Finley Cai Aies Hall May 1st, 20XX

I casually followed the guy Esmarelda had pointed out and ignored the connection of him leaving to the disappearing act Mei had pulled.

After all, it wasn't that I was jealous or anything. I was just defending my best interests. After all, I had just started to get along with the General more and it would suck if she ended up giving up the engagement because of some other dude.

Yep... that was the reason.

I eventually ended up in a weird corner of the courtyard, quite far away from the ballroom when I suddenly lost track of the guy.

After looking around a bit more I could only admit that he was gone but it was probably for the best. Even if I had caught up to him I didn't have any plan of what to do or say to him.

What would I even say?

Hey, Nice to meet you, I'm the dude that caused the end of the engagement you've had for almost 10 years.

I chuckled at the imaginary scenario and had turned around to return to the ballroom when I felt a spell flying towards me.

It wasn't a very harmful spell, only a materialized ball of magic that was directed at my chest, but the training with Cambridge and Theodulus kicked in and I dived to the side, having already cast a return spell before I could fully process what was going on.

I got up quickly and prepared to attack again when I heard a pathetic cry as my return spell connected.

“ Wait! I’m sorry ... don't attack again”

A miserable figure arose from the bushes and began to carefully approach me with their arms up. It was the same guy I had been following.

I kept my wand up and followed his movements with its edge.

“ Who are you and why did you attack me?”

Speaking in a soft, enticing voice that made my skin crawl he responded,

“ My name is Akseli Linus, first son of the Linus family.”

He shifted around in place, trying to appeal to my sympathies or whatever.

Honestly, I wasn't sure what he was doing.

“ I-I, the more I watched you and the Mei together with the angrier I got… and when I noticed you were following me I couldn't help it and attacked. I'm sorry, your highness.”

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Tears beaded in his eyes but once again they only served to make me uncomfortable and even somewhat mad.

I was the one that had been attacked out of nowhere so why was he crying?

“ You can stop at any time. I’m not going to report you for attacking a member of the royal family.”

He flinched as I dug in on that part but I was beyond caring about his 'feelings'. I lowered my wand and began to pat myself down as I walked away, somehow forgetting that I could have just used magic to clean myself up.

“ Wait! your highness!”

I tried to speed up and pretend like I hadn't heard him but he only sped up as well, his wings fluttering frantically behind my own and he eventually caught up with me.

“ Do you even like her!”

I played around with the thought of playing dumb and pretending like I didn't know what he was talking about but quite honestly I didn't see why I had too.

“I think she is the best candidate as the next queen. My feelings aren't necessarily a consideration in the matter.”

He frowned and tightened his grip on my arm, refusing to let me go. I debated blasting him away or even ripping his arm off my own but I was scared that I'd end up breaking him in some way.

He just looked so ...fragile. And that was not a compliment.

“ If you don't share feelings then why would she completely cut off ties with me? After ten years? does it makes sense that she would leave for a guy that has no affections towards her? it's not like getting the seat is all that important to her anyways. The Ruan dukedom is more than powerful enough to survive even against the royal family as long as they don't directly attack.”

Well, not to say that it wasn't true but it was a very naive way of thinking about it.

If the Ruan family chose to give up on the engagement then they would lose any chance of the royal family supporting them in any future endeavors. They were not nearly as large as the other families, have been on good terms with my mother for so long, they never really had to create more forces to fight with.

The closeness to my mother would also have created a certain amount of resentment from the other families. so they would be a lot more vulnerable to attack from all sides.

There was also the worry that the ‘prince’ who had been playing around in the human world for so long would take offense and target an attack on them.

To risk all that and align with a family that wasn't a part of the big four would only have been reckless and would have earned them public ridicule on top of everything else.

There was also the fact that she stood to become queen by marrying me. regardless of how much more work it was, that title was definitely worth the hassle.

Was what I could have said and explained to my lower intellect companion but because I was feeling more irritable than usual Or because I drank just a bit too much earlier but I instead said.

“ Maybe she just wasn't that into you in the first place? I mean, in comparison to myself, a prince, I doubt she would choose a guy that cant accept when he is so clearly outclassed and can't let things go.”

Ah. that sounded a bit pettier than I’d intended but I didn't take anything back. I just wanted to return to the ballroom.

In any case, Mei hadn't been meeting with the guy so she might have already returned and might already have been looking for me.

I shook his weakened grip off me as he processed my words and started flying towards the castle when the magic in the air went into a frenzy. Someone was preparing for a large spell.

I closed my eyes in concentration and pinpointed where the spell would land and then turned right around and flew at full speed back at the annoying guy that was still frozen in the same spot as before.

“ Watch out!”