'Sapphism? What is he talking about?' Arnacia checked the distance between Isabelle and herself. Isabelle was also looking back at her. Neither were they holding hands, nor walking extremely close. She looked at the knight's clothing to get an idea of his rank.

The knight's upper body armor extended up to his heart from the shoulders. Below was a black vest and puffed pants. He moved towards the maid girls. His every step made metal clunking noise because of his armor boots. A sword was hanging on his waist. He looked to be in his late thirties.

'The lowest level, a silver Knight.' Arnacia still felt her heart tighten.

At the lowest level, Lorein Kingdom was divided into many small territories. A Silver Knight was in charge of the streets of these territories. Their job was to oversee Sergeants that patrolled the area.

"Sir, please pardon. Were you calling for us?" Arnacia said.

This was a territory extremely close to the Lanceworth Castle. Even a Silver Knight here had some backing. It wasn't someone a trainee maid could afford to offend.

'It must be a misunderstanding,' Arnacia thought. But the knight stopped right in front of her.

"Who else is there, little wenches polluting the streets of my territory," the Knight spit and continued. "Follow me for your punishment."

The Knight turned away as if the order would be adhered once given. His eyes didn't even rest properly on the two maids. He rubbed his hand over his neatly trimmed hair and walked forward with one hand resting on the sword hilt.

"This must be a mistake," Arnacia called out. Her hands were clenched.

'Is this the backstory of what led to Arnacia's disappearance?' The knight turned back and snorted. 'How did he know that Isabelle and Arnacia are lovers?'

"I saw you wenches-"

"We ask for your apology, but we did nothing for you to accuse us," Arnacia cut off the knight in between.

"So you say that, the white hair girl and you are not some filthy sapphists?" anger was clear in the knight's voice.

"No sir, we are not," Arnacia said.

"And you?" the knight walked forward. His target was Isabelle, who was hiding behind Arnacia. "Why are you afraid if you did not commit any crime?"

The knight moved towards the powerless maids. The metallic sound of his boots carried a warming. His face expressed anger and disgust.

Arnacia could somehow tell that the man wanted her to move away from Isabelle.

"Her health is not in a good condition sir, I urge you to reconsider. There must be some sort of mistake," Arnacia said. Her hands were shivering slightly.

"Keep your sharp tongue in your mouth!" the knight slapped Arnaica with the back of his hands.

The impact made Arnacia's face swing towards side along with her body. Her vision blurred. It felt like someone had torn her lungs and she gasped for air.

On the other hand, Isabelle covered her mouth in shock.

Luckily, the knight was not wearing any armor in his hands. He squinted his eyes to check the injury. Then he turned his eyes toward the frightened girl with pale arms.

"Move, you wench," the knight extended his hand to grab Isabelle's arm.

"Then let's go. I demand justice." Arnacia stepped between Isabelle and the knight again!

She pushed Isabelle back and let her own hand be grabbed instead.

'I can't let Isabelle be questioned. She will reveal too much.' Her hand was mercilessly squeezed by the knight, and she was pulled forward.

'We are close to Lanceworth Castle. I have a chance.'

Arnacia thought of how women were prosecuted in the novel. There was not much info, but it was mentioned that Queen Afeefa had implemented a different judicial system for women.

The knight soon let go of Arnacia's hand but still ordered them to follow.

Arnacia looked at the hand print around her arm and sighed. But her thoughts didn't let her worries rest.

'He didn't see us, he wouldn't know a thing unless…'

"I am sorry," Isabelle whispered.

Arnacia shrugged with her dominant hand. She felt pain in muscle movement and slowly put in down.

'How far is he going to take us.' Soon, she felt a soft touch the back of her injured hand.

For a while, the two hands only touched on and off. But then Isabelle gently folder her fingers and held Arnacia's hand.

The distance between the knight and them had also increased to six feet now.

"Is it really a crime?" Isabelle whispered.

"Yes," Arnacia whispered back.

"Why do other maids support us?"

Arnacia wished she knew the truth. She had thought about it but could only come up with a single answer. It was rather fitting for a novel world.

"They are family. Now leave my hand. Love between two women is a capital offense," she said.

"Then why, why do you love me?" Isabelle asked in a low voice.

"Because I am Arnacia." There was no hesitation in Arnaicia's voice.

The two were quiet again, only low chatter among pedestrians, the sound of objects moving and metal boots could be heard.

'Isn't he scared we will run away?' Arnacia looked at the knight.

Silver Knights were stronger than normal people, but not looking back even once was somewhat careless.

'Is he hoping that we will run away? A bait... or someone is following us.' Arnacia thought about the matter with different perspectives.

'Maids only leave the camp once a week. Someone would've seen the real Isabelle and Arnacia last time. But it makes little sense to catch us after a week. Right now I am not the real Arnacia, so there is no circumstantial evidence either.'

The two maids walked at a similar pace, but contrasting expressions could be seen on their faces.

Isabelle's face was full of worry and she was walking with her head down. Whereas Arnacia lips were straight. No ripples could be seen on her face, but the eyes were sharp and looked ahead.

'This must be the reason for Arnacia's disappearance in the novel. I must change it!'