The Bandit and the Princess

"Bruce, are you the bandit of solitude?" Meredith asked.

Staring at those beautiful eyes, Bruce felt that he couldn't lie to her about his real identity. He looked at Deion briefly for a suggestion but didn't find anything.

"Do you want to know the truth?" Bruce sighed.

"Yes"

Meredith felt her heart pounding even faster. For so long, she had been wondering about the identity of the bandit ever since he defeated her 6 years ago. She trained and studied hard every year to defeat the Bandit of Solitude in the yearly exam. Unfortunately, she failed every time.

To her, the Bandit of Solitude is an insurmountable wall. An enigma that she couldn't solve. Like many other geniuses in the academy, she became obsessed with him. Never would she expect her blind "date" today would be someone she had been looking for all this time.

"The truth is that I know who the Bandit of Solitude is, but I am not the Bandit of Solitude"

Bruce didn't lie to Meredith. The Bandit of Solitude in the yearly exams was both Bruce and Deion. Initially, Bruce wanted Deion to get a share of the fortune, but Deion refused unless he also participated in the looting.

Though Deion was weaker than Bruce, he was still very strong. Deion current strength is higher compared to that of Prince Edward. Over the years, the two would switch being the Bandit of Solitude. The Bandit of Solitude became an enigma because his skills and actions were not consistent over the years.

Some students even pretended to be the Bandit of Solitude to rob people, but they were beaten to a pulp when Bruce and Deion found out about it. Ever since then, no one dared to pretend to be the Bandit of Solitude unless they have the absolute strengths to defeat him.

"I see" Meredith nodded in disappointment, but she noticed something peculiar. Bruce glanced at Deion when he answered her.

Perhaps Deion is the Bandit of Solitude? Many questions appeared in Meredith's head as she tried to unravel the mystery behind the bandit.

"So Bruce, who is the Bandit of Solitude?" Chelsey too wanted to know the real identity of the bandit.

"You guys will come to know very soon. I have a feeling that the bandit won't be hiding behind a mask this year" Bruce replied mysteriously.

Deion didn't say anything regarding the bandit because it wasn't his place to say anything to begin with. The Bandit of Solitude is Bruce's invention and only Bruce can reveal his identity when he wants to.

The group began to chat once again and enjoyed the atmosphere in the restaurant. Things became sour when a fat man came up to the table.

"You guys need to leave this restaurant now! We don't condone violence here" The fat man was the owner of the restaurant. His workers recently informed him of the incident that occurred earlier between Waltz and Bruce.

Deion looked at the owner in a relaxed manner.

"Would this be sufficient to pay for the damages?" Deion placed 50,000 low energy crystals on the table.

The owner's eyes shined when he saw how much money was on the table.

"Yes of course, please keep enjoying your stay at our restaurant"

The owner walked away happily with the money and the girls looked at Deion weirdly.

"Haha, it's fine really. This is our first double date, so I don't want us to be kicked out of the restaurant"

"But you overpaid the expenses. It's just a window so a few thousands gold coin would suffice, not 50,000 low energy crystals!" Chelsey thought what Deion did was very wasteful.

Ironically, the window only costs a few gold coins, thousands of gold coins to replace the window was also very wasteful.

"Chelsey, I intend to reach the peak of cultivation one day. How can I do that if I don't give the girl of my dreams the best date possible?" Deion's answer instantly made Bruce want to vomit but it seemed to work wonders on Chelsey. She looked at Deion lovingly.

"Deion.."

'Yup another one hooked by the playboy'

Bruce wasn't surprised by Chelsey's reaction because once girls get to know Deion, they would fall in love with him easily.

Meredith on the other hand felt goosebumps when she heard what Deion just said. She sighed when looking at her best friend falling in love. She also wondered what it's like falling in love as well. She thought about Bruce but shook her head because she still didn't know anything about him.

The group finished lunch and passed by the fainted Waltz on the road. No one had come to pick him up for over an hour.

Deion and Chelsey held their hands tightly as they happily walked to the next part of their date. Meanwhile, Bruce didn't hold Meredith's hand as her mind seems to be in another place.

"Meredith" Bruce called out to her.

"Huh?" Meredith snapped out of what she was thinking when she heard Bruce calling her name.

"Don't think too much about it. Just focus on what you can do in the present" Bruce knew that she had a lot on her plate. Being a princess to a kingdom isn't easy.

"You're right, I'll stop thinking for now" Meredith finally smiled at Bruce. The smile was so beautiful that Bruce felt his heart skipped a beat.

"Then shall we hold hands once again?" Bruce asked.

"You can hold my hands any time if you win the next bet" Meredith replied.

"Ok you're on. What is the bet?" Bruce felt full confidence that he could defeat Meredith in anything.

"I pick the challenge again"

"Okay, pick anything that you want"

"The challenge is to guess Chelsey's birthday" Meredith smirked at Bruce.

Bruce's face blanked out after hearing the absurd challenge from Meredith.

"That's cheating!" Bruce cried out.

"Hmph, so is swindling me!" Meredith walked forward feeling elated.

After all this time, she had finally defeated the Bandit of Solitude. She also confirmed for herself that Bruce is the Bandit of Solitude.

The outrageous acting, nonchalance about everything, and the enormous confidence. Everything that she learned about Bruce today fits the description of the Bandit of Solitude.

Deion was definitely not the Bandit of Solitude because he only fit some of the checkboxes, not all of them. However, she felt that Bruce was speaking the truth to her when he said he wasn't the bandit of solitude. But she knows that the boy who defeated her 6 years ago was definitely Bruce.

"Hey stop sulking, the date is still on!" Meredith called out to Bruce who had a sour look on his face.

"That means I get to keep holding your hands!" Bruce dashed beside her attempting to reach for her hand.

Meredith dodged Bruce's sneaky attempt and smirked.

"You can hold my hand again if you win the next bet" Meredith said.

Feeling that he was getting cheated again, Bruce said

"Only if I get to decide the challenge"

"Nope, you can hold my hand if you defeat me in a challenge of my choice" Meredith refused.

Bruce smiled and grabbed her hand.

"Let's finish this date shall we?"

"Fine, but you have to admit that I beat you today"

"Yes, yes, princess. You have defeated me today"

The couples happily watched a movie together before ending the day.

When the date ended, Deion walked Chelsey back to her house while Bruce escorted Meredith back.

"So it seems like you figured it out" The two were finally alone on campus as they walked to Meredith's house.

"I guess I'm smarter than you expected" Meredith replied.

"But you know that I didn't lie to you in the restaurant right?" Bruce felt the relationship would not go well if she thought he lied to her.

"I know. I'm guessing the bandit is more than one person" Meredith got out a key to open her door.

"That's correct!"

"I guess this is it" Bruce stared at her beautiful figure as she walked into the house.

"Goodbye Bruce"

Just as Meredith was about to close the door, Bruce said one last thing.

"Would you like to try my dishes on the weekend? I'm a phenomenal chef you know"

Meredith turned around and smiled.

"I'd love to"

"Good night princess"

"Good night Mr. Bandit"