Once I saw Gladiolus and Elizabeth head to the dance floor, Karolina and I head towards the lounge area.

"Our plans will now commence." Karolina said and I nodded in understanding.

We walked towards the lounge area and entered one of the rooms meant for the royals. Once inside, we guaranteed first that there was no one around and locked the door.

"Your highness, I have brought you some spare clothing." Karolina said while handing the clothing to me.

The spare clothing consists of shirt and pants that I can easily move around with. I took the clothing from Karolina. I held her hands and squeezed it tightly.

"Thank you Karolina." I said with a great amount of gratitude."Thank you for everything."

"It’s my pleasure to be of help your highness." Karolina smiled.

"I will never forget this. I will surely pay this debt back to you and your father back." I said with.

Everything up until now was thanks to Duke Matias and Karolina’s help. Even with Jack and William by my side, escaping unnoticed would be a challenge for us. But with the duke’s help, leaving here unscathed is a possibility.

"My father and I only wish for peace and stability after this war your highness." Karolina said. "We just hope that once you become queen of Grandcrest, peace thru out the continent would become possible as it was before."

"That is also my wish Karolina and I intend to work hard for it." I gave my reply to her.

After our exchange of words, I took off the dress I was wearing and changed to the shirt and pants Karolina gave to me. Karolina on the other hand took off her dress and changed into mine. She wore a wig that was previously prepared and tied into a braided bun.

I took off my mask and placed it on Karolina’s face. Looking at her now can easily fool anyone that Karolina was me.

"Here, use this." I placed a ring in Karolina’s fingers.

The ring contained a fragment of magic stone which I stored some of my magic. I got this idea from the ring Regaleon gave to William to changed his appearance. Unfortunately Regaleon wasn’t able to teach me this kind of masking magic. The magic I embedded on the magic stone on the other hand was to make Karolina change her eyes color closely to mine. It wasn’t perfect but at least it can fool someone for a short period of time.

"There, you can pass to be even for a few hours." I said to Karolina.

Karolina turned around and looked at herself in the mirror.

"Oh my ... your highness, how did you do that?" Karolina looked shocked and amazed at the same time.

"I will tell you when we see each other again." I winked at her.

"Yes, we don’t have much time." Karolina replied. "Be careful your highness."

Karolina pulled me into an embrace that caught me off guard. Her body’s warm calmed my nerves. I have made quite a few friends here in Jennovia despite my reluctance to be here. I am quite happy that I met this wonderful people. I will surely see them again once this war is over and peace came back to this continent.

"I will be going now." I said to Karolina. "Be careful." She nodded in reply.

I quickly ran towards the window and jumped out. The location of the lounge room was very convenient for a silent escape. I came out on the wooded parts at the back of the building. I quickly dashed to the trees and hide myself behind them. Fortunately there was a crescent moon tonight and the environment outside was dark. There are many guards stationed where the masquerade ball is being held and some are patrolling the vicinity.

’I can sneak pass this guards if I am cautious enough.’ I thought to myself.

I looked one last time at the window I came out of. The lights turned off, meaning Karolina has left the lounge room. I just hope that she would be safe while impersonating me. If Gladiolus finds out that she was a fake, I don’t know what would happen.

I took a deep breath and focused on sneaking pass the guards in the vicinity. I moved silently in the shadows of the trees, being careful with my every movement. My location is still near palace made with janetite and so I cannot rely on my magic abilities.

I was at the edge of the trees cover and saw that the place between where I was and the palace wall where it is safe to climb is a without anyone noticing was the palace garden. The garden was filled with snow lilies and a fountain is found at the center. There were also some statues here and there. The problem is that the garden was so wide and being detected is easy with so little places to hide. The bushes along the way were waist high.

I scanned the garden and saw guards were also patrolling there.

"One, two, three, four, five." I counted the guards that were patrolling along the garden.

’I have to sneak pass those five guards.’ I thought to myself. I took a deep breath and looked at the palace wall full of determination. ’I can do this.’ I told myself.

I crouched low so that I can conceal myself behind the bushes. Slowly I moved thru that palace garden keeping my eyes and ears sharp to whatever it is around me.

Looking around, there was no guard in sight and so I dashed towards the big statue near the fountain. I am nearly half way thru the garden. My heart was thumping hard with the nervousness and I can feel my palms were sweating.

I looked around and when I saw no one around I was about to dash towards the bushes when I heard a guard speak.

"Hey you!" The guard said. I was frozen in place after hearing those words.

’Oh no, sh*t!’ I cursed inwardly, my heart was thumping really hard right now. ’Was I caught? Just when I was half way trhu.’

edited by: nalyn

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