─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
As Xavier walked out of the imperial office, he sighed lightly and froze in his steps. The imperial knights that guarded him behind looked at each other in confusion.
"That bastard must have lost his mind. Me? Jealous?! I am the emperor of the whole northern land. I can have any noblewoman on her knees, begging to have my heir. That child means nothing to me. For me to display such a bothersome emotion towards that child… such nonsense..." Xavier mumbled.
Xavier bit his bottom lip and closed his eyes as a sign of frustration. He walked aggressively towards the imperial office and opened the door with force.
"Fine! You can take her out tomorrow! But know this, Hansol… I am not jealous! If you ever mention that word again, I will use your head as a table decor after chopping it off myself. Do you understand?!" Xavier yelled in frustration.
Hansol's facial expression quickly showed happiness.
"Yes, of course! I will not mention that word ever again!" Hansol smiled.
KNOCK
KNOCK
KNOCK
"Your Majesty, the princess is ready. I have also prepared the imperial carriage. It is now waiting for you in front of the palace." said the imperial head maid.
Xavier cleared his throat and nodded.
"Take care of today's matters, Hansol. I am depending on you with full respect and loyalty as my chancellor." Xavier said as he looked at Hansol.
Hansol nodded and bowed with his hand on his chest.
"Your Majesty, please do not worry and enjoy your day with the princess. I will control all of the matters for today."
Once Xavier reached the imperial palace's main doors, he saw the imperial mage waiting with the invisibility potion.
"May the sun and moon shine upon the Giodivonian empire." Said the imperial mage.
Xavier nodded and looked around while having his arms crossed.
"Tell me the important details about the invisibility potion. Do not leave anything important out. Your life depends on it." Xavier commanded.
"If I may, your Majesty; the invisibility potion is quite strong. The durability of it has a 100% success rate and will last up to 10 hours. It is tasteless and in liquid form. It takes 10 minutes to take full effect, so please give it to your knights with this in mind. I will provide you with extra bottles if you plan on prolonging the invisibility spell on your knights. There are no side effects. That is all."The imperial mage instructed.
Xavier nodded and looked at his knights that were lined up in unison, waiting for their orders.
"Listen carefully. As mentioned before, I will be attending the moon festival with the princess. This will not be a time for you all to slack off. In fact, I need you to all be alert and protect the child with your life. The child and I will be in disguise to avoid unwanted attention. This is where you all come into play. You all will take a potion made by the imperial mage that will make you invisible for a total of 10 hours. Drink it when I tell you to. While others may not see you, I can see you, so keep that in mind. That being said, make sure you do your job, or I will kill you on the spot. Do I make myself clear?" Xavier ordered the knights that bowed before him.
"WITH OUR LIFE, YOUR MAJESTY!" The knights screamed at the same time with passion.
Xavier uncrossed his arms as he walked up to the imperial maid, holding an elegant case- filled with purple substance in tiny bottles.
"Go ahead and hand out the potions. Also, bring out the child. We will be on our way now."Xavier commanded.
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"Carry the princess outside of the imperial palace. His majesty is waiting. Be quick. You take the princess's cloak. Place it on her once she is outside." Ordered the head butler.
I looked around in confusion as the butler continued giving orders to the maids.
"I'd like to walk, please." I interrupted while getting up from the devon, flattening out my dress.
The butler's eyes grew double in size, causing his monocle to slip out of place.
He cleared his throat and nodded.
"Very well. As you wish, Princess. I will have these two escort you out. His majesty is waiting patiently for you." The butler responded as he opened the door.
"Where am I going?"My voice cracked.
"His majesty has a surprise for you. You will see with time. Be patient, Princess." The butler replied.
Both maids smiled down at me and looked at each other.
"Shall we go, princess? Let's not keep his majesty waiting." The curly-haired maid questioned with a smirk on her face.
I nodded slowly and walked towards the door. Both maids walked behind me as I led the way down the hallway.
"My... Do you not find it strange that the princess is going in secret with his majesty?" One of the imperial maids questioned with deep concern to the other maid behind me.
"I am not sure… this will be the princess's first outing, correct?" Responded the other maid.
"And with the emperor of all people? Should we be worried? Only heard glimpses of the conversation from the imperial head maid to the head butler. Seems that they will be traveling quite far. Possibly alone. No one knows where they are going."
I stopped walking and looked back at the whispering maids.
"Should I be worried?" I questioned.
My body slowly began to tremble from the sudden nerves.
Their facial expressions quickly changed, and they looked at each other with panic.
"Princess, let's hurry." One of the maids grabbed my hand and began to speed walk to the imperial palace's main entrance.
My heart began to race. My small legs started to move at an abnormal speed as the maid started to pick up her pace.
I turned my head, looking back at the worried maid who followed us from behind.
"Everything will be fine, princess. Do not worry too much."
TOO MUCH?! DON'T WORRY... TOO MUCH?! Am I going to die? What is the black cloak for, anyway?
I could see the imperial palace doors from a distance.
As we got closer to the doors, the two young butlers opened the large french doors that lead outside.
"Your Majesty, the princess has arrived." Announced the butler who stood outside with his arms behind his back.
Countless eyes stared at me as I looked around.
What are all of these knights doing outside? What is going on? Am I really in danger?!