"Princess? You called?" Riko knocked on the door to Dia's room.

"Come in." Dia called from the other side.

Riko opened the door and stepped into the room, "Is everything alright, Princess?"

"Close the door." Dia ordered, "And yes, everything is fine."

Riko shut the door quietly and then stood in front of where Dia sat on her bed. Dia looked her over. Riko tried to keep her composure. She was afraid she had a problem with her outfit. The kingdom took pride in being very neat. A single flaw in an outfit was enough for a punishment to be dealt out.

"I'm bored." Dia stated.

"And what do you want me to do about that?" Riko asked.

She only ever used the title "Princess" around other people. Once they were alone, Riko would only ever call Dia by her name. The formalities were something both of them hated immensely.

"I think you know what I want." Dia replied as she stood up from the bed.

Riko flushed red as Dia moved closer to her. Dia smiled as she kissed Riko on the lips. They hugged each other and moved closer. Dia backed Riko into her dresser. Riko gripped the back of Dia's shirt tightly. Just as they were going to get a little more dirty, the door to the room opened up.

"I knew it!"

Dia and Riko jumped apart. Standing at the door was the King. He glared at them, but mainly at Riko.

"S-sir… I-I…" Riko started trying to talk.

"Don't bother." The King cut her off, "I cannot believe you. This behavior is unacceptable."

Dia stood in front of Riko, "Why are you only blaming her?"

"This is not something you are a part of." Dia was shoved to the side.

"But-"

"No buts." He cut her off and grabbed Riko.

"What are you doing?" Dia asked.

Her and Riko made eye contact. Riko's eyes were filled with fear. Dia's were the same, but also filled with concern.

"You know what happens to those who break the rules."

"But you said-" Dia tried to defend Riko.

"She is not appropriate." The King cut her off, "She'll spend the rest of her life in the dungeon."

"You can't do that!"

"I can do as I please. You have no control." The King stated as he drug Riko out of the room.

Riko managed to look at Dia one last time before she was taken away. Dia met her gaze with a pained expression.

DIVIDER--

After the long travel, the small party made it back to the castle. They were greeted by the King and Queen. Ruby was also outside to see them. Dia was nowhere to be found.

"Dinner will be served in an hour. Why don't you get cleaned up." The Queen said, "Ruby, show them to the bathing room, please."

Ruby nodded and led Kanan and Mari away. She paused at a door.

"Here." Ruby quickly left them after that.

Kanan and Mari exchanged glances as they stepped inside. The bathing room was simply a room built over a river that ran through the kingdom. Mari and Kanan undressed and walked into the main area. They paused when they saw someone else was there.

Dia was sitting in the river. She didn't respond when Mari called out to her. Mari and Kanan hesitantly approached her. Dia didn't look their way at all. She remained staring at the wall, lost in her head.

Mari tapped Dia on the shoulder, "Dia?"

"Leave me alone." Dia finally acknowledged them, but not in the way they had wanted her to.

"What's wrong?" Mari asked as she sat down beside her.

Kanan took a seat on the opposite side. Dia didn't reply. She continued to stare blankly ahead. Kanan and Mari exchanged worried glances.

"Dia, come on. What's bothering you?" Mari pestered.

"Dad found out…" Dia whispered.

Mari didn't understand, "Found out what?"

"Me and Riko…"

"What happened?" Mari rested her arm around Dia's shoulders.

"He threw her in the dungeon… he won't let me see her now…" Dia started crying.

"But why? He said-"

"Don't."

"But, I want an explanation." Mari stated.

"I don't have one." Dia replied tartly.

"So… he locked her up? But, why?" Kanan asked.

Dia shrugged, "I don't know…"

"Well, we can talk more about this later. Dinner will be done soon. I don't think they'd like if we were late." Mari said.

"Alright… though, I don't see what more there is to talk about…"

"How to fix this. It's unfair what he's doing." Mari replied.

"Mari, he can do whatever he wants. You won't change his mind." Dia tried to explain.

"I won't take it. I'll figure out something." Mari stated confidently.

"You never give up, do you?" Kanan sighed.

"You guys don't care about our relationship?" Dia asked.

"Of course not. If she makes you happy, then she's the one for you. No one should tell you otherwise unless the relationship is turning abusive." Mari stated.

"Yeah… it's your life. I don't understand why people hate people like us all so much. If you love her, you should be able to date her." Kanan added.

"What happened to your cheek?" Dia asked as she looked Kanan over.

"Some of the knights were traitors… one of 'em got me there." Kanan replied.

"Traitors? Where are they now?" Dia's eyes widened with concern.

"Dead. I killed the one who attacked us and the loyal knights killed the rest." Mari stated.

"That's good. Traitors are not what we need right now."

The three of them talked about the trip as they bathed. Soon enough, they got out and into clean clothes. By then, dinner was almost ready. They were led to the dinning hall and sat down. They explained what had occurred on the trip while they ate.

Once dinner was over, everyone still hung around to talk. Dia excused herself and left under the statement she was tired. Kanan looked at Mari and nodded. They both asked to leave and get some rest from the traveling. They were allowed to go.

Mari led the way to Dia's room. She knocked on the door and announced them. After a few seconds, Dia called them in. They came in and sat beside Dia on the bed.

"This has really affected you, huh?" Mari asked.

"What do you think?" Dia grumbled back.

"So, this is what you guys left for."

They looked at the door. The King was back.

"Can't we come talk to her before bed?" Mari defended.

"I know why you're here. It's about that girl." The King stated.

"Why can't you let them be together?" Kanan asked.

"It is not okay. She is not royal. She can't be the one."

"I love Kanan. I can marry her if I want. I don't care if she's just a normal citizen." Mari piped up.

"You won't have an heir then." The King stated.

"Actually, I have friends who can make it happen." Kanan stated.

"She is not going to be with her. That is final."

"What are you gonna do if she refuses to marry anyone else?" Mari asked.

"She will do as I say. Now, I suggest you get to bed." The King growled and walked off.

"Dia-"

"Just go. This matter is over." Dia pointed to the door.

Mari and Kanan looked at each other and then left the room. They both sighed. This was a tough situation to deal with. Mari walked off in hurried manner. Kanan followed after her. She was unsure where she was going.

It took only a few minutes for Kanan to figure that out. Mari was going to dungeon. Kanan could barely keep pace with her. Mari was very determined. They entered the dungeon room with no problems. No one dared to question them at all.

Mari glanced at a board. It had the location of everyone in the cells. She found where Riko was and started off in that direction. Kanan followed after her. Mari didn't acknowledge her at all. She was solely focused on Riko.

As they neared the cell, they paused. There was talking coming from it or close to it. Mari crept forward until she could see what was going on. She let out a gasp and pulled back. Kanan looked at Mari with concern.

"They're whipping her." Mari whispered.

"Can you make out what they're saying?" Kanan asked quietly.

"He's yelling at her for loving Dia. He… he isn't okay with… with same gender relationships…" Mari looked at Kanan was worry in her eyes. That news wasn't good at all.

Mari turned back and continued to watch the scene unfold and repeat it all to Kanan. Riko was being whipped for disobedience, as the King put it. She was under oath to serve the kingdom, and, to him, loving Dia was breaking that oath.

Mari suddenly went pale and froze in place. Kanan tapped her on the shoulder to try and snap her out of it. Mari turned to look at Kanan. Her facial expression wasn't a good one.

"He's trying to make her realize she loves men… the knight is… touching her…" Mari gulped as she explained the problem to Kanan.

"Oh shit… that's not good at all…" Kanan soon shared the same expression.

Neither of them knew what to do. They didn't want to just leave. They couldn't bear to leave Riko. Both of them were worried.

A quiet sound of footsteps echoed from the hall. Kanan and Mari froze. If it was a knight, they'd be caught. Thankfully, when the figure came into view, they saw it was just Dia. Dia eyed them as she came closer.

"What's going on? Why are you down here?" Dia whispered.

"I wanted to see Riko." Mari stated, "Unfortunately, that isn't happening…"

"Why? Who's with her?" Dia demanded.

"Your dad and a knight." Kanan replied.

"What are they doing to her?" Dia grew more and more worried.

"I don't think you want to know." Mari stated as she tried to block Dia from looking.

"Let me see." Dia demanded.

"Dia, they're… they're uh, doing… sexual things to her." Kanan said as she pulled her away from the corner.

"What? Let me go." Dia growled as she struggled against Kanan's grip on her nightgown. She was beyond pissed at that.

"Dia, please. You running in there will just make it worse." Mari stated.

"I can't let them do that. Let me go." Dia shook her head.

Kanan tightened her grip on Dia, "No. You'll do something you'll regret."

"Kanan is right. This isn't going to work for us. We should go. We can discuss this in private." Mari nodded.

"No." Dia managed to get out of Kanan's grip, "I refuse to allow this."

They both gulped as Dia walked out into view. Mari wasn't able to grab her and keep her back. All noise stopped except for sobs coming from Riko. It seemed like time was standing still.

"I thought I told you to stay away from her." The King growled.

"I'm not going to. Especially if you're doing this to her!" Dia yelled at him.

"Pesky little brat…" The King grumbled, "Please escort her out of here."

"No. I will not stand for this! What has she done to deserve this!?" Dia wasn't backing down.

"I don't care about you. I only care about what's best for the kingdom. This pest isn't good for us." The King met her tone.

"You care more about Ruby than you do about me! Why!? What did I ever do to you!? Why can't I have something that makes me happy!?" Dia was getting upset.

"Because you aren't my child."

"What?"

"You're illegitimate. But you know how badly that would hurt our reputation. So, we pretended like we had you. You're the result of an affair. Your mother was drunk and so was the peasant. You aren't my child, so why should I care about you?"

Mari and Kanan looked at each other in shock. That news was not what they had wanted to hear.

"I'm… I'm not… I'm not a pureblood…"

"Indeed you are not. Knight, I want you to lock her up. Why not let them spend their last days together. We'll privately execute them and say disease took their lives." The King ordered.

Dia let out a yelp and tried to run. The knight easily caught and restrained her. Mari hesitantly peered around the corner to see the scene. She locked eyes with Dia. Dia mouthed for them to leave. Mari frowned and then grabbed Kanan by the hand and quickly left the room.

They hurried to their room. They both sat on the bed. Neither knew what to say about what they had just seen.

"Rest up, Mari. Early morning, when it's still dark, we're breaking them out and running." Kanan stated.

"But how? They'll easily find us!" Mari asked.

"I'm going to request some assistance. You can rest. I can do this part myself." Kanan replied.

"Okay…" Mari agreed and crawled into the bed. She tried her best to sleep.

Kanan reached out to Yohane, "Hey, can you hear me?"

"Yeah. What's up?" Yohane answered despite the lateness.

"There's something I need you to do for me." Kanan explained.

"What is it? Did you get lost or something?" Yohane asked.

"No. We're at the castle. The Diamond one. We just found out something. Apparently Dia isn't a pure blooded royal. She was the result of a drunken affair the Queen had with a peasant." Kanan started off.

"Seriously? What's the problem?"

"The King locked her and Riko up. He's planning to privately execute them. I need you to be ready with a portal by the back gates. Early morning we're going to break them out." Kanan finished.

"Okay. Tell me when you do it. I'll be there waiting then." Yohane agreed to the request.

"Thank you. Will Hanamaru mind if they have to live with us for a bit. I know she was always tense around them before."

"She can live. I'm sure she'd understand given the circumstances."

"Okay. Bye." Kanan cut off the connection.

She settled down beside Mari and stared up at the ceiling. Her life never seemed to stop being hectic ever since she first met Mari. Kanan hoped after this, she would finally get a break. She stayed awake.