The maid took Ning to an open living room. The room had light coming in from the giant windows and was brightly lit. There were 4 sofas in the middle, all surrounding a single massive glass table that had a flower vase at the center. Directly above the table was a beautiful chandelier hanging from the patterned, white ceiling. Ning sat on one of the tables and looked around at the walls. There were different drawings on them, all belonging to various men and women he had no way of recognizing. Directly in front of Ning on the wall was the biggest drawing of all. In the drawing was a man holding a sword directly through a beast's chest. The man had golden hair and had a well-built body. As for the beast, it looked like a lion, but there were purple cracks all over its skin. The drawing was meant to represent a sense of glory and victory, and Ning could feel that coming off of the painting. 'That must be Emperor Kron who defeated the invading beasts from the empire,' Ning thought. From yesterday's theater play, he remembered that the Emperor used swords, so it was quite easy to recognize him. 'Blonde hair… is that why he became the emperor?' he wondered. Footsteps rang out from outside the door, and Ning looked to see the old man named Tim walking into the room. "Sorry to keep you waiting for so long," the old man said as he entered. "It's fine. Are the two doing okay? Are they settled?" Ning asked. "The princess should be fine settling down, it's her home after all. However, the prince consort might need a little more time," the old man said. "Oh that's good," Ning said. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢 "May I know your name?" the old man asked. "It's Ning. Ning Ruogong," Ning replied. "Ning… Ruogong? I'm afraid that's a name I have never heard of before," the old man said. "It's fine. I'm not a citizen of your empire or anywhere close by. So it's obvious," Ning said. "I see, Mr. Ning. Thank you for helping to bring the princess back all the way here," the old man said with a bow. "No problem," Ning said. "How would you like to get paid?" the old man then asked. "Sorry?" Ning was caught off-guard. "The payment. I doubt you are fine with what the princess promised to pay you. How would you like to get paid?" the old man asked. "Oh, I'm not doing it for the money. They are my friend, so I was just helping them," Ning said. "No way. Please tell us what you would like to get paid with. Money? Land? Title? If it's possible, I will hand it to you," the old man said. "I'm not joking. I really don't need any form of payment," Ning said. "Ah," the old man said as if he understood something. "You must be of the sense that you could stay with the princess and get closer with the royal family. I must disappoint you, mister Ning. After you take your payment here, you are to leave the premises and never return to the princess again." "The royal family has much better guards than you, so you will no longer be needed," the old man said. "Oh," Ning said. He didn't expect to be thrown out so quickly. He was expecting to be welcomed to stay since Lisa was the one who brought her in. "Call Lis— I mean, Princess Elizabeth. She will tell you to keep me around," Ning said. "I'm afraid I cannot do that," the old man said. "You will have to take your pay and leave." "But I was specially asked by your princess to protect her. Are you going against her wishes?" Ning asked. "We respect the princess's wishes, but we will go against them when it comes to her security. We can't let a random guard stay around her at all, so I must ask that you tell me what you want to be paid with so that I can send you away without you keeping any bad feelings towards the royal family," the old man said. "You really won't let me stay even if the princess wants me to?" Ning asked to confirm. "I'm afraid not," the old man said. Ning sighed. "Very well then. I will be leaving," Ning said and stood up from his seat. "Eh? What about your payment?" the old man asked. "I told you, I don't need any," Ning said. "Are you… for real?" the old man asked. He hadn't expected Ning to not ask for anything in return for safely bringing the princess to the palace. "No, I don't need anything," Ning said. "Although, I would like to know something." "What is it?" the old man asked. "If I wanted to be the princess's guard, what would I have to do?" Ning asked. "We only employ people above Aether Magister that are certified from the tower. Anyone less cannot work as a guard, especially not one for someone so important like the princess herself," the old man said. "I see. Aether Magister huh? I guess I will have to go to the tower now then," Ning said. "Thank you, I will be leaving now," Ning said and walked out. The old man looked dumbfounded. Still, he snapped out of his shock and asked the guards inside the palace to show Ning the way out. They brought Ning all the way out to the gate and let him go out. Ning sighed as he walked out of the gates and looked around. He wasn't in a location where he could simply catch a vehicle out of here. He looked at the surroundings and it was still late morning, so he didn't even want to take a vehicle out of here. He walked his way out of the Royal Palace area until he made it to the Noble square. Then, he roamed the streets until he went past the government building, the middle-class area, and finally entered the commercial area once again. "Let's find me a place to stay for now."