The Princess of the Amaranth

The journey to the Amaranth fief from the capital takes seven days at most in a carriage. It is one of the largest fief in Idalia, having five cities in its territory. Of which was surrounded by two notable mountain ranges: the Nephele Mountains where the gemstone mine owned by the Amaranth Duchy is located; and the Zeru Mountain range, the stronghold of the warrior tribe Athos.There is also the Guthrie Plains which is known for its windy climate, past it would be the Aegean sea.

Chalice had been reading about their fief while she was waiting for her father back in the capital. But information from books are usually far more different from the actual situation, so Chalice would rather she visit these places herself to find out more about them.

The days of travel put Chalice on edge. She felt as if she was about to rot, that or she's about to turn into a full blown sloth with all the lazying around that she does. There was absolutely nothing of interest that happened on their way. Chalice was even wishing that they get too meet some bandits along the way just for the heck of it. Unfortunately, such mishap missed their convoy. The endless juggling around of the carriage added to Chalice's dismay.

All these frustration were vented on a certain effeminately handsome knight, who was almost about to cry with all the bullying his she-devil of a master did.

'Oooh. Midget Levi is happy.'

Chalice smirked when she saw Levi's obvious sigh of relief when they entered the premises of the Amaranth estate. It was silly of Levi to think that she would stop just because they have arrived. It was too much fun to irritate him.

'But I'll let him off for now.'

Chalice took in the imposing manor slowly coming to their view.

'It's even more majestic than when I last saw it. What was I thinking? I should have stayed here than in the capital. This place looks a lot more interesting.'

Chalice alighted from the carriage and directed her eyes to the people waiting in front. William, a sprightly middle-aged man was in front accompanied by a younger one.

No. It was the other way around. Looking at it closely, Chalice realized that it was not William who is at the head of the servants.

'Strange. I thought William was in-charge of this place.'

Chalice approached them and went straight to the person at the vanguard.

'An evildoer! This guy is an evil evildoer. Such a face could topple thousands of hearts, men and women alike.'

She exclaimed in her heart.

'Unfortunately for him, I'm already immuned to his kind. Tsk. Tsk.'

Chalice smiled wickedly as she drew her face nearer to guy. Completely unaware that the people surrounding them let out audible gasps, while her knowing knight facepalmed at her actions.

'My lady ah, you haven't had enough of teasing me for a whole week. Do you really need to vent on the first person you see as soon as we arrived? At this rate, our people will thoroughly be terrified of you.'

Chalice's eyes narrowed as she reveled at the man's handsome features. His hair was darker than the night sky, with a face sharp and serious. His nose perfectly resembled that of a greek god. Lips so luscious that Chalice had to admit she's alarmingly tempted to kiss him senseless. But amongs all of it, what blew her away was his familiar blue eyes. It was similar to that of Lucy's. Except his shade was a lot lighter, a chilling icy blue.

Then it dawned on her. This was Lucy's brother, Luke. She could see a resemblance between them, though slight.

'What the heck??! I do not remember him being this handsome.'

Chalice was flustered the more she stared at him. A strange feeling bubbled at the pit of her stomach.

"Heh. Luke has become really handsome. Didn't recognize you there for a moment. I almost kissed you."

Chalice teased while she winked at him. Hmp, she would never admit to herself that she was affected by this man. She'll tease him until the weird feeling she felt goes away.

However, circumstances never go the way they are planned. Chalice saw a suspicious pink slowly coloring Luke's face as he coughed and awkwardly turned away. She abruptly distanced herself from him because Chalice could also feel an embarrassing heat coming up to her ears down to her neck.

'The hell is this guy blushing about? Now, I'm embarrassed too! Ugh.'

Chalice frantically calmed her erratic heartbeat. After she made sure that there was not a trace of blunder in her face anymore, she turned to the dumbfounded people at her back.

"Aren't you going to let me in? I'm parched. Some tea would be a good idea by now."

She smiled slightly at them. With that, William and Luke seemed to have woken from their stupor.

"Welcome home, Princess." William said to her after he cleared his throat, still unable to get rid of the previous scenario of the lady teasing the poor lad, Luke.

"I'll have them prepare the tea and snacks, Lady Chalice. Luke will lead you to the drawing room."

William said as he led them inside. All the while giving Luke furtive glances which the latter intentionally ignored.

"Sir William, I'll go with you. Princess likes the tea that I make."

Levi hurriedly said as he jogged to William's side. He certainly won't stay with Chalice and Luke. There was an inkling in his heart which warned him that he would surely vomit buckets of blood if went with them.

Chalice threw Levi an amused glance before she turned to William and to Luke.

"Instead of the drawing room, I'd take my tea to the study instead. After you, Luke."

She gestured to him followed with an indistinct smile, to which the man stiffly nodded to and proceeded to walk.

Chalice hovered a few steps behind him, leaving behind William with an unreadable expression in his face and Levi shaking his head.

This princess of theirs really was a man-chaser.