Chapter Text
“I have finally found a use for you, my son.”
Soren kept his expression neutral. That was his policy, and it had been since his birth seventeen years ago.
He never really had anything to smile or groan about anyway, so anything past his normal would be pointless theatrics. Everyone who knew him knew that he was bland at best and rude at worst. His father was no different… well, he may have been a smidge different. After all, they didn’t know each other. Not really.
It seemed that his father had a bit more interest in him after becoming king, though. This was proof of it.
“What is it?” Soren asked.
“I would like you to go to Crimea.”
A thousand possibilities ran through Soren’s mind, but the obvious one was that his father wanted him to be a spy. That was all fine and well. It wasn’t as though he had much else to do.
“Perhaps you’d be interested to learn that there is a secret princess of Crimea much as you are the secret prince of Daein,” his father continued. “Not only that, but she was born in the same year as you - a strange coincidence, is it not?”
“I wasn’t aware.”
“Even I had no idea until I ascended the throne just months ago, but you see… I believe this is a wonderful opportunity for both of our countries.”
“How so?” Soren asked.
“Why, isn’t it obvious? I would like you to wed Princess Crimea.”
It took everything Soren had to keep himself from scowling. “For what reason?”
“Our countries have a poor relationship. I know that nobody has bothered to teach you politics, but surely even you must be aware of this, yes?”
Soren nodded. Even an infant would be aware of such a thing. But he held his tongue.
“Yes… I would like you to act as our liaison to Crimea,” his father said. “I would like you to marry into their royal family, and hers into ours… ha, haha…”
“……”
Soren had never really known his father. They’d met before, yes. Of course. But he had been raised by his mother primarily, up until her passing a couple months ago. She had died with the rest of Daein’s royal family as part of a plague that struck their lands.
There was a rumor that Ashnard was somehow responsible for that plague; one that Soren had never quite dispelled. He didn’t know the man, after all. He could be sane, or he could be mad.
That was why it was so hard to discern the purpose of Ashnard’s current orders, or the meaning behind his present grin.
He could be sane, or he could be mad.
Only time would tell.
---
Soren wasn’t exactly keen on the idea, but he also wasn’t in a position to refuse. With that in mind, he returned to his room to pack… though he didn’t own much, much less anything that he actually wanted to take with himself abroad.
He would be studying in a school in Melior. Though she was a princess of Crimea, she was enrolled in a public school due to her existence being a secret. That was different from Soren, who had been home-schooled within the walls of the royal castle in Nevassa all his life… a strange upbringing for someone who was never meant to succeed the throne.
But here he was, sole prince of Daein and the only living proof of their royal bloodline aside from his father himself. His existence was wholly a secret. He had many opportunities in the past to reveal himself - perhaps through social media or otherwise making a scene in public - but he never did.
He was one of the Branded, and those in the castle never let him forget it. Why would he want to show himself to the world? It would never, not in a thousand years, wish to see a Branded prince of Daein.
He may never know what his father was thinking by getting together with a sub-human, or what his intentions were in letting her live for long enough to care for him.
Soren may have been able to understand his position if they lived in times past. Legend had it that sub-humans were once able to transform into massive beasts. Nowadays, though… the only proof of her having been a sub-human were the scaly indentations on her arms and back.
Just thinking about it was enough to disgust him.
…Perhaps this mission was meant as punishment for something.
Crimea had more sub-humans than Daein. That meant that there would be more awareness of the Branded, which meant that…
“……”
Whether his father meant it as punishment or not, Soren was certain that punishment was what it would be.
Apparently it was easy to expedite a passport on direct orders from the king, because it was only a few days’ time before Soren was shown to the airport and left alone at security.
It was his first time flying, and he kept getting stopped for looking like an unattended child despite emphatically being seventeen, eighteen in December.
Soren didn’t let it bother him. He hardly had time to, anyway - he’d never been in such a crowded place before. He’d known logically that the population of Daein was not limited to those within the castle, and had of course ventured out into Nevassa from time to time.
Never to this extent, though.
The Crimean school year began in mid August, so he would arrive only a few days before he was set to begin classes. He had never lived on his own, but he might as well have for how much time he spent away from others.
Living alone wouldn’t be difficult. That was his assessment of the situation. School, on the other hand… could prove to be annoying.
It was a five hour flight to Melior from Nevassa.
He spent much of that time reading about Crimea. Soren wasn’t a stranger to the subject of the world. He knew world history quite well, and although he was a high school student, he was rather confident in his academic abilities. The actual curriculum wouldn’t be difficult.
It would just be annoying. That was all.
There was no one to meet Soren in Crimea when he landed. As his existence was fairly secretive, there was no need to give him a bodyguard. The only one here who was meant to know at all would be Princess Crimea - Elincia Ridell, as she was known.
Of course the rest of her family would know as well - Crimea’s king and his brother, the successor to the throne - but even so, none of them came to pick Soren up from the airport. He was left to hire a cab and find the apartment building shouldering the school himself.
It was a bit of a strange situation, in all honesty.
To Soren, the most natural thing would be for her family to at least introduce themselves to him. The fact that they did not made it seem as though they weren’t too pleased with this arrangement… though when he thought it through, it did make sense in a way.
For them to come here to the airport would cause a major scene, and it wasn’t as though they’d send their precious sheltered princess Elincia here on her own. She was only a teenager. They’d meet later, in a less obvious location. Perhaps he would be invited to her home for tea.
Did she even live in the castle? He doubted it. She likely lived with a bodyguard closer to the school.
Such were the thoughts that plagued his mind as the taxi driver tried and failed to make small-talk with him on the ride to his new apartment.
“How old are you? I thought you had to be sixteen to fly on your own!”
Soren was quite tired of answering this question already. Was he so different from the average seventeen year old? He wasn’t really sure, in all honesty. He’d never met anyone his age before… “I’m seventeen.”
“Well, that’s good,” the driver responded. “Still waiting for your growth spurt, eh?”
“……”
“Okay, sorry if I hit a nerve, kid. Here, it’s not a long drive. Ten minutes and we’ll be there.”
Soren nodded. Crimea’s capital was different from Daein’s. Just driving through it was enough to understand that completely. There were more colors and more modern buildings. Nevassa’s old town was large and seemed to encompass the whole city… though that may have just been because Soren’s viewpoint had always been from the castle.
In any case, he gave the driver a few bills for his trouble and was dropped off by the apartments, which also happened to be right next to the school - a large brick structure, impressive in its own right.
One side of the school had a convenience store and the shoddy apartments where he would be staying for the year. The other side had a mucky pond. It was… not the kind of place that Soren envisioned the princess of all Crimea attending.
Still, the school wasn’t his primary objective. Not today, at least.
Soren was supposed to start school in two days, which gave him just enough time to get settled in and meet the princess before classes began.
His flight arrived in the afternoon, giving him a few hours to find the nearest full grocery store to buy necessities at. His apartment was lightly furnished with a bed and a few chairs, but there was no desk, bookshelf, or couch.
That was fine, though. All he needed was somewhere to eat and sleep. Studying could be done at the school library. Surely there would be a library…?
…Worrying about whether there was a library or not was pointless. He needed to buy food. Grains, proteins, and vegetables. He wasn’t typically someone who ate much, but if he was going to be living on his own, he at least needed to cook one meal a day.
With that being said, he was quickly faced with his first challenge of the trip: shopping.
He had never gone shopping before.
Thankfully, it sounded easy. All that he had to do was go into a store, pick up a basket, put items in the basket, then pay at the register. It would be a simple affair.
And it was.
Except that they wanted him to use a card.
He had never used a credit card before.
“……”
“Umm… you can either tap, insert, or swipe…”
“…You don’t take cash?”
The cashier stared. “Our register’s empty. Did you forget your wallet at home?”
Soren held his wallet up for her to see.
“Okay, so what’s the problem? You have a card, right?”
“I do…”
“Then tap it on the screen.”
Soren held the card up to the screen and tapped it. Nothing happened.
“The other side. Come on, kid…”
He turned it around and tapped again. Thankfully, it went through. He breathed a sigh of relief.
“Would you like your receipt?”
“I would have liked to use cash.”
“Sorry, but like I said, our register’s out of cash. Besides, your card was approved. I don’t understand what the problem is.”
Soren grabbed his groceries and left.
That was one store that he could never return to…
Thankfully, there was another one five minutes away. But still. To be defeated by such a small thing as a credit card… things were not boding well for the future.
At least he got his necessities.
His next task was cooking dinner for the first time.
What should he make? He racked his brain for what people might eat for dinner. It was one of three major meals of the day. This was something he ought to know.
“……”
In the end, he made some rice and called it a night.
Come morning, he received his first official notice from the princess in the form of a letter slipped under his door.
“How very old fashioned,” Soren mumbled to himself as he opened it. The message was simple—that Elincia was delighted to meet her betrothed, but would unfortunately have to postpone their meeting until Sunday, two days’ time from now.
It occurred to Soren that he was left with no means to contact the Crimean royal family while they had access to his residence. They likely did that on purpose.
After all, he was a foreign prince of a nation that could hardly be considered their ally. Why would they give him immediate access to their secrets? They had the right to observe him for a few days before deciding how to progress.
Though, of course, he could always happen upon her at school. He supposed that such an occasion wouldn’t bother them, though, since they’d be surrounded by other students even if they managed to make contact during that time. She was almost certainly instructed to never approach him in his own quarters.
Soren smiled.
Rather than a proper engagement, it felt like a political game. And perhaps that was exactly what it was - a game between Soren’s father and Crimea’s king. Soren and Elincia were merely the pieces.
Still, this was Soren’s life.
He might be a piece in someone else’s game, but he had to do something to pass the time. That ‘something’ ended up being searching out the closest library outside of the school - that one was locked. It wasn’t nearly as impressive as the royal library in Nevassa, but it was also a ‘branch’ of a ‘metropolitan’ library. Soren was sure that he’d soon understand the proper vocabulary for these things, but for now… well, he had work to do.
The day passed quickly as he sat stationed in the library, at first perusing the nonfiction section for the information he needed, then turning to Google and muted Youtube videos with subtitles so as to not disturb anyone for his inquiries.
“……”
Soren had heard of people his age doing this for research - watching Youtube videos - but… it was a bit overstimulating. The amount of ads, for one. He’d never seen so many in one place and by the end of the day strongly felt that Crimea might be making a mistake by allowing them to run rampant.
He ate another bowl of rice for dinner, this time accompanied by a mango for some sliver of nutrition to avoid the worst of the consequences of allowing himself to plan his own meals. By morning he was ready for his first day of public school.
There were more kids than he’d ever seen in his life. Many were quite a lot taller and larger than Soren. That made getting through the crowd and figuring out where he was supposed to be a challenge despite it being a mundane task for the majority of attendees.
There was a desk at the front that they gave schedules out to the students one by one at. It seemed rather archaic for a modern school. Then again, he was just making assumptions. He’d never been to a modern school before. His expectations might have been a bit too high.
Finding his first class was no easier than finding his schedule. His small stature was working against him, and the people who he would have the absolute joy of calling his classmates pushed and shoved instead of moving away to help him see where he was supposed to be going.
It was a curse, and that wasn’t in any way an exaggeration. It was his mother’s blood. Her laguz blood, slow to flow, slow to age… running thick in his veins.
What a way to start the school year.
The school was larger than he initially assumed, and the stairs were crowded with students hugging their friends.
As much as Soren hated being late, he failed to make it to his first class on time thanks to all the pushing and blocking, whether intentional or not.
Everyone in the class looked at him when the door opened.
The teacher looked first at Soren’s eyes, then up at his brand, then away from him entirely. She clicked her tongue. “So you’ve decided to show up.”
“I have.”
“What’s your name?”
“Soren.”
“Come sit in the front where I can see you.”
He did so.
The teacher watched him sit, then began to speak once more. “Can anyone tell me what Crimean literature truly is?”
“Books that people write in Crimea,” a boy from the middle row said.
“Books that Crimeans write,” a girl beside Soren said.
The teacher ignored them. Her eyes once again settled on his brand. “Soren?”
“Literary works created by Crimeans,” he said. “Or were there some specifics that you were hoping to hear?”
“…You’re not from Crimea, are you?”
“No. I am from Daein.”
“Then what do you really know about Crimean literature?”
“One doesn’t have to be from Crimea to have read Crimean literature,” Soren said as he did his best to overcome the urge to sigh. So this was the extent that Daein’s antagonism towards Crimea had affected it. To the point where teachers felt the need to bring such things up to the students, as if expecting them to fight amongst each other.
It worked, too.
The other students whispered among themselves. It was less he’s from Daein, isn’t that horrible? and more what is it about him that we’re supposed to dislike? though. Because the others could tell that the teacher saw something to hate inside of him, and they wanted to know what it was too.
Kids were impressionable, and this was proving to be no exception.
The halls were even less welcoming once Soren made to leave. His classmates either steered clear of him as though he was something rotten or pushed him in an attempt to get him as far away as possible.
Soren’s next class was much the same.
His second teacher was older, which perhaps made it even worse. He looked at Soren with great disdain, so strong that it was almost difficult to believe that they’d never met each other before this day.
Soren idly wondered if perhaps he was the first Branded to ever set foot in these halls.
It wasn’t as though every single person here knew what he was. He was sure that there were a few kids who assumed that he’d gotten a foolish tattoo despite his young age. They were the few who looked more confused than anything. The majority, though…
“……”
Soren found himself daydreaming of a world where there was at least another reason for his Branded presentation that he might be able to fool others into believing. Perhaps if magic existed, then… no, that was childish.
The reality of the situation was that he couldn’t hide from his brand. They could appear anywhere on one’s body, but his had chosen to manifest itself on Soren’s forehead - a curse in the truest sense of the word.
The pinnacle of it all was when it was time for his third class, located in a separate building from his first two - an annex situated by the school pond.
Two of his classmates from his second class trailed after him through the halls. It was obviously in bad faith, but even so, Soren couldn’t say beyond a shadow of a doubt that they weren’t just trying to get to their classes too. That was why he didn’t say anything.
Maybe he should have, though. Or maybe it wouldn’t have made any difference.
Either way, when he took a step outside and into a gust of humid air, one of the boys ran forward and stole the bag off of Soren’s shoulder. The other ran alongside him, laughing as he did.
“…Ah.”
Soren had no choice but to follow them. His bag had his books and, perhaps more importantly, his schedule. How would he know where his final classes were without it? He dodged staring students, careful not to push so that no one would push him back and ruin his efforts. It didn’t take long for him to realize where this was going.
The two boys stopped in front of the pond, then turned back around to face Soren with matching grins on their faces.
“Nice bag,” one said. “Leather?”
Soren steadied his ragged breathing before answering. “Does it matter?”
“Was just curious, since you’re going to have to replace it,” the boy said. “It looks nice. Did Mommy buy it for you?”
“……”
The other boy snickered. “Can Mommy even speak, or is she a rat? I’d love to know what went on in your parents’ bed. What kind of freaks…”
Soren wanted to respond, but he couldn’t.
His mind was blank.
He knew exactly what was happening and why. But he couldn’t respond. He couldn’t think of a single word, much less speak it.
The boy with his bag hoisted it up, looked inside, then shrugged. “Just a bunch of books.”
“Who gives a shit about that? Just throw it,” the other boy said. “I’d love to see rat boy get himself wet getting his precious books back.”
“That’s gonna be hilarious.”
With that, he tossed the bag with a splash. The boys laughed again.
Soren couldn’t say a single thing to stop them, in the end.
“…What are you guys doing?”
Everyone looked over to the unfamiliar voice that called out to them. It was a boy. A student. He was probably a little younger than Soren, but he looked strong. Reliable. His expression was proof that he wasn’t the type to let others run amok.
He probably came to assess the situation because he saw something strange out of the corner of his eye. But now that he was closer… now that he was meeting Soren’s eyes, he’d either join them to harass him or leave. Any second now and he’d…
“Did you throw his bag in the pond? That’s stupid.”
The boys who’d thrown Soren’s bag exchanged a look. “Who’re you?”
“Ike.”
“You think you’re hot shit?”
“Kinda. I mean, I at least think I’m better than you.”
“You little…!”
With that, the boys’ focus left Soren entirely. They ran towards Ike, poised to attack. But it didn’t go their way. Ike effortlessly side-stepped, grabbed one’s arm and twisted it, then threw him into the pond. His friend just stared.
“Go get the bag or you’re next,” Ike said.
“……”
“Go on.”
The boy clicked his tongue, but he pulled his pant legs up and took a few steps towards the pond. Then he stopped and glared back at Ike. “The hell are you doing, anyway, man? Haven’t you seen that kid?”
Ike raised an eyebrow, then looked to Soren. Apparently the answer had been ‘no.’ He came to help without even checking to see who Soren was. He could have been anyone. But he wasn’t just anyone… if only he were. Instead, he was the least desirable person in the world to save. He was Branded and the prince of a country that was currently flaunting its military power to the world, begging someone to defy them.
Ike looked him over, then shrugged. “I saw him.”
“So what’re you helping him for?”
“What are you bothering him for? I see what you’re doing. You’re not getting out of this,” Ike said. He pushed the boy closer to the water. “Go on. You’re the one who dropped his bag in there, right? So you’re the one who should get it. It’s common courtesy.”
“Like hell I will!” the boy shouted, dropped his pant legs, then went for a punch.
Ike caught it effortlessly. “So that’s how you’re gonna play?”
“Damn right it is!”
Ike didn’t justify him with a response. Instead, he threw the boy into the water by his fist.
He was strong. Reliable, too. Nothing about him betrayed Soren’s expectations. Instead, he exceeded them by far.
Soren had never known that there was someone in this world who would look at him, disregard what he saw, then help him.
The two boys ran out of the pond screaming curses, leaving Soren’s bag alone as they escaped to dry land, as far away from Ike as they could get. Soren vaguely registered the bell ringing somewhere in the distance.
“Sorry about your bag,” Ike said and sighed. “I’ll go get it.”
“Ah, no…”
Soren tried to protest, but it was too late. Ike was already in the pond fishing around. “Your bag was open? There’s books everywhere.”
“They must have opened it.”
“What kind of coward… do you know how many books you had? I see four.”
“I had six.”
“How’d you manage to fit all of those in your bag?”
“I’m good at organizing things.”
“Seems so,” Ike said as he dug his hands around in the pond. “Found the fifth one. There’s a notebook here, too. Might be toast after this though…”
“I can take care of the rest,” Soren said. “Really, you don’t need to…”
“I want to,” Ike said. “Here it is - your final book. I found a couple pens, too. How many of those did you have?”
“I can’t recall.”
“Might be for the best. They’re hard to see with all this algae.” Ike looked back up at Soren, then took a few muddy steps out of the pond. Instead of handing Soren the sopping wet books, he laid them out on the sidewalk to dry. “Think they’re salvageable?”
“Honestly, I doubt it,” Soren said.
“Yeah, me too.” Even so, Ike patted the books with his sleeve in an attempt to dry them, even if only a little.
“…Thank you for getting them.”
“No problem,” Ike said and looked back up at him. “What’s your name?”
“Soren.”
“Are you a freshman?”
“I’m a senior.”
“Oh. Transfer student?”
“Yes.”
“Where are you from?” Ike asked. “I’m from the countryside.”
“…Daein, actually,” Soren said. Saying that he was Crimean was committing to a lie that he knew he’d never be able to live up to.
“Oh. What part?”
“Nevassa.”
“So you’re a city kid. How do you like Melior?”
“It’s different. Much more colorful.”
“Yeah?”
“Yes.”
Ike stood. “Really sorry about your books. It sucks that your first day had to go like this.”
Soren shook his head. “It’s not your fault.”
“Yeah, but still.” Ike shifted on his feet. His wet pants were probably uncomfortable. “I better get going.”
“…Do you have any other clothes?”
“I have my gym uniform,” Ike said. “I’ll shower and wear that.”
“That’s good.”
“Yeah. See you again sometime?”
Soren blinked. See him again sometime?
Did that mean that he wanted to see Soren again?
Even though he just had to go to all of this trouble because of him?
“…I’d like that,” Soren said quietly.
Ike smiled, and the sun suddenly felt too bright, like it was spinning around behind his eyes. The force of it almost knocked Soren over.
What was he going to do? When Ike left, all Soren had were his soaked bag and books. He couldn’t really attend his classes like this, but he didn’t want to just skip, either.
“……”
Ike… was it.
---
Ike hung the towel he’d just finished drying off with from his closet door. He put some comfortable clothes on, ran a hand through his still-damp hair, then plopped himself down on his bed.
Something strange had happened to him.
Well, it wasn’t to him. Not really. It happened to someone else, but Ike was there, and even if he wasn’t… it was such a pointless act of hatred. Maybe he was just sheltered, but he’d never seen anything like it, and that in itself made it personal.
There was a boy he’d never seen before. He wasn’t super short, but he had a baby face so Ike originally assumed he was younger. And he’d attracted the attention of the wrong people for some reason or other.
Ike laid down and stared up at the ceiling. It was weird to think about. That boy was obviously not the physical type. Even if he wanted to be a bad person, there was only so much he could do to hurt others. Ike wasn’t assuming that he was the emblem of innocence based on that alone or anything… but even so, he doubted that he did anything really to deserve getting bullied like that.
What was his name again? Soren?
Yeah. That was it.
A part of Ike wanted to nap, since the first day of school was always pretty draining, and that was what he always did. He wasn’t really the academic type, and sitting in a seat all day long was bound to bore him to death, or at least to sleep.
Today was different, though. He didn’t even finish the day out - he’d originally meant to shower and change into his gym uniform, then go to his last few classes, but he ultimately ended up just going home. He’d been too angry to even think about sitting down in a chair for a few more hours and listening quietly.
Now was hardly any different.
Ike couldn’t stop thinking about what happened, and no amount of laying there with his eyes clothed was going to make him sleep, it seemed.
“Ike!”
Ike opened his eyes to the sound of his dad’s voice on the other side of his door. “Yeah?”
“Mist said that she’s going to spend the night with a friend. What do you say about going to the steakhouse—”
Ike jumped up faster than he’d ever moved before. Forget trying to nap - there were more important things in this world. “I’ll be down.”
He normally emptied his mind completely when he ate. Today was not one of those days.
He just couldn’t stop thinking about the face that Soren was making by the pond.
---
It was Elincia’s first meeting with the man who was meant to be her husband. She settled into the chair of the tea parlor that Lucia had helped pick, acutely aware of the way her dress was folding against her ankles as she waited for her suitor… no, her fiancé.
Her face flushed. To think that she was engaged to be wed at her young age…! And to a man she had never seen, no less.
She had been opposed to the idea since the beginning, but when her uncle explained it from start to finish, it did make sense.
Daein was a military power that Crimea couldn’t hope to overcome, and their new king was in a position that all decisions he made were absolute due to the rest of their royal family having tragically passed just months ago.
If she went against his will, it was possible that he would wage war on her home country. She just didn’t know what kind of person he was. Nobody knew. He was a completely unknown man suddenly thrust into great power… and that was terrifying.
She straightened her shoulders every time the door opened. She’d come quite early, so she was expecting to wait. There were still ten minutes before they were supposed to meet. She bit back a sigh as a boy entered. She didn’t even know who to look for…
“…Are you Elincia?”
She blinked. “I… yes. And you are?”
“Soren,” he said. “I was instructed to meet with you today.”
“Oh!” Elincia didn’t mean to size him up, but her eyes flicked up and down without her consent. He was a bit shorter than her. She’d heard that he was her age, but it appeared that she’d been lied to… “You’re… I see. I apologize for my rudeness,” she said and hurried to stand and curtsy. “It is so nice to meet you.”
He made no move to bow, take her hand, or exchange any other sort of pleasantry. Instead he nodded and sat down.
She sat as well, her pulse in her ears from the force of her anxiety. “So… how was the trip to Crimea?” Elincia asked.
“Fine.”
“Have you ever been in a plane before?”
“No.”
“I’ve heard that it can be quite scary… though I too have never been in one. In fact, I’ve never left Melior,” she said with a small laugh. “Is this your first time out of Nevassa?”
“Yes.”
“……”
He was… difficult to converse with, to say the least.
From her perspective, he was wholly disinterested in their conversation, much less their engagement. Or… was he not aware? Did nobody tell him?
Soren looked from side to side to check the room for more customers. Apparently there was something he wanted to talk about that he didn’t want others to hear.
“Ah, don’t worry about that. This parlor is owned by a dear friend of mine’s relative.”
“Do they know of your existence?”
“The owner does not, but my friend does. In truth, she is the one serving tea today,” Elincia said and smiled sheepishly.
“I see. So you have friends here…”
It didn’t sound as though he did. Elincia’s smile faltered, but Soren didn’t dwell on the topic. Instead, he changed it to something else altogether.
“Do you understand why you’re here?” Soren asked.
“T-to meet my fiancé.”
“Is that how you think of me?” Soren asked.
“That is what I have been told to think of you as, yes.”
“Then it seems that you are looking for some kind of romance with me.”
“I would like to make the best of the hand that I have been dealt.”
Soren smiled derisively.
As though he thought that she was stupid for thinking that.
This would be… challenging, to say the least.
“How involved have you been in your country’s politics?” Soren asked. “Have you been taught how to rule?”
“N-not particularly… but my uncle Renning—”
“You ought to pay more attention to such things.”
“I will… but haven’t you only recently acquired your position?” Elincia asked. “It can’t be that Daein prepares all royalty to rule, can it?”
Soren’s eyes flicked around the room once again. Nobody but them was present. It was safe to talk. Even so, he seemed to doubt her. “No. However, I had the sense to look into it myself. Or the curiosity, I suppose one might say.”
“I see. Do you enjoy studying, then?”
“What else is there to do with my time?” Soren asked. “I had access to the royal library. With ample resources at my fingertips, it would be foolish of me to not take advantage of a single one of them in favor of play.”
“…I wasn’t… I mean, yes, I understand your point,” Elincia said. Defending herself at this point was futile, she felt. He was not receptive to her friendship, much less the possibility of romance. That much was obvious.
But he was deep inside of a shell, she believed. She had the strong impression that he was a somewhat lonely person. Difficult as he might be to converse with, if they were to be wed, then… she ought to try to talk to him properly. It was the least she could do.
She meant to schedule a second ‘date’ once they finished their tea, but he left too much money on the table and left before she could extend an offer.
“Not very personable, is he?” Lucia asked as she cleared the table. “To think that he’d lecture you like that and then lay a wad of cash on the table as though to prove that he isn’t just anybody. Talk about senseless!”
“You were listening?”
“I didn’t catch it all, but I certainly caught enough. He seems to be quite the ass. Surely your father would allow you to call it off, knowing the way that he was talking to you?”
“It wasn’t more than what I can handle,” Elincia argued. “He just seems… unprepared. That’s all.”
“Unprepared for what? Basic socialization?”
“I suppose, yes.”
Lucia nodded. “He has a ways to go in that regard. I have no doubt about that. Still, do you really think that he’s salvageable?”
“I don’t think there is a single person in all of Tellius who isn’t.”
“So you have no plans to call it off?” Lucia asked.
“Even if I wanted to, it wouldn’t be possible. So I ought to just make the best of it.”
“…You’re too kind, Elincia.”
Elincia smiled. “I’ve been told.”