"I see," the high priestess replied. "I figure it is something like that. The rumours have reached my ears, that your father is growing weaker and more senile at each passing day." So that's why they have been so gung-ho at sending assassins over her! The grand priestess' eyes then narrowed. "You know we of the Church aren't supposed to be involved in your empire's politics, correct?"
"I know," Fiora replied, still with her confident look. "But your Saint could. If she personally endorses me, then I would have the right to rule over the Empire over my siblings, even though I was the youngest. And to do that, I would need to earn permission to meet her personally, meaning, I would need to be vouched for a meeting with her by the Grand Priests, including yours."
"Such arrogance," the high priestess replied, taking a sip from her cup. Here I noticed Helen sending a glare towards her, that she promptly ignored. "You think the Saint would endorse you over your siblings? I have heard the tales, you know. You're called the Wild Princess at the capital, due to you being unable to curry favor with the nobles there. Once, you kicked a son of a duke right between his legs. And many other rudeness that puts you at odds with them."
Ha, seriously? So it's not just me then who is victim to her brattiness.
But to think that she would dare saying such things to an imperial princess. Is she not afraid of the possible ramifications? Maybe if anything were to happen to her, it would be taken the same as the Empire declaring war against the Church. So I guess this functions also like an embassy of some sort, as the Church's base of power is at the Holy Land, to the far west of this continent.
"He deserved it," Fiora responded without pause. "He's an arrogant, annoying brat that kept asking me for a dance even though I was not interested in the slightest. And when he yanked my arm, I gave him what he deserved."
Yeah, I could easily imagine her doing that.
"And that's why you are not suited to be a leader. You don't know how to solve things in a diplomatic way, unlike your older sisters. You only resolve your problems through violence, and that is not the way of the Church."
"Hoo?" Fiora smirked. "Are you saying that you would rather support them than me?"
"Yes. And I shall speak frankly in the matter towards Lady Lunarya once she returns."
Oh wow, this is the first time I saw someone standing up against Fiora like this.
You know, she got a point. If Fiora is the type that can only solve things through strength, then the Empire might just end up doing another invasion against the Magocracy if she took the throne. The country would turn all militaristic and war-loving, and the citizens would suffer.
Not that I'm going to tell her that though.
"Very well then." Fiora stood up. "I suppose our conversation is over. Come, Helen. We shall return to our quarters. And Nicole." She glanced at her. "Feel free to continue your talk with her."
And thus, for the very first time, I saw her retreat in defeat. Helen gave the high priestess an absolutely murderous gaze, but once again, she ignored her entirely. Two of the knights followed them, while the other two remained here.
Hey, how about your dinner? Argh, what a handful she is. I'm not going to be the one carrying your food to you, you hear me?!
I was thinking of stopping her, since we shouldn't be separating ourselves like this when those assassins were still on the prowl, but looking at her face, I just knew that she wasn't going to listen.
"So," the high priestess turned to Nicole. "You are an aspirant to become a high priestess, correct?"
"Y-yes," Nicole replied, taken aback by the sudden attention.
"What do you desire from the title?" she asked.
"I wish to serve Lady Miriam as her high priestess," she replied. "She had been good to me, and I would like to repay that kindness by devoting my life to her."
"Lady Miriam? You mean Lady Miriam Blanchimont? I see. So you hail from Silipha. Are you perhaps the talented priest that she had adopted?"
"Y-yes! That's me!" Nicole replied. "I wouldn't say I am talented though…"
"Humility. Something your princess friend could certainly learn from you." She smiled. "But to be able to reach Master-level at Holy Magic at such a young age, you really have a gift in the art. Do not worry. I'll talk to Lady Lunarya and give her a good impression of you once she returns."
"T-thank you very much!" She gave a bow. "Though please, don't have the wrong impression of Fiora. She's a good person beneath her rough exterior. And I believe she would make a good empress for this country in the future."
"Hmm? How curious. You call her by her first name." She pursed her lips. "That means you're a good friend of hers. Perhaps you might think so, and perhaps that might be the truth. However, if she couldn't project herself as a fitting ruler for the empire, she wouldn't be able to be a good empress, no matter how flawless her inner character might be, which I doubted as well."
Once again, she had a point. You need the people's support to be a good ruler, even in an absolute monarchy like what I assume the Empire is.
The rest of our dinner was spent in mostly silence. It seemed what the high priestess said made Nicole realize the weakness of her dear friend, as she didn't really have a retort for what she had said. I couldn't help but feel sad for her though, especially with that expression on her face.
Afterwards, we were escorted back to our rooms, with me wondering if I should do something about this situation.
---------------
The next morning, I was woken up by none other than Fiora, who demanded that we started our training the first thing in the morning, even before breakfast. And once again, she barged into my room, not caring about the impropriety of it all.
"Alright, alright, I'll go." I yawned as I sat up. "You know we have assassins after our heads, right? Don't you think it's a little bit dangerous to do training in this kind of situation?"
"Oh, don't be a wuss, boy," she replied, playing with the ends of her left twintail. "Remember, one day without training and your skill will atrophy back one week."
"Wait, hold on. I have something I want to talk to you about." I raised my hand.
"Hoo? This should be interesting." She took a seat on the dressing chair with folded hands. "Fire away, boy."
"It's about what that high priestess said last night. I think she has a point, if I were to be honest with you."
There. I said it right to her face.
Last night, I had decided to do something about it after all, even though it really wasn't my job, and that Fiora hadn't really been a likeable person in general.
I dunno. As someone who had some life experience before, however little, I felt the need to teach her that the way she acted was wrong, and that it would only bring her ruin in the future, especially if she was really aiming on becoming the Empress. Not that I have any experience being a leader or anything, let alone a good one, but I had experienced two kinds of leaders in my old life, with my old boss being the good one and the new boss—the one who fired me—being the bad one. The new boss was the epitome of a distant and cold leader, who only cared about using his authority to order people around. My old boss on the other hand was a warm and caring leader, who even old cynical me couldn't help but like at least a little.
"I don't think it's a good idea to always act tough all the time," I continued. "A leader needs grrace and charisma as well—that thing that inspires her subordinates to work hard for her sake."
"Interesting," she replied with an amused look. "So you say I have no grace or charisma?"
"You certainly haven't persuaded me to believe in you—the same way Nicole does. To be honest, I still view you as a royal pain in the ass, no pun intended." Once again, I had decided not to hold my punches back. "If you treat your future knights and subordinates like me, I don't think they would be very loyal to you."
"So. Are you saying you aren't loyal to me?"
"Hey, I'm only helping you because you're traveling together with Nicole. I didn't want anything to befall her, seeing how she's the only friend Sherry had before she met me."
She paused, looking away for a moment with an uncharacteristically distant stare.
"Hmph, I suppose I should tell you. My little sob story, that is. You seem to be the kind of guy that is easily taken by such things, am I right boy?" She glanced back at me, still with that smirk. As usual, she figured me out far too easily. "Boy, do you know why I want to take the throne so badly, to the point that I would risk my life and my servants' lives on it?"
"Because you don't want to lose to your older brother and sister?"
"Ha, that's part of it, to be sure." She grinned, before looking away from me once again. "A promise. I have made a promise to myself that I would take the throne and change this rotten empire to my whim."
"A promise?" I raised my eyebrows.
"Fiora Guinevere Pendragon. Do you know the meaning of my middle name, 'Guinevere'?"
"Guinevere… Isn't that the name of the princess the Legendary Hero married after he slew the Demon God? Together, they ended up founding the Holy Empire as we know it."
"I see you've read our empire's history. Very good." She smirked, glancing back at me. "However, there's a deeper meaning on why I was given that name, as my older brother and sister didn't have that middle name. They have Rhea instead, which is the name of their mother—the queen consort of the emperor."
A certain understanding dawned on my face.
"Indeed. I am an illegitimate child, born out of pure accident. You see, my dear father isn't satisfied with just his wife. For a powerful and influential man like him, it isn't odd at all for him to have other relationships on the side. In fact, a lot of noble women would throw themselves at him, as they would be able to gain favor with him if they did. And his imperial maids, consisting mostly of low-ranking nobles and well-off daughters of the middle class, were no exception."
"...And he actually bore a child with one of them." I finished her sentence. "That child being you."
"Which would not be so scandalous of a move if it hadn't happened with the only one whose background is a slave."
...And now I know why she has such a distaste towards slavery.
She paused for a few moments, looking away from me once again.
"Ha, what a joke. Father loves women so much that he would do it with every attractive maid that serves him. Of course, using a contraceptive drug, there should be no worry of conceiving an illegitimate child. But Fate just loves to throw a twist on things, and somehow, my mother became pregnant with me."
At this point, there was a clear tone of bitterness to her voice.
"Of course, she always said that she had drunk the drug before doing the deed every single time. But who could trust her words, especially that of a slave? The other maids accused her of intentionally skipping the drug, just so she could bear his child. They had always been jealous of her, you see, as apparently, out of all his personal harem, he liked my mother the most."
"And then?"
"And then she died. Executed in the most gruesome fashion, pulled apart by a pair of horses going on opposite directions. Her crime was officially conspiring to assassinate the emperor, though naturally, it was a lie. She was framed by the jealous maids, and the queen consort, who's also jealous of his affections towards her. And I was there, witnessing her execution with my own eyes as she screamed in pain, begging for Father to save her, only for him to watch coldly, with not a single expression on his face. He might have been affectionate to her before, but he had lost his interest in her, just like he lost interest towards his wife."
"And thus, since that day, I have decided. I would take the throne and become this rotten country's empress, just so I would wipe the wretched smile off that woman's face—her and his son and daughter, who were also complicit in the act. I don't care how many corpses I have to stand on top of my dream. I would get the throne, or die trying."
"In fact," She turned her head to look at me. "I'll even kill Father if I have to, though with his declining condition, in just a few years, he would surely kick the bucket on his own. So there would be no need for that."
...It's strange—the way her expression is right now. She had a scary smile on her face, one of that of a killer. But at the same time, her eyes were watering, and I could see a drop of tear traveling down her right cheeks.
Suddenly, I felt the urge to come over to her and hug her.
"I haven't told the revenge and murdering part to Nicole by the way." She continued. "She thought I wanted the throne to honor the wish of my dead mother. That wasn't a lie though. She told me how hard her life was when she was still a slave. She was sold as a young age by her poor parents, and she ended up in the hands of a deviant who took her virtue even before she bled for the first time. It was only by sheer luck that she was rescued from that hell when she met Father. He purchased her and sent her to the maid academy at the capital in order for her to be trained as an imperial maid. She gave it all every day, just so she could repay his kindness. Of course, if she had known how it would all end, perhaps she wouldn't have tried so far for his sake. Or perhaps she would. She was always madly in love with him after all."
"And to think he would betray her in the end… Scum like him… Wouldn't it be better for them to disappear?"
Chills suddenly appeared all over my body as she gave another terrifying smile towards me. Her killing intent—it emanated from her, suffocating me who was sitting just a few meters away from her.
"Now you know why my half-siblings wanted me dead. They know one day I would seek revenge and destroy everything they hold dear. So really, I wouldn't blame them for going on the offensive right away."
Silence fell, with neither of us speaking a word for a good few minutes. Realizing she was tearing up, Fiora used her sleeve to wipe her face.
I am now speechless. Really, what the hell are you supposed to say to that?
"So, now that you know." Her usual smirk returned as she looked at me once again. "Do you still wish to act as my bodyguard? Perhaps you should tell Nicole the truth and persuade her to leave me. Then you two can go on your own, without any worries of assassins and the like."
"...Heh, I told you before—you really should stop acting so tough all the time, Your Highness." It was now my turn to grin.
She tilted her head, seemingly genuinely surprised.
"I sympathize with you. I really do. For a man to abandon his lover like that, especially after she gave birth to his child, I would never be able to forgive such scum. I have to ask though. Do you have any further goals beyond simple revenge?"
She laughed shortly, before smiling a little. "What I told Nicole, that I want to eradicate both poverty and slavery, that isn't a lie. After my revenge, with my power as an empress, I shall strive to reach that utopia. No matter how many bodies I have to cut down in the process, for you see, slavery is a well-ingrained practice, with many powerful backers, from rich merchants, powerful nobles, and even my older sister who is profiting greatly from the business. If I want to eradicate it, then I would need to cut them all down. It would be bloody, but I would be willing to bathe in that blood if it means I can bring a world where no woman would ever end up like Mother again. Some poor countries up north even rely on it, having nothing else to offer to other nations with their limited territory and resources. I would have to destroy them as well as a result."
She chuckled. "If I succeed, history books would name me as a wise empress and a great liberator. But if I fail, I would become a villied tyrant. 'In this chapter, we learn about Fiora Guinevere Pendragon, the vile woman who massacred anyone who stood in her path to power'." She mimicked the tone of a history teacher.
"I ask again. Would you still be willing to follow me all the way through that bloody future?"