Chapter 71: SILENT SPECTATOR

Chapter 71: SILENT SPECTATOR"No, we didn’t." A voice rang out, startling Aristia, Beatrix, Alicia, Serina, and the maids.

They looked over to see their mothers, Queen Rowaine, Imperial Second Princess Catherine, and Marchioness Avery Eldridge.

"Fuck, no." Aristia whispered. They didn’t see them when they arrived.

"All of you..." Rowaine said calmly, her eyes sweeping calmly over them. "...have a lot of explaining to do."

***

Some minutes before...

From outside the palace, someone snuck into the palace. The intruder pulled down the hood, revealing a head of green hair.

Owen dusted his cloak. Training with the captain and the Grand Duke’s shadow guards had really paid off. He had been improving tremendously.

Not to mention, he was also being tutored in proper literary education, something he didn’t have access to before he met Aristia.

He smiled as he walked leisurely towards the princesses’ palace. He quickly hid behind some bushes when he heard voices and footsteps approaching.

When he looked over, he saw that it was the mothers of the girls who had snuck out of the palace. He waited and listened.



"Where could those girls have gone to?" Lady Eldridge asked rhetorically.

"Somehow, I don’t quite believe that they’re spending time with each other in the palace, don’t you think so, your majesty?" Catherine asked the Queen.

"Somehow, I don’t quite believe it too." Rowaine muttered.

They both knew how their daughters had been too excited for the day of the anniversary. They hadn’t noticed anything odd then. But now, they understood.

Catherine sighed softly. "It seems your daughter has been dragged into whatever mischievousness is going on. Who knows what they’re up to." She smiled apologetically to Marchioness Eldridge.

"Ah it’s nothing." Marchioness Eldridge shook her head. "It’s a good thing my Alicia is finally coming out of her shell..."

They hastened their steps and disappeared into the Lily Palace.

Owen got up and dusted his clothes, remembering what happened earlier.

He had been following Aristia since she left the palace. He didn’t stay too close, so that he wouldn’t be discovered.

It wasn’t his first time attending the festival. He’d always come to join the festival, playing just like the other children and stealing from people when they paid no attention, too lost in the festive spirit.

He smirked, feeling nostalgic. Now there was no need to steal, he was earning much more than them.

He watched as Aristia lay sprawled on the ground.

She looked much more like a child now. Who would believe that this innocent looking child had threatened him a few months ago?

He followed them as they returned to Fiona’s stall and heard the young lady ask about him. He? At home? That was true. Aristia probably thought he was still at the palace. He chuckled.

He followed them, unseen under the dark night. He saw the sleazy man following them, and just as he was about to step forward and do something, he paused and retracted his steps.

He wanted to see what Aristia would do. They had the same classes with the captain, and he wanted to see how she would fare in a real fight against a real threat. He’d step in if she couldn’t manage.

However, he was impressed as Aristia had not just fought alone, she had also pulled the princesses and Marquis Eldridge’s only child to help.

He watched as they tried to fight the man, and multiple times he wanted to step in when the man got a hold of one of them, only for them to get the upper hand again.

He chuckled in disbelief and approval when they tied up the unconscious man.

After they had left, he approached the man and tied the rope so tightly it would hurt or create marks at least, so that the man would not be able to escape.

The man groaned, but Owen delivered a hit to his head, and he became still.

"I guess I have to thank you," Owen muttered. "Or else she’d have discovered me. But you really shouldn’t have had such thoughts in the first place." A wicked smile appeared on his face, revealing the anger he was feeling as he slapped the man across his face.

Owen stood up and dusted his hands like he’d touched something filthy.

Aristia had already noticed someone following her. He would have been discovered if it hadn’t been for the sleazy man who proved to be a distraction as Aristia was fooled into believing that he was the stalker.

Or so he thought.

***

"All of you..." Rowaine said calmly. "...have a lot of explaining to do."

Aristia, Beatrix, Serina and Alicia gulped down. They stood in the middle of the parlour, feeling small in front of their angry mothers. Even Catherine had a glare in her eyes.

"Alright, who is going to speak first?" Catherine asked, her gaze stopping on her daughter.

"I..." Aristia paused.

[Wait. Why am I behaving this way? She’s not really my mother, so why should I be worried or nervous about being scolded?] She thought in confusion.



She felt perplexed. She couldn’t understand why she was feeling the same way she felt when she did something wrong or mischievous and her mother found out. The same way she felt when she was being scolded by her mother.

[It must be this body’s emotions messing with my emotions.] She deduced before answering.

"W-we snuck out of the palace." Aristia said, looking down guiltily.

[Wait, I didn’t mean to stutter.]

Then, they started to tell them what happened. No one said anything about the secret hole a.k.a the escape route, and no one said anything about the disgusting sleazy man.

"Is that all?" Marchioness Eldridge started. "I can tell there’s something you all are not telling," she said looking at her daughter.

The children gulped down nervously.

"I-I think I would prefer to talk to Papa." Aristia said not meeting her mother’s eyes. She felt her father would be more levelheaded to hear what she had to say.

[What? Mothers are very scary once they’re angry, especially when it concerns the safety of their children.]

"We’ll, you don’t quite have a choice." Catherine said. Even though she was feeling a bit amused at her daughter’s words, that didn’t wash away the anger she still felt at her sneaking out.

However, Aristia’s words told her that something was wrong.

The girls kept silent. It seemed no one would say anything. Aristia sighed. She was the one who had orchestrated the plan to sneak out, and she had to take responsibility. She was the adult among them, albeit in the body of a child.

"Alright. First of all, we are not hurt anywhere," she started, alerting them. Then, she started to talk about the encounter on the way back to the palace.

After she was done narrating the incident, the mothers were fuming. They were switching between worry and anger.

Worried for the trouble the children had encountered, and angry at them for the trouble they had caused themselves by sneaking out of the palace in the first place, and furious at the man.

"Do the four of you know what you did wrong?" Rowaine asked.

"Yes, your majesty. We know our mistakes." The children replied.

"Good. You shall all be punished. After the banquet tomorrow, you are not allowed to leave your homes until three days have passed. Do you understand?" Rowaine asked.

"Yes, your majesty." They agreed.

"And you three!" She turned to the maids, who flinched. "Were you aware of the plan to leave the palace?"

"We were aware, your majesty. Please, punish us, your majesty." The maids replied with bowed heads.

"You shall be punished for not taking proper care of the children, and allowing them to leave the palace walls without supervision. After the banquet tomorrow, head to the Hall Of Punishments." The Queen ordered.

"Yes, your majesty." The maids bowed.

"No. Your majesty, please." Aristia objected. "I was the one who ordered them to do it. Please, do not punish them."

The women were surprised, and so were the girls and maids. Was she pleading for the maids?

Seeing that, Beatrix also chimed in.

"Yes mother. We asked them to do it. They couldn’t disobey."

"They could have told us. You all could have been seriously hurt, or worse, not even here." Rowaine said coldly.

The thought deeply scared the mother’s, wondering what would happen if the girls hadn’t returned safe and sound, or at all.

"Yes, but we’re here. We’re not hurt." Aristia said. "Please aunt." She pleaded.

Adeline had tried to convince her not to carry out the plan, but she had refused. Now she couldn’t allow her to be punished.



The queen stayed silent, reconsidering her decision. "Very well then. They shall not be punished. But if this happens again..." The Queen drawled.

"It won’t happen again mother. We will not leave the palace walls without permission." Beatrix assured.


"Thank you for your generosity, your majesty." The maids bowed in gratitude.

Rowaine nodded in satisfaction.

"But the guards on duty shall be punished," she said.

It exceeded her how four little girls were capable of sneaking out of the palace right under the guard’s noses.

Her eyes darkened. Did that mean that intruders could easily invade the palace.

Aristia kept her mouth shut. Rowaine was the queen. She couldn’t push too far by asking her to spare the guards.

[So much for not sleeping on the streets.] She remembered the guard’s words earlier.

"It is about time we return to the banquet hall. The banquet is due to start in a few minutes," Rowaine said, standing up.

They left the parlour and exited the princesses’ wing of the palace.

"You all... fought the man?" Marchioness Eldridge asked, pausing her steps.