"Looking for a warm place, huh?" the guard repeated, his breath hot and rank against my ear.
"The barn's full up, little rat. But my quarters... they've got a fireplace."
He chuckled, a wet, rattling sound. He was so confident.
Why wouldn't he be? To him, I was just a scrawny beggar girl caught in the dark. He didn't see the way my fingers were already curled around the hilt of the Weaving Snake's Fang.
"A fireplace sounds lovely," I whispered.
I didn't wait for him to move. I didn't give him a chance to rethink his hand placement.
I spun, my body low to the ground, and drew the blade in one fluid motion. The leather hilt felt like an extension of my own arm.
Schlick.
The sound of the blade cutting through his thick leather bracer and into the meat of his forearm was sickeningly quiet.
I didn't go for a kill shot. The System had told me: One scratch for paralysis. Two for the heart.
The guard blinked, looking down at the thin red line on his arm. He opened his mouth to shout, to call his partner, to curse me—but nothing came out.
His jaw locked midway. His eyes widened, the pupils shrinking as the venom hit his nervous system.
He stayed standing, frozen like a statue, his hand still reaching out for a shoulder that was no longer there.
"Expensive date," I muttered, stepping around his stiff body. "I warned you."
I didn't look back. I ran toward the rear of the Frutude Barn. The structure was massive, a wooden beast that smelled of misery. I could hear the animals inside—the low, mournful groans of cattle that hadn't been fed in days.
[NOTIFICATION: TARGET REACHED.]
[OBJECTIVE: IGNITE THE REAR STACKS TO EXPOSE THE CONTRABAND.]
I pulled the flint and steel from my pocket. My hands weren't shaking anymore. They were steady.
Precise.
I struck the metal once, twice, three times. A spark caught the dry, rotting refuse I'd gathered.
A small orange tongue of flame licked the wood, growing hungrier by the second.
"Sorry, girls," I whispered to the cows inside. "It's either this or the mines."
I kicked a pile of hay toward the growing fire. The wood of the barn was old and dry as bone; it went up faster than I expected.
A roar started deep in the timber, a crackling sound that drowned out the evening crickets.
I moved to the side window, pressing my back against the rough exterior. I needed to see it. I needed to know what the System was making me do.
Inside, through the gaps in the wood, the smoke was already thickening. I saw the crates.
They weren't filled with grain. They were reinforced steel boxes, and as the heat rose, the lids began to warp.
A faint, ethereal blue glow started to leak through the cracks.
Spirit Stones.
My father's precious stones. The ones he used to power the kingdom's defenses while his people starved.
The Merchant Guild wasn't just stealing them— they were hoarding them.
"Hey! FIRE! THE BARN IS ON FIRE!"
Shouts erupted from the front of the building. The other guard must have found his frozen partner.
I needed to move, but something stopped me. A sound.
Clip-clop. Clip-clop.
Heavy hooves hitting the ground. This wasn't the sound of merchant ponies. These were warhorses. High bred beasts used by the Royal Guard.
I froze, my heart hammer-knocking against my ribs. I risked a glance through the edge of the window frame.
Three riders emerged from the smoke-filled street. They wore the silver-and-blue capes of Aethelgard's elite.
My father's men.
And leading them.
My breath hitched. My lungs felt like they had been filled with lead.
It was him.
He who shall not be named.
The man whose face was the last thing I saw as he raised his sword. His expression blank as he raised his sword.
Caspian. The Head of Warriors. My father's favorite hound.
He sat atop a massive black stallion, his posture perfect, his silver armor reflecting the orange glow of the burning barn.
He didn't look panicked. He looked... bored. Like a fire and a heist were just another Tuesday in his career.
"Search the perimeter," Caspian's voice rang out. It was deep, resonant, and made the hair on my neck stand up.
"If anyone is inside, kill them. If anyone is outside, bring them to me. No one steals from the King."
I scrambled back from the window, my heart racing. He was here. Why was he here? The System hadn't mentioned him. Was he part of it or was he here to stop it?
It didn't matter. If he saw me—even with this new face—he would know. Caspian didn't look at people; he looked through them. He had a way of smelling a lie before it left your throat.
"System!" I hissed. "Where is the exit? The back way is blocked by the heat!"
[NOTIFICATION: AGILITY BOOST ACTIVE.]
[PATHFINDING: CLIMB THE REAR SILO. JUMP TO THE TAILOR'S ROOF.]
I didn't wait for a second prompt. I bolted for the silo, my boots skidding on the dirt. The heat was becoming unbearable now, the roar of the fire turning into a physical weight.
I grabbed the rungs of the silo ladder, my palms burning, and hauled myself up.
I reached the top, the smoke stinging my eyes. I looked down.
Caspian had dismounted. He was standing not ten yards away, staring at the burning barn.
The blue glow of the Spirit Stones was blinding now, mixing with the orange flames to create a sickening purple haze.
One of the stones rolled out of a charred crate, stopping at Caspian's boots. He didn't pick it up. He just stared at it, his eyes narrowing.
Then, he looked up.
I tried to duck. I tried to pull my hood lower. But I was too slow.
Our eyes locked.
Even from this height, even through the thick, rolling smoke and the chaos of screaming guards, I felt it.
That cold, electric shock. His silver eyes were like mirrors, reflecting the fire and something else—a sudden, sharp spark of recognition.
He didn't shout. He didn't point. He just... watched.
"Go! Move!" my brain screamed
.
I threw myself off the silo, my body feeling lighter than it ever had.
The Agility Boost kicked in mid-air. I landed on the thatched roof of the tailor's shop with a heavy thump, rolled, and scrambled to my feet.
I didn't look back again. I ran across the rooftops, jumping gaps I would have never attempted as a Princess.
I ran until my legs burned, until the smell of smoke was a mile behind me, and until the screams of the dying barn were nothing but a whisper in the wind.
I finally collapsed in a dark alleyway on the far side of the district, my lungs screaming for air.
Ding.
[MISSION COMPLETE: THE DECEIT OF FRUTUDE.]
[REWARDS ACQUIRED: +10 AGILITY, 500 GOLD COINS.]
[NEW LOCATION UNLOCKED: THE SERVANT'S ENTRY.]
I stared at the screen, but I wasn't thinking about the gold. I wasn't thinking about the level-ups.
I was thinking about his eyes.
He saw me. I know he saw me. He didn't see a beggar. He didn't see a thief.
"He couldn't have known," I whispered, clutching my chest.
"This face is different. My voice is different. Everything is different."
But the way he looked at me... it wasn't the look you give a criminal.
If he tells my father... if he's already tracking me...
I gripped the Weaving Snake's Fang so hard my knuckles turned white.
"Life five," I bit out through clenched teeth. "You said I was a nobody, System. You said I could do anything."
I stood up, shaking the soot from my cloak. The sun was gone now, and the kingdom of Aethelgard was draped in the dark of the night.
Why didn't he shout?
Caspian never misses. Caspian never lets a target escape. If he let me run... it's because he wants to see where I go.