Later at dinner, Soren knocked on her door. "The maids just finished serving dinner in the knights' dining room, Princess... I mean, Knight Vesper." As Rune walked past him, he hurried to keep up. "Hey, are you alright? Does your face still hurt?" Soren asked, his voice full of genuine concern.

Rune stopped and looked at him coldly. "If Amara asked you to check on me, tell her I am fine, Sir Soren. If not, I hope our interactions from now on will be strictly training-related."

She walked away, leaving Soren standing there, swallowed by guilt. He hated himself for not stepping up for her in the throne room, especially when knights who barely knew her had risked everything to defend her.

In the dining hall, the food was filling, but it tasted strange compared to the luxury meals of the royal family. Still, Vesper didn't complain. As she finished eating, she noticed Duke Sam entering, a maid trailing close behind him. The maid rushed forward to grab Rune's empty plate.

"Let me take care of this, Your Highness," the maid insisted.

Rune looked back at Duke Sam, glaring at him before turning back to the maid. "No, I can do it myself," Rune replied, walking over to wash her own dishes.

But Sam and the maid didn't stop there. For the past week, the maid kept trying to take Rune's laundry, completely ignoring Rune's orders to back off. Finally, one evening as Rune was returning from the dining hall, Duke Sam and the maid were waiting right at her doorstep. In the maid's hands was a basket filled with luxury royal food.

"What is this?" Rune asked bitterly.

"Come on, Rune, you need more than some lowly knights' rations," Duke Sam teased with a smirk.

"And what authority do you have to decide that?" Rune bit back coldly.

"Oh, I have more authority than you ever had as a princess, Vesper."

"So you admit you are just petty," Rune said, entirely unmoved.

Sam had been her childhood best friend and her first love, but she knew now that she was never truly his. He and his siblings always thought they were superior to Rune and her sisters, simply because the King showered them with love, support, and protection. The King treated his nephews better than his own children—even after Sam's uncle, Duke Arthur, had staged a failed rebellion to take the throne and had been executed for treason.

Rune noticed Sir Kaelen watching the interaction from down the hall. She grabbed the luxury food basket from the maid and walked over, handing it directly to him.

"It's a gift from Duke Sam. Go share it with the other knights, Sir Kaelen."

"Are you sure about this, Knight Vesper?" Sir Kaelen asked, glancing back at Duke Sam's hardening expression.

"More sure than anything I ever did as a princess," Rune said, a ghost of a smile touching her lips.

Duke Sam rolled his eyes and turned on his heel. "She really just wants to be stubborn. No wonder no one ever proposed to her, unlike Princess Amara," he muttered as his maid followed him away.