On the third day of the Assembly, we were supposed to attend a ball. I ate breakfast, and then my brother Keith visited me in my room. He said he wanted to check on how things had been yesterday, since we were separated for the whole day.
He kept asking me whether I’d done anything wrong, whether I’d caused any trouble, and so on. He sounded so much like a mother worrying about her problematic daughter that I almost accidentally called him “Mom.”
I told him that the day had gone by without a hitch, and that all I had done was answer questions about him.
“Ladies really do like that kind of topic,” he said, smiling wryly. He was always approached by girls so aggressively that he now hated even hearing about it.
“Wasn’t there anything like that amongst the men?” I asked him.
“Most people were talking about trade and politics. But the youngest ones were commenting on the girls, too. They said there are a lot of pretty ones,” he replied.
“So that happens at the guys’ gatherings too, huh?”
Two days before, Mary and Sophia had received the advances of some men. It made sense that men would talk about girls too, then.
“Yes,” Keith told me as I was deep in thought, “and they even talked about Maria.”
“Maria? What?” Why were they talking about a girl who wasn’t even participating in the Assembly?
“Even if she isn’t appearing in any public gathering, some people still saw her working as a maid. Rumors of a beautiful maid with blonde hair and blue eyes are already going around.”
She was so pretty that people always noticed her, so rumors were unavoidable. But, even if her mission wasn’t top secret, it was still classified. All that attention couldn’t be good for her.
“I wonder if she’ll be okay…” I whispered to myself.
“Maria can handle herself much better than you, so there’s nothing to worry about. The others and I will take care of helping her, so you make sure not to do anything. You risk making life even more difficult for her.”
I had to admit that trouble had a tendency to follow me around, so he was right. I nodded.
“See you at the ball then. Listen to what the servants say and make sure to prepare yourself properly,” Keith said, again sounding like our mother, before leaving me alone to prepare.
I thought of Maria. After passing out, dreaming, and learning that the Assembly was part of the game, I found relief in the fact that it wouldn’t concern me, at least.
But as for Maria… anything could happen. Maybe she was going to have some kind of romantic encounter with Jeord, Keith, or another one of the love interests… But Keith sounded like he hadn’t seen her directly.
I had no idea how things had been playing out, and while I wanted to ask Maria about it, I didn’t even know what part of the castle she was working in.
Anyway, even if I didn’t know what kind of event the game had in store, I knew that the villainess Katarina had nothing to do with it.
I must forget about that and concentrate on the ball!
I stuffed my mouth with the bread that was prepared for my breakfast in an attempt to get myself in the right mindset. Then, with my stomach full of carbohydrates, I started preparing for the ball.
This was nothing new, but the preparations that noble ladies had to go through before they could join this kind of event took way too much time.
“Young miss, please look up. No, just with your head.”
I was surrounded by servants who were cleansing my skin, putting on makeup, and whatnot. It had been almost three years since my first ball, so I was used to staying still while they fixed me up.
I just needed to sit there, and they’d take care of everything. After a few hours of daydreaming, I was told that I was ready, and that it was almost time for the ball.
That was when Jeord came to escort me to the dance hall. Being a prince, he was extremely busy during the Assembly, so I hadn’t seen him for the past two days.
“O beautiful fiancée of mine, finally we can be together,” he said, offering me his hand elegantly as he always did.
I greeted him with a curtsy, as a lady is expected to do, and took his hand. Lately Jeord had been very forward with his advances, but he controlled himself now that we were in the middle of an important international event. His lines were flirty, but his behavior was tamer than usual.
“Stay out of trouble, do not get involved in anything that does not concern you, and try to remain where I can see you,” he told me with a serious look in his eyes.
“I will,” I replied, surprised to see him with that kind of expression.
He then escorted me all the way into the largest hall in the castle, already full of people from all the neighboring countries. The international atmosphere was the same as on the previous days, but the scale was much bigger — most of the nobles and royalty participating in the Assembly were there for the ball.
As Sorcié was the richest and safest country in the region, this year’s Assembly had even more participants than usual, or so I’d been told. In fact there were so many people that I couldn’t even find Keith and the others.
As I was looking around for my friends, Jeord was quickly surrounded by a group of people. Everyone wanted to greet him, as he was one of the princes of the host country. As his fiancée I had to stay by his side, smiling at everyone.
Eventually, we were joined by Jeord’s two older brothers with their respective fiancées. I hadn’t seen any of them since the start of the Assembly.
“You’re doing great, Jeord! But if you need anything, know that you can count on your older brother, okay?” said Jeffrey, the oldest prince, sounding as casual as usual.
“And you can count on me, Lady Katarina,” Susanna, his future wife, told me.
On the other hand the second-born prince, Ian, looked stern and serious. “I see the greetings are going well. Have there been any issues?” he asked Jeord.
Selena, Ian’s fiancée, greeted me with an elegant curtsy and a small, friendly smile.
Jeord’s two older brothers couldn’t look more different from each other: one of them was always laughing and joking around, and the other was always silent and dead serious.
Even after parting with them, the greetings were far from over. We were expecting Mary and Alan to come greet us too, but they seemed to be busy elsewhere, and I was starting to get tired.
“You seem fatigued,” said Jeord. “There are refreshments on that side of the hall, so you should go there and rest.”
He was right, and what’s more, I’d been so busy preparing for the ball that I hadn’t had time to get a proper lunch. I was starving.
“Yes. I won’t be long,” I said, extremely grateful, and elegantly left Jeord to head towards the refreshments.
“Stay where I can see you and refrain from doing anything improper,” he whispered to me as I walked away.
I nodded, but I also asked myself if Jeord had been infected with sounding-like-my-mother-itis from Keith.
Despite all the people present in the hall, the refreshment space wasn’t that crowded. It didn’t look like many people were dancing, either. Everyone was probably busy greeting or trading information with each other, which, after all, was kind of the whole point.
Thanking my good luck for having most of the buffet to myself, I started placing one delicacy after the other on my dish and then started to eat happily. The castle’s cuisine was always delicious, but today’s was incredible. I felt like I was putting tasty works of art in my mouth. Fresh seafood in marinade, tender, juicy meat, colorful desserts…
Haaah, it’s all so tasty. As the food melts in my mouth, I can feel the tiredness melt away from my heart…
While enjoying the buffet, I looked out of the window and noticed that some people had left the hall for the courtyard. Now that I looked around better, I noticed that you could go directly into the garden from the terrace connected to this hall. The door was open, inviting the people who had been in the stuffy, crowded room to breathe in fresh air.
Weather-wise it was a perfect night, not too cold and not too hot, so I also wanted to step into the garden for a bit.
If only Jeord hadn’t told me to stay where he could see me… but just stepping out and back in wouldn’t hurt, right? Just for a second.
I was thinking whether to go or not, looking out at the garden, when I noticed a familiar figure walking across my vision.
What’s she doing here, and why is she in such a hurry? I thought, seeing Maria running through the garden in her maid clothes.
I kept looking in that direction, and I noticed two men, who looked like foreign nobles, running after her. I hurried to the garden, chasing after the three of them.
Judging from how frantically Maria was running, and how creepily those two men were grinning, I had to conclude that she was being chased by them.
I wondered what had happened, and whether she was okay. But when I reached the garden, she had already gone so far that I couldn’t see her anymore.
Where did she go? Is she somewhere else? Oh? There’s someone there!
After running for a while, I noticed someone behind a bush, and approached it in the hope that that person was Maria. Unfortunately, it was a pair of middle-aged men I’d never seen before.
These clearly overweight, oafish-looking men weren’t even the ones that were going after Maria. I was ready to go back to running after my friend, but then I heard their conversation.
“So I can buy magic-using children in that harbor?”
“Yes. But it’s illegal, so I hear they’re very expensive.”
“These Sorcié people, stubborn as always. Why’d they ban trading children?”
What did they just say?!
I ended up hearing something I would have been much better off not hearing. And I realized that, if they realized that I’d heard them, things would get even worse.
I tried to leave, but I was so nervous that I accidentally brushed against the bush, making a very loud noise.
“Who’s there?!” shouted one of the men.
I was scared and wanted to run away, but my body didn’t move. As I stood still, I saw an arm coming out of a different bush, grabbing me and pulling me inside while I offered no resistance.
After I disappeared between the leaves, the men started walking around, looking for the source of the noise.
“There’s nobody here… I must have imagined it.”
“We’re getting too tense from talking about this kind of stuff. There’s no way anyone would come here, so far away from the hall, but I’m still nervous. Let’s continue this conversation in my room.”
After exchanging these words, the two men started walking back towards the hall.
I let out a sigh of relief. I somehow managed to escape.
“Thank you,” I said, turning around to see who it was that had pulled me to safety.
“What?! Cezar?!” I shouted in surprise at seeing his face.
However, he looked nothing like the man who was telling me stories in the garden on the previous day. His wild hair was combed and straightened, and his clothes were that of a foreign noble.
I realized that it was him because I was staring at his face from such a close range, but I probably wouldn’t have noticed just from greeting him at the ball. He looked that different.
“Cezar, why do you look like this? And those clothes…”
I’ve never seen a servant looking like this…
“Right back at you, Katarina…” he said, looking at me with a confused expression.
That’s right! I’ve always met him after changing into my comfortable clothes and removing my makeup! After the maids have worked their magic on me, I must look completely different too.
“That would be, well… Anyway, did you hear those guys earlier? Is it just me or were they talking about some scary stuff?”
I couldn’t come up with any good excuse, so I just changed the topic.
“They were talking about human trafficking, yes,” he said. From the way he picked up the opportunity to talk about something else, it was clear that he’d been hiding something too.
“Truffy King…? Oh, trafficking? The crime of trading people?!”
I looked at him in shock, and he stared back at me as if I was missing the most obvious thing in the world. “I mean, you heard them, right?”
“I know, but… human trafficking is forbidden in Sorcié!”
“Sure it is, since your country is so safe and wealthy. But the same doesn’t apply everywhere.”
He was right. I hadn’t learned about that in the seminar, but Sora had told me about that kind of thing in the past. I had just forgotten about things like this because they didn’t happen in a country as peaceful as ours.
“Of course, it’s forbidden in most other countries, in theory,” he went on, “but in a lot of places, the authorities turn a blind eye to it. Even in Ethenell, the ban on human trafficking only started being enforced when the new king took the throne.”
I thought that human trafficking, even abroad, was a very rare thing. Knowing that it was that widespread made me so sad I could feel my chest aching.
“This seems to be the first time you’ve heard about it. It must be because you’ve been brought up in Sorcié.”
“…Yes. I only knew that it was forbidden, and even if I knew that some places still did it, I imagined it was a very minor problem… I was so ignorant.”
“That’s normal — people don’t go around saying that they traffic human lives, and sticking your nose into the affairs of other countries could even lead to diplomatic problems. But judging from what those guys said, the children being trafficked are from Sorcié,” he said with a stern expression on his face.
“Really?!” I asked, surprised.
“Weren’t you listening?” he asked, more surprised.
“Actually I wasn’t eavesdropping or anything, I just happened to catch some parts by coincidence. You heard the whole thing, right? Could you explain it to me?”
As he had told me, I couldn’t really do anything about human trafficking in other countries, regardless of how sad I felt about it. But maybe if it was happening here in Sorcié, where it was strictly forbidden, I could do something to help.
I looked Cezar straight in the eye, and he looked back at me, worried, while awkwardly scratching his head.
“It’s not something I’d normally want you to hear, but I guess I have no choice. I managed to hear them say that they kidnap children who can use magic and sell them to other countries, at a high price, at Sorcié’s harbor.”
“I can’t believe something like that is going on in my country…” I was so shocked that my face stiffened.
“Children who can use magic are extremely valuable, especially outside Sorcié, where almost none of them are born. They are treated as treasured possessions when they are born, and many would want one. But Sorcié is a rich, peaceful place, and even the commoners aren’t poor enough that they’d consider selling one of their children, and most magic children are born into noble families anyway. That’s why they have to kidnap them instead of buying them… But I don’t think they’d have an easy time kidnapping noble children. It’s possible that they’re just kidnapping normal commoner children and pretending that they can use magic.”
What started as an explanation eventually turned into Cezar coming up with theories as if speaking to himself. I was used to seeing him as a kind, lively young man, but his grim face now looked more like that of a talented official.
I was never particularly clever, but it didn’t take much thought to notice that he was hiding something. He couldn’t just be a servant.
Just who is he?
That question flashed through my mind, even as it was full of anger after finding out about the terrible crimes taking place in Sorcié.
“Anyway, just staying here thinking by ourselves won’t solve anything. We need to report this to the proper people and then gather information. By the way, what were you doing here in the first place?” he asked me, and his expression was now back to his usual, friendly one.
“Well, I…”
Yeah, what was I even doing here? Of course! Maria! I was so distracted by this whole thing that I forgot about her!
I wondered how much time had passed since I lost sight of Maria and her pursuers.
“I saw a friend of mine being chased by unfamiliar men who looked like foreign nobles, and I ran after them to see what was happening. I lost them, though, so I was trying to find where they went,” I explained, and he immediately looked serious again.
“Foreign nobles…? Is that friend of yours a noble lady?”
“No, she’s a commoner… well, she’s working as a maid here. She has blonde hair and blue eyes. She’s incredibly cute. Did you happen to see her?”
“I’ve been resting around here for a while, but I didn’t see any girl like the one you described. I don’t think she ran in this direction.”
“I see… But then, where did she run off to?”
I had absolutely no idea. I wasn’t that familiar with the castle, and I didn’t even know where Maria was working.
“What can I do?” I said to myself.
“I just might know where she went. Follow me,” Cezar said, grabbing my arm and quickly pulling me along with him.
“Here,” he said, stopping in front of a building within the castle grounds that I’d never seen before.
“And… what is this?”
“This is where the foreign nobles and other dignitaries are staying,” he explained.
“I see, but why would she be here?” I asked, unable to understand what the connection was. I could feel the figurative question marks popping on top of my head.
I saw Cezar’s face turn grim, and I worried about having asked him something bad.
“A pure and proper girl like you may not understand this, but if a nobleman is running after a cute maid, he probably wants to bring her back to his room.”
“And that would be…”
“To force her into doing stuff, yes.”
Stuff? Wait…!
“N-No! Without her permission?! That’s a crime!” I shouted, finally understanding what he meant. Was someone really planning to carry out a crime like that within the castle?!
“Here in Sorcié, where you treat servants like human beings, you’d obviously think of it like that. But there are also countries where servants are considered objects for nobles to use as they please.”
“But servants are people too…” I said, shocked to hear this.
“Of course, high-ranking nobles understand that the rules of their country don’t apply in Sorcié, and won’t do anything to compromise themselves. But since this year the Assembly is being held in such a safe country, even some lower-ranking nobles, who would not normally participate, came along. And some of them don’t really understand how things work here,” he explained.
He looked towards the building, then went on, “This building here is where those low-ranking nobles are staying. I think it’s worth checking out.”
Most of the windows, as expected, looked dark, as the people staying in those rooms were still at the ball. But there were a few lit ones. I walked closer to the building and squinted to see inside.
“What in the world are you doing?” Cezar asked me, sounding baffled.
“What? I’m just trying to check inside…” I said, confused, and he sighed in disbelief.
“How can you check inside from here?” he said, and since most of the lit rooms were on the second floor, he kind of had a point.
“I have really good eyes, despite my looks!”
“Despite your looks? What does that even mean? Let’s stop wasting time. I’ll go ask the servants inside, and you… I don’t think anybody will bother you, given how you’re dressed. You just wait here.”
“I’ll go with you to ask, then!” I said, partly because I didn’t want to wait there by myself.
“That won’t do. I have a feeling that things would go awry if you came with me. Just be a good girl and wait here,” he said, making it clear that his opinion was not going to change.
I had no choice but to do as he said and wait for him to come back.
“I’m going to go in and check, so please make sure you stay here,” he repeated himself before leaving for the building.
But how could I stay here doing nothing while my friend Maria was at risk?
I did my best to look through the windows. Even if he said it’d be a waste of time, I felt like I had to do something.
The curtains of most rooms were closed, so I could only make out the silhouettes of the people inside. I tried squinting at the gaps between curtains, but that didn’t make it any easier.
And then, after looking at one room after the other, my eyes reached the corner room on the second floor. I saw three silhouettes: two belonging to men and one belonging to a woman.
That could be Maria and the two men who were chasing after her!
I immediately ran right below that room and tried to take a closer look. I managed to peek at the woman through the gap in the curtains, and, sure enough, that blonde hair, blue eyes, and beautiful face belonged to none other than Maria.
She’s here! Cezar was right!
Those two nobles had brought Maria back to their room… and she was in danger!
I looked at the direction Cezar had run off in, and didn’t see anyone. He still wasn’t coming back. He’d told me to stay here, but how could I do that given the circumstances?
I knew what room it was, so I just had to barge in… but I’d never been inside that building, and I didn’t know how to reach the specific room I needed to get to.
And, being on the corner of the second floor, the place where Maria was being held was also the farthest from the entrance that Cezar had used.
The more time I lose like this, the riskier the situation becomes for Maria…
I was looking around in frustration when I noticed a tree with branches stretching out near the balcony of that corner room on the second floor.
I checked the tree, and its branches looked thick and sturdy. I can climb that!
I walked closer and tried lifting my leg up, but I couldn’t do it. This isn’t going to work.
I wouldn’t have any problem climbing trees in a normal dress, but the one I was wearing for the ball was so long and burdened with frills that I had trouble moving in it, and my climbing skills obviously took a huge hit.
I’m sorry, Father. I know that this must have been an expensive dress. I promise I’ll repay you when I get my salary from the Ministry, I swore to myself, and started tearing off the frills.
I must have looked terrible with the hem and sleeves all torn up like that, but this was an emergency. I threw the extra fabric on the ground and went back to climbing.
There were a lot more small branches than I thought, and I got my painstakingly combed hair stuck in them several times, until it was all mussed up. As I climbed up the tree, I thought about how the servants who had prepared me for the ball were definitely going to get mad at me.
I was now a single jump away from the balcony. My dress, which I raised up to jump, was heavier than I had thought. I couldn’t go as far as I wanted to, ending up falling onto the balcony — right on my butt — with a loud thud.
“What is going on?!” I heard a voice coming from inside the room.
The brown-haired man who rushed to open the curtain and looked menacingly at me was, beyond any doubt, one of the two who were chasing Maria.
And behind him…
“Maria!” I shouted, seeing my dear friend pinned against the wall by a second, blonde man.
Her blue eyes were moist with tears, and she was clearly scared. That sight filled me with adrenaline.
I have to save her! I thought, and tried to body-slam the window, which, unfortunately, proved to be sturdier than I’d imagined.
They make it seem so easy in novels and on TV…
“Hey, who are you?! And what are you doing here?!” the man shouted to me after opening the window.
This was the perfect chance to get inside, and I did, but not before pushing the man in front of me as hard as I could. This took him by surprise, and he fell down on the floor.
I then ran towards Maria, who was looking at me with shock in her eyes. Thankfully, while she did look scared, I was relieved to see that her clothes and hair weren’t disheveled.
I stood in front of her and gave the men the toughest gaze I could muster. “What do you think you are doing?!” I yelled.
The man looked bewildered by my sudden appearance. “And just who do you think you are?”
“I’m a friend of this girl, and I won’t forgive anyone who harms her!” I said, without moving my stare away from the blonde man.
“Friend? So you’re a servant too? With clothes as ragged as those?” he said as he looked at me with increasing suspicion.
Even servants were wearing better clothes than usual for the Assembly, and here I was with my dress, all torn apart and shredded from the tree-climbing, and my rat’s-nest hair. If I saw anyone looking like that, I’d also have to assume that they were involved in an accident or something.
“It’s a long story!” I said, trying to excuse my outfit.
In the meantime, the man on the floor had stood up and was walking towards us. “Wh-What is going on?! This filthy-looking girl just jumped in from the window! She must be a burglar!” he said rudely.
“Hey! Who are you calling a burglar? And you’re one to talk after taking Maria here by force! You criminals!” I shouted back.
The blonde man suddenly started laughing. “Come on now, what are you talking about? We are nobles, and this is a servant. We can do whatever we want with her, and that’s no crime,” he said, proving that he was one of the stupid nobles that Cezar was talking about. His theory was 100% right.
I couldn’t remain calm after hearing what he had said. “Huh? What are you talking about? I’ll have you know that here in Sorcié you are not allowed to do whatever you want with anyone, even servants! You ignorant third-class nobles!” I shouted angrily, and the man’s face turned red.
“How dare you, a lowly servant, speak up to us nobles? This will not be forgiven!” he said, and lifted his arm towards me, preparing to hit me.
“Lady Katarina!” said Maria, who was taking cover behind me.
What should I do? I could dodge this if I tried to, but then Maria’d get hit…
I decided that my only option was to withstand the hit without moving in order to save my friend.
Crash! I heard the loud noise of something breaking.
I looked around and found that the door had been blown apart so hard that it had basically turned into dust.
I remained still, trying to process what had happened. The blonde man also looked at it, with his arm still raised in front of me.
And then, I saw a familiar face walk through the door — that of blonde, blue-eyed Prince Jeord.
Why’s he here? I thought, and, when our eyes met, he first looked horrified and then gave me a stare so cold I started shivering.
After that, he moved as fast as the wind and reached the man in front of me, taking his arm and immobilizing him.
“Aghhh!” he shouted in pain, but Jeord’s expression didn’t change. He seemed nothing like the Jeord I had known since we were children.
I was still thinking of what to say when Keith walked in and stood next to me. “Don’t worry, Big Sis, everything’s alright now.”
His face looked pale. As he covered me with his jacket, his hands were trembling.
K-Keith? What’s wrong?
He even looked like he was hesitating to even touch me, and I had no idea what the problem was.
Jeord then spoke to the blonde man. “You have dared do something outrageous to my fiancée, and for this sin you shall pay with your life. I will burn you for so long that not even your bones will remain intact,” he said with a terrifying voice, and summoned a flame in the palm of his hand.
It was then that I finally understood what was going on. Do they think this man did stuff to me?
That would have explained Keith’s reaction too. My hair and dress were all messed up, but this was because I climbed up a tree… More importantly, if I didn’t act quickly, Jeord would murder that man. I have to stop him!
“Wait! He didn’t do anything to me!”
As I screamed, I saw the flame in Jeord’s hand grow bigger… and then a shower of water came down, putting it out.
“Calm down. Do you have any idea of what could happen if you used magic on a foreign noble?”
It was Alan who had said that, grabbing his brother’s arm. He had probably used Water Magic to block Jeord’s Fire Magic.
Jeord, wet and angry, looked at Alan. “They have done unspeakable things to my Katarina. They deserve to die, and they will do so by my hand. I will turn them to ashes.”
“Try to cool your head. Katarina just said that they didn’t do anything to her,” Alan said while pointing at me.
Jeord looked at me, and then back at his brother. “Did you see her clothes? Her hair? How could that be true?”
Sorry, Jeord, I did all of this myself…
“She didn’t get like that because someone did anything to her — she ruined her dress and hair by climbing a tree. Look at all the branches and leaves stuck to her,” Alan said while looking at me with a mixture of pity and disgust.
Jeord threw the blonde man aside and walked towards me. “Did they really do nothing to you?”
“Y-Yes. As Prince Alan said, I was climbing a tree,” I replied, and his expression went back to the one I always knew.
I was relieved at seeing him go back to normal, but he only said, “I see…” and dropped his shoulders. He reminded me of a tired father looking at his unruly child, and I suddenly felt sorry for making him worry so much.
As Keith sighed next to me, I felt even sorrier. I awkwardly looked around and noticed that the blonde man, after being slammed onto the floor by Jeord, had passed out. The other man, too, was lying on the floor.
What happened to him? I thought, and silently looked at Keith.
“I just knocked him out,” he explained when our eyes met.
“L-Lady Katarina,” I heard a feeble voice come from behind me and turned around immediately.
Maria’s eyes were full of tears, and she was grabbing onto the hem of her dress.
“Maria, are you okay? Did they do anything to you?!”
“…I am okay, yes. They did not manage to do anything to me,” she said.
I was already relieved when I saw that her clothes and hair didn’t look messed up, but hearing it directly from her made me feel much better.
“I’m so glad!” I said and hugged her, and she started sobbing in my arms.
Even if they hadn’t done anything to her yet, being chased around like that must have been really scary.
I hugged her harder and caressed her back. “It’s okay, Maria. Don’t worry, everything’s okay now.”
After a while, when she had almost stopped crying, Nicol suddenly stepped into the room.
“I am sorry to barge in when you’re still trying to work things out, but this is not the best situation to be seen in. Please go back to your rooms,” he said with his usual lack of emotion, and I noticed that Sora was standing behind him.
I later heard from Keith that, since I disappeared around the same time as Maria, they had split into two groups to look for us.
“Sora will accompany Miss Maria, and Keith will accompany Lady Katarina. And Alan, please accompany your brother. I will take care of this incident and these two men,” Nicol continued.
Seeing him give out orders like that, I understood why people said that he was the main candidate to be the next chancellor to the king.
We all agreed to do as he said, except for Jeord. “Why do I need Alan to accompany me?” he asked.
“You know well enough,” Nicol said, staring at the prince without moving a single muscle in his face. That was enough to persuade him. In this kind of situation, it seemed that Nicol was stronger than Jeord.
We all went back to our rooms as instructed. Since I couldn’t walk around the castle in that state, Nicol gave me something that I thought was some kind of ethnic costume, something like a poncho, that I could wear on top of my dress.
As I left the room, I saw Cezar leaning against a wall in the hallway. When we passed by him, he slightly lowered his head, and Keith did the same in response. I followed suit.
“Didn’t I tell you to stay there?” I heard Cezar whisper so quietly that only I could hear it. But when I turned to look at him, he was already facing away.
“What’s wrong, Big Sis?” Keith asked, confused.
“It’s nothing,” I said, and we went back to my room.
I immediately took off the poncho-like dress that Nicol had given me. “This is so stuffy! I already feel better just taking it off,” I said, stretching out.
“Big Sister… Do you understand the gravity of what just happened? Those two men could have hurt you. Luckily it all ended well, but how can you be this relaxed?”
“I’m sorry…” I said, lowering my head, as he was completely right.
Even I, dense as I was, realized how dangerous that had been. If it wasn’t for Jeord and Keith, I didn’t know how that would have ended.
“I understand that you were worried about Maria, but please, try to rely more on me… and on all the people around you,” Keith said, grabbing both of my hands. “I was really worried about you…” he continued with a shaking voice.
He was looking down and I couldn’t see his face, but it sounded like he was crying. I’d never seen him like that, and I realized just how miserable he was feeling because of me.
“I’m sorry, Keith,” I apologized again while tightly gripping his trembling hands. “And thank you for saving me.”
He finally looked up, and slowly nodded.
After that, Anne and the other maids came to fix my hair and dress, while alternately worrying and complaining about me. I spent a lot of time apologizing.
They changed my dress for a new one, took out all the branches and leaves from my hair, and made me presentable again. Then I went to find Jeord and the others.
After all the trouble I had caused, I hadn’t had time to properly apologize and thank them, and I wanted to do that now.
Keith and the servants accompanied me (giving me no say in the matter), and I went to where Jeord was resting — an empty guestroom.
After breaking that door and restraining that man, his clothes had gotten dirty, and he was in that room changing.
Right when we reached it, Alan walked out of the room. “Oh, you’re looking decent again,” he commented when he saw me.
I told him what I wanted to tell anyone involved. “Prince Alan, I am really sorry about what happened, and I am very grateful for your help,” I said, lowering my head in a deep bow.
“No joke,” he said, curling up one corner of his mouth. “I don’t know what’s wrong with you. You must be crazy to start climbing a tree during a ball.”
“Ugh… You are right,” I said, lowering my head again. I couldn’t really argue with him, or anyone else, today.
“But you’re safe now, and that’s what counts.”
His voice sounded kinder than usual, and, when I looked up at his face, I noticed the same worried expression that I’d seen on my brother earlier.
“When I stepped into that room, Jeord and Keith were already going mad, so I managed to stay calm when I saw you looking like that. But if I were the first one to walk in, I don’t know if I could have done the same. I’d probably go mad too… That’s how much I was worried about you. And not just me, but the others too,” he said without a hint of humor in his voice.
I had already lost count of how many times I’d heard those words in a single night. “I’m sorry…” I said, and he jokingly bumped my head with his fist.
“Well, you’ve apologized to me more than enough. Now please go and try to calm down that other guy,” he said, pointing at the door.
“‘That other guy’… Do you mean Prince Jeord?”
“Yeah, he’s steaming. Maybe you can calm him down enough that he can at least go back to the ball,” he said with a snicker.
Steaming? What does he mean?
Maybe he was angry about my recklessness. Or maybe he was angry that I broke the promise to stay where he could see me. How could I, of all people, calm him down?
I wasn’t so sure that things would go well, but there was no going back now, and even Keith didn’t say I shouldn’t do it.
“Oh, and when you’re done, go talk to Mary and Sophia too. When you disappeared, they were so worried that they wanted to go around looking for you, so we had to force them to sit down and wait.”
I had to apologize to a lot of people.
“We can’t have two princes missing at once for so long, so I’m going back to the ball. Do your best,” Alan said, waving at me as he walked away towards the hall.
“…Keith, are you coming in too?” I asked him.
“I want to… But judging from his earlier reaction, I think that you should go see him by yourself.”
“So I should be alone while he gets mad at me?!”
“I don’t think he’ll get mad at you, but as for his usual antics… I think he won’t try anything right now. I’ll wait here, near the door, so I can always come in should anything happen.”
After saying that he gestured towards the room, and I fearfully knocked on the door.
★★★★★★
I, Jeord Stuart, was an extremely cold child. I was never interested in anything, and I seldom felt any emotion.
I only needed to put on a pleasing smile and follow my instructors, and all were convinced of what a wonderful little prince I was, sparing me any trouble.
Nonetheless, my life was dull… until I met Katarina. She was the first person who I ever felt a genuine interest in. When I approached her, everything suddenly changed.
My dull world started shining with color, and I learned about new emotions which I had never felt before. All of this was because of her.
Had I never met her, I would still be ignorant of the many emotions within me, including the strong, powerful one which I first experienced today.
I was normally able to control my newfound emotions to a certain extent, but today this was not the case. Members of the royal family should never use magic recklessly. I had known that well enough since when I was a child, and I had never used it outside of classes at the academy.
And yet, on this day, I was going to use it — and to harm someone, no less. As a royal, this was unforgivable.
When I stepped into that room and saw Katarina’s ragged clothes and that man raising his hand to her, I could not contain myself. I felt as if my vision had turned red and my blood had reached a boil.
I could never forgive such an affront to my Katarina!
And, lost in my anger, I restrained the man and activated my magic with the intention of burning him to ashes. It was only because of Alan stopping me that I avoided killing a foreign noble with my own hands. This was, for me, an unbelievable situation.
Learning that my heart held such strong emotions confused me, and seeing how I could not overcome them disgusted me.
A wonderful, talented prince? I, this fool who cannot even control his emotions? What an embarrassing, pathetic joke.
Alan left, and I remained alone in the guestroom, clenching my fists.
I heard a light knock on the door. I wanted more time alone, but I could not ignore it, and replied.
“Excuse me,” came a voice from outside. “Prince Jeord, it’s me, Katarina. May I…?”
She had seen me in that deplorable state just earlier, and in all honesty, I did not want to see her right now. However, shaken as I was, I could not muster any decent excuse, and allowed her to come inside. This was an unavoidable mistake, but I planned to find a reason to have her leave as soon as possible.
As she walked in, I noticed that her hair had been combed again and her dress changed to a different one, most likely by her servants.
“Prince Jeord, I am sorry that I could not apologize properly earlier,” she said with a bow.
I was so concentrated on my own shortcomings that I had not given much thought to the need for an apology from her.
“Not at all. I am sorry that I could not care for you as I should have,” I replied.
While I was so busy losing myself to anger, Keith covered her with his jacket, Alan was calm enough to analyze the situation rationally, and Nicol took charge and instructed everyone as to what they needed to do. I, on the other hand…
Now that I calmly looked back on my actions, I realized how useless I had been, and this realization made me feel like even more of a failure.
However, Katarina did not know how I felt.
“Not at all, it was my fault for acting recklessly like that, and I’ve caused you and all the others to worry so much. I’m sorry,” she said, bowing again.
She was such a genuine girl that, unlike those other two-faced nobles, she would never say something just to flatter me. She always spoke honestly, and much more so when it came to those close to her, which is why I felt the need to ask her.
I wanted to know what she thought of my breakdown, as I could expect an unfiltered answer from her. She would probably say that it was scary, and unfit for a royal. And hearing those words coming from her mouth would be a harsh, but much-needed, punishment for me.
“Katarina. When I walked into that room, I was convinced that those men had used violence on you, and I lost control. I was going to use magic on the man that I was restraining, and I did nothing to actually help you. I scared you, did I not?” I asked, and shock appeared in her eyes.
“Well, I was surprised seeing you like that, because I’d never seen you so worked up, but I wasn’t scared. After all, I was okay only because you came to save me,” she said with a smile. “If anything, thank you for being that angry for my sake. I promise that if you’re ever in trouble, I’ll also come to your rescue like that!”
As I heard her words, the profound disgust that I was feeling for myself started melting away. What was I thinking? I should have known that I could not expect any particular answer from Katarina, as she was unpredictable by nature. And her unexpected answers always managed to fill my heart with warmth.
I would have never imagined that someone could be grateful that I became angry for their sake.
“Thank you,” I said, hugging her close to my chest. Her pleasant smell and soft, warm touch filled my chest with joy.
Not that her kind words meant that what I did could be forgiven — I would have to pay the utmost attention so that the situation would not repeat itself. Yet, there is no greater happiness than knowing that there is someone ready to accept you even when you fall to your lowest.
I knew that as long as Katarina was by my side, I would be fine.
I took my time enjoying embracing my fiancée, who, for once, did not seem to mind it. Then I finally remembered what I had to do. As prince of the kingdom hosting the Assembly, I could not simply disappear for the whole night.
Katarina had left the ball early on, and having her come back right now wearing a different dress, and, worse still, her hair undone, would likely give rise to many an unsavory rumor. I decided that having her go back to her room with the excuse that she was feeling unwell was the best option. I would return to the ball and explain that I was accompanying my tired fiancée to her quarters.
I left the room, and saw Keith waiting next to the door with a preoccupied look on his face. I asked him to bring Katarina back to her room, and made for the hall. On my way, I ran into someone whom I had already met that day.
It was Cezar Dahl, Prince of Ethenell.
“Prince Cezar?”
“I see that you have returned. Is everything alright with your fiancée?” he asked with a smile, and I had to restrain myself lest I let slip a scowl.
“Yes, owing in no small part to your help. I offer you my deepest apologies for involving you, a foreign royal, in such trouble. This night’s events came to their conclusion without any major harm, but, as they involve a foreign power, I would kindly ask that you refrain from making them known to other people.”
In other words, I was asking him to keep it all a secret. He smiled and nodded.
While we were searching for Katarina, it was he, Cezar, who told us where she had gone. He said that he had met her as she was looking for Maria and had helped her in this effort. I would have to ask Katarina about the details on a later date.
Now that I was in debt to a foreign royal, I had to pay him back appropriately. He had helped my fiancée, and he did not look like a dangerous or disagreeable person. However, for some reason that I could not quite put my finger on, I disliked him.
He reminded me of my eldest brother in how he was so likeable on the surface, but without ever showing his true intentions or opinions. Even now, as he had allegedly waited for me out of worry for Katarina, I doubted his true intentions, so much so that the fake smile I was giving him was somewhat stiffer than usual.
He looked at me and gave off a short laugh. He suddenly seemed entirely different — his wild laugh with a dangerous quality to it.
“The more powerful you get, the heavier your burden gets too. Beware your power, or you’ll lose what you hold so dear,” he then whispered to me.
I stared at Cezar in disbelief, unsure of what he had meant, but his face was now only showing the usual, pleasant smile of Ethenell’s prince.
“Let us enjoy the remainder of the ball, shall we?” he said, elegantly going back inside the hall.
I looked at him, frozen with shock, as he walked away.
I would not easily forget those words.
★★★★★★
I approached Jeord’s room, fearing that I would be scolded, but instead he ended up thanking me. While I was going back to my room with Keith, I saw Nicol, who was done dealing with the aftermath of the incident.
“Are you alright?” he asked me. His face was expressionless, but he was clearly worried deep down.
“Yes, thank you. I’m sorry for making you worry,” I said, lowering my head, and he started patting it as he always did with Sophia.
“I’m glad,” he said with a smile.
I stared at this unusual sight, but his face quickly went back to a stern expression. “But make sure not to do anything this dangerous ever again,” he said.
When he spoke like that, Nicol really sounded like an older brother.
“I won’t,” I said. “So… what happened to those two nobles?”
When I left the room they’d forced Maria into, they were both lying on the floor, unconscious.
“It turns out that they were two mid-ranking nobles from Lousabre. That country is known for being unsafe in general, but it seems that their nobles’ education isn’t excellent either. I locked them in an empty room in a corner of the castle for the time being, so that my father and the others can come and take proper care of them.”
Back when Keith was kidnapped, we went all the way to Sorcié’s border with Lousabre to find him. I learned then that it wasn’t a very safe country, but the behavior of those two men was practically barbaric.
“We still have to deal with those two, but I already talked with the high-ranking nobles from Lousabre, so you can rest assured that nothing else like that will happen,” he said.
Nicol really was a talented, reliable older brother.
“However, I still have much to do,” he said, and left.
I thanked him again and went back to my room. I was told that going back to the ball with a different dress and my hair undone would have made people come up with weird ideas, so I would have to rest here for the rest of the evening.
As a duke’s son, however, Keith had to go back. So I was left alone.
I suddenly felt tired from all that running around and climbing trees while wearing that uncomfortable dress, and dove into my bed.
I spent so little time at the ball, and yet so much had happened in one evening. I’d never expected that some nobles would chase after Maria, trying to force her into their room… But I was glad that all ended well.
She wasn’t even a villainess like me, yet she had to withstand something so scary. That poor girl.
Maybe, as the protagonist, she was just supposed to get into trouble.
Could this whole affair… be part of the game?!
The Assembly itself was an event within the game, so maybe she was supposed to get into danger, be rescued at the last second by one of the love interests, and then be comforted by him…
Yep, that was very likely.
And this meant that I probably stole someone’s event… again. But since I hadn’t played FL2, I didn’t know who I had stolen it from.
I had good intentions, but maybe I was keeping Maria from finding love. I’d already stolen most of the romantic events from the other characters during the course of the first game…
I was really acting like a rival character, even if I didn’t mean to. What if Maria eventually started hating me for this?
Just thinking of my lovely Maria saying “I hate you, Lady Katarina!” made me sad.
All of a sudden, I heard Anne talk to me from outside the door. “Young miss, Miss Maria Campbell would like to talk to you. May I let her come in?”
“Oh, of course,” I replied without thinking twice about it.
But wait, why’s Maria here? Did she really start hating me? She could be here to tell me to never talk to her again!
I lost my grip on reality, and I couldn’t tell my nightmares apart from reality anymore.
“Excuse me,” Maria said as she walked in. She didn’t look well, and she was wearing a very serious expression.
Is she really going to cut ties with me…?
“I am really sorry about today, Lady Katarina,” she said, bowing deeply.
I was surprised by this unexpected turn of events. Why is she apologizing to me?
“Maria, why are you apologizing? You didn’t do anything to me,” I said, and she looked up.
“You put yourself in danger because of me… If only I had been able to do something on my own, or at least run away properly, this would not have happened… It is all my fault,” she said, biting her lip.
I remembered that Maria was the kind of girl who thought she had to take care of everything by herself, and who didn’t know how to rely on others.
In the game, too, whatever terrible thing happened to her, she was always trying to help those around her. I thought that was a natural trait for a game protagonist who is supposed to be loved by everyone, but seeing her behave like this in reality just made me sad.
“Maria, stand up,” I said, and she slowly came out of her bow.
I pinched both of her cheeks and pulled on them. She looked at me cluelessly, and I grinned at her.
“How many times do I have to tell you? You’re very important to me, and I like you a lot. Helping you is not a nuisance at all! I’m happy to do it!” I told her, still pulling on her cheeks. “Stop trying to do everything on your own! You can rely on your friends! Actually, you really should! Got it? Where’s your answer? I can’t hear you!” I said, sounding like the villainess I was supposed to be.
“Y-Yes,” she said, still shocked.
“Eheheh, very well. Keep in mind that you should count on us,” I said, patting her head and feeling like a cool older sister.
She nodded, and her eyes started getting a little bit teary. She must have been much more tired than me, so I told her to go back to her room and rest.
I fell asleep soon after. I had a lot to think about… but I was too tired for that.
★★★★★★
“Goodnight, Maria,” Lady Katarina said.
I went back to my room, closed the door, and started crying. My tears, however, were not of sadness, but of joy.
Years ago, before I attended the academy, I used to cry into my pillow so that nobody would hear me. Those tears were cold, and made my heart feel cold as well. Thanks only to Lady Katarina, I learned that tears could be warm, and warm me from the inside too.
After I realized that I could use Light Magic, all the people around me, including my family, grew distant, and I had to care for myself without anyone’s help.
All that mattered to me was how people thought of me, and I took to thinking and acting in the way I thought would be most pleasing for them. That became a normal, unavoidable part of life for me. I would have to look out for myself, while doing my best for those around me. Relying on others for help was out of the question.
It was Lady Katarina who taught me that I could, in fact, count on my friends. When I was being bullied at the academy, she would protect me, standing between me and those who meant to harm me. She was my savior.
And things did not change when we both started working at the Ministry. Lady Katarina would always protect me, even at the cost of her own safety. Receiving help from someone was so unusual for me that I could only worry that, because of all the trouble I meant for them, they would come to hate me.
But today, once more, as I silently asked for help in my heart, it was Lady Katarina’s face that crossed my mind.
Two foreign noblemen approached me and forced me to follow them in their room. Thinking of my friend comforted me in this moment of fear. This was why, when she later hugged me, I could not help but cry with relief.
I am always in need of help, yet Lady Katarina does not hate me. She says that I mean a lot to her, and that I am no nuisance. She does so much for me, and I cannot do anything in return.
Even today, as my heart was still wrung by the horror of what had happened, her smile and kind words were enough to calm me down.
I really want to do something for you, Lady Katarina.
Not because I fear that you may come to hate me, as was the case before, but because you mean so much to me.
The tears subsided, and I cleaned my face with a handkerchief. I had to collect myself and focus on my work.
I will do my best and move forward, so that one day, maybe, I will be able to repay Lady Katarina.