The sun shined brightly in the afternoon sky while a peaceful breeze danced through the garden of the imperial palace. Two days had passed since the failed kidnapping which threw the palace into an uproar. Marcus was furious that something like that had happened and personally punished the guards who were supposed to be protecting Olivia that night. It was only after two days of placating that Olivia was finally allowed to receive guests, though she had her number of guards at all times increased. The guards formed a perimeter around the pavilion where Olivia was enjoying some tea with her guest.
"I'm glad you're not hurt," Lucina innocently said while sitting across the table from Olivia. "How could the royal guards be so sloppy to allow this to happen?" she jabbed at the knights who were standing guard and a few of them flinched at her insult.
"…" The distance Olivia felt between her and Lucina went far beyond the table that divided them. There wasn't a single hint of shame on her face or in her voice as Lucina acted like she knew nothing about what really happened that night. Olivia believed that there were no secrets between them, so seeing Lucina act this way made her uneasy. Derik's words to her on her birthday about how dangerous Lucina had become echoed in her mind which further soured Olivia's mood. She needed to know how far Lucina would go with her farce so she mentioned, "The guards already received their punishment from the Emperor. Besides, the fault of that night lies with the one who orchestrated it."
"True," Lucina agreed and took a sip of tea. "It's terrible that Augustus would do something like that and then run like a coward." Upon further investigation from the Emperor's information network, Augustus was revealed to have been the mastermind who hired the men and paid off the maid who did the kidnapping. The official story was that he did it because he was fed up with Olivia constantly turning him down, and he tried to escape with the maid when his plan failed, only to be beset and eaten by wolves. "I never liked him. If he had been in Solfin when I took over, none of this would have happened."
"…" If Olivia didn't know what she did, she would have believed Lucina's act. Thinking back, the Countess Sanguine from the otome game also had a chance to give players false information that would get them in trouble. Was she always this good at lying, or was this how it started? Olivia swallowed a lump in her throat and gestured for the maids and guards to leave them. "I'd like some privacy."
The leader of the guards spoke up, "But our orders from the Emperor state-"
"Nothing will happen in broad daylight. I'm not asking you to go too far, I just want to speak with the Countess about some private affairs."
"…?" Lucina flinched at Olivia calling her by her title, which she never did outside of official occurrences, and she started fidgeting uncomfortably.
"Very well, Your Highness," the guard relented since Olivia's words made sense and the knights all moved further away along with the maids. Mary gave a worried glance at Olivia and the troubled face she wore, but silently obeyed the order and stepped back. With the pavilion empty, an oppressive silence fell upon the two girls while Olivia mustered up her courage. A part of her wanted to use the Examine Ally skill to know what Lucina was thinking, but she also wanted to give Lucina a chance to be honest with her before she resorted to her system skills.
"Olivia?" Lucina was still fidgeting in her seat as she worriedly stared at Olivia. Was the worry her face wore genuine?
After taking a deep breath, Olivia matched Lucina's gaze and asked, "Did you kill Augustus?"
"…" Lucina hesitated in answering and that hesitation sent an ache through Olivia's heart as she watched her closest friend briefly deliberate on continuing the lie. Ultimately, however, Lucina told the truth, "Yes." She stopped fidgeting and sat still in her chair. The calm mask was adorned.
"Did you…goad Augustus into kidnapping me?" Olivia's hands clenched tightly on her dress as she dreaded the answer to her question.
"While I didn't know he would go with that kind of plan, yes I did." Lucina's voice was eerily calm as she spoke unthinkable things to Olivia.
"You're not going to lie anymore?" Olivia's voice slightly shook with both anger and sadness as she pressed on.
"Lying to you about something you already know is bad," Lucina justified.
"And lying in the first place isn't!?" Olivia's body trembled with a slurry of emotions as she continued, "Were you just going to keep pretending you had nothing to do with it? Is it fun for you to manipulate people like that?"
"That wasn't my intention."
"Then what was!?" Olivia slammed her fist on the table, causing the teacups to spill over.
Lucina hesitated and a crack in her calm mask showed itself as discomfort crept through, "Augustus would have done something like that eventually, anyway. I just pushed him to do it sooner so I could get rid of him for you."
"For me? So it's my fault all this happened?"
"No!" Lucina's mind raced to find the right words to explain herself while also hiding her feelings for Olivia. "Augustus was dangerous because of me after I dealt with his parents in Solfin, so I was cleaning up my mess because it affected you!"
"That doesn't justify what happened!" Olivia argued. "The ends don't justify the means!"
"But it solved the problem!" Lucina's face was distorting from discomfort and anxiety. She had never fought with Olivia and it pained her to do so. She felt like she was going to throw up.
"Just because it's solved doesn't mean it's right!" Tears started to well up in Olivia's eyes as she pleaded with her friend, "Murder!? Kidnapping!? Why do you think stuff like that is okay so long as it 'ends well'!? Why are you okay with resorting to-"
"Because that's what it took to survive!" Lucina screamed and shot up from her seat. Her emotions were a mess and the pavilion's wooden beams groaned as Lucina's gravity magic reacted to her unstable state and started putting pressure on the roof. The guards and maids all turned when they heard the scream and the knights looked ready to jump Lucina.
"…!" A swiftly raised hand from Olivia stopped them as she signaled it was alright. The knights reluctantly sheathed their weapons but always made sure to glance over their shoulders to check, just in case.
"I just wanted to help!" Lucina clenched her hands into fists to try and stop her magic from going any further. She didn't want to yell at Olivia. "Everyone knew he was scum!" She didn't want to continue fighting. "I know you don't think it's right, but it works!" This wasn't what she planned. "I know… I…" Her mind was a mess and her calm mask was completely shattered to reveal how scared and tired she was. "I'm not… I can't be who I used to be."
"…" The weight of Lucina's words crushed Olivia as she immediately recognized what they meant. Olivia considered being stunned into silence when Lucina was sent to war as her greatest failure, and she was once more reminded of the consequences of her cowardice that day. She plopped back down in her chair with Lucina following suit and the two girls sat in silence as they both pondered on what to say while an oppressively awkward atmosphere suffocated them. "…I'm sorry."
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
"You don't need to-"
"I do!" Olivia was disgusted with herself and ran a hand through her hair to rub her aching head. "I'm the reason you're like…this." It felt weird to talk about Lucina's unstable mental state so openly, but putting it off any further would only lead to more arguments like this so it had to be said. "I was so scared of the prophecies that I couldn't…that I didn't help my friend when she needed me the most."
"…Nothing would have changed even if you did speak up," Lucina reasoned and started to also calm down. "James already leaked my magic abilities to the wizards and the Emperor's actions were obviously preplanned to force me into going."
"That doesn't excuse my inaction."
"But it does make it easier to understand," Lucina reasoned and gave a pained smile.
"…Why are you making excuses for me?" Olivia wanted Lucina to blame her for what she did, but Lucina seemed to refuse to do so.
"Because that's what friends do."
"…" The smile Lucina was giving her stabbed Olivia in the chest and she felt even more disgusted with herself. Olivia hesitated to speak her thoughts, but pushed forward to try and understand, "Was it…really like that out there?" Lucina never mentioned much in her letters during the war, and when Jeremy took over, Lucina had already taken over the Hellhounds. Olivia wanted to understand her friend.
"When Timothy was around it was," Lucina admitted. She fiddled with the spilled teacup to distract herself as she continued, "No one cared what happened to the Hellhounds so every mission felt like the world wanted us dead. In some cases, it was true since Timothy deliberately sent us on obvious suicide missions and was pissed when we came back alive." Lucina gave a bitter laugh as she recalled those times and mused, "Killing him was…nice."
"…" A chill ran down Olivia's spine hearing Lucina talk about killing as being 'nice', but held her tongue on the matter.
"Time went on and James took Timothy's place as the one trying to kill us. There were a few 'accidents' that I had to deal with before getting things under control. And eventually…here we are." Lucina awkwardly knocked over the empty teacup and dryly chuckled, "Along the way, I guess I stopped putting much value on other people's lives because of how easy it was to take them."
"Did you always do it like…that?" Olivia hesitantly asked.
"Like what?"
"By…crushing people in their armor?" The image and sound of Augustus being crumpled inside his plate armor would haunt Olivia's dreams and remain ever vivid in her mind.
"You saw that?" Lucina gave a tired smile and explained, "While it's effective, doing that takes more out of my magic reserves than other methods so I would mix it in while also using other magic to kill. Though, it's my go-to for dealing with…pests." Lucina looked up from blankly staring at the cup and stared into Olivia's eyes before asking the same question she did just days earlier, "Are you afraid of me?"
"…" Olivia couldn't answer as immediately as she did last time. "I'll admit, your recent actions do frighten me." Olivia watched Lucina's face droop with resignation. "But no, I'm not afraid of you."
"…You're not?" Lucina was hopeful but also hesitant to believe those words.
"While I think your actions are extreme, I can see why you did them and know you don't mean to hurt me." Olivia realized she was being hypocritical since she just said that the ends don't justify the means, but she also admitted that this world was one where that kind of thinking was commonplace and that she was the odd one out.
"..Mmm." Lucina felt her heart and mind relax as the fear of Olivia turning away from her had passed. She could still stay by her side.
"But," Olivia went on and tried to lighten the mood by joking, "I would like to ask that you don't entice people to kidnap me anymore."
"Technically, I never told him to kidnap you," Lucina awkwardly joked along. The air was becoming less intense and peace started to return to the palace garden. "Besides, I knew you could handle it."
"That doesn't change the fact that it still happened. It took me so long to convince the Emperor to let me entertain guests in the garden, and I'm still barred from leaving the palace for another week while they tighten security." Olivia chuckled and poked, "Since you caused this mess, I'll leave calming Cassandra down to you, Countess." As soon as the news broke, Cassandra sent multiple letters a day trying to request an audience with Olivia. Even Margaret pulled strings to see Olivia on a technicality of her entry to the palace being for business.
"I'm still not good at dealing with her," Lucina bemoaned.
"I know, this supposed to be your punishment," Olivia laughed before adding in a mock weak voice, "I'm still experiencing shock from my sudden kidnapping, so I won't be able to console her for the time being."
"Like she would believe that," Lucina mumbled her complaint to herself.
"You make me sound like some kind of superhero," Olivia commented. "Even if I'm an Aurister, I'm not invincible. Besides, my aura still has a long way to go." Her stat growth was slowing down and she still wasn't at where she wanted to be before entering the royal academy next year.
"What do you mean?" Lucina asked and cocked an eyebrow. She let some of her inner feelings accidentally slip out as she complimented, "I saw plenty of Auristers during the war and your aura is already more brilliant and beautiful than pretty much all of theirs. It's as radiant as you are."
"!?!" The genuine sincerity of Lucina's compliment and the matter-of-fact look on her face made Olivia slightly blush from embarrassment. While she received compliments from the knights in the palace when training, many of them felt hollow and were only said since she was the Crown Princess. Hearing Lucina's honest praise took Olivia off guard and she cleared her throat before saying, "While I appreciate the compliment, you should be careful with your wording if you ever say that to a boy." Giving such genuine praise was something Lucina had done plenty of times in the past, but perhaps it was only affecting Olivia like this now because of the awkward conversation they had been having which was making her emotions more unstable.
"Why with boys?" Lucina had no idea where Olivia was going with this.
"Because they might misunderstand your intention as flirting with them." Lucina was getting to the age where she would start looking at boys in a new light so Olivia wanted to make sure to give some advice to her friend before any misunderstandings happened. Olivia averted her gaze away from Lucina because she felt embarrassed to be giving such advice as she added, "Especially if you praise them so genuinely like that. Even my heart fluttered for a moment."
"…I made your heart flutter?" Lucina spoke in a whisper as if she were hit by a sudden realization.
"Anyone's would at those cheesy lines you used," Olivia reasoned. She heard Lucina get up from her chair so she turned back to face her while saying, "So you shoul-" Olivia's words halted in her throat as she turned to find Lucina standing directly next to her. Because Olivia was still sitting down, Lucina loomed over her by more than a full head height. They were enjoying tea near the edge of the pavilion which allowed the sun to silhouette Lucina in its light that wasn't blocked by the roof. A shadow that snuffed out the light.
"But…" Lucina's long hair was like a curtain of thorns that further hid her face in shadow and seemed to reach out and envelop Olivia. Her broken eyes held a longing that Olivia had once dismissed as innocent admiration. Lucina reached down with her free hand, took a lock of Olivia's hair, and gently kissed it which was the most common display of courtship toward a woman. "What if the misunderstanding is only on your end?"
"!?!" Olivia's face turned a bright red as she was stunned into silence. She had always viewed Lucina and her actions as an innocent child who clung to Olivia for affection and attention because she had helped Lucina who was at her lowest point. Olivia believed they would always be best friends and never considered that those feelings Lucina felt might one day grow into something more. After all, Finding Arlexia's Light wasn't a Boy's Love or Girl's Love game and only had routes for the heroine to be with male leads. Even experiencing it herself growing up, Olivia had never seen or heard of any same-sex couples in the kingdom and her sexual education course from the palace only mentioned heterosexual relationships. Normally, in that kind of world, someone with these kinds of leanings would try to hide their feelings, but Lucina was being extremely direct to the point Olivia couldn't brush it aside. "I-I…" Was this some grand secret Lucina had been hiding and revealed now because of the weird mood? Was she joking around? It didn't look like it, but Lucina had become adept at hiding her intentions so Olivia couldn't fully trust what she saw. Despite playing Boy's Love and Girl's Love games, Olivia never seriously considered if she liked girls in that way because, at the time, she was with Tanaka. But Olivia couldn't ignore how fast her heart was beating seeing Lucina kiss her hair. Was it the weird mood or a genuine reaction? Even though she didn't like it, Olivia was too flustered to think straight and activated the Examine Ally skill to help her figure out what to do. The semitransparent pink results box appeared in front of Olivia's vision. "…!?!" And Olivia's entire body froze from fright.
"Olivia?" Lucina couldn't see Olivia's face since her head was now hanging low. Did she reveal her feelings too soon and it grossed Olivia out? "Oli-…Hm?" An angrily approaching figure caught Lucina's eye and caused her to stop leaning over Olivia. "…I'll see you later, Olivia." While she didn't want to leave with Olivia acting so weirdly, Lucina decided to go willingly before a scene was made. As she left the pavilion and approached the angry figure, Lucina gave a fake smile and greeted, "It's been a while, Derik."
"The royal palace isn't accepting uninvited guests, Countess," Derik stood a mere foot away from Lucina so he could tower over her. Despite being in the palace, Derik wore a breastplate, metal gauntlets, and armored boots as a minimum form of protection over his pristine white and gold uniform.
Lucina wasn't the least bit intimidated and mocked, "Oh? But His Majesty personally allowed Olivia to meet with me. Surely you, her brother and future royal guard, would know about that?"
"The Emperor allowed for certain guests to reenter the palace," Derik clarified as he twisted the Emperor's meaning. "I will not allow a dangerous individual like you to wander around unsupervised in this delicate time."
"Dangerous? Me?" Lucina put a hand on her chest and said, "I'd be the first to Olivia's defense." She wasn't pleased with having her time with Olivia ruined by Derik's presence. "At least Olivia willingly lets me stay by her side."
"Watch your mouth, Countess." Derik's hands tightened into fists.
"But isn't it true that you practically forced your way into becoming one of Olivia's guards, despite her saying it wasn't necessary?"
"If you won't leave quietly, then I'll be forced to-!?!" Derik reached for his sword but quickly found himself unable to move.
"Forced to…what, exactly?" Lucina had a sly smile on her face as she used her gravity magic to set all the points of gravity of the pieces of plate armor Derik wore to themselves and intensified their gravity to the point Derik couldn't move. He was trapped within his own armor. "You know, asking nicely also works."
"…" Derik silently seethed as he tried to calm his nerves. It was frightening to have his one line of defense used against him like this.
"I was done, anyway," Lucina nonchalantly yawned as she walked past Derik. "I'll leave her to you, Guard." When she left, Lucina snapped her fingers and released Derik from her gravity magic.
"!?!" Derik lurched forward as he was suddenly back in control of his movement. His teeth grinded against each other and he stormed his way over to Olivia who hadn't moved a single inch. "Sister, what have I told you…about…?" As he went to voice his opinion, Derik saw that Olivia was turning pale and he rushed to her side. "Hey, what's wrong? Did the Countess do something to you!?"
"…" There was no response.
"Olivia!?" Derik shook his sister but was unable to stir her from her stupor. Olivia's eyes stared at the pink box that displayed the results of her skill and she had never felt so afraid in her life.
(Examine Ally: Lucina Sanguine)
(Failure: Invalid Target)
(Lucina Sanguine is not your Ally.)