Thieves were very adaptive…Is what Alison had turned to think about thieves. They can scout out a place before going somewhere to steal but then again, they also don’t really need to scout out the place if they don’t want to. Most of the fun for a thief is finding what you want, getting it and getting out of the place and not getting caught! It wasn’t really a job…It was…Fun! Fair enough thieves have to buy food and all that but still, the ‘stealing’ part was something that the thieves that Alison knew found to be entertaining, something that they looked forward too!

The other two thieves hadn’t scouted the palace but…Alison had spent a bit of time mapping it out.

If she didn’t have a deep, emotional reason to come here, where it was something she felt like her life was in need to do, she might not have bothered to scout out the palace but…It did make things easier…Just, instead, it was a bit more boring…

The library was obviously just for show, she really was going to go to the King’s chambers, but, since she already knew another thief was going there, she was just going to wait until he was done, then go there afterwards.

Having to hide behind a curtain, waiting for a guard to walk past, Alison continued down a path, then another two paths and then hid in among some doors, as another guard came.

“…Seems a bit weird.”

Alison widened her eyes as she felt surrounded. This voice was from the other side of her, while the guard still had to walk past her.

“It is only normal, Princess.”

Oh, it’s the Princess? That’s right, she was getting married or something soon. There had been a huge event, about a ring and all…There probably was very little people that didn’t know about Princess Bethany and her new engagement.

“Does Cid know about this too then?” The Princess asked, just as the guard walked past. Alison held her breath, hoping against hope that the guard wouldn’t stop here.

“Of course, it’s his duty as a future husband, Princess.”

“Duty as a husband…”

Alison smiled at the Princess’s voice, it sounded like she didn’t believe in her maid.

“I thought…”

The Princess kept talking but Alison was gone.

Now in the library, with time to spare, Alison looks around.

She did bring a bag with her, so she could take items away if she wished to, but…She was waiting to go to the King’s quarters for that!

Looking around, making sure that dusk was not on the horizon, Alison wondered if it would be worth checking an area that was locked up and in the corner of the library, well at least the door was in the corner…

Wouldn’t hurt, she thought, and besides, she had more time to spare.

Being as quiet as possible, Alison unlocked the lock with a specific thieving tool and put the lock aside.

Walking into the smaller part of another type of library, Alison sighed and frowned…

How much stuff do they have to lock up?

Were there dirty secrets in here or something?

Picking up a random book, Alison skimmed through it and found that this area seemed to be the King’s logs. It wasn’t actually written by the King himself it was written by his most trusted servants.

Apparently, the King before King Lewis had troubles with wetting the bed…

Giving out another short laugh, upon finding out that King Lewis was tutored secretly for an extra two years, when other King’s hadn’t needed it, Alison closed that book and went to the next.

After coming across the fifth book, thinking that she might make her way to the King’s chambers after, she went still to the page that she opened.

‘There will be no evidence that I can think of for the falling of the noble family of Truvelle but I can write down with certainty that I saw the King make the deal to abolish them for their money’

There was one more sentence, but the first sentence stuck into Alison’s mind and she looked at the one who wrote it. Noel Price. He must have been one of about three that was a servant directly to the King.

…He saw it, I have a witness!

Alison took a deep breath and decided that instead of going to the King’s chambers, she wanted to stay here in the library and…Just like she thought…She found evidence to support her family as innocent, making unshed tears trickle down her face as she held it in her hands.

Her father, before he had been killed, did he perhaps have an idea that the scandal could have been done by the King?

Wanting to sob, Alison put what was allegedly ‘stolen’ by her family and ‘used to get money’ from elsewhere, where it had been deemed as ‘lost’ back into its hiding place.

Taking a deep breath, Alison looked at the Queen’s lost crown and wondered what to do. Her father’s note was crumbled up in the hiding place, stating his innocence and that the crown was here but…

What to do?

If I take it with me, then I have stolen it and my family’s scandal may be brought back to the present time, making it harder to be believed that it was all a scandal. No, I need to find ‘Noel Price’ at least, I need to somehow beg him to become my witness!

Deciding that she could come back to get the crown as evidence when she finally needs it, Alison left everything where she left it, except that of her father’s note which she wanted to read again. She thought that perhaps her father’s note could lead her somewhere else as well…Maybe he left another note at home…

Alison had already looked everywhere at home, just like that of the people that had gone through her house and ransacked it, but she had never found anything like this…Ever…

For the first time since her family had been wrongfully killed, Alison held something very important, so important that she was shaking…

Alison left the library and made it easily past the guards.

The Princess this time wasn’t talking, most likely sleeping now, making Alison nearly laugh. The Princess must be getting nervous to her upcoming marriage to Cid to be up so late this night!

Just as Alison closed and locked the window, that she went in a few hours earlier, she thought of the Princess’s marriage, only to suddenly be hit near her neck in the next second…Then everything went dark…

***

The Prince frowned upon hearing that thieves were in the castle. He already had enough of thieves!

Closing his eyes once again, the Prince opened them to find that it was practically already morning. He had been unable to sleep, right up until the thieves had come into the palace!

Doing his usual morning routine, the Prince was a bit quicker this time, not wanting to think of a specific thief!

“It is said that one thief was killed on sight, the other is in the dungeon.”

The Prince smiled, thinking of another way to learn on how to get into the cave in Lupis!

Very well!

Making time to go down to the palace prison, the Prince stood in front of the thief that will probably be exiled or beheaded for what he was caught doing.

Looking at him, he immediately thought of the Little Pillager and so he looked away.

This was getting absolutely ridiculous!

Seeing the thief stand and come closer to him, the Prince stood back and shook his head…He wasn’t going to give this thief any chances!

“Tell me how to get into the Lupis caves!” The Prince demanded.

The thief smiled and turned his head to the side, “Tell me, where is the key?”

The Prince narrowed his eyes and stared at the man, who had a crocked smile.

His idea upon making thieves his spies reminded the Prince to not kill this man and to instead use him as a way to understand thieves better. “What do you want?”

The thief frowned and looked at the Prince like there was something wrong with him, “…The key…”

The Prince sighed, “I mean, what do you want even if you weren’t in this cell?”

Seeing the thief look up and then look back at him and shrug, he said, “Another key?”

A little bit…Exhausted, the Prince finally spook again, “…You don’t want anything?”

Hearing booming laughter, the Prince was ready to flog the thief that was inside the cell.

Why was he laughing!?

If he couldn’t find a weakness with a thief then how was he going to get the thieves to work as his spies?

Dammit!

“Work for me as a spy in another country.” The Prince blurted out.

This was attempt number two, and well…This thief could be killed, and no one would be the wiser if it didn’t work.

“…A spy?” The thief asked, coming closer to the bars.

The Prince watched him try the bars toughness with one of his hands and said, “Yes, instead of stealing from your own country, steal information or things from another and…I’ll pay you…”

Seeing the thief try the bars again, even seeing him frown afterwards, the Prince waited…His patience was running thin though!

“A thief…” Started the man inside the cell.

The Prince interrupted him, “A spy…”

Staring at the man, who was now looking at him, the Prince waited, only to be stunned in the next moment.

In a matter of just a couple of seconds, the thief was out and even had a robe that was just outside of the cell, as something he picked up.

The Prince was a bit stunned, but he pulled out his sword like it was his instincts and put it up against the neck of the thief.

Over a short amount of time, the thief was back inside the bars, without the rope, and the rope was now attached to another part of the room, as another type of way to keep that door closed.

“A spy uh?” The thief stated, almost like his recapture hadn’t happened.

Prince Elton smiled, he saw how the thief had gotten out and was pleased. Spy’s need to be like that, they need to cause a distraction, only to escape…This man, he liked him a lot.

“Who is your leader?” The Prince asked.

Hearing a light chuckle, the Prince waited for the thief to speak back while he sat down.

“We are our own leaders…There is no monarchy in among thieves…”

The Prince thought that this as a good thing, because then he will become their leader!

There was a question though…If there was no leader, then why were three thieves in the castle as the same time?

“But there was more than one thief in the castle last night, how…”

“Did you see us all in the same room? We only choose to steal from the palace together, it didn’t mean we were in a team.” The thief stated openly, cleaning his nails.

The Prince sighed and put a hand to his chin in thought.

The thief looked up then and clearly asked, “Who was it that died? A man or woman?”

The Prince looked at the man in the cell and said, “I don’t know”

“…Oh, I see…” The man in the cell was not sad or happy, just curious upon who had the bad luck out of the three of them…No, it wasn’t bad luck, it was not being good enough to get away…

The Prince frowned, “Are you telling me a third thief was here last night?”

With a twinkle in his eyes, the thief smiled, “Yep! And whoever it was must’ve gotten away! Betchya it was Allie! She’s smaller and trickier…Yeah…”

“She…Allie?” The Prince suddenly had a bad thought, “What does she look like? Does she have a pet mouse?”

“Mouse? I’ve seen that damned thing, you know what that little thing is capable of!?”

The Prince didn’t even know that he had suddenly stood up, making the thief stop and look at him.

“That damned woman! Stealing from the palace! She…” Could she have died?

The thief gave out a small laugh and said, “If ya find that mouse, give him to me! Or…You could just tell me where he is…”

Rushing out of the dungeon, Prince Elton went towards where the body would have been taken and started to feel strangely panicked!

“This damned rope!”

“I’m surprised the Prince let you talk to him the way you did.” Said a defeated voice from the nearby cell.

The thief raised his eyes for a moment and let out a small sound. “Prince, hey? Ay, who are you?”

There was no way to see the person through the wall, but there was indeed another in a cell just like the thief. “…Nobody…”

“Well, ello Nobody! My name is Chad! Say…How long have you been…Here!” The thief let go of the rope and it flopped a bit, meaning that it was no longer as tight as it was before.

“…A while…” Was all the voice said, before going silent once again.

“Ever thought about getting out? Why would you wanna stay here?” The thief asked, pulling once again on a specific part of the rope, then giving it a bit of a flick. Slowly and surely the rope knot was making its way towards the bars, so that Chad could undo it.

There seemed to be no answer to what he asked and so he stopped pulling for a moment, “Nobody? Are you there?”

This nobody was none other than Steven Otter, the son of Leonard Otter, who had been here since Cid had become the fiancé of Princess Bethany. It had only been…Days but Steven looked like he had been here for weeks…

“Wah, got it!”

Hearing something fall to the floor lightly, Steven sighed.

He was in a terrible state and was waiting for a particular person to bail him out. He didn’t know specifics, but he was willing to do just about anything to get out of here!

He had been whipped, then practically left for dead…He…He was so hungry!

In the next second, Steven heard a door open and someone came to be in his sight.

“Ah, so you’re Nobody, uh? I’m Chad…”

Steven frowned…He already knew he was Chad and…Why doesn’t he get him out too!?

Seeing the thief take in a breath and pull up his pants, he then said, “…Well, nice to meet you, hopefully we never met again!”

“Hey!” Steven yelled, getting up. He had not had so much enthusiasm since before he was put in here and nearly fell directly back to the ground. “Wait!”

Chad half turned to Steven and gave him a look, “I’m not doin anythin for free, boy.”

“…My father owns the jewellery store in the capital…”

Chad smiled and interrupted, “Ah, why didn’t ya say so! Blimmey, nearly let go of a rippa!”

With that they both quietly exited the dungeon, nearly being found out, but Chad followed after Steven when they were out of the palace gates, to make sure that he got his payment for releasing ‘Nobody’ from his cell…

***

What if it was her?

Fair enough, it’s wrong to steal from the palace but did they have to kill her? Surely, they could have just taken her captive!

The body would have been taken out of the palace quite quickly, so the Prince rushed out of the palace and found that David was on his way towards him.

“Quick, take me to the place where they take dead bodies…Quick!” The Prince stated.

He might have been frantic slightly, but he honestly didn’t know where to go after leaving the palace…It was good timing that David was due to report to him on this time and on this day!

“Where else would they be?” David stated, raising his eyebrows to the strangely different Prince.

“Where!” The Prince yelled, making David frown.

“What’s wrong with you?” David asked, as he turned and started running.

Prince Elton followed David and didn’t respond to him. Their time running wasn’t too long and before long, the Prince was before a body that had been killed during the night.

…It was a man…

“She’s alive…”

David watched his friend suddenly change after seeing the body and wondered what was going on with him. “Who’s alive?”

Finally, back to himself again, Prince Elton glared at David and turned around.

He will get word soon, upon when she will return to her home or Lupis so…He will just go back to his normal routine for now and wait!

“Here.” David said, handing something over as he started walking beside him.

“Your Highness!” Prince Elton stated, taking what David had for him.

“Your…Silly.” David stated, turning his head.

The Prince stopped and stared at David. She was like this too, not treating him like a Prince and making him angry!

She was alive...

…That’s good!

And just as he asked, he opened the paper to see information upon the noble family of Truvelle…

Allie…It was short for Alison.

Yes, I remember now, the Prince thought, my fiancé’s name was Alison…

***

Waking up, Alison frowned.

She hadn’t seen that one coming!

“She’s awake! Send word!”

Taking a deep breath, Alison saw herself in a bed and with really warm sheets. It fell…So comfortable!

A maid came in then with a basin of water and Alison couldn’t believe it…It was very similar type of routine she used to do before her family was ruined.

She must be at some nobleman’s house!

What was she doing here?

Washing her face and her arms, like it was an old habit returning, Alison waved her hand, and the maid went, feeling vexed at the ‘thief’s’ actions!

The maids were told that this person was now the daughter of their little master and so…They had to treat her as such but…This thief was beneath them!

Just as Alison got up, a man came into the room in a rush and smiled, “It’s true!”

Suddenly, she was taken into a hug and Alison didn’t know what to do!