[Edited]

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Finally, the long awaited Wednesday had come.

You, along with the other two knights and the remaining four princess candidates were currently in the meeting hall at the Cameran palace. Just like Doni had informed you the day before, queen Rin had an important announcement to make.

"Thank you all for coming. Now that everyone is present, I may start." The blonde woman said and stood up from her throne, Mrs. Jenny soon stepping closer to her. "I have already mentioned this to division one's knights a few days ago, but I will say it once again."

"I am assigning you all to a grand mission in the Grona kingdom." The curly haired blonde said bluntly, looking at all the people in the room occasionally. "This Sunday, you will depart from here and travel to Grona with the Mudsdale we have received from Puleuna. Division one will be in charge of this task."

Aaron had once told you that there were three main divisions which were actually squads of knights, each consisting of four individuals. You knew that he himself was part of the first division and so was Doni. You were currently in training, but once you would graduate, you will officially be part of their group as well. That meant that there were two more knights you hadn't met yet that were going to work with you on this mission.

"The purpose of this mission is to make negotiations with the Grona kingdom. Up until recently, when late king Silvio ruled the kingdom, Grona had no particular connections to any of the other three." The olive green eyed young woman explained. "Grona is known for its supply on all sorts of evolutive stones, so this is a great opportunity to bond with the new prince, Luntian."

"I want the rookies, Lady Y/N and Sir Myron, to go along on this mission because they have never been in another kingdom before. As for the princess candidates, I want them to go as well. It will serve as an additional escort mission to the knights of the first division." Queen Rin continued and did not expect for someone to interrupt her, much less to lament about the matter.

"Forgive me for being rude, but I will not go to Grona. Definitely not." Loraine was the one who cut the older off, gaining surprised looks from everyone, including the maid. "Pardon?"

"It's just as I said: I refuse to go to Grona!" The blue eyed female repeated, glaring at the floor. Queen Rin let a sigh escape her mouth before seating herself back onto her throne. "If you do not go along on this mission, I am afraid you will be disqualified from the princess contest."

Loraine shot her head up at the mention of that. There was going to be no way she would be able to tell such a thing to her parents, in case she would really need to step down from the competition. She stayed silent and let the older woman continue. "Please reconsider your choice."

"As I was saying: While you and the rest of division one take care of negotiations with the prince, division two will also follow you to Grona. They have a different task which consists of a official escort mission." The curly haired blonde announced and let her gaze travel across the room again. "They will be responsible that Adam and Matilda Aono get to the kingdom safely."

Everyone's eyelids flew wide at the mention of those people's names, especially Loraine seemed shook. If you weren't mistaken, Adam and Matilda were her parents and very respected in Rota because of their high social status.

"I have also mentioned already that you will be taking your leave first thing Sunday morning. Sir Myron is currently absent, so please Sir Aaron, see to it that he is informed about all of this." Queen Rin concluded and stood up once again. "That and also, I want Lady Y/N to meet Rouen and Kai from the first division before the grand mission."

"There is nothing else for now, so you may return to your activities." The olive green eyed woman said before you were all dismissed. Once everyone had left the meeting hall, you, Doni and Aaron would have headed to the training grounds, but someone stole a bit of your time. "L-Lady Y/N! C-Can I talk to you for a moment?"

You turned around only to see an extremely flustered silver haired girl, twiddling her fingers as she stared to the ground while waiting for your answer. "Sure! You guys go on ahead." You replied, flashing Liliana a smile before waiting for the two other knights and the other princess contestants to leave.

Once you were alone, the silver haired female bowed her head, surprising you a bit. "I-I'm so sorry! Yesterday I ran away, even though you helped me... I-I wanted to express my gratitude, so thank you very much!"

"I-It's no big deal, really!" You stuttered, not knowing how exactly to react. You placed both your hands on Liliana's shoulders and made her look back up at you. "And please don't be so formal with me. Just Y/N's alright."

"O-Okay, Lady-... I mean, Y/N." The blue eyed girl nodded, a rosy color tinting her cheeks. "A-Also, if it's not too much trouble for you, I would like to explain myself..."

"You don't need to worry about that, I know that you would never steal a dumb necklace." You said, furrowing your brow at the memory of Loraine and Myron picking on her because of it yesterday. The silver haired female shook her head. "I-I wasn't referring to that, actually."

You got a little curious and were absolutely willing to listen to her, but the passing by guards made you notice that the corridors were probably not a suited place to be talking about personal matters. "How about we take this outside?"

And like that, you two ended up on the training grounds. Doni and Aaron were talking with some other knights in the distance, your Pokémon and theirs were training on the battle fields, so you thought you could sit under the large tree near those fields.

"I'm all ears." You said after kneeing down into the grass, leaning your back against the wood before you got into a more comfortable sitting position. Liliana imitated you and blushed after hearing that similar line coming from you. "Normal people wouldn't normally start to cry over something that trivial, now would they... I only find it's fair that I share this with you since you rescued me."

"You see, I... I am afraid of the touch of men." The silver haired female confessed, gaining a surprised look from you. That was nothing to be ashamed of, it's just that you weren't expecting such a reason behind her reactions. "I-I went to school in Puleuna before moving here... You might know that that kingdom isn't exactly the safest, concerning younger people or children walking around when it gets dark."

"One day, I stayed at school longer in order to finish preparations for the annual festival. I told my friends to go home ahead, since they had other, more important responsibilities waiting for them, so I was left alone." Liliana told, raising her gaze from her lap to your eyes. "It had gotten dark by the time I completed my task. I was on my way home, b-but then..."

"But t-then a group of m-men approached me... and they... m-molested me..." The silver haired female's voice cracked midway and you were sure her eyes got teary again. You covered your mouth with your palm, feeling compassion for the poor girl. "I-I was only seven years old at that time, s-so it was a traumatizing e-experience..."

This was what Fotula meant when she said that there was a good reason for Liliana not wanting to be paired up with Doni when you exercised with Mudsdale. Now it made sense why she was so wary of males, and you regretted not being able to help her in her hard times. "That's awful... I'm so sorry, Liliana. Why didn't you tell us sooner?"

"I-I didn't want to trouble you with my personal problems..." The crystal blue eyed female said shyly, sniffing as she avoided your gaze again. That was one of the reasons, but another one she hid was because she felt inferior to the people of Rota, since she was originally from another kingdom.

"Thank you for trusting me with this." You said, wrapped your arms around the shy girl and pulled her close to you, causing her to blush lightly. You kept embracing her for a long while until pulling away again in order to face her. "I'll do anything to help you get over your fear, and I'll make sure you don't need to do tasks with men if you feel uncomfortable with it."

"T-Thank you so much, Y/N! I haven't done anything to deserve such kindness from you, and yet you're being so nice to me!" Liliana couldn't hold back a few tears of happiness, but wiped them away from her face as soon as she could. You were the only person who seemed to be accepting her the way she was and with all her flaws in this kingdom after Fotula, and that made her indescribably happy.

* * *

It was now evening, and after a nice training session with both your Mudsdale and your sacred weapon, you had now passed through the entrance gates and were about to head home.

"Y/N! Hold on!" You heard a familiar voice call after you, so you stopped in your tracks and turned around, only to be greeted by the sight of Aaron sprinting towards you. The knight soon caught up with you and slowed down his pace as you two started walking ahead again.

"Did you just finish with work too?" You asked and couldn't help but give the male a side glance or two. For some reason he had taken his hat off and was exposing his oddly spiky hair which attracted quite the attention. He shook his head and caught you staring, you immediately shying away when his dark blue orbs met yours. "Not exactly. I need to inform Myron about our grand mission, and apparently he's on duty at the port with his superiors right now."

"Yasen is supposed to be taking care of things there too, but I heard that he took a day off today for some reason." The dark haired male continued and started walking somewhat closer to you. That small detail went unnoticed by you until his hand lightly brushed against yours. "What about you? Are you done for the day?"

"I-I am." You nodded, trying to hide or get rid of the pink color dusting your cheeks. The knight then posed another question which made you aware of how observant he actually was. A good kind of observant, not the creepy-type: "Are you going out somewhere or? I thought your house was the other way."

"I'm actually meeting with my mother today. She said she wanted to talk about something... I hope everything's alright." You said a little worriedly as the two of you walked down a more unusual path in the village. Aaron asked about a few more things and you ended up telling him a bit more about your situation with your mother and that it had been a while since you started living by yourself - or well, with Camilla.

"I'm sure she just wanted to spend some time with you. You may not be aware of it, but your mother probably feels more lonely than you think." The dark haired male said, smiling softly as he avoided your gaze. You didn't remember mentioning to him that your father was deceased, but for some reason he seemed to know about it, judging by how he formulated his prior statement.

Now that you thought about it, you didn't know much about Aaron's relationship with his parents. You were about to ask him, but it seemed like you already had to part ways. "I need to turn left here."

"I have the day off tomorrow, but we might be able to run into each other since I live in the castle." The dark haired young man said and stopped in front of you. He was a bit hesitant at first, but he decided to go for it and pulled you into a hug. You were a little surprised, but then again, it wasn't the first time you bid your goodbyes like that, so you managed to maintain your composure. "See you soon."

"Yeah. Good luck with Myron!" You called out once he was a bit more distant. You did sound like you were mocking both him and the white haired guard, but it still caused Aaron to laugh lightly before he was out of your sight.

You continued walking the way which led to your mother's house and found yourself in front of it not much later. You knocked on the door twice before entering without waiting for anyone to come open since this was also your home. "I'm back!"

You slipped out of your boots and knight coat before you reached the living room and were surprised once you saw your mother sitting on the couch along with two white haired men, one of them you knew quite well. "...Yasen?"

The mentioned young man shot up from his seat and hurried over to you, strangling you with a hug while squealing. Why was he here? And who was that other man? He somehow looked familiar... You managed to free yourself from Yasen's rather strong grip and took a better look at the older looking man:

His hair was white and almost shoulder long while his eyes had a very unique color: gold. He was fairly handsome and despite his expression, he gave off the impression of a kind man. That's when it struck you: "W-Wait, aren't you the souvenir shop owner?!"

"That's correct, I'm surprised you remember me." The man stood up and flashed you a smile which brought guilty memories back to you. The woman beside him imitated him and both of them soon approached you and Yasen.

"How could I forget you? I broke one of your shop's precious porcelain plates." You thought to yourself before bowing your head. "I'm still sorry. Because of the plate I broke back then." You then lifted your gaze and locked eyes with the older man, giving him a look that practically begged to avoid the mention about the man who sexually harassed you that day. You didn't want to worry your Mom unnecessarily.

"No worries. I'm glad you didn't get hurt." The golden eyed man replied, nodding as if he received your message. Your mother was the one who cut off your conversation, signaling you to take a seat. You were a bit less confused now, but you still didn't know what the two of them were doing here together.

You sat across your mother and the older man. Yasen immediately scuffled as close to you as he possibly could, grinning at you innocently when you flashed him a suspicious look. The older woman got your attention with what she said next. "Sorry for not telling you that we would have guests beforehand."

You smiled at her gently and waited for her to explain the situation further. "I see you've already met Yasen. This here is his father, Devon Kenji." The woman said, nodding at the white haired man sitting beside her. You couldn't say you weren't surprised, but that explained why his sons were so good-looking.

Your mother was about to continue, but she started feeling nervous which was easily noticeable if one would set their focus on her breathing. Devon placed his bigger hand on hers as if to reassure her and gave her a rather loving look. "I... I don't know how I should say this..."

"You see, Devon and I have started seeing each other lately, and... we actually thought of taking things a bit further." Your mother said and couldn't bring herself to look you in the eyes. Your jaw dropped and you brought your palm in front of your mouth to cover it. You couldn't believe those words were leaving your mother's lips. "I have been in love with Devon for quite the long time now, but I couldn't bring myself to tell you this because I thought you would feel betrayed... Maybe you would get upset over the fact that I considered spending my life with someone else than your father-..."

"Mom, that's great!" You couldn't stop your own outburst. "Me, be upset about this? Don't be silly, Mom! I'm so glad!" Yasen who sat next to you chuckled at your reaction, Devon did as well and the woman beside him wore a relieved expression.

You had always tried to make your mother consider re-marrying, and told her several times that she should let go of the past. You knew that your father would always stay in her heart, and you knew that he would be happy if she'd find happiness again.

Your mother found courage to continue speaking, so she told you all sorts of things about her current relationship with Devon and their plans for the future. In the time you lived in, it wasn't odd for a man and woman to marry after dating only six months or even less, so marriage was a possibility.

That reminded you that if everything would go smoothly, Yasen would become your stepbrother. The white haired male probably knew about his father's relationship with your mother from the start which would explain why he was so touchy-feely with you, as well as the kiss on the nose he gave you yesterday. But that meant another thing:

Myron Kenji would also become your stepbrother.

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A/N: Yaaay~ The World Cup's begun ^-^ Who are you guys cheering for? :3 And who are your favorite players? I'm quite interested ^-^

I'm cheering for Croatia~ Luka Modrić and Manuel Neuer are my favorite players ^3^

Thank you for Reading!