She stared at him, as he came closer, kneeling down, smiling mischievously, while his eyes showed yet again how little he actually cared. In the back, she saw the Princess putting the pins for the second and third places on Lucan and Alan.

"I wish to dedicate my game to you, Lady van Varnhagen," he said, "of course, it is tradition for the us to attend the ball tonight as a pair if you accept this token of my affection."

'Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, I got played. Just how?' she thought again, short-circuiting her brain to figure out how this had gone so far south, she basically came back up north again, "he outranked his brother, who had all the teachers in the Empire at his disposal, while being brought up as a bastard himself? Yeah, like I'll believe that. In the first place, he's only in the palace because the Empress died an untimely death, otherwise he would still be rotting out in the boonies.'

"Of course, it's not like I could say no…" she said, letting her words hover in pause when she stood up to let him take her hand, looking down at him with an icy cold gaze, "to such a lovely gesture."

She could understand how her brother had outranked the Crown Prince, since he was always ahead of him in experience and now he even had a contract backing his physical prowess.

As for Lucan – well, he hadn't originally attended, but he also got around the world, gathered experience among the pagans, and now he even got to learn Mana control professionally at the Temple. He had to make the podium, especially since the Grand Duke excluded himself this year.

All of which was something the novel didn't have, but even after all of that, the Crown Prince didn't even make the third light on the podium, he didn't make it up there at all!

Just a single glance at Cedric de Arlen and even though his face seemed relaxed and friendly, she saw his fingernails dig into the arms of his chair viciously. This wasn't planned by the Emperor in order to push the second Prince onto Rowena, this was something else, and she didn't like it one bit.

She glanced up at her brother, who didn't seem amused, then turned to Lucan, who seemed even less amused.

'I didn't know the second Prince was so disliked. I had thought they were too dignified to show how unhappy they are about losing.' It made her suppress a sigh, because it was her who really ought to be not amused. 'Thank fuck, I know this party is gonna get crashed royally.'

'Imperially,' Pan corrected her.

'Ugh, seriously. A dad joke?'

'Pardon?'

'Nah, it's okay,' she thought and sat down.

Rowena wasn't even sure why this pissed her off so much, but she could guess it was partially the fact that something had gone the way the Emperor liked it, taking away her right to decide – and partially her Mana heart, which always jumped at the notion of violent energy inside of her, amplifying it; feeding off of it. She could feel it beating faster in her chest.

Since the Prince had never any real interest in her and likely only did this to please the Emperor, he hadn't felt bad about her not paying any attention to him as he went. Instead of him, it was the Princess who had walked over to her now.

"Do you have any wishes as to what is supposed to happen with the game you were given?"

"Oh, right," Rowena said, thinking about what Scarlett had done with her gift, "I want it to be well preserved and given to the people who have taken care of the manor while the land was inhabitable. I think they deserve to have a bit of a feast themselves."

The rest of what had been hunted and would still be hunted the next day was partially used for the grand ball at this evening, while the rest went to the county's citizens down the mountain, humbly living or even poor, in order for them to get to have something to celebrate too.

So nothing would go to waste, there would be fewer beasts up the mountains and everyone had a great time. 'It's not such a bad festival, after all. Too bad it's not gonna end as well this time.'

"What a wonderful cause, young lady of Varnhagen," Isobel said with the charm of a true Imperial Princess, right before turning to the rest of her audience, "I'm sure you are all excited, and I congratulate once more, Lucan, an Acolyte of the Church of Aurora, taught by our very own Bishop and Vicar, Arnaldo," she said and gestured toward the strict looking man, who nodded back with little enthusiasm, "for reaching third place by a hair's breadth, following very closely our Young Master, Alan Beyer van Varnhagen, on second place."

Both of them reacted with a smile and a bow to the crowd, accepting their cheers. Now that she thought about it, the cheers were quiet reserved at the winner's reveal.

Isobel took another breath after looking at her brother. This was supposed to be the moment he got up to say a few words, but the way he was sitting there, she knew this wasn't going to work out. In the end, she had to improvise, and it wasn't as if she hadn't heard him go over his lines countless times.

"With this, the first day of this Hunting Festival is drawing closer to its main event." She looked around, concentrating on those who have come a longer way than others. "We have all waited with bated breath, for the news of this land's reconciliation to finally arrive. Only a short few weeks ago, it finally happened and once more, we can put the word out there, of how strong this Arlen Empire stands."

'Not without my father, you aren't.' The lavender haired girl did feel a bit petty, but that didn't stop her from smiling. 'I wonder when the wave will roll down the mountain.'

It may not be the exact same as in the novel, which was why she already had her weapons sitting in her underskirt. If everything went as expected, she wouldn't need them, but too much had changed in terms of manpower and the knowledge of potential human involvement meant the attack might adapt slightly to that change.

If they didn't know about even half the changes, that would be great, but Rowena had her doubts. 'They knew about Pan. They couldn't have known.' Although he did appear when he had to save her during the battle at the Varnhagen Territory.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

And yet, she couldn't help remembering the things Pan had said back then, in this mind realm, about a Numbered that could tell the future. 'Oh, please, don't be a thing. Please, don't be a thing.'

Her words were left unheard, as her thoughts were going in circles. Meanwhile, the Princess' words were slowly coming to an end.

"…with this, I will put an end to this competition and invite you all to have some lively conversations here or rest back at the manor, where I am sure the Count will welcome you warmly, so you can prepare for our dance tonight."

It was a lot shorter of a speech, compared to what was held by the Prince in the novel. But the Princess had done a great job, making the nobles see a whole new side to the normally quiet young woman.

As Rowena was now aware, there were more than one or two sides to this particular Princess, so she wasn't faced by this revelation of competence at all. As a matter of fact, she liked her more for the heir to the Arlen Empire than her two brothers.

'Maybe it's the salt within me speaking, but doofus one or doofus two – it doesn't really make a difference.'

Though of course she knew the Crown Prince would soon get ahold of a power to rise and shine above them all. His sister was unnecessary to name in this regard anyway, because she wasn't going to lead the Empire; she was already promised to the Prince of the Aurora Empire. It had been a sealed deal for many years now.

'But seeing as there's someone in the enemy camp controlling the Number 1, and Alan seizing Number 2… even with Pan, there's nothing much he could measure up to, I'm afraid.' She looked at Cedric at that thought.

Truthfully, now that the reality of this world had set in for Rowena, all the accomplishments of the characters within the book seem small and unimportant, even when they were supposed to be grant. It felt almost unfair.

"Rowena, will you come back with us?"

As she looked up, she could see her brother Alan, her Grandfather Maximillian and even Lucan. But it seemed as if Lucan and Alan only stood next to each other because they had to, but she couldn't place where that feeling originated from. It might have been their stiff expressions.

"Gladly," was all she said and got up from her seat, politely and elegantly saying her goodbyes to the Grand Duchess. The Duke was still up at the mountains, patrolling the woods.

"Why did you accept his invitation?" Lucan asked impatiently.

Normally, Alan would have berated him for being so informal with his sister, but he too was interested in the answer.

"How could I have denied him? He is a Prince, after all."

"But in his case, it really doesn't matter," her brother explained, "and even if it did, his Grace would gladly take care of the aftermath."

She had to huff a laugh at that remark. "I can't say I believe the Emperor would have let this go so easily."

Not because he loved his son so dearly, but because he also used him to tie Rowena up with the Arlen Imperial Family. It was either the Imperial Family or getting her out of Arlen altogether, there apparently was no in between with this man.

And Alan knew it too, just as Lucan did. They had already told the Emperor that there was no wedding planned from their side and he hadn't forced the matter at all, even though he wanted the ties to happen.

He even mentioned the daughter of another important family – the only daughter of the Neuhaus Marquisette. Not that he had any interest in something like another wife candidate. Lucan had other things to focus on.

As he looked over, she imagined the red haired Prince next to her this evening. Was there really nothing they could do? It just seemed so opportunistic, and the man looked as if he couldn't care any less about the young lady. What if he did something to harm her, after all? They were friends now, after all – at least he felt they had gotten close.

Rowena didn't notice either of their concerned faces and took to her grandfather, who seemed to be a bit out of breath, as she gave him support by hooking under his arm. The way he smiled at her for her action made her heart feel a little lighter, after the things she just had to witness.

The real problem was, again, not that the second Prince had won the competition, but the fact that he had won the competition and she didn't know why or how. Did the others all hold back?

She could believe it for Lucan and Alan, but not for the Crown Prince. In the novel – and Rowena believed that to be the full truth even now – he had wanted to win this more than anyone else. After Rowena had originally died, they didn't talk about anyone marrying Cedric for a while out of piety.

Afterwards, the Saintess and him had gotten closer, but Scarlett was not originally after the Prince, even in the novel. Winning this competition meant that he could ask her out. In a situation like this, it would publicly humiliate him, as a member of the Imperial Family and the official heir to the throne, if she had denied his request.

The same thing had now happened to Rowena, but with a different Prince. Even with him being the bastard of the Imperial Family, instead of the Crown Prince, he held the blood of the Emperor. Just like Scarlett couldn't, Rowena was in no position to deny him, unless she wanted her family to bleed for it.

And since she knew this wasn't going to happen anyway, as the wave would hit before the very first tune was being played, there was nothing that she had to worry about. She could only hope they would start even earlier this time around.

"Are you sure we are allowed to follow you there?"

They weren't with her at the competition, as they had to ready the room, the dress, the bathtub and all of her accessories in order to welcome her and prepare for the ball. While they fully understood why they weren't at the competition today, they couldn’t quite follow why they now had to tend to her during the ball itself.

"Aren't we going to make you look clumsy?" A lady could bring a servant, if she wanted to, but three at once?

It wasn't that she originally meant to force them, but at this point, she couldn't tell if someone wouldn't stoop low enough to capture someone close to her, in order for her give up. They had held her brother at gunpoint before, and she wouldn't go through this again.

She knew space where the festival had been held would by now be molded into an open ballroom. That space was going to end up being protected by the Saintess and her "shield". It may not be a shield, as she didn't have such a thing, but the Mana she could spread in order to bless the ground would keep the Visitors out of their range.

That was what she thought, but hours later, she stood there, her hand holding onto the second Prince's arm, as he escorted her under the starry sky, through the crowd of happily laughing people.

"I would like to have a glass of water," she said.

"Understood," Cassius curtly spoke, immediately leaving her to get one for her, but rather because he also couldn't really stand this charade, not because her hydration was truly that important to him.

"That's how we meet again, milady."

She had heard that accent a few times now. "Sir…"

"Arthur Kane Shelton, milady."

"Right, we met at Lodden."

"And then again a few days ago."

It wasn't as if he hadn't been nice to her, she just didn't have the peace of mind to introduce someone new into it.

With a genuine smile, she held her hand out to him. "It is a pleasure to meet you again, Sir Shelton."

He took the hand and bowed to kiss it. "If I may, would you be willing to share a dance with me this time, milady?"

His dead eyes almost seemed to sparkle with anticipation, and it was cute to her. "I'm sure there will be many who would dance with you, Young Lord." In fact, he looked quite handsome.

But there were many of that type around Rowena, so it wasn't as if she had seen the wheel being reinvented in front of her eyes. If she danced with Lucan or Alan, at least she already had a feel for those two.

"Are you sure? It would be such a shame to not get to dance again this time…"

She didn't hear whatever he said after that, as she laid eyes on someone that made her stomach turn. The Saintess walked in without a dance partner, but instead, someone else was there to accompany her and that someone was now looking straight at Rowena through the crowd.