Page 28 of The White King's Favorite

“Of course!” said Yassim with a smile. “I’ll personally walk you around this morning, my lady. It’s actually a market day, so it will be even more thriving than usual.”

“Lady Cessilia,” said Yamino, licking his fingers after his third meat bun, “I would like to introduce you to my niece, Naptunie, if you’d agree. That child grew up here in the Capital, she’ll escort you as well, if you’d like. I’m sure she will be able to show you the young people’s favorite places.”

“I’d love th-that,” nodded Cessilia.

She had a little smile on her lips that she couldn’t hide. Cessilia was a bit impatient to explore more of this Kingdom. In fact, she had never been the adventurous type, and her family had always watched her a bit more closely. She lived her life between the Imperial Palace and her father’s castle, sometimes visiting her grandmother too. But she had only accompanied her brothers to the North Camp once, and she rarely went anywhere without her family. She wasn’t like Kiera, who couldn’t stand being watched and would flee anytime she could. Perhaps because she was the oldest daughter, Cessilia was always very obedient. Only once had she broken the rules. She had betrayed her parents’ trust just one time and paid a heavy price for it...

“Shall we start with a tour of the castle?” offered Yamino, patting his round belly. “This way, we can go see my niece, and then you younglings should be off to the Capital!”

“...What about the rest of your, uh... luggage, ladies?” asked Yassim, suddenly remembering the Black Dragon.

“Oh, he’ll be back when he’s full,” shrugged Tessa.

“K-Krai likes to g-go hunting first th-thing in the morning,” smiled Cessilia. “He will nap somewhere and c-come b-back later...”

Yassim tried to smile a bit awkwardly. He was a little bit worried as to where the large Black Dragon would set its new hunting ground...

“Oh, let’s go now,” announced Tessa, standing up and stretching. “I need to walk to digest all this. I’m curious about this castle too. It’s so tiny!”

Yamino and Yassim felt a bit defeated by the young woman’s honesty, but she probably had very different standards, considering where she came from. Yassim had witnessed himself that the War God’s residence was about as big as their King’s...

“We can take care of your luggage if you want!” quickly offered one of the triplets, running to the bags they had put down at the entrance.

Before she could put her hands on it, a knife flew right by her fingers, missing them only by an inch. The cutlery stabbed the wall next to her. Nupia froze and fell back in fear, her eyes wide. Her younger siblings, who were respectively holding the teapot and a full fruit plate, glanced at Tessa, both just as shocked.

“If you touch our things, I’ll cut your fingers off,” said the young woman.

“I-I’m sorry!” quickly said Nupia, backing away from their bags.

The two Counselors were in awe. Not only because they had barely seen the action, or that this kitchen knife had been thrown with such speed, strength, and precision that it literally got stuck in a wall, but also because Cessilia had barely reacted to this. In fact, her eyes had quickly gone to each of the triplets before she had taken her teacup to sip quietly as if her cousin’s action was completely normal.

“M-my lady,” said Yamino, a bit confused. “There’s nothing to worry about, all the castle’s servants are trained since childhood to serve well–”

“Th-they are not just servants,” suddenly said Cessilia.

Once again, the two old men were utterly confused, but the young Princess’ green eyes were on the two younger triplets. It was as if her previously gentle gaze had turned into an emerald-colored stare. This time, Yassim could clearly see something of her father in Cessilia’s eyes. She didn’t look so fragile anymore, all of a sudden, but she had the piercing gaze of someone who knew how to watch out for threats.

“I-I am sorry,” mumbled Nupia, bowing again and again. “We are really just servants, my lady...”

“D-do you t-train servants to f-fight?” asked Cessilia, her eyes going to Yamino.

“Of course not!”

“Then they are not j-just servants,” she quietly said.

The triplets kept exchanging glances, visibly confused. Yassim was also trying to understand. Cessilia seemed so sure, but the triplets also seemed genuinely shocked, and the look of fear on their faces too... Still, the young woman was the War God’s daughter.

“How do you know, my lady?”

“The b-boy didn’t flinch when T-Tessa sent that knife, neither d-did Lupia,” she simply said.

Yassim was astonished. He glanced aside, but... indeed, it made complete sense. If the triplets had really been shocked, they would have very briefly lost their grip on the dishes they were holding. The knife had flown close to them and almost injured their older sister, so they should have been at least shocked. Some of the contents of that teacup held on the plate would have been spilled, and those grapes on top of the fruit bowl looked like they were just about to fall, yet still there. If she hadn’t said anything, Yassim wouldn’t even have noticed their lack of physical reaction, and been floored by their acting. They were both faking their surprise so perfectly, but Cessilia had been able to notice it. Not only that, but... she even could tell those two apart? Since they had left the room and returned together, Yassim just couldn’t tell which one was the boy or the girl, but Cessilia obviously had no doubt.

A shiver went down the old man’s spine. There was definitely more to that young woman than meets the eye.

Realizing they were discovered, the triplets exchanged glances, and immediately got down on their knees, apologizing together.

“Our apologies for deceiving this Princess! We were told to quietly and secretly watch over the Princess, we would never try to harm the Princess!”

---