Who are you?

Something cold was dripping down her face, which made Audelia slowly open her eyes. She slowly stood up but to her confusion, she did not know what she was standing on nor what was up or down. The place she had woken up in was brightly lit but she could not determine where the light was coming from. It was like standing in an oasis of light and air. Everything was bright and light which made her wonder if this was the afterlife. Did she really die in that dark alley? She felt oddly calm despite the fact that she was dead. What happened to the boy? She thought for a while before starting to walk around in the empty space. If this really was the afterlife maybe she could find the boy here. She doubted that he would have survived in her arms after she had passed away as it seemed likely that the men would've just left her and the boy right on the streets after they were done with her.

Maybe being dead wasn't so bad, the life she had lived was not something she missed. She had nothing to hold onto except the responsibility she felt toward her subjects. She grew up remembering nothing of her childhood with her mother but only the instilled fear and pain that had been caused by Catherin. She was molded from a young age to become the perfect princess, the perfect pawn for the king to use to his own advantage.

What felt like an eternity had passed as she walked around without finding anything. Suddenly the sound of a child crying could be heard, she looked around for the source of the sound until she finally saw it. She saw the image of a child sitting on the cold dirty floor. She realized that her surroundings had changed from nothingness to something that looked like a sewer, but she couldn't bother to be surprised about it for the moment as her attention on the child she saw crying was undivided. It was the hair, the child had silver hair just like Audelia.

She moved closer and reached out her hand to touch the crying girl but her hand slipped right through as if all she was seeing now was an illusion. Audelia retracted her trembling hand and just stared at the girl. I'm sure that child is…

"Why are you crying?"

Audelia snapped her head to the sudden voice of a young boy who approached the girl, but before she could take a look at his face everything faded, and she felt herself turn unconscious.

***

Trembling and with cold sweat running down her forehead, Audelia slowly opened her eyes. Her hands were tightly clamped into fists and she was looking around confused. The events that just took place seemed to be a distant dream as her faint memories of it faded with each passing second. As her consciousness became clearer and clearer, she looked up and was met with golden eyes staring back at her. It was the same eyes she had seen before she had passed out in the alley, but this time, they weren't filled with the coldness that had sent shivers down her spine. The eyes looked into her blue ones with the warmth that reminded her of how the sun would grace her skin on a sunny spring day.

"Cat?" Audelia exclaimed out loud without thinking while looking at the owner of those eyes with her round ones.

"...." The man holding her in his arms was baffled and just continued to stare at her. Did she call him a cat?

"How are you feeling? We're going to get your wound tended to." The man finally broke the silence. He looked at the tiny woman in his arms as her eyes slowly widened in realization and her pale skin started to flush bright red in embarrassment. "Who are you?" Audelia asked the man holding her, still confused over the situation. Was she not dead after all? And who was this man? She could only conclude that he wasn't one of the men she had encountered before.

"Is it not common courtesy to give your name before asking for someone else's?" Audelia and the man were throwing questions at each other without getting any answers. Neither of them wanting to reveal their true identities, decided to stay quiet and skip onto the next topic. Just as Audelia pondered over the whole situation as her mind was still fuzzy a sudden realization dawned upon her.

"The boy! Where is the boy?" She shrieked which surprised the man as he was not prepared for her outburst."One of my men took him away...to treat him, you can relax, he is in good hands."

She relaxed a bit after knowing the boy was taken care of. She wondered what would happen to him afterward, where were his parents? Was he an orphan?

"Please let me down, I am capable of walking myself." Audelia said it as politely as possible as she was thankful for the unknown man who was helping her but staying wrapped up in his arms while walking down the street was utterly embarrassing for the princess of Lucrezia.

"Stop struggling you are hurt and…" The man hesitated for a while before continuing to say, "And your clothes are thorn." He didn't want to scare her after what she just went through but letting her down to walk around with her skirt being thorn up to her thighs was not something he was planning on doing. He might be ruthless and cold but at least he wasn't so bad as to treat a lady who had done him no harm without courtesy…or well, maybe he actually was that bad of a person but he didn't feel like being a jerk at the moment. She seemed harmless enough and he was the one who offered his help in the first place.

Audelia's body went stiff and she lowered her head in shame, tears on the verge of spilling from her eyes. The man noticed.

He looked down at her tear-filled eyes but she abruptly avoided looking back at him. They never even got the chance to touch her before he broke their hands, so why is she crying? He was baffled and felt a bit awkward over what to do.

Is she still scared from what happened? Yeah, that must be it, why would she be crying otherwise...Women are such peculiar creatures, he thought.

"Hrm…" he coughed awkwardly not knowing how to comfort the crying woman in his arms. Trying the waters he carefully asked her "Why are you crying…are you still scared? You don't have to worry about those scoundrels, they won't be bothering you or anyone else around here anymore." He tried to sound as kind and reassuring as someone as himself could.

Audelia opened her mouth like she had something to say but closed them again. A few seconds passed before she finally decided to speak, "I am ashamed..." She whispered barely audible.

She felt utterly ashamed of herself for being put in that situation. It was common knowledge in society that a woman shall always guard her pride and keep her purity from being sullied. If something were to happen it was never the man's fault, or rather, the man was never to blame. It was the women who were blamed, who were the ones to take the blame and bear the consequences. It took a while for the man to process what Audelia was implying with her words.

"Save those tears of yours for some other time. What do you even have to be ashamed of? If someone were to be blamed, it is those low life bastards who cannot keep their hands to themselves." He spoke while gritting his teeth. "Don't get me wrong though, they never touched you before I-" He stopped himself abruptly, maybe it's best she doesn't know what he did to them.

Audelia snapped her head up finally looking him in the eye. Just when she was about to say something the man stopped and put her down on a nearby boulder. They had walked quite a bit she realized. Instead of the alleys, they had now arrived somewhere along the forest path outside the gates of the village. The black stallion standing beside her must have been his, she thought. He sat on his knee on the ground in front of her before looking up at her curious gaze.

"Don't worry, they didn't do anything to you." He assured her again and smiled softly at her who looked skittish like a scared kitten. Her big eyes stared into his uneasily. As he was looking at her, he couldn't help but to feel the lingering anger left in his heart reveal itself. He didn't understand it himself but he was utterly irritated over the whole thing.

He did not know why he felt like this towards the small creature sitting before him. It slightly irked him that he was feeling this way as he usually did not care for anyone, especially women. He only knew that she gave him a familiar feeling, when she stared at him with those ocean eyes of hers. It was a weird kind of familiar, something he couldn't describe in words. It was probably his wicked side starting to reveal itself again, a side of him that wished to see bloodshed, to put his blade into the flesh of his enemies. The girl had given him a perfect excuse to do so.

Hah...I'm a fucking maniac. He internally sneered at himself slightly disgusted but not surprised in the slightest.

Audelia was taken aback at the strangers' attitude towards her. For someone growing up in the environment Audelia had, kindness without a price was non-existent. She could expect that from none, not even her family. Her brother might think her to be some kind of saint when in reality she was a far cry from it. She could strategize just as well as any of her brothers strategists and she could be ruthless towards her enemies if she had to. She wasn't as naive as her family thought. From the looks of it he was most likely a nobleman which made her wonder why he would stop by to help a commoner, it wasn't like he knew that he was currently in the presence of the princess of the empire, she thought.

"You can call me Leo." He said before proceeding to grab Audelia's hand to look at the wound. Audelia flinched when he without warning ripped away part of her already torn skirt. He awkwardly looked up at her surprised face before slowly retracting his hands, putting them up in the air as to show her he meant no harm.

" I was just going to do this." He grabbed the torn piece of cloth and gently started to wrap it around her hand, carefully, as if he was afraid she would break under his touch. The bony wrist he held onto made him frown slightly.

"Sir Leo, thank you…I'm truly grateful." She was indeed grateful. She wouldn't want to imagine what would have happened if Leo hadn't come.

He glanced up at her while continuing to tend to her wounds. "Still won't give me your name I see." He chuckled before saying, "If you are that grateful wouldn't you want to give me a reward?" he asked with mirth in his eyes.

There it was Audelia thought, the price. It was a hassle really, how would she pay him back without revealing who she was. If she revealed her identity, he would start to question her which would bring the imperial family trouble in the long run. She thought about it for a while before asking, "What is it that you wish for? I'm merely a commoner with no money and am afraid I cannot give you anything that you cannot buy for yourself sir."

Leo had finished wrapping up both of Audelia's hands. "I have a lot of questions for you to answer, and I'm sure you have questions for me as well. All I want is to have a chat."

The girls' eyes went wide in surprise. Just a chat? That's all he wants?

"I'm very sorry sir but I cannot accompany you for long today as I have something important to get back to." And that was partly true, she couldn't stay here talking to him even if that was the only thing, he demanded for all the help he had given her. She had to get back to the palace before anyone woke up and noticed she had gone missing. "I'm very thankful but I cannot grant you that reward, I really have to get back home." She told him a bit embarrassed over how rude she must have sounded to deny him a little of her time after he had saved her.

"Then another time."

"Huh?"

Leo leaned in closer to her, "Let's meet up another time, here at the same place" He enjoyed seeing her flushed cheeks as he leaned closer and closer to her. It was adorable. "You don't want to?" He asked her to pretend to be upset.

Audelia immediately shook her head seeing the man's disappointment. "That sounds good sir, I'll make sure to make some time to meet up with you so that we can have a chat, I would like to know how the boy is doing as well." Audelia thought it wouldn't hurt to meet with the man one more time as she was worried about the boy she had tried to save as well as curious about the mysterious man before her.

"Although...would you mind meeting up at night?" She asked him since she would only be able to sneak out from the palace at night when everyone was asleep.

Leo grinned at her innocent question, "I do not mind at all, but I must say you are more daring than I thought my lady."

Audelia was quiet for a few seconds just staring at his annoyingly handsome face grinning at her before her eyes widened in realization. Her face had gone beet red. " I-I did not mean anything by it sir I was merely asking since it is more convenient for me to meet up at night, m-my parents don't usually let me go out during the day since I have to help with work…" She rambled in haste. It was a lame lie but she hoped he would believe it and stop making fun of her.

"Alright then let us meet here again in three days, I'll be here waiting for you so don't stand me up, my lady." He gave her a charming smile while combing his fingers through his hair making a few strands fall in front of his eyes.

His golden eyes radiated warmth when they looked at her which made her feel strangely safe. At closer inspection the man was gorgeous to look at, his sharp features reminded her of the sculptures standing in her garden in the imperial palace. His tan skin was unique around the north where she lived, and it looked beautiful in contrast with his golden eyes and raven black hair which was now slightly messed up due to the soft breeze sweeping through the forest.

She was taking in the sight of the man, not realizing her gaze had lingered on him for a little too long. "My lady?"

She snapped out of her little trance and answered him, "Do not worry, I'll make sure to be here in three days' time" she assured him with a polite smile.