"MY LADY, please stay here," Damian said to Tilly in a whisper. "I'll check what's happening outside."

Tilly nodded and whispered back to the knight. "Be careful, Damian."

The young knight nodded, then he went out of the carriage.

[I hope it's nothing serious.]

To be honest, she was really curious of what was happening outside. But for the sake of her baby, she stayed inside the carriage obediently.

Now she regretted letting her cravings take over.

She really thought that it would be safe to go outside because it was only afternoon, and the sun was still bright. Plus, Komono was a crowded area. She didn't expect that they would be ambushed in a place like that.

As far as she remembered, they were in the main road. Plus, she wasn't using the carriage with Kiho's Black Serpent crest. Unless they were stalked from the start, there was no way the enemies would know that she was inside that carriage?

[And who would be bold enough to attack people in broad daylight in the middle of a busy road?]

Tilly gasped when the door on her side suddenly opened. She was about to prepare herself for attack when she saw a woman with burgundy short and messy hair. The woman was also wearing a dirty brown cloak. Despite her rugged appearance, the woman had a beautiful face.

[Her pink eyes are so pretty.]

Wait, what?

In her past life, she only met one person with pink eyes.

"Oi, I'm hungry," the woman with pink eyes told her in a rough tone. "Do you have food in there? Even water will do."

God, it was really her.

[Luna, the witch doctor.]

"Oi, oi, oi," Luna said in a panic while looking at her with widened eyes. "I haven't done anything to you. Why are you crying?"

Tilly could only cry harder.

Meeting the "witch doctor" again reminded her of one of the terrible crimes that she had committed in her past life.

[Oh, god…]

She got out of the carriage to properly face Luna.

Once outside, she realized what was happening around. There were knights in front of the carriage. Based on their red uniforms, they must be from the Red Phoenix squad. The knights were arresting men dressed like rebels.

Spectators– composed of lower nobles and commoners mostly– surrounded the scene while whispering to themselves.

[Ah, so that's why the carriage suddenly stopped.]

She was relieved to know that she wasn't specifically ambushed.

"My lady!"

Tilly's attention diverted to Damian who came running to her side. "Damian, where did you go?"

"The vice-captain of the Red Phoenix Knights recognized me. He explained to me that it's not safe to stroll around Komono now because some rebels terrorized the area a while ago," Damian explained. Then, when he noticed Luna, he suddenly stood protectively in front of her. "Who are you?"

Luna waved her hand casually. "Don't mind me. I'm just a hungry traveler." The witch tilted her head to look at Tilly. "Oi, do you know me? You're looking at me we've already met before."

"Watch your language, Miss," Damian warned the woman. "Don't talk to the lady that way."

"Eh?" the witch doctor complained. "No wonder she looks so frail."

Damian was about to retort but Tilly held his shoulder to stop him. He turned to her and bowed before he stepped aside for her.

"Miss, I don't have food or water with me right now but I'm on my way to eat," Tilly told Luna, pretending that she didn't know her. "Would you like to join me for some snacks?"

"Oi, you're interesting," Luna said with a smirk. "Why do I feel like you owe me big time?"

She could only smile sadly at the witch's light "accusation."

Luna wasn't wrong though.

After all, Tilly ordered the death of the witch in her first life.

[And that's because in the past, I found out that Luna had the ability to fix Princess Nia's infertility.]

***

"CAPTAIN Kiho, may I know where you're heading next?"

Kiho was starting to get uncomfortable with Captain Sherwood's sudden clinginess. But he didn't want him to think that he was hiding something from him.

Right now, they were still at Captain Ainsworth's office. The captain of the Golden Tiger Knights left for a while to ask his men to send a report to the palace. Captain Denver also excused himself when he received a call from his vice-captain.

And so, he was left with Captain Sherwood.

"Let me check for a minute," Kiho said. Then, he pulled out the small notebook from the inside pocket of his jacket. He jotted down Tilly's errands for him so he wouldn't miss a thing. "Now that I'm done with the Fire Wielder Guild's foundation, I'll be heading to Children's Haven next."

'Children's Haven' was an orphanage for kids who were orphaned because of Crades.

"Oh, isn't that in Komodo?" Captain Sherwood asked. "May I come with you?"

"Why?" he asked curiously. "Don't you have work for today?"

He grinned like a child. "Accompanying you seems more fun."

For some reason, that gave him goosebumps. [Why is Captain Sherwood acting this way? Does he want to get close to me to spy on me and Tilly?]

"Captain Kiho, I received a report from my vice-captain," Captain Denver said when he entered the office. "Rebels attacked Komodo as well a while ago. According to my men, Lady Prescott was in the area when the attack happened."

Kiho gasped and immediately stood up. "Is Tilly hurt? Where is she?"

"Lady Prescott wasn't hurt," Captain Denver assured him. "She's with her personal knight and a woman that my men aren't familiar with."

His forehead knotted in confusion. Tilly said that she didn't have plans for today. So who was it that his wife met up with? "Thank you for informing me, Captain Denver." He turned to Captain Sherwood. "I apologize, Captain Sherwood. I have to go to my wife first."

"I understand, Captain Kiho. Don't mind me," Captain Sherwood said with a smile. "Be careful. And I mean it."

Okay, that was creepy.

It seemed that Captain Sherwood was genuinely concerned about him. But that was very suspicious. The captain never showed him this much interest before.

[Ah, whatever. I'll think about it later.]

"Thank you, Captain Sherwood," Kiho said, walking as quickly as possible. Then, he tapped Captain Sherwood's shoulder when he walked past him. "Thanks again, Captain Denver."

***

"WOW THIS is so good!"

Tilly smiled while watching Luna eat with so much gusto.

Right now, they were at a restaurant with grilled steak as its best selling dish. Of course, the quality of the steak wasn't as good as what was served at high-end restaurants. But it was the best in Komodo.

And Luna seemed to be enjoying the food.

"I'm glad you liked the food," Tilly said with a relieved smile. "You can order as much as you want, Miss Luna."

Yes, introductions were made a while ago.

Damian didn't look happy that she was acting friendly with a stranger. So the young knight went to the restaurant with them. He was sitting beside Luna and he looked shocked by the amount of food that she had already eaten.

After all, the witch had nine plates of grilled rib-eye steak now while Damian only ordered a cup of tea.

[And it looks like she's far from being full.]

Tilly had already forgotten her cravings for street food. Watching Luna eat with gusto seemed to make her full as well. She only had one plate of steak and now, she was having tea to digest it properly.

"Nah, I'm already full," Luna said. Then, she burped loudly that made Damian frown. "Thank you for the food, Lady Prescott. So now, what's the catch?"

[As expected, she's quick to catch on.]

"Damian, please leave us alone," Tilly told the young knight. "You can wait outside. That's an order."

Damian couldn't argue anymore when she said it was an "order." He just politely bowed to her. "My lady, I'll come back after fifteen minutes."

"Alright," she said. "I'll end it in fifteen minutes."

The young knight bowed to her before he stood up and left the restaurant.

She looked around first. Thankfully, because of the incident with the rebels a while ago, the restaurant was almost empty. The other two customers aside from there were occupying the tables far from the one they occupied.

They were out of ear-shot.

"Miss Luna, I know that you're a witch," Tilly said softly. "To be precise, you specialize in pregnancy and female reproductive health."

If they were in the modern world, then the witch would be an OB-GYN.

"So, my hunch was correct," Luna said with a smile. Then, she put her elbows on the table and held her face between her hands while giving her an amused look. Eventually, her eyes glowed in a deeper shade of pink, making it almost red now. "I can tell that everything about you is special– your heart, your soul, and the baby inside your womb."

"And for that reason, I want you to look after me and my baby," she said seriously. "I know that you're the only doctor who can do the job."

"Why would I help you?" she asked lazily. "I only returned to the Royal Capital to spit on a certain former mage's grave. I don't have any intention to stay here for long."

The witch was talking about Lahara.

Unfortunately, Tilly didn't know why Luna hated Lahara and the royal twins.

But in her past life, she remembered that Emperor Aku captured Luna and sent her to where Princess Nia was exiled to. The witch was ordered to fix the princess's infertility.

When Tilly found out about Luna's ability in the past, she ordered her people to kill the witch. According to the people she ordered, the witch didn't resist and just accepted her death. Apparently, Luna said that she'd rather die than fix Princess Nia's body.

"We hate the same people, Miss Luna," Tilly answered with a smile. "Isn't that enough reason for us to be friends?"

Luna laughed at her answer. "You're interesting, Lady Prescott," she said. Then, she raised her hand as if she was about to touch her face. "I think I might like you…"

The witch stopped talking when someone grabbed her wrist.

Tilly looked up to see Kiho holding Luna by the wrist. Her husband was usually pokerfaced. But this time, he looked pissed.

[Ah, I forgot to call him.]

"Don't touch my wife," Kiho warned Luna in a low voice. "Who are you?"

Luna gasped while looking at Kiho's face.

Tilly turned to the witch, wondering if she knew her husband. But she didn't like the sparkle in the other woman's eyes while ogling Kiho as if he was a piece of steak.

"Oi, you're the most handsome man I have ever seen in my life," Luna told Kiho, her cheeks suddenly turning pink. "Are you single?"

Tilly was about to throw hands but her husband spoke.

"I'm not," Kiho said, then he dropped Luna's wrist so that he could gently hold her by her shoulders. He held her like he was proudly showing her off to the other woman. "I'm married to this beautiful and amazing lady."

Tilly smiled proudly at Luna. But she was hoping that the witch could see the glint of warning in her eyes. "My husband is off-limits, Miss Luna."

***

"I HEARD that Captain Kiho would be a duke soon."

"Yes, Father," Mikhail answered. Right now, he was standing in front of Marquis Morgan Denver– his father– while they were in his office. "But because of what happened to Her Royal Highness, there wouldn't be a big celebration. I heard that aside from His Majesty, only House Prescott and their vassal families would attend the ceremony."

"That's understandable. We can't hold big celebrations until Her Royal Highness wakes up," her father said. "But Mikhail, don't be too complacent just because you think it's peaceful these days."

"I always have my guard up, Father," he assured him. "That's why I noticed that Captain Sherwood is acting strange. For some reason, he's following Captain Kiho around."

"Now that's strange," the marquis agreed with a knotted forehead. "The Sherwoods pride themselves as Bookkeepers or Historians of the empire. It is said that history is written by victors. And so, the Sherwoods would always choose the side of the "champions." For many years, they stayed by the Moonchesters' side because no one had successfully managed to destroy the royal family. Captain Noel Sherwood, for the first time in their family history, even entered the knighthood just to uncover the knowledge that the royal family has been keeping for the past centuries. If he's following Captain Kiho now, that only means one thing."

"I thought the same, Father," he said. "Captain Sherwood definitely discovered either a secret about Captain Kiho's origin or his connection with His Majesty."

"The prophecy wouldn't choose a commoner like Captain Kiho. And His Majesty wouldn't marry him off to Lady Prescott without a reason," Marquis Denver said. "We don't know if we can trust Captain Kiho's origin yet so dig deeper about his past, Mikhail. If you find evidence that Captain Kiho would become a danger to our Supreme later, then kill him. Our clan exists for the Supreme so we can't let harm befall on Lady Prescott."

"Yes, Father," Mikhail said to his father. "I'll kill anyone that would pose a threat to Lady Prescott– even if it's Captain Kiho, her own husband."

***

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