Back in her room, Oriana couldn’t contain her excitement. It looked like the Palace was about to become a lot more lively with all of the guests coming. After all that time when she was forced into a house arrest of sorts, she was really starved for interaction with someone from the outside. Especially, if they were the people from the esteemed Draconic Empire of Liung-Mun.

Being separated by the treacherous waters of the Huang-Long Sea, Aelians and the people of the Empire didn’t have many opportunities to interact with each other. There used to be a land route connecting the two parts of the continent, but after a cataclysm centuries ago, it became unusable. Oriana read about the Liung-Yi - Descendants of Dragons - in a handful of books before and she always found them fascinating, so the prospect of meeting both the Emperor Lin and his daughter was certainly a thrilling occasion for the Princess.

Then, there was also the Prince.

Oriana met him only once before, and it was years ago during some noble’s birthday ball that she attended with her parents. They were still just children at the time, so they only exchanged a few polite words before their parents took them away to mingle with the rest of the crème de la crème of the political scene.

She didn’t think much of Emil at the time. He wasn’t ugly, but he wasn’t especially good-looking either, nor was he exceptionally charismatic. He was simply an average young boy of the nobility. Truth be told, Oriana had a bit of trouble recalling anything about him. That didn’t stop her, however, from imagining what a handsome man, with a charming personality, he had to grown up to be.

After all, this is how things worked in the novels she read. A beautiful princess meets a striking prince, they fall in love, get married, and live happily ever after. Surely things will go the same way for her. And then she will stop thinking about that Swindler Commander and her mesmerizing eyes and strong arms holding her tightly.

Yes, things are finally about to get interesting, she thought.

Meanwhile, the Queen and the Commander were waiting by the carriage.

— Well… My daughter is either sewing her clothes herself or she got lost somewhere in the Palace. I can’t decide which one sounds more like her. — Her Majesty knew her child very well, so she wasn’t surprised that Oriana was taking forever to show up. It had become her habit to make arrangements with her with at least half an hour of spare time. Although, this time she seemed to really drag her feet.

— My apologies, Your Majesty. The Princess is probably still tired after the night, so she’s taking longer than usual. I’ll go check up on her. —

The Commander politely bowed and went back to the Palace.

This child, a heartfelt smile rose on Queen Hester lips. She’s always acting so harsh with Oriana, but then never fails to defend her when someone is talking poorly about her. I guess I made the right choice.

When Valeria walked into the room, she immediately understood why Oriana hadn’t come down yet.

The Princess, still in her night gown, was too busy frolicking around the place wearing a thin shawl as a fake veil, pretending to be a bride. All the while, Kyra was desperately trying to make her stop and get dressed. No amount of pleading and begging could reach her mistress however, who was completely lost in her preposterous imaginations.

When Kyra noticed Valeria and the displeasure painted on her face, she knew she had to do something, otherwise things could turn very ugly if the two were to start fighting.

— Wait! She’s just happy to be able to be around people again. Can you blame her? She’s been grounded for so long… — she pleaded. — Instead of yelling, just try being nice for once, hm?

Valeria weighed her options for a second, then sighed heavily and decided to follow with her sister’s request. It won’t hurt to try.
She approached Oriana, who was too deep in her own world to notice someone getting close, and ended up bumping right into her.

The sudden collision brought the Princess back to reality. She blinked, confused, trying to understand what was happening. She could feel someone standing right beside her, but the shawl was blocking her view, so she couldn’t make out who it was.

The stranger helped her regain balance and then their slender fingers slipped under the fake veil and raised it gently, allowing her to take a look at their face.

Oriana couldn’t tell if it was because of the circumstances that this happened or if it was due to the dreams she had last night, but Valeria looked different than she remembered.

The dissatisfied frown always present on her face was replaced with a soft expression, bearing traces of worry and care. Instead of the ice in her silver eyes, she could see only a tantalizing glimmer of concern and the longer she looked, the more enchanting the view in front of her was becoming.

— Your Highness, Her Majesty the Queen is waiting in the carriage. I know that you couldn’t rest properly, but there are a lot of important things to attend to today. If there’s anything you need… — the Commander was still talking, but no more words reached Oriana’s ears.

The unexpected sweetness of Valeria’s voice enveloped her senses. It was irresistible. The Princess felt as if a spell was put on her, rendering her unable to defy anything that the voice said. If the Commander told her to never look at anyone else, she would. If she asked her to spend the rest of her life together, she would. If she wanted her to run away together, she would. She wanted to fulfill any wish and any desire of the woman before her.

— Do you understand, Your Highness?

— …yes…

— Can you please hurry up then, we really need to leave soon?

— …Y— Hold on! What is going on with me? Why am I acting so weird? What is this sorcery?! — You Witch! You think your dirty tricks will work on me?!

— Huh? What are you talking about? — The Commander was taken aback by the sudden change in the Princess’ behavior.

— Don’t you think I don’t know what you’re trying to do! You won’t get me this easily!

— Forget it. You’re insane. — Valeria went back to her usual cold and intimidating self. — Get ready. You have five minutes.
The door closed behind the Commander with a loud bang.

Well, that went better than I expected, thought Kyra, who was watching the scene from a safe distance.