Sophia had anticipated a number of reactions to her little prank, but outright rage wasn’t one of them.
“Marcus… Are you angry at me?”
“You’re damn right I’m angry! You lied to me!”
Now Sophia was a little frightened. This kind of response was completely outside of her expectations.
“B-But Marcus, it was just a harmless prank!”
“Harmless!?” Marcus didn’t calm down. If anything, he became even more enraged. “All this time I’ve been treating you like a boy! I can’t even imagine how foolish I must have looked! Now, after all of my attempts to improve the standing of my kingdom, I’ll only be remembered as the idiot prince who can’t even tell the difference between a boy and a girl!”
After the prince’s tirade, the room descended into an uncomfortable silence. The servants and guards weren’t sure whether they should say something or just leave quietly.
“I see.” Sophia’s expression turned frosty. The temperature of the air in the room also dropped a few degrees, mirroring her temperament. “So, in the end your precious face is more valuable than our friendship. That is, if the noble prince can deign to befriend a common GIRL in the first place.”
Sophia turned to leave, stopping only once to say “I honestly thought that you were better than this.”
…
Sophia walked through the city’s Gold District in a daze. At first she had been angry, silently cursing Marcus for his arrogance and stupidity, but eventually her rage burned itself out, leaving her feeling hollow.
After a few hours of wandering around aimlessly, Sophia found herself back at the private hanger where Marcus’ airship was parked. Although she had only spent a few days on board, it had already become a familiar place to her.
Ignoring the bewildered crew, she walked straight to her cabin, threw herself onto her bed, and buried her face in her pillow.
“Ah, I really screwed up this time, didn’t I?” she asked to no one in particular.
“Um, my lady?”
Surprised, Sophia turned her head to find Evangeline standing awkwardly by her bedside. Somehow, the succubus must have followed her without her even realizing it.
“Please, forgive me my lady!” she pleaded, “I’ve said something that I shouldn’t have! I’ll accept any punishment!”
Sophia was shocked. Evangeline must have thought that Sophia was angry with her for exposing the fact that she was a girl.
Sophia grimaced. “It’s not your fault,” she said. “These are the consequences of my actions. From the start, Marcus treated me like a true friend, completely ignoring the differences between our stations, and in return I deceived him with a cruel trick.”
Looking at the mark on her hand that connected her to Evangeline, Sophia inserted some Spiritual Energy, and the link instantly dissolved. She already felt crappy enough without the slave crest weighing on her mind.
“You’re free now,” she said to the succubus. At least I can do one good thing today.
Far from Sophia’s expectations, rather than being grateful, Evangeline turned pale and dropped to her knees.
“Please my lady!” she begged. “I’ll do anything! Please don’t abandon me!”
“B-But you’re free,” Sophia stammered. “You can do whatever you want now.”
The succubus smiled bitterly. “Free?” she scoffed. “Freedom is a privilege that my kind aren’t allowed.”
Those few words contained more grief and resentment than one child should be able to have.
“What are you talking about?” Sophia asked.
For a moment Evangeline bit her lip, as if uncertain of where to begin. Eventually, she opened up and told Sophia of her race’s long history of suffering and humiliation.
“I am a succubus,” she began. “As you know, my people have an innate ability to charm men, whether we want to or not, but our combat ability is one of the lowest out of all of the demon races. As a result, almost all of us end up as slaves, forced to use our abilities to pleasure more powerful demons.”
Evangeline paused for a few seconds before continuing. “My mother was fortunate enough to become the favorite concubine of a high-ranking general, so at the very least, she didn’t have to live like a common whore. However, about a year ago she found out that her master was planning on giving me as a gift to one of his friends. This friend had a reputation for being cruel and perverse, so she decided to risk it all and escape.”
Tears began to stream down Evangeline’s face. “We should have known better! The general sent his troops to hunt us down, and my mother distracted them in order to give me a chance to escape!”
In her mind, Evangeline could still see the faces of her pursuers, their eyes shining with lust. The general had likely told them that they could do whatever they wanted with Evangeline and her mother once they captured them. The memory of what couldn’t have happened to her, of what probably did happen to her mother, made her tremble.
Finally, Sophia couldn’t take it anymore and pulled Evangeline into a hug. She didn’t know what to say. What could she say? Some humans were born with greater talent than others, but none of them were destined for servitude just by being what they were. So she simply held the girl who wept the tears of an entire race, one oppressed for so long that the very idea of freedom had long since become a myth.
After some time, Evangeline managed to pull herself together and looked Sophia in the eye.
“When I was caught by humans, I thought that it was over for me,” she said, “but with you as my master, I have a chance! Even if I can never be free, I can at least try to live my life with some dignity! That way, the chance that my mother gave me won’t be wasted!”
Sophia was moved by the girl’s determination. “Very well,” she said, “but you won’t be my slave. I despise slavery, so you will be my servant. You are still free and will be able to go your own way whenever you wish. Deal?”
“Yes!” Evangeline agreed instantly.
“Good! Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted.” Sophia suddenly plopped back down in her bed, rolled over to one side, and pulled the covers up.
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“Well, what are you waiting for?” she asked.
“Oh! My lady, I couldn’t possibly-
“Pah! Nonsense!” Sophia pulled back the covers and patted the other side of the bed. Her expression left no room for argument. “You’re the one who wanted to take on a poor common girl as your master. That means putting up with a few inconveniences!”
Sophia narrowed her eyes. “Unless you think that my bed’s not good enough for you?”
“N-No! That’s not-
“Yay!” Without listening any further, Sophia pulled Evangeline into the bed next to her and promptly fell asleep.
Looking at her master’s now-sleeping face, Evangeline felt a wellspring of emotions rise up inside of her. Mother, if only you could see me now, she thought. I won’t let this chance that you’ve given me go to waste! I promise!
…
After Sophia’s departure, Marcus silently made his way to his new hostel room provided by the South Sea auction house.
Damn that Sophia! How dare she trick me! In his entire life, no one had ever played such a prank on him. He was a prince after all. Foreign powers might look down on him or mock him, but he had never expected a commoner to humiliate him in such a way.
The four guards followed him closely, but they didn’t dare to interrupt his ruminating. There was no telling what could send the young prince into another rage.
Before long, they reached the very upscale establishment that the South Sea auction house had arraigned, but Marcus didn’t even stop to notice the elaborate artwork or expensive decorations. He just went straight to his room.
After opening the door he turned to his escorts. “Remain outside,” he said.
“Your highness, we-
Before the Mortal Soul Practitioner could even finish speaking, Marcus slammed the door shut.
“*Sigh* well, I guess he IS only a child.”
…
Inside the room, Marcus paced back and forth furiously. Sophia’s last words kept reappearing, unbidden in his mind. “I honestly thought that you were better than this.”
“Damn it!” he cursed slamming his fist into the wall. “Who the hell does she think she is!?”
“Your highness…”
Marcus turned around to find a man dressed entirely in black standing behind him.
“Don’t do that!” he shouted, clutching his chest. “You know I hate it when you sneak up on me!”
The man chuckled softly. “Forgive me your highness, force of habit.”
Marcus frowned. He was in no mood for jokes. “Why have you appeared Gregory? I thought that you were supposed to protect me from the shadows until the masters from South Sea academy arrived.”
“That is true, your highness. However, as someone who has looked after you since you were a baby, I felt that I should offer you some advice.”
“Let me guess,” Marcus said, gritting his teeth. “You think that I should apologies to Sophia.”
“Precisely.”
“But she humiliated me!”
“With all due respect your highness, you humiliated yourself.”
Marcus was rendered speechless. He never expected that Gregory, his father’s most trusted servant, would actually reprimand him this way.
“Your highness, if I honestly believed that Sophia’s prank posed a legitimate threat to your reputation, I would have stopped it. Her trick might have been embarrassing, but your explosive overreaction to it was the biggest harm to your face. Had you simply laughed it off, no one would have even bothered to remember it. Now, I’m afraid that you’ve made yourself look, not just like a fool, but like a petulant child.”
Marcus trembled for a moment before collapsing into a chair. He wanted to deny it, but deep down he knew that Gregory was right, and that’s what hurt the most.
“Damn it. I’ve really screwed up this time. My first real friend, and I made her hate me.”
Gregory smiled softly. “Your highness, all friendships have their rough patches. If she’s really a friend worth having, then I know that you’ll be able to work things out.”
Marcus nodded slowly. “I think you’re right Gregory. I’ll go speak with her tomorrow morning, after we’ve both had a chance to calm down.”
“An excellent idea your highness.”
“By the way Gregory, did you know from the very beginning that she was a girl?”
“Of course your highness. It was quite obvious.”
“And nobody bothered to tell me because…”
“Well, it was just so amusing to watch you bumble about that we couldn’t bring ourselves to spoil the ruse.”
“… Good night Gregory.”
“Good night your highness.”
Gregory faded back into the shadows with a grin as Marcus readied himself for bed. Oh your majesty, I’m afraid that you’ve sent your son to tame a kitten without realizing that it was actually a tiger cub! Fufufu, it looks as though the next few years are going to be very interesting!