Lux woke up to a pair of curious hazel eyes staring at her. She got startled and ended up falling out of the bed. When she picked herself off the ground, there was a little girl giggling cheerfully. It was the one she had healed last night.

“My name’s Linn, what’s yours miss?” She was a cute little girl with brown hair that reached her shoulders. If Lux hadn’t seen her earlier, she would never have believed that this bright little bundle of energy was laying here heavily injured just last night.

She contemplated telling her name to the little girl, then decided that it was proper to tell Linn her name after she introduced herself. “I’m Lux.”

“Wow! That’s a pretty name! You’re really pretty too!” She hopped off the bed and gave Lux a big hug while she was still sitting on the floor. “Thank you for helping me!” She had known that Lux was the one that healed her, so she decided the best way to show that she was thankful, was a hug. Lux returned the hug and lightly stroked Linn’s hair, who had resumed giggling. She couldn’t help but think to herself ‘Did I ever have this much energy?’

The innkeeper then walked into the room and closed the door. He got on his right knee and put his head down. “Princess, I thank you for helping my daughter.”

Lux, who had been groggy after just waking up, had completely forgot she was hiding that she was royalty. She began to panic when he continued talking. “Princess, please don’t worry. I have no intention of letting anyone know you’re here. I’m indebted to you.”

With those words she let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you.” After that, the innkeeper went to take care of his inn and Lux kept Linn company for a couple hours.

“Hey Lux! Do you have a boyfriend?” Lux, who was drinking a glass of water at that point, spit out her water and started to cough violently. She then looked up at the little girl and said “No.”

“Heheh. Lux has a boyfriend! Lux has a Boyfriend~!.” Linn began to sing merrily to herself which caused Lux to start blushing. “You really do have one! Who is he? Why isn’t he with you now?”

At this point Lux was overwhelmed and couldn’t bring herself to say something embarrassing, so she told the truth. “It’s complicated.”

After dodging that bullet, they resumed talking about other things, and Lux made sure to steer clear from that topic. But she herself couldn’t help but wonder why a boy who she had only met twice in her entire life left such an impression. Then she thought about the kiss and began to glow like a red beacon.

After some time Lux realized that she had better go. She wanted to go home and see her mother for the first time in months. Even though Almitas wasn’t her real mother, she was the closest figure to it she’s ever had. She was eager to tell her about her tales and wanted to see the expression on her face when she told her that her son is alive and well.

She put her cloak on and got ready to depart when Linn went up to her and hugged her. “Promise you’ll come back?” She looked at Lux with innocent eyes and it was impossible to deny her. “I promise. Here take this to your father.” She placed a bag filled with silver coins to Linn. Although Lux thought about giving them gold, it would probably cause more problems than it was worth. She figured with this much poverty it would raise suspicions by others if gold appeared. However, it wasn’t unheard of for some silver to appear here, especially with the amount of booze the soldiers went through. If the innkeeper used it sparingly, he and his daughter can live a comfortable life without worrying about money.

Since he was occupied with other things, Lux left. She began to navigate her way out of the slums. Because she was unfamiliar with the area she ended up getting lost. Just as she was about to give up and just fly to the castle, a pair of hands emerged from a dark alley and grabbed her.

Whoever grabbed her started by taking the cloak off of her, but then they stopped. She looked up to see two men, who were clearly wealthier than the general populace in this area, looking at her with fear.

They immediately bowed, knowing that she held the power to execute them on the spot for what they’ve done. “We’re sorry princess, we didn’t realize it was you.”

Lux wasn’t mad about the fact that they grabbed her, but what stuck out, was the fact that they said ‘We didn’t realize it was you.’

“Does that mean you were prepared to grab a woman and rape her in this alley?” The tone in her voice sent a shudder down their spines. They didn’t dare lie to her. Defying the crown was asking for death. So they hoped for some sort of leniency from the princess who was famed for her kindness to others. “Yes.” they said simultaneously.

Unable to suppress the anger that was welling up within her, along with the frustration that had been pent up due to the events of the few days, she decided on what to do. The emotion that was clearly visible in her eyes before, as she was a girl going home to see her mother, disappeared. “Scum.” She said that single word and drew excalibur from its sheathe. With a firm hand, she delivered justice to the two nobles, no, rapists. With a single swing, their heads fell onto the ground. It happened so quickly that they didn’t start bleeding before she had already returned Excalibur to its scabbard.

She felt no joy in killing others, but after seeing what they were about to do she couldn’t help it. This was retribution for playing with the lives of others. Lux summoned her wings and disappeared before either of the corpses had fallen over. They were still bowing without their heads.

She flew to her home, the imperial castle and had a guard notify everyone that she had returned. Her father, the king, wouldn’t bother to meet her. He was a busy man and the amount of times that he’s seen him in person could be counted on her two hands. She returned to her part of the castle without bothering with the rest.

There awaited her home. It was cleaned perfectly and Almitas had already been waiting for her to walk through the door. At the sight of her, she was unable to hold back her tears and let out all the pent up emotion that she kept sealed for the past few days. She hugged her mother and began to cry uncontrollably until she fell asleep. Even though she had only woken up from a deep sleep a few hours ago, there was a feeling of comfort and safety in Almitas arms that couldn’t be replaced.