Crown's Aide

Chapter 3

She scaled up the wall easily. Her body moved almost without effort, sneaking past the most prestigious guards in the whole kingdom, the palace guards. Her dark clothes blended in seamlessly with the night. Those guards were none the wiser—she was as silent and as agile as the wind.

The Nordmont Palace was located in the heart of Central Nordent, of the province of Nordent, the capital of Wirchij Kingdom. Fortified with tons of palace guards, consisted of the most skilled knights, the Nordmont Palace was the residence of the Wirchij royalty. That was where the King lived, as with his younger siblings and his mother, the late queen. For thieves and the likes, it was the most intricate building they would have to encounter, should they dare to try. Even without the presence of said guarding knights, trying to navigate through the vast building without learning the path would have their head spinning.

But none of those things hinder her. Every twist and turn were managed very carefully, and it appeared like she knew the place from the back of her hand. Before long, she arrived at the royal chambers.

Unlike the rest of the palace, the royal chambers were guarded with extreme care. Aside from those prominent royal guards, the place was crawling with hidden guards, watching from the shadow. These guards were even more skilled than the palace guards, hand-picked personally by the crown, and their existence was not known to public. Their presences could not even be felt by normal people.

But as she strolled by, none of those hidden guards even realized she was there.

She soundlessly opened the door to the biggest chamber there was, the King's chamber. Walking in, she closed it back, then stared at the King who was sitting before his desk.

The young man who was sitting there could be mistaken as any other boys, but the King was indeed still young. He barely passed his nineteenth Winter, as did she. But the burden on his shoulder was that of the whole Kingdom, a Kingdom that was almost as old as the continent itself. "Your guards failed," she said.

The King didn't even look remotely surprised. "Close the door when you come in, Evae."

Evaenna rolled her eyes, but did as he asked. He could be so absorbed in his work sometimes. But it was dark, and he was only helped by the lantern's light... Isn't that exhausting for his eyes? "Hey," Evaenna walked closer with concern. "If you're tired, you should just sleep."

"That's not what you're here for. If I slept, who are you going to report to? The wall?"

Evaenna glanced at the wall in jest. "Well, now that I think about it..."

"Evae," The young King groaned, but there was a hint of laughter in his voice. Evaenna smiled satisfiedly. Making her friend laugh had been one of her goals lately. "Fine. You can just report to the wall. I hope the wall have enough authority to act on it."

"Oh, come on now, Al, you know I'm joking."

Alanzo rubbed his eyes, finally looking at her with a smile. "Very well. What's your report?"

"Well," Evaenna's smile diminished slightly, "there was a chance the Duke was involved in the King's death." She looked down. They already knew that. "There is correspondence between Yohl and my father."

"What is the content?" She knew he was getting impatient.

"They spoke of weird things, Al," She frowned towards herself. "Something about the Crimsonmist and how they're back. They mentioned that 'the defender of northwest' had been eliminated..."

"The copy, Evae," Alanzo looked at her, urging. He was always impatient about anything that concerned his father's death. It happened a month ago, still fresh on all of their memories.