A Sharp Punishment
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The next day, I had a little bit of time to myself before the meeting with Mr. Fisalis and his parents so I decided to go for another walk around town in search of some inspiration or something that might help me decide what to wear today… but when I got there, it was already noon!
The sun was beating down on my head as if it were trying its hardest to make sure I didn’t get any more sleep than necessary. It wasn’t even particularly hot out yet; just very bright and sunny. And since this is Lestia, where we have four seasons all year round, you can be certain that summer will come eventually—I know because last winter felt like an eternity thanks to how cold it was.
But now? Now it’s starting to feel like spring again here in the capital city of Lestia.
“Oh no…” I groaned, looking up at the sky. “It’s too early!”
As much as I wanted to take advantage of the weather while I could, I couldn’t do anything about it right away. So instead, I went back home and changed into a light dress and sandals (which are basically flip-flops). Then I made myself lunch: toast with butter and jam, plus tea.
After eating breakfast, I took care of the laundry that needed doing, then headed straight over to the castle. When I arrived, I found Mr. Fisalis waiting for me outside the entrance. He looked tired from having been woken up earlier than usual by his father, who’d called him to discuss their plans for our wedding.
He smiled warmly at me upon seeing me. “Good morning,” he greeted me cheerfully. “Have you eaten?”
“Yes, thank you.”
Mr. Fisalis led me inside, and once we’d gone through the front door, we proceeded down the hallway until we reached one of the many doors leading off it. We stopped in front of it, and Mr. Fisalis knocked twice. A few seconds later, the door swung open to reveal Mrs. Delmas. She seemed surprised to see us both standing there.
“Ah, good morning, Your Highness,” she said politely. “You’re early today.”
“Sorry for being late,” I apologized. “We overslept, actually. Is your husband still asleep?”
Mrs. Delmas shook her head slowly as though she were unsure herself why he hadn’t gotten up yet. “No, not anymore. His Majesty woke him up shortly after sunrise. They’ve been talking ever since, so they should be done soon. Would you like to wait here?”
Before I could answer, Mr. Fisalis spoke up first. “Thank you, but I think we’ll continue on ahead. If you don’t mind, I’m afraid we won’t be able to stay long either. We need to leave promptly afterward.”
His mother nodded silently and turned to face the other direction without saying goodbye. Once she did, we left the room behind and continued walking toward the throne hall. There, we encountered Prince Parnassus, who was heading towards the dining hall.
“Good morning, Your Highnesses,” he greeted us. “Are you going to the Throne Hall too?”
“Yes,” I answered.
Prince Parnassus grinned broadly. “Well, if you two are coming along, I guess I better join you. You never know when someone else might show up unexpectedly.”
That reminded me of the incident with Mr. Fisalis’ father yesterday. I wondered whether the prince would say anything to his son about it, but apparently, he didn’t think it worth mentioning.
Once we entered the throne hall, I saw that the king was seated on the throne. Next to him sat Queen Roxy, and beside her stood Princess Liliana. The queen looked extremely busy, which was unsurprising considering the fact that she was currently preparing for the royal wedding.
Meanwhile, the princess was playing with a doll that was sitting on the floor nearby. She noticed us approaching and immediately ran over to greet us.
“Morning, Your Highness!” she exclaimed happily. “And hello, Miss Rosina!”
“Hello, Miss Liliana,” I replied.
Princess Liliana gave me a big smile and rushed closer to give me a hug. Her cheeks were flushed pink, and her eyes sparkled brightly.
“Miss Rosina has become quite popular among the servants lately,” King Roland remarked. “She must be very kind.”
Queen Roxy laughed lightly. “Indeed. All the maids love her.”
Seeing them interact together brought back memories of when I used to live in the palace. It felt almost nostalgic… Almost.
I let out an involuntary sigh. That was probably because I had been thinking about how nice it would have been to go back to my old life before all this happened. But if I really thought about it, I knew that wouldn’t make sense. Even though things weren’t exactly ideal now, I was happy to be living in the Royal Palace.
And besides, I wasn’t sure what I would even do back in my hometown anyway. My parents weren’t rich or influential enough to hold any political power, and I doubted anyone in town would want to hire me to work at their store.
The only thing I could think of doing was taking care of the housework and cooking meals for my family, but I already did those things every day. In addition, I didn’t feel like I was cut out to be a full-time homemaker. Not to mention, I hated the idea of leaving the capital.
It’s true that I missed my friends from school, but most importantly, I just couldn’t stand staying cooped up indoors forever. Sooner or later, I wanted to travel around the world! I wished I could tell everyone that I would be traveling abroad for a while, but unfortunately, no one believed me when I told them I was going somewhere far away.
No matter where I went, people always assumed I was running away from something.
But then again, maybe I shouldn’t complain. At least I got to meet Mr. Fisalis, right? He was definitely different than I expected, but I liked him a lot more than I anticipated. I also met the prince, and he seemed pretty cool too. I was starting to wonder if I’d made a mistake by giving up everything I knew and moving to another country.
Actually, I suppose it isn’t fair to call myself a “nobody” anymore. A few days ago, I became royalty. I guess I can consider myself somebody now.
As I was lost in these thoughts, I suddenly realized that I was standing next to the king and queen. I quickly bowed my head deeply.
“Your Majesty, Your Highness…” I said quietly.
King Roland smiled warmly at me. “You may address us as ‘Father,’ and ‘Mother.’ Please, sit down.”
At last, I was allowed into the inner circle of the royal family. This meant that I was officially part of the kingdom’s ruling class. I took a seat between the king and Queen Roxy, and Princess Liliana moved over so that she could sit beside me.
“So, what brings you here today?” asked Prince Parnassus.
“We’re headed to the Throne Hall,” I explained. “Is there anything special happening today?”
“Not particularly,” he responded. “Just some minor ceremonies. Nothing exciting.”
“Oh, okay,” I replied. “Then I’ll see you guys later.”
With that, I rose to leave. Before I left, however, I turned back to look at the king and queen. They both nodded gently, smiling.
***
After finishing our morning duties, we returned to the castle. As soon as we arrived, I informed the guard captain that I needed to speak with Sir Fisalis immediately. He led me straight to his office without asking further questions. When I knocked on the door, he opened it instantly.
“Good afternoon, Lady Rosina.”
Sir Fisalis greeted me cheerfully upon opening the door. His face lit up when he saw me, and he offered me a friendly wave.
“Hey,” I said. “How are you feeling?”
He shrugged nonchalantly, looking rather pleased with himself. “I’m fine, thanks to your healing magic.”
“Thank goodness!” I exclaimed.
His expression softened slightly. “Yes, thank you. You saved my life.”
“Well, I don’t know about that,” I retorted. “All I did was use a spell that I learned from Ms. Luthe. I mean, I didn’t actually save you. The real hero is still out there somewhere.”
“I believe you,” he answered simply. “No need to worry yourself about such trivial matters.”
“Okay, well, I am worried, but whatever. Anyway, I came here to ask you about something important.”
“What might that be?”
“Did you happen to hear anything interesting during the battle yesterday?”
“Hmm… What kind of information were you hoping to find out?”
“Umm, nothing specific. Just general stuff, like who the enemy leader was and why they attacked.”
“Ahh, yes. Those kinds of details are quite useful to know, aren’t they? Unfortunately, though, I wasn’t able to get any intel whatsoever.”
“Huh?! But surely someone must have seen their faces?!”
“There weren’t many witnesses, after all. And even if anyone had been close enough to identify them, they wouldn’t necessarily say anything. It seems like this sort of attack has become commonplace in recent years.”
“That makes sense. Still, I wish I knew more. If I ever encounter an unknown bandit group again, I want to be prepared.”
“In that case, perhaps you should take a page out of my book and learn how to fight,” he suggested.
“Me? Fight?”
“Of course. I’ve already taught you the basics, haven’t I?”
“Uh-huh, sure, I guess…”
“And besides, I think you’d make a very impressive warrior. In fact, I’d love to train alongside you some time.”
“Really?!”
My eyes widened in surprise. “W-Wait, really?”
“It would certainly give me great pleasure to teach you. We could start tomorrow, or whenever you feel ready. Let me know.”
“Ooh! That sounds fun!”
The thought of fighting alongside Sir Fisalis was making me giddy inside. I couldn’t wait for our first training session together. Maybe I’d finally be able to defeat him one day—or at least beat him up a little bit.
“Um, well, um… Thank you so much!” I stammered.
“Don’t mention it. Now, shall we go downstairs? I’m starving.”
“Yeah, let’s do that.”
Once we reached the dining hall, we found everyone else sitting around the table waiting for us. Everyone looked surprised to see me come in with Sir Fisalis.
“Rosina! Where have you two been?” inquired King Roland.
“Sorry, Your Highness. We went to the Throne Hall earlier.”
Queen Roxy added: “She told us that she wanted to talk to you about something important.”
“Oh, right. Thanks, Rosina.”
King Roland smiled warmly. “Take care now.”
“Thanks!”
“Pardon me, Rosina, but may I steal your husband away?” Queen Roxy asked playfully.
“Sure thing,” I agreed.
“You can count on me!” said Sir Galvani.
“See ya later!” called out Sir Gaius.
“Bye!” yelled Princess Brie.
Everyone waved goodbye as we made our way down the stairs and into the courtyard below. After bidding farewell to the guards stationed outside the castle gates, we set off toward town.
As we walked along the road, Sir Fisalis turned to me and said, “So what exactly happened back there?”
“Hm? Oh, uh, well, I just used some healing magic on you.”
“Right. So did you manage to figure out who those bandits were?”
“Nope. They wore masks, remember? All I managed to tell you was that they’re probably not from around here.”
“I see. Well, I suppose that’s good news.”
“But that doesn’t explain why they attacked us in the first place.”
“True. Do you have any ideas?”
“Not really. I assumed they were after money since they had no reason to kill me. But maybe they only needed to steal the crown jewels.”
“Maybe.”
We continued walking side by side in silence until we arrived at the edge of town. There, I stopped and pointed across the street to a small shop selling foodstuffs. “Hey, look! A bakery!”
Sir Fisalis followed my gaze and sighed. “How many times do I have to tell you? You don’t need to buy things every time we pass a store.”
“Well, I was hungry.”
“Yes, but I’m always hungry too. That doesn’t mean I have to eat everything you pick out.”
“Aw, c’mon! Don’t be like that!”
He rolled his eyes and shook his head. Then he took my hand in his own, pulled me closer, and kissed me lightly on the lips. He seemed completely unaffected by my outburst.
“What’s wrong?” I whispered.
“Nothing. Just thinking how lucky I am to have such a beautiful wife.”
“Thank you.”
“Now, where were we before you started talking nonsense?”
Our conversation died out quickly when we entered the bakery. The moment we stepped through the door, I heard a familiar voice call out, “Welcome home!”
When I glanced over my shoulder to see who it was, I saw my father standing behind the counter. His face lit up upon seeing us, and he rushed forward to embrace both of us.
“Father!”
“Rosina! What are you doing here?! And who is this handsome young man?”
“This is Sir Fisalis. Father, please meet Sir Fisalis, Marquess of Montagnier.”
“Ah yes, I’ve heard quite a lot about you, sir.”
“Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?” asked Sir Fisalis politely.
My dad nodded. “Of course. Anything to help you find whoever committed these crimes.”
“Very well then, Mr. Fisalis. Please take a seat.”
After taking seats next to each other at the counter, Sir Fisalis began asking my father all sorts of questions about the incident. My dad answered them without hesitation, which helped ease Sir Fisalis’ concerns somewhat.
“That’s interesting,” he remarked after hearing my dad describe the attack. “If they didn’t want to hurt you, why would they try to kidnap you instead?”
“It makes sense, right? If they’d tried to rob me, I could have fought back or run away. But if someone tries to kidnap you…you can’t fight back, so you might as well cooperate. That means they get their hands on whatever valuables you happen to be carrying at the time.”
“Makes perfect sense. Thank you for explaining that to me.”
“No problem. Now, let’s move on to another topic. Did you know that there are people trying to steal the Crown Jewels?”
“The Crown Jewels?!” exclaimed my father. “Why would anyone go to all that trouble to steal something like that?”
“Because the person who stole the Crown Jewels will become king one day.”
“King?! Really?!”
“Yes. As far as I understand, the current royal family has been overthrown, and the new ruler wants the jewels to cement his power. It seems like everyone in the kingdom knows about this except me.”
“Oh, dear…”
“Are you sure that’s true?”
“Absolutely. I overheard two men discussing it while I was working today.”
“Hmm. So it turns out that our attackers weren’t just looking for money. They wanted your crown jewels too.”
“Yeah. Which means they’ll be coming after me again soon.”
“You should leave the country immediately. Let me talk with the local lord and arrange passage for you to somewhere safe.”
“I appreciate the offer, but I think I’ll stay here for now. I don’t even have enough money to pay for an entire carriage ride.”
“Then I guess you’re stuck here for a little longer.”
“Please don’t say that! I hate being cooped up inside all day long!”
“Don’t worry. We’ll figure something out.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
The End