Don't Trust Me At All, Huh?

Retelling her experiences and findings to Maisey helped while trekking through the cold metal corridors of the research facility as it made the whole place seem less gloomy that it should've been. For himself, it seemed less of a journey compared to the story his princess was talking about right now.

"You've really had quite an experience, huh?" Maisey muttered curiously.

"Oh? You're not going to say that was anything but normal again?" Peony looked to him with a teasing smirk.

Maisey sighed, "No offense, milady, but with you involved, anything is but normal."

"Seriously?" Peony laughed.

"So, what about that meeting with the Prince of Briar Valley?"

Peony raised a brow, "Eh? What about him? I thought you and the others aren't interesting in knowing about the royal family of Briar Valley."

Maisey huffed, "Of course not, what they do is unknown to us and we don't care. However, I am curious about what they look like since the queen acknowledged his grandmother. Then, you even went out of your way to attempt to invite the family. How could the fairies not be curious?"

Peony thought quietly to herself in deep thoughts before responding, "Well... it is true that he is very powerful. Even from afar, I can tell that he's ability is still higher than what my cultivation can do. He's also a master in fighting without magic. I witnessed that firsthand in a school event when he sparred against his caretaker."

"Huh? His caretaker can also fight like that fae general?"

She nodded, "That's right. In fact, I suspect that his caretaker IS a general. He is in the third year group and is the shortest of the group making him seem younger, but I can see his age is anything but within the tens and twenties. He's clearly an adult, like the prince, but older. If my guess is right, he should be in the third year's history book. The Elusive General or as we call him, the Phamtom General."

"Eh?!" Maisey's eyes widen upon surprise to hear that name, "I've heard about him a few years back! Isn't he suppose to be one of those that's really loyal and gained recognition from their Queen?"

"You say that, but a large number of the military that works directly under the queen are all loyal to them." Peony frowned, "All right, all right. Now that I told you this, don't go spreading this rumor around in the castle or to others. We don't want to ruin their break with all the unexpected visits from home."

"Then, what about the grandson of the queen? Since he's so powerful, he should regarded pretty well back in school."

Peony nodded, "He is... But, perhaps a little too well for most..."

Though her voice was quiet near the end, Maisey could hear it loud and clear and understood those words very well. He couldn't help but recall to the early days to when the princess first appeared in the kingdom. Anything was all but rainbows and sunshine for her. She was a human in the midst of many fairies who had complicated relations with humans in a kingdom that was separated into another pocket space just to avoid human interaction with the outside. From the moment he was appointed her caretaker, he has witnessed the scorn she faced from others and fairies that would not heed her words just because she was a human girl. When it was discovered that her knowledge and abilities had saved the kingdom on multiple occasions, many still did not want to spare her a glance aside from those she had saved.

However, the princess was steadfast and firm on her feet as though she had already experienced this level of scorn and ignorance. She continued to cultivate and grow stronger. She took on classes and showed pure interest and intelligence that would not stop growing. Eventually, she began to garner the approval of her father who was a strong advocate against socializing with humans and many around her. They finally saw her as a resourceful and wise member of the royal family as she continued to contribute to her new home.

Yet, despite all of this, he always sees her by herself as her parents handle their duties and others respected her and worship her from afar. Being her caretaker, he had felt responsible for caring for her emotionally as well and recommended the queen to let her go out and explore disguised as a normal lower-class child to lighten her mood. The queen was hesitant but agreed to this proposal and did her best to convince her daughter to leave the kingdom from a young age. It took a lot of effort in convincing her to leave her home for the journey, but it finally worked in the end and landed her a decent job in Briar Valley for her interests in books.

He thought that everything would go well, until problems began to occur with her cultivation. The princess went blind with blood coming out of her eyes. Everyone was left in a panic until Peony and a healer discovered that the blindness was only temporary. Due to this startling event, the princess finally spilled the beans to him and her parents. According to the princess, she was a reincarnated soul from another world and a very powerful one before an unfortunate incident occurred taking her life away. She explained cultivation to them and the possibility that she may be left in this world and abandoned as she could not find any trace of existence regarding the art of cultivation in this world.

Not only that, but that she was inflicted with a deadly poison from her world making her body temperature very cold. When she said that she needed to gather more mana to recover from her blindness, the royal family did not hesitate to take her to the forest to find more mana. When she returned her blindness was cured and she gained more abilities. According to the Queen, this was due to her bloodline and the scholars amongst them agreed with her regarding the strong possibility that she was from another world as the bloodline did not exist in this world till now. However, to the kingdom nothing mattered more than her safe return to health as everything grew chaotic after her disappearance.

The king failed in his friendly chat with the queen of Briar Valley and ended up unable to understand the interests of her and her kingdom. The fairy queen was too worried about her to continue mediating troubles between her kind and could hardly focus on her work knowing her daughter was not in the best of health. Upon her return, she was quick to step in and mend the problems, even going into political meetings at the tender age of ten showing great intelligence and an open mind. This unfortunately attracted the attention of the other countries' leaders and landing many proposals with her being in their sight.

No matter the circumstances and where she is, she is always alone in the end of it all. Since it was like this, how could it be any different to Prince of Briar Valley?

"Why not go talk with him after school?" Maisey suggested, "Or maybe tell him who you are?"

Peony chuckled, "Didn't you just caution me of going to greet other men? Although I can speak with him, I can't tell him who I am."

"Why not?"

"It would be the same as saying I'm here to talk about business and politics with you. Meaning work and political connections." Peony responded, "Just like saying, I've been getting close to you not as a friend, but as a business partner and that's the least he needs right now. Another reminder to his background and status during a time where he is trying to relax a little bit. Moreover, if I tell him who I am, I have an inkling that would bite me back in the near future."

"That's the main reason, isn't it?" Maisey huffed in dismay, "You can rest assured since the king has already expected that you would act recklessly anyway and began to prepare in the case that you do get yourself in trouble. Her majesty has also starting thinking of an excuse as well. Milady should just relax."

"You guys..." Peony could feel the corner of her lips twitch, "You don't trust me at all, do you?"

"This is milady we are talking about. The same one who ACCIDENTALLY made the castle collapse thrice in the span of one and a half decade." Maisey pointed out without hesitation before looking up in surprise, "It seems all of the miasma is coming from here, milady!"

He wasn't wrong. There was black miasma fuming out from the cracks of the door. If it had waited any longer, it would have probably be on the verge of bursting at any moment. Just looking at the murky black gas seeping out from behind the door made his stomach churn uncomfortably.

"W-will we really be all right, milady?" Maisey questioned hesitantly.

"Yeah. We'll be fine. My power is not weak either." Peony reassured him.

Suddenly, there was a sudden movement darting from the corner of her sight. She frowned and took out her silver needles as Maisey cried out, "What was that?!"