"Lyn, he"s over there. Stop him."

Lyn immediately nodded in understanding and rushed down the hill. It surprised Rhys how quickly she got down.

"Kazuya!"

"Lyn?" Kazuya stopped.

"Wahhh, don"t go. Just stay with me," Lyn cried.

"Lyn, but you got hurt. I won"t let them get away with it."

Lyn shook her head, "Please stop, please..it"s okay. I"ll be alright. Kazuya, I only need you beside me."

At that comment, Rhys felt a pain appear in his heart. Rhys didn"t know why "How stupid." Lyn obviously meant what she said earlier. He shouldn"t overreact. Rhys made his way down.

"It"s alright. I"m right here; please calm down Kazuya."

"Lyn."

"I won"t leave you alone. So it"s alright. I"ll always be with you," such simple words and yet Rhys knew it was working. The dark gaze on Kazuya"s face gradually vanished.

When the brunette haired man finally fell asleep. Rhys took a long exhale of his cigarette. "You"re spoiling him too much." Rhys didn"t think Lyn would console Kazuya like a child to calm him down.

"En, that"s true. But I"ve also become rather uneasy when I"m not beside him. So it works out both ways."

He heard that before all this, the two were always together. Always, huh? "Do you stay with him all the time?"

"Yes. Aside from when were taking baths and stuff. I"m always with him. He"s really like a child, you know? But it"s fine this way. Curing addiction isn"t easy. I already know up hand how difficult it is. That"s why I know that this is the best method. What he"s afraid of being left alone, he"s afraid that there won"t be a meaning in his actions anymore."

So from the sounds of it, they aren"t sleeping around. Of course, they wouldn"t do something like that even if Lyn loves Kazuya. She is still engaged with Prince Allen. Doing it with Kazuya one or two times is fine. But if they make a habit of it and something were to go wrong...

"The Princess still loves Prince Allen."

Recalling Pupillam"s words, Rhys paused. That"s right, huh? Lyn having feelings for Prince Allen didn"t surprise him too much. He more or less expected that would be the case.

But if she"s always together with another guy, won"t her feelings start to s.h.i.+ft? Rhys has never thought about it in this manner before. Although it"s such a simple theory that you"d think by now, he would have tried it out. Always being together, there"s no way her feelings won"t change. What"s more, she already seems to be quite fond of him. Kazuya is her boyfriend - naturally, they have feelings for each other. But Rhys always thought that the feelings Lyn and Kazuya have for each other are very fragile. A third party could easily come between them.

He"s worried.

He should be relieved that there"s actually a way to break their strong feelings for each other. But Kazuya feels completely uneasy about this method. Isn"t it okay? Won"t it be fine? This way, he can steal her away. Taking her away from the Prince is impossible; there really are no flaws in their relations.h.i.+p. However, if it"s with Kazuya - no, what is he thinking. It"ll be even more difficult.

"Do you want to marry Kazuya?"

"I don"t know."

It isn"t the answer he"s expecting, nor is it the one that she wants. He knows that from the look on her eyes. Something is already changing. Even if she loves Yuhi, she understands already that something is changing.

"If you change your mind, let me be the first person you tell."

Even though it should probably be Prince Allen who she tells first, he wants to know.

"Yes, that would probably be for the best."

….

For the past half a year, he was trapped in endless rounds of negotiations, bodyguard duty. Even when he came here to the Mist Kingdom, Rhys still had to do his previous jobs. Recently Rhys regretted his choice to join this mess.

"If I have to escort that man to another round of drinking, my brains will melt," Rhys groaned. He was not unwilling to be relegated into being a mere bodyguard. He"s done plenty of guard duty of a similar nature before. With the Sound Kingdom"s current economic situation, he couldn"t afford not to accept such tasks.

But, what bugged him was continually being surrounded by n.o.bles. n.o.bles from the council.

One of his companions, a man named Kyo Mikoto roared in laughter.

They were all in a noisy restaurant in the area. A crowded place was always better because people would have a hard time eavesdropping here. Even if people heard conversations, they wouldn"t know who said it.

"You need to let loose a little, Rhys," the lavender-haired guy suggested. Mikoto slapped his back, "Luxin agrees with me, right?

"It is not in our mandate to make light of the… the situation we are in," Luxin replied rather truthfully, as was his nature.

However, the very fact that the three of them were there in the cold winter"s night, drinking together, said much about the current… stagnation of the Mist Kingdom.

Rhys, however, stopped paying attention. His attentions were turned towards a teenager who seemed to be younger than Lyn wandering back and forth. Instantly, he thought that the child was an utter idiot. What kind of person walks around unarmed this day and age? Then again, he shouldn"t judge people too much.

Rhys eyes fell on the wakizas.h.i.+ itself. He had seen it before…

The teenager soon finished eating and signaled for the proprietor to pay for the dinner he had just eaten.

It didn"t take long for Rhys to realize that the teenager was not a boy, but a girl. This girl...is smart dressing like a man. While the Mist Kingdom is more guarded these days. She would have been easy prey if her gender was revealed, whether she was in the capital. Judging from the bags, the girl traveled a long way.

This was not the reason why Rhys was so drawn to her. There was something familiar about the girl"s unusual purple hair, her deep-colored eyes.

It was as if his body had betrayed him. He stood up suddenly and almost grabbed the girl.Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

If Mikoto did not shout because his abrupt movements caused him to spill his tea. "What"s wrong with you, Rhys?" Luxin demanded. "You seem to be… out of it."

"Out of it," is quite the understatement.

Rubbing his temples, Rhys groaned. "I must be seeing things," he replied. "I thought I saw a girl bearing the Shotsuuren…" Now that he looks again, he could no longer see the mark. It must just be his imagination.

"Why don"t we find a brothel? You seriously need women and more alcohol. Isn"t the palace stuffy?"

Just as Rhys was about to answer, he spotted somebody familiar. Isn"t that Lyn? Rhys immediately stood up and made his way over. He grabbed the cloaked person"s wrist, "Ahh? Let--!"

"It"s me."

The girl slowly turned around, and sure enough, he confirmed his suspicions. "Rhys?"

"What are you doing here? Where are your guards?"

"You see, Kazuya is really unwell lately. So I thought I"d buy some medical herbs and help him out. I heard that there"s a new person in town selling good quality herbs for a good price."

"So you snuck out?"

Lyn looked down at her feet, and Rhys sighed. Why is she so troublesome?

"I"ll come with you --," Rhys paused. "My companions and I are here; let us join you." It would be wrong of him to be alone with her now. Rhys wasn"t sure if he could control himself if he were to be left alone with her now.

….

"That"s the Princess?" Mikoto mumbled. After Rhys briefed the two on the situation, he expected them to refuse. But it seems like Mikoto tagged along out of curiosity, "I heard she was supposed to be ugly. How come she"s a beauty?"

His friend seemed genuinely confused and kept looking Lyn up and down. The girl was hiding with a cloak. But one could still see her face. Rhys shot him a glare, "You"re making her uncomfortable, stop looking."

"Gahh," Mikoto cursed. "The rumors must be true, after all."