As knights approached to defend her, Christina even supplying a barrier, Fanilly reached down with her free hand and took Princess Eliabelle's hand, pulling her to her feet. The Princess's eyes were wide with shock. Not only had someone tried to kill her, but someone had tried to kill her in a crowded party, seemingly without being noticed up until the very moment it happened. Fanilly internally feared she wouldn't have noticed if not for the image of the strange hat-wearing figure that had appeared moments before the assassination attempt. But this wasn't the time to dwell on that.

"What... who tried..." Eliabelle mumbled, trying to recover from the shock of an attempt having been made on her life.

"We don't know yet, your Highness," replied Fanilly, "But you're safe in here. It'll be difficult for anyone else to get through a barrier like this."

At least, Fanilly hoped so. Magic wasn't her strongsuit, but it looked sturdy. Especially after one of the panicking nobles had bounced off of it.

"Dame Christina, Sir Ian," she began, "Do you see anything else suspicious? If there's another assassin they'll probably try to act while everyone else is distracted."

"How did she get in...?" the Princess asked, taking a deep breath, "... W-well... at least the legendary Iron Roses were here."

The last note was a clear attempt to cheer herself up, at least.

[hr]

The assassin heard the air rushing behind her and darted immediately to the side. She glanced back only briefly in time to see a long, sharp blade slam down on the ground where she had occupied. So they were trying to kill her...? Well, it didn't matter. Nothing mattered, really. She'd failed. She didn't understand how someone had seen her before she'd done it, but the fact was she'd failed. The barrier she had glimpsed glistening around the Princess made it impossible to make another attempt...

The screaming girl hurled herself at her moments later, in a bid to tackle her. The attack was so wild it was almost difficult to react to, but she managed to sidestep, feeling the girl's hands just barely miss grasping her heel. Damn it. Most of the knights were likely faster then her, due to the simple fact they were larger... then again, it didn't really matter if she escaped, did it? She'd already failed.

Once again, an attack brought her out of her thoughts. A swiping blow towards her ankle? It was a hard target, given how much larger the attacker was, but the Assassin still knew it was a threat. She didn't have time to draw a weapon and deflect it... so she spun and put her hand in the way.

Now it was apparent, however, she was not simply sacrificing her hand to spare her leg. Her glove was studded with thick steel, allowing her to deflect some weapons with her hand. It was enough to stop this one, at the very least. The assassin's crimson eyes locked on her attacker, glaring, before she attempted to break away again.

Of course, this slowed down her escape attempt quite a bit...