The bell tower chimed throughout the town signaling the eleventh hour. In the middle of the town square a young maiden squeezed her way through a horde of spectators.

"Excuse me, coming through! " She used her shoulders to force open a path for herself. "Sorry! Please make way." Amidst the commotion she was shoved forward right into the heart of the parade, colliding with one of the dancers.

"Hey! Watch it!"
"S-Sorry!" She maneuvered her way through the performers, swatting away colorful confetti and incoming tambourines. Once she was free from the crowd, she made a mad dash down an alleyway.
Her long, raven hair was held together in a french-twist. The few loose strands was sticking to her drenched neck and face. Despite her exhaustion, she pushed her legs to run faster and only allowed herself to stop when she reached the border that separates the castle and inner city. In front her was a wide, red dirt road lined with rows of yellow oak trees that came together to form an archway. At the end of the pathway was a barely visible twin towers building.

Just a bit more, she thought. She was one step closer to her goal. With a sharp inhale she bolted through the yellow pathway. The dead leaves crunched beneath her boots. As she draw closer to the gate, there were two guards standing on each side of the already closed wooden doors. She was too late.

"No...please, wait!" She begged between uneven breaths. "I'm Elaina Ashford. I've come to partake in the Princess election. Please, open the doors." She pulled out a pink invitation from her leather bag. The four guards glanced at one another until one of them stepped out from underneath the arched entrance.
"I'm sorry Miss, but we were told to close the doors at eleven sharp." The dispassionate response from the guard made her heart drop.

"But, there was the parade and the people -" Elaina tried to explain, however the guard only shook his helmet.

"Unless we get permission from an authorized figure, we cannot open the doors under any circumstances." He gestured for her to leave before returning back to his post. Even though she ran as fast as she could to get here, she wasn't fast enough. She stared bitterly at the ground. Her heart was filled with utter disappointment and self-reproach. She suddenly recalled her pupil's face and the promise she made to him when she left. Gradually the negative feelings melted away.

"No." She murmured. "I cannot let it end like this." The pink invitation crumpled in her palm. She raised her head up at the massive building. She has to get inside no matter what. With renewed determination, she took her time to take in her surrounding. Aside from the four guards at the entrance, she did not see anyone else patrolling the area. Most likely they were inside the castle or in town supervising the parade.

The looming double tower appeared to be roughly 10 meters tall with its two sides attached to an extended wall. Both the left and right walls spread out what she guessed to be 50 or 60 paces until it merged with the side of a massive hill that was taller than the towers.

She pretended to walk away from the main gate towards the dirt road, but once the guards were out of sight Elaina made a quick dash into the trees. She decided to walk 20 paces forward, then turned her body to face the direction of the castle and sprinted in that direction. She stopped just at the edge of the last row of trees to do a quick check, then bolted to the wall. After a quick breather, she darted along the wall until she reached the point where the wall and hill merged.

Elaina spotted a tree protruding from the side of the hill towards the wall. Upon closer inspection, she noticed half of the tree's roots had spread onto the wall extending over the top, while the other half was embedded deep into the hill and ground. The idea dawned to her that she could use the tree to climb over the wall. The tree was tall enough to provide decent coverage from the watchtowers, and she was far away enough from the eyes of the guards.

Elaina glanced in the tower's direction. She was able to see the side of the arched entrance clearly from where she stood. She was safe as long as the guards doesn't step out from the arch, she thought. Without hesitation she shoved the pink invitation into her leather bag and scaled the wall.

Engrossed in her task, she failed to notice the figure that was approaching from the direction of the entrance. The figure donned a silver armor with a red cape flowing off the left shoulder. Pinned on the cape was a golden brooch with the Wysteria's seal.
"What are you doing?" A stern, gruff voice demanded. Elaina cast her eyes down to see a man with messy, auburn hair standing just a few paces away from her. A pair of narrowed, ruby eyes glared up at her with bewilderment and annoyance. His left palm held onto the hilt of the sword that was hung on his side, while the other palm was resting against his hips. Her heart skipped a beat when she noticed the golden brooch on his cape. A royal guard.

The shock made her lost control and slipped. She uttered a yelp as she fell down on her buttocks. Luckily, the distance between her and the ground was barely a meter. The man stepped forward and roughly pulled her off the ground. His actions were so sudden that by the time she registered, she was already immobilized by his grip. Elaina tried yanking back her arm, but she was not strong enough. He ignored her and jumped straight to interrogating. "Who are you, why are you here, and what were you trying to do?" She considered her answers for a moment, but decided it was best to tell him the truth.

"My name is Elaina Ashford. I'm here on a personal mission. I missed the entrance because of the parade, so I decided climb the wall." She gave a curt reply. His thick eyebrows furrowed with clear annoyance, but she pretended not to notice.

"Are you treating this as a joke?" He snapped and tighten his grip. She flinched, but dare not take a step back. If she tried to escape or do anything rash he might just snap her wrist.

"I wouldn't dare to do so in front of a royal guard." She winced. "But, you're hurting my wrist."
"Then start answering my questions seriously." He tossed her wrist away with such force that she almost went flying to the ground. She chewed on her lower lip then reluctantly choked out a reply while caressing her poor wrist.
"I am truly Elaina Ashford. I really did missed the chance to enter the castle through the main gate because of the parade, so I took a risk to climb the wall. You can ask the guards over there if you don't believe me." She pulled out the pink invitation for him to see. "This is my invitation."

He stared at the invitation with such disdain as if it was something so revoking and dirty that he would rather dug his eyes out than give it another glance. "Seriously, you women would dare to do anything for a chance at royalty." The young knight scoffed. "Sorry to break this to you, but first rule of being a princess is to be on time. Go home."

He let out a high pitch whistle and a black stallion came trotting over. He made a gesture to mount the beast, but a sudden tug of a cape pulled him back. He snapped around to rebuke her only to stop when he saw her grim expression.

"Please, help me. I really need to get inside." She was truly at her wits end here. She bites down on her lower lip to prevent the tears from spilling out. However, she failed to hide the desperation and fear in her voice. "There is something I must bring back. If I don't then…" She clenched her jaws unable to continued as the tears rushed out from her pale, blue eyes. "Please help me." To her surprise he only uttered one word in reply.

"Why?"

Why, indeed. He had no reasons to help her. If she were to tell him the truth, will he even understand? Or will he be like the others and laughed at her? There was no rhyme or reason why she decided to do what she did next. Maybe she was too exhausted to hide it anymore. She released his cape to wipe away her tears then raised her head to meet his eyes in earnest.

"One of my students, West, accidentally ingested the Skullcaps. When we found out about it he was already at the third stage. I heard that the King accepted some Ghost Flowers a few days ago, so I thought of using the invitation to get inside the castle and -"

The man shook his auburn head in disbelief. "Are you out of your mind? Why would you believe in such a fairy tale thing as Ghost Flowers?! You should take him to see a physician!" He scratched his head and stared back at her with frustration. A heavy sigh escaped his lips. "Besides, it was fake. Those flowers were clearly Aleutian Avens - a hillside weed. There is not such thing as a cure-all flower."

Elaina shook her head rapidly. "We did, but even the physician said he couldn't help him…" Her eyes swelled up in tears, but she quickly wiped it away. "Beside, Ghost Flowers are real. I'm not sure about the cure-all part, but I did read about them in an old medical journal before. Due to its unique characteristic, there wasn't much sighting of it. But, most importantly I've witnessed father using it to cure Skullcaps in the past. I know it'll works!"

There was a lie mixed among the truths, but she didn't wanted him to know. It wasn't related to him anyway. When she bought up this idea to the others, they all stared at her like she was delusional.

The young knight gazed at her with a conflicted frown as he scratched the tip of his nose. She sensed his hesitation, so she quickly grabbed onto his hands.

"Please! As crazy as it sounds, it is important for me to find out. If I leave without confirming it with my own eyes, then I'll definitely regret it for the rest of my life!" He couldn't help but blushed profoundly at her bold gestures and proclamation. Her tone and actions were akin to someone declaring their undying love.

"Fine! I get it, so let go of my hands already!" He was quick to berated her while trying to hide his flustered face. Unaware of his internal turmoil, Elaina beamed and released his hands. After he calmed down, he shot her a wary glance. "Say, what if it turns out to be false after all?"

A sad smile played on her lips. "At least I'll die knowing I've tried my best." The young knight silently observed her with knitted brows unable to comprehend. While he was doing so, she took the opportunity to carefully survey him. Aside from his narrowed ruby eyes and his warm, earthy auburn hair, he also has a refined, upturned nose and delicate, thin lips. She wonder what he would look like if he stopped furrowing his brows and smiled for once. Despite his rough attitude and harsh words, he was quite reasonable and accepting. The thought bought a pleased smile to her face.

"Well, let's hurry then." He said as he mounted his stallion.

"So, you'll help me?" She asked as she stole a glance up at him. He curled his lips into a condescending sneer.
"If not, how do you plan on getting in?" The knight scoffed. As if he read her mind, he pointed at the wall with his refined nose. "If I were you, I'll think twice about climbing that wall. There is a reason why those walls are shorter and we don't station many guards out here." She tilted her head up with confusion, but he only shook his and calmly told her she'll understand when they get inside. He then proceeded to extend his hand.

"Grab on. I'll pull you up."
She nodded then grasped his hand. He lifted her up and she settled in behind him. Elaina caught a whiff of cinnamon and vanilla from the person in front. The unexpected scent reminded her of a warm, cozy kitchen and baked apple pies. She can't help but break out in smiles. Unaware of her thoughts, the knight pulled on the reins.

"Hold on tight and try not to fall off." Unsure of where to place her hands, she decided to clutched onto his cape instead.

"You're choking me." She moved her hands up to his shoulders.
"Do you fancy dying by falling off a moving horse?" He asked in a sarcastic tone. She debated for a moment between maintaining a proper etiquette and taking precautions to preserve her life. Then with a dead serious face she hooked both of her arms straight up from under his armpits. She latched onto him and positioned her palms right above his chest. A backhand chest grope.
The man was stupefied to the point where his whole body was involuntarily trembling from shock. Elaina frowned with concerns when she felt the quake.

"Are you ill?" An innocent question that ignited the fuse to a dormant explosive. The knight's face scorched red with rage and shame.

"Woman! Do you know no shame?!" He bellowed with pure hostility. "What do you think you're doing right now?!"
"Self-preservation." Elaina calmly replied.

The knight let out a defeated roar, then with his two hands he pulled her palms down so they were wrapping around his waist.

"OPEN THE GATE!" He nudged the stallion with his foot towards the entrance. They flew by the guards without stopping. When they entered the clearance, Elaina was left breathless by the scene before her. As soon as they left the archway they were greeted with a huge lake. A single white bridge connects the double towers to the castle, which was directly built in the middle of the lake. There was something quite romantic about the scene of a black stallion racing on a pure white bridge across the vast, blue lake.

Elaina can't help but turned her head around. She finally understood the knight's warning about the wall. Had she climbed it and fallen over she would have meet a definite, gruesome end. There was nothing behind those walls except deadly spears sticking out from the shallow water. One wrong step and she might have ended up like a meat skewer. Elaina shuddered at the thought. She turned her head back to the front. It seems like they had quicken their pace again.

The scenery blurred around her as she struggled to keep her eyes open. Even so, she was able to make out the grand castle in front of her. It looked so majestic like something out of a story book. Around the castle was a good 15 acre of land that circled the perimeter. The bridge they were riding through was roughly 2 acre long and can fit a max of two full carriages.

As they came to the end of the bridge, the knight steered the stallion to the right. They they got closer to the main entrance of the castle, Elaina was able to see another bridge connecting to a massive courtyard with a man-made pond in the middle of it. The courtyard was surrounded by lush forests on one side and a open farm land on the other. However, they didn't turned towards the courtyard. Instead, the knight continued on the circular path until he reached an open garden.

Upon arrival, the knight broke away from her embrace and jumped down. He helped her get down without a word then escorted her to the garden. His distant behavior made her a bit uncomfortable. Perhaps she held onto him too tightly and hurts him during the ride? While she was wondering about the possibilities, she suddenly felt a push. Before she knew it, she was already standing inside the garden.

"Now, do what you came her to do. No funny stuff though." He warned. "If I find you doing anything weird again… I'll finish you off myself." He leaned in with narrowed eyes while his left hand gripped onto the hilt of his sword. "You understand?"

"Yes, sir." Elaina reflexively straighten her back. He relaxed his posture and expression, then mustered two dry coughs.

"Good. Also, you have roughly half an hour before Giles pass by here with the rest of them. Once you find your flower, find an opportunity to sneak into the group, that way you'll be escorted out by the end of the night. There are a lot of off limited areas here, if they find you loitering around, they will prosecute you on the spot." The ruby eyes knight slowly explained the situation for her. Once he finished they walked out of the garden where he bid her goodbye, and mounted his stallion.

"Thank you." She smiled up warmly. Pinching the side of her green skirt, she performed a curtsy towards him. "I'll never forget the kindness and help you showed me today. Please, may I have your name?"

He smirked from atop of his horse, "What's this? I didn't think a monkey was so well mannered."

She felt a twitch in her smile. "If you don't wish to share your name, then don't. No need to throw sly remarks my way." What a brute he was! She instantly regretted of having any good thoughts about him earlier.

A deep chuckle escaped his lips as he smiled down on her.

"I truly hope you find that flower of yours." His genuine smile that moved her heart just a little prompting her to return one back at him. The steered his horse away as she stood on the ground watching his back. After a few steps he waved his hand without looking back.

"Alyn Crawford, but you best forget this name since we won't be meeting again little monkey."

Elaina smiled as she watched him rode off in the direction of the courtyard before turning her attention back to the garden.