?

　　“Hey, isn’t that the princess?”

　　“Shit, get dressed quickly! Look presentable in front of the princess.”

　　“Captain! Get dressed! Now!”

　　The guards inside the hall were making a commotion the moment they saw me. I awkwardly stood there, wondering how they could even see me when Isaiah’s large frame was particularly covering me.

　　Isaiah casually held his wooden sword over his shoulder, glaring down at me as usual.

　　“Hello,” I greeted with a charming smile but of course he seemed unbothered by my attempts to be nice to him.

　　“What are you doing here?” he asked.

　　“Oi, don’t talk to the princess like that you scum.” A voice bellowed. I turned to see as the captain of the royal guard made his way towards us.

　　“Captain Evander! Your shirt!” Someone warned him but he was completely ignored.

　　I unconsciously took a step back, feeling as though I should not have come here without prior warning. But I then snapped my attention back to the captain and Isaiah as they glared daggers at each other. I stepped towards Rodrick and leaned close to him.

　　“I thought you said they get along?” I whispered.

　　“They do.” He whispered back.

　　“What’d you just call me?” Isaiah snapped.

　　“The scum needs me to repeat myself huh? Just because you are all tough and hot-headed doesn’t mean you can speak so crudely to the princess, Isaiah.” He growled.

　　“I just asked her a question, you blockhead of a captain.” Isaiah argued back.

　　“Um…” I started, hoping that this would not turn into a fight. I turned to the only sensible person there. “Should we stop them?” I asked Rodrick.

　　He shook his head. “Don’t worry, princess, they talk like this all the time.”

　　They looked as though they were about to hit each other and even though I trusted Rodrick’s words, I just did not want to deal with the political mess that this could lead to.

　　“I apologise if I came at a bad time, Lord Isaiah and I apologise if I had interrupted your sparring session, Captain Evander.”

　　The two bulky men turned to me, one held his annoyed expression while the other seemed to have a complete personality change.

　　“Oh no, no, princess, don’t apologise!” Captain Evander quickly said. “I haven’t seen you for so long, have you grown taller?”

　　“I don’t think so…” I muttered, trying to recall when was the last time I had even seen him.

　　“So, what brings you all the way here, princess? Could it be that Rodrick is lacking in training you? Would you like me to train you instead?”

　　“No! No…Rodrick is a great swords master!”

　　Evander let out a booming. “Of course he is! I was his teacher after all.”

　　“Yes. Well, I came over to meet with Lord Isaiah.” I said, glancing over to the tanned man who only seemed more displeased now that I had told them my intention.

　　“What the heck do you want from me?”

　　“Oi, oi, Isaiah, do I need to beat you up again to teach you some manners?”

　　“If I recall correctly, I was the one beating you up, old man.” He snapped back.

　　“Hah! Big talk coming from a scum like you.”

　　“Stop calling me that.” Isaiah was clearly getting agitated from how his grip on the sword handle tightened.

　　“Maybe if you learned some manners on how to treat a lady then I would consider it.”

　　“A lady? All I see is a puny omega-”

　　I noticed both Rodrick and Evander moving to stop Isaiah from saying anymore and that caused him to allow his words to trail off but all three men looked down at me when they noticed that I had stepped in front of Rodrick and placed my hand on Evander’s chest to stop him.

　　“Go on, finish what you were saying, Lord Isaiah.” I smiled sweetly at him.

　　“…I said that you are nothing more than a puny omega.” He said after a second of hesitation. He spoke loud enough for the other guards to head. A loud silence followed.

　　I could feel Evander and Rodrick watching me, waiting for any signs of distress but all I did was smile and let out a small laugh which caused Isaiah to look down at me with a puzzled look.

　　A thought then came to me. It was clear that out of the three alphas I was supposed to get along with, Isaiah would be the most difficult one to agree to going out on a date with me due to his outward hatred towards me. I fail to see him being into going to quiet places like a bookstore nor him wanting to openly do any popular dating activities.

　　The mere fact that ever since his arrival here all he was doing was training and getting along with the knights was very telling. Isaiah was definitely different compared to Augustus who would hide himself at remote spaces and would only show his face at the library of the palace or even Cassian who was a social butterfly who was hardly ever at the palace.

　　I knew that I had to come up with an unconventional way to spend time with Isaiah that did not involve anything that he would find irritating or tedious. I almost instantly realised that we were at the perfect location for me to initiate my plan.

　　I pulled away and took a few steps from the group of men as I was starting to get conscious of how close our bodies were. I cleared my throat and turned to Isaiah.

　　“Would you like to play a game with me, Lord Isaiah?” I asked.

　　He furrowed his brows, clearly unamused by what I had just said to him. His fiery gaze scanned my expression. “Huh? What are you talking about?”

　　“You seem to enjoy degrading me and my second gender openly that I think you’re starting to underestimate me just because of that. Hence, let’s play a game so I can prove you wrong and that I will not be defined by my second gender.”

　　“A game? Are you challenging me or something?” he raised an eyebrow as the corner of his lip twitched in annoyance. I was starting to get on his nerves and he was not even attempting to hide that fact from his expression.

　　“Yes. I challenge you to a duel.” I announced boldly and loudly for everyone to hear.

　　The commotion started again as I could hear the disbelief of the guards that I would even think of doing something like that. I could even hear some saying that Isaiah was not going to go easy on me. Honestly, I would be offended if he did try to go easy on me.

　　Isaiah then gave me an annoyed and clearly forced smile. “Fine. I’ll play your little game just to show everyone how you are nothing but an incompetent and pampered little princess.” He huffed out, getting agitated by the second. “Name your challenge.”

　　“Princess, you don’t have to do this. There’s no need to instigate this any further.” Rodrick tried to warn me.

　　“Come now Rodrick, the princess is just fighting to reclaim her honour! How valiant!” Evander’s loud voice echoed through the halls followed by his signature booming laugh.

　　“Shut up, old man. There’s nothing valiant about a disgraceful defeat.” Isaiah confidently said.

　　“Oh how I am absolutely looking forward to seeing your face when I defeat you, Isaiah.” I said, the competitiveness I tried so hard to hide away ever since I was a child was threatening to come out of me. All his belittling and mocking words were piling up inside me like an explosive read to erupt. I wanted so desperately to make him eat his words.

　　“You talk big for someone so weak.” He claimed.

　　“I could say the same to you.” Rodrick was right, I was openly instigating Isaiah now. If he could be rude and mock me then I don’t see why I could not do the same. I was silently praying that Gideon would never find out about this unsightly side of me.

　　A sound of cracking wood then filled throughout the hall, causing me to glance up at how Isaiah’s wooden sword was now snapped into two. He let it fall to the floor without a worry in the world as I tried my best to not show any signs of emotion even though I wanted to be amazed at his strength.

　　“Calm down you two. Remember that this is just a friendly little duel.” Evander started. He then turned to me, “Are you sure about this, princess? Isaiah can be a little bit competitive.” Evander tried to reason with me.

　　“Good. Because I am too.” I beamed sweetly.

　　“Name your challenge.” Isaiah repeated.

　　I quickly glanced around the hall to get inspiration for what challenge we could do until my eyes fell on a bow pressed against the wall. I did not even need time to consider it as I turned back to him.

　　“Archery.”