Don't Go Around If I'm Not At Your Side.

Lord Mathias sighing a bit. He feels it's such a loss to lose a great General to protect the tribe. However, with this condition right now. It is a wise thing to do. This province needs to be protected. If they did not submit to the new king, many lives will be at the stake.

"Without any rank and with this situation too, you're just a commoner and fugitive, you do realize this, do you?" Lord Mathias said with a bit of concern in his voice. Even though Hayden is not his biological son, he cares for him. Hayden is never a varmint. He such a good boy.

"I do. For now, we might have nowhere to go. But I'll make sure she's in good condition. You shouldn't worry about us."

"If you say so. But, Hayden. I heard there's an intellectual named Kaji. He used to be one of the aristocrats in the castle but a few years ago he was kicked out by Prince Robert. Maybe you can find him and ask about what you should do to recover Yuina's position in the castle. He also had information about kingdom tales." He tries to entice Hayden.

Who knows with the information from the ex-intellectual could benefit something for them? If Hayden is the legendary black dragon, there's must be a possibility of another dragon, right? The tales tell that the true heir of Red Demon is born with red hair and the only person in this country who is born with red hair none other than Princess Yuina.

"I'll discuss this matter with her later." Hayden already stands up and ready to leave Lord Mathias's room.

"Oh, Hayden..our castle is full. Since she is your fiancee, can you share your room with her?" He smiles meaningfully to him.

"You really a sly old man." He squinted his eyes a bit and leave the room.

..

"Do you know to do the laundry, Zephy?" Alya asks with a soft voice. Her face is never lacking with a smile.

Yuina shakes her head. She still following her. In her mind, she wonders why there's no maid in this castle? All of the work is divided by themselves and they rotate the schedule. That is what Alya told her.

"So, did you know how to wash dishes?"

Again, Yuina shakes her head. She's a bit embarrassed because she never did those work before. What kind of princess do that, anyway? She was raised and spoilt by her father since she was a baby.

Alya tilts her head a bit. 'How come this girl so dumb? Didn't her family teach her how to do all this work?'

"Erm..then what can you do?"

Yuina was dumbstruck a bit. She thinks for a moment before she answers. "Dance? Play some musical instrument?" Well, that's not all, she can play chess, reading, writing, painting and arranging flowers.

Alya facepalming to herself. She shakes her head helplessly. "Never mind, clean up yourself, take a bath and after that, I show you how to do the laundry."

"Uhm. Thanks." Yuina said politely, even though she feels like her dignity as a woman has dropped to the lowest, she still knows her place. She can't complain anymore or do some reckless thing.

She is not a princess anymore. She is nobody right now. She had to accept all of this and face reality. She follows Alya orders, she went to the bath area and clean herself before she changes into new clothes. Traditional clothes like the woman in this tribe are wearing.

She brushes her hair and tied it up into a bun and let her fringe cover her small forehead. Once she was done, she went out to meet with Alya again.

Alya is a bit occupied with something, thus, she asks another servant to attend Yuina and teach her how to do laundry.

She followed the other girl to the back of the castle. There's a big well there and a few of other girls do their job.

"Well, this is where you should do your laundry. Look at how they do it and follow them." The woman from before explaining to her. After Yuina nods her head, she bends her body and gives her a pile of men's clothes.

"Okay, this is your portion. Clean this up and hang it there to dry it." She points her finger to the drying area.

Again, Yuina nod without saying anything. Once the woman is gone, she went to the well and observing other girls do the laundry.

After some time, she pulls up her sleeves and ties the edge of her dress to her waist, ready to do her job. She takes the water dipper and drops it into the well before she pulls up the water dipper again.

First pull, she already exhausted. She takes the water dipper and pours the water on the clothes in a wooden pail. Once it was full, she uses some kind of powder which is a mixture of animal fat and wood ash into the pail.

She uses his bare two feet to stomping on the clothes and wrung it out after that before she needs to rinse it with the clean water again.

…

Hayden loitering around the courtyard watching the boys do their training.

When he was loitering, he suddenly saw Alya at the infirmary tent with Hades and a few other boys. He did not spot Yuina at all, feeling a bit worried, he went to her.

"Alya, where's Zephy?" He asks. His face turning a bit pale.

"Huh? Er, I ask her to do laundry. We short of people today because I need to cover up Madam Zee's absent today." She said. She's a bit curious to why he is too concern about that girl anyway.

"What?" He was a bit shocked. Not waiting for her reply, he went to the back of the castle. Searching for her. How can he let the princess do the laundry in his own castle? She was basically a guest. A very important guest! Now he feels a bit regret to let her under anyone else's care.

Once he arrives there, he looks at her sweating face. She was wrung out the clothes using her delicate hands. Once she stands up, he notices that she tied the edge of her dress to her waist and show her slender legs and porcelain-like skin until her knees.

Gasp a bit, he immediately went there.

"Princess, what are you doing here?" He asks in a low voice. Lucky there's no one else left at the well right now. She was the last one and she did her job very slow.

"Hayden." She smiles a bit and wipes her sweat bead on her forehead. Her face looks a bit exhausted.

Take the water dipper from her hand, he led her to the side and untie the edge of her dress and let it cover her legs back.

"Stay here. Let me do it." Hayden went back to the well and drop the water dipper into it.

"Ah, Hayden. It's okay. I can do it." She tries to stop him but immediately Hayden shot her a warning glare. She knows it very well. If he shot her that glare it means…' Don't!' if not, even she cannot run from his nagging non-stop.

She gulps a bit and went back to the spot that Hayden place her earlier. She looks at him like an obedient kid. Once he's done with laundry, he went to the drying area with her walking beside him.

"Umm...Hayden, it is okay to let me do it. After all, you got me shelter here and I need to repay it somehow." She muttered it slowly.

"You're a Zirconia princess, this is not your job to do it. And, you don't need to repay me. It is my job to protect you." He said with a firm voice.

Yuina feels a bit awry. She wants to do something useful, but Hayden insists on keeping her away from doing this job. She waited there until he finishes.

When he already finish, he went to her and held both of her hand. He flips it and checks on her palm like he was inspecting something. That makes Yuina blink her eyes a bit.

"Look, your hand had a scratch from doing this." He knit his eyebrow when seeing a small scratch on her palm.

Yuina clenching her hand and want to retract it back. "It just a scratch. No one will notice it."

He releases her hand and leads her back inside the castle. "Well, I don't want you to have any slightest scratch when you're in my care."

"Oh, Hayden…." Yuina already shook her head helplessly. He was always overprotective over her.

It is something that she hates it, but at the same times, if he's not around, she will miss him.

"Come on, I show you to your room. Rest and don't do anything. I'll call you when dinner's time."

"Hayden...I want to go sightseeing around your castle, meet with your tribe and not doing boring things inside the room." She stops her pace and standing straight with seriousness on her face.

Hayden also stops and turning his body around. He knows she must be feeling boring to not do anything, but at the same time, he also can't let her do any work in his castle. The way she looks at him is something that he can't refuse to.

With a heavy sigh, he says "Alright then, but you must stay by my side all the time. Don't go around if I'm not at your side."

Smiling happily, she says "Okay! Thank you, Hayden."