That’s when another person walks into the courtyard with us. I hear more “clomphs” and “clops” as they catch up to us. I turn to see a woman that also has a similar physique to Francis and I. She’s got a freakily deranged look on her face, her hair is all over the place and she’s panting. She looks at Francis with a slight blush but then she sees me and frowns.

Her fur is red and she’s slightly shorter than me. Maybe 10 cm shorter than me. (I’m about 200 cm by the way.) her fur goes all the way up to her neck and she has a black tipped nose also. Her eyes are aquamarine and her teeth are all sharp. She’s wearing a blue dress with vanilla accents. Her red hair is long and wavy.

“Who is this imposter, Francis?” She asks as she tosses me a look of distrust.

“This is no imposter Maria, this is our Cesarzowa!” He says as he gestures to me. 

Maria rolls her eyes and scoffs. “I thought you knew this, only true rodzina królewska have purple tongues. Why don’t we have this false idol show us her tongue?” She questions as she approaches me. “Clomp clop cloff.” Her hooves are knocking the street as she moves.

She gets up to me and slowly raises both of her hands. I hear Francis gasps then he commands her “don’t do it Maria! I’m certain that this is our true Cesarzowa.”

“Don’t tell me what you believe! You’re a cruel playboy that sees the good in every woman until you use her, then you just cast them aside!” She takes off her gloves and tosses them at my feet. She begins to tantrum and she puts her hands on my face. She pries my jaw open.

“See I told…” she begins to say but I watch as her eyes peer into my mouth. Her hands let go of my face and she takes a step back. Her face contorts to surprise but then to fear.

“H…how! How is this possible?” Maria begins to ask aloud. She tries to take another step back but stumbles. She falls to the road. She looks up to me with confusion.

I take a step forward and Maria starts begging that I forgive her. “Please, my empress forgive me for my foolishness. I swear I just wanted to verify that you were who you claim to be.” She raises her arms to protect herself and Francis says “what’s coming your way is a result from your lack of faith in our Cesarzowa!” 

I stop in front of her and kneel down, I reach my hand out and she looks at me. Slowly she takes my hand and I pull her back up to her feet. “I don’t get it, why aren’t you mad.” She begins to ask.

“I’m beyond pissed off, don’t get that twisted. But your actions are so insignificant that I have no time to devote to dealing with you!” I hiss at her as she stands back up. Francis runs up to her and hugs her. Then he grabs her shoulders and pushes her to her knees. I watch as Maria is forced to her kneecaps.

“I’m disgusted that my own narzeczony would act in such a matter! Conduct yourself with more regality!” Francis snaps at her and she starts to cry. Something in me was happy despite how wrong this whole situation is. Francis turns on his heel and looks at me.

“Your majestat, are you sure that you don’t want her to receive any formal punishments?” He asks me and I glance at the now sobbing Maria. I felt a cold shiver run up my spine as twisted thoughts circulate my head. 

“I’m not gonna become a monster, let her have her thoughts on me. If she believes I can’t be a queen, then my motivation shall be to prove her wrong.” I say as I look into Francis’ eyes. His light brown fur and hair sparkles in the sunlight and I swear I’d be content just looking at him. I shake my head and rearrange my thoughts.

“Ich freue mich! Francis? Maria? Is that you guys?” a girl's voice says aloud. I turn to face the palace and the doors are wide open. Sitting in a wheelchair on the steps leading up to the palace doors is a girl. About 16-17. She has thick black fur and green eyes. She has a bushy tail and gray stripes along her fur. She has a brown tipped nose and wonky looking teeth. Her front teeth are longer than normal. She has two perky ears and dull claws on her fingertips. She’s wearing a blue dress with green spirals on it. There are three guards around her.

“Oh my, Sophia. What are you doing out of the palace!” Francis says frantically. He runs up to her and kneels down in front of her. She waves her hand and he stands up again.

“ my oh my, and who is this!” Sophia asks excitedly as she sees me. I wave to her and she smiles.

“Somebody of more importance than myself. That’s my equivalent of a Kaiserin. She’s the empress of my people, ma’am.” Francis says about me and I grin.

“She’s tall, why is she so tall?” Sophia asks Francis and I hear Maria snort a laugh down.

“It’s a trait of my people. We are quite tall aren’t we?” He says in a kind and curious voice and Sophia laughs.

“But she’s even taller than You! Francis. You keep finding so many odd women.” Sophia laughs at him. And Francis gives her a weak smile.

“Aside from that, why is the Prinzessin of Alino -Haquerés out of her room? I thought your dad had people evaluating your health?” Francis asks her softly.

“Well I wasn’t getting any better so I thought I’d leave the room to get some fresh air!” Sophia pouts to Francis as she stretches her hands out and grasps at the air.

“Hmm, well guess what. I heard that your Necrotinit advisor got back to Budaper recently. Apparently she was successful in finding you a healer.” Francis says to her and her face contorts.

“Don’t play those games with me Francis, my dad is foolish to believe in the legends of old. There hasn’t been a magical Seerob in over three centuries! Not one to the degree that I’ll need.” Sophia says as she begins to look down at the ground.

“Why don’t we wait until your advisor comes back first? Let’s at least hear her out first? She’ll be here soon.” Francis offers.

“It’s ok, I get that you don’t understand this pain. But it hurts to have someone give you hope despite it being pointless…” Sophia says sadly.

“I wouldn’t be so certain of that. After all, I am the greatest advisor that’s ever existed.” Says a familiar voice. I turn to see Omneera and Serine. They aren’t wearing the scout uniforms I originally met them with. This time Omneera has a long skirt and sweater vest on. Serine is wearing a tan tee-shirt and brown pants.

“Omnee! You’re finally back! It’s been like five days without you. I missed you soo much.” Howls Sophia as she rolls herself down the stairs. Her guards slowly escort her so that she doesn’t stumble down the steps.

“Hey pal, are you holding up well? Guess what!” Omneera says with her hands doing a gesture.

“What? Did you actually succeed in your mission of finding a healer?” Sophia asks Omneera and Serine walks up next to me.

“You bet my fangs I did! I think you’ll like her. She doesn’t act the way she is supposed to and she’s really young too! If you could give me just a second though I’ve gotta do something.” Omneera says as she gets up off her knees and walks to Francis.

“Why am I not surprised to find you here. Well it looks like you kept your end of the deal. Her you go. Now get lost!” Omneera growls but Francis grins wildly and says “you expect me to leave my Cesarzowa even though I just met her? You are so cruel.” He laughs as he turns to walk away. 

He makes it to the gate and stops. Then he says “if you’re interested in the state of our peoples, come visit me in west Galicia. I’m always waiting for you, my queen.” He says this without looking back, then he calls out to Maria and she follows behind him.

“What was that about?” I ask Serine but something’s off about serine. She smells like sweat and she’s acting super stiff and indifferent. I roll my eyes and look back to Omneera. She continues to talk with Sophia.

“In fact, the healer that I found is in this very courtyard.” Omneera says as Sophia’s eyes land on me…