Princess’s Struggle for Survival

"Hold tighter."

Noticing that Amalia's arms were only loosely resting against her back without any force, Astrid softly reminded her while shaking her hair to let the ribbon guide more wind element particles around them.

Upon hearing this, Amalia silently raised her gaze, seeing a small patch of snow-white skin peeking out from the pure black dress, with a vivid red mark on the delicate collarbone that was particularly striking.

This mark... she must have made it last night...

Gently encircling Astrid's neck, Amalia turned her head away from the woman's face, allowing the warm breath to brush against her skin, remaining silent.

The next second, Amalia felt a sense of weightlessness sweep over her body.

The gray-black wall in front of her rapidly descended and suddenly disappeared at a certain moment, replaced by a lush lawn and a gray stone path covered with moist morning dew.

After a brief ascent and a rapid descent, Astrid softly chanted an incantation, using the nearby wind to help her adjust her direction.

The sound of boots hitting the ground was crisp as Astrid gently set Amalia down. The latter steadied herself, touched Auri in her pocket, then looked up and scanned the surroundings.

In the hazy morning mist, several marble statues stood quietly, with towering palaces and spires in the distance, their white and smooth walls faintly visible.

Although she had seen the outside world from the rooftop before, this was the first time Amalia had seen it from this perspective, and everything felt fresh.

She had actually made it out...

As Amalia pondered, a cold female voice suddenly reached her ears.

"Miss Astrid, there's no one else within fifty meters."

A black-haired maid emerged from the mist, holding a black robe. As Princess Astrid's personal maid, Elise had always been inseparable from the third princess. During the times when the latter came to the castle to bully her, Elise was also present, so Amalia naturally knew this taciturn maid.

Elise had been very close to them just now, a distance where she shouldn't have been completely invisible even in the mist.

Was it magic?

Seeing Elise approach, Astrid took the initiative to take the robe and handed it to Amalia.

"This is an infiltrator's robe that can conceal your presence. Wear it, and you won't be easily noticed."

The thick fog outside greatly reduced visibility, and with the addition of the infiltrator's robe, it was unlikely anyone would notice them.

Amalia took the robe and draped it over herself lightly, just like Astrid, then followed her into the mist.

Having learned some magic, Amalia could see more than before, such as the almost stagnant wind within half a meter of them.

Someone had bound the wind elements with mental power, effectively isolating sound. This was done extremely covertly, with no trace of magical fluctuations.

Feeling Auri nudge her a few times in her arms, the round eyes fixed on the head maid as if wanting to jump out and get close to her, Amalia tightened her hold on the cat, gently stroking the orange cat's head with her palm.

So this was how her sister had to be so careful every time she came to see her.

Amalia suddenly understood why Livia always came to the castle so late and why she always left in a hurry without waiting for her to wake up, leaving only a note reminding her to have breakfast on time.

Astrid didn't want others to discover her contact with her. This person could be Hibbort or the eldest prince, Lucas. Combined with Astrid's initial motivation for coming to see her, everything made sense.

Astrid had initially wanted to use the royal blood within her to achieve some goal. Whether it was truly as she had said that night, that everything afterward was more out of liking her, couldn't be easily concluded yet.

Noticing Amalia's steps slowing, Astrid paused for two seconds, then reached back and gently took the golden-haired girl's hand.

Amalia didn't pull away, just stiffly let Astrid hold her hand, watching the few strands of silver hair peeking out from under the black robe, her heart slightly trembling.

No matter how she deceived herself, she couldn't avoid the fact that Livia was Astrid. All the gentleness her sister had given her actually came from this silver-haired princess.

If Astrid had only wanted to use her, she wouldn't have needed to do so much. Compared to a real, living person with subjective will, a puppet with no abilities would have been more beneficial for her.

But Astrid had not only taught her so many new and interesting magics but had even risked being discovered to take her out of the castle.

In this world where learning magic could elevate one's status, Astrid's actions had already shown enough sincerity.

Everyone knew the relationship between the third and fourth princesses was as incompatible as fire and water, yet she didn't care at all that Amalia might use the newly learned magic to retaliate.

Looking at the exquisite boots that clicked with each step, Amalia's lips twitched a few times, a hint of struggle flashing in her blue eyes.

Perhaps Astrid had never seen her as Livia.

All she needed to do was drink the transformation potion. Normal people wouldn't see the pre and post-drinking selves as two relatively independent existences.

Thinking this, Amalia pursed her lips, her eyelashes lowering, her mind a tangled mess.

What about her?

Could she really completely separate Livia and Astrid, treating them as two different people?

In the morning mist, a luxurious palace gradually revealed its outline. Amalia followed Astrid into the palace, all the way to the third princess's boudoir.

Seeing the petite girl under the infiltrator's robe, with golden hair and green eyes, typical of the Valeria royal family, Lyra immediately understood the visitor's identity.

This was the fourth princess, Amalia Valeria, who had been imprisoned in the deep palace.

"Princess Astrid, and... Princess Amalia..."

Lyra performed a slight noble bow, her gaze lingering on Amalia for a moment, taking a few extra glances at the orange cat in the girl's arms, then shifting back to Astrid.

Amalia looked at the pink-haired maid in front of her, her facial expression showing no fluctuation, but her mind was secretly thinking.

Is she also a personal maid... Why would Astrid let her know my identity...

After hearing her master's simple instructions not to let anyone approach, Lyra nodded and softly replied to Astrid.

"I will be vigilant, Princess Astrid."

Watching the two enter the room, Lyra continued to stand guard outside the bedroom door, politely greeting the returning head maid.

Recalling the earlier meeting, Lyra couldn't shake the feeling that Amalia's gaze at her was somewhat complex.

It was as if an unspoken voice told her that she and this fourth princess wouldn't get along easily.

They had just met for the first time.

Meanwhile, inside the princess's boudoir, Astrid and Amalia removed the infiltrator's robes. The latter looked at the pure black double bed and the dressing table filled with books, her gaze calm and unreadable.

In Amalia's imagination, Astrid's bedroom should have been filled with jewelry and cosmetics, which would have matched her first impression.

What she saw now was unexpectedly simple, with not even many decorations.

Astrid, seeing Amalia standing at the door and not following her further in, reached up to remove her hair ribbon and spoke softly.

"Amalia, although you're out now, you haven't actually received the emperor's permission, so you can't appear in your original form."

Otherwise, anyone seeing this golden hair would naturally think of the royal family.

After hearing Astrid's words, Amalia didn't speak, just stood straight, waiting for the other's next words.

Since Astrid had said so, she must have a solution.

Sure enough, Astrid took out two small bottles from the drawer, filled with a black liquid like thick ink.

"This is the essence extracted from the ink flower. Adding water and washing with it can temporarily change your current hair color. If you want to restore it, I have its root juice here. Just a small bottle can clean it off."

Taking the potion bottle Astrid handed over, as Amalia reached out, Auri jumped out of the golden-haired girl's arms and crawled around on the soft carpet.

Amalia didn't stop it, her blue eyes quietly watching the glass bottle containing the essence.

"Besides the hair color, your eye color also needs to be adjusted."

With that, Astrid took out two transparent plant membranes, speaking softly.

"These are plant membranes used by the elves to conceal their identities. Wearing them not only changes eye color but also improves eyesight."

"You can choose any color you like, Amalia. I've prepared various plant dyes. You just need to soak them for ten minutes, and they'll last for a month without fading."

Hearing about such a magical item for the first time, Amalia looked at the plant membranes in Astrid's hand, then after a while, spoke in a low voice.

"Any color is fine?"

Astrid nodded and replied softly, "Yes, it's up to your personal preference, but brown is best."

More than half of the people in the Valeria Empire have brown eyes, so using brown would keep a low profile.

Looking at the blood-red eyes of the person in front of her, Amalia spoke softly, "Then red is also fine?"