Stahlia, Sixteen Years Old, Eleventh Month of 948

Sasha had given me a lot to think about, and it had been nagging at me for nearly a week now. Certainly, embracing Lady Lester while distancing myself from Duke Lawrence would solve the immediate issues. But the potential consequences of those actions were scary. It was doubtful that they would go so far as to rebel against Rupert, the wind was clearly blowing in an unfavorable direction. No, it was the little ways they could hamper things.

With what was coming, we would need as many people on board as possible and completely alienating one faction of the nobility was not a risk I could afford to take. Ideally, I could find a solution to accomplish that but it was probably impossible.

Even if I was alright with having my parents marry Rosin out of the family, doing that would just make me look weak in the long run. It would signal Duke Lester that I’m open to manipulations.

“My lady, you need to come to a decision soon.”

My pacing slowed and then stopped, “I know. I’m just…”

Sasha cut me off, “If I may?” At my nod, she continued, “You want a solution where everyone will be happy. That does not exist, or if it does, it would be impossible to find in time.”

I bit my lip, what she was telling me made sense and I knew that it was just, “…And if I make the wrong decision?”

“You do not.”

Right, in an autocracy, there is no leeway for screwing up.

With a sigh, I made my way over to a seat, “Rupert agreed with you, like you said he would… That I should align with Lady Lester and pressure the second prince’s faction. Edith is against me joining either one, but agrees that Lady Lester is the better option. Why then, why am I so conflicted still?”

Sasha shook her head in a slightly defeated manner, “That, I cannot answer. But was it not you who decided to trust your friends and allies? It sounds as though we are all telling you the same thing.”

“…You are right… I cannot keep being so indecisive.” I took a deep breath, “Summon Lady Lester and Lady Edith.” Sasha gave a slight nod and moved to a small desk to draft the letter.

I mostly want Edith there for support, but her presence will also further distance me from the Lewis family. Hopefully, it doesn’t backfire on me.

“What setting will we use?” Sasha’s inquiry caught me slightly off guard; I did not have much experience socializing with other noble ladies, beyond visiting Edith for tea and such. Fortunately, I had someone who was something of an expert on hand.

“What do you recommend? I imagine something public would be best?”

Sasha placed her hand on her chin in thought and nodded, “Indeed, a venue where you would be seen with them would facilitate the spreading of rumors. But throwing another gala or a ball would be a bit extreme.”

Wait, that’s an option? Seriously, a ball?

Paying no mind to the momentary surprise on my face, my maid continued on, “Perhaps a concert or play? What do you think?”

Shaking my head quickly to reset the surprise, I gave her my agreement, “That would work. Something light would be best, to make it easier to speak.”

Sasha gave a quick nod, “Then I shall find an appropriate company and summon them.”

I shouldn’t even be surprised that me going to a concert involves calling it to me. Then again, that makes sense from a security standpoint. Speaking of,

“Then, I will leave the arrangements to you. Have Elienor and the others arrived yet?”

Sasha actually looked a bit relieved and nodded, “Yes, I was actually about to bring this up; Lady Elienor, Miss Lucy, and Miss Frieda have all been transferred into your care. Shall I send for them?”

“Yes, as soon as everything is sorted out it will make life much easier for you. I need the people helping me to be as capable as possible, since helping me is such a task.”

She actually let out a soft laugh at that before excusing herself to go and get the people in question.

Good, they arrived on time.

It was honestly impressive how quickly arrangements had been made in regards to my friend and former attendants. According to Gustav, everything had been in place to transfer them into my direct custody once the order was given.

In that respect, maybe it’s proper to say that it’s surprising it took so long? No, we had to make it look organic; about a week is the minimum amount of time that would be believable. Any faster, and people would perhaps assume the truth; that Rupert and I staged the whole thing.

A few minutes later, Elienor was led into my room along with Lucy and Frieda. As they entered the room, I fed mana into my eyes. Though I trusted Rupert’s conclusion that they were in the clear, there was no harm in double-checking for myself. Certainly, they would not notice.

Frieda seemed to be a bit reserved and cautious which was understandable. Lucy was similar to Frieda but instead of being totally calm her eyes were darting around while her ears twitched nervously. All three of them were clean of demonic mana and did not have any voids in their own mana flow that would have indicated a parasite’s presence.

It’s kind of like Felicity’s ears. I wonder if there are any similarities between elves and beastkin? Nah, there’s no way.

Though I could see her mana just fine, Elienor was being somewhat shielded from my view by the other two, but she looked tired; she had bags under her eyes, her hair was a bit unkempt, and her general demeanor seemed simply depressed. Given what she had been going through the past half a year, her change in demeanor was rather understandable. It would be on me now to try and help her as much as I could.

After all, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that I am directly responsible for what happened. Granted, Count Francois brought this on himself but my own hand can’t be understated. If she came to hate me, it would be completely justified.

Elienor looked up at me from behind the other two. Her immediate reaction was complicated and she did indeed express hatred in one of her facial expressions. Finally, she settled back to simply depression before mumbling, “Hey, Stali…”

That much broke my heart when I thought back to the happy energetic girl she had been before everything in her world fell apart, “Elienor, I’m…”

“Sorry?” Her tone was rough and her face bitter. After a moment though, that faded away, “Why? You seem to be just fine.”

Well, this is going to shit.

She continued, “You broke my brother. You destroyed my family! And after all of that, you left me alone for nine months! Every day, I thought they were finally going to have me killed! Ye’ don’t get to be sorry!” By the end of the tirade, she was screaming her words. When she was finally finished, she collapsed to her knees defeated.

It was easy for me to forget at times, considering how exceptional all of my friends were, that they were in fact still children. Of course Elienor would have been completely destroyed by what happened. What was I going to do? Install her as a maid? From her perspective, it would simply look like I was keeping her around to gloat, whatever my actual intentions were.

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Defeated, all I could think to do was press on, “Yes. I am sorry. I should have moved to help you a lot sooner, back when Dominic first started getting violent. For that, I am sorry.” Turning from Elienor to address Lucy and Frieda, I briefly caught Lucy looking at me with utter contempt before she rapidly adjusted her face.

Yea, I deserve that.

“I have made arrangements with Rupert to secure the three of you your lives. If you sign these, I can even grant a degree of freedom; they are general servant contracts. Regardless of what you decide, I cannot let you leave my care.” I gestured to Sasha and she presented the three slips to Frieda, who took them gracefully enough. Even if her movements were a bit stiff.

At this point, I would have liked to leave them alone in the room, but my station prevented that. Instead, I had Sasha guide them to one of the drawing rooms along with one of my knights to keep an eye on them lest they try anything. In my mind a cruel measure, but one I knew was not debatable.

“Sasha, did you know it would end up like that?” My voice was rather brittle when she returned from the other room, and I collapsed back into my seat.

She nodded once, “Yes, I suspected it would. Frankly, that you did not is rather concerning; I had thought you intended some scheme to work through the girl’s feelings so said nothing.”

Well, there goes any faith she had in me.

“I am a fool.” To my quip, She said nothing.

“I was so caught up in everything, that I neglected to consider the full ramifications. Something I keep doing. What if the alliance with the Lester family turns out like this? Or the coming clean-up? No matter what I do, someone is going to suffer.”

It was something I had thought I had acknowledged long ago. There were even a few times when I had been confronted with the consequences, and been able to get through them without too much issue. But this was the first time it had been so direct and in my face.

No, not the first time. Jacqueline is a textbook case of me fucking up and being slapped in the face with the fallout. But she forgave me and continued to serve; preserving our existing dynamic. Elienor hates me completely.

“My Lady?” With a start, I looked up at Sasha.

“Yes?”

“If I may, I believe you are missing a rather critical piece of information. Or rather, overlooking it.”

Like a light in the darkness, I latched on to my attendant’s words, “What would that be?”

The enthusiasm carried by my response seemed a bit disconcerting for her, but she was able to answer me nonetheless, “Elienor is eleven, and had just entered the Academy. From your perspective, all this happened only a month ago. For her, it has been nearly a year. She was ten when her family fell from the king’s grace.”

Ah…

Sasha was correct. I had indeed been overlooking that little bit of information. Another apology would not suffice; I had made a conscious decision to delay contacting her. In all honesty, that should have been one of the first things I had done upon waking up. Instead, she had become my political pawn.

“I believe you made the right decision; the amount of sympathy you garnered was worth the delay.” I knew she was right, and I hated that.

“Perhaps, but if I could do it differently then I would.”

Sasha shrugged, “Perhaps, but the past is the past; you cannot allow yourself to live there.”

She of course meant her words along the lines of a monarch being unable to let the past hold them back or something. That didn’t mean she was wrong. Whether or not I liked it, from moment to moment, my life went far beyond myself now. With a sigh, I began the process of pushing down the feelings that were boiling up inside me regarding Elienor’s rejection. It was ok for me to be hurt, but dwelling on it was not acceptable in my capacity as the pseudo queen. Nor was it fair to Elienor, who was the one most wronged.

“…Alright. Looking to the future then, I believe it would be better for us to leave the palace rather than call the performers here.”

Sasha paused her idle tasks, and I saw her ears perk up. Encouraged thusly, I began to explain my thought process, “There are three reasons. Firstly, I am not publicly known to be Rupert’s wife; if I called performers here so soon after my debut it might harm my established image by making me seem selfish.”

She nodded, “That is a possibility, though likely rather slim.”

“Yes, but a possibility nonetheless. Second, the goal is for me to be seen engaging with Edith and Lady Lester. If we travel through the noble quarter and attend a play or concert in the upper city many, many more people will see us. That will increase the speed at which news of my apparent faction inclinations spreads.”

“That is true…? What about the risks?”

I smiled, “Even better. Me going out will help calm the people. Sure, there are risks. But it isn’t like we will go out without guards, and if it comes down to it I myself am far from helpless… Though in that case, my merciful image would be damaged.”

Sasha frowned, but she did not say anything against my points. After a moment she shook her head, “Your idea has merit, though I don’t like it; we went through this with that alchemist, you should summon people to you.”

My hand cut through the air in a dismissive wave, “This and that are different. In this case, me going to them makes more sense. Will you make the arrangements, or do I have to make it an order?”

“I will abide. How many guards will you bring?”

Right, obviously I can’t have Lady Lester and Edith bringing their own guards. Both for my own safety against any ill advised actions, as well as the fact that security is the host’s responsibility.

“My primary guards will accompany us, of course. Then as for a supplement, half as many each for both Lady Lester and Edith should suffice?”

Sasha gave me her assent, and began making the plan; once I had given the basics it fell to her to do the nitty gritty.

Just another reason why I wanted to get you some help… If things don’t work out with Lucy and Frieda, I should speak with Rupert about getting at least another couple maids. Sasha just has too much work on her own like this. Elienor is… No, even if she does sign her contract through some miracle, I can’t use her as a maid; it would destroy whatever sliver of friendship we have left…

Thinking about it, it wasn’t like we had been particularly close with each other. Really, she was kind of irritating at best, and a nuisance most times. But out of all the Francois, she was the only one I could genuinely say I felt guilty about. Even if it was just to satisfy my conscience, I wanted to make sure at least she was safe.

“Thump-thump-thump.”

There was a knock at the door. My guard, signaling that the trio had finished their deliberations. Sasha put down her work and made her way over to bring them back before me.

Right, well there’s nothing for it, may as well see how badly things went.

I nodded to her, and Sasha opened the door. To my surprise, Elienor entered first. She briefly made eye contact with me before breaking it off by dropping her gaze to the floor. Frieda was next, followed by Lucy. Frieda seemed rather calm all things considered, but Lucy had a bit of fire in her eyes.

“Here.” Curtly, the dark elf passed the three contracts to Sasha who unfurled them to review.

After a moment she announced, “All three have been signed.”

Wait, all three? Then even Elienor…?

That was surprising, and I couldn’t help but stare at her while letting the surprise show on my face. It had been a certainty that she would decline.

“With all do respect, my lady, Miss Elienor is rather tired. It has been a tumultuous ordeal for her.” Lucy made no effort to hide the disdain she felt, paying the absolute bear minimum of respect all the while lacing her words with venom. I could see Sasha pursing her lips, so hurriedly preempted her.

“I am sure it has, and it was in no small part my fault. For that, I can only apologize.” It looked like Lucy was going to say something, but my words weren’t for her so much as myself at this point. I held up a hand to forestall whatever she was going to say, “I will never apologize for what happened to Dominic and Count Francois.”

Elienor flinched at the sound of her brother’s and father’s names, but I kept going nonetheless, “They posed a very real threat to this kingdom and her people. More than that, they posed a threat to people I cared about. So no, I will not apologize for that. I am sorry that you got involved, that you lost everything as a result of my actions. I am sorry that in the final days I was not there to help you. I am sorry that you were left alone and confused for so long. I will do everything reasonably within my power to make amends, because that is all I can do.”

The room had gone quiet by the time I was done speaking. Sasha looked conflicted, very likely planning a lecture about how a monarch must never lower themselves to a servant or commoner. In this case, if she tried I would tell her to get bent. Lucy seemed a bit deflated, but still clearly angry. Frieda was… taciturn.

As for Elienor, it looked like she was doing her very best not to start crying.

Well, that’s about what I would expect her reaction to be.

Then, she either stopped trying not to cry or failed, because the tears did indeed begin to flow. But, the tears shed were confused. There was sadness, pain, and loss present. But there was also joy and happiness, then she ran at me. If I had been a moment slower to react, one of the knights might have cut her down; as it was their swords were half unsheathed before I stepped forward to intercept her fervent hug.

“Hic, Stali! Stali don’t Hic leave me alone again! Hic.”