Elion was an unfortunate spy.
Not attaining the skill to lie was his greatest downfall of all.
In the slumps, life was much more simpler, to sugar coat the truth would mean death. Someone was killed, there was no food left for tomorrow, someone turned into a zombie. These are a few things every people from the slumps had to know, the brutal truth that tomorrow is never promised.
But life was different inside the palace, were secrets were oftentimes needed for survival.
There was no going back now, in an attempt to dig information from the princess, he revealed information about him instead.
"Yes," he revealed to the princess. "I'm from the slumps."
"Is Maya too then?" The princess inquired, more curious than angry. "From the slumps?"
Elion did not answer, he might have placed himself in a dangerous situation, but he would not place someone else in danger.
But his silence was enough for the princess. "I knew it." She said under her breath. "I knew I was not wrong."
Elion was silent, he was not afraid of his impending death, but to lose his comrade was what he feared the most.
"Another secret revealed," The princess said amusingly. "not a bad week."
Had Alyssa known this a week before, she would have rushed to her mother to report them. But considering the thing she knew about the royals; Elion's secret had simply--- lost its impact.
"Don't hurt Maya, end it with me." Elion said, half threat, half pleading.
The mission had failed, and it would only all be on him.
"That would be unfair, you are here to kill me after all."
Elion blinked to the princess a few times before answering, "No,"
"No?" One of Alyssa's brows lifted, daring Elion to explain himself. "Why did you choose to be near me then? I'm well aware of the slump's propaganda, you would like the kingdom to fall, to destroy our walls, and the fastest way to achieve your goal is to kill me…or my mother. This is treason, and treason means death."
"I'm not here to hurt you," Elion gulped, revealing his mission to the princess. "I'm here to kidnap you."
Elion was confused with the princess' reaction. The princess was laughing out loud. "I guess I'm more valuable alive than dead."
"I don't know." Elion said, which was the truth, he was not well aware of the full purpose or plan of Brian, their leader.
"Since you have been honest with me, something that I really appreciate, especially these days," The princess turned serious, humor was gone, replaced with authority. "I will not report this to my mother, I will pretend I never heard a thing you said tonight…in exchange of your allegiance to me. You can be an informant, directly reporting to me."
Elion went back to his dormitory, knowing himself, he would rather face death that betray his home.
***
"ARE YOU STUPID?!" Maya was pacing back and front in the small bedroom apartment of Luppy. "YOU BLEW OUR COVER JUST LIKE THAT!"
Luppy was sitting at the small table, his chin was rested on his palm, following Maya with his eyes. "Maya, stop going around, you're making me dizzy."
"I had no other choice," Elion was fumbling with his chin, his brows furrowed. "The princess is good at interrogation." Or rather, he was bad at interrogation.
Maya stopped in the middle of the room and glared at Elion. "And what is your plan to fix this?"
"Easy," Luppy chided in. "just kidnap her before she can tell the queen."
"YOU," Maya pointed at Luppy. "step out of this. This is between us adults."
Luppy shrugged, not offended. "Just trying to help."
"She did give an ultimatum," Elion brows furrowed, remembering their conversation. "to swear my allegiance to her, probably yours too."
"And? you're planning to do that?" Maya's voice was rising again.
"No," Elion simply answered. ��I will never do that."
"Good," Maya was satisfied with his answer. "Because you must be forgetting that SHE IS A ROYAL! You should not trust a royal."
"Why not?" Luppy butted in. "The princess sounds nice to me."
Luppy might have asked his brother to tell stories about life inside the palace, it sort of became a bedtime story whenever Elion would visit him. If the princess was a good person to his brother, then she too is a good person to Luppy. One of the stories Luppy remembered was when the princess would inspect the fresh laundry first--- to get her undergarments—before letting Elion fold the clothes. This princess sounds funny to him, not intimidating at all.
"I only trust Brian." Elion announced.
"See," Maya spread her arms wide to express her point. "we will get killed, probably beheaded, and our brains would be served at their dinner." her shoulders slumped in defeat.
"But maybe if we could just explain to her our side, maybe she will understand." Elion pondered. "We're not the bad guy in here."
"What do you know, Elion." Maya sat beside Elion. "Maybe Brian wanted Alyssa as leverage for the Queen."
"Brian is not like that…" Elion defended his father. "there must be another reason." He knew his father well, Biran is not a brutal person, he would not draw blood if not needed--- well, unless there was no other choice.
"What do we do now?" Maya demanded Elion for answers. "Are we just going to go inside the palace tomorrow to serve our heads to the royals?"
"I might be killed," Elion said. "but I will make sure you will not." he stared at Maya to prove his point--- his promise.
"Nobody will die!" Luppy slammed the table, making Elion jerk his head towards his little brother. "I don't want anybody to die." Luppy, more resolute that the two adults in the room.
"I'm sorry, Luppy." Maya said solemnly, realizing what she had implied to the young one. "I'm not saying your brother will die, I'm just saying he is stupid." she threw a side glace at Elion.
"He is stupid." Luppy agreed, earning a stare of bewilderment from his big brother. "But you're not." his brows were knotted together. "Why don't you, Maya try to talk to the princess instead and persuade her that we're not trying to harm her… we're trying to save her from that evil castle…" Now, Maya was staring at Luppy. "You now, just like in fairy tales, a prince saves the princess from her evil stepmother… See, you guys are only doing the same."
"That's a good point." Maya applauded the young boy's idea. "Elion, can you make the princess summon me tomorrow?"
***
If Elion was the prince, then Maya is the fairy god mother. She had to make the princess believe that they are not the enemy. But it might be probably hard to do if instead of bringing the princess into the castle, they were trying to bring her out and make her a pauper.
Maya was washing the dishes in the kitchen, wondering if Elion managed to persuade the princess, and considering Elion's lack of persuading skill, it would not be a surprise if she would not be called in today. She would just have to pray that she would be summoned before the queen would be informed.
"Maya," Chef Will shoved Maya aside and grabbed the plate she was rinsing. "The princess would like to see you."
"But---" Maya protested for chefs do not wash dishes, ever.
"It's okay," Chef Will smiled. "Go to the princess."
"Thank you, chef." Maya wiped her hand on her apron.
It might have been because Chef Willl is young compared to the other chefs, but he was more open minded and less strict. Chef Will is probably the same age as Elion, Maya wished that Elion had gotten Che Will's social skills too--- then she would not have to always clean his mess all the time.
Maya knocked on the princess' door.
"Come in." Alyssa announced.
The princess was sitting at the round table, enjoying her afternoon dessert.
Maya did not wait for a word from the princess, she knelt beside her, pleading. "Princess, please forgive me for not telling the truth." she lowered her head.
The princess continued to eat her banana cream pie, not paying attention to Maya.
"Please understand that we were forced not to tell, because we knew we would be killed if we're found out." Maya waved a hand at her back, gesturing for Elion to kneel beside her. "Please princess, allow me to explain."
Maya had been doing a lot of kneeling since Elion entered the palace. Jake was a better partner, the worked well together.
Elion understood the que and knelt beside Maya. "Pri---"
Maya pressed a hand on Elion's tight, signaling to keep his mouth shut. Based on past experience, him saying a word would not resolve a thing. 'Let me handle this myself.' Maya squeezed on his tights enough for it to hurt.
Elion got the memo and bowed his head silently.
"Princess, please understand… we're not trying to harm you." Maya looked up to the princess. "We're trying to rescue you."
The princess released her spoon at the plate and stopped eating, an invitation for Maya to continue.
"We know who--- or what---the royals are right from the start. That's the main reason why we're against the kingdom." it was the truth. "We hated the royals, it's true, we know that they harvest the citizens and eat them."
The princess jerked her head to the side, glaring at Maya for the first time. "That's not true!" she gritted her teeth. "My mother assured me they don't do that!"
"Then princess, if I may dare you," Maya looked into the princess' eyes. "I pledge my life, you can kill me, report me to the queen, or even eat me," The princess winced at the last three words. "if you can prove me wrong."
Well, using your life as a bargain might sound big, but to Maya it was not much of a difference. After all, she would still be killed even if she did not use her life to provoke the princess.
Thinking about Jake made her made braver, Jake who was accused of poisoning the princess in front of her—maybe death would not be as lonely as she thought after all.