It's been about a week since we ran into the bandits and their leader Aki and Lina told us her story on how her and her siblings became outcast from their own pack and why she was trying to do everything and anything to help her siblings get by each day and the one the she was struggling to find work was the day that Kard came across her and gave her the assignment to put under the sleep potion that the arrow was laced with. Soon the carriage came to a stop and the door was opened and I looked to see who opened it and saw that it was Lina.

"Mi'lady we are taking a break," Lina said as she moved to the side so I could get out of the carriage and once I did that I realized how long I've been sitting in the carriage since the last time we stopped for a break.

"Noshi, how far is the capital from here?" I asked Noshi as he started to get a bag from the back of the carriage

"I think we are about a day or two away," Noshi said as he took out some sandwiches we bought from a village we went through earlier and gave one to each of us, I sat down on the ground and Lina practically freaked out when I sat down on the ground and jumped to her feet

"Mi'lady you shouldn't be sitting on the ground with a dress as pretty as that," she said as she ran back to the carriage and got her cloak and laid it down on the ground.

She motioned me to sit on and so I got up from the ground and dust off my dress I was wearing which is one of my 'Lord' Dresses that Tomatsu had made for me as made my way over to Lina's cloak she laid on the ground for me to sit on and I did since she is trying to earn our trust mostly Jasmine's trust. About two and a half hours later we started back on our way only to get stopped by some guards

"Hult!" one of the guards shouted as they stepped in front of the carriage and Noshi stopped the carriage and I moved the curtain to see what was going on

"We would like to know why you are entering this area" a guard that I would think is the captain asked us.

"Lina would you please the door, please," I asked her and she got down from where she was sitting next to Noshi and walked over to the carriage door and opened it for me

"Mi'lady," she said with a bow and I exited the carriage and come face to face with the captain of this guard unit

"You must be the captain of this unit am I right?" I asked as Jasmine and Lina both come to my side

"No, I am not, Madam," he said "I am the second in command" I nodded my head

"I must apologize, you just seem like you were the captain of this unit," I said with a slight bow

"It's alright, but might I ask where you are heading," he asked me

"We are heading to the capital for the grand ball," I said as Jasmine handed me the letter that is addressed to me and he read the letter and nodded his head

"I am sorry Lord of Dragon's Claw we did not know that you where a lord but please allow me to escort you and your guest the rest of the way to the capital," He said as kneeled down and bowed. I nodded

"No need to be so formal with me," I told him "You can call me Akira" He looked shocked at my kindness

"You are one of the few lords to show kindness to others," he said as he stood up and took my hand and led me back to the carriage.

Once I was safely in the carriage he jogged back to his horse and got on it quickly and rode over to us to lead the way to where the capital is. Since our journey is ending once we get to the capital we will have time to rest while we are in the capital. A few hours have passed an it was started to get dark so we stopped and set up camp for the night, Lina went with Jasmine and Noshi to get firewood while Masky and the guard get the supplies for cooking while I just tied up my hair into a ponytail as I walked over to them just as Jasmine, Noshi, and Lina all got back with the firewood

"Lina please let me help you carry the firewood" I heard Noshi say to Lina when I turn to look where they were coming from I saw that Lina had all of the firewood in her arms and could barely see over the firewood and I walked over to them and took some of the firewood from Lina into my arms

"Lina, you don't have to push yourself to do everything on your own let the others help with things, alright," I said to her and her eyes were sparkling and her tail wagged

"A-Alright," she said soon we made a fire so we could cook and I took the food and started to cook something for the six of us

The guard was surprised that I was doing the cooking. During dinner, we found out that the guard's name was Shinomya he looks up to his superiors a lot we also found out that the capital is about a day away and soon we all went to sleep after finding out more about Shinomya.

Beautiful light shining around the room, people dancing to the music that is playing, I was making my way to the balcony.

"Is this a dream?" I thought to myself after seeing that the people in the room were a lot taller than me.

Once I got out onto the balcony I was greeted by a boy with pure white hair and a sweet innocent smile but I just could see his face soon another boy with black hair appeared next to him and that boy looked a lot like Tomatsu but how could it since his story doesn't match up with what I'm seeing here. Soon everything went dark and I hear someone yelling out a name

"Crimson!" the voice said

"Crimson where are you?!" it called out 'Crimson? Who is Crimson?' I thought as I was making my way to where the voice was coming from only to find the boy with pure white hair on the ground with the darkness around him looking like its trying to eat him

"H-Hey! Wake up!" I ran over to him and kneeled down but when I touched the boy to try and wake him up, the darkness disappeared but his white hair at the very end of this bangs there was black.

"Crimson! Brother!" another voice called out as it was making its way to us and boy I was holding in my arms lifted his arms and touched my face

"I'm sorry my Princess, this was the only way to protect-" his voice got cut off and soon everything faded.

Soon I woke up from the dream and I looked around I found myself already in the carriage with my head on someone's lap when I looked up I saw that it was Masky who was leaning on his arm looking out the window

"Masky?" I said and he looked down at me

"You're awake" was his only reply

"how long was I asleep?" I asked as I sat up and he took a deep breath

"Half a day," he said and I was shocked and soon I moved the curtain to look outside and saw that the sun was past noon

"WHAT!" I yelled out and I heard the others talk

"Well it looks like she is awake now," Noshi said

"My ears!" Lina slightly yelled as she covered her ears

"Good to see you awake sleeping beauty," Shinomya said with a slight laugh

"I told you she would freak out once she woke up," Jasmine said as she looked at me with a smile.

"Why did you all let me sleep for this long!" I asked them as my voice raised a little since they didn't wake me up and they all looked at me

"We tried to wake you but you wouldn't wake up," Lina said with a slight worry on her face "We tried smacking the pans together to wake you up, we yelled your name as loud as we could and we even poured water on you!" Noshi said

"NOSHI! You weren't supposed to tell her the last part" Shinomya said in a slight panic soon we all calmed down and I took a deep breath and started to think about my dream.

'Why did I have a dream like that I know it was fake but it felt so real and that boy why did he call me Crimson and the other one called me Princess?" I was lost in thought I didn't realize that we were almost to the capital.

When it was getting dark and when I heard my name being called I looked out the window

"Yes?" I said

"Sorry if I woke you Mi'lady but we are about to arrive at the capital," Lina said since she still calls me 'Mi'lady' even though I told her to call me Akira.

I let out a sigh

"It's fine Lina I wasn't asleep I was just lost in thought," I told her as I opened the curtains to look out to see the capital.

"Well Akira and friends this is where we have to part with my job with escorting you to the capital is done," Shinomya said as he turned his horse around and I nodded

"Thank you very much Shino," I said giving him a nickname

"Well M'lady I bid you a fair well," he said before he left.

Soon we found the in that is for the lords that are attending the ball, once we all got settled into our rooms we changed and went to walk around the city. There were so many people and kids running around looking happy and I helped a few kids and they gave me a white rose flower crown. As we were walking around we decided to stop at a tavern to get something to eat and as we are entering it I bumped into someone

"O-Oh I'm so sorry I wasn't looking where I was going," I said to the person

"Its alright miss," they said as they left so I didn't get a good look at them.

As we ordered our food and drinks a few drunks were hitting on me but thankful Noshi, Lina, Jasmine, and Masky all had my back to told them off when they were starting to get touchy feely with me. As we were eating we had some alcohol but, Masky was the only who didn't eat or drink anything so he was the only one who knew what happened after I passed out.