Raven's day had been awful.

Where were the moving corpses? The vicious attacks that she had signed up for? The dangers and the jeopardy?

She had only followed the Princess around all day, as the other drove from place to place, speaking to finance ministers and representatives.

Princess Anya was quite diplomatic, and she had all of them in her pocket, even before she started speaking. It had impressed Raven initially, but as she got used to it, she came to see those meetings as a waste of time.

If, at the end of the day, they were all going to agree to Navaya's proposals, then what was the point of setting up an acquaintance?

When they arrived, Princess Anya got off with a slight sigh, holding her skirts about herself. Raven walked back to their quarters with her in silence. The Princess had been chatty in the morning, but now she looked simply tired.

They reached their quarters, and before clocking in Princess Anya turned to Raven. "Good work today, Raven."

Everything but that. Raven thought.

"You too, Your Royal Highness," She said out loud.

"Good night."

"Good night."

The door shut behind Princess Anya, and Raven's shoulders sagged.

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.

.

As Anya stepped out of her gown with Joanne's help, she fell back into her usual chatty self.

"By Heavens, Joanne," She said. "The new guard is so stiff. She stands at my shoulder all day, unmoving like a statue. I tried to strike up a conversation multiple times, but she would only nod or shake her head in response."

"It is not easy to match your chattering, Your Royal Highness." Joanne said as she tucked the gown away into the closet, and brought over her night clothes. "The poor girl must have been intimidated by your ever-running mouth, never getting the chance to utter a word."

"It's not like that," Anya said as she climbed into bed. "I had to stop talking, for she just wouldn't reply with words. At least, not until we were back in the Castle."

Joanne lowered down the curtains in front of her window.

"When I first saw her, Raven, I mean," Joanne began, a curious expression on her face, her tone becoming serious. "I thought she looked like someone who had never known how to depend on others. I asked General Allyss, and she told me there were no traces of her parents at all. No one knew where she came from. Some people say that she killed her own parents, but I refuse to believe that. Raven might be stiff, but she does not seem heartless."

Anya listened quietly, agreeing with the last sentence. "I think she's lonely, Joanne."

"Yes, I agree." Joanne said, snuffing out the candle at Anya's bedside. "Good night, Princess."

"Good night, Joanne."

Joanne left, and Anya lay in bed awake for a long time, despite being tired after a whole day of negotiations.

She kept thinking of Raven, who had perhaps never known her own parents. Who maybe was just as lonely as Anya was.

Sure, Anya had Joanne, but the other girl was more banter than care, and overtime Anya had had to learn to adjust to her maturity. But that was all. Joanne stuck around Anya more for her job than friendship, Anya knew, and she didn't blame the other for it.

She saw her father once a day at best, that too at dinner, which she had missed today. Her mother was no more, and she had no siblings.

It was the first time Anya's guard was a female, and that too a female of her age. She had been looking forward to Raven's employment ever since General Allyss had mentioned the girl casually.

She felt her lids grow heavy, so she shut her eyes, her mind still fixated on her and Raven's common loneliness. As Anya fell asleep, her brain calculated the possibility of Raven agreeing to be friends with her.

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.

Raven woke up the next morning, feeling fresh. She had decided last night that she would do some investigating.

She was restless and impulsive, she knew, and she only did the things she wanted to. Her reason for accepting the Chancellor's offer of employment as the Princess's guard had been boredom. When he had approached her, she had been thinking of how her life was simply filled with death and money, and how she wished for something more interested.

Princess Anya had to stay in for most of the day, and only go out for lunch with a General from Mongolia in the afternoon, and so Raven had free time. She washed herself, dressed and strapped her sword on, even if she wasn't going to need it. She fished out the journal that the Chancellor had given her, and pocketed it before stepping out of her quarters.

She pulled open the journal once she was on the second storey of the Castle, and searched for the description of Gabriel's corpse. As she read through, the writer mentioned that he was being kept in a cold room underground.

There were no specifications of where, and Raven felt sure there were no underground rooms in the Castle. The corpse was at the Chancellor's home, then, she guessed.

She read on, coming to the part about the two guards who had survived the attack. Apparently, one of them was in no position to even talk, but the other only had a broken arm and slashed leg.

Raven decided to check in the infirmary. If not the survivor, at least she could find their whereabouts.

When she reached, she saw the guards stationed outside the door and immediately and knew that the survivor was there.

She wondered if they would try to stop her, but when she stepped up to the door and pushed it open, one of them only gave her a glance, offering no other sign that he would want to constrain her. She stepped, in closing the door, looking around herself.

The infirmary was huge, with several beds lined along its walls at regular intervals, a set of drawers next to each. The ceiling was high, and huge windows had been studded into the walls, filing the infirmary up with sunlight from outside. The smell of anaesthetic hung in the air.

At the far end of the room was a door, right beside which was a desk and a chair, loaded with files. A man sat on the chair in a white shirt and trousers, going through one of those files with a pen in his hand. This was probably the Health Specialist.

One of the beds, almost right next to the desk, was covered by a curtain. It spiked Raven's curiosity, and as she stepped closer, it was drawn aside, and from behind it General Allyss stepped out.

It had only been contemplation, but now I am certain. Raven thought. The sole survivor of Santiago's attack is behind that curtain.

Raven's eyes widened, but before her body could show any further sign of surprise, she rubbed her eyes and, never breaking her stride, sauntered right past the bed, which had been her initial target.

She reached the Health Specialist, and cleared her throat to make him look up at her. He was perhaps forty something years old, and had jet black hair and brown eyes. When he looked up at Raven, a frown appeared between his brows.

"Yes?" He said, in a gruff voice.

"Pardon me," Raven began, trying to sound as if she truly needed help. "But my eye has been watering almost continuously since the morning. Is there anything you could do to help with that?"

He looked at her strangely for a moment, then turned his head and called out. "Miss Isabelle, we have a patient. Eye problem."

Raven had thought for a moment that he was going to call General Allyss here.

A nurse in white skirts hurried over from behind the door.

She examined Raven's eye, and declared that nothing seemed to be wrong in particular; it was perhaps only some dust that had gotten into her eye.

Raven nodded, and turned around to leave.

General Allyss stood beside the door, looking at her from the distance. Raven walked to the door, having no other choice but to leave the hidden survivor alone, and nodded to the General before reaching up to push the door open.

"Be mindful, Raven," General Allyss said, making Raven pause and turn her head to look at the older woman. "You have been appointed, not to snoop around the Castle for clues, but to guard the Princess. You are not to leave her side, even when she is in the Castle itself."

"I will remember that, General." The girl replied after a pause. "I do not, however, comprehend what you mean by 'snooping around the Castle'."

The General raised her eyebrows. "We all want to know what is happening in Navaya, Raven. It is not your job to investigate the attack, it is ours. So why don't we all simply focus on our own duties?"

Raven was silent for a while. She knew she should not ask anything, for that would only confirm General Allyss's prediction about her purpose of the visit to the infirmary. Yet, her curiosity got the better of her.

"Did the survivor tell you anything?" She asked.

The General raised her brows, and then shook her head. "I could not tell you that even if I wanted to."

With that, General Allyss pushed open the door and left.

Raven glanced one last time at the hidden bed, the gears of her mind turning. Even with General Allyss gone, the Health Specialist would surely try and stop her if she tried to talk to the survivor. He might even alert the guards outside.

There was, however, one way to jump over this obstacle.

Raven didn't like receiving much assistance; she preferred to do things alone. But for this, she would require help.

Help from Princess Anya herself.