, “Size…Size…Here, put this one.”

Clothes got thrown down to the floor and they looked like commoners’ clothes. I didn’t care…Whatever…

I took them into my hands and then something came into my eyes, to see that the man was washing my face.

Flinching out of his hands, I got up and looked away from him.

“That place there.” The man said pointing.

Seeing that I could change, without being seen by him, I did as I was told and redressed.

After coming out, redressed in the commoners’ clothes, I looked at the man and he again came closer to me with a cloth to wipe my face, “Ah, it’s fine dirty!”

The man chuckled and stated, “It’s not often that I get a maid with such a dirty face! Besides, your face is one way of finding out how we can change your identity…So that people won’t be able to find you!”

I frowned, “What do you mean?”

The man stepped closer and said, “I am to make a mask to fit you, or that of a veil. To do that, I want to see what type of face you have to make sure I hide whatever I need too!”

Oh…

Letting him clean my face, I started to think that this was a great idea!

If I can hide my face…Then…

“Oh…”

Then I’d be able to leave and…

“My dear lord!”

I’d be able to leave and…

“Princess!”

Looking to the man, to see him get on the ground and become a ball like figure, I frowned, “What?”

“I…I…I’m sorry! What are you doing here!?” The man said, only bringing his head out a bit to say this, before hiding it back near the floor. “How can it be!? The Princess is still…Still Alive!”

“You…You know who I am?” I asked in bewilderment. After all, he was the first one!

“Princess, it is Rodney! When…When you were five, I…I was with your father…”

I blinked and stared at him blankly…Rodney?

Who was that?

“I don’t remember you.” I bluntly said.

“It is…Never mind, Princess! I was brought into the palace and saw you from a far a few times but never…Never did I think that you are still alive!” He stated, looking back at me now from the floor in complete happiness, “Your Father, lucky, lucky you are still alive!”

I narrowed my eyes and bent down towards him, “Tell me about my father!”

“Oh, your…Your Father is in Icklish at the moment, Princess.” The man stated, then he looked away and frowned, “I…I don’t think I should tell you more than that, Princess.”

Standing up in a huff, I shake my head and sigh. Why…Why can’t I know about my own Father!? What was really going on!?

Icklish?

What…Has my father been there this whole time!?

Raising my eyebrows…I had to admit that this was probably the reason why Theo couldn’t find him all this time. It would make sense…

But Icklish? Why couldn’t he just take me with him? Sell a few things, see the sights…But he had left me…Here…

Putting hands to my hips, I looked back at the man, who was still kneeling on the floor, and said, “You really aren’t going to tell me anything else?”

“It…It isn’t my place, Princess! His Majesty will know! I will…I will see if you can meet with His Majesty!”

…And why would His Majesty know about my father when I his own daughter doesn’t!?

This was looking, way to strange!

The man got up in a rush and pressed down on a lamp holder, opening another door. It wasn’t the same one that she used to come into this room, but another door completely…

Well, if only I knew…Hang on…

“Is there a secret passageway that leads out of the palace?” I asked, blindly following the man walking out of the door.

“Princess, please stay here.” The man said, totally ignoring my question!

“No!”

The man went to speak, but instead looked over at me, and sighed, “If you persist, I will have to…”

I waited for him to finish, then spoke when I found that he wasn’t continuing, “Will have to what? Knock me out?”

That would be understandable, considering he didn’t want me walking into this passageway…

“No, Your Highness! How could I even think of laying one hand on you!? You are talking nonsense!” The man looked at me in panic, looking like he never thought of it! He again attempted to kneel down, but I wasn’t in the mood for it and pulled him back up!

Well, then…What will he have to do then!?

“Then speak some sense then!” I yelled out in a bit of frustration.

“You, you should be dressed as the Princess! Look at you! How could I take you like this?” The man spoke, clearly panicking. Even his squeaky voice matched his slanted mouth and worried eyes!

I let out a chuckle, “Don’t worry, I’ve been a maid full time since my so-called death, besides…I might look more pitiful this way! Quick, let’s go!”

“Pit…Pitiful, Princess?” The man stammered.

I nodded and smirked, pointing the way, “Come on! Let’s go see the King!”

The man looked like he was in a trance and I wanted to slap him out of it!

“…Right…Then…Then this way, Your Highness!” Finally, he started to move through the secret passageway, and I followed behind with a jump in my step!

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I could ask the King if I could leave, that would be great!

I could also ask him if he knew anything about my Father!

Finally, I could get some answers!

The cold passageway was dark, but it didn’t matter to me!

I felt like I was finally heading in a direction that I wanted to go!

I was married off to a warmonger, bullied and killed off!

If I could get away from here, it was…It was happiness!

I couldn’t wait!

We went down, then we went up. There was two other ways that went off from the way we were walking but I couldn’t see much down them, making me remember to ask once again about a potential secret passageway that would get me out of the palace.

“Tell me, good man, tell me if there is a secret passageway that…”

“Shh…” The man interrupted me, as I see that we had come to a dead end.

Pouting, I stayed silent, finally hearing another voice.

“They made it there safely? Good, I heard that Wedge could do with another assistant…It’s getting close!”

Hang on just a second!

That voice sounded familiar!

Before I could hear more though, the man in front of me knocked twice, then three times really quickly.

“Enter!”

Upon the secret passageway door opening, light entered in and my eyes needed to adjust.

“Your Highness…I…” I heard the man start, kneeling down right in my way!

I noticed that he wasn’t kneeling in front of me though…

Looking up, I finally saw him! It really was the Warmongers voice!

Argh, was his voice going to be forever imprinted to my memory now?

“Stand up!” The Warmonger said, then he finally saw that someone was behind the man and he looked right at me.

“Hehe, Your Highness, I was just…” I gave a sheepish laugh…Not really knowing what else to do…

“What are you doing here!” He stated, walking towards me, with a hand out.

Pulling me gently out of the passageway, I see him sigh in relief, “I hadn’t heard from you…And this is where you ended up!?”

I see him look down at the man still kneeling and narrowed his eyes, “How did she end up like this!?”

I shrugged, “I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

He frowned at me, then looked over me, making me a bit self-conscious.

“Are you hurt?”

I shook my head.

The Warmonger put a hand to his head and sighed, in what I thought looked like relief…Was he really relieved?

Thinking back, I remembered how I had come to be here and was relieved myself. Yeah, I guess I could understand his relief…

“Rodney, you’ve done well, thank you!”

Rodney bowed even more, and said, “The men are more loyal to you, then that of the person that sent the Princess to us, Your Highness. I’m glad for that!”

Arms went around me then and I found myself in his embrace, making me somewhat stunned.

“Mmm, you may go, I’ll take her from here!” I heard from his throat above me, seeing his Adam’s apple moving up and down.

“Yes, Your Highness!” The man stated, quickly getting up and leaving, shutting the secret passageway doors behind him.

Dam, I didn’t even get to find out if there was a secret passageway to get out of the palace…

I pouted.

“My son, I think…” A voice started to talk, but suddenly stopped.

“Your Majesty!”

Turning around, I see a person bowing to the…King…

It was really him!

“Imperial Father.” The Warmonger said.

“…Isn’t that…” The King stared at me…He stared at me like I was some type of ghost!

“Yes, Father.”

Laughter then hit the room, making me feel awkward.

“What a relief! I was worried on how to speak to Wedge the next time we would meet!” The King’s words were happy, and he walked up to me in the same manner, “My dear, you really gave us all a scare…It’s no wonder…That my son has reverted back lately…Mmm, it all makes sense now!”

I saw him look at the Warmonger then, and I frowned. What did that mean?

“I was going to find a way to get her position back with the least amount of worries first, Father.”

The King chuckled and looked back at me, taking my hand, “It is indeed a problem. Perhaps it might even have to wait until the war is over.”

He kissed my hand and gently let my hand go once again.

“That is what I figured too.” The Warmonger stated, looking at me as well.

My frown still on my face, I look from one and to the other, “Forgive me, Your Majesty, but what are you talking about?”

“You will be given back what is rightfully yours, your Princess Consort position…”

I interrupted the Warmonger and put my hands up, “It’s fine, I don’t want it. Perhaps, Your Majesty” I turned to the King in a pleading manner, “Perhaps instead you could tell me…”

The King interrupted me, “Tell you about your father? But, my dear, if I tell you about your father, you cannot just give up the title of Princess! It is and always will be, yours!”

I went silent at the King’s words.

Was it me or was everyone not wanting to answer any type of questions that I had!?

Why can’t I just get out of the palace? Why do I have to stay as the Princess Consort? Why can’t I find out anything about my father without receiving any type of…Threat!?

They…Were they really threatening me? I suppose that was what King’s were good at, uh?

If I wanted to know, I will have to become forever trapped once again in the palace and…

Torn, whether to ask about my father or not, I did not speak.

“How come she is like this, my son? Do you not know how to coax a young lady?”

I looked at the King, then at the Warmonger, and found that I was still in his embrace…

Moving away from him, I saw him show a defeated expression and finally realized something…Something important…

“You knew that I was the Princess Consort?”

I found him hesitate, before looking at me, “I saw you get Theo and I knew then.”

Thinking back to a day where I was with Theo…In the Princess Consorts quarters, I looked away.

He knew all this time!?

Each day that I had served him, that I cleaned him and feed him…He already knew?

Biting my lip, I felt like an idiot. Did he want to prove that I was an idiot? Did he want to laugh at me?

“Oliver…”

I interrupted him, angrily, “Don’t! Just…Just let me go…”

I wished that this was more of a dream. That my father wasn’t known by a Rodney, that the King didn’t kiss my hand and state that I was the Princess Consort…That I didn’t find out how much of a fool I was!

“Father, I will return later.”

“Yes, yes, take her back. Don’t let any harm befall her!”

“Of course!”

I didn’t care what they were talking about, I just…Perhaps I just needed to sleep…After a sleep, I should be able to make sense about all this…Right?

The Warmonger took my hand then, I pulled away from him and heard him sigh.

Seeing him take a few steps and look back, I followed after him, not even aware of where I was or where I was going.

I was really mad at myself. I knew I wasn’t that smart but damned, I was so stupid!

“Don’t be mad, Oliver. You saw that I didn’t…”

I interrupted the Warmonger in haste, “That you didn’t what!? You didn’t order me around? That you didn’t make me do a maid’s job? That…”

What was I saying!?

I was a maid, of course I was going to do a maid’s job!

Dammit, why was I speaking rubbish!?

“I was lenient!” The Warmonger stated, stopping in front of me.

I angrily looked up at him, but couldn’t hold my glare, I was too upset with myself and I was already holding back tears of embarrassment!

Feeling a hand touch my face, I stepped away from him, “Don’t…”

“Oliver, please…”

I shook my head. Not only was I upset and angry at myself but I was sure that there was something going on with my father!

Why can’t they just tell me!?

Why can’t I know about what my father is doing!? Where he was!?

Clenching my fists together, I see that the Warmonger started to walk once again, and I followed after him.

Once we arrived through the back gate of the Crowned Prince’s quarters, I ran ahead, quickly wanting to get out of his sight!

“Oliver!”

I didn’t look back at him and I even put a latch onto my door, when I arrived into the room that I had been staying in lately.

Falling onto the bed, I hit it with my hand, and it flopped onto the mattress afterwards.

All this time, they knew something, I just felt it!

The King…He knew! The King knew something about my Father, that I didn’t!

Then…What was I to Father?

That thought was enough for me to start quietly sobbing. After one tear was released, another one was and that was it, I cried.

Putting a hand up to cover my face, I cried to feeling like my life was completely out of my hands!

The questions that I had were too strong for me to hold in anything…

Who was I to my father?

Why did the King know about my own father?

…How much of a fool am I to think that my secret was not known by the Warmonger?

I was such an idiot!

All that time that he made me feed him, was he making fun of me? All the time that I had to grind ink and how he made fun of me and what I was reading…He had known the whole time!

Dammit!

I hit the bed again, yet there was no force in it at all…

I needed to get out of here and…I never wanted to come back!

When I find Father, I’ll beg him to stay away from here forever! We can go and do our own thing, we’d never have to see them again…I was no longer the Princess Consort, so it wasn’t like it would be hard! Yet, they knew of me know, they knew that I wasn’t a maid…

I needed to get out of here before they made me a Princess Consort again, before this so called ‘war’, that they were talking about…

What war anyway? Nearly all the land was theirs! Whoever could they go to war with!?

Nonetheless, I had to find a way out of here, then to find a way to search for my Father and then…We could just wonder around like nomads!

But then, when I thought about Father, I wondered if he would even do that…

Did Father’s treat their children like this if they loved them?

I swear…I swear he was my father…So why can’t he tell me what he’s doing? Why can’t he see me once!?

Wanting to bring my legs up, I ended up instead slowly falling off the bed and I just didn’t care that I now was on the floor.

Putting my arm on the bed, I rested my head on it and felt exhausted…

What am I doing? What do I do now?

When I woke up, I looked out from being on the bed and felt like something was off.

Normally it was dawn when I got up and rushed to His Highness’s side…But now the sun was higher in the sky, shining in through the window.

That was when I remembered of what happened the day before…

Slowly getting up, feeling the breeze too cold, I shut the window with no enthusiasm.

Putting my hands to my arms, I knew that I should put on my outer clothing on…To only realize then that I wasn’t wearing it now.

Looking at it and how it was carelessly draped over a chair, I blinked…Feeling very sure that I had not taken it off yesterday…Now that I thought about it, I was pretty sure I was on the floor yesterday…

Seeing the door still locked, I stood up and checked it, just in case, but it didn’t open.

Someone came in, someone had…

Stepping away from the door, I looked at the window and widened my eyes.

Locking the window shut, I put my head against it and shook my head.

I didn’t want to think about it. Whether it was…Him, or someone else, I didn’t want to think that someone was trying to look after me at all.

If they really wanted to look after me, why can’t they let me go? Why can’t they tell me about my father? Why is it some sort of big secret!?

Taking a few breaths in, I sighed as I looked up…To find that man looking at me from some meters away.

Looking away from him quickly, I undid the curtains and closed them tightly shut.

Now…Now my room had darkened a bit and for the first time this week, and perhaps even before hand, I felt extremely lonely.