It was a new day. If it weren't for the knock at my door, it would've been the sun's bright rays that woke me up. I sleepily got up and wobbled to the door, assuming that it was Caspia who decided to bother me. But no. It was Charlie.

"Good morning," he said, a creepy smile on his face. "I need you out."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard what I said. Workers are coming in, and your room should look completely transformed within the next few hours. In the meantime, I need you out."

"Oh? You were serious about redecorating my room? You don't have to do that, really. I'm fine with this."

He peeked around me, his facial expression becoming more disgusted with every second he looked around my room.

"You're fine with this?"

"Yes."

"...There's no way that you're telling the truth. This room is incredibly dark and cold-feeling."

Exactly. I felt like I was at home. But of course, he didn't know that.

"I am telling the truth, but who am I to try and argue against a prince?"

"Ah, please don't think of me as a prince."

"...But you are one."

"Yes, yes, I know, but in order for me to gain a better connection with people I like for us to be equals. I'm a person and you're a person-no royal titles attached."

"Sure. No royal titles attached up until you're the one commanding me to get out of my room."

"It's for a good cause!"

"And I'm sure it is, your highness. I would never doubt your vision of creating this bedroom into something...less sad."

"You don't need to be so formal with me, Jessella. I'm not my father."

"But you will be like him when you become king, won't you?"

"I plan on having a different approach than he currently does. I want to be more in touch with people-not just from here, but from other parts of the world. I want to be the king of change. The type of king that makes people feel like they aren't less than when they're around me because those people down there are what makes this kingdom run. That's why I'm interested in learning more about you."

Uh oh. He wanted to know more about me. And the more he knew about me, the more I was risking the secrecy of the caves. However...if he got to know me more, I could get to know him more. We'd build a friendship. And that meant I'd be able to receive things from the future king himself to bring to my people at home. Mom couldn't be mad at me if I brought something back from the future king, right?

"Alright," I said, letting out a small sigh. "Just give me a moment. I need to check on Caspia."

"Good luck with that. But hey, after you're done being yelled at by her, meet back up with me. I'm assuming you haven't had breakfast yet, so we can meet in the dining hall."

"Sounds like a plan."

I left one twin and went to another. I didn't bother knocking since, knowing Caspia, she probably wouldn't have answered the door anyway. I walked in and immediately noticed how she was still in bed, her body sprawled against the mattress as if she had passed away.

"Caspia?"

"Leave me," I heard her groan. "Leave me here in my misery."

She was still upset about last night. She had to be.

"I can't leave you, you know. You're the one who chose me."

"I chose you because I was desperate. If you want to go, you can go. I'll let my dad decide who my next lady-in-waiting will be. Just like how he and our mother decided to host this stupid engagement ball."

"...It might not be that stupid."

She suddenly sat up, revealing her flustered face, bloodshot eyes, and frizzy morning hair. She had been crying.

"That's easy for you to say," she spat. "I've already met some of the princes that are coming to this ball. They're jerks. Each and every one of them are so full of themselves is sickening. They will never love me for who I am, they will only tolerate me because I will be the one birthing their children. Do you realize how much pressure I have to undergo? All because I am part of this higher-up family...it's like everything I do-every action I make-is watched by someone. If not my parents, then by the townspeople. Everyone who lives down there sees how noble we are...sees how perfect we are. But I am far from perfect. I try to act like I am. I try to put on a smile. But I am fearful. I am fearful of the future, and I am fearful that I will never experience the feeling of true love for the rest of my life."

She flopped back down into her pillows and started sobbing. I wasn't sure what to do next. I wasn't sure what to say. I just began talking and letting the words come and go.

"My family is the family that supports other families," I began. "So yes, I do know what it means to maintain a certain image. You have to have two personalities, it seems like. Your true personality, and your public one. As you said before, every action you take is watched by somebody. But Caspia, the reason why I said that the engagement ball might not be stupid is because of chance. You've met some of the princes-yes-but you haven't met all of them. There will be someone for you at that ball, I'm sure of it."

She sat up again.

"Jessella, do you ever feel like you're a disappointment? No matter how hard you try to make your family proud, you're always somehow messing things up?"

"All the time. Why?"

"...Nothing. We're just...we're more alike than I realized. That's all."

"Oh."

"I need some time to myself if that's fine. You have the day off. Go back home if you wish. Just don't bother me. Got it?"

"Got it. Oh, by the way, Caspia, there's something I forgot to say earlier."

"What is it?"

"You're more than what you're expected to be."

I saw a small smile begin to form on her face. Just a tiny one. But I decided not to say anything else as I left her room, then went back into mine. It didn't take me but a few minutes to change, then I went right back out again to eat breakfast with the prince. Who would've thought that I'd be casually having breakfast with him during my second day at the castle? Once I reached the dining hall, I spotted him speaking to some of the other servants, talking as if they had been longtime friends. I guess he wasn't kidding when he said that he wanted to connect with everyone regardless of their social status. His eyes perked up when he noticed me walking toward him.

"Hey! You survived!"

"I did. Caspia needs some time to herself, so she said I had the day off."

"Is that so? That's perfect, then. We can spend the entire day with each other."

"Yay."

"Wh-don't sound so disappointed! I'm a wonderful person to be around. Isn't that right Chef Flame?"

Chef Flame peeked his head out from a nearby corner, rapidly nodding his head. "Yes! Good company! Slightly annoying, though."

"I'm not annoying!" Charlie laughed. "My sister is the annoying one. It's not uncommon to hear her complaining from ten miles away."

We sat down and were served our dishes immediately. Once again, we had plenty of food to choose from, and I had a difficult time deciding what I wanted to eat first.

"I love the scones," Charlie said, seeing how I was struggling to decide. "I could eat Chef Flame's scones for days."

"I've never had one."

"What!? That changes now."

He placed one on my plate, waiting for me to take a bite. I bit off just a tiny bit, not expecting much. Then the flavor hit. The buttery sweetness of it. The blueberries inside of it were a perfect combination with the bread.

"Now try it with the jam."

I did. I may have enjoyed my first bite, but my second bite was heavenly. I had to bring these back to the caves. They were simply too delicious to keep to myself.

"Do you think Chef Flame would let me take extra? To bring back to my family, that is."

"I'm sure he wouldn't mind. Speaking of family, how big is yours?"

"Um...well I have my mother and father, of course. And I also have four brothers, all of them older than me, and three of them are triplets. And I have two younger sisters."

"...Seven kids?"

"Seven kids."

"Any aunts? Uncles? Cousins?"

"Seven aunts. Six uncles. Twenty-seven cousins."

"My word!"

"We're a pretty big family."

"Y-yeah, I figured! I bet you all stick together, though."

"We do. We go through thick and thin together. And we have strength in numbers."

"That's incredible. So you all just...live by each other? By the caves?"

"We do."

"It must take a lot of work to support one another, then."

"It does. But we're people of talent. Our ability to work together has kept our family going for generations."

"...Fascinating."

He suddenly stood from his chair, which caught me by surprise.

"Where are you going?"

"To visit your family."

"Wh-hold on."

I had to get up too, even though I was a little disappointed I had to pause on eating my scones.

"My family isn't very...um...what's a good word to describe..."

"Happy about outsiders? Fine, then I won't come to them. I'll let you go to them. Go to them and invite them here to dine with us tonight."

"Uh-"

"Is there a problem, Jessella?"

"...No. We're just busy people, that's all. And making dinner tonight is such short notice."

"Ah. Dang it, you're right."

He sat back down. I let out a small sigh of relief, thankful he wasn't planning on heading toward the caves.

"Maybe we could just invite a few family members, then. Or maybe just one family member. I'm mainly just interested in learning your family's perspective about this kingdom. What can we improve about it? How can we make things safer and prevent crime?"

"Preventing crime is one of your main focuses?"

"It is, especially at night. People have reported some of their goods stolen late at night, you know. And the weird thing is that they can never describe who did what. It seems like those criminals are always one step ahead."

Yep. That sounds like us. We always do things without a trace-that's the Fetcher way.

"I'm thinking about creating a night patrol program around the kingdom. Besides, if I'm going to get engaged soon, I need my future partner to feel safe in her new home."

"How do you feel about that?"

"About what?"

"Having to potentially become engaged to a stranger."

"...Honestly? I'd rather not have to marry someone I hardly know, but if it's for the good of the kingdom, I can deal with it. What about you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're probably going to marry soon, aren't you? We're not too far apart in age."

"I haven't even started thinking about marriage. And besides, I don't think anyone could be attracted to someone like me anyway. I keep to myself a lot of the time. I don't have any friends because I'm always with my family."

"Well. I think that someone could be attracted to you, but it's just a matter of timing. The right person will come at the right time. And as for you having no friends...I think we should change that."

"Hm?"

"Allow me to be your friend, Jessella."

"...There's a catch, isn't there?"

"No!"

"Hm."

"Quit saying hm, alright? I'm being serious, I genuinely want to form some sort of relationship with you, especially since we're going to be seeing each other every day."

"Unless I end up quitting. Or dying. I am her twelfth after all."

"You are, but I don't think you'll end up doing either of those things, Jessella. I think that you're different. And that is one reason why I want to try and be friends with you. But, if you're not interested in becoming friends with me, that's fine as well. It'll be understandable if you wish to keep things strictly the way our titles are-servant and prince. I'll leave it up to you."

"...We can be friends. And friends trust each other, don't they? So that means you'll have to trust me when I say that my family and I have nothing to do with those caves."

"Ah."

"I'm serious, Charlie. They're dangerous. They're dark and cold...you could easily get yourself stuck somewhere and end up freezing to death."

"I'll wear a nice warm robe. Problem solved."

"Problem not solved, actually. Because what happens when you get too hungry? You starve and die. And I don't think there will be blueberry scones anywhere near those caves."

You could see what I was doing in this conversation, right? I was trying my hardest to discourage him. I seriously didn't want him going anywhere near the caves. If he wouldn't be killed by the cave system itself, he would most likely be killed by someone thinking that he's an intruder. The last thing we needed was the future king "disappearing" inside our caves, causing people to try searching around to find him. We didn't need that extra attention.

"I'll pack a bag for food."

"And when you run out?"

"You always have something to come back with, Jessella," he laughed. "Why can't I explore, huh? Sure, there are dangers out there, but you can't spend your lifetime hiding away from the world. There's so much the world has to offer. If you're constantly afraid of living, you're not really living. Not to me, anyway."

So that was his way of thinking. He seemed like the stubborn type, too, so I figured that trying to change his mind about the caves would be incredibly difficult.

"...Just thinking about those caves is enough for me, Charlie. You may believe I'm a coward for deciding to never go inside of them, but-"

"I don't think you're a coward."

"You don't?"

"Of course not. You're willing to spend your time serving my sister, and, unlike a lot of her former lady-in-waiting's-you didn't quit on your first day."

"Ah, but today's my second, so there might be a chance..."

"Don't say such things," he chuckled. "I can tell she likes you. Maybe you two can become friends as well."

"Maybe."

He stood up again.

"Can I show you something, Jessella?"

"...Sure..? But what?"

"Something special. Come on."

I finished what was left of my breakfast before catching up with him, staying closely behind since I still had no idea about the layout of the castle. After a few lefts and rights, we reached an intricately carved wooden doorway that looked like it had something special-like Charlie had said-hidden behind it. Once he opened the door, however, all that I saw in front of me was a bedroom. There were so many colors in it. A blue rug. Red and yellow seating. Green curtains. A golden bed and vanity. The walls had the same design, but the colors on them resembled a sunset. Stepping inside of the bedroom felt like I was stepping into a totally different world.

"Our grandma had such a colorful spirit," Charlie began to say. "She loved color. Every color. And she could never decide which color she loved the most. Our grandparents had to have separate bedrooms because of how colorful our grandma was."

"You two must've been close."

"Incredibly. Caspia was close to her too. The reason why Caspia is such a romantic is because of our grandma. You see, before our grandma met our grandpa, she fell in love."

"She wasn't in love with your grandpa?"

"No, she was never in love with him. She only married him because she had no other choice-much like Caspia's situation. Many years ago, our grandma was wandering the castle corridors when she saw someone suspicious snooping around. Some shadowy figure of some sort. Not knowing what else to do, she called the guards, fearing for her life. The guards were unfortunately unable to catch the mysterious person, so they followed her everywhere she went to make sure she stayed safe. One evening, as our grandma was getting ready for bed and the guards stood outside her door, she noticed that her window was left wide open, so she closed it, though confused. Then she saw the mysterious person again. Hiding in a corner. She told us that she wanted to scream when she saw the person-but then she later realized that they had probably meant no harm. The person had on a cloak, so she ordered the person to reveal themself. He was a man around her age. Pale skin. Dark hair and eyes. Someone like you. They got to know each other and...after a while, our grandma realized that this man she had met, though from Cambiot, was not from anywhere she knew in Cambiot. She put the clues together in her mind. He had told her that he spent little time outside, and a lot of time within the shadows. He was a provider for his family, meaning that he often traveled great distances to support his kin. And he told her that he was looking for a certain something within the castle but...he found her instead. They fell in love. Then he proposed to her with this ring."

Charlie opened up a drawer to reveal a stunning ring-one with a glimmering gold band and a radiant, deep purple jewel in the center. A type of jewel I was all too familiar with. A cave jewel. The caves of Cambiot had plenty of jewels to go around for everyone-but we didn't bother mining them. Not unless it was for a special reason. We only gave our jewels to people who we cared about the most. For some, jewels are passed down from generation to generation. Our jewels aren't typically sold for profit-not unless we have no other choice but to sell them. Our cave jewels are so significant because they can only be given to you-you can't simply go and get one yourself. It's frowned upon if you do. So if someone-someone like me-was willing to give a land dweller a ring...it must've been for a serious reason.

"...They became engaged. But our great-grandpa didn't like them together, especially since the man was no prince. He warned our grandma time and time again to end things with him or he'd be killed. My grandma couldn't bear the thought of saying goodbye to him. He couldn't bear the thought of saying goodbye to her. So they ran away together. But, unfortunately, they didn't make it far. My great-grandpa set up an ambush...some sick move on a sweet couple. The man was shot with an arrow. Our grandma was dragged back to this castle with only this ring left to remind her of him. And, even after all the years had passed, our grandma still remembered him every day. She hid this ring from our grandpa until she passed, and her dying wish was for me to propose to someone-someone that I deeply love-with this ring."

"...I'm sorry for your loss."

"Don't be. She's reunited with her true love now."

He held the ring up to the window, letting the jewel reflect its color into the sunlight.

"It's incredible, really. These cave jewels are really something spectacular."

Wait. Wait wait wait wait wait. Caspia chose me out of all those people after seeing how pale I was. Charlie invited me for breakfast, attempting to start a friendship with me after questioning where I was from. Then he led me here to show off his grandmother's ring, calling the jewel spectacular. This was a trap. They brought me here so that I could lead them to the jewels. Caspia probably already has a lady-in-waiting somewhere else-she just brought me along so that she could get some jewels to add to her collection. It all made sense now. And, once I began to realize this, I started to feel like such a fool.

"Jessella? Is something wrong?"

"Yes," I sighed, starting to take my shoes off. "I have to go."

"...Go where? Barefoot? Jessella, you-"

"What I do doesn't concern you anymore, Charlie. Tell Caspia I quit. And that she'll never receive that jewel collection that she might've been looking forward to."

"What? Jessella, what are you talking about-"

I didn't let him finish. I immediately started sprinting out the door, with him trying to follow behind.

"JESSELLA! STOP!"

I kept sprinting. I had to get out of here before I put my family at risk.

"JESSELLA! YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE YOU'RE GOING, STOP! I COMMAND YOU TO STOP!"

"Your commands don't work on me!"

It felt like I was running in circles, but I eventually found my way outside, right where the castle stables were. Without looking back, I hastily grabbed a horse and sped off. I could still hear Charlie trying to keep up with me.

"GO AWAY!"

"NOT UNTIL YOU COME BACK!"

"I'M NEVER COMING BACK!"

"THEN I GUESS I'M NOT GOING AWAY!"

I don't know how long I was on that horse. I just know that I went so fast. So fast. My heart was racing. Everything around me was a blur. The only thing my eyes could recognize were the caves as I approached them. Luckily, since I was moving so quickly, I thought that I had lost Charlie. I leaped off the horse so quickly that I stumbled to catch myself on the ground before finally running toward an entrance. I stopped when I reached a hole in the ground-one leading to the water zone. If I fell through, I knew that I would fall into an underground lake...and that was a risk I was willing to take to get Charlie off my back. So I fell through without hesitation, forcing my body to get used to the sudden temperature change. When my head emerged from the water, I could feel everyone's eyes on me. Not one person said a word as I swam to the edge, though a familiar voice soon echoed through once I was out of the water.

"Jess!"

Isaiah ran toward me, his arms raised in confusion.

"You're back so soon!"

"Yeah. Things didn't go very well."

"Ah. Mother is going to kill you. What happened up there, hm? Pack of wolves get to you?"

"More like a prince."

"What? Where you followed?"

"Yeah, but it's fine. I lost him. He's long gone."

I shouldn't have said that. Right as those words left my lips, we heard a loud splash that echoed through the entirety of the water zone. Everyone turned their heads to look. Isaiah moved me to the side, his body going into protective mode once he saw who it was that emerged from the surface.

"Mother is going to murder me," I wailed. "I promise you I lost him! I did!"

"You didn't, Jess. But don't worry. As always, I will be the one who saves the day."

"Oh shut up."

Isaiah picked Charlie up as soon as he got close enough, grabbing him by his collar and lifting him up in the air like he weighed nothing.

"Uh-I can hardly see who you are, but I just want you to know that I'm the prince of Cambiot and-"

"Your royal status means nothing here," Isaiah scowled. "You decided to follow my sister here, and now you're receiving the consequences."

"Ah! Jessella, this must be one of your four brothers, right? Though I can hardly see him."

"That's Isaiah. The muscle."

"I can tell!"

"Do you think this is a joke?"

"No, not at all. Jessella, please listen when I say that you are safe. We do not wish to hurt you or your home...like I've been saying, one of my biggest goals as king is to better connect with my people. All my people. And to learn more about the kind of people my grandma fell in love with."

"Jess, what is he talking about?"

"Um-his grandma was given a ring with one of our jewels. An engagement ring."

"...What?"

He held it up. Everyone around us gasped, murmuring amongst themselves.

"I mean no harm. I promise you. I swear on my life."

Isaiah looked over to me as if asking for my permission to let Charlie go. I nodded. He let go immediately, causing Charlie to fall hard on the cave floor.

"Thanks."

"Thank my sister."

"Thank you, Jessella. I can understand why you ran away. You're incredibly fast and agile, by the way."

"It runs in the family."

"And I'd like to learn more about your family if possible."

"It isn't possible," said an all-too familiar voice. Mother. People moved out of the way as soon as she stepped up, her eyes fixated on me. "I thought I gave you a month to fetch what you could. A month. Not a day or two. Why are you back here?"

"Mother I-"

"And you brought a land-dweller!?"

"He followed me."

"And you couldn't evade him?"

"In her defense I was persistent," Charlie said with an awkward laugh." She was incredibly fast. But I somehow managed to keep up."

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me."

She walked up to Charlie, aggressively grabbing his face.

"You brought the prince here! The prince of Cambiot! It's only a matter of time before they start sending search parties...then what? Our entire population is at risk. Jessella Fetcher, you have disappointed me beyond words. Beyond words. I have nothing else to say to you."

"Mom...I know I messed up. I did. My mission was to gain their trust and take their supplies but...I did fail. And I don't expect you to forgive me. But-"

"Wait."

Charlie started walking toward a wall.

"I'm assuming her goal was to bring things from the castle to here, correct?"

Isaiah started cackling. I had to elbow him to get him to shut up.

"You're talking to a wall, your highness."

"Oh-"

"Here."

I pulled on Charlie's arm to get him to face us. Though we weren't making eye contact, he was still facing our way, so at least that counted toward something.

"She hasn't failed. If items from the surface are what you need, then I'll be happy to make sure that your community is provided and protected. We could form an alliance."

"And how can we trust your word, especially when you haven't been crowned king yet?"

"You can kill me if I don't keep my word, how about that? I told you that I swear on my life."

"...You don't want anything in return from us? I know you're aware of our precious jewels. You wouldn't want some for your gain?"

"I don't want jewels, I want to be educated. I want to learn more about your customs and way of life. And I want your support. That's all."

Mom looked toward me again.

"Well?"

"Y-you're letting me decide?"

"You're the one that brought him down here."

Silence fell upon the crowd, waiting for my next choice of words.

"I...think that this offer would be beneficial for us. Receiving supplies from the castle would enable us to spend less time fetching, wouldn't it? Plus I know that the crime rates would decline too."

"Hm, so your people are the ones responsible for all the theft that's been happening around town?"

"Not all of it...just the majority of it."

Charlie gave me a smile.

"I may not need to put my night patrol in place, then. So, do we have a deal?"

"We do."

We shook hands. That sealed it.

"I'll tell Caspia that you won't be her lady-in-waiting anymore."

"Oh no, she'll still be her lady-in-waiting."

Mom got in between us, tugging Isaiah by the arm. "I need my children to oversee this. To make sure he doesn't go back on his word. Jessella, I want you to stay at the castle. But you may also come and go into this cave as much as you please...along with your brother."

"What!? Mom, I don't want to live in that place."

"I don't care. You need to be with your sister to make sure she's safe. And with someone as big as you, you shouldn't have a problem protecting her."

"Mom, I can protect myself-"

"Jessella, are you questioning me?"

"No ma'am."

"Then it's settled. You two, go. Make sure our supplies get delivered or so help me I will end you both."

"We love you too, mom."