After coming back from work at the Magical Ministry, I had a hefty dinner and then went to my room to rest on the bed. For no particular reason, I raised my hand and visualized my wand appearing inside it, which it instantly did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What with being black and having a skull on it, it definitely looked like something a villain would use. As if that wasn\u2019t enough, I had the Dark Covenant next to my bed and Pochi, my Dark Familiar, living inside my shadow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s a whole villainess starter kit, all right,<\/em> I thought, sighing to myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This all started when I was eight years old. I hit my head while walking around in the castle, which made me recall the memories of my past life as a Japanese high schooler. Before long, I realized that Katarina Claes, the girl I was in this life, was the villainess in Fortune Lover<\/em>, the otome game I\u2019d been playing in my previous one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Having played Fortune Lover<\/em>, I knew that the character I was now living as was destined to meet doom, in one way or the other, by the end of the game. I did all I could to avoid this, including learning how to farm vegetables and build snake-shaped wooden toys, and, by pure chance, I ended up befriending all of the main characters in the game. My list of friends included the characters that the protagonist could romance, their fianc\u00e9es, and in some cases even their siblings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaking of the protagonist, that\u2019s another person I became friends with. I met her\u2014Maria\u2014during my years at the Academy of Magic, the setting for Fortune Lover<\/em>, which I somehow managed to get through without falling prey to doom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh, how relieved I was! I could spend the rest of my days without worrying about the game\u2019s bad ends…or so I thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The issue was that, right after graduating, I was supposed to marry Prince Jeord, my fianc\u00e9. I was barely getting by as a duke\u2019s daughter, and I definitely didn\u2019t have it in me to be a princess. In order to delay the marriage for as long as possible, I used my noble-society connections to get myself a job at the Magical Ministry, saying that I wanted to work for a while before becoming a bride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That worked, except that there was something very important I didn\u2019t know at the time: Fortune Lover<\/em> had a sequel…and it was set in the Magical Ministry! The reason why this was so important was that in Fortune Lover II<\/em>, Katarina Claes\u2014who had been exiled in the canonical ending of the first game\u2014comes back as an antagonist. This time, depending on the ending, she has the choice of either being killed or rotting in prison for the rest of her life. Either way, she\u2019s doomed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And to think I was so relieved about having gotten past the first game! Now I had to come up with a plan to survive the second. All my efforts, however, seemed to be useless. I was looking more like the Katarina in the game every day: I had the Dark Familiar, the Dark Covenant, and as of late, even the Dark Wand (skull included)!<\/p>\n\n\n\n All I could do was sigh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I wish I at least could change this wand into something cuter, like a star-shaped one or something.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I had tried doing that, but to no avail. Maybe it was because I couldn\u2019t change its shape after deciding on it the first time, or maybe it was because I was just destined to be a villainess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And if all these dark items weren\u2019t enough, I was also taking Dark Magic lessons at the Ministry. Not that I wanted to, of course… My superiors had ordered me to so that I could demonstrate for them the content of the Dark Covenant. The only way to show a spell contained in that book was to actually perform it, since no one else could read the covenant and it magically prevented me from speaking or writing about its contents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, since I couldn\u2019t really use any Dark Magic, I was told to practice under Raphael, who was very good at teaching. I was worried that this would bring me closer to becoming the villainess Katarina as portrayed in the game, but on the other hand, I didn\u2019t want to waste all the efforts I\u2019d made to decipher the covenant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I also figured that maybe I could learn some kind of escape spell to help me run away and out of the country as a last resort in case doom caught up with me. Running away without putting up a fight wasn\u2019t very in-character for an antagonist, but what could I do? My priority was still surviving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What made surviving so difficult was that, unlike with FL1<\/em>, I had never played FL2<\/em>. I didn\u2019t know when it was supposed to end or what kind of events its story involved. My only hints were some dreams I had (I didn\u2019t know how or why) that showed me my past-life friend Acchan playing the game, and a mysterious note I found which contained some information about FL2<\/em>. The note, which I happened to find inside of a book, was written in Japanese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I needed to learn more about the game, but I couldn\u2019t have those dreams on command and I never found any additional notes after the first one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the time being, I had to focus on my Dark Magic lessons. Since one of the bad ends seemed to involve me ending up in prison, I also had to think of a way to escape from there just in case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe Sora knows how to break out of prison. He knows lots of stuff. I\u2019ll have to ask him.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n All this doom-avoiding stuff kept me busy enough, but then, a few days ago, something else happened to further complicate my life. Something I didn\u2019t really want to think about… \u201cThe duke has summoned you, Miss,\u201d one of the servants said from outside of the room, surprising me. Mother used to summon me at the drop of a hat, but it was rare for father to do so. I went to his quarters, scared that I\u2019d done something terrible without remembering it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s me, Katarina. I take it that you want to see me?\u201d I asked while knocking on his door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOh, come in, my dear,\u201d he briskly replied. From the tone of his response, I could tell that he wasn\u2019t mad at me\u2014which, to be honest, he almost never was\u2014but I kept my guard up in case he still actually wanted to scold me about something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHow can I help you?\u201d I asked, looking at my father sitting at his desk and going over some papers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The usual expression of delight that was on his face whenever he saw me suddenly gave way to a much more serious one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I knew it! I\u2019m gonna get scolded.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s about you and Prince Jeord,\u201d he began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe prince?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only problematic thing that happened involving Jeord lately was that he came with me to the orphanage, so I thought that this was about that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou two have been engaged for nearly ten years now. Since you have already graduated from the academy, many of our relatives insist that it is high time that you be wed to the prince.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cW-Wed?!\u201d I parroted back at him, surprised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I knew that marrying right after graduation was the norm for many nobles, but neither my friends nor Jeord\u2019s older brothers were married, so I had assumed that I\u2019d still have a lot of time before having to deal with that issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut the prince\u2019s older brothers are still only engaged, is that not so?\u201d I asked, and father nodded at me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cExactly. And that is precisely why being the first to be officially married would give Jeord a great advantage in becoming the next king.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n That makes sense. It\u2019s probably easier to become king if you aren\u2019t single.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut,\u201d I objected, \u201cas mother is always saying, I am unfit to be a princess, let alone a queen, and I am inclined to agree with her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Being a duke\u2019s daughter was already difficult, and if I somehow managed to barely scrape by, it was all thanks to the help of my brother Keith. How could I ever make it as an even nobler<\/em> noble?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI believe that you are fit to be a princess and indeed even a queen, Katarina,\u201d father replied, looking me straight in the eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAre you sure?!\u201d I asked, convinced that his unconditional love for his daughter must be compromising his judgment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He chuckled as if he knew exactly what I was thinking, and responded, \u201cI know very well how much you struggle with etiquette and that you are not the most elegant of ladies. That being said, your mishaps are never catastrophic, and you are very good with people. You are good at understanding them and you are liked by many. If you put your heart to it, you could become a wonderful queen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I still thought that he was biased, but the way he looked at me made me believe that maybe he wasn\u2019t wrong after all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo, do you also believe that I should marry as soon as possible?\u201d I asked him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So far, since he had never pressured me into marriage, I had assumed that this wasn\u2019t a problem for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNot really. I feel no need to strengthen our family\u2019s connection with the king\u2019s, so I believe that the choice should be yours.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cR-Really? But then why did you bring this up in the first place?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI wanted you to know that many of our relatives are talking about these things, and so they may try to discuss them with you when you meet during balls and other such gatherings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOh…\u201d I sighed, relieved. The situation wasn\u2019t as bad as I thought it would be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What surprised me though was how father said that he didn\u2019t need to strengthen our family\u2019s connection with the king. He never acted like an especially ambitious man, but hearing it outright like that was still surprising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHowever, I remember how happy you were when my engagement with the prince was decided. Was that not because of how much it would strengthen our bonds with the royal family?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHahaha! You both ask me the same questions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHuh?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNo, it\u2019s nothing. The reason I was so happy is that you, back then, were very fond of the prince. What father doesn\u2019t rejoice for his daughter\u2019s happiness?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFather…\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He really only thinks of his daughter… I wonder what will happen to this family…<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut I can see that right now you don\u2019t want to marry the prince, which is why I said that I leave the choice to you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Back when I was a kid, I\u2019d fallen in love at first sight with Jeord…but things were different now, and father had noticed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI want you to marry someone you truly love, Katarina, like I did with Millidiana.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLike you and mother…?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n During my childhood, my parents had been acting coldly toward each other because of a mutual misunderstanding. However, after the memories of my past life came back, the misunderstanding was cleared up and they started being so<\/em> affectionate that it made things awkward for their children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes. Of course, if possible, I wish for you and your husband to avoid going through any stupid misunderstandings, like we did, and to communicate with each other effectively to live a happy married life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was easy to tell from his words how harsh that misunderstanding had been. I was very glad that the issue had been resolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNow you see why I want you to take your time and think about your own feelings so you can avoid issues like those. But since you have been taking more time than I expected, I just want to offer you some advice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n So that\u2019s why he never insisted I marry early. Father was thinking about what\u2019s best for me… Thanks, father.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI want you to marry someone you love. But you are an adult now, and so are the people around you. If it takes you too long to realize that you love someone, that someone may already be married to another person by the time you have made up your mind. Should that happen, you would not be able to do anything about it anymore. Take the prince, for example. Suppose that, after a long period of introspection, you realize that you are indeed in love with him. But if that time of reflection comes at the cost of postponing your marriage again and again, the engagement may be canceled and he may find another fianc\u00e9e. He is royalty, after all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes…\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI believe in your ability to judge people, Katarina. When you come to me with someone, telling me that you want to marry that person, I will not object\u2014whomever that is. You will always have my blessing. Now, I know that work at the Ministry is keeping you busy, but just remember that those you have feelings for may not wait around for you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The facts he had laid out hit me pretty hard, and I still couldn\u2019t think clearly when I left his room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have to find someone I love and tell them before I lose them…<\/em> I didn\u2019t want to think about that. Just thinking about loving someone, for some reason, gave me the chills. I knew how important that was, but I really couldn\u2019t bring myself to think about that whole issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ll do it someday…<\/em> I\u2019d let myself keep so busy with work that a convenient someday<\/em> had never come, and now father had to tell me these things because I still hadn\u2019t given them proper thought. I imagined he was very disappointed about this. I had to think about my feelings, but also about surviving the game\u2019s bad ends… Too much stuff.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n So much stuff that it made me sleepy. Next thing I knew, it was morning and I was just waking up. Of course, I hadn\u2019t managed to think about either of the two issues at hand. Now even I was disappointed in myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My wand, by the way, had disappeared back into its darkness-realm home. It looked scary, but maybe deep down it was a good…boy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since I had work on that day, Anne got me out of bed by stripping away all the covers as usual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is morning, Miss. Please wake up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUrgh…\u201d I replied, still half-asleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She helped me get ready to leave, then I ate breakfast and rode on the carriage, where I slept once again on the way to the Ministry. After reaching my workplace and being forcefully awakened, I walked to my department\u2019s office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGood morning,\u201d I announced, opening the door to the Magical Tool Laboratory. Sora was already there, along with Raphael, our department\u2019s vice-director and the busiest person in the department\u2014if not in the whole Ministry!<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was normal for Sora to be there early, as he had joined the department\u2019s ranks at the same time as me, and we newcomers were supposed to clean the office before work started, but that didn\u2019t explain why Raphael was already there too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I looked at him, confused, and he explained that, \u201cI had to come in early because there\u2019s so much that I still need to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf you are busy, I could train by myself today,\u201d I proposed, seeing how tired he looked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I had been training under his supervision almost every day, as ordered by the higher-ups, but this was obviously taking a toll on him. I didn\u2019t want him to overwork himself because of me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDon\u2019t worry about that. Actually, I came in early so that I could finish before starting your lessons, so there really is no problem at all,\u201d he replied. His tone was much more relaxed than the one he used when our superiors were around, but his words still left no room for objection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While Raphael kept running his pen across documents at his desk, I started helping Sora out with cleaning. The office was cluttered, containing an assortment of random items including anything from dumbbells to cosmetics, but it wasn\u2019t exactly dirty, so some reorganizing and cleaning were enough to put it into a presentable shape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While sweeping the floor with a broom, I recalled the thought I\u2019d had on the previous day, and I approached Sora with a question. \u201cSay, Sora, would you know how to escape from a locked prison cell?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHuh? What\u2019s this all of a sudden?\u201d he asked back, clearly suspicious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s just that, er, you never know when that might come in handy, right?\u201d That was the best that I could come up with on the fly. Judging by the tired look Sora gave me, my best hadn\u2019t been very good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen\u2019s breaking out of prison going to come in handy for a noble lady like yourself?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n When they put me in there for being a villainess in the game\u2019s story! <\/em>I wanted to say, but obviously I couldn\u2019t… So I tried to come up with a better excuse. Yeah, when could it come in handy? Oh, right!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLike, remember when I got caught during our last mission? I want to learn how to escape if something like that ever happens again,\u201d I explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was sure I\u2019d come up with the perfect excuse, but Sora looked kind of troubled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat, yeah… That was all my fault. I\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat? It wasn\u2019t your fault at all! I got into all that trouble myself!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was I who had decided to run after Sora, ended up getting captured, and caused him to get captured as well. Surely, anybody would agree that it was my responsibility, but Sora shook his head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI shouldn\u2019t have lost my cool back then. Don\u2019t worry, I\u2019ll make sure nothing like that ever happens to you again,\u201d he promised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was grateful for those kind words of course…but I really wanted to know how to escape from a prison cell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThank you, but, see…if you could tell me how to actually break out…\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI told you you don\u2019t need to worry,\u201d he replied, confused by my insistence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This won\u2019t get me anywhere… <\/em>I thought, but all of a sudden Raphael unexpectedly joined our conversation, looking at us as if we were completely hopeless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think that Lady Katarina just wants to learn how to open locked doors, Sora.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHuh? But wouldn\u2019t it be easier just not to get caught again in the first place?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat seems to be unrelated to her concerns. Maybe she read about lockpicking in a book and got interested in it. You know how curious she can be,\u201d he replied wryly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cReally…?\u201d Sora asked me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes! I read about it in a book!\u201d I affirmed, grateful for Raphael\u2019s help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI guess you have always been curious after all…\u201d Sora murmured as the look of doubt dissipated from his face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo, do you know anything about lockpicking?\u201d I asked again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf it\u2019s a simple lock, you can usually pick it with a bent piece of metal, but there are all kinds of locks out there. For the most complicated ones, your best bet would be getting a mold of the actual key,\u201d he explained, raising his hand to his chin as if he was trying to remember. He was probably speaking from experience based on some old job of his.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately, I guessed that the prisons in Sorci\u00e9 didn\u2019t settle for the simple kind of locks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd how would you go about getting a mold?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou need clay or something like that to take the shape of the key, and then you make a metal copy with the mold. That\u2019s easier said than done though.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, wouldn\u2019t it be too late to do that once I\u2019m already in prison?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI see… Isn\u2019t there a faster way? You know, something so easy that anyone could do it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOf course not! What good would locks be if anyone<\/em> could easily<\/em> open them?\u201d he replied incredulously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He…has a point,<\/em> I conceded, now sad that my plan wouldn\u2019t work, when Raphael spoke again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf the problem is taking a mold of a key, maybe you could do that with Dark Magic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cReally?!\u201d I asked, moving closer to Raphael\u2019s desk, which seemed to amuse him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou can control darkness, and we know that you can materialize it as physical matter. I don\u2019t know for certain, but it\u2019s a possibility.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI want to try it! Please teach me!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019ll look into that during today\u2019s lesson then,\u201d he assented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes! Thank you!\u201d I replied with a smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cListen,\u201d Raphael then whispered to me, \u201cI helped you out because you seemed very concerned about this lockpicking thing, but please<\/em> don\u2019t do anything dangerous. If you need help with anything, just ask me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n His words sounded so final that I couldn\u2019t tell him no, even if I wanted to. He was so smart that he had probably realized I was up to something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI will,\u201d I assured him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s a promise, all right? If you don\u2019t keep it, I\u2019ll have to punish you,\u201d he continued, smiling in an unusually creepy way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I often forgot it, but Raphael, kind as he was, knew how to be tough too. That being said, I could tell that he was genuinely worried for me, so I knew that I had to keep my end of the bargain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After a while, our other colleagues came into the office and started working, and Raphael and I walked into the room where we always had my Dark Magic lessons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have already been over this, but it bears repeating: Dark Magic controls darkness,\u201d he said, ready to teach me about lockpicking as soon as we were in the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes,\u201d I replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe spell you are already practicing, the one that lets you summon a sphere of darkness, is a simple form of that. However, as with other types of magic, this spell doesn\u2019t necessarily have to be a sphere. You can shape it however you want.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like he told me, I knew that Earth, Fire, and Water Magic spells could take on different shapes too. Not my<\/em> spells though, since I wasn\u2019t good enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd you managed to materialize something out of darkness, didn\u2019t you?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes, the skull wand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cExactly, the, er, skull wand. This is why I think that you may be able to materialize other objects too. If you were able to shape darkness so as to fit a lock and then materialize it, you would have yourself a key. Let\u2019s practice that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I couldn\u2019t shake off the feeling that he was tricking me into being interested in the lessons, but I couldn\u2019t help agreeing anyway. To be completely honest, I was actually starting to get bored practicing the same old spell. My darkness sphere had grown from the size of a pea to that of, say, a tangerine, but it wasn\u2019t getting any better than that. Maybe Raphael had realized that I needed something new and refreshing to stay motivated. He could always read people like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNow, try producing some darkness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOkay.\u201d I materialized my skull wand and made a tangerine-sized black glob appear in front of me. This was the point where normally I would try to make the darkness larger, but today I was to try to change its shape instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Become a key! Become a key! <\/em>I shouted in my mind, and the sphere suddenly got squished into a key shape. Sort of. First try! Yay! Go me!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat\u2019s amazing! You managed to do it on your first try!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHehehe!\u201d I was more than happy to hear Raphael\u2019s compliments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe I <\/em>do have some talent. Check me out, I\u2019m gonna become the best Wielder of Darkness there ever was!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Just as I was thinking of an even better key shape, someone knocked on the door. Raphael looked me in the eye, and I understood what he wanted me to do, so I made the wand and the key disappear back into darkness. These lessons, as with most things that concerned Dark Magic, were to be kept secret.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, when we heard the voice of the person who had knocked, we realized that there had been no need for secrecy to begin with. \u201cIt\u2019s me, Larna!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was our magic-loving, work-avoiding, very talented but slightly problematic department director. She was very curious about my progress with Dark Magic, but since Raphael, the most hard-working person in the department, was busy with me, she had to make up for that by actually doing her job. She had been so busy, in fact, that this was the first time she had managed to walk in on us before the lesson ended, and I had to wonder whether she was here because of a problem of some kind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPlease come in,\u201d Raphael said, and a very gloomy-looking Larna walked in. My guess about there being a problem seemed to have been right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIs anything the matter?\u201d he asked her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s a summons,\u201d she replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFrom…your superiors?\u201d he guessed. Larna often skipped out on her work to pursue her personal magic interests, which would explain being summoned by her superiors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNo. From the castle. From His Majesty, to be exact.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Raphael and I exchanged a worried look. Just what has she done?!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDid you get into trouble?\u201d Raphael had naturally also assumed that she had been up to no good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMe? No. The summons isn\u2019t for me. It\u2019s for Lady Katarina here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cM-Me?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why would the king summon me?! What did I do?!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s about the Dark Covenant,\u201d Larna continued. \u201cMaria was also called, and you\u2019re supposed to bring the books with you when you go to the castle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOh… So it\u2019s about that,\u201d I muttered, relieved that I wasn\u2019t in trouble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After coming into possession of the Dark Covenant by sheer coincidence, I was told to decipher it, because its contents were apparently very important. Maria was also deciphering a book, except hers was the Light<\/em> Covenant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhy do you look so distressed then?\u201d I asked Larna. After all, she wasn\u2019t the one being summoned and we also knew the reason why the king had reached out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cResearch on Dark Magic is strictly regulated, and we have to report to the royal family about everything we do concerning it,\u201d she explained. \u201cSo far, they haven\u2019t really seemed to care about our experiments, but if they want you to go to the castle, that could mean that they want us to stop researching Dark Magic altogether! They could tell us to stop, now that we\u2019re this close to uncovering new kinds of magic never seen before!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh, so it\u2019s all just about her personal interest in it. This doesn\u2019t concern me one bit,<\/em> I thought, but what she had just said was probably true. The royal family were supposed to be the only ones who knew about Dark Magic, but we had found other people who could use it, such as Raphael and that mysterious woman, Sarah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe they\u2019ll take the covenant from me and I won\u2019t have to work on deciphering it anymore! That\u2019d be good… But I still want to learn spells to blind my opponents during a getaway, or to create a key to escape from prison, and since Pochi is a Dark Familiar, they would probably also forbid me from letting him out of my shadow. How can I deal with this?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Larna, still looking gloomy, informed me that I was supposed to go to the castle on that very day in the afternoon, so I didn\u2019t even have time to think about it, and I felt nervous about how sudden this all was. I was also supposed to keep the summons a secret, probably because this all involved Dark Magic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thankfully this wasn\u2019t a particularly busy day at the department, so I could just say that I had to go because Prince Jeord had invited me to the castle. My lesson with Raphael was therefore cut short and, alongside Maria, I prepared to leave the Ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Raphael noticed how worried I looked, and he saw me off with a kind smile that seemed to tell me that everything would be fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As I rode the carriage that was taking me to the castle, my anxiousness, thanks to Raphael\u2019s smile, subsided, but then I started getting nervous for a different reason. After all, it would be my first time properly speaking with the king. We had greeted each other during balls and the like, but all I had been doing then was mostly standing by Jeord\u2019s side and smiling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I didn\u2019t know much about the kings of other countries, but I\u2019d heard that ours was always busy. The queen was apparently also just as involved in diplomacy, as were their four sons, but even with all this help the king still had so much work to do that getting to see him was extremely difficult. How could I not get nervous being summoned by someone like that, even if it wasn\u2019t a public audience?<\/p>\n\n\n\n I sighed and looked in front of me, where Maria was sitting with a dreadful look on her face. \u201cAre you okay, Maria?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI am rather nervous about meeting His Majesty…\u201d Her voice was down to a whisper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I realized something that should have been obvious right from the start: if a noble lady like me was nervous about meeting the king, whose son I was even engaged to, a commoner like Maria was probably just as nervous\u2014scratch that, she probably was much more nervous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maria wielded the rare Light Magic, she worked in the most prestigious department of the Magical Ministry, and in general was extremely talented…but she still was a girl my age, and she experienced fear and anxiety just as I did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I took her hands into mine. They were cold and shaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI know, right? Me too,\u201d I told her, and she looked at me, surprised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou are nervous too?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes, of course. We\u2019ve been summoned by the most important person in the whole kingdom after all,\u201d I continued, deliberately exaggerating the gravity of the situation, and Maria\u2019s face showed the hint of a smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI guess that is true.\u201d She giggled. Her hands had stopped shaking, and I could feel that some warmth had flowed back into them. This, in turn, made me feel less worried about the whole thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The carriage kept moving, and by the point that I\u2019d started saying things like, \u201cJust imagine His Majesty as a potato. Imagine speaking to a big potato,\u201d which was…possibly treason, we reached the castle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I thought that Jeord would be there waiting for us, since he was my cover for leaving the Ministry early, but I couldn\u2019t see the prince anywhere. Instead we were met by a servant who showed us into a drawing room, where we were told to wait. It was an average, not particularly big room\u2014any noble could actually ask to use it, as long as they had been granted access to the castle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I expected that we would be called for when the king was ready to receive us, but I suddenly realized I had an urgent problem to attend to: I needed to go to the toilet. In hindsight, eating a very hefty lunch to pump me up for the summons hadn\u2019t been the best idea. I informed Maria of my predicament and sprinted out of the drawing room. I knew where the closest toilet was, so I reached it in time, without any accidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was ready to go back to the drawing room when… Suddenly, Pochi jumped out of my shadow and started running. I ran after him, leaving the building I was in and reaching a place I\u2019d already been to before\u2014the entrance to the forbidden area where, as far as I knew, Jeord\u2019s uncle had shut himself in after the dispute for the throne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For some reason, this was the third time that Pochi had led me to this place. Maybe he liked it because it was always dark, even during the day. This time he had brought me even closer to the building where the king\u2019s brother allegedly lived. Since access to the whole area was forbidden, I started getting worried.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCome on, Pochi, get back into my shadow!\u201d I ordered. He gave me a displeased look, but the serious face I was making eventually convinced him to obey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just as I started heading back to where I was actually supposed to be, a window right next to me opened with a click. Inside, a young man with golden hair and black eyes was standing by himself. Being surrounded by handsome friends all my life had granted me a certain immunity to attractive people, but this particular young man was so impressive in his beauty that I couldn\u2019t help but stare at him. I stared for so long, in fact, that he noticed me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His black eyes looked into mine, and he furrowed his brow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhy are you here?\u201d he asked in a terribly cold voice. Between that and the intensity of his stare, I felt a chill run down my spine. He was probably mad because I had stepped inside a forbidden area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cS-Sorry, I got lost and ended up here. I\u2019ll leave immediately!\u201d I obviously couldn\u2019t tell him about Pochi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes, please do that and leave my sight already, Katarina Claes, you villainess,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was so shocked I couldn\u2019t move even a step. \u201cYou know about me? And what do you mean \u2018villainess\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This was probably the shut-in prince I had heard about, but why would he know about me, and more importantly, why would he call me a villainess?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou\u2019re quite famous,\u201d he smirked, \u201cfor being a villainess who plays with the hearts of princes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m not playing with anybody\u2019s heart!\u201d I could get behind it when people told me that I wasn\u2019t a good fit for Jeord, but I certainly wasn\u2019t playing with his heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou continuously ignore his romantic advances, hurt him by doing so, and you don\u2019t even realize it? You truly are despicable,\u201d he laughed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cB-But I…\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I didn\u2019t know how to respond. Truth to be told, I still hadn\u2019t given an answer to Jeord\u2019s confession of love. Even father had told me to think about that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNow leave! At once!\u201d the young man demanded, slamming the window shut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I hadn\u2019t even managed to learn this person\u2019s name, but I clearly understood that he hated me. I was shocked by what he\u2019d told me, but I had the summons to think about, so I tried to forget about it and hurried back to the drawing room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI got lost on my way to the toilet,\u201d I explained to a worried Maria, laughing to diffuse any suspicion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I felt that I shouldn\u2019t talk about meeting that man, and I shoved the thought of him into the back of my mind so that I could think about it later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After a while, someone knocked on the door. I expected it\u2019d be a servant, telling us that the king was ready to see us. When my expectations were proved wrong, and I saw who was actually walking into the room, I immediately bowed down my head as deep as I could. Maria, seeing what I was doing, did the same. My etiquette training had finally come in handy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRaise your heads,\u201d he said, and we nervously complied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The silver-haired man standing in front of us, whose mere presence in the room was enough to be imposing, looked very similar to Jeord, and he even had the same blue eyes. This was natural, since he was Jeord\u2019s father: Orwen Stuart, King of Sorci\u00e9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I couldn\u2019t imagine that the king himself would come to see us\u2014and in this unassuming drawing room, no less\u2014instead of us having to go to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He started speaking in a low, calm voice. \u201cThank you for coming all the way here. I have wanted to speak with you for quite a while, and today a sudden change in plans gave me the time to do so. Please excuse the sudden nature of it all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNot at all, Your Majesty. It is an honor,\u201d I replied with a curtsy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His eyes widened slightly as he replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI privately summoned you as Orwen Stuart, not as the king. There is no need for such formalities. Feel free to speak to me as you would to my sons.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This explained why he wasn\u2019t seeing us in the throne room. If he\u2019d been talking to us in his capacity as king, he wouldn\u2019t have been here with just a few servants by his side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, even if he said that we didn\u2019t need to be formal, I couldn\u2019t be as casual with a king as I was with Jeord and Alan. This also made me think that maybe I was a bit too casual with those two as well. We\u2019d been friends for so long that I\u2019d almost forgotten that they were still princes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The king then told us to sit down, and, after we did, he sat down himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNow, let us start. I would like to see your covenants.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I looked at the servants in the room. The covenants were supposed to be secret to all but a handful of people, so I was surprised that he would talk about them in front of this audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Realizing my concern, he spoke again. \u201cWorry not. These are all trusted individuals who are very close to me. They already know about the covenants and about Dark Magic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The servants gave a small nod of agreement, and, knowing that I didn\u2019t have to worry about keeping secrets anymore, I opened my bag to take out the Dark Covenant, which I put on the table in front of me. Maria did the same with her Light Covenant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo this is what they look like,\u201d the king said, first taking the Light Covenant into his hands, looking at it from all angles and then opening it and flipping through its pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The covenants were enchanted in such a way that only their owner could read them, and other people could only see a bunch of blank pages. The king didn\u2019t seem in the least surprised about this\u2014he probably already knew about it. After flipping through the whole book, he put it back on the table and started looking at the Dark Covenant instead. I was positive that he was being more careful about how we took it in his hands than he had been with the Light one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I guess something called the \u201cDark Covenant\u201d is self-evidently scary…<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n He flipped through this book too, and then put it back on the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cJust as I was told, I cannot see anything on the covenants\u2019 pages.\u201d This confirmed that he already knew about how they worked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He then asked me and Maria several questions about how we had found the covenants, how far we were in deciphering them, and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cVery well. That is enough about the covenants,\u201d he declared after we had given him enough answers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was surprised\u2014let down, almost\u2014by how little time we had spent discussing the books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNow we shall discuss the reason why I summoned you two here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n What? Weren\u2019t the covenants the reason?! Did he really want to scold me for something I did?!<\/em> I thought, worried, but what the king said next surprised me even more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe need to talk about Dark Magic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dark Magic…?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou have both had your share of trouble because of Dark Magic. Especially you, I understand.\u201d He looked right at me as he spoke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He was technically right, but that was probably just because I was the game\u2019s villainess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cKnowledge of this forbidden magic was supposed to be an exclusive prerogative of the royal family, but this is no longer the case. It is best that you two know why this is,\u201d he continued with a distressed look on his face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Indeed, all we knew right now was that the family of Marquis Dieke had gotten their hands on Dark Magic, which then spread to other people including that Sarah woman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI assume that you already know about how my predecessor suddenly died before settling on an heir, and how this led to severe infighting among the royal family,\u201d the king slowly started explaining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes,\u201d I replied. I\u2019d known about that for a while, and I\u2019d even heard from Jeord that some people had died and others had been exiled in the fight for the crown. However, hearing it straight from the current king made it all the more shocking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou may also know that some lost their lives during this time. That was the result of murders within the royal family,\u201d he continued without batting an eye despite the terrifying things he was saying. \u201cOf course, the secret of these heinous killings was mostly kept within the castle walls. One of the killers poisoned his stepbrother, laughing at the sight of his painful death. Another threw his stepbrother off a tower, pretending it was an accident. Those were days of blood and madness. Men, overtaken by murderous rage, killed the brothers they once loved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fight for the crown makes people kill each other? It\u2019s way worse than I thought…<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAmid that chaos, it is now impossible to say who first resorted to the use of Dark Magic to gain an advantage. What we know is that the secret leaked to other nobles, eventually reaching the Dieke family.\u201d He then stood up from his seat. \u201cThe responsibility lies with us, the royal family. It was our foolishness that let Dark Magic spread. I apologize for all the trouble that this has caused you,\u201d he said, lowering his head toward us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was too shocked by all that was going on to even move at all, but Maria immediately stood up and started talking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou deserve no blame and owe no apology, Your Majesty,\u201d she stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His Majesty, hearing this, looked at Maria, and a faint smile appeared on his face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Personally, I also agreed with Maria. If anything, we should have thanked the king for having stopped that whole fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cStill, as I was born in this royal family, it is my duty to offer you this apology, and I beg you to accept it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The thought of a responsibility given to you by birth really resonated with me. As a noble lady, I\u2019d had to hear a lot about that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI understand,\u201d I responded, standing up, \u201cand we accept your apology. Please raise your head now, Your Majesty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maria also nodded, and the king raised his head and sat down again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThank you. My wish is to capture those who wield Dark Magic, so that we may prevent the abuse of this dreadful tool. Will you lend me your help when I need it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Being the king, he could have just ordered us to lend him our help, and we would have obliged. But instead, he had asked us\u2014I appreciated that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOf course. Whatever I may be able to help with,\u201d I replied, looking him in the eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThank you.\u201d For the first time, his face didn\u2019t show any concern. He was simply smiling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, the reason he had summoned us was actually to apologize and ask for our help. Once he had done those two things, he quickly left, taking his servants with him. He really was as busy as they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat was something, huh?\u201d I told Maria as soon as we were alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMost definitely, yes,\u201d she agreed. We then looked at each other and shared a tired laugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately, I couldn\u2019t talk to anyone else about it, but my meeting with the king had been very surprising. He was a very easy person to talk to, and all my nervousness had proven unnecessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Suddenly, we heard another knock on the door. We thought that a servant had come to inform us that our carriage was ready to leave, but we were in for another surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cJeord and Alan!\u201d I cried, seeing the familiar faces at the door. I had thought we wouldn\u2019t be able to see the two princes today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThank you for coming to the castle,\u201d Jeord greeted us. His smile didn\u2019t look as confident as usual\u2014it almost looked painful. Alan also looked as if he was in pain…<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do they have a stomachache? <\/em>I asked myself, but my question was quickly answered when Jeord\u2019s smile disappeared entirely, replaced by a serious stare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe heard that the king wanted to talk to you about the details of the succession fight today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n So they know about all that happened too… And their father told them about what we were going to discuss today.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe really want to apologize too as members of the royal family. You have gone through so much trouble because of Dark Magic.\u201d Jeord bowed low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re sorry,\u201d Alan added, bowing as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I couldn\u2019t believe that they would apologize about something that happened so long ago that they couldn\u2019t even remember it themselves. That, too, must have been the responsibility they had to shoulder as royals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After coming back from work at the Magical Ministry, I had a hefty dinner and then went to my room to rest on the bed. For no particular reason, I raised my hand and visualized my wand appearing inside it, which it instantly did. What with being black and having a skull on it, it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tak-berkategori"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3719"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3720,"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3719\/revisions\/3720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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