Julian shot me an exasperated look that didn’t fit in his character description at all. How could he be described as tall, dark, and emotionally scarred when he looked at me like that?

He’d even laughed a few minutes ago. Downright chuckled!

“This isn’t over!” He said, getting in too close as he reached past my arm and opened the door wide. Despite my mind telling me everything would be fine, my body reacted. I might have been fine, but Gerda’s body had years of trauma and as soon as I felt like I was trapped against the door, my blood pressure went through the roof and my hands started shaking.

I hurried out to give us space. His words surprised me, so I continued our conversation in the hallway. It was an easy distraction. “I would think that it is.”

“It’s not.” He stated firmly.

My perfectly planned escape wasn’t so perfect when we were both going in the same direction. Julian had another notification in the corner of his vision that distracted him and he cursed.

The whistle sounded a second time and there was a high pitched scream.

“I’ll see you again soon.” He told me, and then turned to one of the open arch glassless windows that lined the wall of the hallway. It was a security flaw, but it was a pretty architectural design. And very fitting for a large stone fantasy arena.

Julian jumped out of the window.

I wish I could just jump out of a window this high up like a magical girl and magic my way to the Hall of Inventions.

Mechanically, I could… but I was wearing a light summer dress, and as much as fantasy undergarments were very pretty, I didn’t want everyone in the streets to see mine.

Besides, I was going to take my time clearing out with the last of the audience who were exiting the building. I was not needed to field the chaos that was the incident Julian had to go and deal with.

And I needed time to think about my conversation with Julian.

My thoughts wouldn't settle down.

I knew what was generally supposed to happen in Season Two. Necromancer Chloe returned to the Dark Enchanted Forest to find everyone dead, and since it was too late to [Resurrect] or [Revive] everyone, she raised an army of undead instead.

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Any of the already undead that had been defeated by Henrietta wouldn’t have been able to be reanimated, and in her wrath, Chloe reclaimed the forest and attacked Drendil. Keith was even supposed to show up as a final boss, but I had no idea why he wouldn’t have just resumed being the king after Chloe raised him.

Nowhere in the pre-release videos or newsletters did it mention the Blackfog spies. I could barely recall the one time in Season One when they were mentioned, when Duke Wyldon showed his love for the heroine by breaking the law and visiting the black market for Henrietta– buying information from a spy.

What changed at the Spring Ball? Everything. I'd changed everything. The butterfly effect from my years of altering the plot came to full fruition that night, and so something had changed.

Up until I thought about it, I’d assumed Duke Lector had taken control of the spies in his attempt to overthrow the throne and declare himself King of Servalt… but he was being used by the spies as much as he used them.

So someone else was organizing everything, and they must have only just started.

I ran the mini-villians through my mind. Lady Cassandra Cress, who took insult from Henrietta for her relaxed mannerism and sought to embarrass her in front of everyone at the ball. She was the main villain in Julian’s route, since she wanted to marry into the North Sumbria royal line.

A young woman named Lady Tate is the villainess in Servalt. She was engaged to Marquess Chadwick - poor soul - and harassed Duke Wyldon on her fiance’s orders.

Lady Luise, in Drendil, wanted to marry Henrietta for power, and used every violent trick in the book to make the heroine submit to her. Sir Phineas, known as an arrogant and hot-blooded knight to all, catches Lady Luise hurting Henrietta at a ball and steps forward to save her. He was the tsundere route.

The other two normal routes were interesting because the male leads became the villains to each other. Knight Commander Bastian of Peldeep and Adventurer Trevor Malory were teamed up with Henrietta to clear a few dungeons. They developed a bond. If she chose Bastian, Trevor tried to kidnap her and run off to the Empire of Sands. If she chose Trevor, Bastian lost his temper and tried to kill Trevor in a duel.

There were two bonus routes, one for Julian and one for Master Thomas Martin of Servalt. The half-elf was a Master Mage, and a candidate to take over the Mages Tower one day. He was also the yandere route. The dark ending was very dark.

I couldn’t be certain if any of them had fallen for Henrietta before the Spring Ball, but since she was romping around the Dark Enchanted Forest the entire time and not off completing quests around the continent… it seemed unlikely.

The last attendees had exited the arena and I was one of the last to feel the sun on my face. The staff would have half an hour to clean and then prepare for the next activity after lunch. The Mage’s Tower was going to be doing a demonstration of their latest spells and enchantments.

I turned in the direction of the chaos. The Hall of Inventions was only two streets over, and the shouting from panicked pedestrians was as loud as the repeated shrill from the city guards whistles.

Everyone was heading in the opposite direction of the pandemonium, but I sauntered towards it at a casual pace.

The only thing louder than the screaming was the unmistakable cacophony of croaking.