yemalu

"Umm… Katsuki?" I called out to her while dressed in pyjamas.

"You wish to sneak into the palace and take the princess out with you to the shop that would be selling Trasif sweets tonight."

"Oh, you overheard us?"

"I would never do something that rude, Mistress. I had assumed that this was the reason since the direction of the balcony was facing towards the city\'s market street where a store was already known for putting up such an event. Judging by how the princess was already training under Odeta, I came to the conclusion that she must have gained enough confidence to ask Mistress to escort her to that store so that both of you could enjoy the sweets."

So she managed to deduce our plan just from that? As expected of Katsuki!

Ahhhh! She\'s so cute so I couldn\'t help myself and went to fluff her tail~

Ehehehe~ Fluff fluff~

"Nnghhh… Did… Did I perhaps… Umm... Upset Mistress?" Katsuki asked, sounding concerned.

"Hmm? Not at all, why do you ask?"

"I… I thought Mistress was punishing me…"

I looked down at the tail I was fluffing, "Oh this? You were just so cute so I couldn\'t help myself~ And your tail is just so fluffy!"

"Tha… Thank you, Mistress…"

Aww, she\'s embarrassed~ So cuuute~

I fluffed her for a good minute before separating myself from her.

"Ahem… So as you have guessed, I\'m going to find the princess tonight and bring her with me to go eat some sweets. Since I\'m worried that I may not be enough to protect her if some people were to try and hurt her… But she wanted this to be a secret so…"

She bowed, "Understood Mistress, I shall let Head Maid assign a few more people to accompany Mistress in the shadows. I will also inform Aria as well as the king and queen of this plan."

"Eh? Is there a need to let the king and queen know about this as well?"

"Of course, Mistress. It would not be good if they were to think something happened to the princess and rouse the Royal Guard to search for her."

"Mmm… I see, in that case, that would help a lot, Katsuki, thank you!"

"You honour me, Mistress. I have also taken the liberty to prepare a set of clothes as well as a cloak for Mistress and the princess each to better hide your identities."

As expected of Katsuki, she\'s as efficient as always~

She quickly helped me out of my pyjamas to change into the clothes she had prepared for me.

Instead of a dress, it was a relatively simple but still fashionable set of shirt and trousers that was easy to move in. Of course, the [Mask Of Impossible Identity] was also part of my outfit tonight.

"I assume Mistress is planning to fly towards the palace?" Katsuki asked, now moving on to brush my hair.

"Mmhmm… Don\'t tell me there\'s some kind of barrier that prevents people from flying in?"

"That is correct, Mistress. I would suggest just approaching the main gates and walking in normally."

"Unn… But how am I supposed to prove my identity to the guards?"

"You do not need to Mistress. I have already informed them that you would be arriving."

My eyes widened at her, "Eh? When?!"

"When we left the palace, Mistress."

That means she was already making preparations for me that early? As expected of Katsuki!

All dressed, I went towards the window and took a moment to look back at Katsuki, "I\'ll be off!"

"Please take care, Mistress," She bowed.

I leapt out of the window and let my wings explode out from my back, flapping them to fly me towards the direction of the palace.

As I neared the gates, I tucked my wings and dived towards the ground, flaring them again at the last moment to slow down my descent and land in front of the guards.

All of them pulled out their weapons and went on alert, only to quickly sheathe them at the very next moment to bow at me.

"Forgive us for our rudeness, Young Mistress Nilm!"

As Katsuki had said, they knew it was me despite the fact that I\'m wearing this mask. Perhaps only the Nilm family has this mask? And since they were already informed ahead of time about my arrival, they had no question who it was that appeared in front of them.

Well who cares? As long as I can go and take the princess out to eat sweets without any problems~

I waved at the guards, "Don\'t worry about it. But where should I sneak the princess in and out of?"

One of them gestured towards the side of the gate where a ladder laid propped up against the wall, "Please get in by there, Young Mistress Nilm. You do not need to worry about the guards inside as well."

I couldn\'t help but giggle at the set up they did to keep the princess from figuring out that everyone else knew about her \'sneaky\' plan.

"No need for the ladder, I can just jump over the wall on my own."

"As you wish, Young Mistress Nilm. I was also instructed to inform you that a detachment of Royal Guards would also be accompanying you incognito from a distance, please give a shout if you require assistance, although I doubt that would be necessary."

I\'m not sure if his last comment was suggesting that there wouldn\'t be any trouble or that he trusts me to be able to handle anything that comes our way?

I guess it should be the latter.

Two of the guards removed the ladder from the wall that was two stories high before I jumped up, using my wings to propel myself a little higher just enough to clear the wall.

I landed on the other side without any problems and I wondered how the anti-flying barrier worked since it did not block me from jumping over it.

Was it only active at a certain height or can it detect that you\'re flying and prevent you from going over the wall?

Does this mean that people can just bring a tall ladder or even jump over the wall if they want to?

Argh, why do I care anyway? I\'m just here to bring the princess out for sweets! So eyes on the prize!

I strolled through the palace grounds and through the gardens, not even bothering to try and hide myself since there was no need for that yet.

Interestingly, I did not come across any guards even like this.

I did have to walk through the guard house to reach the tower and the guards inside were positioned in such a way that their backs were facing me, most likely on purpose.

I reached the bottom of the tower easily enough without anyone stopping me, though I was relatively surprised to see Aria there waiting for me.

Katsuki should have already told her about the plan but I thought she would just let it happen without meeting me at all.

"Good evening, Young Mistress Nilm. I assume you are here to sneak the princess out into the city?"

"Mmhmm… Are you going to stop me or something?"

"By the Gods, no. I am merely here just to pass this to Young Mistress Nilm."

She pulled out two small silver coins before handing it to me.

I looked down at what was basically two hundred Creas, "What\'s this for?"

"It\'s just spending money for you and the princess. Since Young Mistress Nilm is going out of your way to entertain our princess, it would be unthinkable that you have to bear the financial cost as well. Thus, please accept this as a token from the Royal Family as thanks."

"I mean… We\'re just going out for some sweets… I don\'t think we\'ll even spend an entire Crea in that shop… It\'s not for nobles you know? A cookie there is probably only one or two Decreas at most?"

She smiled, "As I said, this is also a token of our thanks for entertaining our Princess, Young Mistress Nilm."

I shrugged and pocketed the coins, "I\'ll accept it then. Shall I go pick up the Princess now?"

"Of course. We leave her in your care."

I sprouted my wings and leapt into the air, flying up to the balcony where I found the doors left wide open.

My feet touched the ground without a sound, yet the Princess must have been watching the balcony this entire time since she immediately rushed out from behind the doors to hug me.

"Big sister! You\'re here! You\'re here! Let\'s go!!"

So cute~

I pulled out the extra cloak that Katsuki had prepared for us, "Put this on first and I\'ll sneak you out~"

"Wow! Big sister prepared this for me? I\'ll definitely cherish this!!"

It\'s just a normal cloak to hide your face…

She quickly put on the cloak and even did a twirl in it, "How do I look, big sister? Do I look like you?"

As I said… It\'s just a brown piece of cloth with a hood that covers your face, Princess… But I humoured her anyway and nodded before pulling my own hood up over my head.

"You do, princess~ Now let\'s go before the cookies are all sold out. Are you ready to sneak out of here?"

"Yes! Let\'s go! Let\'s go!"

I picked the Princess up in a princess carry before leaping off the balcony.

Wait for us, sweets, we\'re coming for you!