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　　“You look horrible, princess.” Gideon said the moment he entered the study.

　　I did not even bother to correct my posture as resting my head on the cool surface of the desk was the most at peace I’ve been as of late. Last night was supposed to be a simple day out with Cassian to a magic show, minus the fact of his sudden reveal that the notorious mercenary group was in charge of the entire show, he even pulled an irritating prank on me and kept insisting that he knew magic throughout our journey home.

　　To make matters worse, he intentionally kept taking the wrong roads to return to the palace. What would have been a half hour ride on horseback back to the palace turned to three hours of us just wandering around aimlessly at the dead of night until Rodrick had to escort us back.

　　Cassian then said that he knew Rodrick was following us from the start and wanted to see how long it would take for him to intervene. I had to particularly force Cordell to come to a halt, jumped off the horse and quickly hopped onto Rodrick’s horse in an attempt to stop myself from smacking that irritating smirk off Cassian’s face. All the while, he seemed to be enjoying tormenting me in his childish ways. When we finally reached the palace, the sun was already rising.

　　“Be quiet, Gideon.” I mumbled.

　　“I am merely making an observation.” He said as he placed a stack of paperwork on the desk for me. I groaned aloud, getting annoyed at seeing the endless work that kept piling up. “I heard everything from Rodrick. How many hours did you get to rest?”

　　I held up three fingers at him. “My entire body is aching.” I complained.

　　“Well, that’s the consequences you have to bear when you decide to sneak around at night with a boy.” he said, sounding like a disappointed parent.

　　I snapped up to glare at him. “Excuse me? Weren’t you the one pushing me to go out with them?”

　　“That does not include sneaking around. If Rodrick had not caught you, you would have been all alone with the Duke in town. That is reckless of you.”

　　“Ugh. I’m not in the mood to listen to your lectures.” I said even though I was aware that he was only speaking facts. I rested my head on the desk once more since Gideon has not started nagging me to do work yet.

　　“I am just glad you are safe.” He added. “How was the magic show?”

　　“It was interesting until Cassian had to ruin it by acting like a child.”

　　Gideon laughed. “Well, at least you know that he will only act like that to annoy you.”

　　“I would prefer getting into debates with Augustus then spending even five minutes riding on a horse with Cassian ever again.” I grumbled as I finally pushed myself up properly to attend to the work in front of me.

　　“You have yet to spend time with Isaiah?”

　　“I have not seen him around. I heard that he spends most of his time at the training hall with the royal guards and since I don’t go there to train with Rodrick, I don’t really have any chances to bump into him.”

　　“What about meal times?”

　　“I only eat breakfast at the dining hall and so far I’ve only seen Cassian during that time. Anne told me that Augustus and Isaiah prefer to have their breakfast in their room. But Isaiah eats lunch and dinner with the others while I’m…stuck here.”

　　“Hm. I see. Are you going to blame your work as the reason you are not able to meet with him?”

　　“I didn’t say that.” I frowned.

　　“But you were thinking about it, yes?”

　　I let out a frustrated sigh. “It seems like the work is never-ending and I’m not even officially empress yet!”

　　“Currently, the duties of the late emperor have been divided into three. You, Lady Isabella and Lady Marie but once you take the throne, you will have to bear all the work.” He explained. I stayed silent. “But, princess…” Gideon started.

　　I glanced up at him. “Yes?”

　　“Have you forgotten that I allowed you for a few days of absence? Don’t tell me you have been doing work and working on your interpersonal relationships at the same time?”

　　I nearly snapped the pen in my hand into two. “So you are saying that I’ve been overworking myself for no reason?” I asked him through gritted teeth, more annoyed at myself for completely forgetting.

　　“At first, I just thought you were being very diligent but now it became clear that you had forgotten this.”

　　“Gideon!” I whined, wanting to just run back to my room to sleep. “I can leave, right?”

　　“Yes.” Gideon nodded. “I think Lord Isaiah should be at the training hall as usual.”

　　My face dropped. “What?”

　　“Take this day off of yours to go befriend him.”

　　“Can’t I just take a quick nap to refresh myself?”

　　“No. You can sleep after.” he smiled. “Go on now, princess. The sooner you spend time with him, the faster you may retire to your chambers.”

　　“Have you always been this strict…?” I muttered as I pushed myself up from my chair.

　　Gideon ignored my comment. “I shall await good news from you,” he said, bowing at me as I walked past him. I dramatically groaned out my annoyance as I went towards the door.

　　I headed towards the training hall, glad that I decided to wear trousers today from the sole fact that I was too tired to wear heavy dresses and suffocating corsets. I had not been to the training halls for so long that I could not even imagine what the place looked like.

　　Along my journey, I started to think of how I would get Isaiah to agree to go out with me for the day. According to the intel I got from both Anne and Rodrick, Isaiah has been getting close to the knights and guards as he trains with them every day. They openly talk to him as though he was one of the members of the royal guard. I feel as though even Rodrick was warming up to Isaiah.

　　When I finally arrived at the training hall, I could hear the loud snaps of wooden swords colliding. I slowly made my way towards the parted door and peeked inside. I immediately grimaced at the sight of all the men inside with their bare chests exposed. They were all sweaty and the idea of entering the hall was making my stomach turn.

　　I then noticed that they were excitedly cheering on someone. I carefully pushed the door wider to see what was happening. My eyes widened at the sight of Isaiah sparring with a knight. Both of them were topless but Isaiah’s defined muscles were something I have never seen before. My attention was quick to snap to his sword skills and by the looks of it, he fought exactly the way he spoke, impulsive and absolutely boorish.

　　“What are you looking at, princess?” I heard his voice before I felt his presence beside me. I let out a silent scream as I jerked away by reflex. Rodrick looked at me with an amused expression.

　　“You scared me!” I harshly whispered at him as I placed my hand on my chest, feeling my heart beating at an accelerated rate.

　　“I apologise but princess, you surely looked like a peeping tom.” Rodrick bluntly said as he glanced inside the hall, eyeing the half-naked and sweaty men before turning back to me with a telling look.

　　I felt my face heat up. “Y-you’re wrong! I wasn’t peeping! I was just here to look for Isaiah.” I quickly uttered out my reasoning to be here in the first place.

　　Rodrick smiled. “I know, I was just teasing you.” I made a face at him, wondering if Cassian’s mischievous nature had rubbed off on everyone in the palace. “Would you like me to call him for you?”

　　“N-No, wait.” I stopped him as I could still hear the wooden swords snapping away to indicate that they were still sparring and it was an intense session at that. I would be furious if someone were to interrupt me if I was sparring with Rodrick like that. “Can I ask you some questions about him? Since you allow him to train with your men that means you trust him to an extent, right?”

　　“Hm, technically I am just the vice-captain so I don’t really have control over these men.” He said. “But the captain seems very fond of Lord Isaiah and besides, he is the only one who can keep up with him during sparring.”

　　I glanced back into the hall where the sparring session had ended. I only realised now that Isaiah’s sparring partner was the captain of the royal guard. I averted my gaze away even when I had noticed that Isaiah had disappeared. I assumed that he must be at the side having a water break.

　　“Have you sparred with him before?” I asked Rodrick.

　　“Who?”

　　I frowned at him. “Lord Isaiah, of course.”

　　“Huh? You talking about me?” a familiar voice called out.

　　I froze in place as the door was pulled widely open to reveal Isaiah standing there with his bare chest directly at my eyeline. I had to use all the willpower I had to avoid staring at his insanely muscular body and maintained eye contact with him to the point where I had completely forgotten the words I had planned to say to him.