However, she soon had no choice but to stop walking. The emperor's guards were roaming near the castle that would lead to the tea room. Beatrice could tell they were not ordinary knights as they had a golden dragon embroidered onto their uniforms—only elites that served the emperor directly were eligible to wear the symbol.

'Why are the Dragon Knights standing guard in front of the annex…?' Beatrice was confused, and her instincts told her she was in danger. There was no good reason her father would look for her after she ignored the eldest son of Marquis Hessen and fled the banquet hall.

Grabbing Jubelian by the arm, Beatrice dragged the lady off the pathway.

"Bea?" she sounded taken aback. Regardless, Beatrice had only one goal in mind—they needed to get out of this place. She tried to lead Jubelian back to the banquet hall, but the two ladies were faced with another group of Dragon Knights patrolling when they turned a corner of the garden bordered with boxwoods.

'Here, too?' Beatrice realized in despair. Just then, one of the knights turned their head. The two hastily hid behind a sculpture decorating the garden. Nevertheless, Beatrice could hear approaching footsteps.

'What do I do? I don't want to drag Jubelian into this.' It was one of the emperor's hobbies to note his vassals' weaknesses and use that to his advantage. The Dragon Knights helped the tyrant achieve this goal by acting as his minions. Beatrice knew something would happen to Duke Floyen if Jubelian were to be found here.

'I'll have to get rid of those knights first,' the princess decided. She then turned to the bewildered Jubelian.

"Stay here for a second. Okay?"

* * *

Perplexed, I raised an eyebrow. What was she talking about? If I wasn't mistaken, those were the emperor's guards. I didn't understand why I had to hide, but Bea smiled at me and got up instead of stating her reasons.

"Your Highness, it was you. I thought I saw someone similar," I heard a masculine voice greet.

"Why are you all chasing me?"

"His Majesty is looking for Your Royal Ladyship. We will act as your escorts back to the banquet hall."

"And why is my father looking for me?"

Instead of an answer, the man shouted to the other guards. "What are you all doing? Hurry up and escort the princess!" It sounded like they were taking her by force. I tried to understand why this was happening. If the future had progressed as it should have, Bea should be using magic to subdue those men. Nevertheless, she was only threatening the guards verbally.

"How dare you! I will have you all punished if you lay a finger on me!"

Was it possible that she couldn't use magic because she decided to befriend me? Assuming this, I began to search for a solution. How could I save the powerless princess at this moment?

First of all, the emperor was a person who didn't like to show his faults. It was obvious he would try to handle these atrocious affairs in secret. So, what if someone witnessed this event? If there were many passersby, he wouldn't be able to do as he wanted. On the other hand, if there were only one or two bystanders, these people would be captured along with Bea to silence the incident.

"Stay away! This is an order! Help! Is there anyone nearby?!" Bea screamed, but it was doubtful that anyone could hear us as we were in a remote area.

I needed to make up my mind soon. What was the best thing I could do now? If only I could let someone else hear what was happening…

'Ah, of course! If I use this…' An idea flashed through my head at that moment, and I took out the whistle from my pocket.