One afternoon, as temperatures edged higher and higher by the day, a
woman floated upside down from the ceiling in the king of Farsas's study.
Her long black hair was bound in a ponytail, and she was dressed in the
same type of simple, light clothing that a child might wear. Even so, this
was unmistakably a royal of Tuldarr. Her head hanging listlessly, she asked
the room's owner, "It's…so hot… Can I make it cooler in here?"
"Sure, but is it really that bad?"
"This is basically my first time being outside of Tuldarr…," Tinasha
reminded him, using magic to lower the temperature in the room somewhat.
She descended to the floor in a lazy spiral.
Farsas and Tuldarr were neighbors, but the capital of Farsas was much
warmer than that of Tuldarr, which was located farther north and at a high
elevation. Moreover, Farsas was a naturally warm country. For someone
raised in a cooler place like Tinasha had been, it was rough. The refreshing
drop in temperature made Lazar look up from the documents he was
sorting.
His eyes on his paperwork, Oscar said, "Since you've come and joined
us on land, make some tea."
"I admire you for being able to drink hot tea in this weather," Tinasha
replied. The tea things were already laid out alongside the wall, so she set to
the task. Next to those implements sat a pitcher of cold water, which had
been placed there for her benefit several days ago.
More than two weeks had passed since the conflict with Druza, and
Tinasha had spent it commuting between her own country and Farsas.
Roughly two-thirds of that time—about ten days—she'd been in Farsas.
She returned to Tuldarr once every three days to prepare for her coronation.
However, she hadn't departed for her homeland at all this week.
Realizing this, Oscar cocked his head at her. "You've been hanging around
here a lot lately. Did something happen with your analysis?"
"Uh… I'm a little stuck. There's a part I just can't make sense of…"
"Oh?"
"You could say this is a bit of a break for me. Maybe it'll help me come
up with something," she said, then lifted off into the air again. She turned
around several times in the air, knees bent.
Oscar smiled, not looking up from his papers. "You could just give up."
"I won't! Just wait a little longer," she insisted.
"Well, if it doesn't work out, you'll have my child, right?"
"Yes. Once I've imprinted on the baby that their father has a terrible
personality, I'll hand them over to you."
"You've got a hell of a personality yourself," Oscar retorted.
Lazar frowned, sensing something loaded beneath the surface of these
playful jokes.
Tinasha was destined to become the queen of a neighboring nation.
From a diplomatic standpoint, she would want to avoid giving birth to the
next heir of the Farsas throne. Surely Oscar understood that, too, but it did
nothing to assuage the worries of the king's attendant.
Tinasha dropped back to the floor again and started to pour perfectly
steamed tea into cups. She placed a cup of the light-crimson liquid on the
study desk and stared intently at Oscar. "If it's a girl, I would keep it."
"I don't care if it's a boy or a girl," he answered.
"That's unexpected. But it wouldn't be up to you."
While they were definitely joking, the topic was still straying into rather
specific territory. Alarmed, Lazar waved his arms in the air. "B-but you're
still analyzing the curse!"
"Yes, I am! I had almost forgotten! I'm working very hard on it!"
Tinasha cried.
"Got it, got it. Do your best, then," stated Oscar dismissively, reaching
out for his cup and taking a sip. A pleasant scent wafted up from the steam.
He set his stack of papers down for the moment and looked to Lazar next to
him. "Heard anything interesting lately? I could use some exercise."
"Even if I had, I wouldn't offer aught that would tempt you to sneak
out," Lazar admitted primly. "But if I must, I'll tell you that there's rumors
of a strange religious cult in the city."
"A cult?" Oscar replied, his interest piqued.
Lazar gave a simple explanation of what he knew.
About a month ago, a faith worshipping a new deity—not one of the
existing gods—had formed in the city. It steadily gathered believers while
taking root in town.
"A new god? What kind?" Oscar pressed.
"Evidently, only believers find that out. It seems to be a religion that
prizes power above all else," Lazar answered.
"Dangerous ideas, then," Tinasha remarked coolly, now seated in a
chair.
Farsas enjoyed freedom of religion, but most people believed in the
same deities of antiquity, such as Aeti. People worshipped the statues of
those gods in the castle cathedral and at the eastern temple.
Tuldarr, on the other hand, was an atheistic nation; as might be expected
from a country of mages. Its castle cathedral had an altar, but no statues or
idols were present.
Oscar rested his chin in one hand, sounding displeased as he asked,
"Should we investigate this?"
"Nothing suspicious has occurred. At most, those around the cult
consider it a mere nuisance," Lazar pointed out.
"I see…," Oscar responded, finishing his tea and setting down the empty
cup. The liquid had cooled quickly, most likely due to the lowered
temperature in the room. Tinasha, however, got up and reached for the
water pitcher, still feeling hot.
As she poured for herself, she recalled something and said, "Oh, right, I
have plans with Legis tonight, so I'll be heading back to Tuldarr."
"Did that slip your mind until just now?" Oscar questioned skeptically.
"I—I didn't forget, exactly… I learn a lot when I'm around him. His
disposition is fairly different from yours, but he has the makings of a fine
king," she explained.
Oscar, having just been indirectly judged, frowned. It was partially
because he didn't care for how close Tinasha was to Legis, but that was a
trivial concern. The thing that vexed him more was how she spoke of Legis
like he'd be king, when she was the one currently set to rule Tuldarr.
"You're talking like Legis is going to rule," he remarked.
"Is that what you got from that?" Tinasha replied with a devious grin.
Though she had been asleep for four hundred years, physically she was still
nineteen years old. Legis was currently twenty-three, meaning that there
was no way he could become king after her, barring unforeseen events.
Oscar found that suspicious but decided not to press the issue further.
Tinasha was, after all, a young queen who had abdicated once before. No
one could say what would happen in the future, and the same went for
Oscar, who was a youthful king himself.
Tinasha took a sip of water from her cup, then her eyes bulged with
shock, and she poured the contents of the cup back into the pitcher. After
observing that, Oscar asked her, "What is it?"
"Nothing, just… It's poisoned," she answered, sounding unconcerned.
Both men blanched upon hearing that. Oscar kicked his chair back as he
stood up and ran over to her. He grabbed Tinasha's chin in one hand and
used the other to try to stick fingers down her throat to force her to vomit.
She rushed to stop him. "W-wait, wait! Magic potions don't work on
me!"
"…So you're really fine?"
"I am," Tinasha assured, the man's fingers half in her mouth, her eyes
watering.
Oscar trusted that and released her. The young woman massaged her
neck. "The magic in my body is so powerful that it disintegrates normal
potions, even enchanted ones. An ordinary person would die if they drank
that, but it was nothing more than foul-tasting water to me."
"That's good, then… No, no, it's not," Oscar replied.
That pitcher was there specifically for Tinasha. Oscar had never touched
it, and neither had Lazar, the two only partaking of tea. If things had gone
badly, they could have had an international crisis on their hands.
But Tinasha, the victim of the lethal-poisoning attempt, folded her arms
calmly. "There's no end to the list of reasons why someone might want to
kill me. I can't make a guess, but based on the fact that they used a magic
potion, this must be someone who thinks I'm an ordinary princess."
"I'll investigate. In the meantime, keep up a defensive barrier around
yourself at all times," Oscar instructed.
"All right," Tinasha agreed.
"Sorry about this," the king muttered, patting her head lightly as he
issued orders to Lazar. Though the other man paled when he heard them, he
set to the task immediately. Once the door closed behind him, Oscar sighed.
"If you're not opposed, it would be best if you stayed in Tuldarr until we
know who's responsible for this."
"I'll be fine. I'm more worried about you, so I'll come back tomorrow,"
Tinasha said, offering him a smile with her eyes narrowed.
The sight of it tempted Oscar into drawing her into his arms. But
instead, he pinched her cheek.
"Ow! What was that for?!" she yelped indignantly.
"No reason," he replied.
Narrowing her eyes at his irrational behavior, she glared at him as he
smirked back at her.
As the sun was setting, Tinasha used the transportation array that linked her
rooms in each castle to return to Tuldarr.
Oscar was gravely concerned over the attempted poisoning, but Tinasha
had been living with the danger of assassination since she was young. To
her, it was nothing to fuss over. There were a multitude of reasons for
someone to kill another.
After changing her clothes, Tinasha went to the reference library where
Legis was waiting for her.
Today she had agreed to help him look through the materials that were
not for loan and put them in order.
Many materials were for in-library use only, and the two planned to go
through the most prohibited of all—those related to forbidden curses. Only
the chief mage and royal family members of Tuldarr were allowed to peruse
those volumes. While there weren't very many, Tuldarr had still
accumulated a few over the course of its nearly nine-hundred-year history.
Any new additions were placed with the rest, but they had not been
sorted or organized.
The matter with Druza the previous month made Legis realize the
importance of these tomes, thus he had persuaded the king and obtained
permission to read and sort them.
Tinasha reached the reference library, dismissed the guards, and entered.
At a cursory glance, the reference library was a book-storage room lined
wall-to-wall with shelves. She crossed the chamber packed with volumes
and documents and touched a door on the far wall. It reacted to her royal
contact and soundlessly opened inward. Beyond it stood Legis, his back to
her and an old scroll in his hands.
He noticed the door opening and turned around. "Sorry to make you
come here. I thought it would look a little suspicious for me to do this
alone."
"No, not at all. I'm curious, myself, so let me help," she reassured him.
The two spread out the forbidden curse materials on a large desk. After
Tinasha skimmed through all fifteen books, she said, "These seven detail
countermeasures, and they look like they could be useful depending on the
situation. I'll set them down in writing later. This one, this one, and this
one… I think we should destroy. They're too dangerous. Also, these two
assert a fundamentally incorrect interpretation of the rules of magic. We can
destroy those as well. As for the last three, they aren't anything threatening,
so we can leave them alone."
Nodding, Legis sorted the volumes as Tinasha advised, then locked the
materials marked for destruction in a magically sealed box. After obtaining
the king's permission, these would be eradicated.
Tinasha picked up the most recent addition of the fifteen, a document
from fifteen years ago. Written by a Tuldarr mage, it delineated a largescale curse that could be used to target a major city.
In Tinasha's eyes, however, it was nothing but impractical theorizing.
The only one who could craft a spell like this alone would be her or a witch.
And any who became a mage that powerful wouldn't need a spell written
by someone else. The nature of curses also meant one couldn't be invoked
by multiple spell casters.
"I acknowledge their enthusiasm, though…," Tinasha whispered to
herself with a faint smile as she helped Legis stow the documents.
The truly dangerous spells couldn't be found scribed anywhere, even in
a secluded place like this.
There were no written accounts of the magic and incident that had
nearly brought disaster to the country four hundred years ago. Tinasha had
witnessed it firsthand, however. She understood that so long as there were
those who sought vast power to overturn the established order, a forbidden
curse could arise at any moment.
She, perhaps better than anyone else, knew that such things could never
be allowed.
After leaving the reference library, Tinasha and Legis sat down to dinner.
King Calste was out on an inspection of the territory annexed from
Druza, so the two of them were alone at the long formal dining table.
Seated directly across from her, Legis asked, "How's Farsas?"
"Hot. I can't believe it isn't even summer yet there," she said with a
sigh, shaking her head. Legis laughed.
Internally, Tinasha was relieved to see his reaction. She would never
dream of telling Legis she had been poisoned that afternoon. It could mean
her being banned from returning to Farsas. Tinasha smiled, though it was a
rather shallow one.
Legis changed the subject to recent events in Druza. However,
discussing the wyverns apparently made him think of something. "Oh yes,
were you the one who gave that dragon to the king of Farsas?"
"I did, because Nark was originally his to begin with," Tinasha answered
reflexively. She realized her slip of the tongue when Legis's expression
changed to one of wary suspicion. Tinasha prayed Legis would let it slide.
Unfortunately, he did not.
"What do you mean by that? I thought that dragon was something you
brought with you from four hundred years ago. You told us that you were
waiting for the 'Akashia swordsman,' but why him in particular? Records
state that a king of Farsas from three generations ago visited Tuldarr, but he
couldn't get past the door underground."
The questions kept coming, and Tinasha hung her head in shame like a
child caught playing tricks.
She and Mila had discussed her reason for waiting until this era in
particular in front of Legis before, but they had omitted the part about the
man from the future. It had never been explained to Legis in full.
All he knew was that for some ambiguous reason related to settling a
debt, Tinasha had waited until this time period. Legis thought she was
aiding Oscar purely because he happened to be the one who woke her up.
Legis's gaze, while not piercing, remained steadfastly trained on her.
Making up her mind, Tinasha had everyone else cleared from the room.
Solemnly, she began to speak. "I'm not sure if you'll believe this, but…he
saved me when I was young."
"What?"
"To make a long story short…he was the one who traveled through time
first. Backward, that is…"
Legis's eyes grew wide. Indeed, he must have found it difficult to
believe. No rule of magic even suggested returning to the past was possible.
It wasn't an issue of magical power—the act was simply impossible. Not
even high-ranking demons were exempt from this law.
Tinasha went on, "As Oscar is now, he has no memory of that. When he
saved me, it altered the course of history… He left Nark in my room.
Evidently, I was originally the one to give it to him. That me isn't the one
who exists now, so I don't have any memory of that, of course."
The young woman winced a little as she elaborated, and Legis shook his
head. After a little while, he summarized the astounding story he had just
heard. "The king of Farsas met another version of you and received the
dragon from her…and then after that, he traveled to the past and gave the
dragon to your younger self?"
"Yes."
"Is our king of Farsas really the same person as the one who did that?"
Legis asked.
"I understand your doubt, but he truly is. Nark knows it, and I do, too,"
Tinasha stated.
With a long sigh, Legis readjusted his sitting posture.
If this was true, it would shake the very foundations of magic research.
Any mage would laugh this story off as a fairy tale. However, the person
telling Legis this was one of the most renowned queens in Tuldarr's history.
"Have you told him…?" Legis inquired.
"No. It doesn't have anything to do with his current self. He's already
gotten mad at me once before—told me not to look at him with such a
faraway gaze," Tinasha admitted, her eyes turning the tiniest bit lonely and
distant. That separation encompassed four hundred years.
That unforgettable time now only existed as fragments inside the young
woman's mind.
After dinner, Legis parted from Tinasha and walked back alone through the
hallways, refusing a guard escort.
He couldn't help letting out a sigh.
Tinasha had revealed that not even she knew by what method Oscar had
gone back in time. She herself had only been half convinced until waking
and meeting him again.
And yet she had smiled when she said, "It's possible that it was my
previous self who undid his curse. That alone makes coming here worth it."
Legis could only agree. He never dreamed Tinasha had been through
such an astounding experience—nor that Oscar had always been so dear to
her. Her casting aside everything and sleeping for centuries was all
connected to him.
"Can I really compete with that?"
Legis smiled, his eyes downcast. There was a twinge of bitterness mixed
into his expression.
Curiously, he didn't feel annoyed. So long as she had a happy smile on
her face, that sufficed. She was the legendary queen he had admired since
he was a boy. When he met her in the flesh, he was surprised by her soft,
open smile. In real life, she was quite adorable, and he found himself
attracted to her.
And besides, the fight hadn't begun yet. All she had was one memory
from early adolescence. It wasn't even one Oscar shared. That wasn't
enough yet for him to give up.
"Putting that aside, the idea of another version of her…"
Tinasha said she'd had to sleep for four hundred years to meet the Oscar
who existed now.
So then how did her previous self meet his?
Considering how much magic Tinasha had, it was possible for her to use
a magic sleep to survive for centuries. Even if she hadn't employed stasis,
Tinasha had a woman's body, well adapted to magical power. It was
conceivable that she could stay alive for well beyond a normal lifespan.
However, Legis only knew of one name for such a being. This symbolic
word set apart women whose immense power made them feared and
shunned.
As he pondered more and more, he closed his eyes even as he walked
along.
That was when he felt someone touch his back, though he hadn't sensed
any people nearby.
Suspicious, he whirled around instinctively. He started to concentrate
magic in his right hand.
Yet a spell never materialized. He was plunged into the dark of night
without even catching a glimpse of the face of the person behind him.
While she was still in the study, Tinasha ran a test to determine who had
created the potion she had unwittingly imbibed. But the result was created
by an unknown person.
That at least told her that whoever made the potion was not in the castle,
but it was still unacceptable that someone could have dosed a drink
provided by the castle so easily. Oscar launched a strict investigation into
who had prepared that pitcher of water and who had set it in the room.
"A lady-in-waiting named Claris prepared the water and brought it in.
She is thirty-six this year and has no family. She came to work in the castle
five years ago," Lazar reported.
"Did she seem suspicious?" Oscar asked.
"Well, she claimed to know nothing, but she was acting evasive…"
"I'll meet with her myself later," Oscar replied, making no secret of his
unhappiness with the contents of Lazar's account.
While Tinasha's stay in the castle was not public information, someone
had still targeted this heir to the throne of a neighboring country. If this
lady-in-waiting proved to be the culprit, an execution would await her no
matter her reasons.
"Oh yeah, I haven't seen Tinasha around. Is she all right?" Oscar asked.
At almost the same time, there was a knock on the door. Thinking it was
her, Oscar told the person to enter, but he was surprised to find Tinasha's
mystical spirit there instead of the woman herself.
"Lady Tinasha says to tell you she will not be returning today. This is
confidential, but Prince Legis was attacked last night and is currently in a
coma. She'll be there in Tuldarr awhile to heal him," Mila informed them.
Oscar and Lazar paled. In the span of one day, both heirs to the Tuldarr
throne had been attacked.
"Do you know who did it?" Oscar questioned.
"No. Lady Tinasha was extremely angry and may tear the fugitive limb
from limb when she finds them," answered Mila. With a wave of her hand
good-bye, she disappeared.
In shock, Lazar murmured, "I wonder if the same people are responsible
for our case."
"If they are, they have freakishly good execution," Oscar remarked.
While Tuldarr and Farsas shared a border, the castles were still quite far
apart. The distance wouldn't be much for a mage who could use
teleportation, but the attacks still came virtually back-to-back.
"What the hell is going on…? I thought all these mysterious plots had
ended along with the Druza situation. Is it something else?"
Oscar rested his chin in one hand, pulling a face as he contemplated
what in the world was happening.
Legis's assailant had enchanted him with two spells, one to induce sleep
and another to keep him that way. The combination rendered him comatose.
Cursing the long-gone attacker, Tinasha set about stabilizing his physical
condition and analyzing the spells. Because they were blended together, she
had to inspect both simultaneously.
Calste, who had rushed back once he heard of his son's accident, asked
her, "How is it going, Lady Tinasha? Will you be able to work it out?"
As she continued her analysis, Tinasha answered, "I plan to have the
pattern of the spell keeping his body comatose drawn out by tomorrow. At
the longest, this will take three weeks. It might take less time if we catch
who did this, though."
"I'll heighten our security. However, at present we've had no reports of
an intruder…"
"This was carried out so well that someone on the inside may be
involved. Do you know what projects Prince Legis was involved in
recently?" she asked.
Calste brought a hand to his mouth thoughtfully. "The biggest would be
the forbidden curse… The others are all on the smaller side. I'll research
everything and draft up a document."
"Thank you. I'd appreciate that," Tinasha responded.
After Calste left the room, the only ones remaining were two guard
soldiers, Tinasha, and the unconscious Legis. Even in repose, his face
exuded his noble upbringing. She glanced at him. "So long as you're a
member of the royal family, this sort of thing is unfortunately to be
expected…"
She tied her ink black hair up into a messy ponytail and held her left
hand out over Legis's body.
A spell configuration made of red threads floated up into the air.
Glaring at the array some unknown person had crafted, Tinasha began
her incantation.
After Oscar finished his work for the morning, he went to the room where
the lady-in-waiting suspect was being held.
Claris shrank back to see that the king had come in person, bowing her
head low.
Oscar got straight to the point. "Do you know why I'm here?"
"I-if this is about the poison, I don't know anything…," the woman
muttered, her face cast down as she trembled in fear.
Eyeing Claris coldly, Oscar drew a chair over and sat down. He stared
right into her eyes.
After inhaling deeply, the young king stated seriously yet calmly, "It's
not public information, so it's understandable that you wouldn't know, but
I've asked that woman to do something very important for me. Her efforts
concern the continued existence of the Farsas royal family. That's why I
keep her with me."
"S-something very important…?" repeated Claris.
"Yes. Over the past fifteen years, everyone else has concluded it to be
hopeless. She's the only one who's working hard to solve the issue. If an
unfortunate event befell her, it wouldn't just have a negative effect on
Tuldarr. It would destroy the Farsas royal family."
Claris's jaw dropped. It sounded like a joke, but his gaze bored into her
with its sincerity. It was also clear from his eyes that he was deeply
displeased. A dawning sense of horror jolted through her whole body.
The blood drained from Claris's face, and she clapped both hands over
her mouth. She fell to the floor, whimpering. "I-I'm so very sorry. I never
dreamed that would be the case…"
"Where did you get the poison?"
"A man in town I'd never seen before… He told me that Princess
Tinasha is actually a witch and that she's trying to seduce and deceive Your
Majesty… He also explained that because she's a witch, the poison
wouldn't kill her…"
Annoyed, Oscar clicked his tongue. He hadn't thought Claris would
have acted alone, but if she didn't know who the mysterious instigator was,
their trail would soon run dry. "Why did you believe a tale like that? I know
she's far from normal, but she's not a witch. She's a queen of Tuldarr."
"I'm very sorry…" Claris sniffled, then broke into a sob and covered her
face.
Who was the man who gave Claris the potion, and what was his goal?
Did he know it would have no effect on Tinasha, or had that only been a lie
to manipulate Claris? The more he thought about it, the more his head
started to hurt.
"Doan will come to take your full testimony, so tell him everything.
Even though you weren't trying to kill her, that poison is still a lethal one. I
hope you understand what that means for you," Oscar said.
"O-of course…," she whispered.
For a second, the king cast her a pitying look, but those feelings
dissipated instantly.
Even if Tinasha consented to him pardoning her, some things should
never be forgiven so ambiguously. He knew very well what his duty and his
responsibility entailed.
After that, a written report about the man who deceived Claris was drafted
based on her admissions.
He wore a mage's robe pulled low over his eyes and said he hailed from
Tuldarr. He called Tinasha the fifth witch who was sealed underneath the
castle. Claris believed him after he showed her proof that Tinasha's birth
records were not in Tuldarr, despite her princess status.
"Well, of course they're not. How did Legis explain it to foreign
nations?"
"He asserted that Tinasha was a distant relative in the royal family tree
and that her rich magical powers were why they made her heir to the
throne…," answered Lazar.
"And I suppose that if anyone looked into the matter, they'd discover
there is no actual distant relative like her," Oscar mused. He was about to
say that Legis should have falsified some records but then remembered the
prince was in a coma and held his tongue.
Doan continued with his report. "Claris stated she never saw the man's
face clearly. He spoke to her in the market and appeared to know she
worked in the castle."
"For now, scour the town for anyone matching that description. And
check with all working in the castle to see if they've encountered suspicious
characters lately," ordered Oscar.
"Yes, Your Majesty," Doan replied, departing to see to the task.
With that enigmatic man at large, and no other leads, this case would
end with Claris's execution.
A new turning point for Farsas came four days after Tinasha was
poisoned.
A week after Legis had been ensorcelled, Tinasha was poring through his
responsibilities as she worked on her analysis of the enchantment. In just
the past week, she had gone through more than fifty cases and projects he
was involved in. She thought the link to his assailant might be among them.
Although she had taken over the things Legis was actively working on,
the mages who worked under him were digging up information on the
projects he had already completed. One of these, a man named Renart,
came to report to Tinasha that he had completed his inspection.
"There was one suspicious thing. Last year, we had a change in chief
mage. Evidently, His Highness had begun a second investigation of the new
one," Renart explained.
Tinasha, who was mid-analysis, asked, "Was there something strange
there?"
"I think he was in the process of checking as much. The new chief mage
is a man named Lobros, and it's possible that His Highness suspected him
of embezzling public funds. He was keeping tabs on Lobros's research
expenses since becoming chief mage," Renart replied.
Tinasha paused in her work and crossed her arms. She turned around to
face Renart. "So Legis didn't find any proof of embezzling?"
"It appears that way. I probed the matter myself, and nothing seemed
outright corrupt," he answered.
"Give me your personal opinion. What kind of person is Lobros?"
"Short," Renart responded flatly.
Tinasha couldn't help but burst out laughing. Renart's subdued,
apathetic personality made a very good impression on her. She had
interacted with him many times over the past week, and she judged him
capable and trustworthy. Tinasha had some comfort in the fact that at least
she had found a good person to work with.
The future queen of Tuldarr brought a hand to her chin and flashed a
smile full of the intimidating air she didn't normally reveal. "I've uncovered
something good, too. I would have noticed it sooner had I prioritized my
work on the enchantment."
"Which one is our top priority?" Renart asked.
"I would say both are. Let's set a little trap. No one's made any moves
since Legis was attacked, so we can assume our enemy is on their best
behavior. Let's shake things up a bit—until they have to act," proposed
Tinasha, grinning fearlessly. Renart nodded.
Until now, all they had done was weather the attacks that came.
From here on, however, they would flip offense and defense. Tinasha
had no intention of being lenient on scheming or anyone who approved of
it.
Tinasha gave Renart several instructions, then started laying a trap of her
own.
Five days before Tinasha began preparations for her counterattack in
Tuldarr, a strange guest visited Farsas Castle.
Oscar attempted to turn them away at the door initially, but then he
thought of something and admitted the visitor to the audience chamber. The
king made no attempt to hide his amused expression. Before him stood
Minister of the Interior Nessan, Chief Mage Kumu, Als—who had taken
over the duties of the recently retired Ettard—as well as Doan the mage and
Lazar. All of them stared suspiciously at this sudden arrival.
The woman swept into a graceful curtsy, a seductive smile on her lovely
face. "I am delighted to make your acquaintance, Your Royal Majesty. My
name is Delilah. Upon learning of the witch's curse that afflicts you, I felt I
simply must come. Please find a place for me at your side. I have the power
to withstand the curse."
Everyone except for Oscar reacted to that with looks of alarm and
dismay.
Delilah fixed her chestnut-brown eyes on Oscar, appearing well aware of
her charms—from her long, curly red hair to her voluptuous curves—and
how to utilize them.
With a shallow grin, the king met her gaze. "How did you know that?
That knowledge is supposed to be classified."
"I come from a family of fortune-tellers. We are never wrong," she
replied.
"How fascinating. Then why have you chosen now to come?" Oscar
questioned.
"Last month, my mother did a reading that told her I was to be the one to
fulfill that role. In truth, I intended to come here sooner, but we are a family
of travelers. It took some time to arrive here," Delilah explained.
Oscar hummed noncommittally in response. He looked the woman up
and down appraisingly. She bore his brazen gaze with a smile.
"Kumu, can you tell how much magic she has?" asked Oscar.
"I can see she has a considerable amount, but I can't say whether it's
enough to stand up to the curse… I believe the princess of Tuldarr would
know," Kumu answered.
"That's too bad. She's busy right now," Oscar muttered.
He hadn't seen Tinasha in several days, which was enough to leave
Oscar feeling that they hadn't met in quite a long time. Mila occasionally
came to check on him, but things in Tuldarr didn't seem to be progressing.
Tinasha was constantly tending to the comatose Legis.
Resting an elbow on the armrest and his chin on one hand, Oscar said to
Delilah breezily, "Well, it's your word. Even if you can't bear the curse, I
trust you'll take responsibility for your claim. We'll make up a room for
you. Live there as you please."
Oscar's advisers' jaws all dropped in shock when they heard his
decision. Panicked, Lazar raised a hand. "W-wait just a moment. Princess
Tinasha is…"
"Shut up and stay quiet," Oscar commanded in a tone that brooked no
refusal, and Lazar did just that. The king narrowed his eyes at his other
advisers. "I have decided. There should be no objections, right?"
Ordinarily, their lord did not act this overbearing. While the group was
baffled by his uncharacteristically unilateral decision, they bowed their
heads in assent.
Flashing a confident smile, Delilah sank into a bow. As Doan took in her
alluring figure, he thought with dread of what would happen when Tinasha
returned. A chill ran up his spine. It was obvious that the beautiful princess
was very attached to Oscar. He didn't want to think about what it would be
like when that attachment turned to jealousy.
Looking around, he saw that Als appeared to be feeling much the same.
The advisers all exchanged glances and sighed to themselves.
Ordinarily, anyone without permission could not so much as stand in front
of the door to the Tuldarr magical reference library that housed nearly every
book and text on magic. It was one of the places in the palace that was offlimits.
Inside that repository, Chief Mage Lobros kept his inner anxiety from
showing through. The guards stationed in the hallway had simply bowed
and said nothing when he entered the room. Lobros was one of the few who
only had to show their face to enter.
He surveyed the empty chamber and moved to the door at the back.
Beyond that were the even more important texts…including the ones on
forbidden curses.
Gingerly, he touched the chill surface of the closed entrance and gave
his name. "I am Lobros, chief mage of Tuldarr, and I request passage."
In response, the door slowly swung open. He swallowed nervously.
Lobros had taken on the title of chief mage a little under a year ago, but this
was the first time he had gone past this door.
Normally, no one was allowed into this room alone without permission,
not even the chief mage, which is why Lobros's face was tight with tension
as he tiptoed in. He used magic to light up the dark room.
"…Okay."
After checking to make sure the door had shut behind him, Lobros
opened up a transportation array.
Several seconds later, a white hand reached in from the other side of it.
He got ahold of it and pulled the person to him.
A petite young woman emerged from the half-closed portal. She
surveyed the bookcases lining the room and snorted. "This is the reference
library where they keep the information on forbidden curses?"
"It is. Do it fast. They'll get suspicious if I'm in here too long," Lobros
warned.
"Then you have to help me, too," she insisted accusatively. Lobros
resented that tone but started to rifle through the shelves nonetheless.
Before long, they uncovered what they were after—the texts marked
PENDING and placed next to the forbidden curse materials labeled FOR
DISPOSAL and tightly sealed up. She picked up one of them.
Unmitigated glee oozed from her face. "This is it… How dare they
hoard away such a sublime text all this time…"
"It's meaningless, which is why I set it aside," came a sudden voice as
cold as ice.
Lobros and the woman frantically scanned the room. A man and a
woman had appeared against one wall—Tinasha, the next queen, and
Renart, a well-known, sharp, and able mage.
Tinasha flashed Lobros a smile. "Under normal circumstances, you
would not be able to open up a portal from inside this room. I made some
adjustments just for tonight. Did they come in handy for you?"
"P-Princess Tinasha… Whatever are you doing here?" he stammered.
"I won't allow you to try to talk your way out of this. It would be a
waste of time. Recognize the position you're in."
Her grin was overpowering, and Lobros fell to his knees with a groan.
Renart stepped over to him and grabbed his arm. "Chief Mage Lobros, we
will interrogate you in detail later about the attack on Prince Legis and
about your infiltration of the reference library. Oh, and about the funds you
embezzled."
Renart slapped sealing ornaments on the other man. Having been
thoroughly exposed, Lobros hung his head.
Tinasha, however, had already lost interest in him. She turned her
attention to the young woman who had broken in.
The woman licked her lips lightly, then smiled despite her nerves. "How
did you know? Did Lobros's idiocy give it away?"
"No. The enchantment you put on Legis… After a lot of analysis, I've
discovered that it possesses the same characteristics as that forbidden curse
designed to be used against an entire city. Are you related to its author—or
perhaps his disciple?" said Tinasha.
"My grandfather wrote this document. His whole life's work and
research was confiscated by the palace. In the end, he died of a broken
heart!" the woman cried.
"Someone should have warned him while he was pouring his life into
this…," muttered Tinasha, dumbfounded.
Immediately, the woman screeched indignantly, "It would be so easy to
destroy another country with that spell! My grandfather made that so we
could fight back against Tayiri, where mages are persecuted! But you
people sealed it up and persecuted him! He was the one thinking of Tuldarr
above all else!"
After her tirade, she stamped her feet on the well-polished floor. The
woman's furious antics forced a cynical smile to appear on Renart's face.
"I'm from Tayiri, but I've never wished that it be destroyed. And besides, if
Tuldarr used a forbidden curse, our own political position would only
worsen. I appreciate that he was thinking of the country, but surely you can
admit his methods were warped?"
Tinasha grinned when she heard the concise argument. The woman
seemed to falter for a moment but still refused to accept it. "I'll use this to
prove that it's power that holds the real meaning here."
"While I'd like to say you're free to try…," Tinasha began, straightening
up from where she was leaning against a bookshelf. As the woman's eyes
darted around irritably, Tinasha stretched out a hand toward her. "We're
dealing with another matter entirely. The fact is that you attacked Legis.
Now reveal your spell."
"I refuse! Not for a prince who was trying to erase this magic!"
"It was set aside as pending, not for disposal, because it can do neither
harm nor good."
"Shut up!" the woman shrieked as an intangible shock wave struck the
room. Bookshelves lurched dangerously. However, Tinasha, Renart, and
even the cowering Lobros were protected by a barrier and thus unharmed.
Tinasha gave a little sigh and closed her eyes. Then, very slowly, she
opened them again.
A bright light flickered in those abyssal orbs, powerful enough to subdue
others. Her lips split in a smirk that revealed the strength of her magic. "I
don't really care if you refuse. I'll simply break the curse normally, then.
You're an excellent curse maker, but I'd wager that means you're not cut
out for a one-on-one fight."
"What are you…?"
"Since we're all here, I'll educate you on what it truly means to have
strength," Tinasha said. No sooner had she done so than an overwhelming
blast of magic materialized.
The woman let out a voiceless scream as pure power descended on her.
"Lobros tended to get carried away easily, so when he was drunk at a tavern
in town, he let it slip about the embezzlement to a woman sitting nearby.
She's been blackmailing him to get information about the castle goings-on,"
Renart reported.
Without turning to face him, Tinasha smiled grimly. "She had something
on Lobros and was waiting the whole time for her opportunity to take back
her grandfather's forbidden curse texts. And then she heard that Legis
wanted to organize some of those writings."
"It's obvious based on what happened with Druza that his main aim
would be to destroy them, not just sort through them. In any case, she
wanted to stop Prince Legis," surmised Renart.
"She has good technique, but the way she went about it was sloppy. It
makes all her prudence up until that point meaningless," Tinasha remarked.
"It sounds like she didn't factor Your Highness into her calculations.
With the whole palace in chaos over the prince's condition, she decided
there wouldn't be much in her way once Lobros slipped into the reference
library. Well, all this really happened because word got out that the
forbidden curse texts might be destroyed soon," Renart concluded.
"You did excellent work. Thank you."
"It was my honor," Renart responded, and Tinasha smiled as she sensed
that he had bowed his head.
Still facing the scrying bowl, Tinasha picked up a large bag of
documents. Inside it were all the forbidden curse texts. "Nothing good will
come of having these around. Ultimately, I don't think we should keep the
ones I set aside as pending, either."
There was a touch of self-deprecation in her words. Then she set the bag
ablaze in her hands.
As Renart watched, stunned, the flames burned only the bag and its
contents away, until they shrank into nothing. With a wave of her hand,
Tinasha caused the bits of ash that had fluttered to the floor to vanish.
"Ten days until the analysis is done. After that, I believe it'll be another
week until Legis is recovered. Which should be no problem at all. I'll be
with him during that time, so pass all his work to me," Tinasha commanded.
"Yes, Your Highness."
"I'll let Calste take care of the guilty parties. Compile a report on them,
along with what happened to Legis. Oh, and there's one thing I want you to
look up."
"What is it?" Renart inquired.
"Lobros insisted he wasn't the one who leaked the information about
destroying the curse texts; someone told him about it. It's possible he was
simply trying to talk his way out, but find out whether there was another
person involved."
Tinasha thought back to the attempted poisoning in Farsas. If there were
other assailants yet to come, she couldn't leave things be.
Renart bowed in acquiescence and exited. Tinasha let out a deep sigh.
It had taken longer than she would have preferred, but it seemed this
matter was resolved. Had the woman who'd attacked Legis never learned of
Lobros's embezzling, she may have been able to live out her life in peace,
even if she'd resented the Tuldarr government.
People meeting one another, and their fates intertwining, could be truly
perilous at times. If Tinasha hadn't met him when she was young, she may
have lived an entirely different life. Things could have happened the way he
told her they would—him begging for her to marry him four hundred years
later.
"…No way."
Just the thought of it made Tinasha giggle. Putting aside the Oscar of the
past, the current Oscar only thought of her as a meddlesome cat. She was
sure he wouldn't marry her even if she asked.
As though in response to that, her cheeks puffed up. Suddenly, she found
herself wondering how Farsas was doing. Tinasha had been away for a
while.
Oscar had a defensive barrier against magic placed on him. If he
received any sort of magic attack, she would know right away. She hadn't
sensed any changes, which must have been proof that all was well.
If Tinasha wanted to go, all she had to do was teleport over.
Yet she couldn't. She knew this was to be the distance between them
once they were both rulers of their nations.
"It doesn't matter anyway. It's not like I want him."
As Tinasha whispered those words to herself, the beautiful shape of her
lips twisted a little.
In the Farsas Castle lounge frequented by the mages, the aroma of tea
always hung in the air.
Taking a break there with two of her colleagues, Sylvia wore an
uncharacteristically sour face. "I hate her."
"Don't say that so openly. What if someone overhears?" Doan chided
her, frowning as he looked over some documents.
It had been two weeks since Tinasha, princess of Tuldarr, had departed
Farsas for her homeland and hadn't returned.
The woman Sylvia spoke of so resentfully was Delilah, who had
virtually replaced Tinasha since her arrival.
"I mean, she's condescending, always looking down on us! Who does
that woman think she is?!" cried Sylvia.
"The royal mistress," answered Doan.
In frustration, Sylvia raked her nails down the table, making a terrible
screeching noise.
Kav looked up from his book. "But she has a lot of magic. She really
might be a higher class of mage."
"Magic alone doesn't decide superiority among mages!" Sylvia
protested, roughly thumping a fist.
The two men suppressed a sigh at Sylvia's fit. It was true that Delilah
swanned about like she outclassed everyone else, flaunting the king's favor,
but it didn't bother either of them because that was expected behavior from
a royal favorite. Kav and Doan exchanged glances, as if to say that maybe
Sylvia was only so upset because she was jealous.
"Oh, I wonder if Princess Tinasha will be coming back anytime
soon…," moaned Sylvia.
"Stop saying such frightening things," Doan warned.
"Why?" Sylvia retorted.
Instead of answering, Doan gave an exaggerated shrug. The king had
told him to be careful, because if Tinasha got angry, she'd destroy
everything in her path. That said, the one most likely to be the source of that
rage was the king himself.
That called into question why Oscar had invited Delilah in. None would
deny she was a voluptuous creature, but the king wasn't the sort to be
swayed by that. What exactly had swayed his opinion?
Kav, who was unaware of the finer details surrounding everyone's
circumstances, spoke optimistically. "Personality aside, she's a better match
for the king than Princess Tinasha, don't you think?"
"You're being rather glib, too," remarked Doan.
"What about her is a good match?! Do you really think a traveling
fortune-teller is worthy of the king?" hissed Sylvia.
"I mean, there's no way His Highness could wed the queen of another
country," reasoned Kav.
The conversation was jumping from one extreme to the other. Delilah
had only wormed her way in because of the curse on the royal family, but
Tinasha was in the process of breaking that spell. If nothing interrupted her
progress, the king's problem would be no more. Doing anything to
jeopardize that would not bode well for ending the curse.
However, according to Oscar, he didn't intend to mention Tinasha's
efforts to Delilah. At the moment, the king's advisers had no idea what he
was thinking and could only silently obey.
"Well, His Majesty's still young. It's not really something to get upset
over," Doan stated, sounding as if this conversation had grown vexing.
Ending things there, he stood up.
At the same time, Lazar was in the Farsas study, handing documents to his
king with an unhappy look on his face.
He said nothing, simply gazing at Oscar dispiritedly. The king ignored
his friend at first but eventually couldn't bear it and set down his pen. "Why
are you acting so annoying? Stop looking like that."
"Your Majesty… Unfortunately, I cannot approve of your keeping that
woman near you. What are you thinking?" Lazar pleaded.
"Good question."
Lazar, Oscar's friend since childhood and royal attendant, knew that his
king was not starved for choices of women to marry, let alone play with.
So why would he choose now to suddenly keep a woman like Delilah in
his company? If this was about an heir, him waiting for Tinasha to break the
curse was the best course of action. And if he wanted a mistress, Lazar
thought selecting a more tight-lipped woman of obvious good lineage a
prudent decision.
"Don't tell me…you're doing this to anger Princess Tinasha on
purpose?" Lazar asked, horrified.
"If I were, what would I do after she destroys the castle? I'm not that
much of an eccentric," Oscar countered.
"Then, in that case, you don't have very good taste. I feel sorry for
Princess Tinasha, toiling away on your curse," admitted Lazar.
"Do you want me to get together with her or separate myself from her?
Pick one," Oscar said flatly.
"I'm hoping for a middle path!" Lazar exclaimed.
The king set down his documents and leaned against the back of his
chair. Sighing deeply, he crossed his legs. "For now, just leave it alone.
She's still busy curing Legis and won't be back for a while."
This morning, word had come that Tuldarr captured the culprits.
But in the end, those arrested had no connection to the man who tried to
poison Tinasha in Farsas. At present, Tuldarr was investigating whether
anyone else was involved but didn't know if that would turn up any leads.
Still looking unhappy, Lazar set a cup of tea before his king. The taste
was considerably different compared to the tea Tinasha made; Oscar sipped
at it silently. When he noticed that his attendant was still looking at him
reproachfully, Oscar broke into a sly smile. "Well, she does feel better in
my arms than Tinasha, who's way too bony."
"You are the worst!" Lazar shouted, gathering up the documents Oscar
had processed. As he headed for the door, he gave his candid opinion. "In
any case, sort this out quickly! Before you send Princess Tinasha into a fit
of rage!"
He slammed the door shut, and Oscar burst out laughing. Then he
abruptly stopped and muttered, "It would be best if it gets sorted before she
comes back."
The king's voice sounded terribly cold and regal.
Delilah crept along a deserted corridor deep within Farsas Castle, then
stopped before the door to a room.
She was granted a fair number of privileges as the royal favorite, but
several places were off-limits. This room, guarded by an airtight antitrespassing barrier on the door, was one of them.
Delilah hovered an ivory-white hand just before the elaborate, delicate
spell.
At her fingertips, a spell illuminated—
"What are you doing there?" came the sudden voice of a man.
Delilah pulled her hand back, turning around slowly and confidently.
There stood Als, the youngest general of Farsas. Delilah's red lips broke
into a smile, and she didn't falter in the least. "Oh, I was just curious about
what's in this room…"
"That chamber is for our guest from Tuldarr, although she's currently in
her home country. No one can enter without her permission," Als said.
"Is that right? I'm so very sorry," Delilah apologized, and she turned to
stroll away with fluid, graceful movements.
Suspicious, Als watched her go until she was out of sight.
With the criminals in custody, Tinasha worked on analyzing the
enchantment on Legis while carrying out daily royal duties.
Though she did have Renart to help her, the speed and accuracy with
which she carried out these tasks was extraordinary. Those who knew
nothing of her origins and had derided Tinasha as "a girl whose only merit
is her magic" were forced to reevaluate her.
In a council room with documents fanned out all around her, Tinasha
made some tea and offered Renart a cup with a smile. "I did all kinds of
work like this in the past, but the Traditionalists hated me and decided
whatever I did was sloppy."
"I suspect that, to them, it was less sloppy and more Reformist," Renart
replied calmly. He had gained Tinasha's trust, and she had recently revealed
her true origins to him. "It's because you started to accept mages from
Tayiri that my mother and I are alive today. Thank you."
His nonchalant expression of gratitude brought a chagrined, embarrassed
smile to Tinasha's lips. Because Renart was born with magic, his mother
fled Tayiri with him when he was very young and settled in Tuldarr. If he
were still living in Tayiri, he would have been facing a lifetime of
oppression.
Asked to take the throne in two eras now, Tinasha reflected back on her
reign. "Four hundred years ago, the ruling family's absolute power was
considered very important, especially since the system was for the strongest
to inherit the throne. But I don't know what it's like now. Druza has split
apart; I don't think we need to threaten other countries."
"I think that's what strength does. Showing off too much during
peacetime will lead to unnecessary vigilance. However, we don't know
when something will happen," Renart said.
"That's true. But from a broad scope, it's dangerous if a country's power
isn't something that can be nurtured more extensively. Tuldarr's mystical
spirits and Akashia of Farsas are precarious absolutes that rely on the might
of individuals and their bloodlines. We need to prioritize strength that's
stabilized throughout the populace instead of expecting a select few to have
all the power… We've grown beyond the Dark Age, so I believe we can
change the shape of the nation as well."
What people referred to as the Dark Age was an era of devastating
warfare that began over a thousand years ago and lasted for seven centuries.
Nearly all the major nations surviving to this day had been forged amid
those conflicts.
Tuldarr's mystical spirits and Farsas's Akashia appeared during that
period as well—cores each country gathered around. Yet nowadays, when
both were established as Great Nations, such artifacts seemed useless to
Tinasha.
There would still be skirmishes requiring Akashia, like the recent
incident with Druza, but she expected that the future would be different
now that nations had agreed to the treaty forbidding the use of extreme
magical power in war.
In awe of how she always had her eyes set on the horizon, Renart bowed
his head. "I am at your service for whatever you may require, my queen."
Tinasha winced at his proclamation.
Time periods were always alive with change as long as there were
people to set that change in motion.
Delilah, dozing lightly on a bed in a dark room, felt a tapping on her ivory
shoulder that drew her back to reality. She glanced up to see a man at the
bedside staring down at her. "You can't sleep here. Go back to your room."
From her position on her back, she gazed up into his eyes, the color of
the sky just after dusk. "How cold. It's already been two weeks."
"That doesn't matter. I can't rest with someone in the bed with me," he
countered.
"Has that been the case with all your other girls?" Delilah asked.
"Mm, you could say that," Oscar answered. The only exception was the
extraordinary mage from Tuldarr. She had fallen asleep on her own and
appeared so defenseless that Oscar had regarded her as merely a cat in bed
with him and let her stay. Although for a cat, she took up too much room
and refused to get out of bed the next day, which were annoying qualities.
Delilah gave the young king a searching look.
If he was standing there, that meant he must have gotten out of bed
while she was sleeping. For a moment, anxiety over what he may have been
doing during that time flashed through her mind, but he wasn't wearing his
sword, which for him meant he considered himself off duty. At the very
least, Delilah had never seen him wear Akashia while they were spending
time together. Surely, that was proof he wasn't on his guard.
Very slowly, Delilah sat up in bed. She pulled her gown on to cover her
sweetly scented bare skin. Her red lips, visible even in the darkness, formed
a smile. "Oh yes, the other day I got lost in the castle. I found a room I
couldn't go into. General Als got very mad at me and said it belonged to
someone from Tuldarr."
"Ah, Tinasha's room? That area doesn't belong to Farsas, even though it
is part of the castle. There's all sorts of incomprehensible magic implements
in there, so of course no one can go in," Oscar replied dismissively, sitting
down on the bed. Perhaps it was because he wasn't working, but he didn't
seem to hold any interest in anything. Delilah had never seen him smile
except for when they had met in the audience chamber. He didn't seem like
the type to be indulgent with women. However, that was all conjecture on
Delilah's part.
She cozied up to him, blinking her soft and purposely coquettish brown
eyes up at him. "What kind of person is she? I'm very curious."
"It's nothing for you to worry about. She's going to become queen of a
neighboring country. It's best to curry her favor, so I allow her in and out;
that's all. You two wouldn't get along."
"Really?"
"You're so persistent. Turn your interest elsewhere. If there's anything
you want, I'll give it to you," Oscar stated.
Delilah's eyes grew wide at his unprecedented offer. Then she flashed
him a radiant smile.
Winding her soft arms around his neck, she pressed herself against him
and whispered, "No, there's nothing. All I need is to be here with you."
"How admirable," Oscar praised in a calm, gentle tone.
Yet despite his words, the king only stared over the top of her head into
the mirror, his gaze devoid of emotion.
A month had now passed since Tinasha stopped coming to Farsas Castle.
Sylvia had about reached the limit of her patience, because all day long
Delilah strutted about the castle, bossing around the soldiers and mages.
She was beautiful and exuded sensuality, so the men weren't particularly
bothered by it, but it did not go over well at all with the women. Delilah's
mocking attitude toward them made it very difficult for Sylvia to keep her
cool.
On one particular day, while Sylvia was fuming as per usual, Doan and
Kav were determined to steer clear of the subject as they carried spell books
through the castle hallways.
Outside the glassless windows, the weather was lovely. A blue sky
studded with white clouds seemed to go on forever.
Distracted by the pleasant sight outside, Sylvia narrowly missed
bumping into someone as she rounded a corner. At the last second, Doan
yanked her back. She rushed to apologize and bow to the other person, but
her face immediately stiffened when she saw who it was. Standing there
was none other than the person she least wished to see, Delilah.
Delilah stared at all of them, especially Sylvia, before snorting. Winding
one curly red strand of hair around her finger, she threw out her chest
proudly. "I understand you must be very busy, but I would appreciate if you
looked where you were going."
"…I'm so sorry."
"Don't you think the king would be terribly sad if something was to
happen to me?" Delilah purred.
Sylvia very nearly said that he wouldn't. It was on the tip of her tongue,
but she held it back and bowed her head. Doan and Kav exchanged
discomfited glances.
Delilah continued to press her point with Sylvia, who still had her head
bowed low. "You don't think very much of me, evidently. It's written all
over your face. I'm shocked you can serve the court like that. Or do you
perhaps have a male patron of some sort? I'm ever so jealous of the cute
types."
"…"
Kav could virtually hear Sylvia's blood vessels popping. She snapped
her head up, face flushed with anger.
As she was about to fire back some choice words, Doan and Kav
dropped their books and rushed to pull Sylvia's arms behind her. Kav
slapped a hand over her mouth. "Sylvia, don't. You know you shouldn't."
"If you have something to say, by all means let me hear it," Delilah
needled.
Furious, Sylvia drove her elbow into Kav's belly. He doubled over in
pain, while Sylvia straightened up and glared at Delilah. Shaking with rage,
she opened her mouth to speak.
"I am—"
Before she could go on, however, a clear, bright voice came from behind
them. "Doan, it's been so long. You too, Kav and Sylvia."
All three whirled around. Standing there at the window was one very
rare mage, smiling. There was a mystical spirit accompanying her.
The skirt of the formfitting mage's robe Tinasha wore fluttered in the
breeze. Her legs, visible from beneath it, were so slender they looked
breakable. She turned a carefree smile on her friends. "Doan, did someone
try to get into my room while I was away? There are signs of attempted
tampering with the barrier… Ah, what's happening here?"
Tinasha broke off after noticing Kav on the ground, Sylvia with her
mouth wide open, and Delilah standing beyond them. She cocked her head
in confusion.
Doan felt a chill run down his spine. He had known Tinasha would
return soon, but he never anticipated she would run into Delilah right away.
It was inevitable that they would meet eventually, and he had prayed he
would have nothing to do with it, if at all possible.
However, Doan summoned all his emotional strength and pasted a smile
on his face as he picked up his books and walked over to her. "It's been a
long time. I heard that things have been resolved in Tuldarr. Nothing about
your barrier rings a bell, but I'll look into it. Actually, would you like to
have some tea? Come on, let's go."
Doan spoke so rapidly Tinasha couldn't get a word in edgewise as he
attempted to herd her far away.
However, Tinasha frowned, peering at Sylvia over Doan's shoulder.
"What's wrong with Sylvia?"
"Princess Tinasha…," Sylvia muttered, all her energy gone now that the
princess from Tuldarr had returned. Her eyes soon welled up with tears.
Shocked by her friend's emotional state, Tinasha rushed over to her. She
was about to ask for more details when Delilah cut in. "I'm afraid I don't
recognize you. Are you a mage?"
For a moment, Tinasha glanced over at Delilah suspiciously, but then
she broke into a wan grin. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I am Tinasha of
Tuldarr."
Delilah's eyes widened.
Both of them were beautiful, but their dispositions could not have been
more dissimilar.
While Delilah was very clearly on her guard, Tinasha's inherent air of
nobility remained unshakable. She did not have to answer to anyone, and
her composure and coolness had been honed over the course of many years.
She wore the face only one raised as royalty could possess.
Delilah crossed her arms and puffed out her ample chest, then addressed
Tinasha in a pompous tone. "Well, well, well. So you're the princess of
Tuldarr. Judging by the look of things, you appear to be quite close with this
mage girl here. Perhaps you should choose your friends a little more
carefully. Apparently, she's the sort to cozy up to anyone in a position of
authority, not just men."
Her words were laced with barbs, and Sylvia's face turned bright red.
She wasn't about to fight back in front of Tinasha, though.
Dumbfounded by Delilah's snide warning, Tinasha looked from her to
Sylvia, who appeared to be on the verge of tears. Tinasha turned back to
Delilah.
Her dark eyes narrowed. When she spoke, her voice was like ice. "I am
at a loss to understand what you're trying to say. Who are you to tell me
what you think without even introducing yourself? If you lack even the
most basic of manners, no one will want to listen to your opinions.
Assuming, of course, that they're not as misguided and laughable as what
you just said."
Tinasha's scathing criticism came delivered in a soft tone. The impact
was such that Delilah was unable to speak for a moment. Tinasha ignored
her and looked to Doan. "Who is she?"
I didn't want you to ask me! Doan screamed internally.
Still, he answered reluctantly. "Her name is Delilah… She is the
king's…"
"Oscar's what?"
"Why did you stop there?" came a man's voice from around the corner.
Doan wished fervently and honestly that he could run away from this
place at top speed. Glancing over, he saw that Kav seemed to be entirely
thrown by the worsening situation. Behind Tinasha, the color drained from
Sylvia's face.
When the man rounded the corner, his eyes grew wide when he caught
sight of the black-haired woman. "Tinasha, you're back."
"It's been quite some time," she replied, lifting a hand in greeting. She
hadn't seen the king of Farsas in a month.
He grinned at her, same as ever. "How's Legis doing?"
"Fortunately, he's recovered. Evidently, it was too unconventional for
me to be doing his job, so I've been dismissed," Tinasha responded.
"Too unconventional? You're going to be queen," Oscar pointed out.
"I intend to create a very different sort of country," she replied matterof-factly, and Oscar burst out laughing.
It was then that Delilah, who had been half forgotten, grabbed Oscar's
arm in a clear bid to garner his attention. Mila, who had merely watched
this entire time, let out a low whistle when she saw that.
"Your Majesty, you were so right. I don't think I'm going to get along
with her at all," Delilah cooed, gazing up at Oscar kittenishly.
Tinasha gaped at Delilah, then looked at Doan and Sylvia. Pale-faced,
Doan nodded, while Sylvia shook her head, still on the verge of tears. Their
diametrically opposing reactions gave Tinasha a vague sense of what was
going on.
Unsure of how to react, Tinasha glanced back over at Delilah. "Well… If
I were the type to get along with you, it might call my character into
question. Thus, for my part, that's fine with me."
"Excuse me?! Your Majesty, say something to her!" Delilah cried.
"Don't you say a word, Oscar," Tinasha warned him, then turned to
Delilah. "I don't choose my friends based on how high status or powerful
they may be. That has no bearing at all when it comes to my social life. Or
perhaps you labor under the delusion that a powerful man by your side will
elevate your own status? I don't mind if you parade around on someone
else's authority, but I won't remain silent should you insult my friend."
Tinasha stood dauntless and firm as she criticized Delilah, whose
gorgeous face twisted angrily. Unable to offer a retort, her lips quivered in
rage.
Sensing she wouldn't have to fend off a counterstatement, Tinasha broke
out in a rare type of beguiling grin. With the eyes of a queen, she stared
Delilah down. In the face of such a soul-binding smile, Delilah was struck
breathless, forgetting even her outrage.
A shivery sort of allure held her captive. She couldn't tear her eyes away
from its irresistible gravitational pull.
Oscar sighed as he looked down at Delilah, pale and caught in Tinasha's
thrall. He used his free hand to wave at the black-haired mage. "Don't
overpower her. That's my woman you're talking to."
"In that case, keep her caged up. Anything could happen when she
wanders free with no collar and chain," chided Tinasha.
"I'll think about it," Oscar said with a dry smile, then led Delilah away.
Now back to her senses, Delilah tossed a triumphant smile at Tinasha as she
passed. Tinasha kept calm, not gratifying the other woman with a reaction.
Once they were out of sight, Doan finally heaved a sigh of relief.
Still, he knew it wasn't over the second he saw Delilah toss that smile
over her shoulder. All the blood drained from his face.
"Who was that rude woman? I would very much appreciate if you could
tell me all about her," Tinasha stated imperiously, her tone brooking no
refusal.