To say Princess Claire was appalled was an understatement. Things went from a pleasing snack in the gardens to indecent exposure, treason, and grief. Lots of grief. After Dawn's ultimatum, Lucien just stayed there, sitting on the couch and scowling in silence. An irritated Dawn had just vacated the premises, through the window to boot. She just threw the glass panes open and became invisible. Her stupid brother, for she could only think of her father firstborn as stupid right now, was there petrified as if a basilisk's breathed on him. Sensing the real danger of what was happening, she forced herself to act for the greater good of the Realm.
"You have no idea what you just did, Lucien. You might've doomed us all. Shut that mouth and run to the Academy to grovel in front of that girl if you need to. But get her forgiveness now, before it is too late. Dear Ceres, let it not be too late."
Lucien did the opposite. Blinded by his outrage, he cried bloody murder, "I'll have that traitor executed! I can't believe that abomination is out there, wearing my sister's flesh!"
Before Claire could scold her brother, a yellow round object flew in the room and clattered on the floor. She moved to see what it was and found a Regalia Ring. She glanced at Lucien's outraged face and thought of her options. She could call the King but that would inflate the problem out of proportions and ruin any chance of avoiding the damages. Worse yet, if she didn't amend the situation, Lumina's life would be at risk. She knew Aidan was living on a damaged soul to avoid merging further and literally devouring her sister's soul. she also knew that they were the same person.
"Lucien, you are an idiot. I weep for the Kingdom if you are to become King. Wallow and drown in your own self-righteousness for all I care. I have to save the Realm."
Claire ran to the Knights training grounds. She ran past confused servants, smirking nobles and startled guards. Great, the gossip mill of the court would have a full plate. She barged into the scout barracks.
"I need one fast rider to take me to the Academy NOW!" She shouted and almost dropped down from exhaustion.
One of the nearby scouts rushed to support her arm and Claire stood there for a few minutes panting. Others went out to get a horse with a tandem saddle.
"Your Highness, please drink this," Another knight gave her a cup with some herbal tea. She drank without even thinking it might be poisoned. Fortunately, it wasn't.
She regained some stamina and remembered the ring clutched in her hand. She slipped it in her pocket and soon she was taken to the horse. She used a portable staircase to get on the saddle and was surprised to see one of the Knights of the Rose riding the horse.
"To the Academy, lives are at stake!" The Princess ordered.
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Dawn landed in front of the laboratory building and dismissed the spells she was using as she entered through the door of the reinforced windowless stone building. She stomped her way to the room where Aidan and Astromelicus were. Using some of her mana to open the lock, she entered inside and threw herself sitting on the couch.
"Can you explain to me what is going on? Ever since we arrived here cadet Aidan is designing some spell and now you arrive as you've returned from war... and without the Regalia."
Dawn wished nothing more than sit quietly and donate her brain capacity to help Aidan design the spell he was working on. She pondered and decided to tell the Archmage everything. As she put what happened in words, she felt more and more foolish. It was too much. Dawn felt torn apart, wounded in her own identity complex. Aidan stopped drawing his diagrams or he'd mess everything up. She was sobbing by the time she finished her tale.
"Please, Headmaster." She pleaded with upturned eyes. "I want to do it tonight. I have to get rid of her or I'll go crazy."
"Don't be hasty. I'll put that snot-nosed Prince in his place."
"No! I want to go away. I want to get out of here! Let's ressurect Lumina. We have at least a week before Brody arrives, let Yutis' Royal Family deal with their own troubles. I've had enough."
Dawn wanted to throw up. Blow the world up and ran away to hide in some cave. She felt disgusted at the thought of having Lumina clinging to their soul. She even felt sick at having the same body as she. There were more important things to do than to babysit a dead Princess' soul. Take Pearl home. Get Cythrel's arms back somehow. Find Aidan's parents.
"What are you going to do after you leave?" Astromelicus asked exactly what she was thinking. Dawn told him exactly what she was thinking. "Fine. As long as you can finish the spell to separate Lumina without hurting you, we are doing it tonight, student Dawn. Now lie down there and rest. Calm down and don't drink coffee. Get your wits together and finish that spell."
Dawn removed her shoes and crashed on the couch still sighing and hiccuping from the emotional rollercoaster she just rode. Aidan returned to his design with redoubled fervor and the Headmaster left them.
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If Astromelicus could teleport he would be in the castle spanking the Prince's butt. He knew he shouldn't have left Dawn behind, but he thought the situation to be under control. Dawn was right, they were stalling for too long. If Heath wanted trouble, they would have it in spades. Perhaps it was time to show the world why Archmages don't go to war. Those old assholes at the Conclave could rot in their laboratories for all he cared.
He wanted to see their faces when he finally showed them with the Cosmos Element and his discoveries. Save for seven Elements and those four forbidden by the gods, he'd have the entire tree of wisdom mapped out. But that was not the time to do that. If he presented the Elements now, they would know that Aidan was the author of the Law spell. The wirlwind poised to ravage the mage society was just picking up its first specs of dust now. The bishop of Hestia had already contacted him probing for info regarding the spell. He was dismissed with an offer. Get a divine oracle regarding this alleged 'God of Slavery' and Astromelicus would look for information regarding the spell's author.
He reached his office and brewed some fresh coffee for himself. There was a file on his desk, Baron Yoshida's file. Dawn asked for the file without saying why. Yoshida was a quad-Element caster but his mana affinity was very low. D minus. The man was very proficient with Wizardry and if his mana affinity was at least a B he'd be on the fast track to become an archmage. Maybe it was valuable enough to convince Dawn to postpone her plans.
The assholes from Heath were the source of all the problems. Helios jumped the crossbow when he made that treaty. Heath would suffer a lot from other countries if a trade embargo was declared out of the blue. The burrowing weasels knew that and were forcing their will on Yutis.
The old man's caffeinated musings were interrupted by a buzzing glyph. Someone was calling for him at the reception, someone important. He took off and went there see who was it. It better be the Prince to save him the trouble of going to the castle twice on the same day.
He met Princess Claire instead. Running in a straigh-on collision course.
"Headmaster! Oh, thank you for coming to meet me!"
The girl was in distress. A female knight was escorting the Princess and by the face the woman was making, things were dire.
"Princess," Astromelicus' breath was cut off by the girl crashing into his robes. "They are up in the lab, come with me to my office."
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Astromelicus escorted Claire into his office and led the distressed Princess to a couch.
"Dawn told me everything. They are preparing to separate Lumina and ressurect the Princess."
A brief wave of relief washed the young woman's face but it was gone.
"They want to leave the country. Even if they restore Lumina before leaving, Brody is coming!"
She was not even listening to herself.
"Yes, they are leaving as soon as possible but Brody is the Realm's problem. Once Lumina is back, she can entertain her fiancé herself."
Claire shook her head, "Letting Brody near Lumina is the same as killing her. She has vials of poison and she will drink them before she lets him touch her."
Yes. Still not listening. And with poor reasoning.
"Princess Claire. Everything you said so far is true and also none of my pupils' business. You know what the problem is and you know what you need to do to fix it. More importantly, what you need to make someone else do to fix it. I suggest you make the most of your time. Moping might not be the best activity right now."
"Archmage, what can I do? Confront the Crown Prince? I'm just..." She trailed off on her own, but Astromelicus was already going to interrupt her.
"You are a Princess. You'll play your part." He stated with total confidence.
Claire seemed to not understand what he meant. "What? Is that a song?"
"I don't know," Astromelicus shrugged. "Don't underestimate yourself. You've been with Lumina all this time, do you think she would let her own brother get in her way? At the age of fourteen, she'd already turned half the continent upside down."
"You want me to drag Lucien here so he can apologize to Dawn."
He didn't answer right away. He looked at some very interesting books in his bookshelf he hadn't read in a century. After the Princess' fidgeting reached a satisfactory level, he spoke.
"Yes, that would be a good start. Claire, you have a special thing not many Royals can claim. But you need to be more assertive to make use of it because other Royals will think it is a weakness."
"Please tell me. What is it?"
"You lived almost two decades of your early life as a commoner. In the castle, of course. But you've felt and lived what the common person feels and lives. Different from those pampered children fed with a golden spoon, you can understand them. You can be a marvelous ruler even if you don't get to wear a crown. Your work with the tax reports was superb."
"I had help," She retorted with a faint voice.
Astromelicus guffawed like some grandpa watching children's antics. "Of course you had help. No sane person can hope to manage the tax of all fiefs of a Realm like Yutis. You coordinated that help! You ruled over the volunteers! That is what a Royal needs most, the skill to recognize expert help, organize the helpers and coordinate the work. A general alone win no war."
"Should I return to the castle and fetch Lucien?"
He raised an eyebrow, "Will you?"
Claire stood up, determination on her face, "If it is what is necessary to protect Lumina from that rapist, I'll do it."
"Even though it means putting Dawn on the line?" He asked more to tease her and force the girl to think about the consequences of her decisions.
"Do you think Brody could touch her if she didn't want to? How powerful is she anyway?"
"I think there are few mortal men alive that can force Dawn to do what she doesn't want to," Astromelicus replied. "And none of them is in Heath. Or Yutis, for the matter. Yes, using Dawn to contain Brody's breeding habits would be very wise. It would do well to put him in a brooding mood."
Claire sighed. What, can't Archmages slip in a pun or two sometimes?
"I'll go fetch Lucien and drag him here then," She was about to stand up but Astromelicus raised a hand.
"No need. I'll use a Message spell and tell Helios to send that blockhead of a Prince to us. Just a moment." He used some spell and his voice could no longer be heard. After a few minutes and some movement of his mouth, he addressed the Princess. "He's coming."
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Eventually, Dawn changed into her Academy uniform. Those Princess dresses were fancy and nice but too awkward to move around. Seriously, if you could extend an arm and touch a wall, you were too close to it. The academy pleated skirt was more practical. She couldn't stay on the couch either. Now that she calmed down she'd sleep on the couch. So she sat across Aidan and was helping him draw with more precision. The overlaid vision helped see the paper and the pen without any blind spots.
They took the sequence that identified the foreign soul from the Twin Soul Advent spell and was in the process of incorporating that function into the glyph sequence of the Soul spell they used to split the prisoners. Aidan wanted to keep the band of mixed soul away from Lumina. He had several reasons to want that. It would help keep himself from polluting the Princess, help him get back on his feet faster as there would be less damage to repair, and the least altruistic of them, to keep the power to himself. There was no reason to give Lumina the affinities. She would probably still get them at a very low G rank.
They were finishing the diagram when the door opened. Dawn looked and saw Astromelicus enter the laboratory.
"Headmaster, welcome back."
"Are you feeling well, student Dawn? We have a visitor for you."
"Is it Brody?" The man shook his head. "Lucien?" A nod. "Okay, let's go."
They left Aidan behind and went to the Headmaster's office. Lucien and Claire were sipping their coffee.
"Your Highness. Your Royal Highness." Dawn bent her knees and bowed. No need or mood to curtsy. She clapped her hands once and delivered her next line, full of snark. "So, why was I removed from my super important research?"
It was Claire that spoke first, "You forgot your Regalia Ring, Dawn."
Dawn took the ring and slid her finger in, "I didn't forget it. I used Sylph's hand to hand it back to you. Anyway, thanks, Claire."
She stared at Lucien like a boring art connoisseur at an orphanage's crayon art exposition. It took some time for the Prince to deign to make a sound. Dawn was betting on a groan.
"I apologize, Dawn. I said some things that might be interpreted the wrong way and I'd like to request you to restore Lumina." He spoke noncommitally.
But Dawn was a very forgiving person. When she was in a good mood which questionably wasn't today. "I understand and accept your apologies, Your Royal Highness Crown Prince Lucien of Yutis. This 'wretched doppelganger' here will make sure that the Queen of Slander is back on her feet before the harvest festival. Is that all?"
She'd really like to see Lucien release some steam out of his ears however unlikely that was. In fact, she was earning some dark satisfaction in poking him but it was not nearly enough. She wanted to crush the person and use him like a rag to wipe his own blood off the floor. Not because he was a man but because he crossed her. How goes the saying? Hell hath no fury...
"No," Astromelicus answered in the Prince's stead. "It is not enough. Lucien, you can do better than that, can't you?"
"I'm a Crown Prince! Why would I have to grovel?"
Dawn groaned and promised to pay herself a gold coin for losing her own bet. She took her ring off again and looked at Lucien in the eyes. "Lucien, If I let go of this ring one more time again, I swear I'll never wear it ever again. Now, Brody is also a Crown Prince, I bet you chummy Crown Princes can take care of each other but I'd recommend giving all the castle maids including Claire's mom a vacation until he goes back home. Or you can stall him long enough so we can give him Lumina. I can even giftwrap her."
Lucien got off the couch with bloodshot eyes, "You Insolent..." He never got to finish his line.
Dawn weaved Gravity mana and slammed the raw magic between Lucien and the wall. The law of nature bent to her will and doubled. The Prince found that the wall was the new floor. At least for him. And that he weighed twice as much. Dawn didn't dawdle. She was already building another spell diagram in her mind.
"Light Pur..."
"Spell Lock."
"Light Pu..."
"Spell Lock."
"Li..."
"Spell Lock."
"..."
"Spell Lock."
Lucien gave up.
"Dawn!" Astromelicus yelled.
Afraid of her teacher, Dawn turned her neck enough to just put both men in her field of view. "Yes, Headmaster?"
"That is bad form. Why are you using Spell Lock when a simpler Counterspell would be enough?"
Dawn snorted. "There is no kill like overkill. In a magic duel, prove without a doubt that you are the better mage."
"Excellent." The Archmage clapped his hands. "Keep it up."
Lucien groaned. Dawn cleared her mental betting tab. "I give up. Release me."
She did. Without any finesse. Lucien became a heap on the floor. Lucien got back on his feet and fixed his clothes. All in all, he didn't get any serious injury and a single Healing Light from him fixed his bruises.
Dawn tapped her feet, the Regalia Ring spinning on her finger. "Hey, Prince Charming. Say the words this girl wants to hear."
"And before you doom yourself, young Prince. As the Royal advisor for magic, I'd say there is no other mage able to do what Dawn and Aidan can. If they are gone so is Lumina."
Claire got in front of him and held his wrists, "Lucien, they are our friends! Or at least were. Please don't push this matter further. Aidan is this generation's God-Slayer, he is meant to be your right-hand men. Look how you're treating him! You are throwing the future of the country and the safety of your sister for some stupid pride."
Nobody expected her to do what she did next, "GROW UP YOU IDIOT!" Claire shouted, angry. "I swear that if you screw this up you won't be King of anything. Father will disown you, I'll make it so."
Lucien ground his teeth. He groaned again. He took his time to look at the three people around him. Dawn knew that he was having a hard time swallowing his pride but she couldn't care less. To them, Lucien became the embodiment of everything they suffered these two years.
"I surrender," The Prince finally spoke. "I'm sorry I called you a wretched doppelganger, Dawn. And everything else. I was an asshole. Please stand in for Lumina during Prince Brody's visit."
"Sure. You go on foot to Duke Glam's mansion tomorrow morning, pick up my rare metals, pay whatever he is due from your own pockets and bring them to me here before noon with a sealed statement from the Duke with the cargo manifest. Do it yourself, don't just send someone. That will be my reward for doing your request and your punishment. I'm far too busy here making sure your sister lives."
"Fine." Lucien's shoulders dropped. "You got yourself the world's fanciest courier. Happy now?"
"No," Dawn stated, disgusted. "But that will do."