Princess Aries was an outsider.

That was just a matter of fact. Even Micah was an outsider even though he has been training Leonel and Ayva all those years. Even Micah's fellow, Albrect, Eliza's teacher was an outsider to them.

A few day ago, Albrect was killed. Eliza did not shed a tear for him, neither did Ayva nor did Leonel.

They share an air of melancholy, however, there was a different between the death of someone they know and the death of someone close to them.

Micah helped bury Albrect in a marked grave so that he could find him later.

The point is that, to the children of a town outside of the capital's influence, it was hard to get close to them, especially with all three of them together. They create a kind of social barrier that makes it hard to get close.

However, they were walking on the same road, camping together, and suffer the outdoor together, it was easy to get close despite Eliza's insistence. Aries for her part, acted graceful despite the hardship of the road. It takes three days to get to the closest town, one if Micah rushes the princess back with his horse.

However, she refused.

There was a strange determination in her.

One night, while Ayva was returning after taking care of his business in the bush, he accidentally walked over to where the girls were sleeping and overheard Aries sleep talking.

"Oh... hero, my hero on a white horse..."

It was a bit weird and creepy so Ayva chose to let that moment slide.

In the morning, he gets up early to find Leonel preparing breakfast.

Micah usually also gets up as early, but currently the knight is not with them. He is escorting the bandit and so is a bit behind.

Seeing Ayva, Leonel smiles and offers him a cup of herbal tea.

Taking it gracefully, Ayva sips on the strangely tinted tea. Leonel, who is their de-facto leader now was always strangely resourceful since he was a kid. Ayva didn't even how putting random grass that is not tea into hot water can taste good, but Leonel did it, with materials from the road no less.

Together, the two boys start preparing breakfast. Leonel takes out a small box made out of metal, after cleaning it, he puts it over the open fire.

Ayva hands him the other small box that contain salted pork that has been soaking over night. Leonel starts the preparation for a soup.

Meanwhile, using his unnerving agility, Ayva scaled a tree and went down with 4 eggs in hand.

While Leonel is making soup, Ayva takes out his own travel box and turn it over to put it on the open fire. Cracking the eggs, Ayva starts frying them one at a time.

Finally, after breakfast was almost done, Ayva finally asks

"The princess, has you been getting close with her?"

Ayva asks lightly while taking out Eliza's own travel box. Early in the morning, he went over to where she was sleeping, almost forgetting that princess Aries was there too. After quietly taking Eliza's box to prepare her breakfast, Ayva left quickly.

He puts the eggs and some herbs inside.

"I have. The princess has a very respectable personality, she has a good head on her shoulder, it is just that she is a bit... too passionate."

"She is into you dude." Ayva says it straight.

Leonel chose to not comment on that. He glances away while Ayva puts the food inside his own box and taste some soup.

"I don't know what her deal is, but she fantasizes about a hero who would arrive on a white horse yadda yadda yadda. It is the dream of all girl that age. However, for some reason, the princess takes it seriously.

And while you know it or not, you have fulfilled that role. You need to be careful around how to proceed Leonel. Don't hurt a girl's feeling in the process."

'Especially now that you have two girls'

In truth, while Ayva did go along with Eliza's antic because he is weak-willed when it comes to his childhood friends, he knows it is bad isolating a seemingly friendly person like that. The princess outside of her initial outburst is in fact a decent person like Leone says. The fact that she suffers the outdoor just like them speaks volume of how much she cares.

"I see her as a comrade." 'Already a comrade?' is what was in Ayva's mind

"Well, what do you see Eliza as then?"

"A dear friend and a comrade." Well, it seems his other childhood friend is just a bit closer in the race to win the Leonel bowl

"Let me reiterate. Do you prefer a bountiful piece of grass land or a flat plain that is nostalgic of home?"

Leonel looks at Ayva with an uncomprehending look. However, before he could answer, the two boys was startle by a scream from behind Ayva

"YOU IDIOT!"

Eliza tackles Ayva from behind, despite his super instinct and inhuman reaction.

Eliza will remember that.

Breakfast was a calm affair despite the previous antic. The princess wakes up later than everyone else, but it was expected.

She is a city girl, Ayva can't compare him and his friends to her. Especially that Aries is a princess, she definitely isn't used to this kind of treatment.

The princess takes a bite of the eggs and then eat some salted pork with roadside parsnip and strange flower petals soup.

"Oh this is wonderful. The soup has a great balance of flavors. The saltiness of the pork goes well with everything else. The slight pepper taste of this flower petal enhance the soup further. The pork is very tender. This is the best I have had in month.

The eggs also have a homely feel to them. It feels like something my mom would make me when I was young?"

"Your mothe- The queen fried eggs for you when you were young?" Eliza asks with genuine curiosity. Honestly Ayva thought the same. The thought of a queen of all thing going into the kitchen to make egg and bacon for her daughter is just so jarring to his mind

"My mother used to be a commoner you know? Even when she became the queen, she still preferred to cook me homemade meal. However, the maids manage to dissuade her from that a few years later." Aries told them all.

"All the food that I have eaten, despite them being made by the best chef in the country, probably the food that I like the most was my mother's. But I don't know what I like the most. Either her bean, vegetable and meat stew or her famous baked stew. Yeah, actually her onion soup is the best."

Smiling gently, Leonel closes his eyes listening to her story.

Ayva called this the thoughtful lady killer smile. Killing without even knowing that you are killing just by being thoughtful

"Your mother sounds like a wonderful woman princess."

Leonel didn't open his eyes, however, princess Aries' face was extremely red.

'Hello operator? We have a confirmed kill. I repeat we have a confirmed kill.'

The thoughtful lady killer smile strikes again. It should be illegal to smile like that while being that handsome.

"Your cooking was wonderful too sir Leonel. It reminds me that normal people too, also have this kind of amazing cuisine."

"Actually princess, I'm not the only cook. It is my friend, Ayva who helped me with breakfast." For some reason, Leonel passed Ayva the ball

"But you are the one who cooked this amazing soup. I didn't even know what half the plants are, but you just pluck them up and then suddenly we have an amazing soup." Ayva passed it back

"Your eggs are wonderful though Ayva. Despite the limitation, it was extremely fluffy and nice. And you are the one who helped me with preparing the pork."

"When you prepared our next meal, I would like to help. I want to connect with the life of normal people, just like my mother."

"Me too." To not be left out, Eliza speaks up

"Let us all cook together next time." Leonel says