That day, Lotus decided to go to the fairy gala herself as Peony and secretly enter the greenhouse through the back door. The guards he saw her appearance quickly understood the situation and beckoned her inside. Upon entering, she is greeted by Pyro who quickly rushed over to her, "Your highness."
"Pyro? What are you doing here?" Peony spoke up in bewilderment, "Either way, it's good that you're here. Is father all right?"
"He is well." Pyro responded with a sigh of relief before he frowned, "Milady. This blood scent..."
In the end, she couldn't hide it from him either, Peony forced a small smile, "Ah, I had an accident the night before while running around..."
"An 'accident'..." Pyro sighed not believing the princess in the slightest, "Make sure to see Aqua and Maisey for treatment. I will come check as his majesty instructed."
"Y-yes, sir..." Peony sighed in disappointment.
"Also, his majesty sent me here as soon as he read your letter." Pyro explained, "Although her majesty looks fine, her obsession with the stone is rather abnormal. She doesn't act like she's obsessed with it, but, if you follow her line of sight, it's always towards the stone."
"I was afraid that would be the case." Peony frowned, "I caught the culprit, but she refuses to cooperate and threatened to harm the kingdom. I had to take action before she starts doing something irreversible. However, I don't dare to take her life."
"Good." Pyro nodded before grimacing bitterly, "However, her highness..."
"I'll see what I can do today. However, I can't guarantee that I will be able to break mother's curse, even if my life becomes placed on the line." Peony explained with a frown, "The incident back at Tartarus left deep scars and I already used up a lot of my own mana."
"But what should we do?!" Pyro grimaced, "Her majesty is very important to the king and the entire kingdom too. Not only would the kingdom be overcome by grief, his majesty would too."
"This..." Peony hesitated in deep thoughts before it dawned on her.
"Since it's like this, we need to ask the Briar Valley's Queen for help." Peony replied, "However, it won't be that easy."
"His majesty won't agree..." Pyro hesitated.
"No, he'll be willing at the end." Peony shook her head, "The problem here is that the person who can help me replenish my mana is her grandson."
"Isn't he also attending this school?"
"He is. It's just that he has recently attained more mana that he can't mask it anymore with what I made for him." Lotus replied, "With this problem, I can set up a win-win situation. I ask him for some mana and he can attain a bottle of the fairy dust I have with me in exchange."
"His majesty won't be pleased." Pyro responded with a frown.
Peony nodded, "I know. But, like father, I only have one mother and one family as he has one wife and one family. I can't lose anyone in this family, especially not mother. If it's fairy dust, I can always get more in the future, but there won't be another mother or another queen like her."
Her mother has passed away and she never did remember what she looked like, only tales from the Zhang siblings. Yet, the mother before her was always kind, strict but gentle, and always worried about her happiness as best as she could while tending to her every needs and spoiling her every wants. Even if she were to have a step mother who treated her just as well, they would only be a different mother who is not her. If she is gone, it will be just as bad as losing Mo Li all over again!
"I see..." Pyro sighed, "Then, I will not stop the princess. However, her majesty..."
"I will check on mother's condition from a distance during the gala. Just be sure not to over stimulate her emotions. It may prompt the curse to start acting funny and I don't have the strength to help her fight it back when that happens." Peony explained, "Just have Aqua and Maisey attend to her as per usual. You will watch from afar with me, so father can better understand the situation. Though you probably wanted to join the festivities that would happen later-"
"That won't be necessary." Pyro bowed, "The royal family's well being comes first and foremost."
Hearing this, Peony huffed a small smile, "We are very lucky to have you by our side."
In the distance from the gala, Peony watched the group walk through the double doors guided by Maisey. After they finished signing up, she watched as they discussed amongst themselves.
"Oh, WOW!" Kalim looked around in awe, "The botanical garden's got decorative flowers everywhere. And they're all so SHINY."
Leona grumbled as he pinched the bridge of his nose painfully, "Ugh. It's enough to give a guy a headache."
Ruggie looked around with eyes glittering in awe and drool from his mouth, "Now THIS is what I call a fancy shindig. All the plants and flowers in the botanical garden are sprinkled with sparkly gold dust... And the tables are piled high with food, food, FOOD!"
Kalim commented in awe, "There's such a huge variety of fae here. I see ones bigger than Leona, and ones smaller than my pinky."
"Hey." Jamil scolded, "If you're all done gawking, check out the spot farthest in the back."
Grim poked his head out of Yuu's arms then climbed into his shoulder and looked around, "Lemme see... Looks like a runway and an extra-fancy chair. A throne, almost."
Leona nodded, "That's a reserved seat for the fashion show. It's probably where the queen's gonna be sitting, since she's the one in charge here."
Jamil nodded, "Agreed—which means it's where Ruggie's group will be swapping the tiara."
"Gah!" Grim cried out in horror upon realization, "It's smack-dab in front of the runway! There's gonna be more fairies on both sides of the seat, too. The only place we can hide is behind it."
"If I grabbed the tiara there, we'd be caught by the fairies in no time!" Ruggie pointed out in horror.
"Oh, come on." Leona huffed, "The subtropical zone is right nearby. Once you've got the goods, you can just hightail it over there. That'll take you straight to the back door."
"Easy for you to say." Ruggie sighed in lament, "You're not the one doing the swiping! If anything goes wrong, it'll be me, Grim, and Yuu that get caught and bound hand and foot!"
"Quit yappin' about what-ifs already." Leona grumbled in irritation and sneered, "I'm there to keep that from happening, remember?"
"Bah. Fine." Ruggie gave up as he scowled, "But you'd better not forget it!"
"You can count on us for sure." Kalim reassured them with a bright smile.
Jamil spoke up firmly, "It's time we split up, then."
Seeing Yuu and Grim also dressed up, Peony was curious as well. Will they come and go often for this year's celebration?
However her eyes soon returned to the performance. This year, everyone was dressed in floral designs of many great flamboyant colors and all walking down the cat walk are all beautiful with an air of exoticism and, yet, none of them were stunning to the point of breathtaking!
It was even hurting her eyes. However, if it was her, what can she do? Just her dress and magic was foreign to the fairy kingdom. Every year, her mother claims that her dance was so breathtaking that it calms and excites her both.
Should she alter the plans as her mother requested a couple of weeks ago right before her departure? However, she has yet to receive a confirmation from both Malleus or the queen. So what should she do?
Her mother loves her dance so much in the past. Hearing that she does not plan to return to the fairy kingdom after graduation pained her so. Yet she was so understanding that she requested her to also dance for the start of the gala just this once. The news pained her mother and Peony loves her too dearly to put down this request, but she also didn't pick it up either...
Mother... Father... Maisey... Pyro and Aqua...
In truth, she also didn't want to part with them, but, for this world and her beloved family, she can't rest until the problem is solved from its core. Then, there was her goal.
Finally, it was their turn...
"Next up is Entry 14. This is a group of first-time participants! They call themselves..."My Retinue and Me"? What manner of fashion will they wow us with? Let's give them a big hand as they COME ON DOWN!"
"Pfft!" Peony choked a laugh once she heard this, "Haha! What kind of name is that?"
"They are not very good at naming, are they?" Pyro lamented hesitantly.
"There's only one person who would be lazy and arrogant enough to choose this name." Peony giggled with soft smile, "I hope he can come up with a good performance to match that name. I won't forgive him if there's even one misstep."
Seeing her tease another, Pyro could feel a headache coming along. Yet, seeing her smile, he could not help but feel a little relieved upon seeing the prior gloom and solemn face disappear from her face. Looking upon the group curiously, he thought to himself as it was rare for someone to be able to snap her highness out of dazes especially these recent times, but they managed to do it without the intent. He doesn't know if he should call this luck, skill, or idiocy. However, they helped her highness from goin down another tangency...
Maybe, it was a good thing that she is attending this school, after all...