Chapter Text
“I think the princess is alone now. This is probably the only chance we’ll get.”
The thug turned to his left to look at his partner, an eyebrow raised in question. It was now or never and they both knew that. His buddy pulled his dagger out of its sheath with a confident grin on his face.
“Takin’ that little girl’s money will be as easy as takin’ candy from a baby,” the second thug said with a chuckle. His smile dropped as he thought about their situation further. He looked down over the rooftop they were standing on once again to really analyze the situation.
The princess was standing all alone, moving her arms about as she walked down the road, almost as if she were talking to someone. The only problem was that no one was there with her. The girl was completely alone.
“Do you think her guard dog could be close by?” The second thug asked his partner.
They both visibly froze as a breathy laugh sounded from behind them.
“She’s a lot closer than you both could have thought.”
The mysterious woman clapped both thugs on the shoulder as she laughed at them again. Before they could so much as turn around or even draw a weapon, she had them both by the backs of their necks. In an instant she slammed their heads together, knocking them unconscious.
She watched as their bodies slumped together with a sigh. Looking out over the market she saw their target, the princess. She was standing off to the side of the road and out of the way, clearly annoyed and waiting for someone.
“Shit.”
---
The princess looked up from the dirt she was kicking around with her foot with a look of annoyance.
“You’re not supposed to leave my side when we’re outside the castle, Bianca...What if someone tried to rob me or worse, put their dirty hands on me?!”
The princess pushed her short curly hair out of her eyes as she huffed, waiting for an explanation from her guard.
Bianca’s eyes flitted up towards the rooftop she was just on with those men, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips, as she lowered the hood of her assassin’s robes. “Heavens forbid some lowly commoner touch you! Whatever would we have done?” She exclaimed with a dramatic gasp that just made the Princess even angrier.
“This isn’t funny,” the princess fired back. “Just wait until my parents hear about this.”
Bianca was surprised when the threat wasn’t followed by a foot stop. Maybe the princess didn’t want to make too much of a scene in public. It’s not like she wore the clothes designated to disguise her status like Bianca wanted her to, though, that was something she was used to by now when it came to the girl she was bound to protect.
“Oh, sweet Isabella,” She purred the other girl’s name, watching her blush a pretty rose like she always did when the guard used the princess’s name instead of title. “So you’re going to admit to the King and Queen that you left the castle without their permission or letting any of the staff know? Penalizing me for stepping away for a few seconds is more important to you than the freedom you crave out here?”
Bianca extended her arms outward and waved them around to show the princess the freedoms she was referring to. And without waiting for a reply, she began walking towards the market, knowing the smaller girl would catch up.
It was only a second later before the princess’s curly head stood next to her shoulder, effortlessly falling in line with her. She smiled down at the other girl, but only received a huff in return. If she was honest, it was much more than she had expected.
Instead of attempting conversation with the moody princess at her side she held her tongue and looked out towards the market. It was lively today, hundreds of people milling about preparing to sell their wares and buy enough goods to feed their families for the week. All around them were women flocking about with their babies wrapped to their chest and their purchases in baskets atop their heads. Passerbys commented to each other about seeing the princess up close. One woman even commented how she was “even more handsome up close”. Bianca knew very well that all of these comments were going straight to the royal girl’s head.
A little girl left her mother’s side to approach them carefully. She was clearly nervous, but was too awed by seeing the kingdom’s beloved princess up so close to back down. She stopped in front of them, forcing both of them to stop in their tracks.
The girl was young - she was probably only about 5 years old. She wore a long, floral patterned dress with sandals on her feet and long, dark curly hair that framed her round face. This little girl was almost the spitting image of the princess when she was that age.
A lot changed in regards to the princess. When she was around 10, Isabella had come to the king and queen and declared she hated dresses. Bianca was coming upon her 13th birthday at the time and even though this occurred almost 10 years ago, she remembered the day like it was yesterday.
It was that same day that the king and queen had all of Isabella’s hair chopped off and had pants, shirts and jackets tailored for the young princess to wear from now on. The princess was always beautiful, but once she started to present herself in a way that made her feel more comfortable about not only herself, but also her place in the world, well that’s when Bianca really fell in love - at the young age of 13, when the girl she was born to protect became the most handsome girl she had ever seen.
Bianca was taken out of her thoughts when the young princess look-a-like finally spoke. “Princesa! When I grow big I want to be just like you!”
She had a wide, toothy grin on her face. Bianca chanced a glance to her companion and saw a similar smile reflected back.
“Thank you for your kind words, sweet child. If you put your mind to it, anything is possible.”
Bianca almost laughed at the princess’s words. She was always so kind to the public, it’s why they all loved her. But as they continued walking, she wasn’t surprised at all as the princess muttered under her breath something about the young girl’s dirty hands almost touching her.
“Don’t you worry, my sweet prince, I would never allow such filthy common hands to come into contact with you. If it were to ever happen, I expect my life shall be the cost.”
Isabella hid her face and grumbled, but Bianca was almost positive she saw a bright blush on the other girl’s cheeks.
---
They continued on through the market, stopping at some stands every now and then to purchase a few goods from the vendors. Most of the purchases were different foods that they both ate as they kept walking. It was a fun afternoon for the two of them, but Bianca could tell something was bothering the princess. She would normally wait for Isabella to come to her with whatever her concern was, but Bianca decided to chance it this time around.
“Is something bothering you, Princesa?”
Isabella looked up from a piece of jewelry she was analyzing to look at her companion.
“I don’t like being called a prince.” Her tone was soft, almost as if she were embarrassed. “I’m not a boy,” she paused to either think or collect herself, Bianca couldn’t tell which. “I’m a girl and I just...please don’t call me Prince again.” She looked up to Bianca, her big brown eyes filled with tears.
It was a well known secret within the castle walls that the princess was a giant crybaby, something that Bianca had laughed at her for many times. This was clearly not the time to laugh; this wasn’t the princess being overdramatic.
“I’m sorry, Princesa, that was insensitive of me, though my intentions were not to upset you. You’ve never minded me or your parents calling you this before so I’m wondering if this has to do with the interaction you had with the Princess of Hidora?”
At the mention of the other princess, Isabella visibly bristled, dropped the amulet she had been looking at, and kept walking through the market, leaving the assassin behind.
Bianca caught up easily enough and waited patiently for her companion to answer her question. About a week ago, the castle hosted three neighboring kingdoms for a small celebration. She never got the full story from the night, but apparently the Hidora princess was not too kind to her princess with regards to her appearance.
They had exited the market and were on their way back to the castle when Isabella finally spoke again in such a soft voice Bianca almost didn’t hear her. “She called me disgusting. She said,” She took a big breath of air into her lungs to prepare for her next words. “umm, she said that only men dress the way I do and style their hair like mine. A-and when I told her that I was a woman and that she was clearly wrong, she said my denial just made it worse.”
Bianca turned around to see Isabella had stopped walking. She stood a few feet behind, looking down with her fists clenched. When she finally looked up at Bianca there were big tears in her eyes just threatening to run down her cheeks. Bianca began walking back towards Isabella, hoping to catch those tears before they could fall.
“Do you think I’m disgusting?”
The question broke Bianca’s heart, but the tears that cascaded down the princess’s beautiful russet brown cheeks just crushed her even more. She rushed the few steps remaining and cupped the other girl’s face, wiping the tears away as they fell.
“My perfect, wonderful princess, nothing, and I mean this, nothing about you is disgusting. I may be biased, but you are the most handsome girl in all the kingdoms far and wide and not disgusting at all.”
The tears had stopped and a small smile was on the princess’s face, much to Bianca’s relief. Now that she really thought about the situation she was in, she felt a little silly. If her family from the assassin’s guild could see her now, softly embracing the girl she was sworn to protect from the shadows, she’d be ridiculed. But at this moment, she couldn’t care less. The girl she cared about more than anyone else in this world was hurt and it was her responsibility to tend to her wounds, even those of the heart.
“Thank you, Bianca.” The princess smiled up at her protector. “I hope to one day meet a woman to marry as kind and thoughtful as you.”
And there it was, the crushing blow. That wasn’t the first time Isabella had said the same exact thing to her. It was another terrible reminder that they would never be together. The assassin smiled through it, though, for the princess’s sake. No sense in bringing up something as pointless as the two of them finding love with each other.