"Don't tie the ropes too tight! Bruises'll ruin her value, remember?" A strange man's voice echoed in Olivia's mind and stirred her from her forced slumber. Olivia remembered drinking tea in the palace that was supposed to help her sleep only to instantly pass out.
"But she's an Aurister! Do you want her breaking free and getting no money?" Arguing voices penetrated the darkness as Olivia started to open her eyes. "We should-… Oh? I think she's waking up." The world was blurry and took a few seconds to come into focus as the drug still persisted in Olivia's body.
"Where…am I?" Candles lit an otherwise dark room and the figures of four men who stood before Olivia. The room was mostly barren with only a small table and a few chairs that the candles rested on, and a window on the far wall let what little outside light there was from Gorinville's street lamps. Rain pounded against the glass of the window and thunder rumbled in the distance as the sky grew impatient for the night's events to unfold. "How did I-!?!" Olivia tried to stand but found she couldn't move as her ankles and wrists were bound with ropes.
"Finally awake, Princess?" a gruff voice asked that drew Olivia's attention to the people standing before her. Their clothes held little adornments and were rather rugged and sturdy looking similar to the leathers a hunter would wear. The man closest to her ran a hand over his bald head before continuing to speak, "Apologies about our lack of hospitality to a member of the imperial family. We're a bit tight on money right now so I hope you'll understand." The other three men jeered at Olivia while the closest, probably their boss, slyly smiled at her.
"…What do you want?" Olivia was oddly calm about her situation which made the leader of the group upset.
"What's with that attitude?" he asked and drew his dagger to gently press against Olivia's throat. The others silently flinched at the thought of any damage coming to Olivia and their pay decreasing, but no one voiced their discontent. "In case you hadn't noticed, you're at our mercy, Princess. Your precious royal guards won't be coming for you since we'll all be long gone before they even notice you're missing." The man did his best to sound threatening and put Olivia in a state of fear. He needed to get her off balance if he wanted control over the situation since she wasn't supposed to wake up until morning. Did the maid not use enough of the drug, or was the drug itself not as strong as their client said it was?
"…I was kidnapped?" but Olivia, again, sounded oddly calm as she seemingly ignored the man and was lost in her own thoughts.
"Yes!" This annoyed the leader greatly and he reached out to grab Olivia by the hair. "So you'd better-"
"It finally happened!" Olivia suddenly shouted, excitedly, and a large smile overtook her face causing the leader to flinch backward in shock. "The event's here!"
"…Huh?" The kidnappers all raised eyebrows at Olivia and a few of them thought they used too much of the sleeping drug to the point it caused a problem with her head.
"I was wondering when it would trigger!" Olivia's entire demeanor shifted from unease to completely calm and expectant. "This is a staple in isekai otome stories and it's finally my turn!"
"…?" The men looked at one another as Olivia started speaking weird words they didn't understand.
"At first, I was worried it might trigger too early when I wouldn't be ready for it. But this is perfect, so thanks!" Olivia smiled up at the leader.
"…Do you realize where you are, Princess?" The leader's voice was low and filled with a growing anger at Olivia's seeming joy to her situation. "You'll be lucky to ever see the imperial palace again, not to mention any friends and family you have!" He kicked a nearby chair over to try and startle Olivia. "Don't think that just because we haven't hurt you that we won't. I'm willing to take on the cost of damaged goods!" Thinking of a different tactic to make Olivia uneasy, the man gently pressed the blade of his dagger against the collar of her dress so it would leave a small tear and threatened, "I'd hate for a pretty girl like you to get soiled so soon."
"…" Olivia's smile faded and her face took on a resigned look. She gave a sigh and mumbled, "Can't even enjoy myself."
"You're not supposed to!" the leader shouted. He turned his head toward his lackeys and ordered, "Hey! Get a gag, I can't stand her spouting nonsense any-" The leader's voice cut off as he turned back to Olivia only to see white flower petals flutter past his eyes.
"…" With a stoic expression, Olivia activated her aura and used her enhanced strength to rip herself free of the ropes. In one swift motion, Olivia stood up, grabbed the back of the chair she was just sitting on, swung it in a large arc over her head, and smashed it over the leader's head. "Don't get me wrong," Olivia spoke in a calm and collected voice that sent a chill down the three remaining men's spines while their leader writhed on the floor with blood gushing out of his head. "My excitement earlier wasn't meant to be taken as me being okay with what was happening. I was just lost in my own childish thoughts." Olivia lifted the broken remains of the chair she still held and slammed it down on the leader to cave his head in. Blood, brain matter, and bits of bone splattered across the floor while the three remaining men looked on in horror while Olivia wiped some blood off her cheek. Her once pure white dress was stained red, and her eyes shimmered a cold blue in the candlelight. "I know that this world is real and cruel; it's something I had to learn years ago." Killing and the sight of blood used to make Olivia recoil in disgust, but that was a weakness she couldn't afford in this life. The fear and disgust she held almost cost Lucina her life when fighting the hellhound demon years ago, and when Olivia went on her small crusade around the kingdom during the war she had to get over her own feelings when taking a human life. "…Even now, I still don't like how cold it is." Olivia tossed the broken bits of wood she held aside and picked up the leader's dropped dagger. "But, those feelings aren't something I should give people like you."
"!?!" The three men all took a step back and drew their weapons as they met Olivia's gaze. Her normally beautiful and calm eyes now held the glint of a predator as she took a ready stance with her dagger.
"It was a foolish hope to think I got you all back then." Olivia wasn't really talking to the three men, she just wanted to air her thoughts to help her mind focus on what she needed to do. "Don't expect any mercy. Not only did you kidnap the next empress of Arlexia…you kidnapped a child," Olivia's voice bled with hatred as her hand tightened around the dagger. If these men had just been kidnappers, Olivia would have considered apprehending them to serve their sentences in the dungeons. But the fact that they kidnapped her, a thirteen-year-old child, banished any thoughts of leniency as she had no patience for child traffickers. Plus, the leader's last threat disgusted Olivia beyond measure. "Are there more of you? I'll let you call for backup."
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"G-Get up here!" one of the men yelled and stamped his foot on the floor. Olivia heard chairs scratch against the floor as the people on the lower floor started scrambling. "Even if you are an Aurister, there's more of us tha-" A flurry of flower petals whooshed past the man as Olivia leaped forward and slit his throat.
"Y-You bitch!" the third yelled and went to stab Olivia with his shortsword. Metal clashed against metal as Olivia parried the attack, slid her dagger up the length of the sword, and slit the man's wrist. "AGH!" the man screamed and dropped his sword as he clutched his bleeding wrist. "Yo-" Olivia grabbed the falling sword with her free hand and spun around into a horizontal slash that cleaved the man's head from his shoulders.
"What's going on!?!" The door to the room burst open as the other kidnappers arrived to see their comrades getting cut down by a single young girl. White flower petals danced in the air while Olivia adjusted her stance and swapped the sword to her right hand and the dagger to her left.
"Don't just stand there!" the last of the original men shouted. "Get he-GAH!" Olivia dealt a swift, aura-enhanced kick to the man's stomach that sent him flying across the room. His body, along with some white flower petals, smashed through the window and the man plummeted three stories to land on his neck; killing him.
"…" Staring down at the corpse that just fell in front of him was Augustus who was wearing some basic plate armor with a cloak over it and was holding his sword at the ready to rush in and save Olivia. Now, however, he was at a complete loss on what to do. The sounds of battle continued from the smashed window and it was clear that Olivia was winning. Rain pelted Augustus as if to feed his growing anger at how badly the men he hired messed up.
"And, just like that, I was right." Emerging from an alleyway came Lucina dressed in an all-black dress and holding a black umbrella. She cast an amused glance at the corpse in the street before turning her gaze to Augustus and stopping just a few feet away from him.
"…Are you here to stop me?" Augustus' hand tightened around his sword. Because of how she was holding the umbrella, Augustus couldn't see Lucina's eyes as her face was covered in shadow from the street lamp behind her, silhouetting her form.
"I'm here to laugh at you," Lucina mocked and gave her umbrella a twirl so that the water on it would get thrown onto Augustus' already-soaked boots. She giggled while saying, "When I said you would mess it up I honestly didn't expect this to be what went wrong. You've known and trained with Olivia for over a year now, so why did you underestimate her abilities as an Aurister?" As if on cue, one of the second-floor windows of the kidnapper's building shattered as a second kidnapper was thrown out, but this one was cut in half.
"She never showed it off!" Augustus defended while doing his best to avoid the new corpse. "Plus, no one believed the Crown Princess actually went out and cleared the kingdom during the war; it was her knights who did all the work and she took the credit as their leader."
"No one? Or just no one associated with James' faction?" Lucina pointed out. "There were plenty of witnesses to Olivia's deeds, so it's your fault for not believing them." She pondered her thoughts for a moment before asking, "But even if that was true, didn't you ever pay attention when Olivia used her aura before? You can get a rough guess at an Aurister's power based on their aura's appearance." A white flower petal fluttered down in front of Lucina who caught it with her free hand. Warmth resonated from the petal as Lucina brought it up to her lips and gave it a soft kiss before releasing it. "Olivia's aura is unforgettable."
"…" Augustus was hesitant to answer and the look on his face was one of embarrassment.
"Did she…never use her aura while training with you?" A massive smug smile took over Lucina's face as she laughed, "You were never able to push her to even use her aura?"
"She said she wanted to train without relying on it!" Augustus justified to defend his ego, despite knowing the truth.
"I'll admit she's strong, but to never even show it?" Lucina gave a content sigh and added, "No wonder she's never glanced your way: you're weaker than I thought."
"Is strength all that matters!?" Augustus demanded. "I'm attending the royal academy! I had a noble title to my name! I always did my best to be kind and courteous to her! But all she cares about is physical strength!?"
"…You still don't get it," Lucina gave an annoyed groan and brushed some of her hair off her ear.
"What don't I get!?"
"That you keep trying to capture her heart when she will never give it away, even to her husband." Lucina's words confused Augustus who tilted his head to the side, so Lucina elaborated, "Olivia doesn't want concubines, so all your efforts to win her heart are meaningless. You could be the perfect groom and she still wouldn't accept you because she would be married to James. Even if they don't love each other, Olivia doesn't want to 'betray' her marriage. At best you could capture her interest by appealing to her muscle fetish but you don't even have that good of muscles, so there was never much of a chance for you to begin with." Lucina tilted her umbrella so she could stare directly into Augustus' eyes. "From the moment Olivia decided not to use her aura against you was the moment you lost your chance to have her even look your way."
"…That's absurd." Augustus refused to accept the truth and reasoned, "What kind of person has those kinds of standards? It's her duty as the future empress to produce heirs, so taking in concubines is the best way to guarantee that!"
"Her duty?" Lucina scoffed and gave a bitter laugh, "That kind of thinking is exactly why you're in this situation, Augustus. You're not thinking about your future life with her, you're thinking about your future lust with her." Ever since learning about hormones, Lucina looked into books about the subject, and of sex in general. It was enlightening and having Elise, a priestess of Alm who was the goddess of family, explain things in more detail was quite helpful in her studies.
"Because that's a concubine's duty!"
"Again with the 'duty' talk," Lucina groaned and rolled her eyes in frustration. "Is Olivia a slab of meat at the butcher you're trying to buy?"
"Stop twisting my words!" Augustus demanded.
"No," Lucina flatly replied.
"…We'll see how long you can stay smug," Augustus sheathed his sword and pulled the hood of his cloak further over his head. "Once I'm recognized as Olivia's concubine, I'll make sure that you never set foot in the palace, again!"
"You're going to try again?" Lucina asked while tapping her fingers against her umbrella's handle in thought.
"I still have sources, and connections to use!" Lucina had confiscated much of the Rolf's wealth but there were still blind spots that only someone like Augustus would know where to look and connections that he would know to use from his father's time. "I'll train even harder so that she looks at me and uses her aura! Now that I know not to underestimate her, I'll also get one of those slave collars that negate aura. And when I'm the one who saves her at her lowest point, she'll willingly run into my arms and-" The sound of crumpling metal and liquidating flesh was barely contained by the pouring rain as Augustus' plate armor compacted in on itself. His head flew into the air before landing a few feet away from the pile of flesh that used to be his body. The pelting rain did its best to wash away the blood that now stained the street.
"…" Lucina was as still as a statue except for her left hand which was shaking in a tight fist after using her gravity magic on Augustus' armor. Her eyes were fixated on the flesh pile to the point she didn't notice the three large shadows that emerged from the alley and approached her. The largest shadow, a man in a black cloak, approached Lucina and pulled out a handkerchief to wipe off some blood that splattered onto her shoes.
"What should we do now?" Carl asked when he finished cleaning off the blood.
"…Load the body into a carriage." It took a while for Lucina to refocus on the world around her and escape her racing thoughts. "Send it into the forests east to look like he was running to Relsh. When you're far enough away, corral some wolves into attacking the carriage and let them eat just enough of the flesh so it's recognizable while hiding the true cause of death." Only Augustus' limbs and head were recognizable.
"Got it," Carl replied and motioned to the two shadows to get to work. They did their best, but it was rather difficult to get all the flesh into a sack without spilling out. "The rain will wash any remaining blood away, and anything left will be attributed to those guys." Carl glanced at the dead kidnappers Olivia had thrown out of the building. "We should get going, your carriage is waiting and the rain doesn't look like it'll let up."
"…" Lucina silently watched Carl's two underlings continue to scoop Augustus' remains into the sack for a while longer before turning to leave. "And the maid who poisoned Olivia?"
"She tried to run after handing the Crown Princess off to the kidnappers," Carl explained as he kept pace with Lucina. "We have her tied up in the-"
"Put her in the carriage with Augustus." Lucina's intentions were clear with her order.
"…Got it." Carl knew better than to start questioning Lucina when her mood was this bad. She wouldn't attack or hurt him, but being on the receiving end of her death glares wasn't something Carl wanted. He silently followed Lucina into a nearby alley to stealthily make their way back to the carriage, and the two underlings finally finished packing the sack and dashed off toward their objective.
"…" Having overheard most of the conversation thanks to her sharp senses, Olivia held a trembling hand over her heart as she processed what Lucina and Augustus talked about. The corpses of the kidnappers that littered the floor offered no answers or solace to her racing mind which started to fill with dark thoughts. Rain continued to pour over Gorinville, washing away the blood of a failed kidnapping, and began the erosion of trust that would one day come to landslide itself across the empire.