Not Him Again

They were heading to the palace, expecting to deal with that Ambassador. Night had already fallen on their way.

"June, are you really a princess or covering for the Emperor?"

June stared at Itu, confused about what to say.

Itu sighed, reading the sign of June. "She is the princess, my friend," he said without looking at Red.

"Do Galen, Ling, and others know?"

"Her acquaintances are well aware of her identity. Just the commoners don't recognize her as a princess."

"Nobody… nobody greets her as Highness…" Red was puzzled.

"Oh," June groaned. "Unnecessary flattery. Galen, Ling, Kibo… they've been seeing from my childhood."

Red tried to process the information and her experiences. "I can't believe how reckless you are!" Now everything made sense, why that Dynastian emissary attacked her on sight for simply being a Legion, why Itu was lecturing her about her safety while they were dealing with Serge.

"You almost got killed at that camp! You could have sent someone else."

June rolled her eyes. "Now, you're lecturing me too? That's why I don't like people to know. Look, I want to do something for my country. And I've done more than if I was sitting on the throne."

"For heaven's sake, increase your security. You're hopping from tree to tree like a bunny." Bunny matches better with her cute personality than Monkey.

"See, now you're valuing my life more because I'm a damn princess, not a commoner."

"June, a princess's life is more valuable. You're the heir to the throne…. Your country can't risk losing its next Empress…."

"Yes!" Itu spoke with agility—a rare peak of his emotion. "Put some sense into her head."

"I presume, I am enough guarded around you two and my own martial arts skill. Now, it is my order to put an end to the conversation of trying to lock me in the palace," she playfully spoke in her princess voice.

"Alright, princess."

As they were walking through the empty narrow lane, the Ambassador blocked their way with his guards.

"Were you pretending to be a princess onstage?" the Ambassador again. "You've spent a little less than a month in our camp! That's a laugh!"

"If you plan some official talk then you may wait in the palace," June spoke with a loud crisp voice, back to being a princess.

"I smell something fishy going around your country." He was dumb, but not as dumb as to get into the palace to be arrested. "Seems like my guards are a bit thirsty for blood, little champion…" His guards stepped further.

"Now you'll have no nose to smell…," Red hissed. His face was still deformed.

Itu vanished in thin air, startling everyone but June.

"Itu! Where are you!" Red shrieked.

"I'm right beside you."

Oh, he can turn invisible…

There were seven of the guards against three. Those who approached the girls received various cuts from Itu's katana.

"Call the guards!" June yelled to a passerby, who nodded before running as if he knew who June was. 

Red was confused to throw her chained knife at them in case she accidentally hit Itu. But June somehow sensed Itu's position and threw her chain knife without hurting him.

The Ambassador panicked, seeing his elite guards getting wounded by the invisible man. He decided to flee.

"Itu! We'll take care of the remaining," June yelled. "Go catch him!"

"Red, I'm counting on you." Itu's voice came out of the air.

Red realized he left when the bleeding legionaries freely stepped towards them.

"That Itu!" June hissed. She threw herself amidst the seven and played with her chained knife. She was amazing with her signature weapon.

Red wouldn't let her friend fight alone if she hadn't seen hammers in some legionaries' hands. Serge's signature weapon, hammers reminded her of him… and how he came at her with glowering jade blue eyes in dark eerie shadow form. She had never seen him so fearsome, so angry that she was almost ready to flee from that final duel. But that was no way back. She had to fight for her life… and June's too.

Those wounded zombies were too slow to take June down. Red just watched the amazing dance fight until she saw a legionary woman trying to hit June with her sword from her back. She threw a knife at her to save June. But it was late.

Dodging the sword, June snuck her knife through the narrow joint of the armor on the hip of the woman without even looking. It was a fight for June to show her friend that she could take care of herself. 

The girls tied up every legionary and charged some men to watch them until the imperial guards came. They went to find Itu. 

"June, I think your guards are corrupted. How did that dog smuggle legionaries here?"

"Not only guards but also ministers. A lot of conspiracy going on beneath the entertainment of tournaments…. No wonder why the Emperor has gone missing."

Emperor? June's father…! What if he was dead? She finally realized the terror going on behind the jovial face of June. Red's heart sank for her. She knew that losing a father was more painful than not having a father.

***

"I am truly sorry, June…. I lost him…." Remorse washed over Itu's tone.

"It's okay…" June's voice was noticeably weak. She was trying to console both Itu and herself. "Just the problem is he's going to provoke the war…"

There was a moment of silence… a painful silence….

"Tomorrow we must interrogate Kibo." Itu broke it.

"Not tomorrow. Let's go now," June said. It was almost bedtime.

"I'm hungry…," Red mumbled with puppy-eyes.