<on hiatus> 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 - 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭

𝟐𝟖

[later that night]

[deep in knighton's biggest forest]

"This is so cool," said Aaron. The knights were all in full armour, riding out with Nicholas through the forest path.

"You're almost there, Nick," Olivia said though his earpiece. "The forest is dense, so you must travel on foot so that you'd be unnoticed."

"Alright," Nicholas said as they parked their bikes and began walking on foot towards Jestro's location.

"They're not that far from here,"  said, starting to walk towards Jestro's location with the knights trailing right behind him. "My sister sent me his coordinates a while ago."

"Oh, that's great," Aaron said as they kept walking. "Soooo... your grace?"

"Aaron, you're my friends. It's fine to address me informally, you know," Nicholas sighed as they walked.

"Okay, Nick," Aaron chuckled. "So... the Auden Empire, huh?"

"You all are very ambitious, don't you know that?" Nicholas said with a chuckle.

"Of course," Lance said as if it was an obvious fact. "Haven't you met us already?"

"Of course," Nicholas mocked him and they all chuckled.

"Does Cadence know why you're doing all this?" Aaron asked.

"Thankfully, she does," Nicholas said. "She knows about my other secret as well." The knights knew that he was referring to the Wayne family secret.

"It's about time she knew, don't you think?" Axl said.

"Apparently, Cadence knew for over a decade already," Nicholas admitted, causing the knights to widen their eyes.

"What?" They said, shocked.

"Are you serious, Nick?" Lance said.

"Yeah," sighed Nicholas.

He met the knights around the same time then when he was nine. They knew of his secret ever since their academy days, and vowed to keep it to themselves ever since that day for which Nicholas was grateful for. He was more than grateful to have them as his closest friends.

"I don't think I'll be able to tell Cadence the truth anytime sooner..." sighed Nicholas sadly as they all walked.

"Hang in there, bro," Aaron patted his back in an effort to comfort him. "Just know that she feels the same way."

"Wouldn't that make him feel even worse?" Lance shot.

"Shit," Aaron said, cold sweat trickling down his forehead, "that's right... sorry..."

"It's fine," Nicholas broke into a smile with a chuckle. "I guess I have to try to develop some feelings for Princess Macy now."

"Wouldn't it be hard, especially considering what happened between you and her in the past..." Axl trailed off, rather concerned for his friend and doubting that Nicholas was even capable of forcing himself to develop feelings for the princess.