Chapter 222: Spying & Love.
Emma, the seventh princess’s chambermaid, had finished her duties for the day. The sun had dipped below the castle walls, leaving a warm amber glow in the sky.
Most of the servants were retreating to their quarters, but Emma had other plans. She couldn’t resist her favorite pastime: unraveling the castle’s tangled web of secrets.
Tonight, her curiosity had led her to the knights’ armory stall. Slipping behind the wall, she peeked through a narrow gap, her breath steady as she observed the men.
The knights were sparring, the clang of metal filling the air. She quickly spotted familiar faces: Jaefel, always cocky and boastful; Jackson, the quiet skeptic; Heappal, the hopeless romantic; and Richard, ever brooding and detached.
Jaefel leaned lazily against the rack of training swords, his shirt damp with sweat. "I’m telling you, lads," he began, a grin spreading across his face.
"There are only two things in life worth chasing—hot food and hotter women. Get both in abundance, and you’ve won life’s grand prize."
Jackson, seated on an overturned barrel, rolled his eyes. "Hot food and hotter women? You’re setting yourself up for a scalding, my friend. Women are like fire—get too close, and you’ll burn. And food? Well, one bad meal and you’re poisoned."
"Poison?" Jaefel scoffed. "You’ve clearly never had a proper meal or a proper woman. Me? I’ll take a platter of spiced venison and a lass with legs that make me forget my own name. That’s paradise, boys."
Richard, sitting silently on another barrel nearby, raised a brow at their banter but stayed silent.
"Women are complicated," Jackson countered. "Food, on the other hand, is simple. Fills your belly, keeps you alive, and doesn’t argue back."
"A stew won’t warm your bed, and a pie doesn’t make your heart race," Jaefel fired back with a triumphant grin.