Finley Cai Aies Hall April 19th, 20XX

My legs and wings ached with soreness as I crammed myself into a tiny ledge inside the vent. I lost a lot of energy circulating a magic erasing spell that, quite ironically, took a lot of magic to maintain.

I knew that neither Corin nor Cambridge could see magic as clearly as I could, but they could sense it enough to pinpoint my location. I’d specifically searched up this spell in case I ever needed to escape in a hurry. Who would have thought I would end up debuting it like this?

Corin and Cambridge stood off against the general, looking like a fight could break out at any moment. Esmeralda laid crumpled on the ground, completely still, save for the shallow rise and fall of her back to show that she was still breathing.

I doubted she would be an influential player in the current situation, so I completely ignored her and focused on the three women that faced off from opposite sides of the room.

I’d been here for quite a while and had gotten a general grasp of what was going on, but I didn’t quite have the time to process that my mere presence worked as a drug against someone I’d never met before.

It would have been flattering if it hadn’t been so terrifying.

“Let her go, General. You really have overstepped your bounds. As we now know the full story, we won’t have you killed for your actions… I myself have done worse to the previous queen when we first met. Your self-restraint deserves of praise.”

The General visibly relaxed, and her grip on the hilt of her sword loosened. I was reminded of the knife that had made a home in the metallic walls of the room. She had casually flicked it at Esmeralda’s head, but it had gone so deep into the wall that one couldn’t even see the blade.

The General tensed again as Cambridge picked up after her last statement.

“But apologies still need to be made, and punishment still needs to be given-”

She took a micro-step backwards, despite not being blatantly threatened, and firmly cut Cambridge off. While she wasn’t aggressive, the terseness of her words put me on edge.

“Of course. I am prepared to have my Ruan duchy swear further fealty and alignment with the prince and whoever the queen becomes. As for my punishment, I will temporarily merge my army with the royal army and join with them.. truly devoting my body to the crown and the people under its protection.”

She sounded awkward as she padded her speech and made herself sound formal, but the earnestness came through clearly and made it hard to think she was lying.

Thankfully, she was standing in a place that I could see her face from the vent, so I could see the variety of emotions that flashed across her face as she spoke.

Her eyebrows furrowed while her eyes widened, and the left side of her lips slightly tilted downwards into a desperate expression. If it had been me, I would likely have let her go, but Cambridge wasn’t so easily swayed.

The two traded a few more sentences and formalities that I had a hard time keeping up with, but I eventually got a decent grasp of Cambridge’s end goal.

She still wanted to have the general marry me; she just wanted to use what had happened earlier to make her more obedient.

I got a terrible suspicion of why the two had left me alone earlier but dismissed it as best I could. While I was likely right, it would be too sad to realize I had no one on my side in this big place.

While they argued back and forth, I tried to come up with a reason why they might have done that to me.

The queendom still needed a ruler, and it wasn’t going to be me, not that I wanted to rule. And from what I’d seen, the General didn’t seem like such a bad person. Of course, my earlier first impression still coloured my opinion of her, and I was still unwilling to be left alone with her. But maybe that would get better later on?

The General finally spat out through gritted teeth,

“Lieutenant Gagnon, I’ll respectfully request that you remember my actions were beyond me. I was hardly conscious of what I was doing as I did it”

Ah.

Here was the problem she had brought up earlier, as she’d tortured Esmeralda. Of course, I’d have to do my own research to see if it was a legitimate reason but considering everyone else seemed to accept it, I doubted I’d find anything different.

Cambridge finally dropped the fake considerate act and cut straight to the point.

“General Ruan, that’s enough dancing around the situation. I’m sure you know what I mean. The kingdom needs a Queen and you’re currently the only one both strong enough in power and status to take up the role. Originally we considered duchess Jaya but-”

She stopped here and continued on another line as if she had not said the former.

“- and the other families are hardly worth mention.”

The General had struggled to keep up with Cambridge’s words earlier, but once Cambridge spoke plainly, she quickly countered in kind. A rainbow of emotion crossed her face as she responded, and her cloudy voice matched.

“Lieutenant Gagnon, If I’d had no intentions of marrying his highness would I have even come to the palace? You are well aware of what happened, I’m sure, and that was only after a few minutes of being in his presence. If I had to be continuously around him, I fear for the worst. For both my sake and the prince’s, can’t you have some mercy and let me go?”

Corin finally rolled her eyes and said in a tone of voice far too light for a response to the General’s speech.

“As if your magic perception is any higher than ours. Please calm down and think rationally, General. My younger sister’s words aren’t ambiguous enough for you to have missed the point.”

The General’s face fell as she thought through the statement, and realization dawned on her face. First, she showed rage, then frustration, but eventually settled into resignation.

Entirely unrelated to the scene, but I realized how boring the people I surrounded myself with could be. Corin and Cambridge would always keep proprietary around me and would have the same expressions all the time, switching between duty-bound and over-doting.

Will always had that infernal smile on his face, and Jake was always depressed about his girlfriend, although he tried to hide it. Theodulus was the most expressive of everyone, but he just bounced back between repressed affection and an odd blend of pity and guilt.

“You wish for me to let the prince seal my powers.”

Her tone was flat, and she had her head down so I couldn’t see half of her expression.

Corin slowly clapped at the General’s answer. I was still a bit frustrated about earlier but seeing the two be so aggressive against the General motivated me to try and understand their actions earlier. After all, nothing had actually happened, and maybe this had been their goal all along.

I didn’t know what would happen if I had to seal her magic, but considering the atmosphere, it was likely a big deal.

Corin’s eyes suddenly flashed up at me and narrowed as she realized I was there. She said nothing to the others, but her stance heavily relaxed, and she tried to look less intimidating than she had before.

“The seal wouldn’t be as severe as ours, but it is the best option for all of us.”

Cambridge led, speaking in a sympathetic tone that made me feel bad for the General who had all but wholly surrendered into their ploy.

“It’s not like you would lose much, general. With this you could gain the throne and be able to secure glory for your family.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll give you until the end of the day to consider it, so don’t feel pressured.”

The General barked out a sarcastic laugh at the sister’s charade.

“Even if I tried to reject it now, you two have already made up your minds. Even in normal conditions, I wouldn’t be able to defend against both of you at once, never mind in the presence of the prince himself.”

She was angry, pretty clearly so, but she repressed herself well and didn’t show it in her body language. I watched her long fingers rhythmically tap on the hilt of her wand as she debated her chances of fighting her way out of this situation, but thankfully she restrained herself.

Being so suddenly addressed made me lose my footing and fall on the thin barrier that separated the vent from the rest of the room. I considered running away and feigning ignorance later, but I realized no one was surprised by the General’s words.

I gave up my failed stealth mission and raised a fist to smash the opening and descend into the room. It was when I slowly removed the magic erasure spell that I was yelled at enough to make me lose my footing again.

“Your Highness don’t!”

“Cai!”

“DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!”

The most aggressive and almost desperate warning came from the General herself.

I was still in the nook in the vent, so I wasn’t too sure how they saw my confusion, but Cambridge quickly leaped to an explanation.

“I’m unsure as to how much you heard already, so I’ll try to summarize as much as possible. The closer you get to her right now, the more danger you will be in. As will all of us. So stay there.”

There was further evidence in defence of the General’s earlier actions.

The General finally looked at me, burning her intense metallic eyes into mine, and sank down to one knee. She was the second-highest ranked person in the room if we went purely by lineage, so the others couldn’t possibly remain standing. She spoke slowly and calmly like one would talk to an equal when making an important decision.

She definitely emphasized a few words in her favour but didn’t outright try to coerce me. On the contrary, it was clear that she would comply with whatever decision I came to.

“Your Highness, I’m really sorry about what happened earlier. Politics and repercussions aside, I truly feel that what happened was unacceptable. That, above all other reasons, is why I feel I cannot take the throne and your hand in marriage. Even if I agree that I’m the most suitable candidate, there are others that can be elevated to the same position and with whom you may feel a bit more comfortable. In the end, where we go from here is all up to you.”

At first, I gave it more than sufficient thought and really weighed the pros and cons when I realized something exceptionally important.

I had no plans to live in the fairy world either way, so why did I care if I was uncomfortable with her?

There was also the fact that if it wasn’t her, then we would have to do a whole tournament, which sounded like a unique form of torture.

I retched at the thought of having miles of fairies compete for my hand like some sort of cracked-up fairy tale.

The General stayed kneeled as she waited for the decision, but I could see that she was getting impatient.

I suddenly saw why everyone spoke so highly of her. Who knew, maybe if I’d been raised here as I was supposed to be, I would have fallen for her on the spot.

She was about the first person in the fairy world to take my opinion seriously, which was nice. And she was pretty good-looking, which was, unfortunately, a point in her favour.

I spoke from my ledge with more difficulty than I should have been having. Maintaining such a taxing spell and awkward pose really took a toll on one’s stamina.

“I’m still not too sure on what’s going on, but I heard that you’ll have to seal your powers if you want to stay here. Are you prepared to make such a sacrifice?”

Cambridge and Corin exhaled loudly in relief that I had just reflected the decision instead of outright rejecting it and re-trained their eyes on the General. Silently pressuring her with their glares.

My reply clearly took aback the General, but she didn’t challenge it and deeply inhaled and exhaled.

“If this is what your highness wants, then it would be my honor to comply.”