shiva and asuna laughed at nia's pale and blushing face. they knew faes was only teasing her to get her mind away from the experiance.
as for gray he merely smiled and shook his head. he knew that if given a chance faes might really do as she just said. after all faes and sky had been pranking blake every now and then with much more than just tickling. he only hoped that the royal princess wont be offended.
nia realized that faes was merely teasing her as faes helped her out of the chains but none nia felt better. if not for faes she might even be dead by now not able to show her face to the world.
"my lady everything else is taken care of. all the bandits are tied up and lady mani had returned with help. the knights from city eduki are taking the bandits away while the doctors and nurses are taking care of the kids. all the beasts and other treasures and possesions from the lair are seized." eli reported arriving while escorting sky and others.
"elder sister!" sky engulfed faes in a hug with tears in her eyes. she didn't know what was happening but after watching hundreds of kids with lifeless eyes or crying continuously, some with missing limbs and some almost dead, sky knew something bad was happening here.
"shh! its alright now baby. you did great" faes held sky tightly while nia too felt her eyes turning moist.
"i don't recall your name?" nia asked faes. now that the danger was gone she realized that her saviors were dragons along with a vampire and two girls who she couldn't discern their race.
"ah! i forgot to introduce myself, pardon me your highness- my name is aster and this is my sister mani." faes introduced herself as aster and sky as mani. it wasn't like she didn't wanted nia to know they were actually blood sisters but it was better this way. faes was looking forward to the day when nia realize that they were sisters!
'hehe! her face will be worth the price'
nia glanced at others as they bowed introducing themselves.
"thank you for the help. if you havent arrived here in time i am not sure what would have happened" nia bowed her head genuinely thanking everyone in front of herself
shiva shook his head at her
"your highness you don't need to thank us as such. its our duty to keep you safe and its also our fault that we failed to capture these bandits in time" shiva spoke
"still i am glad that commander shiva himself came to my rescue at royal father's request" nia spoke softly
"oh i think there might be a misunderstanding~" shiva glanced at faes who grinned again
"his majesty don't know about your capture yet, i merely got lucky to get the news beforehand and was nearby hence arriving in time."
nia realized something from shiva's respectful gaze towards faes and knew that her rescue was planned by the girl.
"then allow me to thank you lady aster. here i have these VIP tickets for the auction occurring in city eduki tomorrow, please accept them" as the group made their way out of the cave nia offered faes two golden tickets for the auction.
"i will have to thank your highness then, i wont be courteous" faes accepted the two tickets her eyes sparkling.
"lady aster its alright is you call me nia after all we are friends now no?" nia asked as faes smiled at her
"only if you call me by my name" faes replied.
asuna silently watched the two girls talking with amusement. he was aware of faes secret of being princess of two kingdoms and knew nia and faes were actually sisters. hence he was amused when nia didn't recognize faes and faes even played along.
"what a coincidence i was going to attend the auction tomorrow too! my lady we can go there together" asuna grinned at faes
"no thanks!" faes immediately refused asuna's offer glaring at him
"oh my! you are still angry at me? am i not good looking enough to be forgiven?" asuna asked faking sadness
"do you want that good looking face of yours burnt like last time?" faes asked in return raising her hand where a flame began forming.
"uh- i suddenly remembered i have to report this incident back to the cult and wont be able to attend the auction tomorrow! what a pity well i will see you later then" asuna laughed nervously as he vanished leaving nia shocked.
"you have met that vital refining stage cultivator before?" nia asked faes, previously when faes said that asuna worked for her nia had thought faes was bluffing in front of the bandit but after watching the two interact now nia realized that the two were really acquainted
"i should have known that the bandits were related to the cult." faes sighed before she faced nia again
"you can say that the cult and i have a long history not worth discussing princess nia"
faes didn't want others to get tangled in the mess of her and the cult. its better if others didn't know and she also didn't trust nia completely yet.
"i understand" nia nodded before they silently watched the children and bandits being escorted into separate vehicles by the city knights and shiva's soldiers.
the children who were older and mature came to thank them sometime while some bandits glared at them from the distance. faes paid them no heed as she yawned.
sky had cried herself to sleep in her arms and it was almost dawn hence faes was feeling sleepy too.
after the last of the children and bandits were escorted away faes turned to nia
"well i am sure you must be tired. we were heading to city eduki why dont you come with us princess nia?" faes asked as nia nodded her head
"i have to trouble you then lady aster" nia was tired too and her mana was currently going on a rampage because of being trapped all this while. she might even get to know the girl in front of her more.
.....
nia was wrong. after they entered the vehicle faes went to sleep directly for the whole journey. the little girl mani too was alseep in between them. nia talked with shiva for a while regarding the report and the girls but only got to know that the two were shiva's direct disciples with faes being his heir. other than that shiva refused to speak anything else about the two girls. the only thing nia was confirmed with was that she have a new friend. the royal friend princess nia didn't know that the girl she was considered a friend was actually her own blood-related sister.
after they got to city eduki commander shiva dropped nia off to the mansion the royal family own in the city before taking faes and sky to his own mansion.
the two girls slept till late afternoon before they got up refreshed. after a healthy lunch in mystic fog castle faes and sky along with eli and sarah went to look around the city before the auction in the evening.
.....
somewhere else the royal family of kingdom altai was in chaos while this all was happening. a messenger had arrived informing them that the elder royal princess was detained by the bandits!
this information had left the royal family in distress but shortly after another message arrived from commander shiva that the royal princess was safe and currently resting in city eduki with the bandits arrested and children rescued.
king augustus, queen alicia and prince alexander were not sure what to feel or think anymore hence they contacted the said princess directly.
once nia picked the call she greeted her family with tears in her eyes.
"my dear! what happened are you alright? those unruly beings didn't hurt you did they?" queen alicia asked concerned as she saw nia cry.
nia shook her head as she smiled weakly against tears
"i was caught because the leader of bandits were two elemental strengthening stage cultivators. they were going to take advantage of me just like other children they abducted before selling me away but before they can touch me i was rescued" nia spoke in a weak voice.
when she was with aster previously nia had felt secured and safe but now that she was alone in the mansion the trauma finally caught up to her. when she was detained nia had felt she wasn't going to meet her family again but now that she was talking with her family she felt more thankful to aster.
"thank goodness commander shiva got there in time. we have to thank commander shiva personally otherwise we dont know what would have happened" queen alicia spoke as tears formed in her eyes looking at her daughter being so shaken.
"royal mother- if we have to thank someone then it should be commander shiva's disciple and heir lady aster. she was the one who came to my rescue and even took care of me herself" nia spoke glancing at her father who watched his daughter frowning