A governor being murdered was important news; news that would spread like wildfire.
...Or that's what Calluna thought, anyway. She had worried herself sick over whether her actions would ruin her reputation or not, and spent three sleepless nights trying to come up with a solution just in case.
Despite her worries, however, there was hardly any mention of his death. Calluna had no intention to hide the fact she had been the one to kill him since she was confident her choice had been the right thing to do... yet, despite her disregard for rumors, none seemed to spread at all. She and Vincenzo had gone undercover into the town and listened to the gossip of the townsfolk; none of them had anything to say about him being murdered – rather, they all had been speaking excitedly about who they thought should take the late governor's position.
As for Scarlet, she was doing surprisingly well. It had been several days since her rescue, and evidently consuming souls was excellent as a means to promote healing in Draceeri. The girl had taken a special liking to Calluna, however, and refused to leave her side until her brother arrived to take her home. The prince didn't really mind the company, and since Scarlet changed to her dragon form in the evening to be more comfortable, it was easy to fit them both in the large guest bed.
Due to all of the drama, the tour had fallen behind schedule.
There were still three more cities to visit, but Calluna was meant to return to Felbole in four days. She had thought long and hard about what to do, and decided that her best course of action would be to leave the tour incomplete. If they were to finish it, her coronation preparations would be delayed and everything would rip at the seams.
Calluna sat upright in the guest bed with the mauve silken sheets resting over her legs. Scarlet's small, curled dragon form rested at the prince's feet, the rhythmic rise and fall of the scaled being shallow and quick since she was deep in sleep. The blonde woman apprehensively reached out and gently tapped Scarlet's back to wake her.
「Hm?」came Scarlet's groggy response.
"When will your brother be arriving?"
「I don't actually know…」
Calluna bit her lip. "Would you be alright coming back to the castle with me?"
The dragon's vermilion eyes widened.「To the castle?!」
"My coronation is coming up and I need to head back soon if I want to stay on schedule," the prince explained. "I don't want to part with you before I know you're safe, though."
Scarlet crawled up the blankets to seat herself by Calluna, and transformed into her human form. She had changed shapes in front of the prince several times, but Calluna found herself equally as amazed each time. There was just something unsettling about a living being changing appearance so drastically in the blink of an eye.
"I'll go back with you," the girl replied after a moment. "Solomon can find me anywhere, so it shouldn't matter if we go somewhere else."
Calluna nodded in acknowledgement, but said nothing further. She couldn't help but admire Scarlet's supernatural beauty. Her hair was a deep violet that she kept in a loose braid, and was accompanied by two space buns on top of her head. Her dark brownish eyes glimmered red in certain lighting, and her skin was immaculate like porcelain; overall, she appeared more doll-like than human.
"You really are beautiful," Calluna stated and gently patted Scarlet on the top of her head.
"Wanna see something cool, Luna?" Scarlet asked in response, a prideful glint in her soft eyes.
"Sure?" Calluna hadn't a single clue as to what she could possibly want to show her, but tried to keep an open mind considering Scarlet was quite literally a mythical creature.
All of the sudden, Scarlet's head grew purplish horns and a tail sprouted from the small of her back. Her eyes radiated crimson light very faintly, and her pupils became slits rather than circles. "This is the Draceeri's typical form. Unless they're of royal blood like myself, they can't change their appearance to that of a normal human."
"Oh, wow," the prince gaped. She reached out her hand once more and hovered it near one of Scarlet's horns, then cast a nervous glance at the girl to ask permission.
Fortunately the dragon girl smiled and gave a slight nod, which was all Calluna needed. She gave into her own curiosity and gently caressed the keratinous, curved horn. Her fingers slid along the shiny surface, feeling each ridge and dent with great interest. To her surprise, however, Scarlet began to giggle relentlessly.
"It tickles, it tickles!" The girl exclaimed. One of her hands flew up to cover her mouth as laughter tried to escape.
Calluna chuckled and removed her hand, "Sorry, I didn't mean to tickle you. You're so… fascinating. I really can't believe divine creatures like yourself exist alongside humans."
"You're so weird, Crown Prince. We've always been around. In fact, if our Draceerian history is to be trusted – we lived on Chily long before humans… so I'm not really sure why you act like that," Scarlet replied, tilting her head inquisitively.
"Chily?" Calluna frowned.
Scarlet deadpanned, "You know, the continent we live on? You must not be very good at geography..."
"Oh- uh…" She had no idea how to cover up such a dumb mistake, and ended up collapsing back onto her pillow face down. Being bullied by a fourteen year old felt even more embarrassing than it would have been by literally anyone else.
"It's okay, Luna. Hopefully you're able to learn it after you study a little harder," the girl said, patting Calluna's back with her clawed fingers. "We wouldn't want our King waging war somewhere and then going to the wrong place or something, that would be awkward."
Calluna groaned. "I'm not that bad! I'm just… not very good at names."
"Riiiiight. I totally believe you," Scarlet teased.
A single knock at the door interrupted their conversation, to which Scarlet instantly changed back to her human shape. Calluna sat up once again and straightened her posture, repositioning herself comfortably before calling, "You may enter."
From the doorway entered Wesley and Vincenzo, as she had expected; but to her surprise, behind them also came Guinevere with a an ornate platter decorated with breakfast foods. All three gave their bows to Scarlet, as she was the princess of a native people, then turned to face Calluna.
"We ended up coming in at the same time by coincidence, I'm simply here to give you and the young miss something to eat," Guinevere said with a smile, moving forward to place the food before the two on the bed.
"Thank you, as always," Calluna replied with a smile. Scarlet narrowed her eyes and said nothing, but took one of the fresh bagels off the plate and began eating. She hadn't spoken a word directly to anyone other than Flora and the prince, so her cold response wasn't out of the ordinary.
"We're here on business," Vincenzo stated, his usual nonchalant demeanor replaced by an unfamiliar stiffened aura.
"Not here just because you missed me? I'm sad," Calluna whined with a teasing lilt.
"That too," the long-haired man answered, lightening up slightly.
Calluna felt relieved when he became noticeably more relaxed, and returned to reality. "What is it that you've come to tell me?"
"We located the young girl's parents," Wesley said, icy eyes cast downward.
"And?"
The snowy-haired man looked up to meet her gaze. "Her parents are both in bad shape, they seem to have been suffering from illness for quite some time. She's from a very poor family."
"Send Flora to them along with the funds to seek treatment. After my coronation I'll reach out again, but for now it is the best I can do," Calluna explained.
Wesley gave a curt nod of understanding and remained silent. The air in the room felt heavy, as the stress of everything catching up to them had finally begun to weigh on their minds.
"What about finding a new governor?" Vincenzo queried.
"I will send one of the judiciaries to temporarily cover for Leigboury while they hold another election."
「Tell them we're going back to your castle and you're taking me with you.」Scarlet reminded her telepathically.
Calluna had nearly forgotten to tell them since she had been so out of it mentally, so she was grateful for the thought. "Also, we will cut the tour short. I will have to make do with the little support I managed to get in the early half; preparing for my coronation is a far more pressing issue. We will take Scarlet with us."
The three of her friends all gave their silent signs of approval and understanding, then turned to leave the room.
It was a long ride back to Felbole, and none of them were looking forward to the stress that awaited them at home.