Sage's POV
My princess woke up earlier than normal to go to the library. She is beautifully dedicated to finding a solution, the bad part is that when she's dedicated to something she does not sleep.
I followed her to the library and stood beside her chair.
She got to reading and I had to give it to her, she read oddly fast. I took one of the books from her ridiculously high pile of books from topics ranging from spell casting, to sealing magic, to dark magic.
"Sage seat, you're going to stand the whole time?" She asked, staring up at me and I could not help but smile.
"I'm fine, your highness," I reassured her.
"Sit down," she told me.
"Okay princess," I obliged and sat down, it was hard to say no to her. I would be her minion if she just said 'please' at least I knew that much.
We stayed there for a couple hours and her frustrated grunt rang in the library after hours of silence.
"I can't find anything that will work, for realms sake!" She hit her head against the book and I was honestly hoping she didn't hurt her head.
"Your highness, calm down, you've only been at it for two days," I told her.
"I guess so," she shrugged and buried her nose in the book again.
We stayed there till the sun set and she missed dinner and I was not having it anymore.
"Okay,your highness, that's enough," I dropped the book I was reading and got up to stand in front of her.
"Enough of what?" She asked, still not looking up.
"You've been reading the book for a while, it's not good for your eyes," I told her as I took the book out of her hands and shut them.
"No I'll be fine," she tried protesting.
"No, get up," I pulled her off the chair.
"And do what?" She sounded incredibly tired of me.
"We are going out."
"Where?" She asked, suspicious of my intentions.
"I am not telling you, go get dressed, in normal clothes and meet me in your stables," I told her and she just looked at me, seemingly so lost.
"Okayy," she drawled and teleported away to her room, which doesn't give me a long time to do anything.
I literally jogged to my room - perks of being her highness's royal guard- to change clothing, because a royal guard would stick out like a sore thumb.
I changed and once again jogged to the princess's stables, she apparently used to have an obsession with horses hence why she has her own stables. I was very grateful for it being late at night, I had no idea how I would explain jogging at this hour.
The princess appeared in her stables wearing a chemise dress, which was topped off with a black over dress. Her hair was tied unto her head and I was thanking every living soul out there for getting me to this point in my life.
"Let's get going,your highness," and she walked towards where I was standing.
"Are we only taking one horse?" She asked with a slight tilt of her head.
"Yes,it's easier to handle one horse, as opposed to two,"I replied and she nodded. While it was true that it was easier to handle one horse, I just wanted her to ride with me.
I helped her unto the horse or rather she let me help her, because she would have been completely fine getting on by herself. I got on the horse next and because my princess is my princess, she teleported both of us including the horse to just outside the palace.
I rode with her in front of me to our destination, with her asking me twice exactly where we were going.
"Somewhere."
"If you intend to kidnap me, bear in mind I am fully capable of killing you," she pointed out and I did not doubt it. Then again, I've known her for 8 years, half of which I have been her guard. So if I planned to kidnap her I would not be doing it now.
"If you wanted to kill me, I would stand in front of your sword and gladly die," I said under my voice.
"What?" She asked but we were already at our destination, so I dismounted the horse and got her down, all without replying to her.
"Our eyes please, your highness,"She nodded and waved her hands in front of her face and both her eyes turned light purple, she did the same for me and my eyes turned the same color.
We tied the horse and went inside.
"You brought me to a tavern?" She asked as we made our way to a table.
"Exactly," we sat down.
"You were in need of a drink or two,"I told her and looked at me seemingly insulted.
"In my defense, you were stressed."
"Yes, we might all die, I should be calm," she deadpanned.
"I'm just kidding, I really needed a drink," she laughed and I couldn't help but smile.
The tavern maid came around and I asked for two glasses of Draugsale and she came with them.
As we drank her highness ranted about her most recent read. No it was not the ones she read while looking for a solution to the Shadow barriers.
She called her friend; Laura's name, followed by her saying she would have been ranting about the book, even though I would be perfectly fine listening to her all day.
When she was done with her drink, two random women that I have never seen, pulled her to dance with them.
I watched her from my chair as they danced in circles, and she had the biggest smile on her face. A smile that was honestly infectious.
************************************************
For the next two days the princess and I - as the helpful guard I was… to her specifically - looked for a solution.
On the fourth day and final night, before everyone had to report to the emperor, the princess nearly flew out of her chair, literally,her wings unfolded. I got up quickly wondering what in the realms happened.
"I found it!" She said, her eyes wide with excitement.
"Found what?" I asked and yes I am aware I sounded lost.
"The solution!" She exclaimed.
"How?"
"Well, you know how the books we were reading were on sealing magic, dark magic, spell casting and light magic," I nodded.
"And that was because I assumed that the solution would be there, but turns out the solution was time manipulation which I originally dismissed because what would that do, but because we were getting absolutely no where I decided to open the only time manipulation book that was in it. In said book, there was an incantation where you could return an object or certain thing and even humans to a state they were in before," she shared, the excitement still had not faded.
"So you could take the barriers to before they were opened."
"Exactly."
"Congratulations, your highness," I smiled.
"Why are you congratulating me?" She questioned, looking confused.
"For figuring out how to close something that has only ever been closed by the emperor himself," I said even though the word 'emperor' left a bad taste in my mouth.
"Thank you," She smiled and giggles, which showed she was still excited she found it.
"Oh I have to inform my mother," she said and before I could process that sentence, she teleported us to her mother's side of the castle.
"your highness, you really have to stop teleporting before I process what's going on," I told her.
"No, it takes away the element of surprise if I do that," she smiled and I couldn't help but chuckle.
"Wait here, I'll be back," she told me and disappeared into the hallway of her mother's room.
She appeared beside me thirty minutes later, with a smile on her face.
"I need to go to my room to change before supper," she told me and that's when I realized she was informing me before she teleported us in front of her door.
"I'll be out in a few minutes."
She came out and we went to the dining room, where I remained outside the door.
"The princess is beautiful, do you not think?" one of the guards said and I turned to him.
"What did you say?" I asked him.
"The princess. She's beautiful," she was, but something about the way he said it was getting on my nerves.
"Okay,so you do realize I am her highness' personal guard, so if you make another comment like that in such a manner, I will not hesitate to rearrange your facial structure, Okay?" I am honestly surprised that I smiled while saying it, because I was fully ready to break both his hands. He wasn't a Phoenix born so it wouldn't heal by itself.
Anyways after that less than pleasant conversation with the guard, nothing else eventful happened.
After the princess was done eating, I escorted her to her room and then I went to eat.
Now it was to mentally prepare to go to the emperor's palace.