"Where were you?!" Marcella demanded as I opened my room in surprise. Considering how easy it had been to sneak around, I hadn't thought someone would be waiting for me.
"Exploring. This is all pretty new for me," I said calmly and closed the door behind me. "Why are you in my room? Don't tell me that my little body has given you some less-than-pure ideas now, has it?" I joked and got the reply I expected.
"Shut up!" Marcella retorted with a furious blush. "I was worried about you. You just disappeared without notice," she confessed, her voice softening slightly near the end. It was clear that she was just as surprised by her admission as I was.
I gave her an appraising look and then grinned, "Aw, were you worried about me, princess?"
Marcella glared at me now, her hand twitching as if she wanted to slap me. Despite the fiery look in her eyes, I wasn't scared. Rather, I found it quite cute, even though I knew I should keep such thoughts to myself.
"I just... wanted to make sure you hadn't run off..." she said, her voice quiet but filled with honest concern. I could tell that she was telling the truth.
Feeling a sudden wave of sympathy for her, I responded in a more serious tone, "I appreciate your concern, Marcella. I can assure you that I am not going anywhere. I have it pretty sweet here, but I can't just sit in this castle. Don't you worry about people that might try to hurt you or your family?" I asked, but Marcella only gave me a puzzled look.
"What do you mean? We are a trading kingdom that has no bad ties with anyone. Why would anyone want to hurt us?" She asked, and I sighed. Complacency breeds disaster.
"Peace," I started, throwing my hood back to properly lock eyes with her, "is not a universally agreed-upon notion. You may not have direct enemies, but it is naive to think that there isn't anyone who could possibly harbor ill intentions toward you... out of envy, out of a desire to throw the balance for their gain, or just out of spite."
"If you think no enemy exists, you risk overlooking the one hiding in plain sight. Complacency causes people to lower their guard. That's when they are most vulnerable," I explained, my words drenched with the harsh reality of my past life.
Her eyebrows furrowed, and she was deep in thought, likely processing what I had just said. "I…hadn't thought of it that way," she said, but then scrunched her face at me. "It's so weird when you talk like you are older than me!"
"I am older than you," I replied, attempting to lighten the mood. "While I might only look like a child, I lived for 35 years before that was a world that had no magic. Then I spent 8 more years here, absorbing the world that I could, but it was mostly observing the way my father ran his kingdom internally. I had never explored outside of my castle until today."
Marcella blinked, her eyes wide with understanding and perhaps intrigue. She had known of my little secret but I don't think she really understood its implications until now. "You...you really have seen much more than me," she admitted, her voice quieter than usual.
"Yes," I murmured, softer than intended. Our eyes met and for a moment, a silence stretched between us filled with unspoken words and emotions.
Finally, Marcella cleared her throat, pushing her hair back and resuming her previously composed self. "Well," she started, her tone more lighter now, holding a contained laugh, "Eight years old, with the wisdom of an old man. Indeed, I did pick up an interesting burden."
"Eh, I do enjoy carrying it," I responded, grinning. Despite the potential dangers lying around each corner, I wouldn't trade this for the world. Every day was an adventure waiting to unfold, every moment a challenge, a chance to grow. It felt...fulfilling.
"Well then, 'Old man'," she stood up, giving me a smaller nod, "It's late. You should get some rest... and don't disappear like that again."
"I will only if you are with me next time!" I jested, my grin getting wider. She stuttered a retort blushing profusely but left the room hastily, leaving behind a softly echoing laugh just as the door closed.
I was left alone in my room, and I let out another long sigh. I didn't want to tell her what my future plans were. I needed to get everything in line first, and the first part was collecting more information. The problem was that I was a prince and a child. Both of these things would attract too much attention.
That meant I would have to create an alias. Something dark, and scary. I would need a mask as well, but more importantly, I couldn't let the princess know what I was doing. She was clearly a worry wart, but if I wanted to keep her safe, I would have to keep her and the others I was trying to protect in the dark.
The next day I tried to boot the door to the workshop open, but Thordin opened it as I did. Thankfully, my trusted brick shithouse caught the pair of cups filled with steaming watered-down tar.
"Keep your damn boots off the door! We put handles on them for a reason!" Thordin snapped as I peeled my face off the stone floor.
"Did I have any free hands? Or do you know a trick with your pecker that I don't?" I quipped back, making the dwarf roll his eyes at me.
"What do you plan on doing today?" Thordin asked and then took a drink of his coffee with a cringe.
"Taking over the underworld of this kingdom," I said, making Thordin spit the drink back out.
"What?! Are you out of your mind, lad?!" Thordin spluttered, staring at me like I had grown another head. "That's -- that's ridiculous, even for you!"
"Well, maybe not the entire underworld...yet," I shrugged, grinning widely as Thordin gaped at me in disbelief. "But I did start scoping out things yesterday! Met this elf named Daelen, the guy was a jerk."
"An elf? What were you doing meeting with an elf?" Thordin sputtered, a perplexed expression on his face.
I shrugged. "Just following up some leads, I guess. No matter how at peace a kingdom might think it is, there is always an underworld, isn't there?"
"That's- You-" Thordin paused, shaking his head to clear his thoughts. "Bloody hells, how did you even get the damn blood-sucking elf to talk to you?!"
"Bastard tried to snub me when I asked him a question, so I gave him an ass whooping, then bought him a drink!" I laughed, making a show of how I threw Daelen on the ground and twisted his arm.
"Twisted the arm of an elf?" Thordin asked incredulously, his bushy eyebrows raised so high they nearly disappeared into his hairline. "Do you even realize how much trouble you are stoking, lad! That's not how you befriend folks!"
"As a child, I can't just go pwetty pwease, Mr. Ewf to everyone and hope they take me seriously, right?" I retorted, rolling my eyes. "And besides, I don't plan on making that idiot Elf my friend. He is nothing more than a source of information."
Thordin shook his head, muttering something that sounded like "mad lad" under his breath, as he turned back towards his work.
But while he was stewing in my latest revelation, I began planning my next move. If there was one thing I knew from my past experience in the construction sector, it was that you had to be meticulous in your plans but also ready to adapt them in an instant. For now, I knew the first thing I had to do - an alias to work in the shadows of the so-called underworld!