Finé wakes up to the sun's rays bleeding through the blinds. She groggily turns over to the clock, getting a shock when it's already in the afternoon. Jumping out of bed, she grabs the closest set of clothing and runs to the bathroom to wash up.

Finé opens the door and the Royal Guards that were guarding it greet her with a bow. "Good mor, I mean, afternoon," she returns. "Do any of you know my schedule for today? When my father said he would cancel my lessons, I didn't expect him to let me sleep in so I don't know what to do now."

Rumbling comes from Finé's stomach. "Well, you should eat something first, Princess," a guard quips as they laugh. With a blush creeping up Finé's face, she excuses herself to go to the dining hall.

As Finé sits down at the table, she spots Bianca leaving her seat. Seeing Finé wave to her, Bianca splits off from her group to join Finé. "Yes, Princess?"

"Do you know where Izetta is? Maybe we can talk as I eat."

Bianca's features harden. "She left her room hours ago. She asked where our training grounds are and left for it immediately. Although she was informed of the bus that ferries us to and fro by the hour, she said she would jog there."

"W-What?" Finé jumps in her seat. "Isn't it miles away? Why would she want to run there? And she left hours ago? Did she only sleep for a few hours?" Her eyes dart to her phone, checking if Izetta said anything but there are no notifications on it.

"I'm not sure, Princess," Bianca sighs. "She's already there though. I'll be informed of what she does there by the other guards there but you should try to talk to her yourself."

"Ah, got it," Finé nods as she whips out her phone. She is about to tap the call button when her finger stops short. 'She may be busy now though. I should just send her a message to ask to meet back here later.'

Finé enters her father's room to see him silently on the computer. The doctor and guards bow as they take their leave, closing the door behind them. Finé gulps at the tension in the air with just the two of them. "Father, I know you said you cleared my lessons, but why was nothing planned to replace them? I wasn't even told to come to your room, I just did so because I didn't know what else to do after eating."

The King breathes out as he closes the laptop. "Finé, I wanted to make sure that you're well rested. I didn't want to tell you anything in advance so that you wouldn't be troubled while sleeping."

Finé's eyes waver. "What…", she falters, "What do you mean?"

"The way you handled things with the British, it left a lot of things to be desired."

"Huh? I was just doing what I thought was best for Eylstadt," she asserts as her eyes narrow.

The King's gaze softens. "This is why I wanted you to rest properly before we tackle the subject." Beckoning her to the bed, he explains, "It's easy to be focused on the goal and then fail to notice that the end does not justify the means. Oftentimes you would even lose sight of the goal if you keep telling yourself that whatever you're doing is worth it."

Finé takes a few breaths to calm herself before walking over to sit at the bed. "Okay, I'm listening."

"Let's start with a topic that should be fresh on your mind. Remember when you tried to negotiate with the British immediately after their men were saved?"

"Yes," Finé nods.

"I don't know about you, but usually people don't want to talk business after an emotional experience. I'm sure their cabinet was not only worried about their President, but for their own citizens as well." Seeing Finé's brows furrow in thought, he continues, "I for one was overcome by emotions for hours I heard that you were finally rescued. It pains me to say this, but I could not do anything for Eylstadt because my mind was full of thoughts of my daughter that would be safe at last."

Finé blinks a few times as she rears back. She then looks to the ground as her arm reaches behind to support her body. 'That's true… I must have not realised it myself because they let us rest as much as we wanted to at the hospital. But even when we did the video call, I completely lost track of time until Father coughed violently.'

Finé closes her eyes as she draws a deep breath. Exhaling and opening her eyes slowly, she concedes, "I did not consider their feelings at all. Although it was only for a few hours, they must have been anxious and I should have been more sensitive."

Her father smiles. "Do you need some time before we continue?"

"No," Finé answers resolutely, "Please tell me what else I did wrong. I can't be so weak that I crumble after one critique. I need to become strong enough so that others see Eylstadt's strength."

"Okay, we'll continue from there then," her father compiles as his smile fades. "During the rescue, Eylstadt was not able to demonstrate its strength."

Finé opens her mouth to retort, but decides to keep quiet.

"The Secret Service informed me that you sent in the White Agent, the person who has been the talk of the town with all his accomplishments so far. Naturally, the spotlight would shift to how he rescued them rather than how Eylstadt was able to respond swiftly and efficiently."

Finé's shoulders droop at the revelation. 'I should have realised that long before this. Her debut mission was a given since they really had to advertise her then, but Izetta has always been the main focus of any articles covering her missions. She's just so powerful that talking about anything else would look insignificant.'

As the silence held, the King decides to proceed, "It was also an inadvertent blow to our morale."

Finé gasps aloud as her body jerks and her eyes widen. With quivering lips, she asks, "What… do you mean?"

"I'm sure you know that we have good men and women serving the country, even if they are not part of the Royal Service." Earning a small nod from Finé, he continues, "They have been training long and hard for the sake of the country. Then when an emergency arises and they have the opportunity to put their training to use, the White Agent was sent in their place."

"Wait," Finé interrupts, "Like you said, it was an emergency. Shouldn't we prioritise resolving it over who does the actual rescue? Surely they aren't so prideful that they don't want others to help?"

"Are you being prideful when you walk on your own two feet although somebody could carry you wherever you wanted to be?"

"Well, that's…" Finé licks her lips. "L-Like I said, that was an emergency. I understand that the limelight was taken from Eylstadt, but there's no reason for them to feel down about it."

"However, this case was not one that needed the White Agent, or help from other countries." Seeing Finé furrow her brows, the King explains, "While the President's life is a very serious topic, they had already located him and a rescue team was preparing to go. This was not severe enough to warrant immediately sending him in."

"But we didn't know his condition. Yes, he wasn't badly wounded but we couldn't tell from here. Wouldn't it be better to send Izetta first in case he was dying?"

"Just because we lack a piece of information does not mean that we should assume the worse," the King points out. "Everybody would be very busy otherwise if we had to bring in the big guns for any unknown scenario. We should put our trust in our people that they are well-prepared to deal with the situation given the current information. They have plans should the circumstances worsen and they know when it is too much for them to handle. This could have been easily settled with just our forces."

Finé's gaze trails to the floor. "How bad is it?" she asks softly, "How badly was their confidence hit?"

"I can tell from the reports from the commanders. There are people who feel they were not trustworthy enough, that the White Agent had to be sent in because they were incompetent. That they could not do anything to serve their country despite all their training."

Finé grips onto a fistful of her hair from the front. With her pupils shaking, she mutters, "How could I have been so blind? The Royal Guards expressed similar feelings to me at the hospital after Izetta saved me. I should have picked up on it long ago, yet I still behaved like what I did was justified. All that talk about being the Princess, and I screw up this badly once things get rough. I… I…."

Finé gasps as her hand slowly lets go of her hair. With dread filled eyes, she shakily turns to her father who has been letting her process things quietly. "I… hurt Izetta as well, didn't I…?" Finé whispers.

"I can't say for sure, but do you see her as a friend, or as an asset?"

"Of course she's my friend!" Finé unintentionally raises her voice. Realising it soon after, she looks down and mumbles, "Sorry."

Her father rubs her shoulder with a smile. "This is the most important part so I'm glad you made some headway by yourself."

Finé looks back up to meet her father's gentle gaze. He continues, "Your friend left the palace without saying a word to you, although the two of you had just talked a bunch last night. I don't exactly know what's going on between the two of you, but she doesn't seem comfortable around you anymore. If your friends don't feel comfortable around you, how would your citizens feel?"

"I don't get it though," Finé sighs, "Why didn't she tell me anything? I did barge into her room yes, but I didn't order her to go. I checked if it would be easy for her first and then she said she would go…"

Her father's hand falls back to the bed. "Like I said before, I don't know the exact relationship between the two of you, but I can make a guess. She may be feeling betrayed now so she doesn't see you as a friend. Instead, she thinks that she has to serve you."

Finé's hand involuntarily clutches at her chest. "No, no, no…" she mutters as her eyes start to water. Her father shuffles forward and extends his arms. Finé buries her head into his shoulder and starts sobbing. He wordlessly strokes her back.

A few minutes pass as Finé's sobbing gradually dies down. "I'm no good as a Princess, huh…" she sighs, "I did everything wrong and I broke down anyway."

"You didn't have bad intentions," her father comforts her as he holds her head. "Being a ruler was never meant to be easy. But at the very least, you've taken the most important step – admitting that you're wrong. In the end, we're all still human and are bound to make mistakes. When we do, we can only give a humble apology and learn to do better next time."

Finé turns her head away. "I should get on that then. I'll prepare a speech for our people." She pats her father's back to signal that she is okay now and they separate. "I'll have to think of an excuse for how I managed to get the White Agent to go although to the other countries he has declined any form of contact so far so could you and the advisors help with that?"

"Of course," her father smiles. Then his smile falters as he advises, "But there's something more important that you should do first. You really should make up with your friend before you address the country. It isn't public knowledge that you were the one to send her in so it's not like the country expects a reason from you. But you had the strongest reaction when we talked about Izetta. I can tell how important she is to you so you should talk to her first."

Finé looks away. "I don't even know if she wants to talk to me now… I sent her a message hours ago and she hasn't responded…"

"Maybe she is mad, so she needs some time to cool off. Maybe she just hasn't seen it yet because she's preoccupied with other things. Like I said before, I don't know the relation between the two of you. The people who would know this best are you and her."

"Do I though?" Finé doubts as she looks down, "I thought it would be easy for her and she said it was no problem for her to go, but now she's behaving so differently from last night…"

"Analysing her behaviour is one way of understanding how hurt she is without talking. While waiting for a response from her, you can take the time to reflect on how she behaved last night against how she behaves now. I don't believe anything else happened in between so you can take your actions as the direct cause of the differences. From there, work out why and how she reacts like this so you can apologise to her clearly. You may not get everything right, but showing that you've deeply thought over the situation shows your sincerity in wanting to fix it."

Finé turns back to face her father with a resolute nod. "I will. And I will make sure that I never hurt her like this again."

Finé's father beams. "Alright, you can go now. After you've reflected on the overall situation, call Bianca to help you get the details down. She has noted Izetta's demeanour and will be able to help you figure out the unsaid things."

Finé leans in to give her father a hug. "Thank you."

Bianca strides over to a chair at the dining table with her tray of food. "Princess," she greets with a slight bow.

"Please, be at ease and take a seat," Finé returns, "You can start eating too. Let's just talk normally."

"Understood." Bianca puts her tray down and settles in. With a tentative hand, she scoops a mouthful and brings it to her mouth. Meanwhile, Finé is picking at her half-eaten meal.

"First of all," Finé begins and Bianca looks up right at her. "I want to apologise to you. I realise I was cutting you off last night when you were trying to stop me from doing something stupid. Even if you are supposed to serve me, there is no excuse for interrupting a friend." With a bow, Finé repents, "I'm sorry."

Bianca takes a moment to stop her jaw from falling. Swallowing quickly, she tries to tell Finé to raise her head, that a Princess should not be bowing to her guard. Failing to find the words, she realises, 'Ah, right… This is how Princess Finé has always been. What happened before was a mistake and whatever her reasons, she has acknowledged it and is now trying to make amends.' Taking a deep breath, Bianca smiles and awards Finé the respect a friend deserves, "Apology accepted."

Finé raises her head to beam back at her. "Thank you."

"So, Princess," Bianca clears her throat, "Let's get to the important part. Do you think you can fix your relationship with Lady Izetta?"

Finé leans back in her chair. "Honestly, I don't know. Some friend I am to her. I've come to realise just how little I actually know about her. Can you tell me what she did today? Neither Lotte nor I have seen her at all, her room has been untouched and she hasn't responded to my message."

"Of course, though you shouldn't feel bad about being unsure about her." Earning a few blinks from Finé, Bianca explains, "Unlike us from the Royal Service, you did not spend most of your day with her when you were young. You only went to play with her and even when you two were introduced formally, you were not allowed to see her during her experiments. Even after you came back to the palace, you've only seen her for a few hours. It only makes sense that there are a lot more gaps when it comes to her."

"Ah… I see…" Finé puts a finger to her chin. "Well, I should start now then. Could you tell me what she has been up to today?"

"Let's see… You last knew that she was jogging to the training grounds, right?" Seeing Finé nod in response, Bianca recalls, "She actually ran all the way there, even telling the bus to ignore her as it passed her a few times. When she got there, she was going to turn into the White Agent almost immediately but the guards there requested her to cool down and take a shower first before training more. She was shown the facilities and left alone to rest.

"Shortly after, she was seen at the obstacle course as the White Agent." Bianca pauses a little with a resigned smile. "She completely demolished the previous record on her first run, and it wasn't like she was just brute forcing it by ploughing through in a straight line. With just her reflexes and fluid motions, she navigated through the course with ease. Some guards wanted to ask her for pointers, but seeing how she left unceremoniously, the others told them not to probe.

"Next, she listened in on a group that was practicing formations. They were happy to let her join in but she just asked to watch from afar. She didn't say a word or interact afterwards, she just observed silently."

At this point, Finé's hands are mechanically putting bits of food in her mouth as her eyes grow unfocused. Seeing no interruptions, Bianca decides to finish the recollection, "The last report I got was about her at the firing range. She was practicing throwing her knifes but with the target in front of her, she hit her mark every time so she got into more unfavourable positions. She flicked them over her shoulder, while hanging upside-down from a tree, and while flipping through the air. Even then, her accuracy was astonishingly high."

Finé drops her cutlery and buries her head in her hands. "Why…" she breathes, "Why is she pushing herself so hard? I brought her here so she could take it easy and enjoy herself. But now she's working so hard although she just had a mission, despite all the luxuries here…"

Bianca feeds herself a mouthful as she lets Finé take in the situation. "Tell me, how does the food taste?" Bianca poses after swallowing.

"Huh?" Finé raises her eyebrows. She takes a small bite before responding, "It's great as usual I guess."

"That is exactly how she feels," Bianca points out with a smile. "You're too wound up on other things that you haven't been enjoying your meal, just like how she doesn't feel the comfort the palace provides because her mind is too preoccupied."

"Oh…" Finé blinks in realisation. "This is because I asked her about saving the British President, isn't it? I know I woke her up my zeal but surely she doesn't have to be so on guard."

"Princess, you are aware of how easy that mission was to her, right?"

"Yes, I know I should have left it to our men…"

"This isn't about them," Bianca waves off. "Do you remember how the White Agent was advertised, especially after she saved you?"

"Yeah… They really flaunted her feats and wrote how she is here to protect the peace. But what does her helping the world have to do with this?"

"The White Agent isn't just helping those in need. That infiltration and rescue she did at the fortress? Even if I had the resources of the world, I don't see how it could have gone so smoothly if she wasn't a part of it. She has also displayed her raw strength like when she moved all those trunks blocking a village's stream, with her bare hands." Seeing Finé maintain her gaze, Bianca explains, "By making her stand out in the full white suit, she is also serves as a deterrent. No mastermind would dare to commit any major crimes if their scheme would fall apart the moment the White Agent shows up. They wouldn't be able to do anything against this superpowered being and can only watch as their schemes get dismantled."

Finé's hands slip off the table into her lap. "I think I see what you're getting at… Izetta's missions are much more important than I thought. In every other mission, she made a huge impact by taking part in them and her actions would propagate to the future as well."

"Exactly. By sending her on the mountain rescue where nothing needed her powers or skills, you gave her the unintentional message that you would be sending her on more of these trivial tasks, at least to her."

"But why…" Finé utters as her hands grip the fabric of her skirt, "Why didn't she just tell me that she didn't want to go? Or even put up some resistance? I wouldn't have pushed her if she said she was tired…"

"Princess, you've been studying too much lately." Seeing Finé slowly look up, Bianca continues, "You've been focusing so much on how to deal with politicians and whatnot that how you deal with them and the ordinary people has started to blur together. Take a while to clear your mind and then think back to how the businessmen act while meeting with your father. If you, the Princess, asked a citizen if a simple task is easy for them, what would be their reaction?"

Finé brings her hands together, her fingers crossing over each other as her gaze falls back down. "They would… even agree to deals that were slightly outrageous. They would also try to assure us that the job is easy for them even if were a little difficult…"

"Exactly. When given a task by somebody they look up to, people try put in more effort to ensure that the job is well done and up to their expectations. For Lady Izetta, this issue is exacerbated because she thinks that she owes you her life after you got shot by those guards."

"Despite me already telling her she doesn't…" Finé laments, "Especially after I ripped her out of bed to ask about a trivial thing… Actions really do speak louder than words…" Finé leans back into her chair as her hands fall slack. "But I don't get something. She has been doing every mission perfectly. Even if she did think that I would be giving her more missions, why is she training so hard? Isn't she strong enough already?"

Bianca straightens up as she puts forth, "It is why we still hone our skills although it has been peaceful. Sure, nothing has been beyond us yet, but when a real disaster strikes, we want to make sure Eylstadt has the strength to tackle it because of our loyalty." Bianca takes a second to lick her lips, as well as give Finé some time to digest her words. "Now think back to her feelings for you. You saved her life, she left the country and then you got kidnapped and tortured for years. She must be kicking herself for that, although she is not at fault. Even after saving you, she can't take away the years of agony you suffered. It must be weighing on her mind, continuously telling her to do better for your sake." In a soft voice, Bianca confesses, "Some of us feel the same way as well."

"Oh…" Finé starts to stand up, inching towards Bianca.

"Please, you don't need to," Bianca assures her by raising a hand. "We Royal Guards have each other to confide in and advise. Lady Izetta on the other hand, is only really open to you. It wasn't just today that she was pushing herself while being headstrong. The Secret Service told me that despite them telling her to take it easy, she kept asking for more work."

Finé exhales deeply. "Is she really open to me though? I realize that this is all my fault, but she didn't even want to tell me how she really feels and now she won't talk to me…"

"Maybe open isn't the right word. But she did let her guard down after you brought her back last night, and that's a start." Seeing Finé look up sharply with a faint light in her eyes, Bianca smiles. "Lotte told me that when she left the room, Lady Izetta was sleeping by lying straight up and barely moved due to her short breaths. Her limbs were open and her body was tense, as if she was prepared to spring into action at the drop of a pin.

"Now compare that to when you opened the door and I got a glimpse of her. The doorbell had been going on for some time but when we entered, she was still mostly asleep. I saw that her body was curled up and slack. She was hugging a pillow closely and the blanket slowly rose and fell because of her deep breaths. She was sleeping peacefully then, like she was just a normal girl that was just enjoying the luxury instead of thinking about all this White Agent stuff."

Finé recalls when she reunited with Izetta at the White Agent's apartment. How Izetta's body was stiff at first but quickly relaxed once Finé soothed her. How Izetta agreed to talk to her face to face although she had declined everybody else that wanted to thank her. With a fond smile, Finé recognises, "Yeah, I get it now. I got her to ease up before, I can do it again. And this time, I'll make sure that I treat her right." Finé pushes out the chair to stand up. "Can you take me to the training grounds right now? She may not want to reply to my message but I'm sure if I show my sincerity in person, she will at least hear me out."

"Well, hang on. We don't know if she's really ignoring your message. Maybe she just hasn't seen her phone at all. Besides, the bus will be leaving the grounds in fifteen minutes, it would be faster for her to board it and come back her rather than waiting for next hour to go there. How about I call a guard stationed at the range to pass the phone to her?"

"Oh, please do," Finé nods as she strides over to sit beside Bianca.

Bianca listens to her phone dial for a while. Then the other side picks up. After conversing a few times, she hands the phone over to Finé. "The guard is handing the phone to her now."

After a few painful seconds of silence, Finé hears the calming voice from Izetta's voice changer, the same one that assured Finé that she would be safe after Izetta busted through the vent. "Hello, Your Highness?"

"Izetta…" Finé lets out the breath she had been holding and feels her voice crack a little. Clearing her throat, she quickly continues, "Please… can you come back so I can talk to you properly?"

"On my way."

"Wait!" Finé almost screams, "Please don't push yourself anymore. Don't start running back here with your magic or something. Please promise me that you'll just take the bus back. I'll be patiently waiting in my room."

"I…" Izetta trails off. "Understood. I'll head to the bus right now."

"Thank you."

"And Your Highness… I'm sorry you had to contact me this way. I'm sorry you had to be inconvenienced like this. If my phone is in my pocket when I turn into the White Agent, it goes away along with my normal clothes. My helmet only connects to the emergency lines."

"It's okay," Finé assures her while wiping a tear from her eye. "You have nothing to be sorry for. Just take it easy, okay? If you're too tired when you come back, we can talk tomorrow as well."

The silence hangs for a few seconds. "I'll be alright, Your Highness. See you."

"Mhm. See you later."

Both sides hand the phones back to the guards. After the guards confirm with each other that the conversation has ended, they hang up. Bianca turns around to see Finé come in for a hug.

"Thank you. For everything."

Bianca returns the gesture. "It is my honor to serve you, Princess." As they pull away, Bianca puts her hands on Finé's shoulders. "Now promise me you'll fix your relationship with Lady Izetta and you two will be happy again."

"I will," Finé swears with brimming determination.