The reason Lucas got poisoned was because of a dark form of energy that was hidden inside the nutritious ball of energy. It felt like poison, but it was something he had never seen before, not even the books on herbalism taken from Venion described any poison like that.
If Freya absorbed that without thinking about it, her core would've suffered immensely, definitely causing her death, or crippling her for life. Lucas didn't know himself, the reason he survived in the first place was unknown. At first, he thought it was because the dark energy lost a lot of its power infecting the body, before entering the core. But that didn't feel correct, as the poison felt fatal even when it entered the core. He could only point to the strange being in his core taking care of it. Freya wouldn't have gotten this chance if she directly absorbed this.
"Freya, the energy you had to absorb, do you remember what it was?", Lucas got his stern face on, letting Freya know it was time to be serious. They had the time to get off their high after surviving that ordeal.
"Let me think for a moment.", she was sitting on her knees, pondering. After searching her memories she had a few vague images and a collection of things she had to consume, and she decided to report the most important ones.
"Hmm, all I can remember was that I had to consume a pill, a potion and then I had to be surrounded by magical items or mages to increase the chance of awakening."
"Wait, a pill and a potion? Couldn't they have combined the two? If a Rank 2 mage created a pill, it surely must've been strong enough to provide you with enough energy to reach the first circle?"
Freya hadn't really thought about that, but she believed that it was necessary since she was still quite young. "Perhaps because my body couldn't handle it all in one go?"
"I guess that makes some sense, still, that seems very strange."
'Why not just give her two pills or two potions?'
'What are you thinking? That one of the two is filled with that poison?'
"Do you know who gave you those things, or who made them?"
"I first got the potion from my advisor, he said it should be the first step to becoming a mage. Not long after Roderick came to me with a pill that would make the first circle complete. I don't know who made it.", thinking back on her loyal guard that sacrificed his life to save her and her advisor that was presumably also dead she started to get a little downcast.
It had been some time ago and things changed, her feelings had found a place in her heart, making the morning process reach its final stage.
"Is that it? Nothing else?", Lucas was wondering where the third layer came from. It would seem obvious that two items would result in two layers of energy, but there were three. Freya simply closed her eyes in tried to remember anything else, but nothing popped up, there were some food items that would've provided some magical energy, but that dispersed when they came into contact with the digestive tract, not ending up around the core.
"Do you believe that your advisor could have malicious intent?", the question was a sensitive one. To Freya, her biological father was nothing but a distant relative, her only real relationships were with her guard and her advisor. The guard portrayed a handsome white knight that represented her love, and the advisor, the closest someone got to an actual father figure. To her, both couldn't have done anything malicious.
"No, of course not, they are my closest supporters. They wouldn't do anything bad for me, my advisor checked everything I came into contact with so that nothing bad could happen to me."
'If he checked everything and she still got poisoned, he must've been the perpetrator, there you go, we found him.'
'Don't jump to conclusions, for all we know it was hidden and he couldn't detect it. Or it was subtly given to her.'
'C'mon, isn't it obvious, the guard is dead and the advisor distracted the assassins chasing her. He's obviously just with the assassins, that's why they let her go.'
"When you get back to the castle, you should ask your supporters who made it, because it wasn't as innocent as you might think.", Freya first thought it was a joke, but Lucas' face obliterated that idea.
Next to that her supporters probably didn't exist anymore, she was alone now. With some effort, she could win back a few people, but her siblings simply had more power and training than her. Some simple bribes would change most people's minds. Who would dare to support her now?
Then it dawned on her, what was Lucas even referring to?
"What do you mean?"
"Inside the ball of energy that was inside of you, I found that there was a third layer of energy, the layer seemed to be used in the growth process of your core, but it also contained a strange form of dark energy. That was the reason I got poisoned."
Freya didn't know what to say or think anymore, did one of her most trusted people betray her, or did someone secretly add something to her without her knowing? She slowly started to panic but calmed down when she realized where she was now. If she ever dared to awaken naturally she would've died.
"This was an assassination attempt!", but by who?
"I know, that's why…", Lucas stopped speaking, looking at her he knew that she was in distress, there was no need to fuel the flames any further. She had already lost everything and was alone except for her acentric companion with a fake name.
Burying the bad thoughts, Freya showed escapism in the present. "Hey Conrad, would you mind if we lived here for some time?", the question was out of nowhere and utterly surprised Lucas to his core.
"Aren't their people chasing you or something? Wasn't that why we went to the city?", Lucas had never forgotten his own goal. He took this woman along with him purely because he could reap some benefits and gain a useful position in society. He was already Rank 1, making the school easier to enter so her proposition lost some weight. Freya didn't have much left, so the big reward was probably fake or a desperate attempt to rope him in.
"Conrad, do you really think they wouldn't have found us by now? There is no reason to kill me anymore, I don't have any power left in their minds and if I ever awakened I would've died, so tell me. Would it still be useful to hunt me?", for the first time in a long time, Freya had spoken without her usual naivety or obliviousness.
Her analysis was spot on. There was the argument of making sure she was dead to not have her appear out of nowhere and steal the limelight, but she didn't have any supporters, so even if she returned, what would it change? It would only mean there would be an increase in the expenses for the assassination department.
Lucas created a stone chair before sitting down and one leg over the other. "Freya, isn't that more of a reason to go to the city?"
Freya had to think twice, but she couldn't grasp what Lucas was saying.
"Who are your enemies right now?"
"I guess, my sister and brother....and maybe from my own supporters?"
"Do you know why your own supporters would dare to harm you, a princess of a kingdom?"
"Because they got bribed? Or rather support my siblings?"
"Close, because you Freya, were lacking!"
Freya felt insulted, but at the same time, something in her told her that what Lucas was saying wasn't just fluff. Lucas didn't have a reason to lie to her. At least, not one that she knew of.
"You didn't appear in public areas, never flaunted your strength because you never had any to begin with. All the supporters you had weren't just helping you for fun. They didn't like your sibling, because tell me, Freya, why should they support you?"
"Euhm..b-"
"There's no reason to. You don't have a successful business, don't use your political power, and couldn't awaken as a mage. No matter how hard you tried to hide it, rumors spread. If a princess didn't have anything to give, why should they support you? If they could get a reward from the opposing faction for simply baiting you to their home, what's stopping them?"
"...So I'm done for now? I have nothing left and nobody wants me? Is that it?", she gave in to her emotions, crying from the grim reality that was her past.
"What are you talking about?"
"sniff, Huh?"
"I never said that you're done for. In fact, didn't things change? You cannot awaken, in theory, even if you did you would be dead. Now nobody knows that you're here. Alive! Awakened! Now is the time to grow in your strength and pull your supporters back! They believed in you but lost interest because of your weakness. That doesn't exist anymore! Get up Freya, you are a princess of the Frigus country for god sake!"
His passionate speech threw her for a spin. Freya was lost in sadness and happiness fighting each other. What if she could get all her supporters back? What if she could grow a stable foundation? Now that nobody knows where she's at, couldn't she grow her faction in the shadows?
Wiping away her tears, she faced Lucas sitting in his chair with a serious and determined look. "You're right, now's not the time to give up. I want to face my siblings and show them that I'm not some useless princess. I'll show them a ruler, someone fit to govern this country."
There were tons of insecurities, but they drowned in the adrenaline that filled her body. She was a mage now, a genuine one, she knew tons of knowledge about the runes and even had more stocked back at her home. There was a future she could envision with her newly granted powers. Besides that, she also had someone with her whom she fully trusted, even though they started out as strangers, they spent weeks next to each other. Her heart found a safe place with Lucas.
"Conrad, you have helped me so much, even saved my life! Are you willing to become my first supporter?"
Lucas got out of his chair before kneeling before her. "With pleasure, your majesty."
The title felt like honey to the newly determined princess. "That's right, I'll become the queen of this country, just you wait!"
Lucas couldn't tell at who that last part was directed, but pinned it on all the people who had doubted and shunned her for years.
'And after all that, you think we'll get something out of that?'
'Of course, we just earned ourselves a potential shield and authority, we just need this flower to bloom. And even if this plan fails, all the blame will be put on Conrad, and we both don't know him now, do we?'
'And you tell me I'm the bad guy?'