"Who?" Branch asked curiously and quietly. Who could be causing Poppy to be so scared? Who could even do something like that? They were still hugging each other tightly, neither one of them wanting to let go. 

"I..." Poppy tried to speak be couldn't, she only continued to cry. "Hey, hey, ssh.." Branch soothed her. He had no clue of who could be so cruel to Poppy. Everyone in the kingdom was pretty good friends with her, except Branch but he would never do anything like this to anyone. Well, maybe one person. 

The main thing was Branch needed to get help. "Come on, we should take you to your father." He suggested. But Poppy shook her head aggressively. "No please! No one else is able to find out about this!" Poppy pleaded. 

"But I don't even know what happened to you! How are you going to cover it up? How much longer will you keep it a secret from me?" Poppy separated the hug. "Why do you even want to know what happened to me? It doesn't seem that you care that much." Poppy asked once her crying had stopped. 

You'd be surprised. Branch thought to himself. "Fine." He said. "You don't need to tell me how you got those bruises but you need to tell me how long it's been going on." Branch said/asked. Poppy sighed. "Okay deal...2 weeks..." "What?!" "But it's fine, I'm dealing with him." 

Branch had a confused look on his face. "Him?" He asked in a low voice. "Who did this to you Poppy? One of the trolls?" Branch continued in a shocked voice. Poppy looked to the ground and nodded slowly. "But who? Poppy please tell me. I won't do anything, I just want to know." 

Poppy looked back up to him. "I don't need to tell you Branch. You don't even know me that well anyway. It's not your business." Branch sighed and nodded. It's true, it wasn't any of his business. So why did he even care? Why did he feel the need to comfort and help the troll princess? He had no idea. 

But he had no choice but to respect her words. "So you won't tell me?" Branch asked suspiciously. "Yes." Poppy replied. Then he got an idea. 

"What if I find out?"