Her head is facing forward but her eyes are darting around. Her ears are pointing upwards but her hearing is strained. Her body is relaxed but her fists are clenched.
They're not in the kingdom of Yuuei right now. They're somewhere far away, specifically in the mountains of Mu'us-Ta' Fu. They're on their way to the Kingdom of Ketsubutsu for a political visit that the prince said to her a day later than usual.
His fingers and tongue were a little too busy to tell her the news but he was forgiven.
It's just the two of them, because the Prince doesn't need many Knights when he has her around. She herself is almost considered a one woman army due to her capability (though granted, she is miles behind Knight Best Jeanist, who can and did take down an army all by himself).
She had crossed this mountain road a number of times before, when she was still Knight-in-training. It's a hot spot for thieves to ambush any unfortunate people passing by, because it is the only road that connects the Kingdom of Yuuei and the Kingdom of Ketsubutsu. So crossing the mountain with bodyguards is a no-brainer.
But, because there are only two of them, a targeted Prince and a lone Knight, she knows that the hidden eyes are a lot more active. They become bolder, arrogant. They won't hesitate, confidently coming out with weapons drawn.
"Well look what we have here."
Immediately, they stop when the voice is heard. Instantly, she steps forward, protectively putting the Prince behind her. Multiple figures then emerge from behind the trees, all brandishing a multitude of weapons.
"If it isn't the Raven Prince of Yuuei."
She tries not to cackle when she hears the Prince grumbling behind her.
"I do not know where to commemorate you or berate you for your stupidity," the one in front of the group of less than ten, one with four arms, says. She thinks he's the leader. "Now then, girlie, just hand over the Prince and we could go our ways," he says with a sickening smile.
"Permission to take them out, Your Highness," she says quietly.
"That is, if we haven't had our fun beforehand," the leader adds, which causes the group to let out a roaring laughter.
"I want you to beat the living fuck out of them," she hears the Prince command. She feels her lips twitch into a smile. "But leave the leader alive. I shall have a little talk with him."
Her smile turns into a wicked grin.
She steps away from the Prince, approaching the leader and his group of thieves as she cracks her knuckles. She had been dying to let her fists fly. She is very thankful of these bitchasses to volunteer involuntarily.
This is her first time to do her duty as his Knight to protect him from any harm coming his way.
"Oh?" The leader gives her a raised eyebrow as she draws closer. "Is pretty little princess decide to-"
His words quickly cut short when her armored fist connects with his face. The force behind her hit causes him to fly back and slam into a tree. She watches him slide down before limping lifelessly. She hopes she didn't hit too hard to end his life.
She sees the group stare at their leader as a lapse of silence surrounds everyone. Then, they slowly turn away from him and stare at her with wide startled eyes.
"Who's next?" she asks, slamming her fists together threateningly. She sees them taking a step back, hesitant. Their confidence must have diminished after witnessing their boss get taken out in just a single hit. Good, that's making it easy for her.
"It would've seemed he had hired a bunch of cowards," she hears the Prince suddenly start. His words cause the thieves to freeze on their spots. She could immediately see their eyes swivel to him instead of her. "To call them weaklings is rude to the weak that would still have the ember to fight; to fight against a girl, nonetheless."
She can't help but glance at him over her shoulder.
That seems to be out of character for him to aggravate them intentionally.
"GET THEM!"
'Fuck!'
She turns back around and immediately blocks an incoming sword to her face with her forearm, protected by her armor. She slams a fist into his abdomen, and doesn't care if she puts too much into it, before she turns to three thieves that are running towards her, all brandishing knives in their hands.
She easily dodges one while simultaneously grabs onto an offending arm, reorienting the direction to another thief and successfully stabs him in the shoulder. She takes all three out with a single sweep of her feet, breaking a number of bones.
That's four down.
She sweeps her eyes around, trying to find the remaining asshats.
They're sprinting towards the Prince.
Vision tunneled, she pumps her legs to the ground and propels herself towards them. She whistles through the air from the sheer speed of her hop, slamming into their backs. She hears a number of cracks from the impact. She flips in the air and gracefully lands on her feet exactly right in front of the Prince as the thieves tumble down, all screaming in pain.
And just like that, she had taken out all threats.
She releases a breath of relief, feeling her body relaxes at the same time.
Then, she turns around and glares at the Prince.
He has that deadpanned look on his face, looking extremely not bothered that his life was threatened.
"Was there a reason for you to provoke these lowlifes earlier?" she demands amidst the groans and screams around them. The Prince shrugs his shoulder.
"You're at your prettiest when you fight."
"Shut up."
.
"Brave for the runt to show his face here."
The commotion within the great hall immediately dims down. She feels her hackles raise and her teeth bare. Someone is approaching her Prince, who is standing in the middle of the hall that he is attending against his will; it's another one of those "political visits" that he loathes so much.
"Who would've thought to invite the "transfer" here when he is not even born in it in the first place?" the person says as he stops right in front of her Prince. The pair is now the center of attention; all eyes are on them and their names are mentioned in whispers behind palms.
She knows that asshole that is confronting her Prince. The soon-to-be King of Misuta Barustah: Prince Sensoji.
"Prince Sensoji," her Prince greets him, blank as usual but she can tell that he is exasperated, tired instead of pissed off meeting Assho-ji here. "I thought we had gotten over this matter," he tries to reason.
"We never finished our little conversation, runt," Stupid-soji replies, emphasizing the last word pretty strong. "It was cut short after the tragedy of the Dark Cloud."
Her blood boils.
For that fucker to bring that up…
She's already taking a step forward, ready to physically defend her Prince, but a quick flick of a finger from him quickly stops her in her tracks. She silently sneers but obediently follows his command.
She stays where she is.
"One is not born with the title of Prince, Prince Sensoji," her Prince starts calmly, lifting his chin as a challenge to the bigger man. "Regardless of my status, or my situation, I am still the Prince of Yuuei. I am still the son of King Nedzu of the Kingdom of Yuuei."
"Yuuei is tainted with impurity." Sens-whore-ji's voice booms around the hall. "And it will only begin to worsen the longer you wear that pathetic crown, runt."
She clenches her fists, trying to quell the anger that is rising in her chest. She already despises this asshole from the very beginning, from the very first time her Prince had mentioned him. She had been dreaming to knock the teeth out from his mouth.
But right now, she is ordered to stand down.
"Do not sully the name of my kingdom, Prince Sensoji." Her Prince's voice goes firm, hardens and is no longer blank and deadpanned. She knows a nerve has been struck and it will not look bright for Cunt-soji. "King Nedzu had poured blood and sweat to raise the kingdom into what it is today."
"And it will fall once it is in your hand." Sen-soiled-ji bravely puts a finger on her Prince's forehead. It takes her entire will to not leap there and break the finger in eighty-six different places. "You are incompetent and have no power, runt. Only a weak Prince would hire a Knight as his bodyguard."
"Your statement is baseless," her Prince replies, pushing aside the offending finger from his forehead.
"Then let it be decided," Senso-jizz-stain says before he takes a few steps back. Then, he lifts a finger and points it directly at her Prince. "I usher a challenge to the Prince of Yuuei on the ground of his competence and his right to the title of Prince," loudly, letting everyone hear him.
Instantly, the whispers are getting louder. It is to be expected that such a challenge would cause a storm. This is the first time where the challenge doesn't involve money or women. In fact, the risk at hand is incredibly more significant.
Senseless-sorryass-ji has ushered in a challenge that could lead to disownment at best and death at worst.
But she's not worried. In fact, it is the complete opposite that it is hard for her to keep her excited grin down.
"I accept your challenge," her Prince replies, not as loud but still firm as ever. She sees Ass-soji smirking. Quickly, a large circle is formed around them, away from them. Knights, including herself, quickly step forward and form a barrier between the two Princes and other royalties. This allows her a front row seat in the duel.
She watches curiously as Suckass-soji pulls out a pair of bulky gloves and puts them on, while her Prince just… stands there, which is unsurprising. Then, Sen-sorryass-stupid-face-ji suddenly throws his hands forward, as if pushing something invisible.
But nothing happens. Even he looks confused.
Then, out of nowhere, Sen-punchable-face-soji is quickly mummified by something gray. It is so sudden and out of nowhere that everyone lets out a simultaneous yelp of surprise. Suckass-soji wriggles around before he finally falls onto the ground writhing.
And just like that, she knows her Prince has won.
She stares at her Prince with pride filling her chest. She sees the gray thing originated from him, or to be more specific from his cloak, especially around his neck area.
It's that weird weapon of his that he had created. Its original form is an extremely long wide strand, dull gray in color. But he can manipulate it to look like a cloak by perfectly lining the strand next to each other and flatten it out. The only unordinary about his cloak is that the extra length of the strand bunches around his neck, making it look like he's wearing a scarf.
She is fully convinced that it has a mind of its own. It moves in a mysterious way, almost unnatural. Her Prince keeps telling her that he has never dabbled in magic of any kind. It is from his movements that the strand behaves that way.
She still doesn't believe him.
"Prince of Yuuei has won the challenge," she announces when the silence stretches too long. That seems to snap everyone from their stupor and the hall immediately roars to life. A few Knights she doesn't recognize suddenly step forward, towards the no longer Prince. Her Prince releases him and the gray strand retracts back around his neck.
Then, with unbroken nonchalance, he walks away from the circle and towards her, ignoring all the stunned eyes on him.
"You did well," she says to him once he is close, bowing slightly.
"We will be leaving early," he tells her.
"As you wish." She bows slightly more before she straightens up.
She gives him a loving look, caring very little that everyone can see.
She is so in love with her capable man.
.
"Sho-Sho's late," she says to no one. She's sitting on the tree stump, cheeks buried into her hands and her elbows placed on her knees. "Sho-Sho's never late before."
It makes her worry. Sho-Sho-'s never the one to break promises. He always tells her if something is up, or will be up.
Is he finally caught sneaking out? Is he in trouble?
She doesn't know and she hates that she doesn't know.
It makes her scared.
Does that mean she won't be able to see Sho-Sho anymore?
Suddenly, she hears a rustle. She instantly looks up, red eyes wide with expectation.
When she sees the familiar black figure appearing between the trees, she feels her body relaxes so much she almost collapses.
But the relief is short-lived.
Sho-Sho has a black eye.
"Sho-Sho!" She jumps off the tree stump and instantly beelines for him before stopping right in front of him. She hesitantly raises a hand but stops it over his bruised eye, scared that she'll do more harm if touched by the slightest.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," Sho-Sho tries to calm her but it does the opposite. It worries her even more.
"What happened, Sho-Sho?!" she demands, staring into his eyes. "Did your father do this to you?"
"NO!" Sho-Sho suddenly bursts out, which really surprises her. "No, no he didn't. Father would never do that," he says, much calmer than before after reeling it back.
"Then what happened?" she asks again, less demanding and more worried. She sees it makes him feel uncomfortable, judging by him rubbing his arm.
"I just crossed paths with a bully, is all," he answers with the quietest voice but her sensitive hearing picks it up.
"A bully?!" she almost yells, recoiling back. She could feel anger rising in her chest. Someone would dare to hurt Sho-Sho?! Why?!
"I-It's fine! It's nothing to worry about so-"
"Like hell it is nothing to worry about!" she cuts him off loudly, scowling at him. "Someone assaulted you, Sho-Sho! It is everything to worry about!"
"Well he's not someone you could just sweep aside easily," Sho-Sho grumbles. The anger that is still rising in her chest grows stronger. Is it a feeling of protection? If it is then she will nurture it! She will protect Sho-Sho!
"I will beat his ass for you and knock his teeth out from his mouth!"
"Big words for a small girl."
"I will fucking murder him!"
"Ru-Ru! Language! Also please don't."