Al grabbed my hand as I entered through the door. I restrained my face so as not to frown and gave him an awkward smile.
“Um, yes—”
“Come with me!” Al dragged me inside the venue where the birthday party was hosted. The room was decorated grandly with all sorts of plants, many of which I recognized, and expensive decorations. The host must’ve gone all out.
Al walked up to a vacant table and forced me to sit down. I gave the boy a wary look as he fidgeted. His cheeks were flushed as he stared at the table. I was growing more uncomfortable by the second.
“I wanted to tell you something.”
“Yes?” I asked.
“I think—I think that I—“ He started stuttering and I nearly stood up from the table. This had better not be what I think this is. “I think I have a secret admirer!” I pause and blink. What? I gave him a blank look which made him snap.
“What’s that supposed to mean!”
“After your tea party, I didn’t think a single noble girl would even want to stay in the same room as you.” I couldn’t help but be honest. Al gaped at me.
“How rude! I’ll have you know that girls flock around me constantly!” I snort.
“Your little siblings don’t count as girls.” Al gritted his teeth as I chuckled. He had three younger sisters who adored their dim-witted brother. I'd met them by chance while invited to his many tea parties. Al slapped his hand on the table, causing a loud sound.
“But the thing is, this is a secret admirer. Perhaps one of the nobles was too shy to admit that they liked my advances?” I shook my head.
“You gave three girls allergic reactions with gifts, you tried impressing one with a backflip and nearly broke your back, and you traumatized another by having them sit on your stuffed Pegasus, whose head fell off.” Al was quiet for a while.
“That’s only five nobles.” I sighed.
“Nevertheless, you still think some noble girl has the hots for you?” Al nodded, looking confident. I shrugged.
“Good luck then—“
“No, where are you going?” I felt Al grab my hand and I tried shrugging it off.
“I’m going to enjoy this birthday party?”
“Did you forget the part where I asked you to help me?”
“How do I help you? Just find the admirer and confess to them— again.” Al narrowed his eyes at my tone.
“I can’t do that. I need your help.” I was growing annoyed but I tried calming down.
“With what?” Crap, I had too much venom in my voice. Al didn’t react though, and right as he opened his mouth, the door to the venue slammed open. I turned.
The birthday girl was wearing a brilliant pink dress that was almost too bright in color. It was decorated with jewels and flowers, but it looked to be far too long for her. But sitting on her horse prevented her from tripping. The birthday girl flipped her hair as she approached her guest. I could hear them praise her and congratulate her, but I found the scene of her riding a horse indoors hilarious.
I snorted before turning to Al. And he looked awe-struck. “She’s the one.”
“What…?”
“She has to be the one. T-the flowers on her dress are the same as the ones my secret admirer gave me. And she’s the only noble girl I haven’t confessed to.” I was speechless. I looked back at the noble girl. The reason why Al hadn’t approached her was that she was obsessed with someone else and made it known to everyone.
Mary Qail met my gaze and she tilted her head upwards, barely disguising a sneer. She didn’t look too happy to have seen me, but as I was a prince, she didn’t have much of a choice but to invite me. Mary guided the horse to us, looking more graceful than I’d care to admit, and jumped off of it. She gave us a look and Al immediately bowed.
“Happy birthday, Lady Mary.” I wanted to slap him. He didn’t have to be so polite to the duke’s daughter as he was a prince. Mary seemed to enjoy the respect though and she nodded. And then she glared at me.
“Oh, it’s you.” I’d like more respect for my name, my status is higher than yours. “I sent an invite to Heath, how come he isn’t here?” She looked sad at that revelation. I shrugged my shoulders.
“He said that he’d rather spend your birthday alone with you than with others.” Her eyes sparkled at my blatant lie. I hid my smile. It’s payback, Heath. He dared to begin ignoring me lately, so why not have Mary Qail send him out of his shell?
“I should’ve expected this from my future husband.” She giggled and Al’s face fell. I patted his shoulder as I shook my head. Al let out a loud sigh.
“I hope you’re ready for the next event.” Al and I simultaneously blinked. She tried to leave with those mysterious words but struggled to get back on her horse. She looked at me for help and I looked away at the right time. Al helped the birthday girl on her horse and she went to the next guest.
Al turned to me with pleading eyes. “Rael. Why can’t you help me? Come on, this involves my love life, it’s too important to entrust to others!” I shook my head.
“I’ve only known you for like three months.”
“That’s enough months!”
“Don’t you have any other friends?” Al looked away.
“Yes but… I think they’d make things worse.” That sounded quite suspicious. What sort of friends did he have?
“Ladies and gentlemen!” A loud voice echoed, catching everyone’s attention. An announcer stood right below the stage. They bowed and continued speaking. “Now that I have your attention, please welcome the ever lovely and graceful Mary Qail!” Mary walked up to the stage, leaving her horse behind while lifting the ends of her skirt.
Once she reached the top, she smiled at the crowd. “Thank you all for coming here. This is an important celebration for me as I‘ve already awakened.” Oh right, she was the same age as us.
Mary smiled and lifted her arms. “So in celebration of that, I want to show you the gift that my father gave me. It’s an ‘Invoker’ and whatever keywords I put in, it’ll be presented as an illusion. Not only that but—“ she revealed a long staff which she placed in front of her. “—I will be battling these illusionary monsters for you all to see.” A guard, wearing their hat so far down that you couldn’t see their face, typed down a few words. And then, large wolves appeared.
“Poison Fang Wolves!”
“I’ve heard about how dangerous they are. Even if they are merely an illusion, she wants to fight them?”
“It seems like it.” The crowd began murmuring as the wolves growled and approached the girl on the stage. She was still wearing her long dress so running away was pointless. Mary merely smirked as she performed a spell.
[Frozen Steps]
The ground beneath the wolves turned to frost. They were stuck, unable to get closer to her. But that didn’t discourage the wolves but made them grow more agitated as they tried ripping their paws away.
“[Ice Spike], [Fire Arrow], [Stone Dart]!” Using three different spells, she killed all of them. She smiled and bowed as the crowd was in awe.
“She killed them so quickly?”
“She already knows three spells? One of which is intermediate?”
“She’s a genius!” They began praising Mary who left the stage. The girl merely laughed at the praises and tried being humble. “No no, I merely have more resources. I’m sure that the academy will be much harder than this.”
I nodded. As expected of a love rival, she was good. In only a week, she learned four spells. She was sure to grow even stronger than this. I poked at Al who was staring intensely at the crowd.
“What’s wrong?” Al looked partly worried but he also looked… amused?
“Claus?” His voice was as quiet as a whisper.
I followed his gaze and saw a boy. His long hair was in a ponytail. He kept looking around in place. I recognized him immediately. It was Claus Knighteye, a love rival. I frowned. But wait, if he’s here, then where’s—?
A scream interrupted my thoughts. I turned and saw— spiders. Large spiders, multiplying by every second, began popping up. They were scarily detailed, you could almost see every strand of hair and the pupils of their many eyes. They were still at first, as if confused, before beginning to walk to the guests.
None of the guests moved though.
“It’s fine, they’re merely illusions.”
“Right, they couldn’t harm us.” The color in Mary’s face drained. She began speaking. “The ‘Invoker’ that my father bought… It's one of the best. It allows for maximum experience.”
One of the guests paused. “Which means…?”
“Which means they’re fully capable of attacking us too.” Finally, panic began settling in. The guests started running away from the spiders, and the monsters gave chase to their targets. Al and I started backing away but Al stopped me. He pointed at Mary who was stuck in place.
Mary, turning to run, tripped on her long dress. When she looked back, one of the bigger spiders was already upon her. She screamed so loudly, that I thought my ears would bleed. She began crying as the spider opened its mandibles and tried taking a bite of her.
I couldn’t reach her in time. And even if I did, what would I do, get eaten alive instead of her?
“Aren’t you going to save her?” I asked Al who’d stopped me. Al had a strange expression on. “It’s fine, she’s not in danger. It's merely a ploy.” And then he sighed.
Mary’s screaming continued, and the spider that had reached for her throat—disappeared. Mary continued screaming until she opened her eyes. And then she looked at the guard that had been controlling the machine. The guard raised his head, exposing his face. And grinned.
Mary screamed, but this time it was out of anger. “I will kill you, Weiss!” This time, she didn’t let the dress stop her, and ripped her dress to make it shorter. Taking off her heels, she sprinted after Weiss who was cackling. Claus, who’d forced Weiss to stop, shook his head in disappointment.
Al had a cheeky smile on as he watched Mary chase after Weiss. I was in shock. Weiss and Claus were here?
Weiss, one of the love interests, was known for the tricks and antics that he always pulled. He’d ruin any pleasant meeting as long as he was there, so no one ever invited him to any gatherings. But Weiss always found a way to enter them anyway.
“You always ruin it for me!” Mary screamed as she waved her wand. “[Fire Arrow]!” Weiss dodged the arrow with a giggle and Mary shrieked with fury. “[Stone Dart]! [Ice Spike]!” Weiss was effortlessly evading them and this made Mary increase her attack. Even though Weiss was dodging them, at one point, he nearly got hit by an ice spike but he narrowly avoided it.
Claus, looking exhausted by the minute, walked up to the two— they were running in circles— and tripped up Weiss. The boy let out a yelp as he fell on his face. Mary aimed her wand right at his behind but Claus grabbed her hand before she could strike.
“Let me go.” Claus glared at her.
“I won’t let you kill him.”
“Why not?” She growled as she tried pushing him away. Claus had a dark look in his eyes.
“Because that’s my job.” He went to Weiss who was whining in pain, picked up his leg, and dragged him out of the venue. Mary, no longer bloodthirsty, collapsed to the ground out of exhaustion. She’d overexerted herself. I blinked. That was quite the hectic battle.
I saw Al shake his head. “He always does it. You’d think he’d learn at some point.”
“Who?”
“Weiss. I’m sure Claus will give him a stern lecture.” Al seemed scared at that thought as he hugged himself whilst shivering. I raised an eyebrow.
“And how do you know this?”
“Because they’re the friends that I didn’t want to help me earlier.” My eyes widened. Al, a character not mentioned in the game, was friends with the love interest and love rival? Why wasn’t he an important character then?
Al smirked, seeing my surprised reaction. “Yeah, we make a pretty cool trio, don’t we? So, do you want to help me with my secret admirer now?” I smiled at Al.
“No.”
And then I walked away. I was heading home. Now that I knew Al, a prince I’d recently befriended was entangled with Weiss and Claus, I wanted nothing to do with him anymore. Meeting more love interests meant more trouble for the future. I had to avoid all interactions with them. No matter the cost.
I was enjoying a nice cup of tea in my room while reading a book when the door slammed open. I looked up and saw an enraged Heath.
“You—!” I frowned, feeling offended that he suddenly barged into my room. What could be the reason for him getting so angry at me?
“What the hell did you tell Mary? She’s been sending me creepy letters about a date?! And she said that it’s thanks to you?”
Oh.
I looked away from him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Heath laughed humorlessly. “Oh, you don’t huh?” He had a piece of paper in his hand which he lifted.
‘Heathy, I hope to spend a lovely afternoon with you soon. You shouldn’t be so shy and ask your little brother to tell me. Just say it in person. Don’t miss me too much.
Kisses and hugs, your future wife.’
My skin crawled at the last sentence. How delusional does a girl have to be to write that? Heath tore the letter into pieces and stomped on it, as though it’d help. My lip twitched.
“I merely wanted to tease her. I didn’t know she’d take it seriously.”
“Don’t you know her very well though? Shouldn’t you know this would be her reaction?” Damn, he was right. I frowned.
“You kinda deserve it.” Heath had a look of despair on his face.
“I deserve this?” I began feeling just a bit guilty.
“Okay no, I might’ve gotten too far.” Heath approached me and gave me a scary look. “Great, then how about you explain it to her?”
I furiously shook my head. I liked living, thanks. Heath chuckled. “What made you think you had a choice?” And then he put his arm around my neck. My eyes grew wide.
“Hey, isn’t this a bit nostalgic? You’re gonna get the truth out of me again?” Heath snorted.
“Shut up.” And he began tickling me. I didn’t react well and hit my knee on the table, wincing in pain. But the tickling got more intense and I burst into fits of giggles. I gave in after five seconds. Heath had a smug look on his face.
“Good. Make that letter while I look.”
I began writing a letter to Mary, explaining the situation about how everything was my fault for lying and causing a misunderstanding. Heath looked happy with the result. I exclaimed; “I forgot to write my name at the end.” Heath didn’t doubt me and handed the letter back.
I turned the letter and wrote: ‘P.S Heath said he wished he could muster up the courage to ask you out. Maybe you should make the first move?’ Snickering, I returned the paper to Heath. He gave me a wary glance but soon returned to his room.
Feeling exhausted, I left the chair and collapsed on my bed. I yawned loudly. It felt like I was forgetting something…
I fell asleep, hugging one of my pillows, with a bit of drool on my cheek. I was rudely awoken by my door slamming open. I raised my head to see who dares interrupt my sleep and saw Peri at the door frame. I opened my mouth and paused. The look in her eyes made me nervous. What had happened?
“Please come with me, your highness.” She quickly rushed me out of bed, not allowing me to change, and we headed to the great hall. The moment I entered the room, there was tension.
Everyone was already there, I was the last one because of how far my bedroom lay. My father looked at me and then turned to his attendants. “Close the door. Everyone who’s needed is here.”
The large doors were closed and I felt the tension become thicker. What had happened? Why did everyone have a grim expression on? Even the Queen and Crille looked worse for wear, staring down at the ground. Heath’s face was blank while Wei had a hand over his face.
Was I the only one who didn’t know?
“Yesterday… The royal family of Tenn was assassinated.” My heart dropped. Yesterday? How was this even possible? This wasn’t supposed to happen, not until I began school. So why did this happen two years earlier? My face grew pale. Did my involvement do this? Have I already ruined this story?
“Only the 1st Prince and the Crown Princess survived. The 1st Prince had been kidnapped but was thankfully unharmed. He was examined as well and there was no trace of magic or spells on him.” I closed my eyes. This felt like a dream. Unreal. And I wanted to wake up and go back to how my life used to be.
The King paused in talking. “From today onwards, you’ll be assigned a personal guard who’ll follow you everywhere.” Even with the protection of the elder trees, the king wasn’t risking it. While there were guards all over the castle, none of the royal family needed it as the castle was as safe as can be.
But not anymore. Tenn was a nation that could easily compete with Urel. They were allies who’d helped one another through thick and thin. And when it came to defense and protection? Tenn won that battle with a landslide.
But somehow that same country had its rulers killed from underneath its nose. And it was unlikely that the killer would be found. The only choice we had was to tremble in fear and hope that they’d pick someone else. The King continued to speak but I was unable to listen.
My breathing grew quicker as my heart hammered in my chest. My eyes were wide and I felt faint. I felt like someone who’d been caught with murder. Holding the bloody knife right as someone spotted me and screamed for help. Even though I hadn’t killed them, even though they were fated to die, this was my fault.
I had underestimated this world. I’d been playing on easy mode this whole time, thinking the game only started once I began at school. But I was naive, foolish. The game started the moment I woke up.
And my choices, my mistakes, and my decisions had caught up to me.
I couldn’t take it anymore. I turned and ran towards the doors. I heard the King pause and felt the gazes on me, but my head was throbbing and I felt worse by the second. I needed fresh air. Maybe it would make my thoughts clearer. But also make my suspicion and guilt unavoidable.
I had to face it. My hands shook and I leaned against a wall for support. I slumped to the ground, feeling tired. But I couldn’t seem to fall asleep as my thoughts haunted me. I looked out of the nearest window, at the large moon that seemed to fill the entire sky. How did Ru feel about this? Was he going to kill me? And would I fight back?
That day had taught me something important. Unlike the heroine, my actions had consequences. And by helping Ru earlier than usual, his family died early too. I put a hand on my face.
I wish I could return in time. I wish I’d visited Ru and tried to get to know him. I wish…
I wish this world had a reset button.
Mmmmmmm,good