Zylith.

"Your Highness, I have brought you what you asked me for," Liana came in with a set of worn-out faded attire this morning, the clothes in which I was supposed to make my escapade today.

Yes folks, I'm slipping out of the castle to a secret endeavor today. Today, as it was my day off and I didn't need to attend to any imperial affairs nor did I have any lessons with my demon instructor, it was the weekend kind of day for me, in other words, just the right day to get drunk and party hard. Hohohoho!

I had been cooped up in this golden prison ever since I had last entered the castle, so last night I decided to take a trip out of the palace to get some fresh air into my system. Now, its not like no one knew and I was venturing alone out of the castle, well.... Fredurd knew of course since I would be taking him as an escort along with me.

Oh! I can almost see your skeptical faces wondering how I was able to convince such a stern and uptight knight to keep it mum from the big bosses, right? Heh... It wasn't that hard. I just lured him in with my awesome tactical skills; ..... Alright! In other words, I tempted him with Liana somewhere in the conversation.

You see, my little Liana has been giving Fred the most apparent cold shoulders these days and hence it created a kind of delirious tension between the two of them, so I just suggested that I would help the poor guy solve his dilemma with Liana, and Voila! He agreed. I figured Fredurd wasn't the kind of guy who would be easily swayed with bribery or such worldly luxuriance, so I had to come up with the Liana card. I was still a bit skeptical as to if he would be tempted enough to do my bidding, but thankfully so, it was the right move.

People please, I hope you are not looking at me like I'm some evil manipulative extortionist in the making, I swear I'm not. It's just that I could no longer stand looking at the pitiful sight of Fredurd trying to redeem himself in front of Liana, so I voluntarily decided to help him out, it's just that my help does not come for free.

I looked into my reflection in the mirror as I was dressing up and smiled at myself. I could almost feel it in my bones, today was gonna be a really interesting day.

"Your Highness, may I know where you are headed today?" Liana asked, she seemed rather eager to know of my destination. I wonder why that is?

"I just want to relax away from all these royal shi_ I mean royal responsibilities as of today, you know." I shrugged in nonchalance.

"I understand Her Highness's sense of notion, but I'm still very anxious to just let you go alone." She said in a troubled voice, looking very fretful indeed. "Can't it just be me tagging along with you? I promise I was be like a ghost, as undetectable as possible." She urged yet again when she saw me dressing up in a male's attire.

Yes people, today I decided to condone myself in a male's disguise and finally let myself experience what you'd call a 'typical-female-lead-dressed-as-a-male-in-the-ancient-times' theme.

At the moment, I was dressed in a grubby corduroy cloth cap with a wig intact, an old grey shirt which looked as though it was my oldest cousin's hand-me-downs, in other words, a couple of sizes too big to even look like it actually belonged to me. The cuffs of the shirt was frayed and shabby and along with the odd assortment of baggy pants that had seen better days and a foul stench of cigarette smoke that encased my frame, my disguise for today was complete.... No wait! I was also using my ever so awesome bronzer to make my milky beautiful skin(Cough! Not bragging here guys) look like a man's, I mean ugly.

So all in all, I looked like a juvenile teen who had just hit puberty at the wrong time. I didn't really care much as long as I didn't look like a girl. But I think I looked rather handsome in my façade if you know what I mean(smirking face).

However Liana on the other hand, seemed very upset with my getup.

"What! Why are you frowning like that, Little Liana? Don't I look like a handsome peasant brother today?" I teased in glee.

And she replied in a sulking tone, "Your Highness, please let me accompany you on this outing."

Ah! I made a furtive face at her urgent request as I knew I could not let Liana follow me today. If she were to tag along with me, then what will happen to my plan of uncovering all the dirty secrets of my only personal knight 'The Fredurd Vanner' and making a blind disciple out of him.

So I douched her pleading eyes and acted as if I didn't hear her words just now, "Come on, do tell me, how do I look?"

She sulked some more, but nevertheless, still answered me, "You look like a transgending swindler."

I almost choked on my spit when I heard her. I stared at her with unfathomable eyes, thinking that I seemed to have taught her some unnecessary stuffs lately.

".....Haha.... Do I look that bad?" I asked in a sheepish way, and she firmly nodded in accord. Now why did I feel so bad at her disparagement, I wonder.

"Haha.... I thought, I did a pretty good job on the disguising part?" I mumbled to myself in sheer disappointment as I made my way out of my dressing room and towards Fredurd's whereabouts.

"Your Highness!" Her badgering tone got even more fervent as she followed behind me.

"Ah, don't be such a worrywart Liana, your Queen will be just fine. After all, I have Fredurd tagging along with me. What could go wrong?" I winked at her in a mischievous demeanour, partly because I wanted to distract her and partly because I wanted to cue her with loads of deeper insinuations. But when it came to poor Fredurd Vanner, Liana was as prejudiced as a detached barrier.

"What! Sire, why did you choose him of all people to be your escort when you are sneaking out of the castle?" She shrieked in distaste. "A shambolic knight as he, is no good Sire. And specially not when you're only by yourself. I strongly suggest, you choose someone else for this outing."

'If I chose someone else, what would become of my supposed well-planned date with my knight Fred!' I thought to myself.

"Well I would like to appoint someone other than him as well, but there is hardly anyone in the castle I can truly trust and I doubt I can find anyone else at such a nick of time now." I said in a mild attitude, so as to not aggravate the girl any more than she already was.

"But Your Highness...." She still did not seem convinced.

"No more buts Liana, everything will be fine. Learn to relax and chill a bit, hmm?" I reassured her with a warm smile, but this stubborn little girl was still not persuaded, so I added, "Also, find out who that perpetrator who stole your underwears is while I'm gone. That shall be your assignment for today, got it?" I wanted to keep her occupied with other stuff since I didn't want her to go crazy with anxiety disorder.

"As you command Sire." She, as expected, got into her serious mood when I mentioned assignments.

Satisfied with her being successfully distracted, I sauntered off to where Fredurd stood expecting my arrival. The sun was already high up in the sky and it was early noon by the time I was ready to leave the castle. When Fredurd saw me, he widened his eyes in disbelief for moment. The reviews from Liana were very cutting and damaging to my self-esteem as a disguiser, but I was hoping for some good reviews from Fredurd when I saw his reaction to my attire.

"So?" I enquired quite enthusiastically, "How do I look?"

"............." His silence was giving me the apprehension of anticipation.

"Well?" I prodded him a little more for a response, at the least.

"E-Erm.... I... quite an interesting disguise, Sire." He mumbled while looking away from me.

Hmm... "Really?" I enquired further since he looked uncomfortable while mouthing out his praise.

"Err.... Yes Sire." Finally, after getting his positive response, I felt a bit better about myself and declared in a happy tone, "Great! At least someone here understands my views and aspirations."

I don't know why, but both my underlings looked strange to me for a second, but I decided to dismiss their minor odd attitudes considering I wasn't the typical average master myself.

"Well then, shall we go?" I bade my farewell to an ashen-faced Liana and proceeded to sneak out through a secret pathway out of the castle, while Fredurd shadowed behind me. I found this passage one day while I was on my usual evening strolls around the palace, it was a well-hidden pathway amidst the thick bushes and dense trees. Like Alice finding her rabbit-hole to Wonderland, I found this clandestine route to my freedom. Only Fredurd and Liana were aware of this pathway as of now. Liana, I felt her allegiance only towards me as I was her sole benefactor, but I had to check today where my knight Fredurd's loyalties lies.

And as such, I ventured out into the outside world in secret after months of confinement.

Imagine my excitement.

To be Continued.........