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Maud sits in the carriage, covered by a thin long dress to keep away as much as possible of the heat. They stand in front of the city gates, waiting for them to open. People bustle around the royal carriage as much as they can, trying to catch a glimpse of the extremely famous crown prince and his new wife. They don't get to see royal people much despite living nearly next door to the palace. That's because they are poor, and the royals are rich, locked inside their palaces. Especially royal women. People push and shout, some trying to draw pictures that will be shared in newsletters the following day. The guards keep all of them back by a lot. Maud thinks it's a little too much.

Adelio is outside the carriage again, just like he was during the entire trip from Blue Knight to this warm country. It creates some sort of distance between them, and Maud doesn't like it. Yesterday they were having so much fun, surrounded by the beautiful aroma of the city restaurants and streets as they visited different places together. Now they are stuck doing their duty again, slaves to the crown which consumes them whole. And the worst part is, Maud is even more reminded of not just how tied she is to her royal duty, but how tied she is to being a woman. She is the only person, aside from her maid, who is confined to this carriage and confined to being as unknown and secretive as possible. It's not appropriate for a woman to be out in the open, that's why she's inside the carriage at all times. At least during official duty.

It's quite scary actually. Maud has never been on a royal tour before. Has Alisiah ever been on one? Surely she hasn't. An unmarried princess should stay at the palace, and never leave. Not until her wedding is to be held. That is why Maud gets to leave and Alisiah doesn't. And still, she doesn't know if she would even want to go on a royal tour. It's so scary, if you think about it. Spending two or three months inside a carriage, under the hot Red Lion sun while vulnerable to assassins and thieves and diseases, none of that sounds appealing. A good princess should be looking forward to meeting her people for the first time, shaking hands with the poor and feeling sympathy for them while she sits on her velvet throne and sips on the most delicious drinks. Maud, not being raised a princess, sees the faults in that system.

The royals might be praised for going around and feeling sympathy, or helping out by giving to the poor. But giving isn't the solution, it's not sustainable. Years of being told that the emperor gives so much to charity, while she sits inside a small wooden hut without work and with ageing parents. Maud knows how that feels. The royals aren't simply distant from them because of their high positions, or because they don't visit often. The royals and the rich are distant because they don't see what's right in front of them, like everyone else sees. They don't see the poverty, and how easily they could fix it. They don't see the money that they sit on and the terrible laws that they create, because it benefits them so much, and they would hate to lose all of that benefit, privilege and wealth. They would hate to see it despite the millions that have died of consequences to the hunger, poverty and oppression that looms over their continent like a large, heavy storm.

Being raised a poor woman, Maud has seen it all first hand. The rich and noble have the army on their side. They have soldiers and money and ownership of the land. Because people are afraid of them nothing will ever change, and because the army continues to serve them and their money nothing will ever come in the favor of the millions of people living on dying farms and in abandoned or crumbling villages. The royal tour is so laughable. It simply forced her to be dragged around the country she was forcibly married into, just to show off her wealth to the near starving people. It forces her to smile to the faces of the people and sympathize with them, as if that would change anything. As if she's such a kind princess and noble person for going out to meet the people that have been hurt because of her royal family, her blood and in-laws.

Any uneducated average citizen of either Blue Knight or Red Lion would have no capability of looking past the propaganda that their rulers put in front of them. Maud couldn't either. She sat on her lonely little plot of land in the middle of nowhere for twenty years, knowing that she was poor and miserable, but having no idea why that was, or why it was wrong. And if she would suddenly think that it was wrong, it would be her fault for not working hard enough to make enough money for her family. She never knew of the extent of the extravagant life of the royals, nor did she know how much wealth and power they sit on.

It's not just about them giving money, they should properly invest it in the economy and in the people. That is something that she learned much later on, when being taught about money at the palace. A princess who will lead her household at one point in time should know about money, economy and how to buy and manage things. But what her brothers didn't realize, is that she was raised poor. And once she saw how the economy and money worked, through the eyes of someone who hadn't been raised into privilege, everything changed. Her entire perspective on herself, her family, her people and the world, changed with just some little knowledge of the worth of money and power in this country, and her homeland.

So this entire tour is just a huge embarrassment for Maud, who is extremely aware of all the underlying bad things in what she is being forced to do in these next few months. The people might not know, and the royals might know but think it's normal. Maud is one of the few people who have gone from rich to poor in this country, or indeed her own, and therefore holds a very unique perspective on the way things are run. Sometimes it's lonely to be that kind of person. She doesn't fit in anywhere, and it feels like she is the only one who is aware of the real world around them, while everyone else keeps their eyes closed. But it's also extreme luck. In real life, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. But Maud got richer from being poor and that is an opportunity in itself. She doesn't fear losing her own wealth because she has lived so long in a place where everyone is poor anyway. She is willing to fight for the people who suffer every day while the rich drink their tears. She is willing to help, and maybe this tour can be her starting point.

And that is what comforts her the most, as she is confined to the darkness of her carriage. She might be a woman, but at least now she has some sort of power, and she will use that power within her limits to do as much as she can as long as she lives and breathes. Hopefully Adelio won't be a terrible king like his father. Hopefully he won't be a leader like any of the other leaders on the continent. Maud already thinks highly of him but she is unsure of what his thoughts really are. That's why it would be so much more fun to just have him sit in the carriage with her, or to be able to ride on a horse next to him like the soldiers do. At least then they could uphold some interesting and possibly life-changing conversation. But it's not appropriate for a woman to talk. Maud frowns.

She would never have had these thoughts if it weren't for Adelio. He was the one who taught her that being treated like this just for being a woman is wrong. And that's just so odd. How did a man like him ever become so kind and understanding towards women, when even women aren't? It's strange, but wherever he got those thoughts from, it has helped Maud a lot. Makai indirectly helped her view the systems in their country as wrong and hurtful, while Adelio directly helped her realize how terribly this world is treating one half of the population. She has all the ingredients now, money, power, motivation and knowledge of the matter. Now all she needs is Adelio's opinion on it.

"You seem to have lots on your mind, your highness"

Sometimes Maud wonders if Penny knows more than she is letting on. She always sounds so innocent when asking questions, but there is no way she hasn't picked up on a thing or two whilst being a maid. What is her opinion on things? Despite Maud being the princess, she is sure that Penny has more experience in the political field which she is approaching. After all, the black haired girl has spent her entire life working away at different palaces. Whatever the princesses talk about must've spread to her, and whatever the other servants say she must've learned from an early age. Rumors of different political decisions, both secret and open, spread like wildfire at the palace. Every single servant knows of a royal order before it is officially released, just because of these rumors. And that must be quite a goldmine of knowledge that Penny has been collecting throughout her life.

"Penny, do you think Adelio will rule differently than his father?"

Surely the maid must've seen many successions throughout her life, from prince to king. Can a righteous prince change to a deadly king when rising up to the throne? Is Adelio putting on some common act? There must be something behind his odd nature after all. Maud doesn't believe that it's all simply luck on her side, and empathy on his. That's just too unrealistic. Sure, men can be empathetic, but men in power are not. Nobody in power is truly empathic. They thrive off the people's misery, so how could they be? Penny looks up at Maud, her polite smile fading off her face. A servant, especially a female servant like Penny, is often told not to speak of her opinion or not to speak at all if possible. Speaking up about political issues, which Maud is leading her in on, is extremely taboo for someone like Penny.

And yet she should know that Maud isn't just a normal princess. Penny should be the only one who knows that Maud does not have the same background as these other royals. She must know what she is getting at. After squirming around for a while, looking for a good answer, Penny hesitantly mutters something out.

"The crown prince will rule greatly, as his majesty has"

"That's not what I was asking"

Maud is tired of sneaking around the truth. In Blue Knight they speak the truth and only the truth, running around the subject is seen as ridiculous and as a waste of time. Honesty speeds up communication, and communication is the driving force of a great society. That is the most important teaching of the Blue Knight kingdom, and the blue knight himself. Avoiding the subject out of fear for the ones with power is justifiable, but not what Maud wants. Maybe she is asking too much of Penny, a servant who just wants to survive. But in this world Maud needs to advance to stay alive on the throne, to make sure that her time is worthwhile. Advancement happens through communication and, of course, finding out what people really think. Finding the holes in her truth, finding her own invisible naivety through other's outer perspectives.

"Do you think he will rule differently?-"

Maud lowers her voice to a whisper, just in case.

"It's just us in here. Do you think the people will benefit when Adelio steps into power? Is he as good of a man as he is letting on? I need your opinion to know, Penny"

Penny sighs, making sure that her words aren't heard through the carriage wall. They start moving very suddenly, as the gates have opened. Maud waits for her answer as they leave the capital behind them, a hoard of screaming people coming from different directions. Some even try to follow the carriage out of the city, but are threatened and pushed to the ground by the soldiers. Maud hears pained yells from the stampede of the crowd and thanks the gods for being so lucky to be born with blue blood in her veins. At least she's not one of them anymore, outside the life of privilege, suffering in a crowd of sick and hungry people. She's not there anymore, but she knows what it's like to be there. And some of it worries her too.

Maud is a human. She doesn't just worry for her people who are suffering, she also worries for her own head. The people are getting angrier. Maud knows it first hand, for she has been, and is angry too. Hungry people, poor people get angry. A king could rule a kingdom by force, but the more people start to turn on him, the more dangerous it will get for him. It's an evil cycle, and Maud would like to break it before it starts.

"His highness is violent when angry but never towards others. He is cunning and strong, and unbothered by the massive popularity that he holds. It doesn't get to his head, at least not on the surface. He takes after his mother, who is rumored to be an oddly ambitious and strong willed-woman, who would defy death to survive. No prince that I have ever worked for has been so self aware and humble as the crown prince is, if I may claim so. On the surface he is a unique case, and that's good for the people. But-"

Penny looks up at Maud, a worried look in her eye, as if scared of upsetting the princess with what she has to say.

"There must be something under the surface of his person that creates such a unique personality, shall I be so bold. The servants speak of his highness hiding something. I am afraid of what such a secret might be. If he lies about something, what's not to say that he is lying about everything? I'm sorry to imply such a traitorous thing, but everything about his personality could be a facade"

And it is as if Maud's naive world comes crashing down, her inner thoughts finally being confirmed by someone else. It's true, isn't it? Adelio is hiding something, something very big, and she knew all along.

Could he really be faking his entire personality? Putting on an act to fool her and others around him? Maud doesn't want to jump to conclusions when Adelio has done nothing but good things for her ever since they met. He deserves the benefit of the doubt, at least to some degree. That is why there is only one thing that she can do in order to find out whether he is a threat or not.

She must find out what he is hiding.

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