Dear diary, I would like to lodge a complaint with whoever is in charge. Preferably that person is not me.

I wake up rather cold, surrounded by trees and completely soaked in the morning dew. Well, so much for not sleeping in the forest, I guess. As I stand up to look around I spot the noble glaring back at me with impotent rage.

“So are you just going to stew over there, or are you going to tell me what is wrong?” I ask her after a while.

“I am cold, I don’t like being cold,” she mutters back at me.

“Sorry, princess, but I don’t carry a four-star inn on my back,” I say, a bit exhausted.

“So you are aware of my station then,” Annabelle says with a huff.

“Wait, you are a princess. Is the king not going to be really pissed with the count once he finds out about all of this?”

“I am a daughter of the Duke of Blanch. I am not royalty,” she says, confused

“but you call yourself princes. So the king is your uncle then?”

“No, ugh, do you know nothing? No, the previous king and my grandpa were brothers.” She says in an excited tone.

“You do realise I have been in this country for less than a day, right? I have had no reason to learn any of this.” I say, getting fed up with this; I really did not sleep well.

“Hpf that is no excuse for ignorance”

“Right, right, my apologies. If we get out of this forest alive, I promise that I will try to do better.”

“Wait, you think we won’t come out of here alive?” she says now, looking less sure of herself.

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“I don’t know what lurks in these forests, and I might carry a big sword, but I don’t know how to use it,”

“Then why do you carry a sword?”

“Because I made it, and I am actually quite proud of it,” I say with a smile.

“You know how to smith. Isn’t that a man's job?”

“I don’t know. The dwarfs did not seem to care all that much,” I say with a shrug.

“You were thought by the dwarfs?” Annabelle exclaims in surprise.

I nod then take out the hand axe. “Here, this was made by the dwarfs”

She takes the axe in her hand and examines it. “If that is true, then that means you are extremely skilled.”

“I would not go that far,” I say, blushing slightly.

“No, I mean, my father would probably pay a high price for anything you make.” She says while looking at me intently.

“That is something we can discuss once we get out of here," I say while reaching out my hand to help her up.

“So what do we do now?” Annabella asks, looking at me.

“Well, we came from there, so we head in the opposite direction and hope we find some food and water along the way,”

“That does not really sound like a solid plan.”

“That is because this plan is made out of limestone at best.”

“What does that mean”

“It means that I don’t know what I am doing and that I will do my best to make sure that we survive, but I can't promise anything.”

She nods, then finds whatever noble grace is still left in her, straightens her back, and starts walking further into the forest. I follow close behind her, trying my best to pay attention to any potential food or trackers. I have no illusion that we got away stealthily enough not to leave a trail, so it is only a question of when people would be following us and on whose side they were.

After some hours, we stumble upon a river and take this time to lessen our thirst. I really should get some kind of container. Lacking water is not a good way to go.

“We should cross the river here,” I say after I finished drinking”

“Why would we do that? These shoes are not good in water.”

“You can take your shoes off. And we cross the river because that is something our pursuers won't suspect.”

“You think we are still being followed?”

“Yeah, and the only thing we can do is create more distance and make our path hard to follow, and one of those is easier than the other.”

“I hate this. Can’t we lay a trap instead?”

“We could, but neither of us knows how to fight, so that will quickly turn in their favour unless you secretly know how to wield a sword; of course, then, by all means, we should lay a trap.”

“Okay, but the water is cold.”

“I know I am not looking forward to it either.”

Eventually, Annabelle relents, and we cross the stream on the other side. We quickly dry off before heading further into the forest. And that is how most of the day continues, with Annabelle complaining as we walk further and me wondering why I should not just strangle the women instead.