"Damn, this is embarrassing…" Briar cussed as he let Atropa support him. "I showed her something uncool."
"but I got to admit that this feels nice!" he smiled inwardly as the lady made him lie comfortably on her lap.
He never thought that being kicked out of his study and made to join his younger sister in going incognito would go so well.
Though he made such a blunder, the excursion could still be considered a success. He got to spend time with Rozen and Atropa.
He had been making his moves towards the lady's maid but Atropa still tried to keep her distance. He knew that she is concerned about their different social status.
It was a good thing that Rozen had noticed his infatuation, thus the girl would sometimes push them together. His younger sister was really sly.
"At the very least, something good had happened despite having a frustrating week." He smiled slightly at the events earlier.
While his eyes closed, Briar had thought about the more serious issues that he had to deal with.
"How can I convince Zeke to work for us?" he had been stressing over the cases and he is in desperate need of a caster.
Four years ago, he had been summoned by the Enclave and they had ordered him to convince the princess to come back home.
However since Lily had already refused, he was advised to simply take Lily back against her will.
Unfortunately, after that chance encounter, he could no longer find the girl. No one could provide the information about her whereabouts.
So he had taken drastic measures just to track her down which led him to Nightshade's grove. There he had found Master Chervil and Zeke.
He had tried several times to enlist the two wizards to help her find the girl. But they always turn him down.
Master Chervil was too old for adventures and casting some high level spells would sometimes take their toll on his body.
Zeke, on the other hand, was already a full-fledge wizard. But still he refused to help Briar in finding the princess.
Well, he did have an excuse of not going away for an adventure. He had settled down and his wife was due to give birth that time.
Briar had occasionally visited the casters in Nightshade's grove and pestered Zeke to help find Lily but the wizard always refused until the prince had given up.
Now that forbidden rituals and dark casters are making reappearances in Marjoram, he really needed to persuade the wizard to help.
"He didn't help when I asked him to find Lily. I doubt he will help in investigating the dark caster." He muttered as he finally let his consciousness fade into the darkness.
Since he was reminded of his childhood friend Briar breathed. "Lily." Before snuggling closer to Atropa.
"Your highness…your highness…" a female voice filtered Briar's ears while someone was gently shaking him awake.
When he finally opened his eyes, Atropa's worried face came into view.
"What's wrong?" he asked as he slowly got up.
"Your highness, I am worried about the princess. She was not able to come back for a few hours."
Briar looked around and found that the sun has already begun its descent to the horizon.
"Her knights haven't come back and reported anything. We should be back in the palace by now." she muttered with uneasiness.
"Calm down. I am sure my sister hadn't noticed the time. It's been a long time since she had gone out and had fun."
"But…"
Suddenly, one of the escort knights came hobbling unsteadily towards them. He was holding his side which was bleeding.
"Your high…ness….the prin…cess was taken!" he gasped before he collapsed.
"What?! Rozen was taken away?!" Briar froze at the news.
But he immediately snapped out of it and jumped into action. "Assemble everyone! Scour the area and find suspicious people who might have abducted my younger sister. Find her!"
While the commotion is going on, a carriage arrived along with reinforcements. The knights took their unconscious comrade to be brought back to the castle.
Briar finished giving orders and then turned around to find the lady's maid.
"Atropa, you need to ride the carriage and go back to the castle-." However, he stopped short when he saw the girl.
Though she was just standing there and staring into her necklace, the flaxen haired could feel the surge of mana which was converging towards her hand.
Briar was surprised when a faint pentagram formed before it vanished.
She then turned towards the prince and met his eye.
"I think I know where she is. We should hurry, Your highness. They are on the move." She said while holding the golden chain. The tear shaped pendant had risen and pointed to the west.
"dowsing..." he noted.
Briar would have ordered her to stay but was dumbfounded when Atropa suddenly grabbed the reins and climbed on one of the horses brought by a knight.
"I'll be borrowing this!" She then kicked its side which made the horse rear and gallop.
"Bring me a horse!" Briar asked for his steed and bellowed. "that lady just sailed away on a horse while wearing a skirt. You lot better hurry and keep up with her!"
He then made his steed gallop to keep up with the girl.
"Atropa!" he called out.
"Your highness, they have entered the woods!" she said while showing to him the pendant which pointed towards the dense forest. "we have to hurry."
They pushed their horses to their limits. After a while they saw a carriage a few meters away.
"they are slowing down since the forest road is rough." Briar said.
He was a taken by surprised when Atropa pushed ahead until her horse was only a few paces away from their target.
"Wait Atropa!" he called out when he saw the girl climb unsteadily on the horse's back.
Briar's heart almost stopped when he saw her jump from the horse towards the carriage roof.
Thud! She barely managed to land properly. Since the carriage was still running, the maid had to hang on the edge of the roof for dear life.
"Your highness! The princess is inside!" she shouted. "I'll try and stop the carriage."
Briar was appalled as he watched the girl trying to hold on and suddenly swerved to the right which almost throw the horses a bit off course.
"Are you sure you are just a lady-in-waiting? Not a spy from the kingdom's special unit?" the prince shouted in aghast.
Pushing his horse forward, Briar made sure to keep up with the carriage.
The horseman tried to make the horses go faster but for some reasons, the horses suddenly halted as if some unseen force was in the works.
Briar could feel a huge surge of mana enveloping the carriage before it completely stopped with a loud screech.
Dismounting his horse, he took note of the lady-in-waiting. She was panting on top of the roof and seemed exhausted for some reasons.
Briar would have helped her but stopped when the coachman drew a sword.
But before Briar could take a step closer, a noble man came out from the carriage while holding a knife against the princess' neck.
"Lord Heralf!" the prince gritted out while unsheathing his sword. "unhand my sister!"
"To think you will be able to intercept me." Heralf muttered while pressing the knife to the child's throat.
"Briar!" the girl called out. The blade slit her which made a few drops trickle down her neck.