Emperor's Reckoning

The guard gulped his saliva as he saw the woman clad in usual noble clothing. His hand wouldn't stop shaking as he recognized the soaked slender figure. (That's Princess Aelina!).

The princess noticed the guard's fear as her eyebrows raised. Looking at the young man beside him, she needed to think fast, lest her identity would be revealed.

Her right hand slowly raised with a shooing motion, hidden from Lyon's notice. However, the guard was not to keen on guessing even with a blatant cue.

Realizing this, the princess made a fake cough, to take control of the situation. "Guard, I think you should continue your patrol and fill your shift," said the princess with her head held high.

She got off from the fountain before facing the dumbfounded guard. "Well, what are you waiting for?" asked the princess as she put her hands on her waist.

"Y-Yes Pr-" his words were quickly interjected by Princess Aelina as she said "Go now!" while pushing him to run on the road. The rattling from his armor gradually dispersed as he left the scene.

She immediately turned around only to notice Lyon was already sitting on a nearby bench. However, she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as she saw him already dried. Even his hair didn't even leave a wet mark, as if he never plunged into the water.

With her soaked clothing and body, she approached the laid-off young man with her head hung down.

Before the princess could ask how, Lyon suddenly said, "Aelina, you are not an ordinary noble. are you?"

His question made her heart leaped as she thought (He noticed!). She was trying to hide it from him because she would be afraid that he would treat her differently after knowing her identity.

She took a half-step back that Lyon didn't care to notice. "I-i... what do you mean Lyon?"

He slowly looked at her with an irresistible smirk as he said, "The fact that you could even shoo the guard away with a command from you, gave out your identity."

(Ah! He knows! He knows! He knows!) thought Aelina as she felt that she was in a corner.

Lyon continued as he said, "Combined that with your beauty and the fact that you knew Biane and Clemora only prove one thing,"

She gritted her teeth as she gripped a piece of her clothing tightly.

"You are a noble of a high-rank one, aren't you?"

"Yes! I'm a ..... yes, of course, I am haha."

Aelina quickly looked away as she forced a laugh (That was close!).

As she still looked away, Lyon suddenly approached her and said with a low voice, "Keep this a secret."

Without further ado, Lyon suddenly wrote a spell right in front of her. Before she realized it, white magic brands encircled her entire body as a gust of wind breeze through her clothing and her hair.

*bang

The magic brands disappeared as the last gust of wind hit her face and send her entire clothing and hair fluttering.

She dumbfoundedly looked at Lyon with his smile before she blinked in realization. Her soaked body had now dried in less than three seconds!

Lyon looked at her with his eyebrows moving up and down, "Pretty neat huh."

His expression made her feel uncomfortable somehow, but she still replied politely, "Yes it is, I never thought you would be a wind attribute cultivator."

"Well I,-" Lyon's sentence was cut as something approaching them.

A sound of hooves hitting the paving road filled the air as a high-class carriage drove by them. "Stop the carriage!" a shout from the inside made the driver hold his horses. With neighing from them, it stopped not far away from the two.

Lyon was nonchalant as ever as he didn't recognize the carriage at all or more so, he didn't care. However, the princess beside her was fidgeting as she knew whom the carriage belonged to.

The door slowly opened as a figure stepped out from it. The handsome feature on his face made him known throughout Luderia. Combined with his talent in cultivation, he was most favored to be the next king of Luderia.

That's right, the figure was none other than Prince Weiss, the first prince.

"What a pleasant surprise to meet you both here," said Prince Weiss. His tone had a hint of cruelty and dejectedness. Princess Aelina couldn't help but furrowed her eyebrows.

"I was on my way to visit you but lo and behold we meet here as if it's fate," continued Prince Weiss, as he looked at Lyon with a smirk.

"Greetings, First Prince," said Princess Aelina with a slight bow as if a noble would.

"Hmph, greetings to you as well," said Prince Weiss coldly.

"Listen, can we talk later? I'm still in the middle of a date here," said Lyon nonchalantly.

.

.

.

Everyone beside the speaker had their eyes almost jumped out of their sockets. (Dude?! That's a prince you are talking to right now!) thought the driver.

Even Princess Aelina couldn't believe what he said as her mouth slightly opened.

Prince Weiss was fuming with anger as a rush of blood almost jumped out from his throat. "Y-you!"

His breathing was rifling as he almost lost his cool, only in front of this young man his true colors easily shown.

He closed his eyes before calming down and said, "I see, so that's your plan huh."

Lyon raised one of his eyebrows as he didn't know what the prince meant. However, Princess Aelina knew, as the 'you' in the prince's sentence was actually referring to her.

"So like... are we done here? There are places the two of us need to go," said Lyon.

"Yes, we are done here, everything will be settled in a few days time anyway," said Prince Weiss while chuckling as he head inside the carriage. With a little whip from the driver's reign, the horse neighed and walked away.

Lyon didn't even bother to look at the departing carriage as he said to Princess Aelina, "Your first prince is weird."

The princess only chuckled in response.