After a good night's sleep and some short dreams about Harpies and eggs, Robert woke up. Today was the first day of a week of training to prepare the candidates for the second test, butler Edgard had quickly told all the candidates yesterday evening. Because Robert was so involved in the first test, after which Siel almost put his boots on fire when he heard about this, he was also invited to participate in the training week and thus serve as a practice opponent. Leo didn't mind at all and had already agreed with Robert that the next day they would work out a strategy together to get to the harpy nest silently.

Robert walked to his closet to grab his workout outfit. It consisted of a waistcoat, resembling a coat of mail with iron plates, but to his surprise it was still reasonably mobile. The pants were simple leather pants, but the boots had a special bonus. A short knife was mounted on the heel, which, according to Alex Tikker, served to trap monsters if they tried to kidnap you. Robert was glad they weren't canary yellow boots. He wondered what the boots looked like on the piglets, before remembering that they never wore boots. He put on his clothes and left for the square.

It was very restless on the square. There were about fifty people in a dense group around the fountain. Robert heard shouts and was surprised to see Leo, or rather a female version of Leo, standing on the edge of the fountain. Leo wore the same outfit as at the auditions, beige puffy pants and shirt, brown riding boots and a chocolate brown overcoat. Just no hat. As a result, her long brown hair hung over her shoulders and gleamed in the sun. Robert stood dumbfounded. Although he had seen several men with long hair, he could see at a glance that Leo was not a man. Now that the shadow no longer fell over her face, he could clearly see the feminine features and did not understand that he had not noticed this before in the Leafy Forest or yesterday in the library. Robert stood stock-still and stared at Leo until he was roughly pushed in his side by three women from the Courtly Functional Bourgeoisie who wanted to see what interesting things were happening.

"Deception! Deception!" he heard Mrs. Laila and Mrs. Haclaire shout.

"It's a woman! A woman in the king's trials. This is treason! Burn them at the stake!" The shouts grew louder. Just behind the fountain, Siel stood with his hands tightly folded behind his back. His face was like thunderstorm and had a light purple glow. One punishment after another was shouted at Leo from the crowd. It went from drowning to tying her to a rock, to tickling torture and locking her up in the Gingerbread House. It went on like this for a while, and in the meantime almost everyone from the Courtly Functional Bourgeoisie who was on duty that day was on the square.

Robert was still standing still. He was too stunned to move. What was going on here? Leo, his companion, with whom he had embarked on the adventure in the dismal forest of leaves, Leo, who had managed to convince both the acorn witches and Lady Tilliante, that same Leo turned out not to be a young man at all. Robert felt it dizzy in his head. He got hot and cold at the same time and felt something squeezing his throat. He felt his new boots tighten and got the same nauseous feeling as the day he got the whole of the Courtly Functional Bourgeoisie with a small balancing error.

"Robert! Robert!' Lilian's powdered face was suddenly nearby. "Do something, or they'll throw her in the Poison Gas Swag!"

Robert blinked frantically. He couldn't let this happen. Whoever Leo was, he or she remained one of the better candidates until now and was the only one who had successfully completed the first assignment by getting Lady Tilliante to talk again. In addition, Robert's circle of friends consisted only of his three muddled roommates and two chess butlers. Leo was the first to come close to mutual camaraderie.

"Stop!" roared Robert. The crowd fell silent and stared at him in amazement as he slowly stepped towards the fountain. "I do not consent to the inhumane punishments that you are now inventing for her. He, uh I mean she didn't do anything wrong."

"But she's a damn woman!" interrupted Siel. His pointy ears sparked. He stepped on the edge of the fountain and towered over Robert even more than usual.

"And so what?" interrupted Robert. "Yes, she is a woman and it is indeed against the rules to take part in this royal election, but she passed the previous test with flying colours, didn't she? By the way, who came up with those rules? Okay, she's the only woman here. But that's because all the other strong, smart, and brave women have resigned themselves to it. They continue to work for their children and encourage their husbands to try their luck in the auditions. But they are often the source of power behind those scrawny roosters. They encourage them, come up with ideas and are there for them whenever they need them. Leo is the only one who has taken matters into his own hands.' Robert thought about how chaotic it was in his own house and how he, Janus, Erim and Dorian rarely managed to conjure up anything edible on the table and still struggled with a heavily leaking roof. While Lilian lived on her own, with a little help from Eugène and Edgard, in the most beautiful house in all of Azucar and provided the entire Courtly Functional Bourgeoisie with the most delicious food in the world. Okay, she didn't do everything on her own, but she did have an exceptional organizational talent. And Madam Haclaire, also a woman, was usually the only one who could bring Siel to reason.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

For a moment, Robert thought he detected a slight blush on Leo's cheeks. Carefully she stood up and looked up so that her dark eyes caught Siel's dark gaze. "Thank you Robert. May I introduce myself?' Leo turned her back to Siel so she could face the crowd. Robert immediately noticed that her voice was an octave higher than the voice that had always appealed to him until now.

'My name is Leontine, or Leo for short. I live with my sister in a small farm in Salado, among the ordinary citizens, but I often feel more at home with the poor bastards from Amargo. Behind that great wall, worse things are happening than you can imagine. But I've been there several times and I know better than anyone in this square what real misery is. Despite the poverty, there is also respect between the people in Amargo, helpfulness and kindness. Most people try to give life some value and look for connection and equality. They try to help each other get back on their feet and that is worth much more than those stupid activists who put most of the money in their own pockets. In this way, like King Lodehart, I try to stand up for the weak. Why shouldn't I be allowed to enter the contest to replace him temporarily?"

There was silence for a moment. The crowd stared at her open-mouthed, bewildered. Leo looked slowly at Robert. Tears shone in her dark brown eyes. The words sounded familiar to Robert. These were the words she had said on the journey to the acorn witches. The words had clearly achieved their mark, as Robert soon seemed to turn back to her side. Before he could say anything, however, he was interrupted.

Siel jumped from the fountain screaming. "Enough!" And he pushed Leo roughly aside, causing her to land painfully on her right arm on the stone edge of the fountain. Robert wanted to come to her aid, but the counselor stopped him.

"You filthy traitor. You knew all along, right, that she's a woman, but you probably fell so in love that you pretended your nose was bleeding. Who knows how many men she's played that game with?"

Something snapped in Robert's head and he wanted to fly furiously towards the spotter, but Madam Haclaire gently pushed him back.

"Calm down Robert, fighting won't solve anything here." Then she turned to Siel. "Unfortunately, I don't agree with you, Sielie, she has already proven herself once and I can do it a second time."

Before the counselor could respond, Dirrek Waldeman also stepped forward. "I, however, am on Siel's side, so anti-trappers and traitors," he hissed falsely. 'That makes two against two.' He could not bear to think that women would soon be admitted to the cabinet of the Courtly Ministers. He looked expectantly at the faster who squatted like a frightened rabbit, too frightened to give his opinion. When the pace-faster slowly looked at Robert and Madam Haclaire, Dirrek abruptly knocked the tempo time machine out of his hand. The high-tech gadget flew into the air in an arc and ricocheted hard against the ground. The glass fell out and time stopped abruptly. The pace-fast pacer bit his lip breathlessly, staring in shock at his broken toys on the floor. He knelt down and carefully took two gears in his hands. He swallowed his tears and his gaze hardened. "I'm sorry, Dirrek, but manipulating will unfortunately achieve the opposite, I'll give her another chance." he moaned in a timid voice.

Siel exploded and for a single second the collar of his cape caught fire before he extinguished it himself. "YOU HALF-VEGARE CUCKOO CLOCK!" Robert had never seen Siel so blazing. It was almost laughable to see how the counselor's face was almost the same purple color as his cape while he smelled light bandages. Sparks flew from Siel's fingers as he continued to rant against the pacemaker. "How dare you! Just wait! That woman doesn't get off that easily! The next assignment is one that decides between life and death. Whoever wins goes on to the third and final test, whoever loses is irrevocably eaten by the harpies or some other hungry creature." He leaned forward furiously and grabbed Leo's shirt. He held his glowing, purple face close to hers and hissed almost inaudibly, "for that is the only thing that awaits you, my dear, death!"

It had become very quiet on the square. Everyone held their breath. Siel pointed a piercing, light purple finger at Robert. "And this time, Robert, as the greatest disgrace of the Courtly Functional Bourgeoisie and the cause of all this misery, you may personally go along as Squire of Leo in this dangerous assignment! I want someone to keep an eye on her."

Siel's eyes became two flaming slits '... And if, unfortunately, something terrible happens on the way, we are suddenly rid of the traitor and the clumsy handyman.' He laughed wickedly. 'Tomorrow you will be at the training camp Robert, not as a practice opponent but as a candidate.'

With those words, he stomped out of the square with Dirrek Waldeman in his wake. All the members of the Courtly Functional Bourgeoisie stood stock-still for a few seconds and then turned around one by one and walked away from the fountain. After only Leo, Robert, Madam Haclaire and the pacemaker remained, the latter threw himself completely into his pace time machine. He pressed several buttons but after a while it was clear, his best friend was broken. Then the poor man burst into thick crocodile tears while Madam Haclaire put an arm around him comfortingly, and gently soothed him inside.

Robert looked at Leo. 'What was all this?'.

Leo sighed and rubbed her aching arm. "I would have liked to tell you sooner, but I feared that you would not have been able to keep quiet and would reveal my secret before the end of the first assignment." She hesitantly felt her face with her fingers, which felt warm after Siel's outburst. "I didn't know you, Robert. To me, you were just one of the members of the Courtly Functional Bourgeoisie. How could I trust you in the beginning?"

Robert plopped down on the fountain and heaved a deep sigh. "How can I trust you after this? What else are you holding back from me?"

Leo shook her head and sat down next to him. "Nothing, this is it. I just didn't want to hide it anymore. So I took off my hat and that was apparently enough for Mrs. Laila and Mrs. Haclaire to notice that something wasn't right. They spoke to me and I answered them in my own voice, and then suddenly everyone knew.'

Robert nodded. Let's go inside. I did deserve a cup of Ythse cherry tea after this revelation'. But he laughed, and Leo followed him inside, relieved.