It's fine, she thought, it's almost certainly not her. I'll just talk to her and this will all be sorted, it's nothing.

Meanwhile, Esme was sitting in her cabin, thinking about her life over the last months. Things had been completely crazy, but it could have gone so much worse than it did. She was settled here in Bellicosus Kingdom now, she had friends, and soon she could quietly give up the disguise and no one would know it was her, Countess Raven could subtly disappear. Everything was going to be fine.

There was a knock at the door, and from what Esme could see through the peephole, it was Adalia.

'Hey! Come on in, is everything ok?'

'Actually, not really. We need to talk.' Adalia said, sternly.

She came into the cabin and stood in the middle of the kitchen.

'I just thought you should see this, Conrad found it.'

Esme's stomach churned as she looked down at the clipping and saw her own face staring back at her, underneath the words 'wanted for treason'.

'OK, it's not what it looks like, just let me explain,' she started.

'What exactly did you do?' Adalia asked.

'I took part in a sword fighting competition in my previous town.'

Adalia was now so much more confused than she was just a few minutes before.

'Is that it? How is that betraying your town?'

'They have very archaeic views around women there, it's not like it is here. Women aren't allowed to take part in anything like that, they believe that women should have limited freedom because they're scared of them. They think they could be witches, or plotting to take over, which is obviously not true.' Esme explained.

'And you got caught, and they thought you were plotting to overthrow the town, and chased you out?'

'Yes, that's basically what happened, bt you don't have to worry, Adalia, because I haven't seen the knights in months, I think I've lost them. There's nothing to worry about, it's all under control.'

'Be completely honest with me, Esme, are you Countess Raven?'

She took a deep breath.

'Yes, I am. But it'll be over soon. Now that I've lost the knights, I can drop the disguise and-'

'I don't need to hear any more right now.' Adalia interrupted. 'Do you realise that this puts me in a bad situation. If I tell your secret, you get arrested. If I keep your secret, I get punished. Now I'm dragged into your little plan, and one of us is going to get hurt.'

'I know, I'm sorry, and I completely understand if you tell, but it's over now, Adalia. I promise.'

'I just need some space. But don't worry, I'll keep your secret until I figure it out.'

And on that, she left the cabin.

Esme decided the best plan of action was to get out of the cabin for a while and walk through the woods. There was nothing she could do now about the situation, it was Adalia's choice whether or not she said anything.

'Hey! over here!' a male voice called out.

It was Colin and his best friend Gabriel practicing some new sword fighting moves.

'Come join us!' Gabriel shouted to her.

She sat on a bit of tree trunk and watched them train together. She couldn't help but join in.

'Keep your eye on the target, Colin, and then make sure the point is going exactly where you're looking at,' she advised.

'Thanks, but I thought you weren't a sword fighter?'

'My father was, so I learnt a few things from him.'

'Can you give me a few tips, Esme?' Gabriel asked.

'Of course, I think you just need to work in slightly smaller movements, it'll confuse your opponent because they won't be able to see as clearly.'

As Esme watched them both practice, she glanced over and saw Theo walking through the trees. They made eye contact and he waved to him, and he started to come over and sat on the tree trunk next to her.

'Hey, I'm sorry if I came off a bit harsh, I was just taken by surprise, and I just really hope we can be friends for now?' Esme asked him.

'Esme, I really am OK. I was also taken aback as well. Let's just forget it, yeah?'

She agreed.

'You helping these two planks with their fighting?' He joked.

'They're not planks,' she laughed, 'with the right training, I think they could be really good.'

'Whatever you say,' he grinned, a tiny bit of light hitting his eye as he looked at her.

Over at the castle, a group of knights clad in armour knocked on the door.

'We need to speak to the King, Sir,' one of them told the guard at the entrance.

'We don't have a king, you'll need to speak to Mayor Atlas.'

'Fine, we'll speak to him.'

'Do you have an appointment arranged by the Secretary?'

'It's urgent.'

'That's what they all say, no appointment, no meeting.'

The guard started to shut the door in his face, but one of the knights held his foot in the way.

'We're looking for Esme, we believe she's here.' The knight said, and held up the wanted poster to the guard.

The guard immediately opened the door back up for them and led them down to Mayor Atlas' office.

'Sir, I have these men here for you. They wish to discuss one of our citizens, it's an urgent matter, you're going to want to hear this.' the guard explained.

Atlas looked up from his desk.

'Very well, let them in,' he grumbled.

The knights approached Atlas' desk and showed him the poster with Esme's face on it and explained why they were looking for her. Atlas immediately raised an eyebrow.

'I'm sorry, did you say...swordfighter?'

'We did, Sir. She was a decent one as well, which is why we want to lock her up.'

'We have someone dressing up and fighting under an alias, you don't think it's her, do you?'

'Sir, she's a decent fighter and she knows we're looking for her. I'd say it's a very strong possibility.'

Atlas stood up and rang one of the bells on the wall. Within seconds, a team of ten guards entered the room, completely armed.

'Gentlemen, we believe we might have found Countess Raven. Find this girl and bring her in for questioning. These knights are looking for her for committing a crime in their town as well, they'll be following you. Now go, and don't come back until you've found her.'

'Yes, sir!' the guards shouted in unison. They all flooded out the meeting room.

Back in the forest, Colin had offered to walk Esme home since it was now dark and the forest was pitch-black.

They were wandering through the woods, Colin occassionally singing a tune to try to comfort Esme, which wasn't working.

'Sooooo,' he started, and then glanced at her, 'I couldn't help but notice you getting close with Theo.'

'Oh my god, no, Colin. I just rejected him, I'm not interested.

'Okay, okay, don't come for me. I was just making conversation. Is he your type?'

'I don't really have a type, because I'm not interested in anything love-related right now. I only got here a few months ago, I've been busy settling in to the town.'

There was an awkward silence.

'He seems like he'd be a lot of girls' type, and he is. That guy is not short of ladies wanting to be with him,' Colin said.

'I heard, Colin. Good for him.'

'You're not into the whole rich-guy-wannabe- prince trope, I take it?'

'Not really, to be honest, if I ever fall in love, it wouldn't be because he's rich or whatever else.'

'Interesting.'

The guards and knights were now descending on the forest, all of them running to find Esme as quickly as they possibly could. All of the weapons and armour clinking as they ran.

'What was that noise?' Esme asked, startled.

'Probably just a fox or something,' Colin replied.

'Foxes don't sound like metal and chainmail, Colin. Someone's in the forest with us.'

'It is a public forest, someone is likely here. Don't worry, I'm armed myself, remember? Anyway, you were telling me that you're not into rich guys.'

'I'll end up with whoever I end up with, rich, poor, it doesn't matter to me. As long as he's kind and we have a connection, that's really all I need. If we're truly in love, none of those things will matter. But like I said, I'm really not looking right now, and I don't see why it bothers you anyway.'

'It doesn't, I was just curious, that's all.'

'Have you ever been in love, Colin?'

'Me? To be honest with you, I think maybe at one point in time I was, but it didn't work out.'

'Oh, I'm sorry.'

'Don't be. If it really is something, love will find a way to bring us back together eventually. Fate will prevail, it always does.'

Esme looked at him, disgusted.

'You're kidding me, right? You believe all that stuff?'

'You don't?'

'I think maybe I did at one time, but no, not now.'

The guards and knights spotted Esme and Colin, and raced over to them.

'I see her!' one shouted.

Esme saw them and froze.

'Well Colin, how are you plannig to defend us from that?'

'I'll be honest, I wasn't thinking I'd have to defend us when I offered to walk you home.'

The guards and knights surrounded Esme.

'Esme?' A guard asked.

'That's me.'

'You're coming with us.'

'Why should I?'

'Because you're under suspicion for two counts of treason.'

A group of four grabbed onto both her arms and dragged her away, while Colin looked on in complete shock.