Money

"He…?" Larisa hinted to Lifar after she and Brennon greeted her.

"Oh, the Prince told me to bring him here and that he will be your personal guard until the Prince finds someone else to take his post." Lifar explained.

"But I've never needed a personal guard, I don't need one now either," Larisa rejected. How was she to leave and go after Maynard if she had a personal guard following her?

"Princess, the Prince is just worried that in your current condition you can't be moving around alone." Lifar tried to reason.

"I have you and Selah and that's enough," Larisa was still adamant.

"But princ..."

"Enough, I've made up my mind," Larisa raised her hand to stop her from continuing.

Brennon knelt one knee, "Pardon me Princess but this concerns your safety, please allow me to stay by your side and protect you." He said in a serious tone.

"But there is nothing to protect me from, I have always been safe."

"Princess has always been in the palace then and was protected by many soldiers indeed, but outside the palace is not that safe, please allow me to protect you until we have reached the palace tomorrow,"

Larisa was about to disagree again when she felt a slight tag on her sleeve, she glanced at Selah who slowly shook her head. Larisa got the hint and stopped refusing, if she was so persistent on rejecting him then he might be suspicious and report to her brother who may just put even more guards to monitor her, by then, she won't even to able to snick away to view flowers, let alone leaving the capital and going after Maynard.

"Fine, you can stay,"

"Thank you Princess," Brennon enveloped one of his fists in his palm as he saluted her.

Larisa excused him and asked Lifar to go and get her something to eat, she hasn't had a proper meal since morning.

She rushed to her father's tent as soon as she woke up, then those Madams and Ladies surrounded her all afternoon and she couldn't just chase them away now, could she? It's safe to say she could pass out if she went on like this any longer.

Larisa worriedly looked at Selah, "What now?"

Selah poured her a cup of tea and offered it to her, "Princess just got a new personal guard, please take this cup of tea as congratulations,"

Larisa exasperatedly took the cup and set it down heavily on the table spilling some of the tea, "Is this the time for congratulations?"

Selah just smiled suggestively at the Princess's slightly angry face and said slowly, "Of cause it is, princess should also celebrate this occasion by giving your new guard something to drink," Selah hinted.

"Why would I give him something to drink, he can go and get it himself," Larisa retorted.

Selah sighed, this Princess could not read in between words, she had no choice but to elaborate.

She moved closer to her ear as she whispered, "Princess should put some knock out drugs in tea and offer it to him as a welcome gift, he will be fast asleep and won't be able to stop us,"

Larisa's eyes became wider as her clogged brain became clearer, "Ayah!, that is a great idea," she said loudly in excitement.

Selah shushed her, and pointed a finger outside where a blurry silhouette of a man could be seen moving back and forth.

Larisa nodded in understanding. She got up and went to the chest containing her clothes as Selah followed behind her.

She laid out a large piece of cloth and started to put her clothes on it, she placed about ten sets of clothes before tying up the bundle.

Selah squatted beside the bundle, "Is this all Princess is taking?" she asked.

"What else should I take? There are a lot of guards surrounding the camping site, I can't take too many clothes since we could get noticed and caught if we are carrying too many things, and too many things may drag us down too." Larisa spoke as though she was speaking to a clueless child. It's not her fault though, she has been used having to break down the most common of knowledge to Lifar that she subconsciously used the same tone with Selah.

"Won't princess take money?" Selah asked in bewilderment.

Larisa stared a her for a long moment while she scratched the side of her head.

"Money?" She asked and shrugged. "That's a type of food, right? You know I've tasted just about every food out there, but I've never tried money!"

Now it was Selah who stared at Larisa as if she spoke a different language, what was this? A person was walking this earth without knowing what money was? Impossible! Selah's life views were collapsing before her, she has lived two lives and thought there wouldn't be anything that could shock her, but behold, she actually found someone who doesn't know what money is.

Selah asked hesitantly after getting over her shock, "Then what does princess use to get what she wants?"

"I just ask someone for it and it's delivered to me," Larisa said as a matter of fact.

"Then doesn't princess sometimes need favours from someone where you have to give them something in return?"

Larisa looked at her strangely, "You mean bribes?"

Selah clapped her hands once in confirmation, "Yes bribes, doesn't princess do that,"

"I do sometimes, but what does that got anything to do with this 'money' thing, bribes is when you give someone jewellery so they can do something for you out of their normal range of duties," she said while again reverting back to her teacher teaching a child common sense role.

Selah didn't know what to do, should she laugh or cry? "Has Princess never left the palace before?"

"I have, I always leave a few days before my mother's anniversary to go and visit her,"

"Don't you like some things you see on the way there?"

"Maynard always escorts me and gets me everything I want."

Forget it, Selah just decided to let it go. How lucky, there was someone who got everything they asked for, they never need to buy it themselves so they didn't even know there is such a thing called money.

Ah, she really couldn't blame her, growing up without talking much to people can make someone not know the most common of knowledge.

"Princess, money is something you use to get what you want, when you are bribing someone, you are paying them to do something for you, outside, you need money for everything that you want, nothing is free, so you need to pay money to get what you want."

Larisa gaped at her, there was such a thing? Her years spent reading book after book in the library was wasted, was she still knowledgeable then?

Larisa nodded after pondering it for a while, she went to the chest brought by the Duchess, and took out a couple jewellery sets then showed them to Selah, "will these be enough?"

If Selah was only really planning to take her to the young lord, then that would be enough, but she is not.

After the Princess leaves and the capital gets attacked, she will need enough money to start a new life on her own, so that won't be enough.

Maybe it was heartless of her to only save the Princess when she had such knowledge of things that hadn't happened yet and could probably save more people if she tried, but she didn't want to.

She has gone through hell in her past life, she was always trying to be accepted by everyone, she did all she could to give them her all, but what did she get in the end? Ha! Her sisters and step mother sold her to an old rich man to be his young bride when he already had fifteen other wives.

That wasn't even the worst of it, they tied her up, threw her into the carriage to set off to her new 'husbands' place, but as they were passing by a cliff, the carriage moved towards the cliff and she was thrown to the bottom of the cliff and left for dead. Those were her good sister's orders.

Who helped her then? Didn't she ask all these nobles for help but none wanted to listen to her pleas? She owed them nothing, she only owes the princess and they will soon be even after she escapes the attack a month later and then they could go their separate ways. As for her 'family' she will deal with them if they survive this attack.

She went to the chest and picked out the jewellery that looked the most expensive, four gold bars and some silver. She placed them in a small chest and handed it to the princess.

That amount of items was enough for an ordinary family to live happily for the rest of their lives, it should be enough of a foundation for the princess to live on her own.

Larisa packed a separate pack of the same items in a separate bag and gave them to Selah, "I assume you don't have enough things of your own, so here, you can have this."

Selah accepted with a warm smile, there was no point in refusing anyway. Lifar came in at this moment and found the two parking bags used for travelling. She placed the food basket on the table catching the other's attention.

Larisa looked at the bags on the floor then at Lifar, "Well, Lifar…..This---"

"I'll follow you," Lifar cut her off. "From the time you saved me, I had told you I will follow you wherever you go, so you don't have to explain it to me, I will follow you regardless."

A warm feeling spread in Larisa's heart as she smiled even more brightly at Lifar, "Fine then, I will pack a bag for you too."

"Princess just needs to pack some money for me, I will take my own clothes,"

Larisa sobered up and pointed an accusative finger at Lifar, "Right! Why didn't you tell me about this money thing and that it is very important?"

Lifar looked at her dumbly, "Is princess joking with me?"

Larisa just glared at her, Lifar was in disbelief, "Does princess really not know money?"

"Hmph! Now I know it," said Larisa lather smugly.

Lifar glanced at Selah in confusion and Selah just shook her head with a smile.