Maverick continued wandering around the village after her finished playing with Hestia and her peers. He had forgotten that his father would soon awake from his slumber while he was away.
Maverick continued thinking about Hestia on his way. He wondered, "Will I ever see her again?"
He thought of Hestia as a friend.
Penelope walked around the village after the royal court member had announced the news to the whole village. She schemed of how she could protect herself from being exposed.
"That's it!" She thought silently. "I will disguise myself as a man for the time being until the guards have been removed from all the borders of Luopetia."
Penelope went into a small clothing store where she bought items fit for a man to disguise herself briefly.
She went to the counter to pay for her items and the lady at the counter, Mrs Jaya, did find it suspicious that she was buying men clothing.
"Buying clothes for your husband now, are you Holly?" She asked in an interrogative tone.
"Oh, yes. His birthday is coming up soon." Penelope replied sternly.
"But it's July and your husband's birthday was on February, wasn't it?"
"Why, yes. I totally forgot!"
"Then what are the clothes for?"
"Just buying him some extra. I felt like the ones I got him on his birthday weren't enough."
"What a sweet wife you are, Holly! Steven must be so very grateful for you."
"Yes, yes. I'm sure he is."
"And by the way Holly. Do you both have any children of your own yet?"
"Uh... N-no, I told you that I was barren before, haven't i?"
"Oh, yes. But why not adopt? There are many poor children from orphanages and fosters who need families. You and Steven would be great parents!"
"I would love to keep chatting but I must go now. Have a great day, Mrs Jaya."
"Alright, come again soon Holly. You know that you're my best customer!"
Penelope took the bag and speedily left Mrs Jaya's shop. She knew that Mrs Jaya was not buying her lies and suspected something deeper. That really irritated Penelope because there was no reason why Mrs Jaya could not believe her.
"Ugh, that woman doesn't like minding her own business." She muttered to herself.
Maverick all by himself, explored the remaining parts around town until he unexpectedly reached the gates of the royal palace.
He was marvelled by the exquisite structure of the palace and two guards who were standing at the palace gates noticed him staring as if he was lost.
"Hey, kid." One of them said. "Are you lost?"
"No, I'm just admiring the palace." Maverick replied. "It's beautiful."
The guards turned to eachother and laughed hysterically.
"Beautiful?" The second guard repeated. "You've surely got a good sight for good things, kid. But where are your parents?"
"I came here on my own, since my parents would not allow me to even step foot into this village." Maverick replied.
"You're not from this village?" The first guards asked. "Then where did you come from?"
"The forest." Maverick replied.
The guards looked flabbergasted for a moment. They were almost to shocked to speak.
They whispered to eachother for a while, but it was loud enough for Maverick to hear.
"Come to think of it, this kid is very identical to the princess who went missing six years ago with that commoner." The first guard began. "Just look at his orange hair and his blue eyes. He looks like a carbon copy of the princess herself!"
"It is true." The second guard said. "What if this is the princesses son?"
"No way! Let's confirm first." The first guard said.
They abruptly faced Maverick who was gazing at them in wonder.
"Hey, just as question... But how old are you exactly?" The first guard questioned him.
"I'm six years of age." Maverick replied.
The guards gasped.
"What are the names of your parents?" The second guard asked Maverick.
"Steven and Holly." Maverick replied.
The guards turned to eachother in surprise.
"Could it be that she changed her name? The princess is very wise after all." The second guard said.
"That must be the answer." The first guard said. "This boy should be her son."
"So what are we going to do with him?" The second guard asked.
"He told us that he lived in a forest so..." The first guard said.
They both asked Maverick which forest he dwelled in and Maverick pointed to the forest on the west side of Luopetia.
The guards nodded at eachother until suddenly, a carriage pulled up and a royal salutation was prepared for the person coming out from the carriage in seconds.
Maverick watched immensely as king Alez stepped out of the carriage and walked through the guards salutation.
King Alez caught Maverick's eye and he instantly was astonished by how similar the boy looked to Penelope.
The image never flew out of Alez's head as he stepped into the palace courtroom where the king and queen were seated in awe.
They were not expecting Alez to be back so soon.
"King Alez, we were not expecting your arrival so soon." King Ulric exclaimed. "W-we are still working on the princesses case, you see."
"I wonder how long it will take for you to just find princess Penelope." Alez said in fury. "I heard of your new decree. You think that Penelope would come to the palace because of a royal decree for all ladies!? It will shock you that she will just disguise herself as a man to escape from that decree. Why continue being such a fool king Ulric? You still cannot find your own daughter for the past six years and this is the best you can do?"
"N-n-no, king Alez... I'm doing my best, surely she will show up at the palace tomorrow." King Ulric said in fear.
"Why not use her weaknesses against her instead of all these rampant ideas you keep on scheming?" King Alez suggested. "I'm running out of patience here. I need Penelope as my wife before I loose it and tear Luopetia apart!"
"A-Alez, please calm down..." Queen Amber pleaded.
"Penelope loves her mother more than anything in this world so why not use her as bait to lure her to the palace?" Alez said. "Simply fake queen Amber's death and Penelope will be so heartbroken that she'll appear at the palace to lament her mother's death, do I not have a point?"
"You certainly do, king Alez." King Ulric said.
"And if this plan should fail... Consider Luopetia as a fallen kingdom. I will be back by tomorrow morning for the gathering of the ladies."
Alez coldly walked out of the courtroom leaving king Ulric and queen Amber in fright by his threats.
Maverick who was still speaking with the guards outside the palace suddenly felt someone grab his wrist tightly. And to his horror, he came face to face with his mother who was looking down at him furiously.
"Maverick! Where have you been? I was worried sick when I returned to the cabin and your father said he couldn't find you." Penelope yelled furiously.
"I was just exploring the village." Maverick replied innocently. "You never let me leave the forest."
"Now is not the time to talk about this here, Maverick. What on earth were you thinking?" Penelope saying that, faced the guards and said, "Thank you for looking after him."
The guards saluted her as she dragged Maverick away with her.
The guards both thought, "She is definitely our princess."