“Well...” Sara looked at Eren with worried eyes, hoping he would understand the reasons that prevented her from telling him the truth, “I always knew you were hiding something, but I never imagined it was this…”, Eren couldn’t hide his surprise as he stared at her with raised eyebrows, “So you are the king’s daughter…” “Illegitimate daughter…”, she corrected him in a small voice, she wanted him to not neglect that fact as she knew how unaccepted bastards were in their kingdom, she wanted to know his reaction and his thoughts about the matter but his face remained the same, not a single emotion passed through his eyes as he kept on staring at her in the same way, the impossible one to read. “So?”, noticing the way she was looking at him, Eren asked her, thinking there was more to her weird story, but the girl’s eyes were suddenly clouded with sadness, breaking their eyes contact, she looked down at her palms as her lower lip trembled. Sara always considered her relationship with the young duke as her  daydream, an escape from her grey life, she was happy in that little colorful space she created with him, she was herself without all the shackles of her identity, she always ran away to that dream not preparing herself for the day life starts chasing after her, tainting her dream grey. She almost laughed at herself for hoping things might have lasted but seeing his expression, she felt their friendship turning into dust. “Hey, what is wrong?”, unexpectedly, Eren’s hands appeared into her vision as he took hers in his, squeezing them tightly for her attention. “Look at me”, after hesitating for a second, Sara raised her head slowly to look into the eyes of her friend who moved closer to sit closer to her, meeting his eyes, she felt herself drowning in the in his concerned eyes while her shone with the tears she was holding back, she didn’t even know why exactly she felt the way she did, pained and hurt with a lump chocking her, invisible claws were clutching her heart, as if she had woken up from the beautiful dream to the bitter reality. Thinking it that her reaction was out of guilt for hiding the truth, Eren prepared himself to assure her that he understood, she was not a random person but the king’s daughter, it wasn’t a trivial matter to throw out bluntly without consideration to the possible consequences on the king and the kingdom. However, her next words rend him speechless. “Are you okay with befriending a worthless bastard?” “What the…” Eren looked at her, totally baffled and surprised by her question, “Where did that even come from?” “I don’t want to keep neglecting the truth, Eren” Sara said, unable to hold back her tears anymore, the way they streamed down her pale skin told him volumes of how sensitive this topic was to her, her teary eyes were sad, frustrated, insecure and tired, as if she had cried about this matter over and over again. “What truth are you talking about? That you are an illegitimate daughter? What does that even change?” “Doesn’t it change anything?” Sara asked, unsure of what he meant. “Not in the slightest, Sara, listen to me carefully”, Eren’s expressions were a mixture of seriousness and softness, he needed the beautiful girl sitting next to him to understand what he was going to say without alarming her, she was so delicate and sensitive, like a white jasmine. “I don’t care whether you are an illegitimate daughter or not, I don’t care about your status in a system that I already consider so fake and irrelevant, and even if I did, I would still look at you in the same way as before, you will always be you to me, and that is what truly matters, the rest is but peels.” Eren pulled Sara’s hand to him, causing her to lean forward towards him, her face away from his by mere inches. “Tell me what does it matter if someone is covered in golden rinds if his insides are rotten? You are not covered in any of those, and that is something I admire about you because it means the person I have been doting on all this time was true and genuine, you are indeed as pure and gentle as you have shown, Do you know how rare that is in our world? Where it is one’s wealth and status that define his value? And once they fall, like what happened to my family, everyone who respected and licked boots for the Salvatore Duchy before turned into monsters to have their share of the dead prey, but you, My fair lady…”, Eren stopped for a second to offer her the sweetest smile she ever saw plastered on his face while one of his hands left hers to caress her cheek, “You are the clean air in this polluted swamp, you are you..”. Sara didn’t know what was there to say, her heart was overwhelmed and at the verge of exploding her tears ran even faster, but not of pain this time but of warmth, as if the glaciers inside of her melt and started flowing from her eyes, the feather touches of his knuckles on her cheek added to that warmth, she couldn’t believe it at first, that the shackle on her foot that tied her down all that life could be so insignificant, that her dear friend didn’t consider her existence as a disgrace, unlike everyone, he didn’t blame her for something that was out of her hand, and only cared about the person she was… “Did I say something wrong?” Eren looked and sounded apologetic, pulling away his hand once he saw her unstopping tears as he thought he might have said something that bothered her; however, the girl shook her head with a half-smile that slowly grew bigger and more radiant. “No one had ever been so nice to me, Eren. Thank you.”, She smiled at him as he stared at her in silence, admiring her, he always found her beautiful, in the purest way there is, but with her glassy eyes that looked even more gleamy with all her tears and red rims, her eyelashes were wet and shiny and her cheeks were pink, her plump lips were still shaken from her overwhelming feelings, but still pooled into a thankful smile. The man didn’t know what got to him in that second while watching her, but it took every bit of self-control he had to not just push her on the back and kiss the life out of her. “You don’t have to thank me, Sara. However, you need to rest, sleep a little bit while I tell my men to investigate your father’s whereabouts.”, Nodding happily at him, Sara watched as her dear friend left the room with the tray in his hand. Laying back in the luxurious bed, Sara smiled from ear to ear, her heart feeling suddenly light, as it was carried on a cloud, not only by the fact that her dear friend didn’t turn on her for her identity nor did he blame her for hiding the truth, but because of a certain word he threw casually… “the person I have been doting on…” Not knowing when she had fallen asleep, Sara found herself in the same dream with the weird woman, she already knew what to expect when the woman raised her hand to magically move her, the whole process was breathtaking, in the literal meaning as Sara felt herself unable to inhale, as if her lungs got tighter the closer she got to the woman, until she was in front of her, and again, the woman silently mouthed… “RUN” Opening her eyes, Sara was met with a very annoying sound, she looked at the darkness around her while the sound kept on drumming in her ears, before she finally found what it was…the door. At her shy come in, Eren walked inside the room with a lamp, the room was dark meaning it was night time already, Sara looked at him as he offered her a warm smile. “Did you sleep well, my fair lady?”, Sara smiled shily before nodding, she didn’t want to complain about her never ending nightmares as that is all they were, nightmares, and from their earlier talk, she knew that some nightmares were but mind tricks, non-existing chains that one would waste their whole life either afraid of them or trying to break free from… Eren on the other hand placed the lamp on her night stand before he started to illuminate the candles in her chamber, the white walls reflected the light and the entire room was illuminated with a shimmering light. “That is great, now we can enjoy our dinner together while we talk about what I have found out…”, Sara’s curiosity pricked at her words, but before she managed to asked him, she noticed the third person standing at her door with a folded cloth in her hands… “Who is that?” Sara pointed at the beautiful girl without taking her eyes off her, she knew it was rude but it was the first time she saw another person of her own gender, and hell, the black-haired girl was a beauty… The woman was tall and thin with beautiful curly hair that stopped at her shoulders, her eyes were a dark brown and her skin was pale, the dress she wore was a dark one with a clean white apron. “This...” Eren and the girl briefly exchanged a look, however, Sara couldn’t help but notice a hidden defiance in her dark eyes. “…Is Geraldine, she is here to help you and take care of you…”