The Princess With The Jet Black Hair

[Fiore's castle, Infirmary]

Beck swung open the door and let Emily in first.

Alerted, Jai and Anna turned their head to the sound of the creaking door.

Once the two entered, both of the servants' eyes darted between the two - Beck and the really drenched Emily.

Swiftly, Anna went to one of the many cabinets and pulled out a dry towel. She then rushed over to Emily to help her dry up. Anna is always silent, showing no signs of emotions whatsoever, but she do care for her friends and of course, the Princess.

She instructed Emily to sit one of the bed while she went to get something hot for Emily to drink.

"What happened?" Jai asked with a concerned look on his face as he noticed the tiny cut at the side of Emily's lips.

"Well... Let's just say it was an accident." Emily laughed uneasily.

Jai clearly did not buy that, so he looked over to Beck who was getting a bottle of ointment from one of the highest cabinets, prompting him to say something.

"Erm... A conflict happened between Isabella and Mary, which slowly turned into something physical, and Emily got involved to protect Mary."

"Isabella from the Rosavale family?" Jai questioned as he ċȯċked his head slightly.

"...Yeah." Beck breathed out as he was too focused on applying some of the medical substances onto Emily's cut. He dabbed a cotton ball, that was soaked with the oilment, against her cut cautiously and gently, afraid that he would hurt her if he wasn't careful.

Jai walked over to the both of them and peered over Beck's shoulder so that he could check on Emily. Once he saw that she was alright, he asked further, "What was the conflict about?"

The two of them went red upon hearing that question.

Jai gave them a couple of innocent blinks when he saw their reactions, "Is there something wrong with that question?"

"No... It's just hard to answer that question." Beck replied as he screwed back the cap onto the bottle.

Amused, Jai let out a small chuckle, "I'll not ask further then."

Even though he did say that, Emily felt like he already knew what had happened.

"So, how's Ethan?" Beck asked as he walked towards the bedside that the unconscious guy laid. Upon seeing his friend, his face involuntarily contorted into a grimace.

"Frankly, not good." Jai frowned, "Someone from phantom attacked him when he was on duty. Someone much stronger than him."

He then took a deep breath and continued, "I've met that guy, but he vanished soon after."

Beck said nothing in response, leaving the room in absolute silence.

"I don't really know much about Ethan, but I know that he's a good guy. I don't think he deserve this." Emily thought as her eyebrows dropped to from a frown, "Why do I feel guilty?"

Her ċhėst tightened as the word 'guilty' repeated many times in her head, before the sound of the door opening disturbed that chant.

Anna walked towards them with a tray, that had a typical tea set on it, in her hands. Once she reached a table near the array of cabinets, she laid them on it, before pouring the tea into the individual teacups.

The aroma of the tea bombarded the air instantly, as the liquid was poured out from the teapot to the cups. Surprisingly, the fragrance eased Emily's mind a little. She reached out her hand as Anna passed a cup of tea to Emily, followed by Beck.

Emily thanked her and proceeded to drink the hot beverage. As the tea went down her throat, she felt much warmer internally.

After that, Anna helped Emily to re-tie her hair and to do a little touch-up on her makeup. Both her hair and her face looked like crap after that, ever-so-refreshing splash, by Isabella.

After about twenty minutes, Anna was done. Emily thanked her again, in which she replied with a bow.

Beck and herself then went to the ballroom when her real declaration ceremony was about to begin.

[Fiore castle, ballroom]

"Where's Emily?" Mary asked anxiously as she looked at some of the knights who lining themselves up in two columns, along each side the red carpet that led to a platform. "The ceremony is about to begin!" She said as she tapped the floor with her foot, trying to distract herself from the absence of the princess.

"Relax, she'll be here soon." Lavi said as he walked up behind her, "Beck is probably going to be bring her back."

She squinted her eyes at the wooden door hoping that it would open as soon as possible.

"...Come on, Emily." She mumbled to herself.

After a few seconds of staring, the princess was still not here.

Mary let out a sigh and snarled, "If only the Isabella wasn't here..."

"Hey, at least she's gone now, right?" Lavi commented, in attempt to cheer her up. Isabella had left soon after that embarrassing meet up with Yukiko.

"I'm still mad!" She retorted in a slightly aggressive tone. Realising that those words came out lauded than she meant it to be. She sheepishly lowered her volume and admitted, "...Actually, it's my fault too. I mean, if I didn't start that argument with her, those other things wouldn't have happened."

Lavi realised that she seemed a little upset with her actions, so he replied in a comforting tone, "Well, she wasn't being nice in the first place. So, I guess you did something right. Besides, if you didn't do it, I'm sure Yukiko would've."

Grinning playfully, he continued, "Yukiko will definitely stand up for Emily, trust me. She looks a little cold and all, but she isn't a bad friend."

Mary looked at him for a moment, but before she open her mouth to reply, the huge wooden door swung open, to reveal both Emily and Beck behind it.

Briskly, Emily rushed over to where the ceremony was at, and took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself down. "Okay Emily, just walked to the end of this carpet to the platform and stand there. You have rehearsal this many times already, don't mess this up. Keep calm and just walk confidently. In a straight line, maintain good posture and don't slouch."

She was definitely anxious, but who wouldn't? She was literally going to doing something in front of hundreds of people. If she messed this up, these hundreds of people will remember it. And what if they told more people and those people went on to tell even more people. Afterwards those even more people will— Well, you get the gist.

She just felt more terrified with she thought about it that way.

Her heart skipped a beat when the guard, who stood at the end of the red carpet, next to her parents, cleared his throat before he announced.

"Oh. My. God. It's starting!"

She walked down the carpet confidently as all eyes were fixed on her. With every step she took, her heart beat faster and louder. Even though the knights were not doing anything, an air of intimidation surrounded them. Despite that, she did not fear, well, she pretended as if she did not fear.

However.

...Things did not seem to go according to plan.

All of a sudden, one of the knights, who Emily just walked past, raised his sword. She did not see it, but her gut was telling her that she was in trouble. The knight swung his sword, aiming for her back. Just then, she turned just in time to bȧrėly dodge the attack.

He then swung again, this time, attempting to slit her throat. She ducked and went under his arm. She ended up behind her attacker. "WHAT DO I DO NOW?! Oh my GOSHHH! Okay! Okay! What did Yukiko said? Um... Oh right, back of the knee."

She gave him a low kick to the back of his knee, causing him to fall on one knee. "Erm... then, I should go for the back, right?" She launched herself to his back and pushed him down onto the ground with her forearm.

This time, he fell forward as Emily placed her bodyweight on the man's back, pinning him down. She twisted one of his arms and shoved it behind his back, so that he could drop his sword.

He struggled to get up, but he could not, he was completely pinned to the ground. Even so, he still continued doing so.

The knights around her grabbed the man to help Emily to get him away.

A sense of satisfaction went to through after realising that it was the first time she took down a man all on her own. She turned to Yukiko, who was currently both her friend and her teacher, and waved frantically at her, "Yukiko! Did you see that?! I took him down." She had completely destroyed the cool and calm image that she had built up.

Yukiko grimaced at her and her behaviour, which was definitely not the reaction Emily was looking for.

She averted her eyes, pretending 'Yukiko' was not her name and that she did not recognise Emily.

"Hey! Yukiko! Don't ignore me! Look at the man." She pointed to the 'knight' who was held by the other knights, "I took him down."

Everyone in the room looked at Yukiko, who was purposefully ignoring Emily, waiting for her response.

Giving in, she pushed herself to force out an unwilling smile. "Y-Yeah! Good work." She yelled back sarcastically under the pressure of the people in the ballroom.

Emily smiled brightly before being disrupted by one of the knights, "Princess, what should we do to him?"

"Um..." She forced out. "Honestly, I don't know."

That was what she wanted to say, but of course she should not.

Luckily, her dad, who was standing nearby, saved her from the potential embarrassment she could have faced.

"Remove his helm."

His words penetrated throughout the room with a hint of anger. He walked calmly to where his daughter was and looked at a her for a good few seconds. He darted his eyes back and forth between her face and her toes.

"Yes, Sir." One of the knights replied with respect, before he followed his instructions.

What was underneath the helm, was something terrifying to look at. Once the helm was removed, gasps was heard throughout the room, followed by a variety of chatters.

It revealed a man in an absolutely frightening state. His bloodshot eyes were rolled back and greenish veils were seen popping out on his neck, as they crawled up to his face, further emphasising his unusual grey skin. White foam was dripping out from his mouth, filling his own ċhėst plate. Overall, he looked completely dead.

Emily could bȧrėly looked at the man, he just did not look right.

"Sir, he's dead." The same knight reported, "I can't feel his pulses."

"Take him to the autopsy room for inspection." The king ordered with his monotone voice.

He then looked at Emily and said, "Emily... Um..." There was a long pause before another word came out, "Good."

"Good?" She raised an eyebrow, urging him to explain what he meant.

"I mean... Good job." He said as he looked away.

She took a while for the words to process, "Is he complimenting me? Oh yes, he is."

That itself made her extremely happy. Her dad rarely talked to her, but when he did, it was always awkward, since her dad was not a great conversationalist nor an experienced father.

However, this time, she was felt exhilarated because it was the first time her father praised her.

She thought she could not feel happier, but she was wrong.

The king then slowly reached out for the top of her head and gave her a rub on her head as he continued to look away.

Her eyes lit up instantly, once her father made contact with her. A bright smile spread across her face as she looked at her embarrassed dad who refused to look at her. "Hey, actually, he isn't such a grumpy guy after all."

Just as his father lifted his hand and turned away, she ran towards him and gave him a hug from the back.

That caught him completely off guard.

"Thanks, dad." Emily muffled out, ignoring whatever the other people might think of her.

There was no doubt he felt happy after that, but his face still remained composed. He nodded and turned away.

But, as he tried to walk away, he almost tripped, since he still felt somewhat surprised of what just happened. Fortunately, he regained his composure almost immediately.

"Now, let's continue the ceremony." He announced.

The night went on safely, with no other disturbances. However, it was still too early to say. Furthermore, her life has became extremely insane and there was almost to no doubt that something will happen, even if she did not want it to.