“Engaged?”

King Esthar’s gaze went back and forth between Catalin and me. Most soldiers were gone, escorting Kossi and Nigella to the palace as soon as a second coach arrived. We stayed in Bury to debrief a few details before going back to the center of Carastra.

“She is a Zimeon and you are a human!” protested the king.

Why do people always notice this, and not the age gap, or simply the fact that we’re both women?

I finally lifted the chain around my neck, showing my two pendants. One small carved piece of wood, one magically preserved Mera blossom. I expected Catalin to do the same, but she lowered her head.

“They took everything away, back in Malo. My pendants are somewhere in the keep, provided they didn’t throw them away.”

From the look of it, she thinks I’ll get mad at her, or even cancel the engagement.

I reached out for her hand. She let me take it, but there was some distance in her touch.

“Sorry, Al. I didn’t exactly have a pleasant time over there.”

I nodded. “It’s all right. Take your time. I’m ready to talk when you are.”

“We need to have a serious conversation anyway. Tomorrow, maybe? Tonight, I’d just like to go home.”

“Home?”

I startled. I remembered how Catalin described her room, back in Teo’s barn, when we thought we’d be safe for the night and we didn’t know we’d have to run away again. Tiny. Uncomfortable. Green wallpaper.

I raised a hand.

“Your Majesty, King Esthar! I have a request, if you allow it.”

The king raised an eyebrow. “What is it, Al?”

I took a deep breath. Now wasn’t the time, but I felt later would be too late. Catalin had been sick before we left Carastra, and I couldn’t allow her to risk her health again.

“I have good reasons to believe wallpapers contain a toxic pigment. In my native world, it was known as Paris green, and it was widely used in paints and wallpapers for a few decades. People would get sick in their own houses, or even die, until the pigment was banned.”

King Esthar frowned. “What is your point? Do you want us to ban the pigment too?”

“Ultimately, yes, but my main concern is Catalin Robi’s health. There’s green wallpaper where she lives. When we met, she had a cough. I can’t let her go back there.”

Chess nodded. “I remember her coughing, Your Majesty. It lessened soon after we left Carastra.”

The king stared at me. “What do you want from me, Al? Zimeon engagements have no official value. I cannot let her live with you in my palace.”

“No, I mean… I don’t think either of us is ready to share a room.” I exchanged a glance with my fiancée, and if her eyes told me anything, it was that she felt even less ready than I did. “But if you have a spare room somewhere, not necessarily inside the palace, just a safe place that isn’t painted green or blue, I beg you to let her stay there. For her sake. And then we can move on to investigating the actual pigments used in wallpaper manufactures.”

He sighed. “I will see what I can do. However, it is late, and all of us need a meal and some rest.”

Catalin’s tail wrapped around my leg in the coach. She didn’t reject me. She was just emerging from a traumatic experience, and as she said, she needed time. The king assigned her a room in the commons, inside the old castle grounds.

“Do you need to fetch things tonight?” I asked.

She shook her head. “I’ll stop at my old place tomorrow, on my way to the University. I need to catch up on the classes I missed. I bet some students will be surprised to see me again. Can you pay us a visit in the afternoon, Al?”

“Why not?”

“Good. I’ll come get you at the door at half past two, if it’s fine by you.”

Her triumphant smile was the most beautiful thing I saw on that evening. I’d be the fiancée she needed, as best I could.

I wasn’t allowed to follow Catalin to her new temporary home, so I just went back to my own apartments. A new maid named Evie offered to prepare a hot bath, but I declined the offer. My arm was burned. I wouldn’t stand the heat. I just asked for a jug of hot water instead, enough to wash without hurting myself further.

I looked around while she was busy in the bathroom. This place was too big for me. I’d need to find a proper house, something reasonable, a place I’d feel at home in.

Then I finally faced the mirror. For the first time since the fall, two days before, I saw my own face. And it wasn’t pretty.

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

It was still me underneath the cuts and the scratches, but some areas were swollen, others bruised, and I looked like I’d been through barbed wire. I could tell why the doctor thought I’d keep scars. Some of these cuts would leave a trace. This one, across my forehead, would certainly be visible for the rest of my life.

That’s the price for saving a kingdom. I’ll certainly look more badass in the future.

I asked Evie to bring me supper in the antechamber. I didn’t want to meet more people in the small dining room and pretend I was all right. I washed, slipped into a comfortable gown, and sipped my food on my own, enjoying the calm. Sirit had made sure to include a piece of airy fruit cake in my meal.

It tasted sweet. My tears were savory.

Despite the burned arm and the broken rib, I fell asleep quite easily. All the strain of the past ten days had finally caught up on me.

Knocks on the door awoke me. I startled and winced immediately. My rib, again.

“Yes?”

“Great Hero Al, Princess Nigella requests your presence in the council room as soon as possible! Do you need assistance?”

I yawned. There was daylight outside. “No, thank you. I’ll get dressed.”

I put on a long loose dress and a wide fabric belt. As long as I was injured, my adventurer gear was pointless. Among the dozens of slippers in the wardrobe, I found a pair in my size. Their dark blue color didn’t match the red and bronze hues of the dress, but it’d do. I wasn’t going to a fashion show after all.

What does the princess want me for?

Maya waited for me outside my apartments. She led me down the stairs and along the wide corridor of the main building, even though I didn’t really need a guide this time. Despite the presence of half a dozen guards, the door to the council room was open. Clanking noises echoed all around. Maya bowed and moved aside, letting me see the whole area was under construction.

Several men worked on scaffolding, carefully removing what remained of the stained-glass window that had represented a field under a blue sky. In the middle of the room, three figures were standing, oblivious to my presence.

Nigella, Kossi, and… Leda Gatilla?

My heart pumped hard before I reasoned myself. Leda was still in my native world. The woman over there, in dark gray overalls, a green muffin cap over her thick curly hair, was Nigella’s friend, the architect.

She was the one who noticed me. A warm smile bloomed on her face.

“Great Hero Al, it’s good to see you!”

The princess and the dragon turned around. Nigella waved at me to come closer, so I joined the group.

“Good morning, Princess.”

“Good morning, Al. As you can see, Kossi is about to begin his… How should I express it?”

“Community service?”

“Exactly.”

The architect nodded. “I was telling him about the first panels that should be delivered later today. He’ll be able to lift them, and hold them in place while our workers assemble them. Since we were on a tight schedule, I chose a simpler pattern… I can’t wait for you to see the finished work!”

Kossi had an uneasy smile. He looked at his feet as soon as he noticed my gaze.

Nigella, however, caught my hand. She looked happier than ever.

“Al, do you remember Cristolia Valmar, the architect?”

I do. But I’d forgotten her name.

I nodded. “Yes. I’m glad you got to design a new stained-glass window.”

Cristolia giggled. “Well, the old one was fine, but since some dashing dragon decided to smash it, I could as well create a new one.”

Kossi’s golden eyes shone like he was fighting hard to blink back tears.

“But I guess Princess Nigella didn’t bring you here so early in the morning to hear about my architectural ambitions,” added Cristolia.

“I did not.”

What does this smile mean? Why does Nigella look so excited?

“Al, do you remember our conversation about natural powers?”

“I think I do. By the way, Cristolia, I have a natural power too, but it’s a little strange. I can read magic, and sometimes alter spells.”

The architect smiled. “Oh, that sounds unusual! But I never told you what mine was, and I think it’s the reason why the princess summoned you. May I?”

She took my hand, the one Nigella had been holding. She lifted it closer to her face. My knuckles had suffered from the fall, but it wasn’t as bad as my face. Hands have thin skin. Easy to hurt, quick to heal.

Cristolia looked hard at the back of my hand. I felt a soft tingling, and the cuts mended. The hand looked as if nothing had happened. What?

I frowned. “Are you a healer? Isn’t it an extremely precious power?”

She shook her head.

“I’m afraid my power is more mundane. Bring me someone wounded and I won’t be able to do anything. A true healing mage, on the other hand, will do wonders.”

Wait a sec. I thought there was hardly any healing magic at all.

I touched my forehead. “But yesterday, at the hospital, the doctor said she could do nothing about my cuts!”

“Healing magic is exhausting. No one will use it on such minor wounds. Besides, these spells need to be cast before the victim starts to heal by themself, otherwise they’re not as effective. So, in your case, it was both too expensive and too late.”

“If you say so.”

I really need to learn how magic really works in this world, even if I can never cast a spell of my own.

Cristolia held out a hand near my face.

“This is where my power comes in. I won’t heal anything that remotely looks like a serious wound, but I can erase scars.”

So this is why Nigella asked me if I wanted to keep mine, yesterday! She planned to bring me to Cristolia so I could get rid of them!

I wanted to cry. Too late, I was crying. Could I really be restored to my previous state? Reboot and look good as new? Or good as the old Alicia, the one who went through the portal after angels were misled by a traitor?

I nodded.

“I’d like you to remove these scars. Small ones on my body I can live with, but please, I want my face back.”

“Just hold still.”

There was a tingling on my forehead. Then on my cheeks. Cristolia walked around me, stared at every scratch she could see, and it was gone. I probably didn’t look too attractive, with tears on my cheeks and a running nose. But I didn’t care. I was myself again. A kindergarten teacher summoned by mistake, who’d somehow managed to fulfill the very mission I was supposed to botch.

A teacher who badly wanted a cup of coffee.

And who didn’t need to save her daily miracle for some vital emergency.

“What’s this smell?” asked Sirit when I entered the kitchen with a canvas bag in my arms.

“Roasted coffee beans.” I put the bag on the table and breathed in its delicious smell. “They’re used for making a hot drink in my native world. There are many ways to prepare it, but the simplest one consists in grinding the beans and brewing them.”

“Where did you get it?”

I grinned.

“I used my special hero power! I initially wanted a living bush, but apparently you can’t transfer wildlife from one plane to another, so I had to settle for already roasted beans.”

“Interesting. Tell me the name again?”

“Coffee.”

The word tasted sweet on my tongue.

“I’ve been craving it ever since I was summoned.”

Sirit took one bean between two fingers and looked at it. “All right. It looks a bit unusual, but not dangerous. I’ll use a pepper grinder for the first try, if that’s fine by you.”

“Yes, please.”

The aroma soon filled the place, and finally, for the first time since my summoning, I got a cup of dark coffee. Several cooks tried it too. They all grimaced at its bitterness, but to me, it tasted like nostalgia mixed with raw energy.