"Master!" Grace came out of nowhere and hugged me, which only served to drive my sorrow more. Death was not something that I could handle well. I had been bottling it up inside me all this time, but now with the news of Sophie's parents, all the people I knew and grew up with were now popping up in my mind. Auntie Finna and everyone else all died because they were targeting me. If only….
I do not think I have cried like this in a long time. Grace did not part from my side either. Instead, she stayed with me, keeping me company while I released all my pent up stress. Staying strong is one thing but bottling it all up inside was also not a good thing. I have been busying myself trying to do this and that to keep my mind busy. But even then, I was still suffering on the inside.
A month passed, and we finally reached the skies over the capital city of the Kingdom of Golentod. Thurul put the airship to anchor while I was busy readying myself for my departure. Thurul was not coming with me, but grace would be. As an official envoy, I needed at least one servant to make things look good and official. However, I needed to make things quick if I wanted to make the funeral in two weeks' time.
"Lass, be careful down there. You know those bastards will be wanting to pick a fight with the fact that you two are demi humans." Thurul gave me a hard reminder that this place was not against slavery. Even at the factory, I did see many demi humans pushing carts. While it hurt to see, I did not make a fuss about it due to the fact that at that time, there was nothing I could do, and did not wish to make too much of a scene, but now things will be different.
"Don't worry. I will deal with it all. Everything needs to be set in motion before I have to head back to attend the funeral." I replied with a half hearted smile. Just thinking about it made me think of many things that I did not wish to think about at this time.
"Alright, I will watch over the ship. Good luck." With Thurul's words of encouragement, I jumped off the airship with Grace at my side. I then activated my teleport to the castle in Gravos to allow the knights that were waiting to be my guards to appear in front of me with scaled horses and a carriage. They each kneeled to the ground and bowed their heads to me. "Princess Cyrilia, it is our honor to be of assistance during your mission this time. I am Knight Captain Breckett."
"I thank you for your help and am sorry for the sudden notice. We will try to do things quickly. But please keep things as civil as possible. Also, please don't kneel to me. I hate these kinds of things." I said with a smile.
The nights all slammed their chests with their fists in salute as they all answered in unison: "By your word Princess!"
With this, we made our way to the gate in a grand procession. Ten knights and a royal carriage rolled down the path as we made our way to the gates. I peeked out the window after getting changed into a proper dress that was blue with white frills that went down to my ankles.
There was a long line of humans at the gate, most seemingly merchants, with many having demi human slaves carrying their gear. Their ragged clothing made me frown, but there was nothing I could do about it at this time. We skipped the line and rode right up to the gates with all the merchants staring at us. Some of the knights were actually demi humans catching the attention of the humans and the guards.
"Halt! Who are you!?" One of the guards yelled out while drawing his sword. He did not move to attack, nor did he say anything slanderous but only asked the simple question, which was the normal procedure, I guess.
"We are here to escort Princess Cyrilia as the envoy of the Gravos Kingdom to meet with your king. We have the envoy's seal right here." The Knight Captain, Sir Breckett, said as she stepped forward with the royal envoy seal and showed it to the guard. The guard frowned as he looked at it before waving his hand to have one of the other guards come over.
The other guard, who was most likely the captain, looked at the seal before handing it back to Sir Breckett. "Get my horse. I will lead them to the castle." The captain ordered before turning to Sir Breckett and saying: "I am Captain Willson of the Kingdom of Golentod's guards, Sir Knight. May I have your name?"
"I am Knight Captain Breckett of the Royal Knights of the Kingdom of Gravos. I am in charge of protecting Princess Cyrilia, our kingdom's envoy." Sir Breckett seemed very well suited for this kind of thing. He did not waver in the slightest, even with all the people staring at us with a bit of hostility.
"Sir Breckett, I must ask that the demi human knights please stay outside the capital. Our kingdom laws do not allow demi humans who are not of a royal decree from another kingdom to enter our capital. It is to keep not only your knights safe but our people as well." Captain Willson suddenly said, causing me to frown. Half the guards were demi human and they wanted us to leave them outside? Did they really look down on us that much?
Before Sir Breckett could answer him, I decided to speak up. "So you are saying that I, myself, and my servant are not allowed to enter? After all, I am only a titled princess, not a princess of royalty, yet I am also a demi human."
I slowly opened the door to the carriage. Grace jumped out and reached out to me to help me off. I took her hand and slowly stepped out into the open and looked at the guard captain. "I think you should understand what it means to anger another kingdom's envoy. It will cause an international incident. I think you should first think before you speak. My guards and I will all enter the city no matter what. As far as I am concerned, only a member of your royal family has a right to tell me how I should act, and only then would it be up to me whether or not I heed their advice."
