The Mother must have said something because the crowd suddenly turned back to where Hugo was standing on top of Bijan. It was awkward having everyone’s eyes on him, particularly since his breasts were still bare.

“Please, Mother,” Shirin said, desperation in her voice, “Can you not see that my daughter has won? What more must she do?”

The Mother must have said something because everyone turned back towards the tree again. Shirin fell to the ground crying, and Darius gave Hugo an angry look.

“What?” Hugo said. He didn’t break any rules, he won fair and square.

Bijan gently pushed Hugo’s staff out of the way and spoke as he got up, “The Mother just told everyone that you have lost your connection with her. It’s why you can’t hear her talking right now. She has declared my family the winner of the challenge.” He brushed himself off and gave Hugo a strange look. He seemed sad but resolved as he walked over to his mother and father.

Hugo stood there, stunned. He hadn’t even considered that having a connection to The Mother would be necessary. He did everything right and still lost.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Darius furiously whispered.

“I didn’t know it would be important,” Hugo said distractedly. The Juniper family was lining up in front of The Mother. Apparently they were going to crown them right now.

“All that effort, all that money, wasted because you were being selfish,” Shirin said. She had tears in her eyes as she grabbed Darius’s hand and walked over to the tree.

Everyone knelt in front of the tree. The Mother was probably talking to them. Hugo moved to kneel too but was stopped by Yasmin.

“That’s just for royalty. The rest of us should stay away,” Yasmin said.

Hugo felt that one in his guts. Lost the competition and his royal status in one day.

Yasmin continued, “I’m so sorry, Lina. I forgot. You told me everything but I failed you as a friend.”

Hugo was about to say it’s fine, but it really wasn’t. He said, “I know you didn’t mean to hurt me. It just sucks that...” Hugo didn’t finish his thought. The Mother probably wouldn’t appreciate blasphemy right now.

Yasmin stood by his side and lay a hand on his shoulder.

As soon as the new king and queen were crowned, they gave a small speech about how they would rule. Hugo noticed that they planned on lying to the nox and working with the hedge mages. He stood at the far edge of the clearing, still in shock from the sudden reversal.

Queen Resa Juniper ended her speech by saying, “And my first order of business is to purify the royal line. We begin with a culling.”

“No, mother, please spare her,” Bijan pleaded.

No one else spoke up though. Hugo swore internally. He had forgotten what Yasmin had said when he told her about his missing memory. Permanently injured and defective royals were killed so the leaders of the city were kept strong. Apparently being unable to hear The Mother counted as defective. He should have run when he had the chance.

“I’ll just go. I will never return to Ettel. I swear on The Mother,” Hugo said while backing up.

“How can anyone trust your word, forsaken? You are an abomination,” the queen said from across the clearing. She swept both her hands forward and said, “Cull her.”

The Royal Guards stationed around the clearing drew their swords and stalked closer.

Yasmin stood in front of Hugo and said, “No, it’s not her fault! You can’t kill her.”

Resa stalked closer, picking up Orc’s Bane from where it had fallen earlier. She said, “I am the queen. I will not betray my oath to serve. I will do whatever is needed for the good of all Ettel.” She threw the sword straight at Hugo.

Her form was excellent, the sword pierced the air like a dart and headed straight for Hugo. Yasmin shouted and jumped in front of the attack. It pierced her lung, only stopped by the hilt. She fell to the ground gurgling.

Hugo swore and then turned and ran. As he ran several royal guards threw their spears at him. A mental flex made a blue shield appear at his back and deflect the weapons. A wooden hammer flew forward, shattering the shield at Hugo’s back. Hugo just created another one. The plants reached up to grab him, but Hugo leapt high into the air.

He didn’t come down. Instead he continued jumping through the air. The guards shouted at him as he ran on top of the barriers he created. He was soon running over the deadly pond and was about to jump the outer walls. Runes flashed in the sky and he was knocked to the ground. He had forgotten about the nox.

A pair of nox ran up to him on the ground pointing their weapons at him. Hugo thought fast and said, “The king and queen would really hate it if I escaped right now.”

They looked at him confused for a moment. Then the older of the two stepped aside and gestured for him to go. The nox were there to control the symbiote and access to it. They didn’t really like the riese royalty.

Hugo got up and ran out the gates. As he ran, The Mother removed her magical protection and the magic on his skin disappeared. He no longer looked painted at all. First order of business, get some clothes. He needed to disappear and a mostly naked woman running around got a lot of attention. He couldn’t duck into a house around here, they were all human houses at ground level. Nothing would fit. He didn’t have the time to climb a tree and sneak into a riese’s house.

People gawked at him as he ran by. He ducked into alleyways and turned on side streets to make it hard to follow him. He tried to come up with a reasonable plan as he ran. Nothing was coming to mind. The church off to his left probably wouldn’t help a naked woman, they tended to frown on that sort of thing. A tavern and paint store weren’t any help either.

He was getting desperate as he saw a server emptying the trash behind a restaurant. He fabricated a small round of mithril as he ran towards the tables set up outside. There was a couple eating at one of them, but the other seven tables were empty. The server looked at Hugo in shock as he dashed forward and swiped two green tablecloths.

“I’m so sorry. This is mithril,” Hugo said as he tossed the mithril slug at the server. He didn’t wait to see if she caught it.

After he ducked into an alley, Hugo paused for a moment to get ‘dressed’. He had done this once a few years back for a party. It looked ridiculous on a young boy, but hopefully it would look intentional on a tall woman. He tied one tablecloth around his waist as a skirt and the other as a sleeveless top. He also undid the braids in his hair and shook it out. After a few moments of fiddling with the top, he ran out of the other side of the alley.

From here on out he was walking. No one was giving him strange looks, so his tablecloth clothing must look passible. He fabricated a few bracelets and a necklace out of orange osage wood to complete the look.

Now that he had a disguise, he could think about his next step. He probably needed to flee the city. The new king and queen would have enough authority in Ettel that no hiding place would be safe. It was either the train or the wilds. The train was much safer, for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was that the royal guards would have aphids and magic to quickly find him in the forest.

He knew where the train station was from his trip this morning, so he headed that way. Hopefully he could catch a train before the guards thought of locking down the station.

To his delight, there was a train waiting at the station as he got there. He didn’t bother looking at the destination, he just needed to get out of here. Skipping past the ticket counter, Hugo boarded the train and tucked himself out of the way of the window. It would be easier to ask forgiveness from the train conductor than it would be to convince the attendant to give him a ticket for some random mithril.

Without making it obvious, Hugo kept an eye out for anyone running up to the train, or searching the train cars. He fabricated a small mirror so he could look around. No one came. Apparently the royal guards were not used to stopping a fleeing fugitive.

The train started up and a smile lit up on Hugo’s face. He was safe now. The same condition that lost him the challenge would prevent anyone from magically tracking him down. Hugo could go anywhere now and no one would find him.

Hugo’s next priority was not getting thrown off the train for fare dodging. He mentally calculated out a few ornate rings of mithril. One for decoration and one with setting and prongs for a mana stone. They were probably worth a gold or two, well over the cost of a train ticket.

He was glad for his planning because the conductor came by shortly after that. Hugo acted like a ditsy young woman that didn’t know the value of her jewelry. The conductor was happy to take advantage of him and took a ring as payment.

The man also mentioned he would have to get off at the next stop and actually buy a ticket. They were heading north towards Fontein. It was another riese city, so Hugo planned on selling some more jewelry and continuing to head north. He needed to stay out of the influence of the riese royalty.

Slowly, Hugo started to relax. He was no longer in immediate danger. He looked out the window at the farm lands swiftly flying by and relaxed into his seat. He started softly crying.

It had all gone wrong. He had lost everything. His royalty, his family, his best friend. His best friend was dead. Yasmin didn’t deserve that. She was a purely good girl. Hot tears dripped down his face. He couldn’t believe she was gone.

The rolling countryside as Hugo cried and slowly calmed down. He wanted to just give up. He didn’t have it in him to fight anymore.

His previous lives he had just tried to live like the new body was his own. He had the attitude that he was going to save the wheel each time. Something had changed this time.

It wasn’t just the fact that he had to run away from Ettel. It was everything else, all the things that made keeping this life unbearable. It was the fact that Yasmin was dead. The world needed her bright smile and cheerful attitude. It was the fact that the Juniper family was ruling Ettel now. They were all jerks and made the world worse with their presence. It was the fact that Hugo was a man, stuck in the body of a woman. That last one was purely selfish, but he didn’t care. It was an important one.

The decision was made as Hugo’s thoughts crystalized.

He wasn’t going to save the wheel this time around. He would look into how to stop the hedge mages and the Black Marshal, but he wasn’t going to do anything about it. He was going to give himself a vacation. His actions wouldn’t matter and he was going to reset this year. He was going to have some fun.

For the rest of the year, he was going to do whatever he felt like. He wasn’t going to keep any secrets either. No one would remember that he had four domains, he might as well enjoy life to the fullest.