"My name is Maisey. I'm her caretaker and the chief engineer of the royal craft fairies. Her majesty assigned me to take care of the princess since she was first taken in as a child by her majesty herself." Maisey responded as he did a quick check on Peony's pulse just as she had taught him then turned to Malleus with a grateful smile, "We are grateful for your concern and aid to Princess Peony."
Malleus nodded, "All I did was try to catch her fall. Nothing else. Where is this place?"
The place was well kept and furnished professionally as though it could stand for many more generations of fairies to come.
"This is the royal craft fairies' workshop." Maisey responded.
Surprised, Malleus looked to Peony in confusion. The last time she used magic, she was able to fend off the menacing aura of the other dragon. If it was like this, they she must have teleported herself to a place where she felt the safest. So, why was it in this workshop?
Malleus looked around as Maisey went to the cabinet to take out some pills. Seeing this, Malleus noted in surprise, "This place is well prepared."
"When her majesty was small, she used to teleport herself to my workshop without prior notice. She probably grew attached to this rundown place at some point in time. Since then, we remodeled the building so that the princess could safely come and go as she please." Maisey responded as he counted the number of pills before helping the princess take them with his magic.
"Does she always come here often?" Malleus sat down across from them as he said this, "I've seen her create items back on campus as well."
Maisey took a deep breath seeing the princess safely swallow those pills and sat down on a wooden chair with his arms on the back of it, "She was very curious as a child. No matter what it is you re doing, she would wish to see how we did it and then she would practice our movements again and again on her own time. At first, we imagined it was the normal practice of human children trying to imprint the practices and movements of the adults. However, she was a quick learner and soon began conversing with us on a level that does not resemble children of her age at that time. It only took a week before she began showing up in our workshop out of the blue and working alongside us at a faster pace than us."
"The royal family permitted this?" Malleus looked to him in surprise.
Maisey shook her head, "Naturally not. However, nobody could stop her when she's made up her mind. Instead, we did repairs on the building so that the princess did not encounter any mishaps while she was here."
"So you gave up." Malleus huffed in dismay as he heard this, "I see she was also a handful when she was younger."
Maisey gazed at him curiously before opening his mouth, "At times… However, it is a first that she allowed someone to join her here. In the past, no matter what state she was in, she would never allow anyone to touch her much less join her to come here. You are the first she's brought with here and certainly a surprising visitor for us day faes."
"Ugh... That's enough, Maisey..."
Bracing the headaches, Peony slowly sat up with a grimace, "Did I teleport back to the workshop again? I can hear that kid's voice even now... Ugh..."
"Ah, Peony!" Maisey sighed in relief, "Do you have any idea how I felt when I came in to an empty workshop and only finding you and his highness in the room stenched in blood?!?! I was ready to faint!"
"Ugh... Please, Maisey... My ears feel like it will break with this pounding headache..." Peony groaned painfully.
As Maisey continued to lecture her, Malleus began to shift his attention else where when he noticed a strange device on the table. He raised a brow before reaching out. However, his hand was quickly pushed away as he noticed a black pebble on the ground. Peony scowled as scolded him, "I told you again and again. Don't touch things recklessly! That's a device that absorbs magic! Especially fire magic! It's used if a fire broke out, but it can also be used to absorb uncontrollable magic! It'd be a problem if you break that too!"
Peony grumbled in dismay before noticing Malleus pick up the black pebble with a strange expression on his face, "What is this thing?"
"That?" Peony raised a brow, "It's a chess piece."
"A chess piece?" Malleus questioned in confusion as he recalled the time she used this to erect an array in Lilia's room, "But you also used this to create your magic circle..."
"Because it's pretty convenient. They're small and easier to carry. Besides, the game is rather fun." Peony responded with a raised brow.
Malleus thought curiously before speaking again, "How about... Playing a game with me?"
Peony was surprised as she voiced her doubts, "Have you played the game before?"
"I have not." He shook his head, "Why not teach it to me?"
"Really..." Peony hummed curiously, "Very well. But, probably not today. You still have class tomorrow, right?"
"I do. However..." Malleus hesitated.
"We left Huo Wei and Lilia in that state. If you don't return, they will start kicking up a fuss worried where you have teleported to when there's still that guy trapped in your dormitory."
Peony muttered quietly, "Besides, if even the suspicions that you have disappeared emerge, more chaos will start to work. You may not have thought of it, but your presence is a lot more important to the stability of others than you can imagine. If you leave graduating or dropping out will also impact the students in the school. The more chaotic things are, the more easily an opening will appear for those people. After all, chaos is what they want and order is what will restrain those people."
Maisey shook his head in exhaustion and sighed, "Another trouble again? You should have just stayed in the castle instead..."
Peony chuckled, "If I did that, father would do nothing but throw documents at me and flue himself to mom's side. Speaking of which, how is mother's condition? I had asked Igni. However, he only said that she was doing better and could even attend the last day of the gala with a rational mindset once again."
Maisey frowned, "That's true. However, according to her majesty, she had already felt that something was off with her condition after she entered the school grounds and set the groundworks to notify the king and have prepared everything necessary to continue to make the gala a success in her place. She was afraid that if spring did not come, everything would fall onto you to step down from your freedom and bind yourself to the task of bringing about spring on your own in her absence while her condition would haunt you during the entire process. She already knew how much of an importance she is to the balance of the royal family."
"She's not wrong..." Peony sighed as she leaned back a little clutching her stomach hoping to withstand the next wave, "Mother was the one who brought me back home with the intention of adopting me. If she were not here, father would not be able to maintain the family relation mother helped nurture between us. As expected. Mother is always one step ahead with the bigger picture in mind."
"I thought that the king was the one who agreed to the adoption." Malleus questioned in confusion.
Maisey hesitated as Peony raised a hand calming him, "If you speak with those who have regular connections with our people, you would learn that the Queen of fairies initially adopted me after I helped her escape from a pack of magic wolves. Magic wolves certainly are not common or even just uncommon in Shaftlands, but I'm afraid the information regarding that is a piece of private information. What you can know is that, after she fled, she returned with her retainers to find me near death. She healed my injuries and declared her intention to adopt me before bringing me back to the castle. It was there that she shared her decision with the king. The king was not willing to take in a human child, obviously. I was also an outsider as well. So, my place in the kingdom was very uncertain. Naturally, my rights were only protected because my mother was there to defend and support me during that time. However, because my mother wished for it dearly, she tried every scenario she could think of to convince father to accept the adoption. However, it isn't a secret that my father would do anything for mother. So, he already began treating me as according to her wishes and started the process for adoption. After that, our relation only got to this point because of our connection to mother."
"So, that's why you were willing to risk giving away all your mana to save her majesty even if it means putting you near death's door." Malleus questioned curiously.
"Hm. I don't think you understand why I did it, but that's fine. To begin with, mother is someone who many holds dear. If she disappears because of those people..." Peony paused before her voice turned cold, "I would not have stayed in this society any longer and they would be struggling to look for a way to reincarnate safely."
Hearing a sudden change in tone, Malleus was shocked but he did not bring himself to question her for specifics. They were both royalty, if not nobles. Although she was adopted, she understood the meaning of being a ruler and acted befitting someone from the royal family regardless of her. What frightened him, however, was how she decided to turn to violence as an answer so easily as though it was a natural choice for her. Was there any way to make her reconsider her choices?
.....
"Today, you will be working with the sophmores." Crewel began despite the hot climate, "You will be paired with the sophmores this time. Your task today is to create a potion that can take away someone's voice."
Hearing this, there were murmurs as Jamil raised a brow, "So, you want us to create a potion and use it on the mandragora?"
"That's correct." Crewel responded as he continued, "Today, we will be experimenting the effect potions have on magical agriculture. In the past, there was a high demand for mandragora as the main alchemy ingredient. With the boom of magic and its role in society, we shifted out focus to the uses and cultivation of magical plants, mainly mandragora. Mandragora became the best alternative to more expensive plants. However, that is not without its problems. Deuce, tell me the conflicts that happened due to this practice!"
"Eh?!"