“The second princess?!” Ken shouted in surprise. Linda elbowed him. “Damn.”

“I know that this mission is bigger than what did the fixers told you, but please, we’re willing to pay you lot a large sum of amount just to help us.” Mr. Funny Man bowed.

Caroline pulled him up, “Please, you don’t need to bow.”

Her doleful eyes caught his observing gaze.

“As for starter, we’ll wire you 70,000 thousand haz, and if you lot successfully completed the mission, we will you give you another 100,000 thousand haz.”

They all paused. All of them are uncertain if they should take the job since they’re going to guard the princess and they maybe as well be targeted by people.

“Before we get to that, let me ask you this,” Linda started. “Why us? Ylfon kingdom has powerful warriors, aren’t they? Kris Krux and other talented warriors maybe stronger than us three.”

“As you all know, the kingdom is under conflict between the factions of nobles and the royalty herself. They were pressuring her to give up the throne or marry their sons for the sake of tradition. They even attempted to assassinate her, but with the full force of the generals and the helped of Kris Krux, they were successfully terminated. Still, the problem isn’t erased.”

“Then why not allow grant the request of the nobles?” Ken asked. “It would be easier that way.”

“Because of what we found out, there are reports of some family of nobles negotiating with the Indine nation and the Hayan Empire.”

“I’m sorry, what?!” Ken shouted in surprise. No people haven’t heard of those despicable nations. But what’s surprising, that the Indine nation would collaborate with the most hated country of all, the Hayan Empire.

“Them again?” Alastor said.

Mr. Funny Man shot him a glance.

“For the past few months, they’ve acted oddly but stop gathering together for some time, hence, we’re not able to collect evidence to point out the people behind.”

“I see.”

“Though, we have some suspect that a person came from Hayan Empire. He’s a man who came out from nothing, Theodore Koel Juvel of Kelby Hives.” They all froze. “Did you happened to be involved in that event?”

They all very well knew what he meant. Alastor get a gripped to respond perfectly.

“No. No, we are not.”

Mr. Funny Man stared them with intense more than ever.

“For real?” He asked again.

“For real.” Alastor repeated those words with firmed.

The rest of them were completely still and looked down, frightened on his expression. Gradually, Mr. Funny Man’s intense gaze recedes and the quite aura brimmed again.

“So, I have told. Most of our men were focused on defending the Queen herself and identifying the traitors of the kingdom.”

“We understand the situation now.” Linda stated.

“Very well. Are you still going to accept the job?”

“We’ll think about it.” Linda said.

“Are you going to accept or not?!” “Sir, yes sir!”

With his sudden, abrupt roared voice, they agreed and said in sync.

Alastor held his chest as if he’s having a heart attack. His heart beating fast and his face flushed in red, showering in sweat. He heard a giggle. It came from her.

Alastor gazed at Caroline, but she completely averted her eyes away and stop giggling.

“Shithead.” Alastor mumbled under his exhausting breath.

“What did you just say?” Mr. Funny Man asked.

“Nothing.”

“In the second floor, you can occupy the last three rooms. You guys are grown-ups, so, you decide which is which room you wanted to use. It’s all the same after all. You go and rest for now. Tomorrow we will plan how we will embark our journey.”

They all stood and once again before leaving, Alastor risked a glance at her, but her attention is completely on the camera. He turned back and start walking.

He woke up, it’s in 11 in the evening. Alastor wanted to wake up Linda and Ken to talk about the mission, but it seems were fallen deep asleep. And so, he ventured down and went to the refrigerator to pour himself a cold water.

Just as climbed up in the stairs, a crashing sound had caught his ears. He proceeds up, and followed the source of the sounds. The house is quite large just like a mansion, but build in maze and labyrinth, it takes him for a while to finally reached the room.

He slowly tilted the knob and get inside. It appeared that Caroline is watching movie with her small box of projector. Caroline appeared to be sniffing while eating a handful of popcorn while holding the bowl of popcorn.

“So, what’re you watching?”

Hearing his cold, and eerie voice, Caroline shook and squealed.

“What the hell?!” Caroline rapped her profane words. “You scared the hell outta me!”

The once humble and well-mannered lady he witnessed before, became untraceable to her current behavior. He wasn’t completely disappointed. In fact, he was expecting to know more of her. Their conversation was left trailed back in that small town.

“You’re a princess, huh?”

“Yep. ‘That a news to you?”

“Oh yeah. I thought you were a photographer, an artist.”

“I never lied about that.”

Apparently, when he came the movie is at the end, where the protagonist sacrifice himself to save the girl from the monster she was curse to be killed. Caroline began to look for more movies and picked the closest one.

“So, the ought to be second princess are currently enjoying watching movies and eating popcorns while the rest of the kingdom are in conflict.”

“Hey! What do you know about me? You can’t just barge in and judge me like that.”

“Sorry,” He apologizes. “I don’t mean to offend you. It’s just that find hard to believe that I easily believe a sly fox like you.”

“If you have any trust issues, keep it to yourself.”

“I know, I know. I just can’t help to spiral about it. You have me completely under your charm.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah,” Alastor replied. “I wonder. Why an important person like you were in that place with no guards, or any kind of assistance?”

“I told you before I have my way of evading dangers.”

“That’s not the question, princess.”

“What can I say, I’m a woman with many faces.”

“Again, what were you really doing back there?”

“How many times do I have to tell you? I was doing my thing in photography.”

“Ah-huh.” Alastor refused to believer her. It has to be more than that.

“What about you, oh-so-mysterious daunting man in black?” Caroline probed. “Admit it, you weren’t supposed to be there. You were doing something naughty in that place, aren’t you?” She gasped.

Of course, Alastor won’t back down. “And what about you? Are you lost, baby boy?” He laughed remembering that.

“You remember that? You weren’t supposed to.” Caroline said while holding her breath to exploding causes by embarrassment.

“Yes, I do.”

“I was being funny at that time, because you seem to be out of place.”

“Yes, I understand. I am completely out of place.” His grinned tells that he’s not done of it and there’s gonna be more.

“That’s quite a low blow, don’t get offended by that.” Alastor grinned.

“Whatever.” She hisses and glance away. “I guess, my joke backfired at me.”

They fell in silent for few seconds.

“So, what the hell are you doing here?” She asked.

“I just wanted to meet you. And to thank you for what you did for me back there. If you weren’t there, I would be dead for real.”

She didn’t respond. Caroline twirls her hair and looked away.

“Hey.”

“What?”

“I said thank you.”

“Ah-huh. You’re very much welcome.”

She fell into her thoughts again. Caroline has been seemingly avoiding meeting his eyes.

“Are you lost baby girl?”

“Get out!”

She roared and Alastor quickly got up.

“Yes ma’am.”