Fawks was giving a big grin.

“Well, you’ve been very helpful to my plans. Because of you, that man was willing to help us out.”

“Who?” Kotori said bewildered at what Fawks was alluding to.

“The man who saved you, Amah” Fawks said.

“Who… is Amah?” Kotori asked.

“He’s one of the Queensguard. Sworn to protect the Queen of Eris, my mother” Fawks said grimacing while talking about his mother.

[Eris is a… Queendom?] Kotori thought. She had always heard it referred to as a kingdom, so thus she assumed it had a male ruler as well.

“Why would he protect me, I’m not a queen?” Kotori asked.

“Well…” Fawks said shuffling his feet. He had lost the proud demeanor he had before. He then clasped his hands together and bowed his head as if he was about to beg forgiveness.

“You’ve been chosen as a queen’s candidate! Please forgive me!” Fawks said.

“Queens candidate?” Kotori said. She was getting even more confused by each of the statements that Fawks was making.

“The Kingdom of Eris doesn’t have hereditary royalty. Rather, the heirs of the current ruling family are tasked to find a suitable female candidate, often the female heirs will nominate themselves, but male candidates will be forced to find someone else. It’s a troublesome thing, I came to Flare to avoid it all. It seems despite all my efforts, I still couldn’t run from my heritage after all.” Fawks explained

He then jumped down into a dogeza

“I apologize for tricking you, that ring was actually the ring that royalty carries to identify their choice. The light you saw was confirmation to the kingdom I had made my choices”

[Candidates? Does that mean we are tested or something?] Kotori thought. She had been a good test taker in her past life, so if the test to become a queen was anything like the university examinations she would be in a good spot. Regardless she didn’t really want to be a queen anyway, it was too much publicity for her.

“Umm… I don’t really mind, I’ll just recede my claim and we’ll be fine right?”

Fawks shook his head.

“There is no backing out. The losing sides will be executed along with their candidates, otherwise, there would be too many challenges to the throne.” Fawks explained

“I held off for so long, I would’ve really like to not get my head chopped off. I even kept the confirmation tool on the ship” Fawks said sighing.

“Why did Amah protect me if I’m not the queen,” Kotori asked.

“The queensguard are sworn to protect the candidates until there are done competing with each other. It would be foul play for a candidate to be taken out prematurely due to subterfuge.” Fawks said

“I see” Kotori said she it was quite a bit to take in. She didn’t really want to be a queen, but it seemed like it would be troublesome if she didn’t at least try to compete.

“What happens if I don’t go?” Kotori said

Fawks gave a thin smile.

“Please don’t entertain the thought, the new royalty would be crown and they would make an order to hunt us down and eliminate us, since we could still be challengers to the throne.” Fawks said.

[Looks Like I’m not getting out of this] Kotori would much rather fight on an even playing field to become the queen than have to deal with pursuers.

“You currently have sanctuary on this ship, Amah is protecting you.” Fawks said

“So, you lost your seat,” Kotori asked

“Unfortunately, that is the case, we haven’t been able to leave the ship.”

“I see, then can we enter the city” Kotori asked.

“I’m sure that you can, Amah will protect you regardless, but I’m not afforded the same protection, unfortunately,” Fawks said.

He turned toward the porthole looking out of it.

“I’m having a few associates prepare for us to voyage back”

“Wait, now?” Kotori said she was surprised to find out that they were leaving now.

“What about my rice and the wheat!” Kotori said. She had taken the villager's wheat without returning it.

“Oh, that has been taken care of, I’m having the same associate do the deal in my stead.”

“Okay,” Kotori said relaxing.

“I’m the last of my siblings to chose a candidate they were about to start without me, but now that I’ve chosen one they will wait, fate does work in mysterious ways.”

[Didn’t he also put the ring on me quite early? What he planning this all along]

Kotori asked Fawks about this.

“Well, I can’t say I planned for this. I put the ring on you in case there was an emergency but I didn’t think I would ever have to use it.”

“So it wasn’t a slave ring after all?” Kotori asked

“No, it is, the male heir is considered the first subordinate of the candidate, you still own me” Fawks said.

“Let’s test that, jump of the ship and drown as an apology for tricking me” Kotori said

“Aiee!” Fawks started walking as if compelled by an unnatural force

“Cancel, that” Kotori ordered. She was just testing the collar after all.

Fawks turned back around.

“Please don’t make jokes” she said, his face was still pale after being compelled to nearly kill himself.

“I deserve a little teasing after the trouble you put me through,” Kotori said indignantly

“Must you be so vindictive?” Fawks asked exasperated.

Kitsura

Going on vacation so my releases may be a bit erratic, until july 4th ok~

Also I've realized that at the pace I''m currently writing it will take me over a year to finish this story. 

So I've made a few adjustments. I am going to accelerate the plot and probably remove an arc and add it to the afterstory. It's a little painful, but tbh I really only have 2-3* more major arcs planned out once this arc is finishing up.