Lucille passed the servant opening the door for her and stepped into her room, which was spacious enough that her team could've slept here with her if they wanted and there would be more room for people willing to sleep on the floor.

 

The furniture was equally opulent as the size, with there being a table and four different sets of chairs at the center, a desk with rolled up parchments directly to the wall, and opposite of the desk was a cabinet with a mirror for anyone who wanted to work on their make up or face during their stay.

 

Directly in front of Lucille, past the chairs and table, was the bed, placed next to the wall and facing the door. It is similarly big and could at least fit three of her side by side on top of it with room to spare.

 

The bed's smooth, silken sheets glistened under the morning light coming from the window- which Lucille quickly curtained up because of the glare.

 

Before she could forget it, Lucille faced the servant leaving her room- someone who had come to aid her after the prince escorting them earlier suddenly felt sick and had to leave, - and nodded at her gratefully, “thank you,”

 

The maid who had been carrying Lucille's bags up until now stopped and turned to Lucille, the maid then placed her hands on her stomach and bowed- a gesture of respect.

 

Lucille wanted to say no pleasantries were needed and tell the maid that it was fine to be casual around her but after trying several times on the way here, she had decided to give up.

 

When the maid closed the door behind her, Lucille walked over to it and bolted the lock shut.

 

Then she let her Light pour out of her body and washed the room to ensure that it was cleansed from any possible Envy Demon related infection.

 

The reflection on the mirror on top of the cabinet warped for a second before clearing up and Lucille stared at it for a scant few seconds afterward, wondering if something would pop out and she'd have to fight it.

 

Fortunately- for both her and any possible assailant, - no Demon came out of the mirror and Lucille didn't have to explain to the Vulnaza royalty about what happened to her room during the first few minutes of her stay.

 

Lucille walked away from the door and deeper into the room, she grabbed her bags from the table in the center and brought it to the foot of the bed.

 

The sound of zippers opening was the only thing that could be heard for the next few minutes as Lucille tried to find her clothes with little success.

 

Once she found them, she immediately started stripping away her armor; first was the leather chest piece, which slid up her body and out her head, then the chainmail got removed, clinking as it fell to the floor, followed by the gambeson underneath it and then finally, her shirt.

 

Lucille had just started unwrapping the fabric binding her breasts when knocking suddenly came from the door.

 

She clipped the fabric again with a frown before she went to the door to answer it, curious as to who it was.

 

When she opened the lock, the door suddenly burst open and she had to jump back to get out of the door's trajectory, she glared at the intruder only to then stop at the sight of a blushing teen somewhere around her age.

 

Her cheeks turned rosy and she called her Pledge in hopes that it'd save at least a bit of her dignity. She didn't know why it would, but she thought it was a good idea.

 

“What do you want?” She tried and failed to sound stern, which thanks to her voice crack, turned her tone into something one would hear on a choking goose. She cleared her throat, “sorry- what do you want?”

 

She stood straight and ignored the way her visitor stared at her stomach, “u-uhm… I- I'm here to- uh- introd-” the teen cut himself off and suddenly went into her room and before Lucille could react, grabbed the handle and slammed the door shut.

 

She blinked, wondering what just happened.

 

The encounter lingered in Lucille's mind as she bolted the door's lock.

 

She went back to changing while feeling confused, who was that? Well- the Vulnaza crest in his chest- that being the skull of an ape, - indicated he was part of the royal family but…

 

… as far as Lucille knew, Neo's elder sister never had a son her age, so that meant that the person she just encountered had been a prince born from the King, and the sword hanging on his hip also indicated he was also a Pledge Bearer…

 

“Hm.” She grunted as the strap on her chest came undone, the stinging feeling on her skin that followed its removal lasted only for a second before disappearing entirely. Lucille thanked the Goddess for meeting Neophyte, the person who had told her to put powder on her skin beforehand to prevent chafing from chest bindings.

 

She followed suit with her pants and then the chainmail underneath it and when she was done, proceeded to change into one of the many dresses Lady Castella picked out for her during their shopping trip a few days back.

 

Lucille picked a beautiful dress whose warm orange color was fashioned after the late autumn sun. It complimented her hair, according to Lady Castella.

 

To contrast the glaring orange, earthen tones were spread around the dress. Such as on the shoulders, the sides of the stomach, as well as forming a thick brown line on her waist to give an illusion that the top and dress were separated.

 

Various frills were placed in well-thought-out spots such as the sleeves- there were two here, - as well as a circle of them below her waist.

 

The dress itself had floors of leaves dotting its surface for design, as though they had fallen to the ground and had started to dry there. Their colors were varied in grays, yellows, and browns, ones reminiscent of the grounded leaves beneath shedding trees during late autumn.

 

On her chest were vines dropping down from the collar, swirling, twisting, and coiling to form odd circular patterns that encompassed the entirety of her chest but eventually opened up when they reached her ribs. The vines on the edges ran to her sides as though her stomach- which is a bright reflective orange, - was a pathway between their thorny growth.

 

Lucille was also aware that the pattern reached her back, though unfortunately, thanks to the corset she had on her person, she couldn't twist her body enough to spot them.

 

Lucille checked herself out, once, twice, thrice- she twirled and squealed in delight, she wanted to hop from place to place if her stupid heels didn't do anything to obstruct such an action!

 

She paced back and forth, eyeing her reflection over and over again in a fit of self grandeur, which lasted for about a few minutes before more knocking came from her door, she opened it, expecting the odd prince again so she was muttering something aggressively fierce- “look, I don't see your game but if you want to see me naked you're gonna have to…”

 

She stopped talking when she saw who it was standing before her. Queen Aneria stood in front of her, head held high.

 

Lucille quickly bowed, “your majesty,”

 

The bottom of the Queen's light blue dress was the only thing she could see from her position and Lucille felt anxious about how the Queen was reacting to, in her eyes, Lucille's disrespect.

 

“Rise,” Lucille did so and eyed the amused smirk on her face, “so that's why Kalex was beet red when he came back after I told him to introduce himself to you and your friends,” she giggled, “he wouldn't say a thing when asked and was squeaking like a mouse!”

 

Heat rushed to Lucille's cheeks, “uh-”

 

The Queen's face turned serious, “though, he didn't see you naked, did he?”

 

Lucille shook violently her head, causing the monarch to laugh, “is that so?.. disappointing, I thought that I would have to force him to marry you!” She laughed again, humor glistening within her eyes. 

 

Queen Aneria stopped when she noticed Lucille just standing there, frozen, “oh I'm just kidding, girls have to make each other laugh sometimes right?”

 

She winked at Lucille who laughed awkwardly, a rather late reply but at least doing it made her face less pale.

 

“Y-yep!” Lucille bobbed her head up and down, “hahahahahaha-”

 

“Well, you seem to be well dressed now,” the Queen's voice cut through her robotic laughter and Lucille blinked before nodding, “we can go to the dining hall together if you want?”

 

“Uhm… I want to put makeup on my face first and also put on a few pieces of… jewelry?” The word sounded foreign when spoken out of Lucille's mouth.

 

The Queen nodded, “if you wish,”

 

The Monarch turned away from Lucille and started walking, when she was a good distance away, the heroine slumped, “well guess that's that.”

 

From embarrassing to unnerving, her first few encounters with the people- rulers of this Kingdom were… a unique- a new experience for her to say the least. Well, save for the one with the prince- Kalex? Lucille is sure she remembered something like that, - because Nickos already did it when they were about to leave for Pledge Academy…

 

And now she was thinking about weird things.

 

Lucille walked back inside of her room and closed the door.

 

A few minutes later, it opened again and she came out with powder on her face and earrings hanging from both ears.

 

Slowly, Lucille walked the halls of the castle and towards the dining room where upon entering, everyone inside faced her, making Lucille realize that the only person they had been waiting for was, well- her.

 

Apologize- Lucille remembered Neo's word of advice.

 

“I uhm, I am sorry- I-” she bowed, “fixing myself- putting makeup on was- all by myself I mean-”

 

She stopped when she heard Calcite laugh

 

“It's fine, it's fine,” Lucille stared at Neo's sister who, much like the prodigious princess she had known to appreciate, looked beautiful even without makeup, Calcite's chalky white hair waved back and forth as she shook her head, “we weren't waiting that long, right?”

 

Her head turned to everyone around her who responded with nods of varying degrees.

 

“Gu-guess so,” Lucille took her words for what it is; a life-saving raft in this social quagmire Lucille found herself in.

 

Slowly, she made her way to the rest of her friends; Karsten was wearing her priestly robes, like always, though this one did have gold embellishments on the rest as well as the edges of her collar, Zyra had this azure dress with brown lines- no, not just lines but artistically drawn mosaics of crayfish, and finally, Yhaine wore a sun-yellow dress with silver linings across its surface.

 

When Lucille found her seat, she relaxed slightly, but not enough to hold back a flinch when Karsten's dry, and very serious tone crawled into her ear, “I do not think the royal family minds your tardiness,”

 

“T-thanks?” Was that supposed to be an encouragement to keep being late?

 

“You are welcome, but also, you should avoid being late next time, it makes you look a bit out of place,” Lucille only nodded at the follow up of the pious girl, who, unlike her, must have gotten some kind of formal training for events like these.

 

In fact, almost all of her friends had that sort of training didn't they? And her fellow Florist, Zyra, looked like she knew what she was doing too…

 

Lucille's anxiety didn't have to eat away at her for long because soon, food started to come to the table and as the servants filed in, Lucille noticed one of the princes- Kalex, she remembers now, - eyeing her, he was trying to be subtle, but Lucille caught his attempts all the same.

 

She turned her head and met the prince's gaze just as he did another attempt to glance at her, causing him to quickly turn away, face red. Right next to him, two other princesses, his sisters, giggled and gave Lucille a playful glance of their own. The younger one even waved, which Lucille returned.

 

When the food was served, the usual talks came in and at first it was about the various things that the Kingdom of Vulnaza is currently doing and/or dealing with such as bandit camps settling on roads and making them less safe for merchants to travel in, monster populations and efforts to cull them, resources, and the like but eventually, the topic shifted into something more comfortable; training.

 

It had been Lady Calcite who had started it, though she did it strangely, “come to think of it, why did Kalex come back beet red?”

 

Lucille looked down, embarrassed, which the princess didn't miss, “oh? Did Lucille do something?~” Calcite playfully sing-sang and when Lucille looked up to retort and correct things, she saw the princess elbowing an also red faced Kalex, Calcite met Lucille's eyes, “it's okay~ Kalex doesn't have any suitors yet,”

 

“He doesn't?” Yhaine asked curiously, “I thought he'd have someone by now since he has a Pledge and all,”

 

“Well it's complicated,” the Queen said, “because Kalex likes to train, we've given him the opportunity to do it,” was the admittedly simple explanation, though Lucille knew that training is never that simple, especially now that Neo had somehow managed to mix it with lessons of all things.

 

“What do you do to train anyway?” Zyra pointed at the boy with her fork.

 

“I- well, my brother trains me,” All eyes were on Hoccid, who stopped stuffing his mouth with boar meat to smile and shrug, and then he went on to continue eating.

 

Lucille watched it unfold, concerned if she too would have to eat as much as this when she gets strong enough. She doesn’t exactly have the finances to eat that much food in a single sitting.

 

Maybe Neo can help? - she thought with a nod, which Calcite interpreted as something else, she elbowed Kalex playfully, “ohhhh? Looks like Lucille approves of your training!”

 

Lucille smiled wryly, “I do,” she admitted, as misunderstood as her nod was, Kalex training himself is something to be commended, “her majesty Neophyte also trains me,”

 

“See? You both have something in common!” Kalex went even redder at the obvious teasing.

 

Zyra decided to chime in, “well, I know it was put off but, what did Lucille do for you to come back flushed?”

 

“Uhm…” Kalex looked at Lucille, who looked away. “Uh- well, I saw her…”

 

“You didn’t lock the door?” Zyra turned to Lucille.

 

“I did!” She snapped, “but-”

 

“Oh so it was on purpose!” Calcite cackled, “oh dear me to be young again!”

 

“He- he didn’t actually see me naked!” Lucille defended, maybe a bit too loudly, “I just thought he was the maid, and well- I opened the door while unstrapping the binding on my chest and the next thing I know he was staring at my stomach!”

 

She pointed accusingly at the boy, who opened and closed his mouth like a fish, “w-well you opened the door in the first place!”

 

The two of them started bickering like children and Zyra met Yhaine’s eyes, who shrugged in response, mouthing, ‘well, do you still feel that she’s going to fall for Neophyte?’

 

Zyra pointedly looked away and turned her eyes to Karsten, the pious girl so far had just kept her mouth shut, opening it only when she needed to put food between her teeth.

 

Zyra didn’t know what to call the girl to start a conversation so she settled with the simplest one, “Karsten.” The pious girl glanced at her, “how is the food?”

 

She stopped chewing, then stayed silent, after a pregnant pause she finally gave out an answer, saying, “... fine.”

 

Zyra smiled tightly, their support is rather reclusive isn’t she?..

 

How are they going to fight together if Karsten is like this?

 

The answer to her question never came and as the verbal battle between Lucille and the prince- Zyra just realized that this was a prince her friend was bickering with- and didn’t Lucille also have two House Heirs pining for her back in the Academy? Prince Bismuth also seems to like her…

 

Zyra decided that she didn’t want to dive deeper into that chain of thought and patted her friend on the back as she calmed down, “you really did well, badmouthing a prince like that in front of his family,”

 

Lucille paled, only for color to return to her cheeks after the King laughed and said it was fine, she sighed in relief and glared at Zyra, “that tease was in bad taste,”

 

Zyra smirked, “I know.”