Chapter Twenty Six

"...But how?" Lena asked, surprised. "There are guards everywhere."

"Have you forgotten that I can leave from here whenever I want? So, don't worry about that." I said.

Lena stared at me and then she asked, skeptical. "Why are you doing this? Why do you want to help us?"

"It is not like I forgot what you have done to me... But I don't think it is fair what you have been through. I know how it is to be a prisoner living at someone else's mercy, not knowing what will happen to you on the next day. If I do nothing to help you, knowing that I can, I don't know how I will be able to sleep peacefully ever again."

Lena just stared at me, in silence, like she couldn't believe what she just heard.

Trying to break the silence, I asked. "...You told me that your families have run away. But, how are you sure that they won't be found by the King?" I asked.

"They are living now in the Averna Archipelago. They won't be found there." Lena explained.

'They are smarter than I thought.' I realized.

Through the books from the royal library, I learned that the Averna Archipelago belongs to the nation of Pheriza, one of the few nations that are powerful enough to go against Arhan nowadays. The Pheriza nation had some conflicts with the Arhan kingdom in the past, but now we are in peace.

But, still, Arhan has almost no influence in Pheriza, so it would be pretty hard for the King to find some peasants living there.

"I see. Then pack your bags and call the others. We don't have all day, if you want to run away from here we have to do this before dawn. " I said.

Lena nodded. "Alright. I'm going to call them, we won't take too long."

She was about to leave the room when she turned back to me and said. "...Thank you, Alexander."

Then she left.

'I just hope that nothing bad happens, and everything goes alright tonight.' I thought, worried.

I was still waiting inside my old room when the door was opened. It was Lena and the maids, they were all holding bags and using black cloaks.

"What is he doing here?!" Flora asked, surprised when she saw me in the room. "If you have found him, then why are we leaving?" Flora asked confused, looking at Lena.

"What is going on here? You told us that you have found a person that could help us to run away, Lena." Alice asked Lena, confused.

"You didn't tell them?" I asked, surprised.

"You didn't tell us what?!" Flora asked, mad.

"If I had told you before, you wouldn't accept this. Alexander is the one that will help us to leave here." Lena explained.

"What?! How can you even trust him?" Flora asked Lena, shocked.

Lena was silent for a moment, before saying. "...We will die if we do nothing. Alexander is the only hope we have right now."

"What are you talking about?! We will just die because of him! We just have to lock him again then Klaus will let us live." Flora said, mad.

"Don't be stupid. Alexander is a light mage, even if you try you have no chances against him." Lena said, staring at Flora.

"A bastard like him is a light mage?!" Flora asked looking at me, shocked.

I ignored Flora's attitude. I just stared at them and said. "We don't have much time before dawn. We have to go now."

"...But how? There are guards everywhere. How can we escape? They will see us." Alice said, worried.

"You don't have to worry about the guards seeing us, but… Do any of you know a way out of here besides the main gate that we can use?" I asked.

'All those years I didn't even get close to the palace walls, and neither from the main gate as well.' I realized. 'Leaving from the northwest side is pretty easy, but leaving to the outside of the palace walls otherwise…'

"...I may know some way." Lena said hesitantly.

"Where?" I asked.

"Some years ago I heard about a hole in the wall near the royal forest… Maybe we can leave through that if it is still there." Lena explained.

"I see. Let's go there, then." I said.

Lena nodded, but then Flora shouted at Lena, surprising us.

"How can you trust him!? You are stupid if you think he will gonna help us!"

Lena looked at Flora and said coldly. "You are the stupid one here. Don't you see that we will die anyway? If he betrays us, or even if we stay here and do nothing, the end will still be the same, we will all gonna die… At least, I prefer to die trying to see my family again. If you want to stay here to die it's your choice, but it doesn't mean that I will do the same."

Flora looked at Lena, wordless.

But Lena just looked at me and asked. "How are we gonna leave the northwest area? Is there any secret passage that we can use?"

"Well, it is not a secret passage, it's just… Hmm… It is better if you just follow me." I said hesitantly.

I left the room and then Lena did the same, but the others were still standing inside the room, hesitantly.

"Are you gonna come or not?" Lena asked, looking at them.

Alice took a step forward and said. "Y-Yes, I will… And you Flora? Will you also come with us?" She asked, looking back at Flora.

Flora looked at us and said hesitantly. "I… I will…" When she looked at my eyes she bit her lip, angry.

"I won't go with you! If I have to die I will not gonna die because of a bastard like you!" She said, looking at me, furious.

"B-But, Flora!" Alice said, worried.

But Lena held Alice's arm and said. "Let's go, Alice. Flora made her choice."

"But…" Alice looked once again to Flora, trying to see if she really wasn't coming with us, but Flora didn't even want to look at her.

Accepting that there was nothing she could do, Alice sighed and said. "...Alright. Goodbye, Flora."

But Flora ignored Alice, she didn't even look at her.

Lena asked me. "Where should we go now?"

"Follow me." I said.

Ant then the trhee of us left the room, leaving Flora there alone.

"Why are we here?" Lena asked, confused when I stopped walking.

We were in the northwest main hall, near the main exit out of here, that just as all passages to out of here, there were guards blocking the way.

I breathed deeply and said. "Alright, the way for us to leave is pretty simple, but you have to trust me."

"What do you mean, Alexander?" Alice asked.

"We will pass through the guards, and all you both have to do is to stay quiet and follow me, do you understand?" I asked, serious.

"W-What?!" Alice shouted, surprised.

"Silence! The guards will hear us!" Lena whispered after blocking Alice's mouth with her hand. But then she looked at me and asked. "How will we pass through the guards?"

"You know that I am a light mage, right? So, there is a… There is something that I can do as a light mage that will help us to leave out of here." I explained.

"What is it?" Lena asked.

"Well, I… I can become invisible." I explained.

"...Invisible?" Alice asked, confused.

"Like this." I said, becoming invisible.

"W-W-What?!" Alice shouted surprised. "He just vanished!" She said looking at Lena, confused.

"Did you see? That is what I was talking about. Using this magic we can leave here without being seen by the guards." I explained, turning myself visible again.

Lena and Alice looked at me surprised like they still couldn't believe what they have just seen.

"So that's why no one could find you…" Lena said shocked.

Then Alice asked me. "But can you use this magic on us as well?"

"Well, I have never tried to use that magic on someone else besides myself, but I'm pretty sure I can do this." I said, confident.

"I see. So all we to do is to pass through the guards, is that right?" Lena asked.

"Yes, but so everything can go alright we have all to stay close to each other, and not make any loud noise. Though we will be invisible the guards can still hear us. Do you understand?" I asked.

They nodded.

"So, follow me." I said, turning my back to them, going to the main exit.

"W-Wait! Shouldn't we become invisible first?" Alice hissed, worried.

I looked back at her and said. "We already are."

"B-But I can still see you both!" Alice said, confused.

"We can still see each other, but everyone else can't see us." I explained.

"...Ah, I see." Alice said, surprised.

"We don't have all night. We have to go now." Lena said, taking the lead.

We followed Lena, and to my surprise, she didn't even think twice before walking into the guards' field of vision.

I followed her, and soon Alice followed us as well. We were walking closer and closer to the guards, and I was just getting tenser.

Not because I was scared, but keeping two other people and myself invisible is harder than I thought it would be.

Lena passed through the guards with no hesitation, and I did the same soon after her. But when I looked back Alice was frozen in front of the guards.

The distance between us was just making it harder for me to keep the invisible magic working.

I quickly held Lena's cloak, stopping her from keep walking. She looked back at me surprised and confused.

I pointed to Alice, and then Lena got it.

She then passed through me and walked back in Alice's direction. Lena quickly held Alice's hand and forced her to pass through the guards.

Just then, we left the northwest area together.

"Let's stop here for a moment." I said, panting, leaning on the wall.

We were standing in one of the corridors of the west side, far away from the northwest area and the guards' sight.

"Are you alright?" Alice asked, worried.

"Yes… I just have to rest a little. Keeping us all invisible at the same time was harder than I thought it would be." I explained.

'Probably it is because I am still sick that I have not much energy to use my magic.' I realized.

"Aright, let's rest here for a little while then we keep going." Lena said, crossing her arms.

"...I don't think I have enough energy to keep us invisible all the way out of here." I admitted.

I thought that after saying that Lena would get worried, but she was pretty calm.

"Well, since it is nighttime right now I don't think we have to worry about us being seen by someone else while we are still inside of the palace, but… I'm pretty sure that there are guards patroling out of the palace right now. What should we do then?" Lena asked, looking at me.

"Don't worry, I have enough energy to make us invisible as soon we leave the palace. Well, at least enough until we arrive at the forest I think." I said, unsure.

Lena nodded, assured. "That is all we need."

After some time resting we were back walking through the palace.

Just as Lena said earlier there was no one around. But, still, I was a bit scared. It was the first time I walked through the palace with my real appearance.

Since I had to save mana to help them to leave the palace, I couldn't change my look as I always do. So I had to be alert to change my appearance as quickly as I could if someone appeared.

"Alexander… Can I ask you something?" Alice asked, curious.

"What?" I asked.

"How have you been living since you left the northwest side? Have you been invisible all this time?" She asked looking at me.

"Why do you ask?" I asked, suspicious.

"It is because as far as I know there is no rumor about a bastard of the King appearing from nowhere. But looking at your clothes you seem like… A real prince." Alice said, looking at me.

Just then I realized that I was still wearing the clothes that Prince Noah gave to me.

'It must be confusing for them because when I left I just had worn clothes to use, but now I came back wearing such luxurious vesting as of the one I am using right now.' I realized.

"As far as I know, the King doesn't know that I left the northwest area if that is what you are assuming." I explained.

"So, how do you have this cloth? Did you steal it?" Alice asked, confused.

"It is none of your business." I said coldly, without looking at her.

"I-I see." Alice said, embarrassed.

'How can I even explain that I became a personal servant of one of the princes and that he gave me these clothes?' I asked myself.

"Let's leave from here." Lena said opening a door that lead to the outside of the palace after making sure that there was no guard around.

I nodded. But when I saw how far the forest was from where we were I felt a flutter in my stomach.

"Are you sure that you can keep us invisible all the way from here?" Lena asked me, unsure.

I gulped. "...Yes, I think so."

"Then we will go whenever you think it is alright, Alexander." Alice said looking at me, worried.

I took a deep breath and said. "Let's go."