"WHEN THE SORRE DID YOU THINK DISAPPEARING FOR THREE WHOLE DAYS WAS A GOOD IDEA?"

Jade lowered her head again.

The moment he had entered the room, her father didn't even spare a glance at the boy before catching and hugging her.
Afterward, that demonstration of love, however, began a tirade of scolding.

"AND WHERE WERE YOU EVEN GONE? YOU ARE TEN. COULDN'T YOU WAIT FIVE MORE YEAR BEFORE SNEAKING OUT LIKE THAT?"

"I—"

"NO."

Let's wait for the storm to calm down, cause trying anything will have gotten you expulsed away by a slap.

Jade slumped, hoping she could maybe melt in the ground someday.

Her father was blazing with wrath, rage, and his eyes were ready to slip out of their orbits.
"AND COULD YOU EXPLAIN WHAT IS TEODORE DOING HERE?" He barked out, eyebrows now touching each other.

"You know Teodore?" She babbled, surprised her father would know the erring child.

"OF COURSE I DO." He yelled louder at her as he crouched next to the boy, correcting the few strands he had in the eyes. "HE'S HOLLIS' SON!"

Hollis... like Hollis Bjørn? Like the Duke of Bjørn?

"What?" Blurted out Jade, her jaw seemingly ready to travel far from the rest of her face.

The boy sped to her, evading her father, letting his silky hair float around, with surprise veiling his face. "You are a princess?"

She forcibly shook her head, a 'No, I'm Gollum' response tickling her mouth. "Y-yes." Her lips made as his childish, truthful beam traced a way to her heart.

"You'll get to know each other another time, Teodore." Her father's gentle voice and hands were back for him as he grabbed Jade like a potato bag. "I have to speak to her first. Go find Calista, she'll call your mother."

The boy shuddered at the mention. "But—"

"Teodore." His name echoed as an order in the room. "Go."

The boy, scowling so hard, bowed and dragged his feet to the door.

Jade couldn't help but feel her heart itch at the sight of such despair.
"Sir Dad—"

"If it isn't an explanation or an excuse, you should keep your mouth shut." He landed her right in front of a chair as he accompanied Teodore to the door.

Click.

Teodore was now gone. Nothing to save her from her father's wrath.

"Don't you dare fleeing." He was already behind the back of the chair, pointing it with a twisted disdain. "You sit here and explain everything to me." He waited for her to sit and placed himself in the chair in front of her with a tired, resigned exhale, leaning forward with a terrifying cold look. "If you try to run, I'll glue to the pole of your bed."

Her eyes flew up in the air.
The poles of her canopy bed shouldn't be involved in this.
"You don't need. I'm not a child." She whined, swiftly shifting in the grand armchair.

"First of all, YOU ARE," he glowered, freezing her in place, "and, second of all, I would glue you more for myself than for your own good."

"What?" The word crossed her lips as a shriek.

Her father didn't hold back his snort.
"How am I meant to explain to your mother that I lost you the first time she went abroad in a while?" He shrugged, his frown fading in an exhausted sigh. "Jade, where the Sorre were you?"

Jade wished her simple bob of the head would have been an answer; it would have been way easier.
"I—"

Three knocks on the door.

"Your Majesty? May I enter?" A muffled voice resounded from the corridor.

Destiny, thankfully, was on her side to delay the painful session of explanations.

"Do, Hoenir." Her father uttered, his brows meeting each other again.

The doorway, which had just been closed, flew open, accompanied by an echoing clack caused by its encounter with the wall.

"Greetings to the Sun of the North." Sounded more like a huff than the sentence it should have been. "Your Majesty, I think I found the solution to that letter Princess Jade left."
Loud, successive thud soared from her bed as the servant already continued his speech.
"The letter contained only one word between the Narosian and Trivian numbers, 'library' as you know, so that's where I focused my research."

Her father shook his head, keeping it silent.

"For example, in the letter, you could find the line '1.LXXI.D,56.L,635.p,122.l,38.w,12', which seems absolutely intelligible at first glance, but after a really long time between the shelves, I finally figured it out."

Another bob of the head.

"The first Narosian number corresponds to the library's floor, the first in this case." Jade could hear Hoenir's excited smile. "The second number, the Trivian one, corresponds to the section of the library, the seventy-first. The third number is the shelf from the bottom, the fourth to the place of the book from the left end of the shelf, and etcetera."
She heard him take a book, the sources of the previous thuds, and flip the pages to reach the hundred twenty-second probably.
"It gives a word—went, in this case—and the whole letter follows this scheme." He let the silence float, clearly deserving a verbal response this time.

"Continue." Her father fulfilled.

"So the letter goes," he cleared his throat. "Dear Sir Dad, I went to choose loyal servants. Please do not worry and focus on important matters. Sincerely, your daughter."

An irked snort escaped her father's mouth. "Really?" He stared at the servant with a bitter anger.

"Really." Hoenir nodded, the proud smile surely still in place.

His regard harshly turned to her. "Really?"

"Y-yes." She exhaled, standing up with a hopeless smile she gave to the servant. "Good job, Hoenir. That's exactly my letter."

He froze there, flabbergasted once again.
"P-Princess Jade?"

"Yes, Hoenir?"

He proceeded to close and open his mouth.
"Who did you choose for servant, Princess Jade? And..." he hesitated, "How did you choose?"

Ugh, that is going to be a long story.

"Take a seat."

●●●

"So you were Nia Tre, the one who has been arrested?" The servant managed, utterly astonished, sinking so deep in his chair that Jade would have sworn he'd never get up again.

If Hoenir wasn't becoming paranoid after that, she would be more than surprised.

"I was." She shrugged off with a quick smile, which didn't climb to her eyes.

"S-so you remember?" His eyes screamed about Almos, Einar, and the washhouse.

"I do," she contently shook her head, "and I am good with it."

Apart from the fact you're a magician and could be my possible future killer.

"You know what, Jade?" Her father sighed, abusing his poor bridge of the nose once again.

"Nothing you should care about." The smile lifting the corner of her mouth remained for her father.
She watched him wildly jerk—as if he was battling with undesirable thoughts—and waited to ask her question.
"Why was Nia Tre arrested?"

Of course, why had she been thrown in that cold, horrible cell?
Just to know who to hit first.

"The murder of Hollis, as you probably know." Her father's brows were one. "A certain Briel Katt denounced her—or you—as the killer."

Blood was rushing to her fists and brain.
"I see." Our girl calmly said. "As you can tell, it was false." A light irony to hide her annoyance.

"I can guess." He snorted, with a half-smirk, half-desperate grin. "Don't worry, I'll take care of her personally." His eyes narrowed to thin lines, his rage still leaking from those.

Letting Sir Dad have all the fun? No, a categorical, capital, no.

A devilish smirk shaped her lips.
"Leave her to me."

Shock covered his face before a nod did. "Partly. You could talk to her, but I refuse to let you do anything else." He paused and huffed. "You're too young for anything else anyway."

"Of course." She faked a smile once again to bury her deception.

"And," Hoenir politely, yet greedily, interfered, knowing a servant shouldn't talk first, "did you find the servant you needed in the end?" He mouthed with a pinch of worry in the eyes.

Amused by his curiosity, she signed. "Yes."

"And," he gestured for her to continue, "what are their names?"

"Trist Katt, Einar, and Almos from the laundry team."

"Oh," the servant's eyes widen, "with all my due respects, are you—"

"Sure? Indeed, I am." She told him to go away with the look. "Please call them in the second garden."

Hoenir caught the warning message. "Of course." He bowed and swiftly crossed the threshold.

The door's clicking sound announced a massive silence; her father glower was darker than she had ever seen.

"Well, that explains some things, I guess." He sighed, leaning back in his seat.

She offered a curt nod to the remark.

She called on the servants, but there was a catch : Einar knew her face, her real one since she hadn't had her transformation on.

Taming him could be more than complicated.
If he told Sun she was a princess, she maybe wouldn't accept to see her again.
Well, that could be unfortunate, but she could always blackmail him to prevent this.
He was a magician; she knew it, and she could expose him, stopping him from having any job or any life afterwards.

Simple : he arrives with Almos, she threatens them, pretending she had the information from Nia Tre, who was her ally, and they finish scared to death and willing to work for her.

Yes, just a normal afternoon.

The emperor seemed worn out, tired of all the things Jade said and did, probably having merged with the depth of the armchair.

What better timing could she have found to flee?

She extricated herself from her chair, turning her heels to stride towards the door.

"Small one." Her father called out her nickname gently.

She spun around, caressing the handle with her fingertips. "Yes, Sir Dad?"

His hand was in his palm, his eyes focused on her.
"You'll be the death of me."

●●●

Sunlight was heating her like a burrito in a microwave.

"Greetings to the Tenth Star of Menless." Trist bowed as soon as she saw Jade, peacefully sitting on a bench, Hoenir all tensed beside her.

"Trist," a wise grin bent her lips upwards, "nice to meet you. I heard you wanted to see me."

The servant jolted in her bow. "Indeed, your Imperial Highness. May I know how this information came to your ears?"

Our girl flexed her chin to Trist. "Because you said it."

The jolt became a jerk. "What?"

"Wait a minute, Trist." She warmly grinned.

"Hoenir!" Almos strutted into the garden. "Why did you call?"

Jade's personal servant shook his head. "For the Tenth Star, I told you, Almos..."

At the sight of the red mane, the woman gasped with a 'Your Imperial Highness' before gracefully bowing.

"N-Nia?"

Here, the main actor of the play was entering the scene, 'Einar'.
The four servants were finally all here.

Jade took a deep breath.

The second garden was a really particular one; only the imperials could enter it, for the belief of two being a lucky number or something like that.
Eventually, she could invite people to meet them here, but, if so, it was strictly forbidden to put a step here when your blood wasn't the 'good' one. (Roll of the eyes of Jade and of This Narrator.)

Anyway, with that absurd rule, no dragging ear could be here.

"You three," she uttered, pointing at the washhouse's member, "are magicians. You know it, I know it, we know it. And you," she pointed at Trist, "I know about your problems. All of them. My friend told me everything I need to know."

Stunned gasps floated through the air.
They glanced at Hoenir.

"No, not him if you wondered." She added so they stopped glancing. "Nia Tre. You three, have to know I'm aware of your secrets. That's why I want you to keep mine too."

She halted for an answer, but only silence floated.

The first to speak was the most annoying. "So your name isn't Nia?"

Jade gave a judging gaze to Einar, restraining a long roll of the eyes. "No, never was. Borrowed it from Nia Tre."

"And, you, Sun's soulmate, are the tenth Princess?" His brows were hugging each other.

A strike of Almos' elbow pierced his ribs.
"Hold your damn tongue for once." The woman uttered, seemingly ready to kill him.

"Indeed I am." She shrugged. "But I don't think it'll change anything for you." A scowl distorted her mouth. "Anyway, are you willing to become part of my close ones?"

Quiet. No sign of answers.

"You will always be able to practice magic." She added as a condition.
After all, she could find some help in magic practice with an experienced magician.

Still silence.

Great, that was surely a no.
Her guts knitted tightly.
"Hoenir," she turned to the teenage boy who was as straight as a ruler, "is there a spell to erase memories?"

He bobbed his head. "I don't think—"

"Wait." Trist clenched her fist. "I-I'm willing." She concluded with a small but determined look. "I take the job as your close one, Imperial Highness."

Jade didn't manage to resist a wide, happy smile.
One accepting was more than zero; dopamine invaded her brain.
"Good. And for you?" Her regard spined to the lady.

Almos' frown hardened. She seemed on the edge of exploding the veins on her forehead. "Hoenir, will the Tenth Star keep her words?"

He fidgeted shortly. "Princess Jade has never made a promise until now." The sentence fell like a rock.

That was true, but Jade wasn't ready to hear such bare truth.

"But, with the years I shared with her, I'm sure she'll keep it." Every of Hoenir's feature loosened in a kind sneer.

On that, she couldn't help but feel happiness unloop her stomach.

Almos softened with a bitter expression.
"Then I'm in your hands... However, could you offer me a favor?" The violet-maned woman's eyes lifted up with resolve.

Not wasting her time, Almos.

"Which would be?" Jade threw her right brow to her hairline.

"Hire all the washhouse members. Five more people."

"F-five?" She unconsciously let out.

"Five." Almos didn't stutter, fists joining her hips.

Five more people. That wasn't a lot, but if they weren't here at the moment, they couldn't enter her planned contract.

She sighed. It wasn't the biggest problem ever; the more, the merrier after all.

"OK, agreed if you ensure they'll respect my conditions with your life." Jade declared in one breath. "Anything else?"

Almos' eyes were two wide balloons of astonishment. "N-no. That would be all." She turned a shocked look to Hoenir, asking, 'Is it normal?' with the eyes.

He nodded.

"You can talk aloud." Jade awkwardly smiled, happy to finally have dealt with that. "Oh, and you can also take your blue-eyed friend, Trist." She pursued, recalling the filled lunchroom right before her arrestation.

"My friend?" Trist muttered with concern. "I don't have any friend."

"Oh, great." Jade said, grateful to not have to drag one more person here. "Well, you have us for friend now." She added just to not appear like a psychopath who's happy of someone's introversion. "If everybody is fine with my proposition... SPIROT!" And annihilating everyone's ears.

The bunny floated to her as Trist shuddered.

"What is that?" Her trembling lips mouthed.

"That," exhaled Spirot, tired by this kind of question, "is a high spirit. Its name's Spirot."

"Don't talk in third person," Jade heaved, getting a weird flashback of the 'brainless' incident, "please."

A merry roll of the eyes was offered. "Of course, almighty Highness-friend."

"Oh, shut up." Our girl offered a gaze to her new, stunned once again, servants. She hid her mouth. "Excuse my language."

They only stared, a querying expression on the face.

"Wait, did I forgot to mention I was also a magician?"