The Dragon King's Heart

Lady Rina got up from her seat, meeting Laina at eye level as she spoke, "I came at your invitation out of the respect I have for the title you hold, your Highness. Nothing more. But I will not stand for such an insult!"

"Insult?" Laina echoed, "Please enlighten me, Lady Rina. How have I insulted you?"

Lady Rina's lips twitched a little. In terms of age, the Crown Princess was young enough to be her own daughter yet she was speaking to her as an equal. Indeed their social classes were different but she was not about to let Laina walk all over her. 

"Where do I even begin, your Highness? I can overlook your lack of appreciation for the traditions this Kingdom is built upon. After all, it is impossible to have progressed in our Kingdom without new ideas. 

But taking in an unknown feral child as your ward? You might as well have spat in all of our faces."

"First you said street urchin, now feral? Don't you think you're crossing the line, Lady Rina?" Laina warned. 

But the noblewoman was not about to bag down. Amidst their tense standoff, some of the guards had returned from their search. 

"Any luck?" Laina turned to ask. 

The leader of the guards shook her head, "No, your Highness, we have not located her just yet."

"Perhaps she might have been kidnapped, or worse," Lady Rina muttered to herself. 

Laina gritted her teeth in anger. She heard what Lady Rina said. She turned over to her, glaring at her. 

"Perhaps you are the one who arranged the kidnapping?" 

Lady Rina's expression grew dark with rage. Never in her life had she been this insulted. She did not care if Laina was the Crown Princess or not. She would not accept this false accusation. 

"I will not stand here and be accused of such a preposterous notion! I am leaving."

But before she could get far, Laina ordered the guards to stop them. This caused the guards that Lady Rina and the other nobles had brought along with them to draw their weapons too. Margaret was notified of the situation. 

She immediately abandoned the search to run back to Laina's side. She was surprised to find how things had escalated. She had to do something. Margaret stood between the nobles and Laina. 

"I think there's been a misunderstanding. Perhaps we should all take a step back and look at this calmly," Margaret said to both parties. 

"Misunderstanding? I think the Crown Princess made it quite clear. She's accused us of being criminals!" Lady Rina declared in anger. 

The other nobles rallied behind her for support. Margaret gulped. She looked over to the noble children. They were terrified, looking at how things unfolded.

"If you are indeed innocent, as you say, then you should have no qualms with staying here until Colette is found," Laina remarked. 

From afar, Colette hid herself in a tree to avoid being found while she observed what transpired between Laina and the nobles. Things were going better than she had anticipated. She was thrilled to have caused discord. 

The bigger the rift between Laina and the nobles, the better. As more guards returned from their search, no one found Colette just yet. Growing increasingly anxious, Laina decided to join the search herself. 

Blindly searching through the entire garden would take too long, there was so much ground to cover. An idea popped into her mind. Laina sang a special call. The nobles thought the Crown Princess had gone mad. 

What could she possibly be calling out to?

Moments later, they had their question answered. From a distance, loud barking could be heard as a fast-moving creature made headway towards them. As it got closer and closer, everyone soon realized who it was. 

It was Titan! 

As soon as Titan arrived, he sat down obediently in front of Laina. He looked up at her with his large fiery brown eyes, waiting for her instructions. Laina crouched down to meet Titan at eye level. 

While she gave him a few pats on his head and rubbed his cheeks, she whispered into his ear. 

"Find Colette." 

Immediately, Titan sprung into action. Margaret brought him a toy that Colette had been playing with before and immediately he caught hold of her scent. Without any hesitation, he made his way towards the hedge maze. 

Laina followed suit. 

As they made their way through the maze, Titan would occasionally wait for Laina to catch up with him.

Colette, who had seen Laina joining the 'hunt' from afar, decided it was time to end her little game. But even then, she was not about to make it easy for Laina to find her. But with Titan by her side, it was difficult for her to remain hidden. 

So, the hedge maze was the perfect cover. By the time they reached the center of the maze, Laina and Titan found Colette seated under a large tree crying. Despite Titan's dislike for Colette, he did not growl at her this time around. 

Laina rushed forward to pick Colette up in her arms. 

"Lai… La… Laina!" Colette cried her little heart out, rubbing her eyes constantly till they were red. 

Laina consoled her, "I'm here Colette, I'm here. We were worried sick trying to find you! Thank the heavens we found you!"

The Crown Princess heaved a sigh of relief. She reached her hand down and gave Titan a good pat. 

"Good work, Titan. I owe you one," she said to her trustworthy companion. 

Titan responded with a bright bark as he wagged his tail. 

"What were you doing in the middle of the maze Colette? We were worried sick about you," Laina asked the child as she wiped away her tears. 

"I… I…" Colette continued with tears streaming down her eyes. 

She produced the two flower crowns she had weaved from the flowers she had picked earlier. Laina understood immediately. 

"You wandered off to get flowers to make these for us?" 

Colette nodded as she rubbed her eyes. Laina could see the cuts and wounds on the poor child's hands. She had hurt herself while picking flowers and still put in the effort to make these flower crowns?

This child was just too precious!

Laina hugged her tightly in her embrace, "Oh you're such a sweet little thing! You didn't have to do any of this!"

As they made their way back to the palace, Laina said to Colette, whom she still carried in her arms, "Colette, next time you want to make flower crowns, just tell me. We can go pick them together! 

No more wandering on your own, alright?" 

Colette nodded, "I promise! No more wandering off on my own!"

Laina nodded. She brought up her pinky finger to Colette. 

"Do you pinky promise?" Laina asked the sweet child. 

Colette gave the princess the brightest smile as she hooked her own pinky finger onto Laina's and declared loudly, "I pinky promise!"