Stepping Into Royalty [Zaira]

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Liza nodded, "Father is at least a good ruler." She agreed. She knew her father treated the people well and was well liked by them, and for that she respected him and intended to copy him if she ever did get a chance to rule. "You've met my parents, right?" She asked, suddenly curious. She assumed he had since he'd been chosen to guard her, but she wasn't sure because her parents were always so busy.
 
He finished his food and focused on Liza. "Yes, I've met them. I've been called for some special work and they asked me themselves you be your personal guard. I looked so serious and professional on our meeting, but you have no idea how excited I was." told her with a slight smile. He was kind of proud for having a personal meeting with the King and queen, and being chosen to take care of their daughter, all that being only a young guard.
 
Liza smiled at him, "I can imagine that.. I'd like to see you look excited, though." She said. She honestly thought it'd be kind of cute. She was also glad he could act serious like that, as her parents probably wouldn't have allowed him as her guard if he wasn't so serious and boring, especially given he was young, less experienced, and fairly attractive: her parents, on top of being strict, also tended to suspect any of the male guards or servants that she actually liked of trying to seduce or take advantage of her, no matter how many times she and they assured them that this was not the case. It made Liza especially angry because this didn't seem to be out of concern for her welfare, but instead her eligibility as a bride for whomever they decided to marry her off to, and she absolutely hated being used as a bargaining chip in this way.
 
He smiled, once again. Most of the time, he was measuring himself in front of people, to keep a formal appearance. Even from his friends sometimes. So why was he talking with such freedom with her? Well, there was something about her that certainly made him feel comfortable. "It seems we'll be spending a lot of time together. So don't worry, you'll see me eventually. " told her amused. "I look quite... silly, though. "
 
"I'm looking forwards to that, then. It seems amusing." Liza said, smiling again. She did find him amusing most of the time and she was glad he also seemed to know what he was doing with fighting. Since he was able to do his job and did it well, it would be harder for her parents to find a reason to fire him if they decided she liked him too much, which had happened with other servants and guards in the past. "What things do you like?" She asked.
 
He chuckled slightly hearing her. It seemed that he would need to demand and extra pay for also entertaining the Princess, or that was at least a joke he did to himself. What did he like... Lately, he cared more about his job than his personal likes, so it took him a moment to think about it. "Riding horses. I love that. I had a horse that was my best friend, and I guess he gave me my passion for horses. And I don't think there are any other things... Oh, yes, swordfighting is pretty amusing." told her. That was pretty much it, he had grown up friendly fighting his brother and riding his horse. And they kept being his favourites activities. "What about you?" asked with curiosity. He was also curious about what would they do next. Going to sleep? And where would he sleep? Probably on a room close to hers, just in case anything happened.
 
"I like riding horses too, but I've never been in a sword fight." Liza said, still smiling. She liked hearing about his life outside being a guard. That was nice. "I like climbing trees, learning, reading, talking to people, and playing with animals." She told him. She also liked that he took interest in what she did.
 
He heard her, paying attention to her likes. "We should race someday, then." told her amused, even if he was sure it would be almost impossible. "I also find climbing trees, people and animals great. But I can't say I'm the reading kind of person, and I'm recently enjoying more teaching than learning." added, making a smile by the last part of it. For a second, he believed he should measure himself a little more, and stop smiling that often while they were surrounded by servants. But he simply didn't care.
 
She smiled, "That would be fun, I would like that very much." She said. "I enjoy learning from you, too. You're a good teacher, and a lot nicer than my other teachers." She said. Her other teachers were often strict and over serious, or taught subjects that she found useless and dull. Liza didn't really care that the servants saw them interacting like this, her parents didn't seem to take servants very seriously anyway.
 
He was glad she would like racing, so he believed they should find a way to do it someday. "Well, thank you, princess. You are my favorite student too." answered her playfully winking. Even if she was her only student ever, he believed it would be still true if he had more. Rowan was enjoying maybe a bit too much looking at her smiling and hearing she liked being his company. But he couldn't blame himself for feeling that way for a woman like her. Even if Liza was clearly beautiful, he was mainly charmed by her simplicity and personality. Some servants took their empty dishes from them and he glanced at her, still kind of lost for what they'd do next.
 
"Thank you.. I try to be a very good student." She said, still smiling at him as the servants moved around, cleaning up after their meal. "Do you have any ideas for what we can do now?" She asked, figuring he might since he had said he had already explored the area. She thought it'd be nice to do what he wanted, instead of ordering him around like another royal might. Besides, she thought he'd probably have some pretty interesting ideas. It wasn't very late, so he figured they'd be able to do whatever before it was time to go to sleep tonight.
 
He was a little surprised with her question. Even if he already knew she was extremely nice with him, asking him for what he wanted to do was simply something he wouldn't even think of. His job was following her anywhere, but maybe she just wanted to do something different. Anywhere, at that time of the day, there weren't many exciting things he could think of, so he was just sincere for what he would like. "Well, I've never seen the whole castle before. I've been only working on the gardens and the first floor." told her. Of course, they would take a really long time to go to every room of the castle, because it was pretty big. But he was curious about it, and he would like to take at least a short walk around. "So maybe you can pay for your training by showing it to me." added with a half-smile. Of course, he was teasing, because his parents were already paying well for any service he could do, and he knew she would know that.
 
Liza smiled at him, "Alright, we can do that.. Where have you seen so far?" She asked. She thought she'd like showing him around, most of the castle was nice to look at and he was nice and would probably talk to her while they were walking around. "There are secret passage ways, too." She mentioned. She had found those by exploring as a child, as she really didn't have much to do as an only child in such a big castle, she didn't like her teachers, and her parents rarely let her play with outside children, so instead she wandered the castle and found whatever interesting things she could find.
 
Rowan smiled back at her, as a way of thanking her. "Well, I know almost everything on this floor. But that's it, I've never been upstairs." answered her, glad she took it that well and she was willing to take a walk with him. "Oh, secret passages sound great too." added, meaning it. They might even be useful in case there was some kind of attack on the castle, so maybe it was even a good thing to know the castle around.
 
"Alright.." She smiled at him again, "This is going to be fun." She said, leading him to the stairs leading to the other levels of the castle. There were several, including a dungeon, though that had been remodeled to be a place for the servants, and it was actually quite nice for servants' quarters. She led him through hallways on the first floor above the dining hall, connecting meeting rooms and rooms where guests would stay. There were quite few people there, since there weren't any big meetings going on now.
 
He looked around, already amazed by the size of the royal castle. Even if he believed there would be a lot more people around, he was a bit glad there weren't and he could act normally. "Must be great to live on a place like this..." said, glancing into the rooms they were passing by. He thought he would easily get lost in there without her, so he better not separate from her. It would be kind of silly to go around asking for the exit, being a member of the royal guard.
 
Liza shrugged, "It's nice, sometimes, but it gets boring and lonely a lot." She said to him. "I kinda wish I had had siblings or something." She added. As much as her parents had wanted more children, in particular a son, they had only been able to have her. Being without other children, she got bored easily after exploring the castle a few times, and therefore spent most of her time after that outside, getting into trouble. She climbed trees, rode horses, ran through the woods, captured animals, and talked with the servants. She pretty much did most everything she wasn't allowed to do, sometimes just because it was forbidden, out of boredom, so really she was rarely actually in the castle.
 
"Oh, I see." said, hearing her. That was probably the reason why she enjoyed doing things she wasn't allow: boredom. And it also explained how nice she was with him, she probably wanted someone around her, and what would be better than someone who needs to watch after you the whole day? He smiled at that thought, and was glad his company was a nice thing to her instead of some burden. "Well, like it or not, you are not lonely anymore." added with a smirk. "And I hope I'm entertaining enough to help with the boring part."
 
"I do like it. You're nice, and fun to be around." Liza said, smiling at him again as she led him around the castle. She felt like she did that a lot, likely too much, but didn't care. What she said was true, and she did like him. Besides, no one was around to judge their interactions anyway. It occurred to her then that she might be able to break even more rules with him, but then she didn't think she really wanted to go that far, or risk getting him into so much trouble.
 
He smiled hearing her. Of course, he also liked her. Maybe more than what it was expected from a guard to a Princess, but he didn't care for the moment. He was distracted with her smile, which was fairly beautiful. She was beautiful, and he couldn't ignore that as much as he tried. That was probably why he didn't notice they were being chased. Rowan only realize about the man behind them when he was only a few steps after them. As soon as he noticed, he turned around, and only saw a servant. But there was something weird about him; servants always took a longer distance from the Princess, and this one was oddly close.

From that moment, Rowan saw everything on slow motion.

The 'servant' took a large knife from below his jacket and made an aggressive movement towards the princess. Rowan had no time to take his sword out or do anything else than stepping in the middle. Luckily, he got in time to prevent the attack with the knife with his left hand, even though it caused a big cut on his skin. It wasn't that what worried him, though, but the fact that he had been slow enough and that servant/hired assassin almost got his job done. That day, the king and queen were gone, and with them many other guards, so how could he not see that coming? It was a lot easier to go through the security of that day than any others, and of course, a perfect time to kill the princess. As he had the knife grabbed by its blade with his left hand, he punched the attacker strong enough so that he would fall to the floor, letting his weapon go. He glanced at him on the floor: he only took him down with one punch, so he was fairly inexpert. So, they either had a really bad security that day, or he was really a servant. Either way, Rowan was glad he stopped him on time. He grabbed the knife with the other hand and closed the hurt one, preventing from losing any more blood, still looking attentively at the man on the floor.
 
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