Stahlia, Sixteen Years Old, Ninth Month of 948

To answer my question about the state of the other noble houses, Gustav first sent for a map. Once it had arrived, he began indicating various parts of the kingdom while telling me about who controlled which. As had been expected, as a result of Rupert’s machinations, the majority of the nobles had sided with him. His own faction had remained loyal after he made a show of ousting Count Francois and purging the few rogue elements that had been sided with him.

The members of the late second prince’s faction had for the most part fallen under Rupert’s banner, while the neutral nobles had followed Duke Claurence after his own public declaration of support. Only those nobles who were two close to the western regions, or who had already been members of the first prince’s faction had sided with Antonio.

That left the traitor faction pretty heavily outnumbered, and out supplied. From a tactical perspective, even a layman like myself could see that they were in an inferior position. That begged the question of why the civil war had not been ended already.

“Well, it isn’t quite so simple. The quality of their troops eclipses our own. Levels being equal, Duke Febligi and his own troops have far more combat experience and train more aggressively. In a straight fight, we would need somewhere around a three-to-one advantage, according to Commander Henrake. The actual number of troops is only around two to one, since Rupert’s supporters were less militant.”

“So what’s the plan then? I’ll do what I can to support, but I’m not so great at tactics and strategy.”

“You won’t be taking part. It wouldn’t look good politically to send a twelve-year-old girl to war, and his highness has other ways for you to contribute. Those can be discussed after the wedding though. For now, things have devolved into a stalemate.”

“What if they feel backed into a wall? A cornered rat and all that.”

Gustav nodded, “That is the plan. We control the bread-basket of the kingdom. Prince Antonio’s forces may have the martial edge, but they lack industry; the formerly neutral nobles having sided with his highness.”

“So Prince Rupert wants to simply wait for now, and see if the opponent can be goaded into making a mistake?”

That seems ill-advised to me, especially if we suspect that Sitri and Five are with them, but I really can’t comment on strategy… I’m smart, but not in that way. Just like the goblins, it would be better if I was deployed strategically, or in a support capacity.

“More or less, at the moment we are waiting for winter to set in. The food stores available should be dwindling come spring, and we have a terrain advantage, with the Ris mountains wrapping around the traitors anyways. They would have to pass through here, but enough of that. Leave the war to us for now, and go meet the people waiting for you.”

Gustav had a twinkle in his eye that had been missing for a while, ever since the revelation of his allegiance to Rupert. It was the same eccentric look he had back when I had accidentally-intentionally “invented” calculus. It made me think he was hiding something.

“…What are you planning Gustav?”

He threw up his hands in greatly exaggerated indignation, “Lies and slander, I have not schemed anything!”

“Haaah… Just tell me where everyone is.”

If Rupert and Gustav were going to let me stop for a bit, it was an opportunity that would be grasped wholeheartedly. After everything that had happened, some downtime would be greatly appreciated. After all, it was pretty obvious that things would be picking up again after the early wedding ceremony. If they were going to give me shore leave in the meantime, who was I to say no?

Gustav gave me a quick rundown of what everyone was doing and the order they were available to visit. First up would be a tea with Edith and Sarala, followed by visiting Jacqueline in her room. Lastly, Felicity and Rosial. Originally, Rosial was supposed to be first but I insisted on rearranging things; I did not want a time limit on that reunion. Felicity wound up being merged with Rosial, but since they were both my little sisters that was probably for the best. As much as I wanted to have a private reunion, Felicity had already demonstrated anxiety and jealousy towards Rosial.

I can’t throw everything at Claire, I need to be responsible in raising her as well. After all, mom and dad aren’t here.

Thankfully, I had grown used to moving with a somewhat large escort over the week before the battle, so the four knights that had been attached to me were somewhat easy to ignore. That was another thing I had insisted on; now that my engagement was public, Gustav had wanted to summon everyone to me, but that was just too much. After citing a desire to exercise and grow used to my new body, permission was given for me to be the one to do the visiting.

I can already tell that this whole queen thing is going to be a pain. Then again, they did rearrange everything around my insistence, so it shouldn’t be all bad… I’ll need to make sure I don’t abuse that though, I would hate to be a pain in the ass.

Putting all that aside for the time being, I addressed the leader of my escort.

“Commander, are we not going to the Claurence Estate?”

We were heading for one of the palace’s side buildings instead of the entrance. At least, that’s what it seemed like. I didn’t know the layout of the palace but based on some of the light filtering through the window, it was evident we were moving closer to the mountain peak the palace was built around. It was possible that we were taking a scenic route, giving me a chance to look at the place, but that was unlikely.

“No, my lady. Lady Edith and Miss Sarala are being housed in one of the side buildings of the palace; it was his highness’ fear that some of the remaining shadows might attempt to harm them.”

“…One of the remaining Shadows?”

“Indeed, while the Order has been dismantled following the revelation that it’s leader was a demon, not all of the operatives were accounted for among the dead. It is also quite possible that there are agents Count Francois kept hidden.”

“I see, and so Prince Rupert is housing important persons within the palace?”

“That is so.”

After answering my immediate question the knight commander fell silent. That was understandable; His job was to guard me, and me asking questions made that harder. He would answer me if I asked something but, beyond that, it was clear from his demeanor that he preferred to just do his job. Even if these four knew that things weren’t exactly simple, they did not know the whole story about how I had become Rupert’s fiancée.

Instead of bothering my guards with questions that could be answered in more detail later by Gustav, I spent the time looking around the palace curiously. This was ostensibly my home now, so my curiosity should be understandable. Even if I tended to agree with Rupert that a lot of this was a waste of money.

Unlike the room my comatose body had been given, the hallways we were walking down were dazzling. The walls were covered in a layer of fabric instead of paint or paper, and the areas that were exposed had been carved into murals that extended the pattern from the fabric. Those walls themselves were made of what appeared to be a high-quality marble, but my knowledge of stonework was limited.

Every five or so meters, there was a bench made of some kind of dark wood, with indoor planters on either side of it. Several of the flowers being grown in them were known to me, as they possessed some trait or alchemical property. All of them were ingredients I had never expected to see in such quantities though, due to the prohibitive cost. Not that the effect was rare or difficult to obtain from other sources though.

Occasionally there would be a doorway or a branch in the hallway we were walking down. Presumably, these all lead to other guest rooms or some other facility, though as far as I was aware they were currently empty.

Not like I asked for a guest logbook or something though. But we haven’t passed anyone yet, and it wouldn’t make sense for other people to be allowed near me while I was still asleep.

The hall so far had been completely empty, with not even a servant or maid passing us. Granted, we were not going that far, as my friends were being housed relatively nearby to my own rooms. When my group arrived at the rooms being used by Edith and Sarala, the doors opened to reveal the two of them standing nervously. At least Edith was nervous, Sarala seemed somewhat composed in a strange reversal of the roles the two usually played.

“Enough of that. Just because my title changed, does not mean I want our friendship to as well.”

“We, we are still friends?” Edith looked up at me confusedly, “After what happened? Everything was my fault!”

So she’s upset about what happened with Dominic? Well, I’m irritated that she couldn’t get it through her head that I didn’t like him, but she was charmed. Me holding that against her would be beyond petty. Besides, the number of people who know my full story is incredibly slim, I would rather keep them close… I don’t want to be alone again, like when it was just me and Jacqueline.

“Yes, you were not yourself; I do not blame you for anything that happened. Hell, you got Sarala stabbed but the two of you still seem really close, why would I be holding a grudge?”

Edith flinched away from my somewhat stern look, and mumbled under her breath, “Well… we had a bit of a talk about that…”

“Edith, Stahlia already knows about that, remember she appraised me?”

Wait, Sarala already told her…? Damnit! I wanted to see that reaction!

My own petty feelings aside, it was an unequivocally good thing that Sarala had told Edith the truth about her own heritage. Keeping one friend’s secret from another friend would have been painful, especially if the two of them were as inseparable as Edith and Sarala.

“Yes, I am already aware of Sarala not being human, it is relieving to see that that revelation hasn’t driven a wedge between the two of you.”

We fell into a sort of awkward silence then. Sarala seemed to have taken a distance from things; she and I had no issues with each other, and she recognized that me and Edith coming to terms with each other would be the most important outcome of this get-together.

For my part, I was content to wait for Edith to make the next move. After a few minutes, Edith’s maid came in and offered us tea but otherwise things persisted in this manner. Just as the silence was becoming unbearable for me, Edith finally spoke up.

“You look… a lot older.”

So she’s decided to ignore the inconvenient bits, and forcibly move forward. I can work with that… though it might cause some trouble later on…

“…Well, I did age four years in the past few months.”

“Lady Stahlia,” catching my grimace, Edith corrected herself, “Stahlia, when you told Sarala there would be a cost to curing the charm, is this what you meant?”

I see Sarala told her about that part of the conversation. Oh well, not like there’s anything to gain by keeping it a secret.

“Yea, more or less. Though I did not know exactly how much. In general, it seems that aging is the price I pay for using that ability.”

“Then… thank you for not using it on me. If I had been responsible for you going through that… I…”

“As I said, it wouldn’t have been your fault. Is that clear?”

After a second’s hesitation, Edith nodded, and a small smile broke out on her face, “Thank you, Stahlia. For everything.”

“Don’t mention it. No really, don’t mention it again. So, you and Sarala? Has anything changed now that she told you about being a spirit?”

Sarala shot me a pouty look when I used her as a subject change, but it was skillfully ignored. Edith shook her head, “No, nothing has really changed; I was surprised at first, but after some time passed I realized that she hadn’t really changed. Besides, you keep a demihuman around and treat her like a little sister, what would it say about me if I rejected my own best friend just because she wasn’t human?”

“Have you considered trying to learn spirit magic at all?”

This time it was Sarala who answered my question, “We did, well sort of. The problem is, our contract is a bit unusual in how it was established; I don’t actually know much about that topic since I’m so young for a spirit. We can share mana with each other, but other than that…”

“…We are not able to make much  progress with actual spells or other functions.”

The way Edith seamlessly finished Sarala’s sentence was a bit jarring, but not really worth commenting on; evidently, they had grown closer after Sarala shared her secret.

“Is there anything I can help with? I might not know anything about Spirit Magic, but I am pretty good at Blood Magic and Chanting.”

“No, this is something we should tackle by ourselves, I think.” “Well, as far as I can tell, Spirit Magic is kind of similar to Blood Magic, so I might ask you a few questions later.”

The two of them realized they had just spoken at the same time, and said two completely different things. Looking at each other, they shook their heads.

Or maybe they aren’t as close as I thought.

Edith had immediately rejected my offer, while Sarala had expressed interest in it; the two of them talking over the top of each other made me grin.

“…Let’s talk about this later. For now, you and Prince Rupert? I know the basics about why you did that, and that it wasn’t for me. Still, I want to thank you for getting me out of that… Is there anything I can do for you?”

Edith seemed to want to get off the topic of magic; considering how many times she had seen me and Sarala discussing the topic while ignoring our own surroundings, that made sense. The two of them would also need to confer and decide whether to take me up on my offer of assistance or not.

Though I say I want to help them, I might not have a chance. Who knows what he meant when he said there were plans for me soon, and to take things easy for now. It isn’t kids, thankfully; I still have some time before that happens… If the public is to be fooled about my age, I can’t go getting pregnant for a few more years…

That random train of thought had apparently shown itself on my face, as Edith looked at me with more genuine concern while Sarala looked a bit grim.

Holding up my hand to show the ring on my finger, I shrugged, “We’re more or less married already. Me suddenly turning sixteen threw a bit of a wrench in the original plan, but things worked out.”

“…I see… Not what you were expecting, was it? I know Prince Rupert can be a bit of a bore.”

“That’s a pretty strong enchantment, to hide your new appearance? Prince Rupert sure is careful.”

Edith had focused on my feelings, while Sarala had jumped at the magic borne by the symbol of my situation. Something about the way they prioritized different aspects of my soon-to-be spouse’s personality made me glad to be able to call them my friends.

“Yea, the enchantment will make me look twelve or so, while also adjusting my voice. Though, it only works on people who don’t already know about what happened; that would be why the two of you were unaffected.”

After a short pause, I decided I had better also address Edith’s concerns, “As for what I was expecting… That doesn’t matter. I entered the engagement of my own volition, and he has upheld all of his obligations and more. For everything I gained, marrying him isn’t so bad.”

“But you don’t love him, do you?”

For some reason, Edith’s assertion about love really ticked me off, and I snapped at her, “No. And he doesn’t love me either, is that a problem? It’s what I expected and agreed to. We are using each other, that’s all.”

My friend looked startled by my sharp tone, “Sorry, I did not mean…”

“It’s fine. Can we talk about something else, please?” Waving her off with a quick hand gesture, the three of us took a few sips of the tea.

Unfortunately, there really wasn’t much else we could discuss. Things were still too strange, and it would take time for all of the recent happenings to settle down and allow us to return to how things had been before. As we sat around awkwardly nibbling at pastries, I couldn’t help but worry.

What if we can’t go back to how things were? What if this distance just keeps growing larger?

The change in our relative statuses was big enough, but that was still surmountable; Edith was friends with Sarala; a duke’s daughter and an apparent commoner. I was friends with Sana and Sarala, a baron’s daughter and two commoners. Prince Rupert had Gustav, who while a noble, was certainly below a prince.

Then again, are they really friends? Gustav definitely adopts a subservient role when with Rupert… Even if he does call him more casually… I don’t want this friendship to turn out like that!

There was also the cause of my age. Even if we got past the issue of status, I was sixteen now. Edith was twelve. That age gap didn’t usually have a whole lot of friendships.

Then again, Sarala is seven herself, and I’m over forty if I consider George’s life as well as my own. But that leaves the question of physical appearance. I might look twelve to the casual observer, but Sarala and Edith both see my real appearance. Can they look past that?

“Ha!”

The laugh came from Sarala, and the sudden sound caused both me and Edith to look up at her in surprise.

“Sarala…? Are you ok?”

“Yes, I’m alright, I was just thinking; Stahlia always got so jealous about how much more developed you were.”

As she answered Edith’s question, she fixed me with a cool stare, “…So jealous that she went and used magic to jump ahead and fill out before us.”

She finished speaking by giving a thumbs up and winking at me, “Nice!”

Edith was rather unamused and mildly freaking out, “Sarala!? You can’t talk like that!”

“Hmm? Why not? You were saying how jealous you were when you came back from apologizing on behalf of your father earlier, weren’t you?”

“Sarala!”

“Ha! Haha!” Sarala’s antics coupled with Edith’s desperate reaction were just too much for me, and after the earlier tension I couldn’t help myself; I started laughing.

“Edith, it’s fine, isn’t it? She’s not wrong… I did get jealous with how slowly I was growing.”

“Yea Edith, what Stahlia said.”

“You too!?” Edith whirled around to look at me in mortified shock, “I can’t believe… Sarala, why would you say something like that?”

Sarala shrugged, “Is it really a big deal?” after pausing for a moment, she grinned and slapped her palm with her other hand, closed into a fist, “I see! This is a cultural difference. For someone like me who doesn’t have a real physical body, I don’t really understand jealousy over those attributes. Sorry for touching a nerve, Lady Edith.”

Ignoring the fact that you gave Edith a title just now, what the hell? Now that we know your secret, you’re going to play that card? ‘Oh, I’m a spirit so I don’t understand!’ As if! You said what you said on purpose, to try and cut the tension before something happened!

Still, it had been effective. The earlier awkward atmosphere had fallen off completely, replaced with Edith’s embarrassment. That being said, bullying her was mean so I moved to contain things before they went too far in the other direction.

“Edith, let her be; I was jealous, but don’t worry; I’m sure you’ll pass me again in a few years.” Keeping a deadpan expression and tone was difficult, but I managed in the end.

For my efforts, I was rewarded by Edith slowly breaking out into a smile and throwing up her hands in exaggerated resignation, “Fine! I was a bit jealous when I saw you, and maybe I said some things. But it doesn’t matter how much you cheat, I’ll always be bigger!”

As she was no longer looking at her, Sarala gave me a covert thumbs-up, and the corner of my mouth raised into a slight smile. Now that things had unwound, we spent the remainder of the get together reminiscing about the past, and I gave the two of them a very abbreviated version of my time in the afterlife; though I left out a lot of the details that could be considered confidential.

In the end, I did not gain everything I had wanted, but the time had certainly not been wasted.

I meant to ask about how things are going with the rest of the Claurence family, and maybe glean some insight into what I missed, but that’s fine; retaining Edith and Sarala as close friends was more important. I can always learn about the past in the future, but losing my close friends would be impossible to recover from.

Those were my thoughts as we wrapped things up with the promise to meet each other again soon. That would be fairly easy to arrange since the two of them were living in the palace for the time being, though there was one sticking point.

“Next time, let us come to you.” Edith was looking at me seriously, and behind her Sarala was nodding in agreement.

“…But I don’t want status to get in the way of our friendship…”

“That’s not the issue; imagine how it looks from the outside, the queen to be going out of her way to visit a duke’s daughter and her commoner attendant? You might be fine, but it will cause me and my father a lot of trouble.”

“…When you put it like that… I guess I just have to get used to how things are now…” I mumbled the last bit dejectedly, but that didn’t stop Edith from picking up on it.

“Behind closed doors, I’ll treat you the same as we always have, but in public… that’s not possible. I’m sorry.”

The exchange reminded me of a similar event from before my coma, when Gustav had suddenly started treating me as a superior, despite being both my elder and my teacher. It just went to show how things had changed as a result of my new station.

And things are going to continue changing, especially now that news has been made public… I guess this is probably one of the reasons that I was given until after the wedding to just spend time with friends before re-entering the public eye. Damnit, this is going to be really hard, isn’t it?

My next meeting especially was probably going to be difficult. Taking a deep breath, I waved aside the guard knight and knocked on the door myself, “Jacqueline, it’s me… is it ok if I come in?”

From the other side of the door, a familiar, muffled voice called out.

“Lady Stahlia!? Of course! Why wouldn’t it be?”