Stahlia, Sixteen Years Old, Ninth Month of 948

A whole lot of questions, practically no answers. Not that there was anything to be gained from moping around in bed all day. After a few minutes of contemplation, and letting Felicity get her fill of my hand rubbing her ears, it was time to act, “Felicity, where is everyone else? Edith, Sarala, Rupert, Jacqueline, Stil, Sana… and Rosial.”

Cocking her head, she appeared thoughtful for a moment, “Felicity doesn’t know, but Claire Neechan says that everyone is being kept in the castle until you woke up. It was Felicity’s turn to watch you!”

“…We’re in the castle right now?”

“Uhn! It’s really big and pretty!”

That, that wasn’t really what I meant.

“Right, but did anyone tell you why they’re keeping us here?”

“Yea, Stahlia Neechan is marrying Rupert Oniisama right? Claire Neechan was really mad when she found out, but Felicity is just happy it isn’t Dominic. He smelled gross!”

“…Right, sorry about that Claire. I couldn’t tell anyone. …Can you find someone who can carry a message, and have Rupert informed that I’m awake now? I need to find out what I missed.”

“Fiiinnneee, but you have to give lots of pats later ok?”

“I will, now shoo!”

Waving Felicity out of the room with overdramatic hand gestures got me a light giggle before she scampered off. There would be a lot of questions soon but for now, there were a few minutes of alone time to get my thoughts in order. It had been extremely weird; my abilities with Blood Magic had not allowed me to do something like vision-based appraisal before. But now…

Reaching out my hand and placing it on the bedside table, my hand closed around a flower that had been sitting in a vase. Mana surged through my body and down my arm, permeating the flower. It moved a lot smoother than it had before as though some sort of barrier had been removed. So smooth in fact, that it was difficult to control. The flower burst into flames made of pure mana, before crystallizing into ice. In shock, my hand released and the flower dropped from my grip to the floor, where it shattered.

Holy shit. It’s a good thing I used that visual appraisal on Felicity, instead of contact… I might have killed her!

That being said, the contact appraisal had worked. Based on the readout, the flower was a Dragon Lily. Normally, that would be all the information that I received on an inanimate object or simple lifeform, but now… Now there was a lot more. Somehow, I knew how old the lily was, its health condition, the various alchemical properties it held, and a myriad of other incidental information.

So, coming back gave me an upgrade? Or was it disconnecting from the system that’s responsible?

Questions for later. For now, learning my limits. Looking down at the icy-lily shards, my eyes focused in on one of the bigger chunks. Plucking it from the ground, the process was repeated and I once again attempted to appraise it. This time, I did my darndest to maintain control of my mana. I did not want to further destroy it. Easier said than done; my mana circuits felt like a faucet that had recently had the hard water removed. What would originally have resulted in a gentle flow, was now a torrent. This was going to take some time to get used to.

Before it shattered, the name of the ice chunk was revealed; “Crystalized Ice Element – Organic.” There was also some information about the properties, but the connection was severed before the list could finish populating. Evidently, “crystalized” mana did not like receiving more mana, even if it was from the same source.

Almost like overcharging a battery, to be honest. There’re probably a lot of uses for this, but not being able to appraise things is going to be a bit of a pain.

Indeed, the “visual appraisal” done with my divine eyes did not seem to work on the shards of crystal. The only thing I could think of was that it had something to do with whether or not the target had a soul or not. As if my divine eyes were reading the information straight from the soul, while the contact appraisal was analyzing the physical. This would need further testing with other things, other people.

In other words, nothing else I can do with it for now. Let’s see how atrophied I am.

The last time had only resulted in me aging two years. It had taken some time to get used to my “new” body, what with my reach changing, my center of balance shifting, and all the minor things. Luckily though, my muscles had remained relatively intact, but that was mostly only because of potions supplied by Jacqueline. While she was still alive, based on what Adroni had shown me, she was not in any condition to help me this time. Hopefully, Rupert had managed something, but it would take some testing to be sure.

And based on how I feel, my center of gravity has indeed shifted again… ugh.

I had been doing my best to ignore it, but that had been kind of hard with Felicity clinging to me. My body had… grown. Granted, it had been growing steadily after the last time I invoked my authority in such a manner, but this was a lot different. After gingerly sitting up in bed and feeling things out, it was apparent that it would take a bit more time than previously to get back to a hundred percent.

It was bad enough there was a momentary fear that it may require me to relearn how to walk in the first place. Groundless of course; as it took only a few moments to figure out how to compensate for the added weight. Still, it would be a bit before it was something I could do subconsciously. That meant that for the time being things would need to be taken slowly, at least as far as mobility was concerned.

The room itself was surprisingly spartan. When Felicity had said we were being kept in the palace, my expectation had been a lot of pointlessly gaudy decoration. Instead, it was barely fancier than my home back in Ris. Sure, the furnishings were all obviously expensive, but they did not look like it at first glance. The bed I was in, for example, was soft and comfortable but it just looked like a bed.

Had I not been laying in it, my impression would have been that it was sturdy and functional, nothing more. Knowing Rupert’s personality, everything was probably like that. He did not strike me as someone who would spend money unless it served a purpose. Gingerly stepping down, my next stop was the mirror set up in the corner. Like the bed, it was simple and unadorned. After looking at the reflection though, it became apparent just how expensive it must have been.

Normally, while looking at a mirror, there were things that would be off. Parts of the reflection would be wrong or distorted by tiny imperfections in the glass. A smudge from a fingerprint might cause the image to blur. Colors would be distorted as the mirror absorbed some of the light instead of reflecting it back. That was not the case here; this reflection was, as far as I could tell, perfect.

It was almost like looking at another, living, breathing, existing copy of myself. To the point that it would not have been surprising if the copy of me did some creepy horror movie shit and smiled at me or waved. Uncanny was the term that immediately came to mind. Of course, my hand simply bounced off a smooth surface when I subconsciously tried to touch my image. This was a mirror, not a portal to a parallel dimension or some such fancy.

The smudge my fingers left on the glass helped to ground the reflection in reality, and made it a lot less disconcerting to look at. Studying myself brought back memories of the first time I had seen this face. As far as I could tell, eleven years ago. Before dying the first time.

I was presented with a highly detailed 3d model of the woman from the gender select screen, sans robe and staff, though she was wearing underwear. Strangely, I did not see any sliders with which to adjust proportions or select a hairstyle, only some color options for all the usual areas every game tends to have. Stuff like skin tone, hair color, iris shade, and so on. At the bottom of the screen were the now-familiar options to proceed to the next section, in this case, class selection, or to go back.

After some fiddling, I realized the mouse became a sculpting tool when hovering over a region of the body; by highlighting the bust, I could scroll the mouse wheel to deflate or inflate, though there was an upper and lower limit. I could also click and drag to make them perkier or saggier, though this also seemed to be influenced by the amount of hot air I pumped into them. This was in all honesty, a highly detailed appearance editor. I set about sculpting my character based on the playstyle I had in mind. Yup, playstyle. I’m totally not making her based on what I personally find attractive…

I wound up with a lithe build, roughly 160 centimeters tall. A modest bust that was perhaps a bit on the small side. Her hair was a shade of red that was almost black, with a natural wavy pattern. I had spent about twenty minutes fiddling with said hair before a box popped up telling me that hair would grow at a natural rate while playing and thus attempting to set a style would simply result in odd growth patterns.

That message honestly startled me, it was almost like someone was watching me work, but everything else about the game seemed so advanced I just wrote it off as just another smart feature, aimed at players who were extremely picky like myself.

Her eyes color was a very light azure that was approaching silver, it went very nicely with the hair. I left the face mostly intact; I knew better than to try and sculpt something that didn’t look like an abomination. Though, I did smooth it out a bit and round some of the sharp edges just slightly. In all honesty, she wound up looking slightly indistinct Asian with a bit of German. I selected an appropriately light skin tone to match the general shape and then set the lips to a slightly redder tone of that. Looking over the model, I decided it was pretty good for my first session with this editor and clicked on the button to advance to class selection. While the new page was loading, I glanced at the clock on my phone. Grimacing, I decided I had not looked. It was almost 4:00 am.

The class selection page was populated with five lists, each one conveniently labeled with “Tier One-Five” respectively. Each list consisted of a familiar scrolling menu populated by terms that would be familiar to any RPG player, each one of which also listed Life Point cost…

With a jolt, my senses returned. Looking around the room revealed that it was unchanged. I was still in the palace where I had awoken. Only, now sitting on the floor.

Apparently I fell? What the hell was that? Everything was so real like I was back creating the character for the first time… That was… disconcerting.

I checked my body carefully and was pleased to find that it was once again that of Stahlia, not George.

But seriously, what the hell…? Does it have something to do with [Eidetic Memory] being corrupted? If that’s the case, what about my other skills? What if something like this happens in the middle of a fight!? That would get me killed!

“Breathe. It isn’t a big deal, I can just tune out my skills and talents like I used to do, when I wanted to memorize something without Eidetic Memory.”

That or it was probably possible for me to outright remove the offending talent by invoking my authority. But that was one hundred and ten percent the last resort; the moment the thought crossed my mind to do that the memory of the pain Sitri, and by extension me, experienced when her class was sealed also surfaced. There was also the highly probable risk that doing something like that would put me in a coma again. No, it would be better to avoid taking that action unless it became the only possible option.

A knock came from the door, indicating that someone had arrived. The sudden sound startled me and caused me to jump to my feet in a panic. Not the best thing, considering that my body was still a bit foreign to me, and my momentum caused me to overshoot the landing even as I called out for whoever it was to enter.

“Ah! Come in! …SHIT!”

The door opened, and Rupert entered the room along with Gustav and Edith. Just in time for my fiance to see my faceplant, his assistant to witness me sliding to a halt, and my friend to see me struggle to quickly recover as tears welled up in my eyes; breasts, as it turned out, were incredibly sensitive to impact.

“Stahlia…? Are you ok!?”

Edith, it seemed, was at least sympathetic.

After bushing away the budding tears and taking a moment to come to grips with my display, I decided the best course of action was to pretend that nothing had happened.

“I’m fine. Just a bit startled is all… I understand why Prince Rupert and Lord Gustav are here, but why are you here, Edith?”

My friend’s face contorted into a pained expression of grief.

Oh shit, from what I remember, Rupert was with Duke Claurence when things went to shit. He teleported out, but left the duke behind, he isn’t dead is he!?

“I am here on behalf of my father and as your friend, to offer a sincere apology for the failure of our house.”

“…Oh. Is your father alright?”

“Yes, why wouldn’t he be? He has gone out with His Highness Prince Rupert’s forces to put down the rebellion of the traitor prince.”

“Excuse me?”

At the look of incredulity on my face, Edith nodded, “Right, you wouldn’t know; his highness will want to explain… I’m glad you recovered, Lady Stahlia.”

Edith curtseyed and quickly left the room. Not that there was any reason to blame her, considering who else was in it with us.

I’ll need to find the time to speak with her and Sarala later. For now, it sounds like I missed some pretty major stuff after Adroni sent me back.

“…Prince Rupert, thank you for looking after everything while I was recovering.”

I bowed my head in genuine gratitude towards the prince.

“Enough, we have more pressing concerns to discuss, and do not have time to waste standing on ceremony. First, how much do you know already? Sending me a message from beyond death, and then asking about Duke Claurence… Clearly, you know some things already.”

Raising my head, I proceeded to elaborate on what had happened from my perspective after my death; how Adroni had shown me the immediate aftermath as it affected my immediate associates. By keeping things simple and omitting my own speculations, the whole recounting took only an hour. Rupert and Gustav let me talk without asking questions. At this point, they had probably decided to just take whatever they were told at face value, no matter how absurd or outlandish it sounded.

After my spiel had finished, Rupert adopted a pensive expression and began to mumble to himself. Recognizing that he was thinking out loud, I tuned the ramblings out and addressed Gustav.

“What… what happened with Rosial? Also, Jacqueline. After… after what I was shown.”

Gustav gave Rupert a side-long glance before answering my question, “Your sister is being looked after, though she has not made very much progress… when we are finished here, someone will take you to see her.”

After seeing me nod in quiet acknowledgment, he continued.

“As for Jacqueline, she pulled through… but not unscathed. She is currently paralyzed from the waist down; her lower spine was damaged when Five tore through her stomach.”

“…Right. Is she being looked after as well?”

“She is, Lady Rosial seems to have bonded with her; Jacqueline’s stories about you have been helping maintain her present state without deterioration.”

That’s good then… A Goddess Draught should be able to repair the spinal damage as well as the arm. This just means I have to go all-in on that plan, instead of making it a side goal.

“Thank you. Is Stil still helping Rosial?”

Gustav nodded before checking Rupert’s state again. Seeing the prince was about to come out of his own world, my former instructor reached inside his robe and produced a very expensive-looking ring in a small box. At a glance, it was obviously made of rather rare metal. Not mythril or orichalcum though. It was only a guess on my part, but the pearly-fluorescent finish made me think of an alloy of rose gold and orichalcum called rose steel.

While Mythril had a repelling effect on mana, rose steel was extremely conductive. If not for the price tag, it would be the favored material of magic tool makers. The brooch itself was carved into the crest of the royal family and had a rather large blue topaz set in it, which matched my birth month. While this world did not have a custom of engagement or wedding rings, it was not uncommon for high-profile marriages to do something along those lines.

So the engagement was made public then. That’s obviously meant to mark me as being a member of the royal family, unlike the ring something that expensive is definitely not meant to be worn in a concealed manner.

“Will me no longer being winter’s champion complicate the engagement?”

It was Rupert who answered my question.

“No, that was not disclosed. Instead, a somewhat understated version of your fight with Count Francois was spread, and used as justification.”

“I see. What about him? Was he recovered?”

For the first time since meeting him, I saw a genuinely upset expression grace Rupert’s face.

“No, he was not. Gustav prioritized Rosial and Jacqueline’s extraction. Though we immediately sent men to collect the count, he had been taken before they arrived. We thought it had been Sitri, but based on what you just shared that seems unlikely.”

The room fell into a short lull as they gave me time to process that revelation. It was unneeded, however; I had already been told that Five was going to be freed. This was just a bit sooner than expected was all.

“Very well, I assume you have probably already arrived at a conclusion regarding the new suspect. Before that, this brooch?”

At my word, Gustav handed the brooch to Rupert, who in turn presented it to me.

“I will refrain from wasting time on ceremonies, this is intended to serve publicly as a mark of our engagement. Privately, it will serve as a wedding ring, and carries an enchantment to mask your present state.”

Excuse me, it will what?

“…Wedding?”

Rupert nodded grimly, “Yes, wedding. In truth, we are rather short on time; the contract we signed specified that we would be married when you were sixteen. Your actions caused that to come much sooner than I had anticipated. Had you not woken up when you did, there was a very real risk that the contract would be violated.”

“But wasn’t there also a bit about us being engaged for a year at least!? And restrictions on public knowledge!?”

Rupert nodded, “Yes, though because of the wording it will suffice if that perception is maintained publicly; consider this an unfortunate loophole brought about by conditions I was not privy to when we made the contract… I would have added a clause to account for this possibility had I known of it.”

His last remark was a bit biting and made me flinch, though both of the men present were tactful enough not to point that reaction out.

He’s not wrong… There really isn’t any way that something like this could have been predicted then, not without me telling him… It’s a bit irritating things turned out this way though…

There was something about the whole situation that just… irritated me. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it though.

“…Fine. When will we have the ceremony? Or will we be skipping that as well?”

“Your parents delayed their trip at my behest; I kept them away due to the present unstable nature of the capital… Now that you are awake, I will have them brought here. After their arrival, we will have a small private ceremony. Other than your own parents, you will need three witnesses.”

After a moment of careful consideration, given what was being asked, I came up with a few names.

“Edith can act in lieu of her father; their family cared for me while I was hiding from Count Francois… and D-Dominic… As for others, Jacqueline will do, as long as she is able. Then, have a man named Sieg brought to the capital with my parents. Unfortunately, my adult acquaintances are rather limited.”

What the hell was that? Why did I stammer just now when I said his name?

Rupert shot a look at Gustav, who nodded, “I will make the arrangements. Assuming things go smoothly, your parents will be here in a week. Given the state of the kingdom, it would be best to have the ceremony as soon as possible after they arrive… Within a day or two at most.”

That assertation made me raise an eyebrow, “Can they get here that fast?”

Rupert nodded, “They can; Gustave will send a magic communication to the knight commander. A unit has been placed on standby to escort them.”

“Then, about the ring?”

Interpreting my question correctly, Rupert explained the enchantment he had mentioned.

“I had Gustav’s people construct a complex illusion enchantment on the ring; it will cause you to appear as though you were still around twelve, as well as tweak your voice. It is strictly an illusion though; anyone who is already aware of the truth will not be affected by such a passive method, and it cannot fool touch.”

Accepting the ring and slipping it on my finger, I felt it drawing a small trickle of mana. Fortunately, it seemed like it was set up to automatically activate while worn, so it would not take from my focus. A quick glance at the mirror showed no change, but Rupert had said that the illusion wouldn’t work on anyone who knew already, so that should be expected.

“I suppose it’s better to have than not… Will my parents be safe? You wouldn’t go to such lengths unless you deemed it necessary… The kingdom is at war, isn’t it.”

“Indeed… While not unexpected, it is troubling how my brother has acted.”

That’s an understatement! The game starts in a little over a year, and Prince Antonio goes and starts a civil war?

Based on the events shown to me regarding Rupert’s family meeting, a civil war was not unexpected. Antonio had clearly been either unstable or unwilling to accept the king’s decision. All it would take was a little push in the right direction to provoke him to act…

“Sitri.”

Rupert nodded, “Indeed, I arrived at a similar conclusion after what you told me of your experiences. Likely, she has somehow incited my brother. I had hoped he would take this course of action, but doing it now is… ill-timed. Even for him.”

“How did the political landscape settle?”

“Gustav can fill you in on that, I have a meeting with the Dukes that I am late for.” Rupert stood and headed for the door before pausing, “…I’m glad to see you recovered.”

Sure you are, you bet everything on bringing me in after all.

“Thank you.”

He nodded and then departed. Following his exit, a knight entered the room so that Gustav would not be left alone with me. That begged the question though, of how much the knight knew about our circumstances. Gustav picked up on my covert glance and elaborated.

“A small group of “knights” loyal to Ferdinand have been made aware of what happened to you. He is one of them. Other than that, Ladies Edith and Sarala know. Rosial is… aware but I am not sure she comprehends. Jacqueline of course, and then Rupert and I.”

“You have not told my parents?”

“It would be too risky to tell them over such a long distance, even by magic. That being said, Rupert would prefer if you tell them; otherwise, they would perceive him to be secretly marrying a twelve-year-old.”

“Well, given that the illusion will not work on touch, I will have to tell them anyway so he can be at ease… Now, how have the nobles reacted?”