Chapter 40

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Chae POV

We finally arrived in the forest and saw some of the women training but Jisoo is nowhere in sight.

I saw Jennie chatting with some of the women, so I approached her.

"Jennie!" I called. She looked towards me, and Lisa then smiled but when she saw the worry on my face her smile immediately disappeared.

She walked towards us "Your Highness" she bowed in front of Lisa and turned to me "Is everything okay?" She asked with worry.

Lisa and I glanced at each other before I addressed Jennie "I need to talk to Jisoo" I said.

"She went back to her house to rest" Jennie informed.

I nodded "Thank you Jennie" before I started walking towards Jisoo's place.

I heard footsteps behind me "Wait, can I come?" Jennie asked with worry. I only nodded as a response. We could use the extra brain to figure everything out.

We passed by the market and dodged many people with the speed we were going. I could also hear Jennie saying sorry to the people she bumps into.

It makes me want to remove the scarf that was slightly covering Princess Lisa's face to make the people move out of our way, but we just continued dodging them.

We finally arrived at the far back of the kingdom. It's a lot quieter here because not a lot of people chose to live in this part of the kingdom.

A lot of the abandoned houses and carriages are here. It somehow has a very dangerous image, so people stay away from these parts as much as they could.

"Stay close to me," I said to both Lisa and Jennie. I felt Lisa grab my arm and Jennie moved slightly closer.

I finally saw the little house; I knew belonged to Jisoo.

I knocked on the door "Soo!" I called but no one was answering.

"Jisoo!" I tried again and the door finally opened with a slightly pissed-off Jisoo standing behind it.

"I was sleeping," she said looking at me.

"Sorry, but this is really important," I said.

She groaned slightly "Fine, come in" she invited and opened the door for us. "Your Highness" she bowed slightly at Lisa and Lisa only forced a smile because of the circumstance.

The house is a little run-down but livable. We went to her dining area and each of us took a seat except Jisoo who remained standing.

I sighed "The Longfords are arriving today" I informed them.

I heard Jennie gasp "But they said we still have about a week," she said with worry.

Jisoo sighed "It doesn't matter now. We need to figure out what we'll do today," she said.

Lisa nodded "The Longfords are going to be here later this afternoon for a meeting with Chae and me, so we can only help if it's inside the castle" "Okay. I'll handle everything outside. As long as he doesn't have an army with him, we'll be fine." Jisoo said then she turned around to get some papers and pens.

I took one from her and we started sketching and making plans for every possible scenario. We can't let anyone die, so as much as possible this war will be all about stealth, but we'll fight if we have to.

Jisoo leaned forward to write on Jennie's paper "I'm positive that these parts of the castle are emergency exits, most are tunnels, we need to get in and out of the castle fast, we could use these" she said while encircling parts of the drawn map of the castle.

Lisa leaned forward to look at the paper and curiously looked at Jisoo "How do you know that? Some of those exits are only known to royals" she asked.

Jisoo cleared her throat uncomfortably "I just know a lot about castles" she said vaguely.

Lisa nodded but you can practically hear the gears in her head running.

I'm sure she'll discuss her thoughts with me later.

"Someone is informing the Longfords about everything that's happening, they wouldn't be here suddenly if they didn't know we were planning something" Jennie suddenly said.

I nodded "We'll find out more when the meeting is over if we're lucky we'll find out who that is. The only clue we have is they're most likely a woman because those are the only people who knew" I said.

We continued discussing until it was almost time for our meeting.

"We need to go" I announced, and they all nodded.

We started to pack our stuff and started to walk towards the door. I looked back at Jisoo and Jennie "Stay safe" I said before leaving with the Princess on my arm.

While walking Lisa spoke, "Do you trust Jisoo?" She asked.

"My father does, and that's enough for me to trust her" I replied while still looking around in case of danger.

She stopped to face me "Why? What's the story?" She asked curiously.

I sighed and spoke while we continued walking "We only started getting close, but my father knows her well and told me a lot of stories about the kingdom she came from. She came here with Ramona as a refugee. They were the only two people saved before their kingdom was burnt to the ground. That's also the reason why they're the only women who are knights because they were already knights when they came here" informed.

"Jisoo did a lot of missions with my father and she proved herself to be a great warrior and very trustworthy" I continued.

Lisa nodded "But didn't she lose her title as a Knight?" She said.

I nodded "My father didn't tell me why, but he said that it wasn't Jisoo's fault. I guess no one wants to talk about it. I'm just glad that Jisoo is helping us now" I said.

I turned to Lisa and saw her biting her lip slightly "Just be careful Chae, she might be hiding something. No one ordinary person knows the castle's secrets" She said in thought.

I just nodded. What could I really say? I trust Jisoo because of my father, and I know she's a good person even with her dark and mysterious vibe but what could I possibly tell Lisa to make her believe that Jisoo is on our side.

We walked towards the castle for the dreaded meeting. We walked silently with our brains going on overdrive. A lot can happen today, and we have no idea if we could survive it.

I have been in a lot of battles; I've also been to war in the Ruins where we went home victorious. But I've never been to war with physically powerless people, like Lisa.

I just hope I could keep her alive. I'll do anything even if it kills me.

We finally arrived at the castle and slowly entered. This is it.

A guard opened the door to the meeting room where we were greeted with the king and Queen and my father.

I guess the Longfords haven't arrived yet.

Lisa went straight beside her parents while I went and stood beside my father "What's happening?" I whispered to my father.

I heard him sigh "I don't know but I don't have a good feeling" he said I guess we'll just have to find out.

The door opened again, and we were greeted by the Westbrook family.

My father nudged me "You should sit beside Mia, we need to make this as real as possible" he whispered.

I nodded and went straight to Mia. She looked behind her and saw me and greeted me with a smile, so I smiled back then I sat beside her.

Somewhere in the room. I can somehow feel a glare. I looked up and saw Lisa glaring at Mia but Mia was clueless, she was busy talking to her mother.

I can't help but enjoy Lisa's jealousy a little.

Then finally two guards came in and instead of wearing armor with red accents, it had yellow.

The Longfords are here.

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A/n: Only 8 chapters to go. I'm still hoping the author releases the new book soon!

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