*** PoV: Suzan ***

When Father told me I was summoned to the castle, I was sure I was to be executed. I knew pretty well what I was risking, as the story of the maid who slept with one of the princes of old was one I heard from Father before. In the end, it wasn’t enough to stop me from laying my hands both on the princess’ fiancé and the very prince I now carried the child of. Did I assume that Father could keep me safe, seeing how the Queen Eva of that story was so fond of him? Haven’t they even become lovers after Mother has passed? No, that’s not it. I was just a fool, taken by the boys’ lack of prejudice against us - Zub ratfolk. Even with the common folk, we were fortunate to only be called names. I heard that before moving to Siegel they would go as far as firing spells and arrows at us whenever we showed up near any of the towns. The only race that accepted us were the Farkas, most of whom lived isolated from the other races. In this situation who could resist those two handsome boys who talked with us like anyone else? Definitely not me or my sister.

To my surprise, where Father brought me was the prince's room. The next surprise was the woman accompanying him. She was of a race I have never seen but had features reminding me of the only human race that ever went extinct. She couldn't be one of them, could she? I could feel an instinctive fear taking my whole body over as if I was looking at someone who could bring doom to any demihuman. She only noticed my entry as Father closed the door behind my back, and her eyes locking onto me made me shake uncontrollably. I just stood there as a rat in the torchlight as she approached me. Even though I was prepared to get abandoned by the prince just minutes before, right then and there I was looking at him, hoping he would save me, but what I saw there… Was he just as terrified as me?

I was on the verge of passing out when she stopped in front of me. She wasn’t nearly as tall as the prince, but she still had a head’s worth of advantage over me. Her hands reached out, grabbed the back of my head, and … pulled me in, pressing my face right into her chest.

“So cuuute!” came her cooing voice from above me. “Hey, Keith, I must say you at least have good taste. You don’t see an adorable little critter like her every day. I’ll let you off the hook if I can keep her.” I had no idea what was going on, but it sounded like my life would be spared.

“You are talking about a person, not a pet,” said Keith. It sounded like he was pretty spent. “I can speak to Mother and Lady Eva about letting her stay here, but she should have the right to decide whether she wants to.”

“Are you still talking back? Do you want to sit through that lecture once again? I can keep it up for days, so choose wisely,” reprimanded the mysterious woman. Was the prince in trouble because of me?

“Yes, Lady Hanna. Understood, Lady Hanna.” That was a pretty long sigh the prince let out. “Su, do you mind living here at the castle with us?”

“Are you not planning to punish me?” I looked up at the woman holding me.

“Me? I don’t have a reason to.”

“B–but with the prince, I… Aren’t you the prince’s bride?”

“Am I, Keith?” she asked, a bit of mischief in her eyes.

“I’m not against that, honestly, but I’m pretty sure that’s not what you want me to confirm.” he responded, seemingly afraid.

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“Did I miss something?” I asked quietly, puzzled by the exchange.

“I just met him three days ago, so seeing the situation we are in, the one he takes as his bride should most probably be you, not me," she said while smiling towards me. " It’s not like I can have children either, as I’m an undead, which could be a problem seeing how the royal family needs heirs.”

“You heard her. She has yet to become my official bride, and even though I have only known her for three days, I’m positive she would not allow me to abandon you in this situation, no matter which of you I met first.”

“In that case, I wouldn’t mind staying here, assuming I’m not intruding.” I agreed with barely any hesitation, after all living in the castle would be a dream come true.

“Glad to have you with us. Feel free to call me Hanna. Can I call you Su, like Keith does?”

“It… would be an honor, Lady Hanna.”

“Let me add just one thing,” warned the prince. “You shouldn’t sleep in her room under any circumstance, nor should you let her sleep in yours.”

“You are being mean. I’m not planning to steal her away from you,” Lady Hanna argued, sounding offended.

“Did you already forget last morning?”

“I don’t want to talk about that,” she said, her voice a lot quieter than before.

“Make sure you don’t accidentally crush her,” the prince's words made me shiver slightly.

“I will, I will.”

*** PoV: Hanna ***

“That’ll be all for now. Keith, you are dismissed.”

“Thank you for your mercy, Lady Hanna.”

“Drop that already. Calling me ‘Lady’ now that the cat’s out of the bag about us and I’m no longer lecturing you feels wrong. Do you want to make people think I’m someone even the prince bows down in front of?”

“Please remind me what I was doing mere moments ago, then tell me it’s not your fault.”

“We could have a long talk about each other’s faults, and I don’t think you would be the one to come out on top. See this cutie here?” I pointed at Suzan. “You know whose fault is that she’s in this situation right now, I presume.”

“It was actually–” started Suzan.

“Stop. I might not have been there so I won’t say you did not have a hand in this, but he is at least partially responsible for what the two of you did. You taking the blame for his actions won’t do any good for him.”

I could see Keith performing an impressive jump the moment he stepped out of his room. The only people capable of scaring him that much I could think of were Sister and Sister – erm… Colette and Kathleen. I guessed one of them would be waiting right in front of the door, but didn’t actually expect both of them to be there. What’s more, they also had the other princess with them.

Suzan was dragged away by Kathleen, while I was forced to join Sara, Prince Consort Ethan, and his brother, Sebastian, for training. Colette followed me saying she would help me with the paperwork for enrolling at the Academy after we finished.

***

I messed up. There was no way I wouldn’t have gone easy on Sara after being told she wasn’t even 10 years old yet. I could have saved both of us. Her, from the trauma of seeing something so gruesome, and me, from the pain and shame.

I beat both Ethan and the muscle-headed Sebastian in mock duels, then got crushed like the training ground’s walls the minute my fight with the innocent-looking girl started. Did that sound like a strange analogy? A poorly chosen metaphor? Tell that to my body that my older Medved opponents were trying to dig out from below the rubble right around then.

The only thing saving me from dying then and there was the fact that I was already dead. Not that it mattered to Sara, who was unfortunate enough to catch my severed head after her punch sent my body flying from below it. She wouldn’t stop screaming until Colette took it from her.

This incident left me with one question: How did Sara’s usual training partners survive?