I watched as the last of the silhouettes returned to the shadows beneath the forest boughs.

The earth shook as the armoured riders diligently made certain that any surviving wildflowers were stamped into the soil, and in the process ensure that even the periphery of their realm was as bleak as their mistress’s heart. 

But it wasn’t the desecration to both my time and the local flora which earned my ire. 

It was the evidence of collusion.

A small, forgettable pendant, its sight remaining in my mind longer than anything lacking a mirror reflection of my own face deserved. 

A piece of jewellery I would never have expected again to see.

After all, those who attended my mandatory tea parties needed to rejoin a waiting list longer than any scroll of parchment existed. Sitting with me was a one time affair. 

Especially for those who earned my ire.

I frowned, struggling to remember the culprit. To purposefully recall any of my interactions with the nobility was an act more foreign to me than Coppelia not looking highly bemused at my thinking expression.

The pendant had been worn by some young baroness, who as a countryside heiress made her officially the least of aristocracy–just about besting the mice which tenanted her ceiling in stature.

Such a figure was utterly forgettable. 

The lowest caterpillar to nibble on my family’s great tree.

However, to go on to wear a pendant featuring my own personal sigil was the sort of political gaffe which saw greater lineages sunk. That her family was already trawling the bottom of the ocean was the only shield she had for her embarrassment. 

Even so, she was still my own.

In all my wildest dreams, I never would have expected to witness a sight so out of place as a high ranking officer of the Granholtz Ducal Army wearing gifts belonging to my nobility.

Why, it wasn’t only inappropriate. 

It was an utter scandal. 

Greater families than those found in a baron’s estate had been brought down for less. They had no business having any contact with a general of a rival nation’s military.

Naturally, it didn’t take the genius I was to understand the implications, the intrigue … and the danger behind my sworn subject in secret communication with Granholtz’s military.

The very action imperilled my kingdom’s security.

A sobering thought which my loyal handmaiden didn’t share.

As Coppelia leaned forwards and turned her face towards me, it was only to offer the innocent smile of a young maiden learning from her mother for the first time how to unfairly berate her first servant for a different one’s mistake.

“Sooooooo, that happened.”

“Yes, Coppelia. That happened.”

“Nice guy, huh? I bet he’s only turned around and then menacingly told his minions to remove all the witnesses a few times in his life. Say, what’s up with the pendant? Expensive?”

I flicked my hair past my shoulders. The universal answer for no.

“Unburnished silver. Unfit to be stolen by a magpie.”

“Now that’s just underestimating magpies.”

“Perhaps the ones nesting in the barns of countryside nobility, then. Having it dropped from the sky and landing around that man’s neck would at least offer a plausible explanation as to why it was in his possession. Sadly, I can no longer offer that ignorance.”

For once, I almost rued my keen gaze.

“A pendant belonging to my nobility, now worn around the neck of a Granholtz general like some cheap keepsake fished from a well. Do you know what this means?”

“I think it means people need to start buying furniture insurance.”

“Coppelia,” I said, shaking my head while denying nothing. “This is the gravest omen. There’s neither cause nor justification for any of the aristocracy to so much as glance towards Granholtz other than in distaste. Yet now I see evidence of one of my baronesses … consorting with the general who heads the very fortress my own brother stands against!” 

Indeed, for the countryside nobility, there was no such thing as just a piece of jewellery.

They were scarcely better dressed farmers, whose vaults shared the same space as the droppings found beneath their beds. Even the most worthless spoons were hoarded like famed ancestral swords to them. 

This … This was no accident.

It was complicity with a rival power.

And like rot in a petunia bed, these things were rarely isolated.

Thus, my fists clenched as I turned on the spot, facing my kingdom where traitors and weeds competed for the right to be uprooted first. And currently, there was a clear frontrunner.

The young baroness I’d swiftly ejected from my tea table.

“... Coppelia, if my own nobility are turning towards Granholtz, then this can only mean one thing.”

My loyal handmaiden threw both arms up, reaching for the stars as her anticipation bloomed against the night.

“Collusion! Fraternisation! Treason!”

I nodded, my hand atop my chest as I weighed the gravity of the situation.

“Indeed … this is most terrible, Coppelia. The barons and baronesses of my kingdom are many things. Upscale peasants. Caterpillars in human form. Leeches exiled from their swarm for being too much of a parasite … but amongst all, they are nobility. The lowest of nobility, yes. But the knife they wield is no duller than those of lords and dukes. And to solicit secret dealings with Granholtz reveals a blade longer than all the others they hide upon themselves.”

This was dire news.

Though as ruthless in ambition as any of their peers, their distance from the workings of the royal capital meant that for all their plots, many were just as keen on their modest comforts as they were on replacing my family. They were the gelatinous sludge of nobility, caught between the merchant class and the lords and ladies who boasted a modicum of ability to waste my precious time.

Characterised by petty scheming as they played out their politics in their fields and their farms, I never would have believed their barns to no longer content them.

Yes … even if it was a single baroness.

A girl whose presence at my mandatory tea party meant her age matched my own, and yet she already boasted the grand achievement of twice earning my ire.

A feat few saw once and still woke up beneath the free sky.

And so for the first time–

I was at a crossroads.

As a princess, I had never once hesitated. And yet now … I found myself suddenly unable to even look upon the fair grass of my kingdom, such was the task ahead of me. 

I could not do this alone.

Thus, I turned to my loyal handmaiden.

“Coppelia … I require your advice.”

“Really? It’s that big?”

“Yes. This is the biggest problem … no, the biggest crisis I have ever experienced. I cannot permit the countryside nobility to be emboldened. A misstep cannot be allowed.”

“Oh, I understand! What do you need to know?”

I pursed my lips, my brows creased as I put my genius mind to work. But even with my prodigious talents, I found only an unclimbable impasse before me.

One I couldn’t falter before now.

Thus, after a deep breath … 

I carefully pinched my expression into place.

“Coppelia, this is gloating expression #36.”

“Eh?”

“It’s used to elicit regret as whoever before me shrivels like a dried snail before finally understanding the futility of their actions. And this is gloating expression #41. It’s used to draw forth a sense of belated inadequacy, inducing the knowledge that from the very moment they were born, they were fated to be my lesser.”

Coppelia paused for a moment.

Then, she leaned slightly forwards, squinting despite her excellent eyesight as I swapped between gloating expressions #36 and #41.

“Oh … okay. I definitely see the difference.” 

“Excellent. Which is more suitable for encouraging despair? I’ll only have one opportunity to utterly deride them for their gall while wiping my boot of authority over them. As you can imagine, this is the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make.”

To my grief, Coppelia responded to my earnest plea for help with a giggle.

“Ahahaha~ just let the moment decide. No use thinking about it, right?”

I opened my mouth to retort … and yet no words of disagreement came out.

The advice was rather sensible. 

True, while preparing basic choreography was only prudent, it was equally important to remain flexible. I’d almost certainly need to stomp my boot in all manner of elegant poses. Not all nobility grovelled the same way, after all.

I nodded in simple appreciation.

“Thank you. I believe I’ll settle on gloating expression #52.”

“Great! Which one’s that?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t invented it yet.”

Coppelia held up her hands, her fingertips of enchanted steel ready to pinch my cheeks.

I leaned away. Far, far away.

“You wanna practise it now or … ?”

“No, um, thank you … I can practise it while being disappointed in our lodgings for the night. I’ve no doubt the expression will come naturally.”

Somewhat concerned by the eagerness in Coppelia’s eyes, I turned towards my fair kingdom.

Yet before I could begin my leisurely stroll back towards the Leorstadt Gate, I offered my loyal handmaiden a smile to match her own. An important step was required.

Thus, I raised my hand to my lips, barely covering my lips.

“–Ohhoohohohohohoho … ohohohohohhohohoho!! … ohhohoho … ack, uck … ohoho … ohoohoohoohohohohohohoho!!!”

Coppelia wore a fixed expression as she allowed my beautiful laugh to sound undisturbed, the sweet melody echoing amidst the moonlight and the grass.

After all, I did enjoy a splendid jest.

And nothing was more amusing to me than nobility playing at treason. 

Those who did were the unbuttered baguette of the aristocracy. Fools so far down the bottom rung they served as the carpet leading up to it. 

Were they wise, they would do what they must to eke out a living, neither catching the crashing waves above the sealine, nor submerging so deep they risked being swept aside by the common classes biting at their heels.

To reach out directly to a foreign nation was not only scarcely believable, it was mildly impressive. 

A feat I would reward a nameless daughter of some countryside baron with the greatest gift of all.

An opportunity to skip the waiting list.

It was time for another tea party.

And this time, it was mandatory for all.