Finley Cai Aies Hall May 3rd,20XX

Before I could think through it properly, I had already stepped out from the bushes and captured Esmeralda in a sphere, suspending the fairy in the air.

There were a lot of thoughts racing through my mind at that point, but the priority was to make sure she didn’t say another word.

For some reason, Cai had retreated and refused to switch consciousness with me but I doubted it would have made much of a difference even if he had.

I took a glance around the messy courtyard and made sure everyone I cared about was okay before focusing back on the green fairy that had done nothing but antagonize me since I had been forced to this world.

“I think I recall telling you to keep my mother’s name out of your filthy mouth but it looks like a verbal request wasn’t quite enough for it to sink past your thick delusions.”

She only clawed at her throat as I slowly isolated the magic from around her and glared at me with insane and desperate eyes as if her emotions could have any sway on my actions.

She eventually started to pull out some reserve magic of her own but since Cai's earlier blunder when he had done this to Askeli, I had strengthened the vacuum effect on the sphere and soon it dissipated.

She eventually began to collapse into herself; her wings drooped even her hands loosened from her throat as she stopped struggling but her eyes never lost their resentful glare.

I didn’t like her looking at me, I didn’t want her to talk to me and I didn’t want her in my presence.

The thought of releasing her and having her hurt the people I cared for, here or in the human world only left me with the intention of completely getting rid of her and I knew, even though I didn’t want to admit it, that it would only take a little more effort to completely get rid of her.

A few fairies attempted to slip in the confusion of the moment but I couldn't be bothered to memorize all of their faces and hunt them down later so I quickly sealed all the fairies on-site into individual spheres.

I cringed at the blatant show of power that I forced myself into but it would have been much too flashy to isolate the few that tried to sneak off.

I did avoid capturing Mei, Corin and Cambridge since I didn’t want them to be mad at me afterwards but I didn't bother in separating out their allies.

The fairies that had previously frozen in surprise at my appearance began to show fear as they remembered that the ‘useless half breed’ was, in fact, a full-fledged member of the royal family and gave me an odd feeling but I dismissed it as quickly as it formed.

Being judged by them didn’t bother me but I disliked the looks that Corin and Cambridge were sending me. The clear disappointment in my actions but also the reluctance to stop me on behalf of my position.

Even Mei had taken more than a few steps away from me and stared at me with a complicated expression that I had no desire to decipher.

I held out for as long as I could but somehow found myself slowly loosening the restrictions on the sphere and letting the magic flow into it once more.

The thought of hearing her speak even a single word still disgusted me though so I launched into a speech of my own before she had the chance.

“Esmeralda, on behalf of my respected mother I could forgive a lot. I could forgive being abandoned in a foreign world for 17 years, I could forgive you interfering with my life and antagonizing me in every possible way you could think of, I could even forgive you neglecting my presence and strutting around like you were the queen of this place! But you just had to keep going. First hiding the fact that my mother dissolved the bond between the two of you before she left, then daring to mess with Corin and Cambridge’s real bonds and memories AND as if all this wasn’t bad enough you even dare threaten my people?”

A little, almost insane giggle slipped out from me as I verbally listed just how much I had ignored under the excuse of this not being ‘my world’.

“I honestly don’t know whether to applaud your bravery or kill you for your stupidity”

“Cai”

Mei finally spoke up from the distance she had taken and even then, she spoke with a very restrained tone. She didn’t follow up with a sentence, but it was somehow enough to remind me about my usual role to play in this world.

I wasn’t a rightful avenger or anything, and even though I was the victim here it wasn’t within my rights to play the hero.

Usually, this would be enough to calm me down and make me back down but today, for some reason, I didn’t feel like it. Maybe it was the attempted assassination attack earlier that pushed me so far, or maybe I was finally accepting my identity in this world but I didn’t want to let things go.

And even if I were to kill her it wasn’t like anyone could stop me or punish me in any way for it.

Even on the odd chance that they managed to find someone with enough pseudo power, I would just run away to the human world and hide there for a few years until the magic situation got so bad that they once again realized that they needed my existence.

Right now, I needed the people of this world to recognize that I had a very clearly defined line and that there were repercussions to crossing it, as Esmeralda had.

I needed to make sure none of them even thought of touching the people in the other world and to do that I didn’t mind acting a little out of character, it wasn’t like I could ruin my reputation any more than I already had anyways. Adding the title of a tyrant wouldn’t hurt any more than the other things they called me.

Once I solidified my thoughts, I suddenly lost whatever little restraint I had and whirled around to the crowd that tracked my every movement with widened eyes. Some out of shock, others out of fear.

“What? Even disregarding everything I just mentioned, the fact that she dared allow so many outsiders into my palace is enough to have her executed. Or does anyone think otherwise?”

The courtyard was disappointingly quiet for a group of people that had come here at her request, but I wasn’t surprised since speaking up right now would be nothing but signing yourself up for a dual execution.

Or at least that was what I thought.

“But do you have any proof, your highness! Your claims against Esmeralda are too heavy to be charged without evidence!”