Almost Caught
After a few moments of waiting, Adira got into the car and was on her way back to the palace. It was almost dawn, so what they were passing by was already quiet; the people there must have been asleep.
The car stopped outside the gate of the palace because if they tried to enter inside the gate, there would surely be someone inside, especially Prince Dylan. All the maids and soldiers in the palace knew King Stephen’s plan for Adira not showing up to the prince.
Adira got down before soldiers pushed the car inside the gate. General Agustin was already waiting at the door of the palace, which is why she immediately approached him.
She slowly walked closer to General Agustin. “Is the prince asleep?”
“Yes, I just waited for you to make sure he wouldn’t see you on your way to your room.”
“Let’s go inside; I need to sleep as well as you, general.”
General Agustin nodded. “Follow me.” When they entered the palace, she walked quietly up the stairs to her room.
They were only going to make one more turn before finally reaching Adira’s room when General Agustin stopped. Adira was about to follow, but she heard a voice, so she immediately backed away.
Meanwhile, Prince Dylan wonders why General Agustin is still awake at this hour.
“General, why aren’t you asleep yet?”
General Agustin swallowed, and his eyes were restless because he did not expect the prince to be awake. “I just did something outside for a while.”
“What is that?” Prince Dylan asked with a frown on his forehead.
“I checked with the soldier outside the palace to see if they had already exchanged with the two soldiers who will be guarding the gate now.”
His forehead was wrinkled as he stared at General Agustin.
“You, dear prince. Why are you still awake?”
The prince looked at the glass of water he was holding. “I woke up very thirsty, so I went out. It turns out that the water that the maid gave me earlier has run out.”
“Really? You can now go back to your room and continue your sleep.”
While Adira was just listening to the two, being so tired and sleepy, she didn’t notice that she slightly bumped over something displayed on a narrow table. She bit her lip as she quickly grabbed it because otherwise, it would have created an even louder sound.
But Prince Dylan didn’t escape the faint sound created by the object that Adira hit.
“Did you hear that, general?”
“Which?” the general asked nervously.
It seemed that the prince was peeking behind General Agustin before turning to where they were now. “Is anyone awake?”
“Only the soldier outside and us, Prince Dylan.”
Adira, on the other hand, had a tight grip on the thing she had bumped into. Prince Dylan’s question to the general was a little bit suspicious, so her heart beat fast.
“Are you sure?” The prince was assured.
“Yes, I’m sure.”
Prince Dylan just nodded and looked like he was ready to walk back to his room. It would have been easy to get inside Adira’s room, but he had to pass through Prince Dylan’s room, so it was not easy to walk and get to the door of Adira’s room.
“Then I will rest again, and so will you too, general. In a few hours, the sun will rise.” Prince Dylan turned around to face the general but didn’t walk immediately because his body didn’t seem to want to walk back to his room. In the end, he walked and finally entered the room. General Agustin gasped when the prince entered his room. He waited a few seconds before letting Adira out.
“Come, young lady; he might come out again,” he whispered.
Adira immediately followed General Agustin and successfully entered her room.
She sat on the bed and looked at General Agustin. “I’m just going to tell you again what you can’t do. You can’t leave your room without notice from me. You also can’t create noise while you’re in your room. Remember that the room of Prince Dylan is beside your room, and you know the slightest noise can be heard.”
She frowned. “What about the food?”
“The servant will just bring it here while the prince is not around.”
“What if the prince leaves and I have to follow? I don’t know what to do there because I don’t have a car to follow him.”
The general sighed. “That’s what I was thinking too because if you follow him, you should be invisible, so I thought that whenever the prince leaves, there is always a soldier with him, and you are one of them.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, confused.
“As for the soldier here, it can’t see their whole face because they have things on their heads too, with a barrier covering half of their mouth. Fortunately, there’s also a female soldier, so we won’t have any trouble.”
She frowned at what the general said. “Female soldiers? But why didn’t I see any female soldiers here?”
General Agustin smiled a little. “You can’t tell that they are women because of their bodies. Their body size is similar to that of a man, not like others who have slender bodies like yours. Their hair is tied and hidden inside the thing they wear on their heads. ”
She nodded. “Dylan might be suspicious of me? My body is thin, and I’ll have a hard time hiding in my hair.”
“Can you cut your hair?” asked the general.
She was stunned by his question and answered it seriously. “I’m sorry, general, but I didn’t touch my hair. I haven’t cut it since I was a child.”
“Forgive my question, then just hide it inside a soldier’s iron suit and put a black cloth around the neck so it won’t be seen from behind.”
“That’s more favorable to me.”
“Just a moment,” said the general in surprise. “Can your body carry a soldier’s outfit? Made of thin steel, which they wear, especially on the chest and back.”
She smiled a little. “In my job, there is no heavy clothing for me to do my mission.”
He nodded. “Then I’ll leave you here, but have you eaten yet?”
“Before I boarded the plane, I ate.”
“Good then, I’ll go to sleep and have more to do in the morning.”
General Agustin left, and Adira was left looking around the room.
“I think in this mission I will have a hard time because the agreement we made with the king was different.” She frowned. “There’s a princess added because Dylan’s going to leave here more often than I have to come along as a soldier.” She rearranged her gear under the bed, but her two sticks were under her pillows to make sure no one could see them.
After Adira fixed her bed, she immediately went to sleep, and after a few minutes, she fell asleep because she was tired from the flight back to Prince Dylan’s country.
Adira also woke up early the next day. She stood up and stretched before going to the bathroom. When she got out, she was about to go to the door to get out of the room, but she stopped and immediately closed her eyes.
“I’m not allowed to go out.” She just went back to bed and sat up; it looks like she couldn’t even sip coffee every morning. She frowned when she heard something-the sound of a sword. That’s why she stood up and approached the balcony of the room, but she didn’t go out completely because she saw Dylan, and it looked like he was training.
She saw that he was still training even without her, but she noticed that the prince’s once calm face had turned dark, and it was as if the two of them were showing the opposite now. She learned to show a different expression on her face since she met him, and she was always annoyed by what he said. Dylan now can’t see the joy on his face.
“I know the reason why you look like that now, but you should have that kind of aura so that others don’t make fun of you because you’re weak. One of the weapons you need is to pretend to be strong, even though behind those expressions is a scared and weak prince,” she whispered. “The day will come when I will leave here for good when my mission for you is over.” She just stared at Dylan’s face when he stopped, but her eyes widened when he turned to the balcony where she was, so she quickly sat down.
Meanwhile, Prince Dylan was confused by what he saw. “Is that the young lady?” he asked himself, so even though General Agustin said that she would not come back, he immediately ran into the palace.
While Adira was still sitting, she thought of peeking below the balcony again, but Prince Dylan was no longer there.
“Where is he?” But she immediately entered the room again and panicked to find a place to hide because she suspected he had seen her and was going to try to confirm if what he saw was correct. She had no other choice but to go under her bed, where the pillows were.
After a while, the door suddenly opened, and Prince Dylan entered. He looked around Adira’s room and slowly walked. Adira can still see his old shoes while walking.
The prince frowned because there was no one inside, so he tried to look in the bathroom, but he didn’t see anyone there either. He went out again and was about to leave when he caught sight of Adira’s bed.Nôvel(D)rama.Org's content.
Prince Dylan stopped in front of the bed and seemed intent on looking under the bed. Prince Dylan had already knelt with one hand propped up; his head only needed to come down to see that Adira was underneath, but before Prince Dylan could do that, someone suddenly spoke behind him.
“Dear prince.”
Prince Dylan immediately turned around and stood up, causing Adira to blow out the air she had been holding back.
“General, it’s you.”
“What are you doing here?” asked the general, but he secretly observed the surroundings.
“While I was practicing outside the palace, my eyes went to this room and noticed that there was someone here, but suddenly it disappeared.” Prince Dylan seems to be still confused.
General Agustin faked a cough to get the prince’s attention. “Have you eaten your breakfast?” Prince Dylan grimaced because he hadn’t eaten yet. “That’s probably why you’re seeing something because your stomach is empty, so you better go to the dinner table because you won’t be able to join your father because he is in his room and ate already.”
Prince Dylan sighed and once again scanned the entire room with his eyes, then he left the room. General Agustin was left behind.