Chapter Text
When I wake up, I feel refreshed, and somehow stronger.
I open my eyes and see Varg, his mask laying at the side. He smiles sincerely for a brief moment before turning back to his usual, grinning self. “The princess has awoken.”
He helps me up and I sit up to see a crystal hovering in the air, patterned like a chessboard.
I see Jurien rushing to my side and notice knights helping Waltz and the witch that fought with us. “Your Highness! Are you alright?” Jurien has a dark stain in her clothes at the side of her hip and on her leg.
“I’m fine, but you’re hurt.”
She smiles, relieved. “It’s nothing.”
She and Varg both help me up, but I don’t miss the way she glares at him for a moment. He doesn’t seem bothered, but I can tell he feels bad by the way his eyes shift.
“How many are hurt? Killed?”
“We don’t know that yet, but things are looking up. The spellcasters awoke from their trance and started helping us, and the situation is under control.”
I nod. “Thank you.”
“...Of course, Your Highness.”
---
There’s brief, quiet but relaxed cheering once we’re back over the border to Angielle. Varg walks beside me quietly, and I know he notices the stares that people give him. He put his mask back on once we left the room with the Crystallum.
Jurien especially seems to be hostile to him as she walks close. He turns to her at one point. “Why don’t you sketch my face instead, it’ll last longer.”
She’s about to retaliate, but I stop them both. “Don’t start fighting now.”
Jurien looks away. “Tch. ”
Varg gives her a grin, but stays silent.
Waltz told me that since it seems to have chosen me as its new bearer, it’ll automatically always be with me and follow my position, and I can summon it whenever I need. I try not to think about it too much for now.
We head back slower than before because of the wounded, but reportedly none of the spellcasters died due to the defenders never harming them severely. Probably Waltz doing.
Three of the knights didn’t make it, but the rest had been put to sleep and awoken as soon as magic reflourished.
Once we just left, any spellcasters with energy remaining make sure that the citizens forget we were ever here.
---
We return to the palace victorious. I walk inside with Varg still behind me, and Jurien and Everoa, who recovered from most of her wounds on the way escort me inside.
Knights are about to station themselves back in the palace until suddenly a voice sounds from the front door.
“There you are…!”
The witch doctor. She looks furious, but hesitates to cast magic and a bolt of energy throws her off her feet. Waltz comes up behind us as well. Suddenly fear rushes through my veins. “If she was here like this unopposed, then-
I run past her and inside, but to my relief, two witches and a fairy stands behind there with a barrier. “Is the royal family unharmed?”
The fairy nods. “We made it just in time.”
Relief washes over me. “Thank you, very much.”
Waltz, Varg and Jurien catch up to me, and as the witch doctor is held down by more witches and fairies, I quickly head upstairs.
I’m greeted by Ophelia, Rod and Emelaigne. Emelaigne immediately runs to me and throws her arms around me, and Ophelia walks up to hug me from the other side. I squeeze her back, not able to hold back a laugh.
“I’m so glad you recovered!”
Even Rod’s scolding is more happy than usual. “We’re very glad you made it back in one piece. What were you thinking?”
Ophelia and Emelaigne let go of me, and I walk up to Rod to hug him to his surprise. “Of my subjects. And of my family.”
He sighs, and hugs me back.
I pull back and look around. “Where’s father?”
My heart, despite tired, starts to beat again when they don’t answer.
“Where is he?!”
Ophelia shows me a sad smile. “He passed a few days ago.”
“What?!”
Tears blur my vision. One of the witches defending the palace was standing in the back, watching us. She comes up to us. “He was still being affected by a mind control spell from before the Crystallums were destroyed. It prevented his body from fighting the magic disease properly… He was already gone when magic returned.”
This is my fault. It has to be. If we had only gone there sooner, or fought our way through sooner, or found them sooner…
Emelaigne embraces me again as I gulp down the tears. I pull away from her and walk back downstairs, heading to my room.
They exchange worried glances, but don’t come after.
---
I sit in my room, staring at the floor. I let my feet dangle off the edge of the bed, trying to hold back the tears. I look over to my dolls. The thought occurs to talk to them, but something in me wants to talk to someone… real, instead.
I don’t know what I wait to happen while I just try to keep my tears down until I hear a knock at the door.
I wipe over my face. “Come in.”
The door opens gingerly, and Varg looks inside. “Can I?”
I shrug. “Sure.”
He walks in and takes his mask off as he does, closing the door behind him.
“Fritz wants to say some things but he’s afraid you don’t want to see him.”
“What does he have to say?”
“He wants to say sorry and all that, and ask whether you want to see him.” Varg crosses his arms in front of his chest.
“Since when does he use you as his messenger?”
He throws his arms up, annoyed. “I don’t know! I would just let him take the lead but he’s not letting me! Fritz, seriously!”
I can’t help but laugh, and I notice Varg calm down and smile for a moment as well, laughing along.
“In that case, you can assure Fritz that he should show up himself.”
“He’s not letting me. I mean, he has more than that to say, but I’m not saying that for him. That’s his problem, that he should solve himself.”
For a moment I wonder whether Varg is being mean, but then again, I wouldn’t act much different in the situation.
“Shouldn’t you be getting some sleep? The sun is going to rise soon, you should be exhausted.”
“I don’t think I can, with what happened… and the magic might have given me an odd energy boost. It’s not letting me sleep.”
“Well… I have an idea for that. It’s what I was preparing last time, but you caught me walking about.”
“Preparing?”
“Come with me.”
I follow him through the palace. One or two knights eye Varg suspiciously, but my stern look makes them bow quickly. We reach the back of the palace.
“What are we doing here?”
“Shh. You’ll see soon.”
He gives a sign to one of the servants. He sees me, then sighs, and hurries off. He returns with two horses.
“Nothing cheers me up like a proper horse ride. Especially if it’s fast.”
“I haven’t done that in a while…”
Both horses are pure black, one a stallion, one a mare. Varg helps me up onto the horse, and I start to remember the motions. Luckily I’m still in the simply clothes from the night mission.
Varg shouts a command to his horse and it storms off. I follow, trying to keep up - of course he’s good at horse riding - but I, the crown, need to be better.
We chase through the gates, and the wind whistles past my ears as I do my best to hold onto the horse. The adrenaline starts to flow through me as we ride into the forest.
The adrenaline builds, and builds, and suddenly I feel like smiling, and then laughing again. I feel happy. Fritz would never do this with me - he thinks I’m too fragile.
I push the thought away and focus on catching up to Varg, but he seems to know the forest like the back of his own hand. He stops, finally, at a forest clearing.
He helps me get down from the horse and I can feel my knees shake for a moment.
“Feel any better?”
I nod. “I do, actually.”
“Good, looks like my idea was effective then.”
“It was.”
He sits down on a large log and gestures me to sit down as well.
I look up at the sky, and the morning sun flowing from between the trees. “How do you know of this place?”
“Fritz and I found it when we were still… one. During a training session. Deep enough to be away from everyone, but close enough to not be in the wilderness.”
“Fritz never showed me this.”
Varg shrugs, his mood clearly changed for the worse. “He hides things.”
“You don’t like it when I talk about him.”
“I really don’t. He pretends like he deserves you and I don’t, when we both don’t.”
“You really think so? How come?”
“Well… Fritz says it’s because of royalty. In my case it’s because I’m not exactly the angel sent from heaven.”
“Neither am I.”
He’s quiet for a moment. “...Good point.”
I look at him from the side.
“What? I just agreed. Clearly you’re better than an angel, since you’re a lot stronger than one.”
I can’t hold back a laugh. “I don’t know. It does feel like we’re similar to each other.”
He nods. “...In some ways.”
We sit quietly, admiring the morning sun. A cold breeze passes by the clearing, and I once more realize I’m not clothed well enough for the temperature.
I shiver and put my arms around myself. He looks over at me and raises an eyebrow. “Cold?”
“See, Fritz would have given me his jacket ages ago.”
“I’m joking, I’m joking!” He laughs as he drapes his cape over both of us, one arm around my shoulders. “Better?”
I nod, before carefully placing my head on his shoulder, taking in his scent and shifting into his warmth.
I could stay like this forever.
---
Fritz doesn’t turn around, and I hate knowing that I might have caused him that pain.
“Tell me, Fritz. Why are you mad at me?”
“For one, you seem to be spending an awful lot of time with Varg.”
He’s not wrong, but his voice is more pained than mad.
“At the same time… you killed her.”
“There was no other way.”
“You didn’t even hesitate.”
“Because that hesitation could have costed lives!”
He turns around. “I don’t believe in paying with lives!”
“There was. No. Other. Way.”
He shakes his head and turns away again. As if he can’t look at me.
“You didn’t even try listening to me.”
“Fritz...”
This time he’s the one that walks away, and all I can feel is the empty feeling in my chest.
---
I feel the hand on my shoulder and turn, startled, and stare into the eyes of Varg. I relax a little, but turn back again, pressing my eyes shut. My legs dangle from the bench.
“You’re crying...”
His dark and cold demeanor melts as he sits down next to me, handing me a handkerchief. I don’t want to take it, at first, but eventually sigh and do.
“Lucette…” He wraps one arm around my shoulders. “What did he do?”
I shake my head.
I calm down, after a few minutes of crying and wiping the tears away. I lean onto his shoulder, closing my eyes. My heart calms down. I look up at him, and can sink into those familiar eyes. He’s close, and I can feel his warm breath on my face.
When I lean foreward, I can tell he’s surprised, but he doesn’t move away. He leans in himself, and I can feel his soft, warm lips up against mine.
---
When I step into the room, I hesitate only for a moment, overwhelmed by the sheer amount of faces staring back at me. I take a deep breath, and begin to step forward.
None of the faces seem to remember the way I broke down into tears at the funeral a few days ago. In fact, it almost seems the fear in their eyes has shifted to… respect.
Four maidens dressed in good wear carry the back of my dress that would otherwise trail on the ground. It’s pastel yellow with golden decorations, most notably those of roses. I walk the path made for me with all the confidence I have.
People make way and cheer, and every few steps is a knight that bows deeply as I pass. At the very front, Ophelia stands with my step-siblings. Emelaigne grins at me as I approach and step up the stairs, and I smile back softly.
Once I step to the throne, I nod at Ophelia, who smiles in return. I go down on one knee as she speaks.
“Crown Princess Lucette Rielle Britton,” the room goes silent in an instant and I can feel the eyes of every single person stuck to me, “you are hereby coronated, by bloodline and family, to become Queen Lucette Rielle Britton, the ruling queen of the kingdom of Angielle!”
I keep my gaze on the stair in front of me until I can feel the heavy weight of the crown on my head, and I stand up, slowly, keeping my back straight, and the crown in place.
Applause, first a bit quiet, then louder and louder sounds from the throne room, and I turn back and smile.
Queen of Angielle.
Nothing will stand between me and my kingdom
ever again.