“Hehe, what a fragrant wine. Why don’t we sneak a taste?”

The speaker was casual, but the listeners were on edge. Inside the wine barrel, the two were already startled, their hearts pounding. Julius Caesar’s mouth was being covered by a soft, delicate hand. He wanted to struggle, but as soon as he smelled that fragrant aroma, his body went limp. The other person didn’t notice any of this at all—who would have thought there was a kindred spirit hiding here?

Could this be the legendary girl?

Julius Caesar had heard the old man talk about it many times. He’d seen some female mercenaries in the tavern, but they were nothing like the girls he’d imagined—worlds apart. Yet his intuition told him that the person opposite him was exactly the kind of girl the old man had described.

Just thinking about this made Julius Caesar’s heart beat even faster. The barrel was big, but still a bit cramped for two children. He never expected his first encounter with a girl would be such close contact.

The two guards didn’t dare steal a drink at this moment. After a bit of joking around, they left. The two inside the barrel both breathed a sigh of relief. Eleanor also realized something was off—how could she casually touch a male? That was against princess etiquette... Wait, she probably wasn’t supposed to be a princess right now, was she?

The barrel lid flew open. A glowing orb appeared in Eleanor’s hand, and Julius Caesar slowly stood up. When he saw Eleanor, he felt like he could hardly breathe.

Yin and yang attract—this is the law of all things. Julius Caesar had heard countless prince and princess romances from the old man. At the very first sight of Eleanor, a seed was planted in his heart.

“Hello, I’m Eleanor.”

Judging by the look, the other seemed to be a She’ou commoner. People like this usually didn’t even have the right to see a princess, let alone get this close. But at this moment, Eleanor found the other’s awkwardness to be quite adorable.

“I, I, my name is...”

Julius Caesar wanted to act a bit more composed, but his usually sharp tongue failed him at the crucial moment.

Pfft—Eleanor couldn’t help but laugh out loud. What an amusing She’ou boy. It seemed her life on the run might turn out to be quite interesting.

That laugh, instead, awakened the indelible pride in Julius Caesar’s bones. “We are both wanderers in a strange land. Why insist on knowing each other’s names? A name is just a code, after all.”

She had thought he was just a silly boy, but the sudden change stunned Eleanor. Even though it was just a fleeting moment, the person before her seemed so imposing. “We are both wanderers in a strange land. Why insist on knowing each other’s names?”—what a beautiful line of poetry. She’d never heard it before.

Suddenly, Eleanor gently kissed Julius Caesar on the forehead, leaving Julius Caesar completely petrified, as if struck by a stone spell!

A kiss? Kissing a girl?!

In truth, this was nothing like a real kiss—worlds apart. It was just a kind of etiquette a princess would show to her closest kin. But for our little Julius Caesar, this was already more than enough excitement.

“Why did you k-kiss me?” Julius Caesar asked dumbly.

Much later, whenever he recalled this scene, Julius Caesar would complain: if the sea god Poseidon could give him another chance, he would...

Impulsively, Eleanor also felt she’d been a bit improper. This etiquette was something she’d only ever used with her sisters and mother. But seeing Julius Caesar’s silly look, and his even sillier question, she couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

In the five minutes she’d known him, she laughed more happily than ever before.

In the five minutes he’d known her, he suddenly found a goal and purpose in life.

Chapter 3: The Princess in Search of Freedom (Part 1)

When fate arrives, even the greatest obstacles are as fragile as bubbles.

“You’re a runaway palace maid, aren’t you?” Julius Caesar eyed the little girl in front of him, who was about his age, trying his best to show off his presence. The old man had said that a man must be imposing when facing a woman, so he was making an effort to puff out his “chest muscles.”

“You’re a runaway servant. We really are fated, aren’t we? Why don’t we escape together?”

Julius Caesar couldn’t help scratching his head. He wanted to act cool, but all he knew was that he’d been carried into the palace—only the heavens knew the rest.

Judging by his appearance, Eleanor could guess most of it. Looking at this She’ou boy’s build, he was probably one of the powerless ones. She’ou warriors were usually large and had hard shell armor on their bodies, but this boy only had a bit on his head, and it wasn’t even obvious. In the current society, powerless commoners didn’t have it easy. Most would end up as water farmers or menial laborers. Being able to keep his status as a commoner was already pretty good. For some reason, thinking of this made Eleanor a little angry.

But Julius Caesar didn’t think that much. After what Eleanor said, he suddenly remembered the five hundred gold coin debt. The boss had probably already figured out he was the culprit. His only option now was to escape back to the Bermuda Death Sea—then he’d be safe. As for the gold coins, he’d have to ask the old man for help. After all, he’d drunk the wine too.

“Alright, let’s escape together... Your headscarf looks really nice.”

Eleanor was speechless. At a time like this, he still had the mind to care about her headscarf. Before escaping, she’d already changed into a palace maid’s outfit, but the dragon horns on her head, symbolizing the Sea Dragon royal family, were still very conspicuous, so she’d tied them up with a headscarf.