As we walked to Mirina's room, the girls' cheerful mood vanished. They fully realized they were going to see the room of a member of the Royalty for the first time ever and the difference in social status when the knights started to flank and box us in. That gave me time to think about how to address the situation. It was an important declaration so levity was straight out. I needed them to focus on the important matter, and there was a chance the news would cause them to reject me or push us apart.
I had to solve this matter and I thought it was time to address the deficiency of one of my Perks. One-way communication wasn't communication at all.
I spent one of my Perk vouchers to upgrade {Silent Voice}. Unfortunately, it didn't come out as I expected. I had to burn a second one but the overall benefit was worth it.
> You obtained the Perks,
>
> * Improved Silent Voice (ultra-rare): The range is improved to (20+Magic) meters. You can communicate with any creature you perceive.
> * Silent Ears (ultra-rare): The target of your Silent Voice Perk can answer without sound. You must initiate contact.
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The knights objected to these guests but Mirina shot them down with a single glare. She also sent her maid away on a useless errand. Once inside, she started to order the girls to sit on the couches, leaving only me standing up by her side. The commoners were tense and followed Mirina's every move.
"Now, everyone. Welcome to my room. Make yourselves comfortable, please. We'll have some snacks shortly, but first Haru has something to share with you."
She waved her hand my way, smiled, and took a step back. The girls were worried I had bad news, except for Marisol that kept glaring at me.
"I want to start by telling you I consider all of you my close friends. I have a secret I would like to share with you. Please listen until the end. I kept it from you not out of malice, but because it would change my life radically. Marisol's outburst in class proved I should've come forward with it earlier."
Marisol nodded.
"I love Windemere. I truly do. For reasons that will become clearer in a few minutes, I wanted to cherish this everyday life I have with you, and my father but Windemere is going through a crisis. I want to help Windemere grow stronger and surpass this crisis, but without sacrificing Haru's life. No, Melania, I'm not going to kill myself. I was talking about my way of living."
The wolf-kin was about to jump in front of some invisible dagger when I talked about sacrificing myself.
"Do you have Royal blood?" Jocelin asked.
I nodded with a sheepísh smile. "Was it that obvious?"
"Fox-kin half-dwarves are rare," Phyllis explained. "I think there are only other two in Windemere, and they are too old to be the rumored granddaughter of King Axejaw."
"We already knew," Camilla added. "You are trying to keep the dwarves from attacking Windemere, right?"
Melania nudged Marisol with an elbow, but the [Priestess] didn't change her stance.
I let out a wry chuckle, "That's just the beginning of it. Can I continue?"
The three nodded. Marisol looked the other way.
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"You should close your eyes now," Mirina commanded. "Haru has a nice surprise for you."
I turned myself invisible when they closed their eyes and donned the Tabard.
"Remember, I would never do anything to harm Windemere or cause a civil war," I warned them. Because they knew I was the dwarf [Princess], they could think I wanted to take over the country.
They opened their eyes and searched for me. I became visible. Melania and Camilla both gasped and Jocelin just smiled. Marisol already knew but she softened her frown a bit.
Phyllis, on the other hand, slithered out of the couch and did the lamia equivalent of a kneel. "The Tabard lives!" She exulted.
That snapped the two Kin girls to do the same.
"Stand, my friends, I'm not done," I told them.
"Let's continue, please. She obviously doesn't want to take the throne," Jocelin conjectured. She left the 'or else she'd have done it already' part unsaid but her ingenious and elegant eyes said as much.
"Thank you, Jocelin," I shared a smile with her and got a nod back, encouraging me to continue. "I have a special power. I don't know if you are aware, but the people of this world eventually reincarnate as another person. My special power allows me, among other things, to remember my past lives."
Maybe telling them I keep my Perks and Proficiencies too is a bit too much.
"Oh! Who you were in a previous life?" Melania asked, clearly excited.
"I've come back more than a score of times here in Yznarian," I explained. "Most of the time, I was at odds with the Gods. I have some curses placed on me, and one of them is detrimental to users of divine magic. That's why Marisol reacted the way she did."
The half-eleon nodded. "She was both Locksley and the Matriarch, Melania," she snitched on me, then poked her tongue out. "Oh, Phyllis, both your [Princess] and [Duchess] too."
A few jaws dropped.
"Damn, I thought you were just going to announce your engagement to [Princess] Mirina," Camilla snickered.
"YOUR WHAT!" The other three shouted at the same time.
Everyone stared at the cat-kin. "What? I heard it this morning!"
Mirina hid her face in her hands and the whole room descended into chaos. I was glad they were more interested in raunchy court gossip than my past but I was a bit disappointed.
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"Then she faced my father and said, 'I'm not interested in titles, Your Majesty,'" Mirina imitated my voice. "'What I want is their assets, all of them! I'll also keep all promises held by their family, including Mirina's betrothal!"
Much to my chagrin, the girls squealed and swooned at Mirina's retelling of my antics in Lonid. For the fourth time.
"Then King Locksley's reincarnation dueled my former fiancée! He drew a circle on the dirt and stood in the center, with an unspoken challenge, 'I dare you to enter this ring'," She somehow reversed my gender-bent curse in her fantasies.
Camilla clung to me and purred, "That's so heroic, Your Majesty!"
The other girls fawned over Mirina and hazed me to their heart's content. After a long session of giggles and harassment, Melania asked something worthwhile.
"Tell me, is the ice train real? Did you really bring refugees and slaves from all over the world on magical carriages that walked on ice?"
"Yes, Nenandil and I. Back in the day, we needed to combine our magical power to do it."
"Who's Nenandil?" Mirina asked.
The Windemere girls pitied the ignorant [Princess]. Phyllis rectified it.
"Nenandil is the fairy companion to Locksley and Lakerta. We used to think she was a fairy that chose one worthy of wielding Locksley's power but now that Haru explained it, I know we were mistaken."
I nodded in approval, drawing a smile from the lamia squire. "That's correct. Nenandil is my fairy familiar, we have been together since Pekothas first invasion of Fulgen. The lamias misunderstood her origin, but no harm done. They also ignored her own warnings for the last month," I glanced at a contrite Phyllis.
"The elders didn't want to listen. I think they were too giddy and locked in their own delusions," She confessed.
"Ah! I want to ride the ice train!" Camilla whined. "Is it made of ice as some legends say?"
"No, it's wood and metal. It only skates on ice because it makes it easier to move fast," I replied.
"Now that I noticed, aren't your eyes greener than before?" Jocelin remarked. "The tone of your hair is more vibrant too."
Damn, was she paying that much attention to me? I felt attracted to Jocelin at first sight, but we never had an opportunity to get closer. The other girls are always around. But she was waiting for an answer. "I have a Perk that allows me to change my colors. I changed them like this to visit Lonid and mess a bit with my description, but I forgot to change it back. Let me…"
"No," She raised her voice. "It looks good on you."
"Thank you," I blushed. I might've lived a score of meaningful lives so far but what kept me going was the ability to reset everything. I knew that if I attempted to live my next life as an extension of this one, disaster would ensue. Lakerta was proof of that.
We talked for a while more and Jocelin raised another important question.
"You were Rosewise and Locksley at the same time. Did you use a spell to fool people?"
I told them how I could take the shape of my previous lives and any animals too. They demanded I show them and we spent about half an hour playing puss-in-boots-meets-giant. Nobody wanted to eat the mice, though.
"Show us how Locksley looked like!" Melania demanded.
I did it, with the armor. "No fun! Take off that armor!" They protested. I obliged but added a bit more chest volume than the Lily-flat I commonly used.
"Damn, the breastplate does a good job of hiding the boobs," Marisol remarked.
"Is this a half-elf?" Camilla came to get my scent and examine my form up close."
"Sort of. I mixed a few human features on top of Queen Alloralla's… damn."
"The legendary high elf Queen that fought dragons and tamed griffins," Mirina deadpanned. "Why am I even surprised."
"She probably was the Siren and the Unicorn Queen too," Joselin guessed. When they asked her why she thought that, she explained, "Archmagister Marlowe died against the Siren, and he was working in Aquilonia for the last few years. Since I suspect someone here had a finger on his sudden appearance to take over the Academy, It was easy to deduce after asking around."
I couldn't help but admire her. She was as smart as Mirina, at least.
"You are all correct," I told them. "But now I'm Haru. A [Crafter], [Metalsmith], and [Miner] if I could have it my way. I can't, though."
Marisol stood up and pointed at me, "Don't trust that liar, Jocelin!" She accused me.
"Why would Haru be a liar?" Jocelin asked politely.
The [Priestess] finally revealed the reason she was sulking all this time, "She lied to me! She said she couldn't sneak into the boys' dorm!"