Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Katarina let out a small huff, her hand coming up to wipe away the sweat that was currently dripping down her face.

"Boy, it sure is a hot day today!" she said, a bright smile plastered on her face as she turned her attention to Pochi, her newly acquired dark magic familiar.

Rather than respond, Pochi let out a small ‘yip,’ wagging his tail in a happy fashion as he stared up at his mistress.

Katarina let out a small coo, dropping the hoe she had slung over her shoulder so she could hold out her hands for him.

"D’aw, aren’t you my good little boy?" she said, letting out a giggle when his tail only seemed to speed up, wagging so fast that she was sure that he’d hurt someone if they had the misfortune of walking past him.

Upon seeing her open hands, Pochi didn’t even so much as hesitate to bound towards her, happily barking as he launched himself off the ground and into her awaiting arms. He then proceeded to aggressively lick her face, as if he too was attempting to get the sweat and grime off her face.

Katarina let out another giggle, her hand coming up from under him so that she could gently pat his head.

"Pochi, that tickles!"

Although he was considered to be ‘bad’ due to his dark magic origin, Katarina personally considered him to be nothing more than her adorable and good little farming helper and beloved new pet. He always listened to what she said, and due to him not needing to be fed, he sometimes stored sweets inside himself for her to enjoy whenever she wanted. He was just such a good boy!

Besides, in her past life and in this one, dogs never seemed to like her no matter how hard she tried to befriend them, so she was elated that Pochi adored her so much!

He looked especially adorable today, considering the little white bandanna she had tied on top of his head in an attempt to keep the sun out of his eyes, not that he probably felt it to begin with. He was also sporting cute, dog-friendly green overalls that matched her own. Much like her own, she’d personally sewn it herself so that it perfectly fit him, just like she did for all of her friends when they showed an interest in farming with her.

Katarina tore her gaze off of her adorable familiar, who was still attempting to lavish her with affection, her eyes drifting over her farm. Thanks to Pochi, she’d managed to finish the farm’s weeding at a record speed. They’d probably have finished faster if Keith had also given them a hand like he always did. However, he had been invited away to some noble function along with her father.

From what Katarina knew, it was an incredibly important function for Keith’s future as the next Duke of the Claes family, which was probably why her mother had forbidden her to go along with him, lest she distract him with her impertinence. At least that is what her mother said when she asked why she couldn’t go. 

Not that Katarina minded too much, of course. It was well known how much Katarina disliked noble etiquette and functions unless there was delicious food involved. She was sure her mother had been thinking of her as well when she told her she was not going. She was just looking out for her.

Right?

Right!

Katarina shook her head in an attempt to clear her thoughts, before turning her attention to Pochi with a smile.

"We did such a good job today. Why don’t we go cool off in my room with a nice glass of lemonade?" she asked, getting a small bark in response from him, "oh, you like that idea, huh? Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!"

With that, Katarina turned away from her farm, Pochi still securely held in her arms as she all but skipped to the back entrance of the Claes manor, humming a little tune as she went. However, upon getting closer, she immediately spotted the sight of an unfamiliar carriage parked at the front of the estate.

Katarina tilted her head, confusion filling her at the sight of it. 

Both Keith and father were out, so whoever was here couldn’t be here to visit either of them. Katarina most definitely hadn’t been expecting any company today either. So, that meant that whoever was here could only be here to visit-

"Mother!" Katarina all but yelped, frantically scooting away from the back door like her life depended on it.

Mother must have taken advantage of having the manor mostly to herself to invite a friend or two over. They were probably having tea in the guest room parlour right at this very moment. It was the same guest room parlor that was right next door to Katarina’s room.

Katarina shivered, remembering her mother's words the last time she’d invited company over.

"I expect you to be on your best behaviour today," mother said, her sharp eyes practically piercing Katarina's soul as she all but glared down at her, "because if I see you covered in even a speck of dirt, crumbs, or something else while they are here, you are going to be very sorry!"

Katarina gazed down at her overalls wearily. Thanks to her hard work, she was practically covered head to toe in dirt. Not only that, but her face was almost completely red, as well as quite sweaty due to all the labour she had done in the hot mid-summer afternoon sun.

She was most definitely not up to par to see anyone, let alone a friend and guest of her mother.

Katarina bit her lip, stroking Pochi’s dark fur as she thought about how she could get into her room without being seen. The last thing she wanted was to be scolded by her mother again for embarrassing her in front of the company. Especially considering how she was still somewhat recovering from the whole kidnapping scare with Keith.

If a small part of her wondered if her mother had worried about her the same way she worried about Keith after her own kidnapping fiasco, she quickly squashed it down. After all, both Keith and Katarina got out of it relatively unscathed, so who cares if mother barely reacted afterwards when she finally came home from her time with Sora?

Katarina’s gaze slowly lifted up the building, until her eyes focused on the familiar visage of her bedroom’s balcony. Katarina stared at it for a few more minutes in silence, before her eyes suddenly lit up, as an idea finally came to her.

"If I can’t walk around the halls, then I guess I have no choice but to sneakily climb my way up, right Pochi?" she asked, letting out a small laugh when Pochi responded by simply licking her cheek, "I’m glad you agree. In that case, since I won’t be able to hold you, I’m going to need you to go home."

Pochi let out a small bark of what she presumed meant agreement, before jumping out of her arms and into her shadow with a small ‘plunk.’

Katarina dusted off her hands, attempting to get the leftover dust off of her gloves so that she could have more grip. Although she was quite familiar with the art of climbing trees, climbing buildings required a bit more precision on her part.

"Alright, tree climbing skills don’t fail me now!" she said, before jumping up so she could grab the wooden ledge above the backdoor, using her upper body strength to hoist herself up so she could perch on it.

Thankfully, it appeared that climbing trees and climbing a building were relatively similar, as both simply required you to find a groove big enough for you to hold on to and use it to hoist yourself higher. It had only taken her a few minutes to reach her balcony. Although she had had a few near-misses when she overestimated how strong a particular groove was, she had easily been able to recover from each of them due to her years of climbing experience.

Upon reaching the outer fence of her balcony, Katarina hoisted herself over it with a small grunt, plonking herself down onto her balcony with a small sound of excitement.

Operation ‘sneak to her room without her mother catching her’ was a success!

Katarina made to move over to her, thankfully, unlocked balcony doors. But before she could enter her room, she could hear bits and pieces of the conversation between her mother and whomever she was speaking to.

"Oh, I see you’ve started Keith’s training as the future Duke?" a familiar and feminine voice said from within the guest room, letting out a small giggle, "Nicol began his training under his father just last year, and from what I’ve seen, he’s been doing wonderfully so far."

Wait, Nicol? 

Katarina’s eyes widened in realization.

Oh, this must be Nicol and Sophia’s mother! she remembers her saying that her name was Lady Radea? 

Wow, she didn’t know her and her mother were friends! What a small world!

Now that she knew the identity of the mysterious guest her mother had invited, she couldn’t hold back her curiosity as to what they were talking about, eagerly leaning over her balcony somewhat so she could hear what they were saying.

Mother let out a small hum, as the distinct clank of a tea cup being put down found its way to my ears.

"Yes, Luigi has officially started Keith’s training, I pushed for him to start it earlier, but Luigi insisted that we wait until he graduated from the academy so as to not overwhelm him," mother seemed to let out a small scoff at that, "as if Keith would be overwhelmed by such a thing. He’s always been a meticulous and level-headed young man, even in his youth. It is the reason why he is so incredibly talented at both his studies and his noble duties."

Katarina nodded in agreement with that. From a young age, Keith had always been really good at planning and organising things, and was also incredibly smart. It was probably how he was able to balance helping her with my own studies along with his own.

"You seem to be quite proud of him," Lady Radea said, although for some reason, her tone sounded almost a little…..odd.

"Of course, he is my son. What else would I be but proud of all he’s achieved?" mother said in response, and for some reason, her tone sounded a little odd too.

There was a brief moment of silence between the two, before Lady Radea opened her mouth to speak once more.

"Speaking of achievements, I’ve heard that your daughter Katarina has been doing quite wonderfully at the moment," Lady Radea said in a bright sounding tone, making it clear that she was probably smiling, "not only has she received a direct invitation for employment at the ministry, but from what Sophia’s told me, her classmates have labelled her as a saint! Surely you must be quite proud of her as well?"

Katarina beamed, her heart filling with pride and a small bit of embarrassment at Lady Radea’s praise of her. Although she’d never seen much of her, she always struck her as rather nice. She kind of reminded her of a more expressive Nicol, although that was to be expected, as he probably got his personality and mannerisms from her.

"Proud?" her mother asked again, with that strange tone in her voice, "Why would I be proud of her?"

Katarina's heart felt like it had stopped, the blood in her veins feeling more like ice as her body violently jolted at her mother’s rather abrupt statement.

Huh?

Without a moment of hesitation, her mother continued on, that odd tone in her voice still incredibly present as she spoke.

"That girl is a real menace when she wants to be. "No matter how hard I try, all the noble etiquette I try to teach her brushes off like water off a duck's wing," her mother said, "no wonder poor Keith looks so tired some days; he's constantly having to look after her and keep her from making a fool of herself."

Katarina winced, feeling as though a metaphorical arrow had just struck her heart, her arms coming up so that she could wrap herself in a small embrace.

Had she really been troubling Keith so much?

"Not to mention that fiancé of hers, who does nothing but indulge her. Honestly, how can he expect her behaviour to improve if he simply pulls strings for her so she can do as she pleases all the time without consequences?"

Another arrow found its way to its mark, right next to the other one.

Had she really been unknowingly forcing Prince Geordo to pull strings on her behalf?

"And, I mean no offence to you when I say this, but your children, as well as her other friends, are all far too lenient with her tomfoolery. They allow her to get away with far too much, even if it causes them trouble. It’s a wonder my daughter has learnt anything at all with them all constantly coddling her."

Two arrows struck the very small bit of open space remaining in her heart, her eyes watering as she all but staggered away from the edge of the balcony.

Has she really been such a burden to her friends?

Katarina's mother let out a small huff, before proceeding to say something that completely shattered what remained of Katarina’s already fragile heart.

"Sometimes, I wish that she had simply not been returned. It would greatly reduce the amount of stress she causes me on a regular basis by a landslide!"

Katarina’s hand came up to cover her face, her body rippling with grief as she desperately fought back a sob as tears began to helplessly stream down her face. 

She’d known that she tended to cause trouble for her mother due to her antics, and she knew that all too well if the way she was always scolding her was any indication. However, Katarina still believed that her mother loved her regardless of the numerous scoldings and her frustration.

Clearly, she had been wrong. If what she just said had been any indication, her mother, in reality, seemed to want nothing to do with her. In fact, if her mother had it her way, she’d probably see to it that Katarina simply would not return home one day, so that she never had to put up with any more of her nonsense.

Katarina let out one more helpless sniff, her hand coming up to wipe away her stray tears, before turning to enter her room.

She’d heard more than enough to understand the situation before her, and now she had a lot to think about when it came to her future.

Lady Radea Ascart let out a small laugh, reaching forward so she could gently pat her exasperated but laughing friend on the shoulder.

"Mirridiana, you mustn't joke about such things," she lightly scolded, before lowering her hand so she could pick up her tea cup once more, taking a dainty sip from it, "for all you know, Katarina could have been in actual danger in that instance."

Mirridiana’s exasperated expression shifted somewhat, as she let out another disbelieving scoff.

"Danger? Radea, my dear, I had the utmost confidence in my daughter’s competence at keeping herself safe when she was kidnapped. Any true danger she could have potentially been in would have immediately dissipated the moment she opened her mouth to speak to her would-be kidnappers," Mirridiana said, giving a small shrug of her shoulders, her hand raising so she could blow cool air on her face with her fan, "as wild as my daughter can be, she is truly one of the most charming and socially intelligent people of her generation. I’m sure she could convince even the most hardened of criminals to change their ways and turn a new leaf if you gave her the opportunity to do so."

Lady Radea giggled once more, her hand coming up to cover her mouth as a knowing smile appeared on her face.

"Indeed, I am well aware of your daughters’ social talents. My children speak highly of Katarina’s charisma. Even Nicol has informed me of her ability to charm those around her," she said, but her expression did waver slightly, "however, I’m afraid I would not have such confidence in my child’s safety if I was in the same position. What would have happened if her charm was not enough to keep her safe?"

Mirridiana smiled, her eyes filled with both pride and slight exasperation in equal measure.

"My daughter is by far no pushover when it comes to matters involving strength. If it came down to an altercation, I’m sure she would have come out on top," she said, her voice oozing with confidence in her child’s abilities, "she’s always had a better handle on a sword than her brother, not to mention all the muscle she’s gained due to her rather strange farming hobby. Despite his best efforts and much more potent magic, Keith has always been a bit more…..fragile compared to her, in both strength and constitution."

Lady Radea smiled at her friend, clearly seeing the love she held for her daughter, despite how frustrated she had appeared earlier during her playful rant.

"Like mother, like daughter. That is how the saying goes, yes? If I remember correctly, you were once considered one of the best duelists in our entire year at the academy. I’m certain you’d put the royal knights to shame!" Lady Radea said, her hand coming up to cup her chin as a thoughtful expression appeared on her face, "You used to go on and on about the knights too. It was your dream ever since you were a girl to one day receive a knighthood, even though your shyness prevented you from truly expressing it."

Mirridiana’s cheeks reddened, her hand moving so she could use her fan to obscure her face from her friend’s teasing gaze.

"What does it matter what I previously dreamed of? I’ve grown up now, I am the Duchess of the Claes family, I’m happily married to the love of my life with two lovely children. What more could I want?" she said, ignoring the way Lady Radea’s eyes shifted to a more sympathetic one, "besides, it was a foolish dream that was simply never meant to be. It's better that I accept that and move on than live my life in nothing more than disappointment."

"Is that why you're so hard on Katarina? Because you’re afraid that she might end up disappointed as well if she continues as she does?" Lady Radea asked gently, causing Mirridiana to jolt slightly at the accusation. "

Mirridiana shuffled a bit in her seat, her hand lowering so that she could place her fan back on the table between the two of them, her sharp, upturned eyes narrowing slightly.

"You know as well as I do that our society cares little for those who dare to be even the slightest bit different," she said briskly, her tone frosting slightly.I simply do not wish for her to suffer at their hands like I have."

"Yes, with a child who has had to constantly fight just to be treated even the slightest bit civilly by her fellow peers, I am quite aware of the struggles you speak of," Lady Radea said back just as briskly, but her expression softened slightly as she continued, "however, there comes a time when you can no longer attempt to shield them from the views of our materialistic society. And when that time comes, you can do no more than accept that they are strong enough to stand on their own should their differences ever be challenged."

Mirridiana remained silent, her expression becoming thoughtful as her friend’s words rained down on her.

Lady Radea reached forward, squeezing her hand in her own with a gentle smile on her face that uncannily mirrored her son’s with its dazzlingness.

"Fear not, Mirridiana. If Katarina is as strong as you say, then you should have nothing to worry about when it comes to her future," she said, giving her hand another gentle squeeze, "all you can do now is sit back and let her live her life as best as she can."

"That is easier said than done, I’ve spent so long scolding her, it would be rather strange to suddenly stop after so long," Mirridiana said somewhat dryly, her expression changing from thoughtful to grateful, "but regardless of my feelings, you are right, Radea. It is time for me to let her live her life. As much as she doesn’t act like it, she is an adult now. It’s time I let her make her own decisions, and face her own consequences for those decisions."

Mirridiana thought back on all her daughter’s achievements over the years, all on her own, her heart filled with both pride and exasperation. Unlike her, Katarina had somehow managed to surround herself with a strong network of people, all of whom would do anything to protect both her and her reputation from harm. Not only that, but she’d also somehow charmed her way into getting an invitation to join the ministry, something that was usually only offered to those with high academic standing.

Yes, despite how often she scolded her, Mirridiana was truly proud of who she had become, and was glad that she hadn’t inherited her shyness nor her ability to say the wrong thing at the wrong time. No, it was clear that Katarina had inherited her father’s temperament and charm, something that Keith was slowly learning how to cultivate under his tutelage as well.

Maybe she should start spending more time with her? She’d only held back from doing so due to how independent she had grown after her head injury all those years ago. Katarina hadn’t requested to spend time with her, so she had assumed that she did not wish to do so.

Perhaps it was time to rectify that? It certainly wouldn’t hurt to at least learn about her interests. That way she could guide her into an occupation or field that would suit her nicely.

Lady Radea’s gentle smile widened, as she let out another small giggle.

"See? Aren't you glad you swallowed your pride and called me over for advice?" she teased, taking great joy in the way Mirridiana’s cheeks reddened once more, "considering your usual unfortunate word choices and misconclusions, who knows what sort of misunderstanding you would have caused had you not asked me for my aid!"

Despite all her etiquette training advising against it, Mirridianna reached forward and threw one of the neatly placed scones at Lady Radea, causing her to let out a small, amused snort as a result.

"Quiet," she hissed, her hand already poised to unleash another bread-based attack should she dare tease her again.

Katarina layed motionless on her bed, the only movement being her hand. She was currently in the process of petting a napping Pochi, who was resting obliviously on her stomach.

After spending the last couple of minutes curled up crying just inside the doors to her balcony, she’d only just been able to muster up the energy to change out of her dirty overalls and into clean clothes and summon Pochi, before practically sprawling herself on top of her bed. 

Katarina knew that her eyes were probably completely bloodshot, something which she would have to get rid of when it came time for Anne to come in and prepare her for dinner, lest she burden somebody else in her life with her problems like she apparently always did. However, at the moment, Katarina couldn’t bring herself to care about such a minor thing.

Ever since she had been reincarnated as the ever hated and terrible Villainess of Fortune Lover, Katarina had strived to be anything but the villainess she had been destined to be. She had been as nice as she could to everyone she met, just like she used to in her old life. She’d done her best to help her friends and family with whatever plights they found themselves in, no questions asked. She’d even offered to end her engagement so that Prince Geordo could be free to pursue whoever he wished to, which he, for some reason, rejected at every turn.

And yet…………

Had she unknowingly been living as a villainess the whole time without realising it? By behaving as she would in her old world, had she accidently placed an unimaginable burden on those she held dear due to her antics? 

Whenever she asked them to farm with her, play with her, and do whatever she wished for them to do, had they actually been doing it because they wanted to? Or was it because they simply were too nice to say no to her?

Was that why Prince Geordo refused to end his engagement to her? Because he was afraid that without their engagement, she would ruin herself without his help? Had he lied about being in love with her in an attempt to spare her feelings?

And Keith……Poor, sweet and gentlemanly Keith. Had he also been lying about his feelings? Had he only confessed as a way to reassure her that she had a backup plan in case Prince Geordo eventually grew tired of taking care of her all the time?

What about Prince Alan and Mary? Had she been ruining their relationship as well by constantly third-wheeling on them? Were Mary's frequent invitations and insistence on spending time with her because she wanted her to stop gatecrashing between them?

Katarina couldn’t quite figure out how she’d hurt Sophia, but she was sure she had done something to the sweet girl if she too felt like Katarina was a burden. It could have been on Nicol’s behalf, but Nicol was another mystery. Perhaps by constantly hanging around him, she was unintentionally ruining his chances of seducing the one he was in love with? Maybe that was why Sophia was annoyed with her? She’d always loved her brother fiercely and tended to be a hopeless romantic.

This whole time, had she been nothing more than a burden for everyone around her?

Katarina thought back to when she faced the judgement event last year, and how all her friends came to her defense, and how they had all unintentionally insulted her in the process.

Had it truly been unintentional? Or had it been their way of crying out their ever growing frustrations with her?

Katarina stopped patting Pochi, her hands coming up to cover her face as a wave of frustration and grief hit her once more.

What could she do? How could she fix the mess she had unintentionally made? How could she make her friends happy again?

Catastrophic Bad End Avoidance Strategy Meeting

Chairwoman Katarina: Present

Intelligent Katarina: Present

Aggressive Katarina: Present

Timid Katarina: Present

Happy Katarina; Present

“What do we do? At this rate we’ll be forced into exile by the end of the year if we keep this up!” Happy Katarina cried out, her voice oozing with panic as she frantically turned her attention to Intelligent Katarina.

Intelligent Katarina let out a small hum, adjusting her fake glasses on her nose as she stared down at her shoes with a thoughtful look on her face.

Seeing Intelligent Katarina’s lack of response, Happy Katarina turned her attention to Timid Katarina, who immediately recoiled into her seat.

“We could, uh, we could always just apologize to them for the trouble we caused them?” Timid Katarina suggested, her voice uncertain and small as she shifted a little in her seat due to the attention that was currently on her.

Aggressive Katarina shook her head in disagreement, her fist coming down to slam the table in frustration.

“We can’t do that, it's far too late for a simple apology to suffice!” Aggressive Katarina said, her voice as loud and boisterous as always, although it lacked its usual enthusiasm, “we gotta come up with something better than that, something that makes everyone happy in the end.”

“But how on earth are we going to do that?” Happy Katarina asked, her voice filled with more uncertainty than any of the other council members have heard from her, “what could we possibly do that could ever make up for all we’ve unknowingly done to them over the years?”

With that Intelligent Katarina lifted her gaze from her shoes, her eyes filled with a solemn yet determined gleam as she stood from her seat.

“There is one possible solution that could resolve this situation,” Intelligent Katarina said, her hand coming up so she could once more fiddle with her fake glasses, “however, I only wished to save it as a last resort in case of the worst.”

“Well, we may not be facing the worst, but we certainly are heading straight for it if we don’t do anything,” Chairwoman Katarina said, her eyes narrowing down at Intelligent Katarina, her voice stern, “so now is a good time as any. Speak.”

Intelligent Katarina straightened her shoulders, before opening her mouth to speak.

“If our actions are leading towards our potential future exile or death, then why don’t we simply exile ourselves before such a thing comes to pass?” Intelligent Katarina said, her eyes imploringly staring at her fellow council members as she spoke, “we’ve been preparing for such a scenario as just in case for years, so implementing it now would be of no hassle to us.”

The rest of the council remained silent, which seemed to encourage Intelligent Katarina to continue her explanation.

“Think about it, by leaving not only are we ensuring that it is on our own terms, but it is also the best way we can make amends with everyone we’ve unknowingly placed a burden on,” Intelligent Katarina explained, “without us being there, everyone else can continue to live their lives in peace, and we can live in peace knowing that the worst has already happened.”

The council remained silent once more, until said silence was breached by a hesitant looking Timid Katarina.

“But……if we leave, won’t that cause everyone we love to worry about us?” she asked, her gaze uncertain as she stared at Intelligent Katarina, “won’t they…..won’t they try and find us if we just up and disappear?”

The rest of the council murmured in agreement, causing Intelligent Katarina to once more resume speaking.

“That is of course a genuine possibility, however with all our preparations and some clever planning I’m sure we can avoid any and all attempts at bringing us back,” she said, letting out a small sad sounding sigh, “besides, once they realize how good they have it now that we are gone, I’m certain that they’ll forget all about attempting to locate us anymore, as sad as such a thing might seem.”

The rest of the council once more murmured in agreement, all except Timid Katarina, who still looked relatively uncertain. However, she made no move to protest.

“Very well, as Chairwoman of this council, I approve this course of action suggested by Intelligent Katarina,” Chairwoman Katarina said, banging her gavel down as a sign that the meeting was now concluded, “as soon as everyone has gone to bed, we shall make preparations to leave for our self-imposed exile!”

For once, in the council’s entire life, not a single member celebrated the successful drawing of a conclusion. Instead, they all simply remained silent.

Katarina’s expression calmed, her frustration melting away until only sadness remained.

It was for the best, it truly was. Without her there to drag them all down, her friends would surely flourish into the people they were meant to be if she hadn’t come along. They’d be confused and upset at first, but Katarina was certain they’d forget all about her if given enough time to experience the joys of life without her. Not only that, but her mother would also get her wish. She’d finally be able to focus her full and undivided attention on the child she actually loved.

Everyone wins.

Everyone……………except maybe her.

But who cares about that?

"Come on, Pochi," Katarina said, wiping away the remaining tears on her face before sitting up from her bed, causing him to slip off her stomach and down onto her lap.

"We’ve got a lot of work to do if we want to be ready to leave by midnight."

As soon as the clock struck midnight and everyone else, as far as she knew, was asleep, Katarina practically sprung out of her bed, summoned Pochi, and began her preparations to leave.

Ever since Katarina was young, she had been slowly developing a plan and gathering resources in the event that she ever had to place herself in self-appointed exile. However, she never thought the day would come that she would have to genuinely use it.

Until now, that is.

Firstly, to begin her plan, Katarina informed her loyal and probably equally burdened maid, Anne, that she was feeling unwell due to heatstroke and would not be able to make it to dinner. Anne, of course, worried heavily about her, especially upon seeing the redness in her eyes. However, thanks to her reassurances, Anne merely insisted that Katarina get a good night's rest, drink plenty of water, and told her that she would bring her dinner to her room. Of course, Katarina would not eat this dinner tonight, but rather she would store it away in a little knapsack as emergency travel rations, along with whatever she could gather up from her ever growing farm.

If a part of Katarina desperately wanted to ask Anne to accompany her in her self-directed exile, she quickly smothered it. Anne deserved far better than to be strolling through the countryside with her, especially after all Katarina had put her through.

No, at long last, it was time for Anne to rest, to be released from the burden of taking care of her anymore. Katarina could take care of herself from now on, and if she needed company, she would simply turn to Pochi.

And if Keith or anyone else came inside to check on her well-being, well, Katarina merely laid down in her bed, lifted the covers over her head and feigned sleep.

Secondly, over the years, Katarina had stored away many simple dresses that she had hand sewn with spare material she had gathered from old dresses that no longer fit in the event of an exile, as she would need none-noble attire to wear so that she didn’t get herself mugged for looking too rich. Katarina also packed these away as well, only leaving one out for her to change into when it came time to leave. 

She would keep her shoes. Good leather was hard to come by, and leather shoes would last infinitely better than any sort of high heels or commoner sandals she could scrape up at the last minute. She’d also gone to the effort of sewing herself a long plain-looking cloak, just in case the road got colder than she originally expected.

Thirdly, Katarina had been saving a small bit of her weekly allowance into a rather large piggy bank hidden in a small groove at the back of her cupboard ever since she had gotten her memories. Safe to say, she had saved quite a sum of money, which would come in handy for both travelling and setting herself up wherever she chose to. She too packed this away, making sure to hide it underneath her clothes so that it wasn’t obvious to any would-be thieves.

Fourthly, Katarina had decided long ago that in the event of an exile, she would have an idea of where she was going, so she could prepare herself accordingly if need be. After looking at numerous maps and globes of the different countries, towns, and villages, she’d ended up choosing a small farming village just on the very edge of the Sorcierian border, drawing near to the kingdom of Ethenell. It was close enough to the border that it would be an easy jump over if the need to run came about, but it was also within safe Sorcerian territory.

If the visit she’d somehow convinced her father to take her on when she was just twelve years old had anything to say about it, the village was quite friendly and close-knit, meaning she would have no trouble blending in and setting up a life there if need be. She made sure to pack a map with her so that she would not get lost on the road whilst travelling there.

Fifthly, whilst Katarina wasn’t the brightest in her friendship group, she liked to think that she at least wasn’t a complete and utter idiot. She knew that travelling on the road would come with unforeseen dangers, especially considering she was a rather young and somewhat attractive lady. That was why she was planning on bringing her trusty hoe with her, as both a future farming tool and a potential weapon if need be. 

Not only would it not draw as much attention as a sword would, which she had initially considered but decided was too risky, but it was also something she could justify carrying on her person. Katarina had spent a significant amount of time practising using the hoe as a weapon, and she had discovered that with some practice, it came as naturally to her as using any sword.

That, and since she acquired Pochi, she at least now knew that she had a back up plan in case this didn’t work. Although he was cute and cuddly, Katarina was sure that he could pack a punch if need be. From what she’d seen, anything involving dark magic tended to be quite dangerous and or powerful. She was sure, if push came to shove, that Pochi was no exception.

Finally, Katarina knew that Anne checked on her all throughout the night to make sure her blanket hadn’t been kicked off while she was sleeping. It was probably the nicest thing anyone had ever done for her, even if it had the potential to make future self-exile escape attempts much harder than they needed to be. Luckily, Katarina had had plenty of time to workshop something to buy her some much needed time, so she could at least get a head start.

Using her rather impressive, if she didn’t say so herself, art skills, Katarina had managed to sculpt a realistic looking bust of her head up to at least her shoulders. She’d modified it whenever she needed to over the years, and had safely stored it away underneath some old clothes in her cupboard. 

The bust was, of course, hairless, as Katarina didn’t want to risk attaching hair to it just in case her hair length changed when she needed to use it. However, upon giving herself a quick haircut with some small gardening shears she was planning to store away to about just below her chin, (something which also ironically doubled as a somewhat clever disguise), she promptly added this finishing touch, using any left over hair to make her bangs and fringe. She then stripped down and proceeded to dress it in the nightgown she had been wearing, plumping up some pillows to form a makeshift body like she used to do in her past life whenever she wanted to sneak out in order to hang out with Aachan.

Upon setting up her duplicate, Katarina then changed into her commoner attire, which was a rather plain looking dress with her usual brown boots, fake glasses, and a large wide-brimmed hat. Katarina then slung her hoe over her shoulder and looked at the fruits, both literally and metaphorically, if the food she had subtly collected from her farm had been any indication, of her years of preparatory labor.

Katarina stared down at her doom journal, picking it up in her hands as she contemplated whether or not to bring it with her. After a few moments of thinking on it, Katarina eventually decided against it, slipping it back into its usual space under her bed without a second thought.

Katarina then ran her hands through her, now infinitely much shorter, light brown hair, letting out a small sigh before making her way over to her desk, her bag full of supplies safely slung over her shoulder along with her hoe. She hesitated for a brief moment, wondering if she should even bother with it, before making up her mind and placing the letter she had spent the evening writing for her friends and family on her desk, propping it up with her two bracelets that she usually wore with her white gloves.

She knew none of them would probably read it, but it had made her feel somewhat better by writing it for them anyway. It at least brought her some form of closure in regard to the end of her life with them.

Katarina then turned, smiling down at Pochi with a rather bittersweet-looking smile.

"Well then, Pochi. I guess this is it," she said, crouching down to give him a small pat on the top of her head, "let’s go, we’ve got a long journey ahead of us." 

Pochi let out a small bark, before jumping up onto my shoulder, giving my cheek an affectionate lick.

Katarina let out a small giggle, ruffling his dark fur briefly before she made her way over to her balcony once more. Katarina cracked open the balcony doors, stepping out onto the balcony. Katarina made her way over to the edge of the balcony, took a deep breath, and then swung her leg over the side of it.

‘Goodbye, everyone. I wish you all a long and happy life now that I’m no longer here to ruin everything.'

And with that thought in her head, Katarina took off into the dead of night, with not a single soul awake to see or hear it.

She was simply just………gone.

Chapter Text

It was at about nine in the morning that Katarina’s ever-faithful and loving maid, Anne, made her way to wake her seemingly unwell mistress, only to discover something well and truly awful instead.

"My Lady, it’s time for you to get up now," Anne said, gently opening the door to Katarina’s bedroom, before moving to step inside.

Anne was originally planning on waking her up earlier so that she could join her family for breakfast this morning. However, Katarina had looked absolutely terrible yesterday as a result of the bout of heatstroke she appeared to be suffering from, and so Anne had decided to give her a bit of a sleep in so she could have more time to recover. Thankfully, the Duchess and Duke seemed quite understanding, although both Keith and the Duchess had let out small matching sighs of exasperation at Katarina’s usual antics.

Katarina did not so much as move in response to Anne’s call, remaining blissfully asleep even as Anne moved to open the curtains in order to bring some light into the room. It was strange, Katarina would usually never leave her room so dark and dreary, but then again, perhaps it was simply because she felt unwell?

Anne let out a small huff when she noticed the balcony door was unlocked, turning around to face her mistress with a scolding look in her eyes.

"My lady, I thought I told you to keep this door locked? Who knows what sort of people could use it to gain entry to your room," Anne said sternly, but she paused when she noticed just how still her mistress seemed to be.

Katarina was usually a rather restless sleeper, always kicking off her blanket and moving about during the night in the oddest of positions. Yet, throughout the night, when Anne went to check on her to make sure her blanket remained in its place, Katarina hadn’t so much as moved from the place where she had started in. She had originally just assumed that this was a result of Katarina feeling unwell. However, right at this very moment, Anne couldn’t help us feel that something was off.

"My lady, are you feeling alright?" Anne asked hesitantly, taking tentative steps towards her mistress’s bed, before slowly reaching over so she could shake her mistress awake, "if you are still feeling unwell, then would you like for me to ask your parents to call forth a healer for you-"

Anne felt the words in her throat suddenly die out, as rather than flesh and bone, her hand merely pressed down against the sturdy material of hardened clay.

Immediately, Anne ripped back the sheets, only to let out a horrified gasp at what lay beneath.

Instead of her sleeping mistress, laying in her stead was a well-crafted clay bust of Katarina’s face, neck, and shoulders that was wearing Katarina’s usual sleep clothes. Not only that, but, much to Anne’s complete and utter horror, the bust seemed to have been crafted with her mistress’ long locks of light brown hair, as if whoever had made the bust had hastily attached it as a make-shift wig.

"W-what....... What is the meaning of this?" Anne whispered to herself, nearly tripping over her feet as she scrambled back and away from the bed.

Anne felt herself trip over the rug in shock, which led to her accidentally bumping her hip into her mistress’ desk, causing her to let out a small wince. Anne rubbed her now probably bruised hip, suddenly finding her eyes drawn to a small envelope on the desk that was currently being propped up by Katarina’s golden brackets.

Anne felt as though she had caught a rather violent and cold chill, slowly reaching over so that she could grab the letter from its expensive perch.

Anne only hesitated for a brief moment, taking a deep breath before cracking open the envelope. Upon reading the contents within it, Anne felt her face completely lose all of its color, the letter all but slipping out of her hands as she fell unceremoniously down onto her knees. Not knowing what else to do, Anne simply cried out as loudly as she could, her grief and horror-filled voice echoing all throughout the manor.

"LADY KATARINA!"

It turns out, running away from home was much harder than Katarina had originally thought it would be.

Not because sneaking out was a challenge for her or anything; she'd, after all, been able to get out of the Claes Manor in the dead of night without any of the guards or servants catching her. Although the fact that she could so easily slip out was somewhat alarming, considering the number of guards her parents had patrolling at night. Katarina had also done all of her preparations in advance, so therefore she should have had enough resources in order to make it to her desired location.

No, the hardest part was the actual travel itself, and the feelings of loneliness and paranoia that came with it.

Katarina had spent practically the whole night and most of the morning walking on foot, the only company she had being her lovely dark familiar, Pochi, who, whilst adorable, wasn’t really capable of holding a conversation with her. She’d originally been planning on taking some breaks during the night, as she hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep due to being too busy preparing everything. However, she’d ended up deciding against it, as if she was going to pull this off, she’d need the largest head start she could get.

Therefore, by the time the sun had risen and it was well into the morning, Katarina could feel her exhaustion finally catching up with her. Her feet were aching from all the walking, although not as badly as they could have been due to her heavily supportive boots. The only thing that was currently keeping her going was a strange combination of stubbornness and pure force of will, as Katarina was sure that without those things she would have most definitely collapsed into a heap by now.

Katarina quickly pulled out her map from her nap sack, taking a quick peek at it in order to determine where she was at the moment. According to the map, as well as the amount of time she had been walking, she appeared to be only about an hour away from the first town between the Claes manor and her final destination.

Should she stop for a bit and take a small break, or should she try and hold out until she makes it to town?

Katarina’s stomach immediately began to grumble, causing her to let out a weak laugh, her hand coming up to rub her demanding and hungry belly with a small smile.

"Guess my body’s already decided for me, huh Pochi?" Katarina said, turning her attention to her adorable familiar, who merely wagged his tail at her in response.

"Why don’t we find a place for us to rest up for a bit?"

Pochi let out a small bark, quickly running off the path and into the trees. Katarina let out another weak chuckle, jogging after him as fast as she could considering her somewhat haggard state.

Katarina wasn’t sure if it had been his intention or not, but she felt that it was a smart idea not to rest anywhere near the road, as who knows what sort of people could walk past and attempt to hassle her while she was in a vulnerable position.

Eventually, Pochi stopped running, coming to a stop in the middle of a small open space clearing in front of a large oak tree about fifteen minutes away from the road. Pochi let out another small bark, turning around so he could proudly gaze up at his mistress.

Katarina smiled, crouching down so she could pat him on the head.

"Nice find, Pochi!" Katarina softly cooed to him, reaching down so she could pick him up and lift him into her arms, letting out a small giggle when he began to lick her face, "you’re such a good boy!"

Katarina cradled him in her arms before walking towards the tree. She must have been more exhausted than she thought, because as soon as she tried to sit down, she all but collapsed against the base of the tree. She let out a sigh, sliding down the tree trunk until she was sitting against it, plonking her bag down next to her.

All Katarina wanted to do was fall asleep, but she knew she at least needed to eat something first. Katarina reached over to her bag, pulling out one of the cucumbers she’d stashed away inside of it in order to have it for breakfast. Although it wasn’t a traditional meal, she’d practically lived off of them for breakfast in her past life whenever she was running late for school.

As Katarina munched on her makeshift breakfast, her hand stroking Pochi as she ate, she couldn’t help but wonder how everyone was doing.

Had they found her letter yet? Had they even realised that she was missing at all? Not that it particularly mattered. She’s gone now, and hopefully they will be able to move on. If they even needed to in the first place. 

Katarina shook her head in an attempt to clear her thoughts, not wanting to let her thoughts go down the dark road on which they were heading. It didn’t matter anymore anyway. Although she did take an unnecessary harsh bite of her cucumber.

As soon as she finished her breakfast, Katarina wiped her hand clean on her dress, before shuffling slightly against the tree.

She really was incredibly tired. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to take a short nap? Just so she could have a bit more energy to keep traveling.

"I’m going to take a short rest, Pochi," Katarina said to her familiar, gently stroking him on the top of his head, "would you mind keeping an eye out and waking me if anything’s coming our way?"

Pochi let out a small bark, which she assumed was his way of agreeing, before hopping off of her lap so he could sit himself down just in front of her, his back straight and alert and his ears keenly moving as if he was carefully listening to his surroundings.

Katarina smiled, reaching forward to pat him on the head, laying back against the tree and resting her hoe across her lap just in case Pochi had to suddenly wake her up if trouble came near.

"Thanks, Pochi."

With that, Katarina closed her eyes, sleep finding her relatively easily as she felt herself begin to drift off.

‘I’ll just rest for a little bit, then I’ll start travelling again,’ Katarina thought, before promptly falling asleep, the sound of the gently blowing breeze and the ruffling of leaves soothing her erratic mind.

Upon hearing the frightened and terrified sounding voice of Katarina’s usually calm and level-headed maid, Keith had practically sprung out of his chair in his study and raced down the hallway.

His father had left him with a few bits and pieces of paperwork from yesterday’s function before he headed to the ministry to work with Prime Minister Ascart about something this morning. However, all thoughts of completing it were immediately pushed to the back of his mind, as he slammed the door to Katarina’s bedroom open with a loud bang.

Keith’s eyes immediately widened in both confusion and horror.

Anne was currently kneeling on the ground, her form shaking from the force of her sobs, clutching what appeared to be a letter tightly in her hands as if it was a lifeline. Although the sight of her in such a state was incredibly alarming to him, he found the sight of the lifeless bust of his sister’s head with what appeared to be actual locks of her hair laying where Katarina herself should be even more so.

What in the name of Sorcier was going on? And where was Katarina if she wasn’t resting from her bout of heatstroke like Anne said this morning?

Since Anne appeared to be the only person in the room at the moment, and seemed to be the only person who knew what had potentially happened to his sister, Keith quickly made his way over to her, instinctively pulling out his handkerchief as he went.

"Anne, is everything alright? What’s wrong?" Keith asked in the softest tone he could muster up given his current confusion, gently reaching forward so he could wipe the tears off of her cheeks, "where’s Sister?"

Rather than respond, Anne merely began to cry harder, her hands trembling as she wordlessly held out the letter she had been clutching in her hands to him.

Keith frowned, gently plucking it out of her hands. Whatever it was, it appeared to be heavily crumpled due to the force with which Anne was holding it, and had a few distinct teardrops on the back of it. 

Keith hesitated briefly, slowly unfolding it so he could read it.

Dear Friends and Family (or whoever just so happens to be reading this),

If you’re reading this, then that probably means that my plan actually worked and I somehow managed to sneak my way out of the house.

 I know you’re probably wondering why this is the case. However, first things first, I would like more than anything to simply apologise to all of you for the trouble I’ve unknowingly caused over the years. I know now that I’ve probably been nothing more than a burden to all of you. So please let me apologise for what I’ve done.

I’m sorry Anne, for being a complete and utter failure of a mistress to you, for forcing you to do inconvenient things such as tuck me in all night long and put up with whatever antics I decide to get up to. Hopefully, with me gone, you finally get to work for someone who actually deserves to have such an amazing maid and friend by their side.

Thank you for everything, Anne. I’m sure you’ll be just fine!

I’m sorry, mother and father, for failing to be the Lady that House Claes needed me to be. I’m sorry for being a disappointment, for being unruly and unladylike, for eating too much or not trying hard enough.

I’m sorry that the only good thing I’ve been able to do for you was to get kidnapped and potentially never return. And yet I couldn’t even get that right and still came back despite how much better you’d all be if I hadn’t.

But hey, at least you're finally getting what you wanted at long last, right mother?

I’m sorry, Keith, for always hassling you and forcing you to constantly take care of me. I’m supposed to be the older sibling, you know, and yet the fact that I let myself become the one who needed to be coddled is a sin in itself.

I know that I promised to always be by your side, but I hope that by leaving, you'll finally be able to find the peace and quiet that you probably so desperately need. And who knows? With me gone and out of your way, you might finally be able to settle down and find the future Lady Claes! 

Rest easy now, Keith. I wish you all the happiness in the world as the next Lord Claes, even if I’m not there to witness the amazing lord you become.

I’m sorry, Prince Geordo, for forcing you to keep an engagement and fake feelings so that I never have to fear for my future as a noble. It must be quite stressful dealing with me on a regular basis. I can only imagine how much more it would be if you were forced to actually marry me.

With me gone, you can put aside your worry for my future and dissolve the engagement without any regrets. That way, you can truly find someone worth getting engaged to, someone, who isn’t constantly dragging you down like me. Maybe you can start to get to know Maria some more. She really is a lovely girl!

I give you my best wishes, Prince Geordo, and hope that whatever lady that is lucky enough to win your heart loves you for who you are, not for your status or the mask you put on to please others.

I’m sorry, Mary, for constantly preventing you from spending alone time with your fiancé, who you clearly love with all of your heart. I know you only constantly invited me to things because you were too nice and kind-hearted to tell me I was intruding.

 I’m truly grateful that you went to such lengths for me. However, to expect you to continue to do that would be incredibly unfair. Hopefully, now that I’m no longer around to be the third wheel on you two, you can finally have some genuine couple time.

You’ve truly been an amazing friend to me, Mary, so now it’s time for me to return the favour.

I’m sorry, Prince Alan, for not taking you seriously when you said that I was stealing time away from you and Mary all those years ago. I know now that you were right, and were genuinely trying to tell me so that I could stop, but I wasn’t paying enough attention to realise that.

I know this now, which is why I’m entrusting Mary to you. And you better treat her the way she deserves. No funny business, you hear? If I hear you treating her with even the slightest bit of disrespect, then I’ll briefly mosey my way out of exile just so I can give you a good whacking with my hoe!

Hang in there, you big goof, and thanks for playing around with me all these years. It’s really been fun competing with you.

I’m sorry Sophia, for what I don’t know, but I know full well that I must have done something considering how much I’ve hurt everyone else. I just want you to know that whatever it is that I’ve done, I’m so incredibly sorry for burdening you with it.

You’ve probably been one of the best reading buddies I’ve ever had, so I’m sad that I won’t be able to enjoy a good romance novel with you anymore now that I’m gone. However, I’m sure there is someone out there who would be more than happy to pick up the slack for me and read with you!

Thank you for all the lovely memories and fantasies that we’ve shared. However, it’s now time for me to put down my book and let you go.

I’m sorry, Nicol, for always fainting on you and bothering you with my mindless chatter. I know how much you like the quiet, so I apologise if I ever made you uncomfortable with my attempts at talking to you.

I know that there’s a special woman (or man!) out there who’s captured your heart. I truly hope that now that I’m no longer there to take up all your time and energy, you’ll finally be able to turn your devilish earl charms towards the person of your dreams.

Goodbye Nicol, I truly do hope that you find happiness. You’ve more than done enough to deserve it.

I’m sorry Maria, for always hounding you for sweets when you're probably already busy dealing with other things. I should have known that you would have been too kind and sweet to ever tell me no, even when you really wanted to.

I truly hope that now that I’m gone, you’ll finally find the person whom you want to remain with for the rest of your days. I know you always used to say that to me when I asked you out of politeness and general friendliness. However, now I pray that you’ll be able to say that for real, to whoever wins your heart.

You’ve always been a truly amazing heroine. Now it’s time to step away and let you become who you were destined to be.

I’m sorry, Raphael, for essentially trying to force you to change your ways and acting like I knew what was best. I suppose you were right, I am a hypocrite, and now I’ve trapped you in a job that forces you to do endless amounts of paperwork without any true moment of peace.

You’ve been through so much in your life so far, you deserve an opportunity to truly be able to live. Not from behind a desk, but rather from outside in the sun, with the wind in your hair and the scent of flowers in the air.

Be free, Raphael, don’t let life slip away from you before you know it. Death can be quite a sudden thing, so I truly hope that you get the opportunity to experience everything the world has to offer before it hits you.

Live well, everyone. I pray you all find happiness now that I’m no longer there to ruin everything for you. 

Also, please don’t worry about finding me. I assure you that regardless of wherever I am or wherever I’m heading, I’ll be perfectly fine. I have everything I could possibly need for this little self-imposed exile of mine, so please just go on with your lives like I wasn’t a part of it at all.

With lots of love, 

Katarina Claes

Keith felt his eyes begin to water, his hands tightening on the letter as tears quickly began to trickle down his face at a rapid pace.

The thought of Katarina not being here, of running away due to misplaced guilt, made his heart feel as though it would collapse from the heartache. It felt as if someone had ripped his heart out of his chest, viciously stomping on it while he was attempting to recover from it. The pain was nearly unbearable.

Keith’s hand immediately rose to cover his mouth, his shoulders shaking as he desperately tried to hold back the sob that was trying to escape from his lips.

‘Sister, what could have possibly happened to make you feel this way?’

Keith gave himself a few minutes to pull himself together, wiping his face in an attempt to calm himself down. He would need a clear mind to figure out why this had happened in the first place, and what could have pushed her to do such a thing. Therefore, he promptly did his best to push his grief aside so he could analyse the situation properly.

Keith took a slow and deep breath, turning his attention back to Anne once more, his expression empathetic as he reached forward to gently pat her on the shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.

Keith felt as though his whole world had collapsed. He couldn’t even imagine what she would have been feeling at this very moment. But still, no matter how much they were hurting, there was still a lot of work to be done in order to rectify this.

"Anne, I know you're hurting right now, but would you be able to quickly write and send off a letter to the ministry to report Katarina’s missing status?" Keith said, swallowing thickly as he tried to collect his thoughts, "if we’re going to attempt to find her, it’s best if we use their resources to do so."

Keith didn’t care what Katarina said about not trying to find her. There was no way in hell that he was going to let her run away somewhere when she was clearly in such a fragile state of mind. She could get hurt, get lost, or even get killed if the wrong person just so happened to recognise her on the road.

Keith could apologise to her later, because at least then she’d be safe and angry with him rather than lying dead and abandoned in a ditch somewhere.

"But..." Anne paused, attempting to shift her expression to a more calm one, her bloodshot eyes being the only reminder of her grieving state, "should I inform the rest of your friends as well of what’s occurred?"

Keith shook his head.

"You won’t have to. Nicol told me yesterday that he’d be shadowing his father at the ministry today, so the moment you inform the ministry, he’ll also become aware of the situation," Keith explained, his hand coming up so he could stressfully run it through his curly, sandy blond locks, "and once he knows, he’ll quickly inform the others as well. Maria also visits Raphael regularly, so she can force him to actually take a break and eat breakfast, so it will no doubt spread quickly."

News in regards to Katarina had always travelled fast, almost impossibly so sometimes, a fact which Keith once considered a curse due to its proclivity for inciting romantic sabotage. However, today Keith only felt pure and utter gratitude for it, as it would heavily increase their chances of finding her before nightfall if they were lucky and played their cards right. Because realistically, they had no idea of how far ahead she was or even where she was going.

Anne bit her lip, giving him a stiff nod, before moving to wipe her face as she made to get up off the ground, gently brushing off the front of her apron as she hastily made her way out of the room.

Keith watched her go with a frown, before he quickly began pacing back and forth, his mind moving rapidly as he attempted to once more understand Katarina and her actions.

‘Think Keith, think. What could have caused this? Why would she run away?’

Keith had always known that Katarina had a low opinion of herself, even sometimes going on and on about how much of a villainess she was, no matter how hard they all tried to rectify it. However, he never could possibly have imagined that she would do something like this as a result of it. He’d never thought her lack of self-esteem could ever push her this far.

Surely he would have noticed if her mental state was so low that she would grow upset enough to run away? Surely she would have left some sort of clue as to how she was truly feeling if she was secretly hurting?

She was always smiling and laughing, wearing her heart on her sleeve like she didn’t have a care in the world. Just yesterday, he’d said goodbye to her before he left with his father, and she’d seen him off with a bright smile, well wishes, and a wave. In fact, she looked positively elated by the idea of being able to spend the day looking after her farm with her dark familiar, Pochi. She’d even made him a little outfit and showed it to Keith!

So, why would she do something like this? What could have possibly pushed her to go to such an extreme to supposedly make amends for something she felt she had done to all of them? What could have made her feel as though she was a burden to all of them, when in reality she was the glue that held them together?

Keith thought back to the events of yesterday, his mind desperately searching for any sort of clue that he might have missed at the time due to his tiredness.

Come to think of it, Katarina hadn’t come down for dinner last night, and she had always been fond of mealtimes and eating in general. Anne had said that she had been suffering from heatstroke, and when Keith went to check on her before bed, she didn’t bounce up to greet him like she usually did. She’d definitely been there at the time too. He'd seen her peek at him briefly from under the covers, before she continued to feign sleep once more.

What time was that? 10pm? So did that mean she left at some point after that? That at least helped in terms of establishing a timeline for when she left, but that still didn’t explain why she did it.

Did something happen while he was away? Did somebody say or do something to her while he was gone that could have pushed her to take such drastic measures? But that didn’t make any sense. Katarina had always had thick skin, and any insults other nobles threw at her tended to bounce off like water off a duck’s wing. In fact, the only person whose words actually seemed to hurt her was-

Keith pauses in his pacing, his eyes widening before quickly narrowing in realization. At that very moment, the very person whom Keith was thinking of just so happened to walk into the room, her expression filled with nothing more than confusion and concern as she stared at the mess he suspected she had somehow made.

Their mother had always been hard on Katarina, always scolding her, never praising her or her achievements. So, if something mother had said to her had caused this...

Keith’s eyes narrowed further, directing the fiercest glare he was capable of towards his mother, causing her to flinch back in shock.

"What did you do to her?" Keith asked, his voice low and filled with so much frost that he was certain that hell would have frozen over due to how cold it was.

"What did you do?"

Miridiana wasn’t exactly having a good day.

For starters, she hadn’t slept a wink last night. Why this was the case, she wasn’t quite sure. She hadn’t been particularly stressed as of late, and she’d slept completely fine the night before. Yet, no matter how hard she tried, the realm of dreams would not come to her, as if her body knew something she didn’t and was frantically fighting to keep her awake.

For this very reason, Miridiana was somewhat glad that her daughter was still feeling too under the weather to come to breakfast, as the last thing she wanted to do was unnecessarily snap at her due to her foul tiredness-induced mood.

Miridiana had then been forced to go to her own personal study, spending the majority of the morning organising Claes family funds. As smart and as politically savvy as her husband was, he was an absolutely dreadful overspender, especially when it came to spoiling his family with exotic and highly expensive gifts.

Just last week, he attempted to order her a custom dress made of literally sapphires that ‘apparently’ matches the lovely shade of her eyes! Honestly, the nerve of that man sometimes!

So, when Miridiana heard Katarina’s personal maid call her daughter’s name so loudly, she could only sigh in exasperation once more and make her way over to her daughter’s room as fast as she could in her designer heels and form-fitting dress, her mind wondering what sort of mischief her daughter could have gotten into today to cause her maid to react in such a way.

Luigi and Katarina were honestly too similar sometimes, loyal goofballs who never really thought anything through.

However, rather than finding her sheepish-looking daughter and her exasperated maid, the sight before her was both confusing and incredibly concerning.

For one thing, her daughter was completely absent from the room, and considering how empty her farm had been from Miridiana’s view of it from her study window, and the very well-crafted and incredibly disturbing bust of her daughter’s head currently lying in her bed, Miridiana had a pretty strong inclination that she had not simply popped out for a stroll.

And considering the way her son was currently glaring at her like she had brutally murdered his puppy, she highly doubted Keith believed that to be the case either.

But still, what was he trying to accuse her of? Knowing Katarina, she probably went off to visit one of the dozen friends she currently has and had simply forgotten to tell anyone. Although that certainly didn’t explain the clay head, perhaps it was another instance of her daughter's strangerness?

"What in the name of Sorcier do you mean, Keith?" she asked, before her expression only grew more concerned when she remembered that none of the carriages were missing when she walked past them earlier. Which meant that her daughter couldn’t simply have gone out to visit a friend without letting anyone know, as she had first assumed.

"Keith, where is your sister? Did something happen?"

Keith’s glare hardened, as he all but threw the letter he had been holding in his hands towards her in his anger.

"Why don’t you tell me?" he asked, seeming to watch intensely as she hesitantly reached down, daintily picking the letter up off of the ground.

Her sharp eyes rapidly darted back and forth across the letter, her expression becoming more and more horrified as she read her daughter’s heartbreaking words of apology and expressions of guilt. Eventually, tears started to prick her eyes, slowly trickling down her face as the letter fell out of her hands.

But hey, at least you're finally getting what you wanted at long last, right mother?

Dear God, why in the name of Sorcier would she ever believe that she’d want such a thing? Who could have possibly made her baby girl feel as though she was a burden to them?

Katarina could be hard to manage sometimes. She was mischievous, unruly, and free-spirited. However, regardless, Miridiana loved her, and would always be proud of her caring and helpful nature, which came along with her faults.

So why-

"Well?" Keith demanded, his arms rising to cross in front of his chest, "what do you have to say for yourself?"

A slight tickle of confusion peaked through her grief, not understanding why her son appeared to be so angry and accusatory towards her.

"W-what, I don’t-why would she-" her voice trailed off, her body shaking as her arms rose to wrap around her in an attempt to comfort herself, "what could have possibly caused her to run away like this?"

"That’s exactly what I was about to ask you, mother," Keith said, his voice still just as frosty as it had been when he had first accused her when she had walked into the room, "Sister was just fine yesterday when she was seeing father and I off. Yet after she was left alone with you for a day, she just so happens to decide to run for the hills due to a misconception of guilt?"

Miridiana sniffed, her hand coming up to grab her handkerchief, as she gently began to dab her tear-filled eyes.

"I-I, the two of us didn’t even interact at all yesterday," Miridiana said, her erratic mind thinking back on the events of yesterday in an attempt to understand what was going on, "in fact, the only person I really spoke to yesterday was-"

Miridiana froze, her mind immediately going back to the conversation she had had with her good friend, Radea. The conversation that took place in the guest room just next door to Katarina’s bedroom. The conversation in which she-

"Surely she couldn’t have overheard," Miridiana whispered, her voice so soft that she would be surprised if Keith even heard it, "I made sure to have that conversation while she was out pottering on her farm, so surely she didn’t-"

Clearly, Keith had heard what she’d said, as he’d taken a few steps closer to her, his eyes and body demanding as he opened his mouth to speak.

"Surely she didn’t hear what?"

Miridiana felt her heart beating rapidly in her chest, an icy sensation beginning to fill her veins at the thought that Katarina might have been listening in on what had been a rather intense conversation.

"I invited Lady Radea over for tea yesterday," Miridiana said softly, as a feeling of dread and horror once more washed over her, "however while talking, she brought up Katarina, and I suddenly found myself feeling so frustrated that I…..I-"

"You what?" Keith asked, his voice coming out as more of a hiss as he desperately fished for answers.

"I said some things about her that were quite harsh. And then... and then I... " she said, her eyes welling up with tears as she realised her catastrophe level error.

"And then you what?"

"I said that I wished she’d never been returned when she’d been kidnapped," Miridiana admitted, her hand coming up to cover her mouth as the sudden urge to dry-heave suddenly hit her.

What had she done?

Keith’s eyes widened, whether it was from shock, horror, or disgust, Miridiana couldn’t quite tell. However, Keith’s now tear-filled eyes then narrowed to the point of slits, his fists clenching by his side as if he was trying to physically restrain himself from doing something.

It was at that very moment that the Claes Manor started violently shaking, as if the earth itself below the manor had started to rise in rebellion due to the terrifying rage that was currently on Keith’s usually calm face.

For once in her life, since he had come into her home all those years ago, Miridiana greatly feared her son.

"You……you’ve always been hard on her. Ever since I came along, you’ve always found a way to praise me yet treat her harshly, even if she never truly deserved it," Keith said softly in a growling tone, his fists clenching tighter as the ground continued to shake due to his growing wrath, "it was always the same sort of things too. Over and over you nitpicked her for the tiniest of things. ‘Stop that! You eat like a wild dog who has been starved,’ ‘stop rolling around in the mud, you’ll be mistaken for a farmer's pig at this rate,’ ‘why can’t you act like a lady of your station ought to? Surely you’re capable of better than this?’ Would it have killed you to say something kind? To praise her for her achievements, instead of always finding something that she had done wrong?"

Miridiana reared back like she had been slapped, which in a sense, she technically had been.

She...had she really been so hard on her daughter all these years? Had she truly been as cruel to her as Keith said just now?

Had she really been playing favourites this whole time without knowing it?

Ignoring her ever changing reaction, Keith continued on, his expression not calming in the slightest as he continued to rant angrily at her.

"No matter what she did, no matter how hard she tried to make you happy, to make all of us happy, it was never enough for you, was it?" Keith asked, his hand coming up to wipe the angry tears off his face, opening his mouth to continue on, "she….all she ever wanted was for you to be proud of her, to love her and treat her like you treated me. And yet, all you ever did in response was continue to play favourites like you always did. And now-"

Keith took a deep breath, swallowing thickly as his hands slowly unclenched, the earth beneath them finally calming at its master’s command.

"And now...... now she’s gone. She’s gone because of you and your inability to, for once in your life, hold your God-forsaken tongue and THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK!" he bellowed loudly, his voice filled with unimaginable grief and anguish, his body trembling from emotions as he spoke, "she’s gone. She’s gone. She’s run away to who knows where and could be anywhere right at this very moment, hurt or even dead and-"

Keith swallowed once more, his eyes narrowing at her once more as he gave her the frostiest glare she had ever seen on his face.

"And it’s all your fault," he said, his voice softer than it had been earlier, yet it hurt just as badly to hear.

Miridiana felt her body ripple violently with emotions, as Keith’s words washed over her until she felt herself becoming consumed by both grief and guilt in equal measure.

Because he was right, she had caused this, even if it had been unknowingly. All throughout Katarina’s life, she’d always been harder on her than she had been on Keith. But that wasn’t because she loved Keith more, as Katarina seemed to believe, it was because Keith had seemed so much more fragile than Katarina, especially after she’d originally treated him so harshly due to her own misunderstanding.

It certainly didn’t help that Katarina had almost insisted on behaving in a way that was unbecoming of her station as the fiancé of a prince and a Duke’s daughter. It had caused her to have flashbacks of her own youth, when she had been relentlessly bullied due to her differences.

So, in an attempt to protect her daughter from the fate she had suffered as a result of her differences, Miridiana had pushed her hard, trying desperately to make her into the perfect lady, even if she knew her words sometimes hurt her daughter’s feelings.

Her daughter was strong, after all, stronger than she had been at her age. She could handle whatever Miridiana threw her way.

If Katarina’s runaway attempt now proved anything, it was that Miridiana had once again severely miscalculated her daughter’s durability and mental health.

It wasn’t until her talk with Radea yesterday, after all, that she realised it was time to let Katarina live her life, to stop trying to force manners on her in a botched attempt to protect her.

Would she even get the chance to do that anymore? Was it truly too late for her to fix this?

Yet, there was still one thing that she didn’t understand.

If you saw how wrong it was and how much harm I was causing Katarina, then why didn't you ever say anything?" Miridiana swallowed thickly, the words tasting like bile as she forced herself to speak.

"Why didn’t you tell me about it sooner?"

It appeared it was Keith’s turn to look like he had been slapped, as he violently flinched back from her, his eyes filling with tears and his expression of anger fading to something more akin to horror, as if something terrible had just dawned on him.

Katarina stirred, the sensation of being poked breaking her out of the lovely little nap she had been having.

"Not now, Pochi. Just five more minutes," Katarina mumbled, before turning her back on whoever was poking her so she could go back to sleep.

She had been having such a lovely dream too, with vegetables and fruit and even pillars made out of candy-

"Uh, Hey. Are you okay?" an unfamiliar but distinctly male voice asked, as Katarina suddenly felt the gentle pressure of a most definitely human and not canine hand pressing onto her shoulder.

Katarina’s eyes immediately shot open, sitting up so quickly that she nearly head butted the mysterious person in front of her, who had reared back surprisingly quickly the moment she’d moved.

Katarina’s first instinct was to turn her head in the direction of the sun, only to internally groan when she noticed how low it had gotten. She’d probably been napping for about two hours, meaning it was probably nearing lunchtime now.

‘Dang it, Pochi! You were supposed to wake me up!’ Katarina thought, giving her familiar, who appeared to be innocently sitting by her side while making no move to shoo this stranger away, a sleepy glare. Pochi merely barked in response, cuddling up to her side.

The stranger chuckled, reaching forward to pat Pochi on the head, which he surprisingly didn’t resist at all.

"You sure have a loyal companion here. "He didn't leave your side at all and kept an eye on you while you were out of it," he said, his voice husky as he gave her a crooked smile, "he wouldn't stop barking at me when I came into the clearing; he only stopped when I showed him my face and started talking to him."

Pochi had been barking, eh? Katarina hadn’t heard him do that at all! 

Man, she must have been really tired if she hadn’t heard that. She usually would have woken up immediately if there was such a loud sound in her vicinity.

Although, since he stopped, did that mean that this person was friendly? Pochi would have surely reacted differently if he wasn’t.

Katarina blinked sleepily, her gaze clearing as she ran her eyes over the mysterious person who had woken her up.

The man before her didn’t appear to be that much older than her, with a dark complexion, dark eyes, and what appeared to be black hair with streaks of green going through it, pulled back into a messy ponytail. He also appeared to be in travelers' clothes like she was, wearing a simple white shirt, with a black vest with matching pants, long boots, and a medium-sized brown traveling cloak on top with the hood pulled back.

Truthfully speaking, he was actually quite handsome, but more in a rugged kind of way than the delicate handsome that was common in Otome game characters she was used to back at home.

As soon as Katarina’s sharp blue eyes met his equally sharp dark ones, she immediately felt her cheeks flush. For some reason, he was still staring at her, his expression confused and somewhat concerned as he kneeled down beside her on his left knee, his other one poised as if he was ready to spring up at the first sign of trouble.

Upon realising that he was still waiting for her to respond to his earlier question, Katarina let out a small, sheepish sounding laugh, a hesitant smile appearing on her face.

"Uh, I think so?"

Chapter Text

"If……if you saw how wrong it was, saw what damage I was doing to Katarina, then-" mother took a moment to swallow thickly, as if she had to attempt to force herself to speak, "then, why didn’t you ever say anything? Why didn’t you tell me about it sooner?"

It was kind of funny, in a bitterly ironic way. All it took for the anger and blame in Keith’s heart towards his mother to die out was a few well-chosen words.

Keith could tell that it wasn’t an accusation. The wetness of her tears and the almost unbearable sight of devastation in her eyes were enough to let him know that her words were nothing more than genuine curiosity. Yet somehow mother’s question managed to transform Keith’s grief at the loss of the love of his life into indescribable feelings of guilt.

Because deep down, Keith knew the answer to her question. He knew exactly why he hadn’t said something, why he hadn’t pointed it out to her sooner. And the reason filled him with nothing more than guilt and self-disgust at his own actions.

It was because, deep within his soul, despite how much he loved Katarina with every fiber of his being, he still hadn’t had the courage to speak in her defense. At the very least, not against their mother. It was not because he was afraid of her per se. More so, it was because he was afraid of having the love she willingly gave to him revoked.

When Keith first came into the Claes household, he had been weak, fragile, and ever so lonely and starved for affection that he had been absolutely desperate for any sort of love. Katarina, of course, had freely offered hers without any strings attached, even after he’d accidentally hurt her with his magic. It was the reason he fell in love with her in the first place: her gentle heart and her warm, welcoming, and almost blindingly bright personality.

Mother too had given him her love, after Katarina and he cleared up the minor misunderstanding in regards to his origins, that is. She too had doted on him and given him the affection he craved so desperately. Although, at the cost of her relationship with Katarina, as for some reason, she tended to favour him over her at almost every opportunity. 

Keith had noticed, of course he had. It wasn’t like she was particularly subtle with it. She was always praising him yet scolding Katarina, always inviting him for tea with her, yet Katarina would be lucky if she received so much as a remotely positive sentence from her. Yet, despite the obviousness of the situation before him, he’d been so afraid of losing it, of accidently earning her scorn again somehow, that he’d cowardly remained silent in an attempt to protect the parental love he’d gone so long without. Even if it came at the cost of Katarina’s happiness.

Keith had figured that Katarina would eventually stop noticing it, much like how she constantly failed to notice the love and affection those around her felt for her. He’d decided from a young age that he would simply have to give her twice as much love and affection in order to make up for what she was missing, and that that would be enough to erase his sin from his mind. If he doted on her and treated her like their mother was supposed to, and if their father continued to pamper and spoil her like he always inevitably did, then surely she wouldn’t notice what she was missing, right?

‘You’ve always been such a kind and thoughtful person, Keith! I’m proud to have such an amazing gentleman as my little brother!’

No matter how many times Katarina complimented and praised him for his character, Keith would always disagree with her assessment of him in his heart. Especially now. Because, down to his core, Keith had always been an incredibly selfish man, who was willing to do whatever it took to get what he wanted. Whether it was the woman of his dreams or the parental love he craved. Today, now that his sister had finally had enough and ran away to protect her heart, he was paying the ultimate price for that.

Mother may have inadvertently pulled the trigger that set everything in motion, but Keith had been the one to provide the ammunition for her to shoot with in the first place, thanks to his years of blissful silence.

"Keith?"

Keith stumbled backwards, his legs feeling like jelly as he collapsed into Katarina’s desk chair. His hands quickly came up to clutch his hair, as the weight of everything finally hit him.

"I’m sorry for what I said just now, mother. You’re not the only one to blame for what happened," Keith said softly, not even daring to raise his gaze to meet hers due to the heartbreak he knew he would find in her eyes, eyes that looked so much like Katarina’s and only served to remind him of what he’d unintentionally done to her.

It wasn’t just his mother’s fault. It was his as well.

"It’s also my fault for never saying anything to you about this in the first place. I know that it wasn’t ever your intention to play favorites."

If he had known from the beginning that this would happen, he would never have let it get this bad in the first place. He would march straight up to Katarina, and fall to his knees in front of her and beg her for her forgiveness. Knowing her, she probably wouldn’t even hesitate to forgive him either, even if he genuinely didn’t deserve such a thing from her in the slightest.

Keith could feel his body begin to shake, his grip on his hair tightening as tears once more began to streak down his face.

It was his fault. 

It was all his fault.

If he had just said something or pointed out his mother’s behaviour to her from the very beginning, then he was certain that she would have stopped. After all, Mother was a lot like Katarina; she could be quite oblivious to the interpretation of her actions.

But he hadn’t. He’d sat back and watched it all unfold in front of him as if it was nothing more than some sort of play, and now Katarina was gone.

"It’s not your fault, Keith," mother said softly, causing Keith to release his grip on his hair so he could raise his head to meet her gaze.

Upon meeting her eyes, she gave him a watery smile, opening her mouth to continue.

"I’m the adult in this situation. I should have noticed the effects of my behaviour on her long before you did," she said gently, taking hesitant steps towards him until she was standing just in front of where he was sitting, "and even if you did notice first, you should never have had to have been in that position in the first place. It shouldn’t have ever been your job to tell me about my own shortcomings. No, the fault here only lies with me, and I accept my role in this completely." 

Keith could see the guilt hidden within her sharp, blue eyes. He knew that not only had his anger-filled words earlier hurt her, but they had also completely shattered her perspective on her parenting of the two of them. However, he could tell that she was trying to push her own feelings aside at the moment, so she could attempt to comfort him.

Despite his frustration at the situation, Keith felt the smallest trickle of guilt hit him for the wounds he’d inflicted on her just now, even if it was something she genuinely needed to hear.

There was a sudden knock on Katarina’s bedroom door, causing both of them to jump at the sudden noise.

The door immediately cracked open, revealing the red-eyed yet calm face of Katarina’s personal maid, Anne, who gave them both a small bow.

"I just sent off the letter to inform the ministry of the current situation," she said, her voice carefully controlled even as her hands shook, revealing the feelings she was clearly hiding within due to the presence of the Duchess, "I sent it using one of our fastest riders, so I expect that we’ll get some sort of response within the next hour."

Keith nodded, reluctantly rising from his chair so he could face Anne properly.

"Thank you, your urgency in the given situation is much appreciated," Keith said, forcing a gentle smile on his face in an attempt to comfort the still clearly grieving maid.

Keith walked forward, gently patting Anne on the shoulder in comfort.

“In the meantime, why don’t you take my mother back to her study? I’m sure she could use a warm cup of tea and some snacks to help her calm herself down."

Anne hesitated briefly, her eyes running over the messy state of her mistress’ bedroom in an almost mournful way. After a few minutes, she eventually nodded, slowly making her way further into the room.

"Of course, come along, My-Duchess Claes," Anne said, her voice somewhat stuttering as if she had to catch herself from saying the wrong thing.

Neither him nor his mother had the heart to call her out on her mistake.

Anne gently wrapped her arm around mother’s shoulder and began to gently guide her out of the room. Mother surprisingly made no move to resist, only glancing at him one more time with the same watery look before letting herself be guided out of the room. It was a true testament to how upset she must be feeling, if she didn’t even stop to offer him any aid in setting up the guest room for the guests they both knew would be arriving soon.

Although Keith wanted nothing more than to tell Anne to take the day off and relax due to the stress she was clearly feeling, he also knew that she would not accept any such offer, even if given by Katarina herself. Especially now, whilst Katarina is still very much missing. So, he knew that the best thing he could do for her at the moment was to keep her busy. That way, she could somewhat take her mind off everything. Making sure mother was cared for until his father arrived to console her would be more than enough to keep her busy for the time being.

Besides, Keith knew that when everyone arrived, they’d immediately want to be informed of the full situation. And Keith didn’t exactly want to try his hand at lying to all of them either. Even though Keith still felt somewhat angry with his mother due to her poor word choices yesterday, he also knew she didn’t quite deserve the tongue lashing she’d get if she was anywhere in the vicinity when he told them.

Keith didn’t want another person in his life to get hurt because of his inability to consider the consequences of his actions.

Katarina was currently half-asleep and confused.

First she accidentally slept later than she was supposed to during what was supposed to be a small break for her, and now she had a strange but handsome man crouching in front of her asking about her wellbeing?

Despite her confusion, she knew it would be rude not to answer, so answer she did.

"Uh, I think so?" Katarina said in response to his earlier question, her eyes blinking rapidly in an attempt to shoo away the sleepy haze that had developed due to her longer than expected nap.

The handsome stranger before her gave her a small smile, his eyes carefully scanning over her as if he was checking her over for injuries.

"Oh, so you aren’t unconscious or anything. That’s good," he said, giving her a slightly worried look, "in that case, how do you feel? Do you think you can walk?"

Katarina only found herself feeling more confused.

Did Katarina look sick or something? She couldn’t understand why he’d asked her such a thing if she didn’t.

Maybe it wasn’t common for people to take naps during the day while travelling on the road? Based on his appearance, he looked like he’d definitely done this sort of thing before. So when he spotted her slumped against a tree, maybe he’d assumed she’d passed out or something?

Katarina felt her cheeks flush once more, both touched and embarrassed that this man had taken one look at her slumped against the tree and had assumed that she was ill.

Katarina decided that it would probably be a good idea to clear this misunderstanding up, as the longer she took to respond, the more worried he seemed to be getting.

"Oh, thank you for worrying about me, but I feel perfectly fine," Katarina said, a sheepish smile appearing on her face as her hand came up to scratch the back of her head, "I was just, uh, the tree was really comfortable when I sat down, and before I knew it, I suddenly felt kind of tired. So I decided to take a short nap. That’s all."

The stranger’s worried expression shifted to a perplexed one, his eyebrows raising as he gave her a weird look.

"So, you didn’t pass out or anything," he said, his expression growing more confused when she nodded in agreement, "you were just... You were just sleeping?"

Katarina nodded, a less sheepish smile appearing on her face now that the misunderstanding was cleared up.

"That’s right!"

The stranger’s perplexed expression didn’t shift in the slightest; if anything, it only worsened.

"Unless I’m mistaken, you’re literally only fifteen minutes away from the road," he said slowly, as if he was explaining something simple to a small child.

Katarina’s brows furrowed, her head tilting slightly to the side as she gave him a confused look, not understanding what he was trying to explain to her.

"Of course, I know that. I picked this location as a resting spot because it was fifteen minutes away from the road," Katarina told him, patting the base of the tree with her hand as she spoke, "besides, this tree was actually surprisingly comfortable when I sat down. How could I resist taking a nap on something so soft and comfy?"

The stranger stared at her for a few moments in what appeared to be shocked silence, before he suddenly started laughing without restraint.

Katarina’s eyes widened in surprise, her confusion only worsening as she watched him essentially curl up in himself like some sort of human version of a rolly-polly due to his hysterics.

What in the name of Sorcier did he find so funny?

Upon noticing her staring at him, he eventually started to calm down, his hand coming up to wipe the tears out of his eyes as he gave her another crooked grin.

"Sorry, sorry. I shouldn’t have laughed that much," he said, his hand coming up to cover his mouth as a few more chuckles managed to escape from his lips, "the thing is, here I was thinking that you had passed out or fallen unconscious due to the heat, only to have you tell me that you were essentially just having a nap, and for the oddest of reasons too!"

Katarina felt her cheeks flush once more, reaching forward to grab Pochi so she could use him to shield her face from view.

Seeing her reaction, the stranger let out one final chuckle, before raising his hands in a placating way.

"Sorry, I won’t laugh at your expense anymore, I promise," he said with a small playful grin, before his expression sobered slightly, "although, for future reference, I wouldn’t recommend you do something like this again while travelling on the road, especially as a young woman. The next person who stumbles upon you might not be so nice."

Katarina moved Pochi to the side slightly so she could see the stranger’s face once more, only to find him looking at her with a surprisingly stern look in his eyes. It kind of reminded her of the look her eldest brother in her past life would give her after she told him that she had been wandering around late at night by herself. The look of an older brother expressing concern for a younger one after catching them doing something potentially dangerous.

Katarina was sure that if Keith were here, he would probably be giving her the same look, a thought that filled Katarina’s heart with a small bit of sadness due to knowing that she’d never see him give her that look again.

‘Don’t think back on that anymore. You’re doing the right thing and you know it.’

"And... and you're nice?" she asked, gently lowering Pochi into her lap once more as she stared up at the stranger with a curious look in her eyes, "I don’t see how laughing at people for taking naps is very nice."

The stranger let out another laugh, his stern expression fading slightly so he could give her an amused look.

"No, I suppose that is not a very nice thing to do," he admitted, his head tilting slightly as he gave her what looked to be a rather odd smile, "but then again, I never said that I was nice, now did I? And I can assure you that there are people out there who would do even worse not-nice things to you, should they have been the ones to stumble on a helpless sleeping maiden such as yourself."

Katarina didn’t know if she should be touched by his concern for her or somewhat insulted by his assumption that she couldn’t take care of herself. She decided to settle for feeling a little bit of both.

Letting out a small huff, Katarina gently placed Pochi back down beside her, before immediately climbing to her feet, causing the stranger to look up at her from his kneeling position in surprise. Katarina put on the most confident smile, the hoe in her hands swinging up so she could rest it over her shoulder, her free hand coming up to rest on her hip.

"I appreciate your concern, I really do, but I’m not helpless. I can defend myself just fine, don't you worry," Katarina said in the firmest tone she could muster up, smiling at her familiar when he barked his agreement, "besides, Pochi wouldn’t let anyone near me while I was asleep if they had bad intentions, and he may look adorable, but he can pack a punch of his own when he wants to. Which means that you have to be at least somewhat nice if he didn’t chase you off!"

The stranger stared up at her for a few minutes, before an amused smile appeared on his face once more. He quickly stood as well, his cloak shifting slightly to reveal the short sword strapped to his hip that had been previously hidden beneath it.

Katarina’s eyes immediately widened with interest upon seeing it, having never seen a sword quite so small and swashbuckler-like. She’d only ever really seen and used long swords back at home. She’d never really seen anything else. If the manga and anime from her previous life had anything to say about it, it looked like the kind of sword assassins would be more likely to use. 

‘Interesting, I wonder if it’s lighter than regular swords?’

The stranger seemed to quickly notice her interest in his weapon. If the way his lip twitched was any indication, however, he showed no intention of commenting on it.

"I can see that I offended you, I apologise. It was not my intention to do so," he said, motioning to her hoe with a small, dry-looking grin, "I’m sure anyone who bothers you would be no match for you, your dog, and your hoe. I feel sorry for all your future victims."

Katarina nodded, glad that the misunderstanding with regards to her abilities had finally been cleared up. After all, she didn’t want people to mistake her for an easy target; she may not look it, but she was tough too, you know.

"That’s right," she said, holding her pose for a few more minutes, before lowering her hoe with a more friendly looking smile on her face, "anyway, I don’t think I caught your name-"

"That’s because I never gave it in the first place," the stranger said dryly, giving her another crooked smile, "it’s Cezar, by the way."

Katarina blinks momentarily in surprise, before a smile once more appears on her face, her hand automatically extending out towards him so she can shake his hand.

"It’s very nice to meet you, Cezar," Katarina said, blinking slightly in surprise when she felt all the different callouses in his hand when he reached forward to give her a firm handshake.

‘Wow, his hands are so tough. He must do a lot of manual labour to get hands like that,’ Katarina thought, an awed look appearing in her eyes while giving his hand a good and firm handshake, not missing the way his eyes slightly widened as well, obviously feeling her own callused filled hands.

"So I guess you’re not just all talk after all," Cezar muttered to himself, before giving her another smile, "it’s nice to meet you as well, the both of you, that is. I have your companion's name but not yours, I’m afraid."

Katarina felt like slapping herself on the head for her little misstep. She could not believe she asked for his name before giving him her own. How rude of her!

Katarina opened her mouth to give it to him, only to pause briefly, wondering if she should give him her actual name or come up with some sort of alias.

He looked foreign, and not at all like anyone she’d ever seen before around Sorcier. As a result, the chances of him being local and knowing who she was were slim. Fortunately, because of her impromptu haircut and plain clothes, even if he knew who she was, he probably wouldn't recognise her. Not only that, but she was sure that she couldn’t possibly be the only person named Katarina in all of Sorcier. So, surely she should be fine as long as she doesn’t mention her surname.

He didn’t give her his, so why should she give him hers?

"I’m Katarina, and as you probably know, this is my travelling buddy, Pochi," she said, using her free hand to motion to Pochi, who barked in greeting.

Cezar let out a small hum, leaning down to give Pochi a small pat on the head, who let out a happy bark at the affection, before straightening in order to look at her once more.

"Katarina and Pochi, eh? Those are lovely names you both have there," he said, giving her another crooked grin, "I can’t remember exactly what language it is in, but I believe your name actually translates to ‘pure.’ In my opinion, it suits you quite nicely."

Katarina’s cheeks flushed for the third time today, as she gingerly slipped her hand out of his with a much shyer smile than the one she had earlier.

What about her could possibly scream pure?

"I, uh, thanks. I actually didn’t know that," she said, scratching her cheek in an attempt to remove the redness, motioning towards him with her other hand, "I don’t know what it means, but I like your name too."

Cezar let out another small chuckle, lowering his hand back down to his side once more.

"Why thank you," he said with a small smile, his hand moving so he could clasp both of them behind his back, "now, if you don’t mind me asking this, is there any particular reason why a girl like you is on the road without any other human travelling companions? I mean not to offend you when I say this, but you do not appear to be someone who has traveled like this before."

Katarina unintentionally flinched without meaning to, her eyes instinctively scanning over her appearance at his words.

Was it really that obvious?

"Yes, yes it was," he said in response, causing Katarina to wince slightly upon realising she’d said that out loud without meaning to. 

‘Quick Katarina, think of something believable to say that doesn’t give away the fact that you're a runaway noble, placing yourself in self-imposed exile!’

"I, uh, I’m just travelling to a village called Dewsbury down near the Ethenell border to fulfil my lifelong dream of becoming a farmer," Katarina said, motioning to her hoe for good measure as she spoke, "as for why I’m by myself, it’s simply because I didn’t want to trouble anybody by having them come along with me."

None of that was technically a lie. She did enjoy farming and had always secretly wanted to turn it into more than just a hobby. Even if the primary motivation for it was in case of potential future exile. Dewsbury also happened, in fact, to be the name of the small farming village where Katarina was currently travelling to. At least, she thinks that that’s what it was called. That and Katarina truly didn’t want to trouble anyone either, as the very reason she left in the first place was because she no longer wanted to burden those around her.

Katarina smiled brightly up at Cezar with the most earnest expression possible, mentally patting herself on the back for coming up with what was essentially a realistic sounding half-truth.

Cezar eyed her briefly, as if he was trying to determine whether or not she was telling the truth. After a few moments, his lips eventually twitched back into a smile.

"Ah, I see. That certainly explains the hoe, I suppose," he mused, giving her a look that essentially said ‘I know you’re not being completely honest with me, but I’ll humour you anyway.’

Dang it, was she really that easy to read?

"I’m afraid so. In fact, if your face was a book, I probably could have read you five times over," he said, giving her a look that was a strange combination of sympathy and amusement.

Katarina winced again.

"Did I say that out loud?"

Cezar shook his head, the sympathy fading until all that remained was only amusement.

"No, not this time. What you were thinking was simply just written all over your face," he said, giving her a toothy grin, showing off the barely noticeable crookedness of his teeth.

Katarina nodded, her shoulders slumping slightly at how easily he was about to read her. It was somewhat disheartening to know, considering a part of her plan for self-imposed exile did rely on her not being so easy to read, as she was planning on assuming a new identity and laying low when she got where she needed to.

Seeing the disheartened expression on her face, Cezar’s expression seemed to soften, reaching forward so he could gently ruffle her hair from underneath her hat.

"Don’t worry, your reasons for travelling are your own. If you do not wish to tell them to a stranger such as myself, then I can respect that," he said, giving a small shrug of his shoulders, before his expression suddenly became worried again, "however, I will admit that, regardless of your reassurances, I do not feel comfortable with the idea of leaving a lady such as yourself to travel such a long way all alone."

Katarina frowned, tilting her head slightly to the side. She could understand why he was worried. A strange girl with only a dog for company. She was sure that if she found someone in the same position, she’d be a little worried too.

"But I’m not alone though," Katarina said, motioning down at her adorable familiar with her hoe, "I’ve got Pochi with me."

Cezar let out a small sigh, his expression becoming slightly exasperated for a few minutes, before returning to a more relaxed expression.

"I am sure that your companion here is quite good company," he said, his lip twitching slightly when Pochi barked his agreement, "however, what I was trying to ask is, would you be interested in being accompanied by someone a bit more human, perhaps?" 

Katarina’s eyes widened in shock, as a strange warm feeling filled her at Cezar’s kind offer.

Was Cezar asking her if she’d like him to accompany her so she could get to her destination safely? What a cool guy!

Pochi was right in his assessment, he really was a nice guy after all. He saw her sleeping against a tree and came over to check on her. He'd shown concern over her travelling by herself, and now he was offering to travel with her so she’d be safe. He may have seemed rough around the edges, but he appeared to be a genuinely good person on the inside. Although Katarina didn’t really want to accept the offer if it was out of his way. The last thing she wanted was to become a burden to somebody she had just met.

"That’s nice of you, but I really don’t want to trouble you," Katarina said, giving him a grateful smile, shaking her hands reassuringly at him, "so if it’s out of your way-"

Cezar shook his head, his eyes softening slightly as he stared down at her kindly, his hands coming up to rest on his hips.

"It’s really not. I just so happen to be making my way back home to Ethenell due to completing a job near the Sorcierian border with Lousabre, so I’m already going the same way you are," he said, giving me another crooked smile, "besides, long travel like what we are doing is always better with good company, yes? I usually travel with my good friend Jean, but he was caught up with a job of his own back home. So, truthfully speaking, your presence would be greatly appreciated."

Katarina bit her lip, her mind racing a mile per minute as she considered whether or not she should accept his offer.

He seemed nice, he really, really did. However, Katarina knew all too well that looks could sometimes be deceiving. Her now good friend Raphael had gone years playing the role of Sirius Dieke without anybody knowing, until he’d essentially lost his marbles due to the dark mage possessing him and started flinging dark magic around like confetti at a children’s birthday party.

Although....

Katarina looked down at Pochi, who was staring up at Cezar without any signs of aggression or mistrust.

If Pochi, who was rather attuned to the minds of others due to his dark magic origins, seemed to trust him and his intentions, then that had to account for something, right?

Also, as much as Katarina loved Pochi’s company, she really wouldn’t mind having a travelling companion who she could actually talk to without seeming like some sort of crazy cat lady. Well, dog lady in this case. Besides, Cezar seemed really cool, and based on the brief bit of their conversation so far, he seemed really fun and interesting to talk to. Who knows, maybe she could learn a thing or two from him on the road, he seemed to be quite experienced and well-traveled.

"Well, in that case, I happily accept your offer to travel together," Katarina said, giving him a bright smile in an attempt to show her gratitude, reaching down to pick up her bag from the ground, "traveling on your own is cool and all, but you're right that travelling with friends is even better!"

Cezar blinked in surprise, silently watching her slug her bag over her shoulder with an odd look in his eyes that she couldn’t quite pick, before giving her what could only be a playful grin.

"Oh, we’re friends now, are we?" he said, a teasing lilt appearing in his voice as he fell into step beside her, the two, well, three, counting Pochi, of them making their way out of the small clearing she had been resting in.

Katarina nodded, giving him another bright smile, adjusting her hat into the correct position after he’d messed it up by ruffling her hair earlier.

"If you gave me your name, Pochi likes you, and we’re now travelling together, that has to make us friends now," Katarina said, although upon not hearing him respond, her gaze became more nervous, as she stared up at him in an unsure manner, "unless of course, you don’t want to be, that is."

Katarina, after all, did not want to force friendship on him if he didn’t want it. He seemed like a really nice guy, who just wanted some company while he traveled. So if he didn’t want to be friends with her, then that was completely ok!

Cezar merely smiled down at her, the amused glint from earlier once more appearing in his eyes.

"You seem like quite the charming girl. I would not mind being your friend in the slightest, Katarina." Cezar said, letting out a small chuckle, "even if your logic as to why we are now friends is somewhat skewed."

Katarina let out a giggle in response, her cheeks flushing slightly at the thought that Cezar seemed to find her charming. However, as she made to exit the clearing with him, a thought suddenly occurred to her, causing her to falter in her steps slightly.

'If Sophia were here, she'd say something about this situation resembling a plot from one of her romance novels.'

Katarina sighed, shaking her head to clear the sudden wave of melancholy that had hit her heart at the thought of her hopeless romantic friend.

Now was not the time to think about such things anymore.

Katarina’s posture straightened, before she quickly fell into step with Cezar once more.

"You really don’t need to constantly visit to make me eat breakfast, you know," Raphael said, giving Maria a playful glare from across the breakfast table the two were currently sitting at in the ministry cafeteria, "despite your belief, I am a grown man, a grown man who’s capable of feeding himself without your aid."

Maria let out a small giggle, before pushing forward the plate of bacon and eggs she’d prepared for him with what could only be described as a forceful smile.

"Of course I don’t. However, I know for a fact that if I don't come visit you, you'll end up not eating until supper, which is something I cannot, in good conscience, allow you to do," she said, handing him his cutlery like a mother would to a misbehaving child. "Besides, every time I forcefully pull you away from your desk to make you eat something, your eyes sparkle with relief. So you cannot hate me for doing this as much as you claim."

Raphael sighed, nodding his head in agreement as he cut into the meal Maria had personally made for him.

His boss, Larna Smith, was currently out investigating, at least that’s what she claimed, and wouldn’t be back until the end of the week. Therefore, as second in command after her, Raphael found himself with an infinite amount of work to do, far more than the already ridiculously large amount he had to do prior due to his practised skill of rapidly filling out paperwork.

As a result of his busier schedule, Raphael hadn’t even found time to go home and sleep, let alone time for him to stop and eat anything. Maria had made it her personal mission to pay him a visit every morning, get some much-needed food into him, and force him to take a break from his ever-growing paperwork. Despite not having access to carriages due to being a commoner, she somehow managed to catch a daily ride from Sophia, who often came to visit her brother and explore the ministry’s library. 

Despite her innocent persona, Maria Campbell could be quite a force of nature when she wanted to be. It was probably why they got along so well. 

Still, despite how patronising it sometimes felt to have a girl a year his junior bustle her way into his office and physically drag him to the cafeteria every morning, he genuinely appreciated the small bit of reprieve it brought him. Even if it meant returning to an office of near-dead zombies that were supposed to be his fellow coworkers, who most likely hadn’t gotten any work done due to lack of sleep. 

Amateurs. Raphael doesn’t even know what sleep is anymore, but he can still figure out how to fulfil his regular functions. Even if he does occasionally run into a door or two every now and then.

Raphael felt someone roughly shake him by the shoulders, causing him to immediately jolt out of his thoughts due to the unexpected contact.

"Hey man, are you still with us?" Sora asked, a worried look in his eyes, his hand resting on Raphael’s shoulder as he leaned over his chair from his standing position behind him.

When did Sora get here? Maybe Raphael needs some sleep after all.

Clearly, he had only just arrived, as upon seeing him, Maria’s expression lit up, a friendly smile appearing on her face as she stared up at the older, blue-haired man.

"Oh, good morning, Sora. It’s been a while," Maria said, giving him a small wave with her hand, "have you come to have some breakfast as well?"

"Good morning, and nah, I'm here for some boring official business," Sora said, before turning to face Raphael with a small wince and apologising as he held out a small envelope towards him, "I know you're on break right now, but this letter just came in for our department, and the messenger said it was urgent."

Raphael let out a small resigned sigh, reaching out to forcefully grab the letter out of Sora’s hands. As much as Raphael wanted to palm it off on someone else, he knew that if it was supposedly urgent, it would most likely be something he’d have to handle himself.

Raphael’s eyes scanned over the envelope, only to widen slightly in surprise upon spotting the Claes family Crest stamped on it.

Maria noticed it as well, her smile fading slightly at the sight of it.

"Isn’t that Lady Katarina’s family crest?" Maria asked hesitantly, rising from her chair so she could make her way closer to him.

Sora’s eyes widened in surprise before squinting down at the sigil in confusion.

"Oh, so that’s what that symbol is supposed to be? I didn’t know that," Sora muttered, before turning to give Raphael a curious look, "do you think the letter is from her then? Knowing her, she probably asked for it to be urgent so it’d actually get to you."

Raphael’s cheeks flushed, the thought of Katarina sending him a letter immediately making his heart feel as if it were surrounded by a warm blanket.

The last time he’d seen her had been after she’d gone and rescued Keith, and it had been a rather brief meeting, as the only reason he was there in the first place was to attempt to separate the dark magic familiar from her person. Which, of course, did not work in the slightest as it had for some reason developed an attachment to her.

Katarina Claes, truly the master of seduction, her charms were so strong that even artificial creatures made of the world’s evilest magic seemed to fall for her.

She, of course, had written letters to him before, often enquiring about his health and his day, while telling him of her own as well. Each letter never failed to warm his heart, especially considering she’d always sign them off with little doodles of vegetables and teacups (because she knew how much he liked tea).

Said letters only came once a week, as both of them had quite busy schedules, especially when Katarina’s stream of suitors got involved. But considering he’d already received one from her yesterday, talking about how excited she'd been to dress her dark familiar in the farming outfit she’d sewn for it, even drawing a little doodle of it (honestly, how can a single woman be so adorable? How did he ever think she was some sort of manipulative hypocrite?) He highly doubted that this letter was from her.

And unless Keith suddenly wanted to become penpals with him out of the blue, he highly doubted that whatever was in this letter was something good.

Raphael swallowed thickly, hesitantly cracking the seal before slowly opening the envelope, pulling out what appeared to be a hastily written letter.

To the Head of the Magical Tools Department,

I am writing to you in order to inform you of the disappearance of Lady Katarina Claes from the Claes Manor at some point, either during the night or in the early stages of the morning.

It was at 9 o'clock in the morning that I, Anne Shelley, Katarina’s personal maid, discovered her disappearance after attempting to wake her up for breakfast, only to find a bust shaped in her image and a goodbye letter in her place.

The Claes family would like to humbly ask your department for whatever aid you are willing to give us in regards to investigating and hopefully returning Lady Katarina home.

Kind Regards,

Miss Anne Shelley, representing in writing the Claes family,

Raphael felt as though his heart had suddenly stopped beating in his chest, his previously flushed face paling further and further as he read, until he looked as though he had seen a ghost.

She’d... she’d just written to him yesterday. He’d laughed and smiled at her innocent doodles and words just last night, after he’d taken a small break from his paperwork. And now she's just gone? Disappeared into the night like some sort of phantom without anyone knowing or noticing?

"Well, what does it say?" Sora asked, squinting down at the letter as though he was attempting to read it over his shoulder.

Raphael quickly folded the letter back up, his body somewhat spasming as he abruptly rose from his chair as though he had been struck by lightning, his hand coming up to cover his face as his fingers tightly gripped his hair.

"Raphael?" Maria asked hesitantly, a concerned expression no doubt appearing on her face as she hesitantly placed her hands comfortingly on his back.

Raphael could feel his hands trembling, his mind racing at what this could possibly mean, because realistically, there were only two options.

Either Katarina was taken captive once more and the kidnapper staged it as though she had run away in an attempt to discourage them from finding her, or......

Raphael shook his head, clearing his thoughts as his analytical mind quickly provided him with an idea of exactly what he needed to do now. Thankfully, he’d always been level-headed, so rather than descend into a panic like he so desperately wanted to, he simply counted back from ten inside his head, before opening his mouth to speak.

"Maria, do you know where Nicol and Sophia are currently located at this very moment?" Raphael asked, making sure to keep his voice as even as possible so as to not cause unnecessary panic.

Maria gave him another concerned look before slowly nodding.

Raphael nodded briskly before turning to face Sora, who looked incredibly confused.

"Sora, do you know where Katarina’s father is meeting with the Prime Minister?" he asked, not missing the way Sora’s eyes narrowed, as if he’d realised that something was wrong.

"Not really, but I’m sure that I can figure it out with some digging," he said, his eyes practically begging him to tell him what the hell was going on.

Raphael lowered his hands from his face, turning to face the both of them with the calmest expression he could muster, even if the way his eyes were currently darting around anxiously probably revealed how panicked he truly was. 

"Good, if you don’t mind, I need you both to inform all of them that something has happened to Katarina. That way, they can inform everyone else, as this is going to require all hands on deck, so to speak. While you do that, I’ll quickly head to my office and file this so we can officially begin investigating," Raphael told them, watching as both of their eyes widened in shock and horror at what he’d just said, "by the sounds of it, Katarina has gone missing, and now it’s our responsibility to figure out why that is and where she’s gone."

Chapter Text

As soon as he’d gotten the news that something had happened to his beloved daughter, Luigi had given the Prime Minister a hasty apology, before racing off to his carriage like his life depended on it. He’d then spent the whole thirty-minute carriage ride home nervously twiddling his thumbs, his mind racing as he thought of all the possible scenarios he could be coming home to.

The only thing the strange and unorthodox blue-haired ministry worker who had informed him of the matter told him was that ‘something bad’s happened to your daughter. You should probably head home as soon as you can to find out what’s up.’

Has Katarina somehow gotten dangerously ill due to the heatstroke she had caught yesterday? Kidnapped again? Luigi genuinely had no idea, and that alone was enough to make him all the more anxious to return home and find out.

He all but rushed out of his carriage before the driver could move to open the door for him, quickly making his way into the front door of the manor. However, he paused slightly in his rather fast-paced stride at the sight of the heartbroken and weary-look on his son’s face, who had come out of what appeared to be the guest room to greet him upon his arrival. His wife was also nowhere in sight, which was definitely unusual, as she always made a point of coming out to greet him when he returned home. 

Luigi felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, his nerves immediately rising due to the foreignness of the situation happening before him. Regardless, he still moved forward to greet his son, quickly pulling him into his arms for an embrace without a second thought.

Although Keith had always been a naturally sullen boy, especially in his youth, Luigi had never quite seen him this sorrowful before. So when he noticed his normally mature son clinging to the back of his business jacket like he used to do when he was a small child, Luigi felt a cold chill run down his spine. He knew with a large amount of certainty that whatever caused his son to be so upset could only be as a result of what had happened to Katarina.

Despite his own fears due to his lack of awareness of the situation, Luigi steeled himself like the very earth he and his son commanded, so that he could be the rock in which his family could lean on if needed. He took a long and deep breath, gently stroking his son’s hair and allowing him to feel the warmth of his embrace for a few more minutes, before opening his mouth to question him.

“Keith, my dear boy. What in the name of Sorcier has happened?”

Keith said nothing at first, merely nuzzled himself further into his arms, his hand holding up what appeared to be a crumpled letter for him, as though he was silently telling him to take it from him. However, as soon as Luigi hesitantly took it out of his shaking hands, Keith spoke.

“It’s…….it’s a letter from sister, it’ll explain what’s happened better than anything I could tell you,” Keith said, his voice so soft and hoarse that he could barely make out what he’d said, “but, if you truly want to know, I……mother said some things by accident that she hadn’t meant for sister to overhear, and…….and sister she……….she severely misunderstood.”

Luigi’s eyebrows furrowed, his heart filling with confusion and worry as he processed his son’s words, before turning his attention to the letter that would apparently reveal all.

Luigi gently pulled away from Keith, who only resisted the movement for a brief moment before releasing him without any further resistance, turning his attention fully to the letter. Luigi could feel his hand shake softly, as if his body knew something about the letter that his mind did not.

Without any hesitation, Luigi cracked open the letter, only to feel as though his heart had shriveled up and died upon reading the contents within it.

Katarina, his little angel, his baby girl, the light of his life and the apple of his eye, had run away? She’d run away heartbroken because she thought she was nothing more than a burden to those around her?

Luigi felt his lip wobble, his eyes unwillingly welling with tears before he could catch himself, his heart aching as though a part of it had been forcefully cracked off and stolen from him. Which, in a sense, is exactly what had happened. However, if this had been caused by something his Miribear had accidentally said….

"......Keith, how is your mother taking this?" Luigi felt himself ask, already knowing how his beloved wife’s mind works and knowing full well that she must be feeling absolutely terrible due to what had happened.

Guilt briefly flashed in Keith’s eyes, before they turned sorrowful once more, his eyes drifting off to the side as though to avoid looking at him.

"She is……very upset, Anne’s currently comforting her in her office," Keith said, his hand coming up to rub his arm, the way he used to do as a child after he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t, "she blames herself for what happened, and I’ll admit that I didn’t help matters. I…. when I found out what happened, I lashed out at her, told her it was all her fault and now she’s really-"

As soon as Luigi saw his son’s bottom lip start to tremble slightly, he gently shushed him, his hand coming up to firmly squeeze Keith’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. Although a part of him felt as though he should be angry on his wife’s behalf, he also knew how much Katarina meant to his son. She was his whole world, just as Mirribear was his, so he was mature enough to understand why he would react in such a way.

"It’s alright, Keith. Words said in anger can sometimes be sharper than any blade. That's why, in such trying times, it’s always better to simply hold your tongue, lest you accidentally create more damage with them," Luigi told him gently, giving Keith’s shoulder another gentle squeeze, before gently releasing him, "learn from this, grow, and most importantly, do not let it stop you from becoming the man I know you’re destined to be."

Keith eyed him for a moment, before slowly nodding his head. Despite his own conflicting feelings, Luigi felt his lip twitch into a small watery smile, quickly reaching forward to ruffle Keith’s curly locks.

"That’s my boy," Luigi said, before turning his attention down the hall, "I should probably go check in on your mother. Will you be alright to handle things here when the ministry arrives?"

Keith’s shoulders straightened, the determined spark in his eyes only growing brighter as he gave him a firm nod.

"Yes, I've already made sure that the guest room is prepared so that we can discuss matters involving Katarina in there, and I've also informed the maids to leave Katarina's room untouched so that it can be used in the investigation," Keith said, before a small, slightly exasperated smile appeared on his face, "Besides, you know as well as I do that I won't be handling this alone."

Luigi felt his lip twitch a little further, fighting the urge to chuckle. Luigi knew full well that the moment Katarina’s missing status was discovered, her gaggle of friends and suitors would make their way here post-haste to offer their aid.

"Very well, I’ll leave this in all of your capable hands," Luigi said, before giving him a slightly stern look, "however, I do not want you to butt us out like you all did last time Katarina disappeared. I want to be kept in the loop this time. Thank you very much."

Keith immediately winced, knowing full well what Luigi was talking about, before quickly nodding in agreement.

Luigi hadn’t exactly been happy to find out his daughter had been kidnapped, especially since he was only told after she had already been rescued. He was, of course, happy that it all worked out as it did, but that did not stop him from delivering the tongue lashing of a lifetime to all those involved for not telling him about it in the first place. As did his wife, who was just as upset as he was about being kept in the dark. Safe to say, everyone made sure to let him know when his other child happened to disappear, that was for sure.

Luigi gave his son one more quick pat on the head and firm squeeze on the shoulder, before hastily making his way down the hallway and towards his wife’s office.

The closer he got to the office, the louder the sounds of his wife sobbing sounded upon reaching his ears. This caused him to lean against the wall slightly as he walked, his heart cracking further and further at hearing such a sound come from his wife’s mouth.

When he finally reached the open door of his wife’s office, the sight inside was enough to cause Luigi to suck in a sharp breath, his body feeling as though he had been winded at seeing the state his wife was in.

She was currently kneeling on the floor, her lovely blue dress wrinkled and her beautiful long brown locks of hair in disarray as she sobbed into the palm of her hands, pausing every couple of seconds so that she could blow loudly into her handkerchief. Anne was kneeled right beside her, gently rubbing her back and softly whispering words of comfort, even as her own eyes were bloodshot from grief.

‘Oh, Mirribear.’

Not many people knew this, not even his beloved wife until recently, but the moment he’d seen Miridiana Adeth’s lovely sharp blue eyes and heard her speak in her lovely yet biting tone, Luigi knew that she was the one for him. The day he’d met her, his heart had filled with complete and utter love and devotion towards her. His feelings of love for her were so strong that he couldn’t ever imagine himself loving someone as much as he loved her. That was, at least, until Katarina was born.

Katarina hadn’t exactly been an easy pregnancy for Miridiana; Katarina had essentially forced her to be bedridden for months due to the strain she'd put on his wife’s surprisingly fragile body. So it was quite a relief when she finally arrived in the world one fateful June morning, red faced and screaming at the top of her lungs as if she was attempting to notify the entire kingdom of Sorcier of her arrival.

Yet, when her little hand wrapped around his finger after she’d calmed herself upon being placed in his arms, softly cooing up at him with eyes that looked ever so much like his wife’s, Luigi could feel his heart grow twice its usual size, making room for the new love he had immediately developed upon viewing the small bundle in his arms. The small bundle which he vowed to protect and look after to the best of his abilities for the rest of his days.

Miridiana was the love of his life, but Katarina was his most precious treasure. As such, he had vowed to himself that he would see to it that she wanted for nothing, that she only received the best this world had to offer her. For she was his little angel, who deserved nothing less.

There was a brief moment in time when he feared that his spoiling of her could potentially make her cruel and selfish, as many noble children tended to become upon spending years being handed everything on a gold platter. She’d always been quite boisterous and bossy from a young age, like a mini version of her mother except without the shyness. But thankfully, she’d grown out of her endearing, at least to him, childhood brattiness relatively quickly once she had made friends her own age. 

Miridiana always commented that, despite inheriting her looks, Katarina’s personality was all him. According to her, Katarina had inherited his natural charm and proclivity to draw in suitors (which to this day, Luigi still denies. He may have been a rich young bachelor back in the day, but who in their right mind would be attracted to a goofball such as himself?) 

Despite Mirri’s insistence, however, Luigi always firmly believed that Katarina was more like Miridiana, in both appearance and spirit. Katarina may have had his temperament most of the time, but she had her mother’s spitfire personality hidden within her. She was fierce, independent, and would never back down from a challenge, no matter what was thrown at her. 

Unfortunately, Katarina also inherited her mother’s ability to severely misunderstand the words and actions of others, as well as her own.

Luigi had tried his best to warn Miridiana of this similarity between them, warning her to be gentler on Katarina in her scolding, as Katarina had also inherited Miridiana’s cripplingly low self-esteem, which she suffered from in her youth. Luigi knew his daughter well and could see how much her mother’s words hurt her and made her feel inadequate. As such, he had always done his best to step forward in her defense, to spoil her rotten after a particularly bad scolding in hopes of cheering her up, and to try and settle Miridiana down so that she could see for herself what she was doing. 

Yet, love it or hate it, his wife had always been relentlessly stubborn and oblivious when it came to her actions. As a result, she’d misspoken, and just like her mother, Katarina, had misunderstood, causing her to run away in an attempt to make amends for all the trouble she believed she’d caused them.

Now, watching his wife sobbing on the floor, her guilt clearly crippling as Anne tried in vain to comfort her, Luigi certainly didn’t have the heart to say, ‘I told you so.’

As though she could sense his presence, Miridiana immediately looked up, her sharp yet watery blue eyes widening upon spotting him standing there.

“Luigi-“

"Thank you for remaining by my wife’s side, but I can take care of things from here, Anne," Luigi said softly, giving his daughter’s loyal maid a kind smile as he made his way further into the room, kneeling down in front of his wife as though it was second nature, "why don’t you go see if Keith needs anything? I know we shall be receiving guests soon and knowing you’re there by my son’s side would greatly reassure me."

Anne hesitated for a brief moment, giving Miridiana a worried look, before nodding. She then quickly rises to her feet, gently dusting off her apron in an attempt to make herself look presentable, before briskly making her way out of the room so she can leave them both alone. 

As soon as the door closed, Miridiana’s bottom lip trembled, as she reached forward to grab the front of his suit jacket.

“Luigi, I swear to you I didn’t mean it. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen-“

Luigi reached forward, gently hushing her as he wrapped his arms securely around her waist, one of his hands coming up so that he could comfortingly stroke her hair.

“It’s alright, Miridiana. I know you didn’t mean it,” he said softly, not wincing when Miridiana’s grip moved to the back of his jacket, her long nails unintentionally digging tightly into his back, “and when we find Katarina and explain everything, I’m sure she’ll know that too.”

Miridiana said nothing in response, she simply just tightened her grip and continued to weep. And with his wife securely held in his arms, and nobody else able to see him be so weak, Luigi allowed for himself to weep as well for his little girl.

‘Katarina, sweetheart. Wherever you are right now, please be safe.’

Raphael hadn’t revealed much else to him after he’d returned from informing Katarina’s father of the news. Not that he seemed to know much to begin with, based on the frustrated expression he wore every time he glanced down at the letter from Katarina’s maid.  

By the looks of it, the letter had been left purposely vague, merely stating that Katarina was missing and requesting the ministry come investigate her disappearance immediately. Although generally unhelpful, Sora could understand why such a precaution was taken, since the topic in question involved the daughter of a Duke of all people. The last thing anyone wanted was the wrong sort of people to get private information such as this in their mangy hands.

So, as soon as Maria had returned from informing the Ascart siblings of what transpired, and as soon as Raphael finished up the required paperwork so that the two of them could begin the investigation, the three of them huddled together in one of the ministry carriages and made their way to the Claes manor post haste.

The carriage ride had been silent, as Maria and Raphael spent the entire time trading what appeared to be worried looks, before turning their attention out the carriage window. Sora, on the other hand, whilst also feeling worried about Katarina and her safety, couldn’t find himself feeling as worried as his other two companions.

Although Katarina appeared to be a bit of an airhead, a gullible and oblivious one at that, Sora knew from his brief acquaintance with her that she was a whole lot tougher than the people around her gave her credit for.

In all honesty, the woman literally got kidnapped by him some time ago and treated it like she was on some impromptu holiday and then later beat a dark magic familiar who was leaching off her brother into submission through sheer will power alone. All within the span of a year.  And apparently, from what Raphael has told him whenever he asked about his past with her, before that she was literally cursed by dark magic to sleep forever, but decided to wake up anyway just for the hell of it. 

What danger could a woman like that possibly be in? Knowing her, she probably just went out for a stroll or something and forgot to tell anyone. Sora could even picture her now, a sheepish grin on her face as she stared apologetically at all of them, frantically apologizing to them for causing all this trouble. 

However, there was a small tingle in Sora’s gut, telling him that something was off about this whole thing. It was the same sort of tingle he got back when he was a kid in Ethenell. It was after his teacher first started getting sick and was telling him not to worry, it felt as if his instincts were screaming at him that something was wrong. It was probably for that reason that he hadn’t voiced his opinion as of yet, and why he had come along for this mission in the first place when Raphael had asked him. He just wanted to know what was going on so that the stupidly familiar tingle would finally go away once he knew that she was perfectly fine.

The carriage suddenly jolted to a stop, signaling that they’d arrived at their destination. Sora made to move out of the carriage, however a firm hand pressing against his chest stopped him.

Sora turned his attention to Raphael, who was staring at him imploringly.

“I know you don’t always mean to rile people up, but please keep in mind that the situation we are heading into right now is going to be incredibly stressful for everyone involved,” Raphael said, his stern tone ruined somewhat by the anxious smile that was currently on his face, “so please, please be on your best behavior. They are already wary of you for…fairly valid reasons, the last thing we need is for a fight to break out.”

Sora cocked a brow at him, confused as to who he meant by ‘they.’ However, before he even so much as had to ask him what he meant, the sound of numerous other carriages pulling in filled his ears, giving him the answer without him having to say so much as a word.

Sora quickly looked out the carriage window, letting out a small snort when he spotted the sigil of the Royal family on one of the carriages approaching. Said carriage was closely followed by two others, each bearing sigils he was unfamiliar with but had a pretty good idea who they belonged to.

"Boy, word certainly traveled fast, didn’t it?" Sora asked himself, turning his attention from the window back to his temporary supervisor with a small half-smile, "I thought those two siblings would have been the first to arrive after us, but I guess they fell behind when they ran off to inform everyone, huh?"

Raphael’s expression only grew more stern, his gray eyes narrowing up at him slightly. Sora let out a small sigh, before raising his hand as though he was swearing a solemn oath.

“I, Sora Smith, solemnly vow that I won’t say or do anything to purposely rile anybody up,” he said, trying to make his voice sound as honest and forthcoming as possible, “although, if they are the ones who get snarky first, then I make no promises.”

Raphael stared at him for a brief moment, as though he didn’t quite believe him, before eventually letting out a sigh.

"I suppose that’ll have to do," he said, lowering the hand that he’d used to stop him after a few minutes, shuffling forward in his seat so that he could exit first, "however, please do leave all the talking to me, as I’m technically the one in charge of this investigation at the moment."

"Yeah, yeah. I know," Sora said, making a dismissive waving gesture with his hand as Maria silently scooted out of her seat so she could follow Raphael out, leaving Sora as the last one to exit.

As soon as Sora stepped out of the ministry carriage, the other carriages hastily pulled into the clearing in front of Claes Manor. The first of them to stop was the royal carriage, which came to a stop just behind theirs. The carriage door immediately opened, revealing the tense face of the third prince. Based on the ornateness of his white and gold suit, his unusual lack of his gaudy-looking cape, and the manner in which he arrived, he had most likely returned from a function he had been attending prior to receiving the news.

Upon stepping out, his hand hastily shooing his driver away when he tried to open the door for him, he all but rushed towards Raphael with a clearly forced smile on his face, his blue eyes sharp and filled with what appeared to be worry.

"Nicol sent a messenger to me informing me that something has happened to Katarina," Prince Geordo said in a false-cheerful yet imploring tone, giving Sora a dirty look and Maria a small nod of acknowledgment before returning his attention back to Raphael, "I don’t suppose you know a bit more about the situation than I do?"

Raphael shook his head, reaching down to grab the letter that had been sent to the ministry regarding the situation from his bag, handing it to him without a moment of hesitation.

"I’m afraid not. The only information we have so far is that Katarina was discovered missing from her bed this morning, and that there was evidence leading the Claes family to believe that her absence was not due to her innocently going for a walk," Raphael said as Sora watched Prince Geordo's reaction carefully while he both absorbed Raphael's words as well as read the letter, "however, I'm sure we'll find out more from Keith when we head inside."

Prince Geordo’s expression tensed slightly, curtly nodding before he folded up the letter once more, reaching over to hand the letter back to Raphael. 

“I see,” Prince Geordo said somewhat briskly, his eyebrows furrowing thoughtfully as he raised his hand to cup his chin, “I don’t know how she manages it, but it appears that Katarina is always finding new ways to get herself into trouble-“

Before Prince Geordo could finish his statement, the carriage that was traveling behind him nearly came to a halting stop, the door shooting open before it had even fully stopped moving. Mary Hunt practically flew out the door, her hands clutching the many layers of her silken dress as she lifted her skirt to safely climb out of the carriage. Her fiancé, the fourth prince, followed quickly behind her, holding what appeared to be her purse as he made to climb out after her.

“Your purse, Mary, you can’t just leave your purse in the carriage like that-“

"Forget the purse, this is far more important!" Mary said hastily, making her way over to them as fast as she could considering the rather uncomfortable heels she was wearing, Prince Alan exasperatingly jogging behind her in an attempt to keep pace.

Based on their appearances, they too must have been at some sort of function as well. Mary’s auburn hair was up in a tight bun, and her current red attire was quite form-flattering and elegant, much more so than usual. Prince Alan’s silver hair had even been combed back, and he was in a simple but expensive looking black suit with silver trimmings, signaling that the function was most likely something important if the usually easy-going male actually put effort into his appearance.

Sora watched as Prince Geordo’s eyes widened slightly at the sight of them, his expression seeming to be fighting between tense and relaxed. If the situation wasn’t what it was, Sora probably would have laughed at the way his eye was currently twitching.

“I thought the two of you were supposed to be in the middle of attending a recital,” he said as soon as the two had made their way over to them, his eyes narrowing slightly at Prince Alan as he spoke, “a recital that you were supposed to be performing for Alan.”

Prince Alan merely scowled in response, his arms rising to cross in front of his chest as he stared down at his slightly shorter older twin.

"Like you’re one to talk. Weren’t you supposed to be having brunch with dad and some business associates or something?" he asked, causing Prince Geordo’s cheeks to redden very briefly, signaling that Prince Alan was correct in his assumption as to where he’d come from, "I postponed the recital as soon as Mary and I got the message about Katarina from Nicol. Like hell was I going to just sit back after getting a message like that. We were already half way through anyway, so it wasn’t a big deal."

“I can easily take care of any backlash that could arise from a cancellation on such short notice,” Mary quickly piped up, her eyebrows furrowing in concern as she turned her attention off of Prince Geordo so that she could stare imploringly at Raphael, “however, there are much dire things at stake. Tell me, what more do you know about what happened to Katarina?”

Sora felt himself roll his eyes, while Raphael’s expression shifted to a slightly more exasperated one, probably because he would have to re-explain what he had only just told Prince Geordo, not even five minutes prior. However, thankfully, before he could open his mouth to repeat himself, a soft but firm voice interrupted him.

“He doesn’t know any more than we do at the moment, Mary. The investigation hasn’t even begun yet,” Nicol said, as he made his way over to the steadily forming group from his carriage, his white-haired younger sister hastily trailing behind him with a concerned expression on her face as she clutched her book in her hands.

Raphael nodded in agreement, giving Nicol a slightly grateful look before turning his attention to everyone.

“Yes, Nicol’s right. The only information I currently have on hand is the information that Nicol provided you all with to get you here,” Raphael explained, motioning to Sora and himself with his hand, “I can assure you all that both Sora and I will do our best when it comes to investigating this matter-“

“Did you have to bring him?” Prince Geordo suddenly asked, his eyes narrowing as he looked Sora up and down, “surely there must have been more capable ministry staff on hand when you received notice of this…incident.”

Sora’s eyes narrowed, immediately straightening his posture until he was essentially looming over the shorter male with an annoyed expression on his face.

“What exactly are you trying to say?” he asked, keenly remembering Raphael’s warning about behaving himself, finding himself sorely tempted to disregard it completely at this very moment.

Prince Geordo merely gave a small shrug, his expression not softening in the slightest as he stared up at him boredly.

“I’m just saying that I would greatly prefer a more experienced employee handling a case as important as this, that’s all.”

Sora felt a prickle of annoyance hit him, his hold on his temper loosening slightly at the prince’s clear disregard towards him and his abilities. He felt an inkling that this had nothing to do with his abilities whatsoever. Sora considered himself to be a pretty level headed and calm guy, but there was just something about the way he said it that genuinely irked him. 

Raphael seemed to notice this, quickly stepping forward and between the two of them so that he could place his hands on both of their shoulders in an attempt to separate them.

"Sora is perfectly capable of handling this case. You know as well as I do that he’s handled a case like this before when Keith went missing a little while ago without any hassle," Raphael said, his tone firm and leaving no room for debate, even Sora could tell that he was starting to get annoyed with everything going on in front of him, "however, if you do have any questions about who I assigned for this job as the temporary head of the Magic Tools Department, you are more than welcome to head to the ministry right now and file a complaint, which I think is something you don’t wish to do as of now considering the circumstances."

Prince Geordo’s eyes narrowed slightly, his eyes silently shifting between the two of them as if he was carefully studying them. Raphael made no move to back down, Nor did Sora, the two of them staring right back at him without a hint of weakness. Before any more words could be said, however, the door to the manor opened, revealing the exhausted looking form of Keith, who smiled tiredly at them in greeting.

"I should have known you’d all start to congregate as soon as we sent word out to the ministry of sister's disappearance," he said in an exasperated but fond-sounding tone, moving so that he could open the doors to the manor wider as if to invite them all in, "I’ve already set up the guest room, taking into account all of you showing up, that is. We can discuss everything that’s happened there."

The guest room was completely silent.

It had only taken a few minutes for all of them to make their way into the guest room, immediately being served tea and other refreshments by Katarina’s red-eyed personal maid, Anne. After everyone had settled, Keith had taken out a crumpled looking letter from his pocket, carefully explaining the situation as he proceeded to hand the letter to each and every person in the room.

Sora had been the last person to read what was on it, merely watching in both confusion and concern as everyone’s expressions rippled from slight worry to something akin to pure, unadulterated horror and exasperation. 

At first, Prince Alan and Mary exchanged awkward looks, as though they had just read something that was so wrong that it made them uncomfortable. Their expressions then saddened, with Mary’s eyes watering with tears and Prince Alan letting out a wet-sounding snort at whatever had been written inside. Maria simply let out a small gasp, a horrified yet confused expression becoming fixed on her face as she handed the letter down the line. Prince Geordo’s expression, on the other hand, had turned completely to stone, a blank look appearing in his eyes despite the circumstances before him. Sora would have assumed this expression of his was cold and uncaring if he hadn't noticed the way his hands were trembling even after he’d finished reading. Even Nicol seemed moved by the letter’s contents. His lips had turned into a frown and his eyebrows heavily furrowed as he raised his arm to wrap around and comfort his sister, who had softly begun crying upon reading the contents.

When Sora had finally gotten his hands on the damn thing, after Raphael, who had developed a more thoughtful than horrified look upon reading its contents, he felt as though he could understand why they’d react in such a way to it.

To simply put it, the letter was heartbreaking to read, especially considering how cheerful Katarina usually was, or appeared if the letter revealed anything to him that he hadn’t known about her character. Sora didn’t even mind that she never specifically addressed him in her attempt at apologising for her supposed wrongs, as it seemed to be more addressed to those she had known longer than she’d known him. Still, the letter had left him with more questions than answers, answers that everyone was quite eager to hear from Keith after reading her letter.

According to Keith, their mother had said something quite harsh about her yesterday that she’d overheard while the two of them were home alone together. He didn’t quite go into detail as to what had been said, but whatever it was had been enough to convince Katarina that she was a burden on everyone and had caused her to run away in the middle of the night, leaving a bust in her likeness in an attempt to throw people off from discovering her absence too early.

Now, Sora didn’t think Keith was lying about what had transpired, as from what he’d seen, he would have had no reason to. However, the only way he could ever possibly believe that a simple misunderstanding caused Katarina to give up her life of luxury, and brace herself against the cold, cruel world on her own was if her mother had explicitly stated her desire to disown her.

Also, please don’t worry about finding me. I assure you that regardless of wherever I am or wherever I’m heading, I’ll be perfectly fine. I have everything I could possibly need for this little self-imposed exile of mine, so please just go on with your lives like I wasn’t a part of it at all.

Sora had no idea why, but there was something about that small paragraph at the end of her letter that only further convinced him that the situation was not as simple as her merely overreacting due to a misunderstanding she’d had. He may not have known her as well as everyone else in the room did, but the little he did know about her was enough to convince him that there had to be more to the story. 

He may not have been book smart or anything like that, but he was street smart and could read almost anyone without too much effort. And for all her dramatism and strangeness that he’d seen thus far, her running away because of a comment alone was not something he could see her doing without anything else to back up or cause that behavior.

Which was why he was very confused when everyone seemed to take her written words and Keith’s explanation at face value without any further questions as to the cause. Well, except maybe for Raphael, who still had that thoughtful look on his face, his eyes staring intensely down at his shoes as if he was carefully thinking something over.

“Honestly, I knew that Katarina had the tendency to draw the wrong conclusion about things, especially anything related to her, but I never thought she’d misunderstand a situation as badly as she’s done just now,” Prince Geordo said softly, more so to himself than for anyone else to hear, his hands coming up so he could bury his face in them as he let out what sounded like an exasperated sigh, “to think I finally got her to understand my feelings, only for a few negative words to go and ruin that in the span of a single day.”

Sora couldn’t help but raise a brow at that. Surely that wasn’t the only thing he was concerned about, right?

Before he could open his mouth and question him on that, another voice quickly piped up.

"Although the fact that she’s gone to such lengths to appease us is rather alarming, at least we know that the solution is somewhat easy in order to rectify this," Mary said with a sad-looking smile on her face, a small glimmer of hope appearing in her eyes at the thought, "we just need to…we just need to find her now and convince her that this has all been one silly little misunderstanding. It might take a while for us to get through to her, she can be quite dense when she wants to be. But surely once we explain to her how wrong she’s been, she’ll come home, no problem!"

Sora fought the urge to snort. 

At times like this, it was easy to see how, despite their seeming maturity, all the people in this room were essentially infants in the ways of the real world. For all their big talk and cunning social maneuvers, they truly had no grasp on how the world worked outside of their little noble bubble. They had no true understanding, beyond political necessity, of the complexity of people and their motives, and hadn't even thought about anything else that could have caused such actions by Katarina. At the very least, they didn’t expect such complexity from her, merely deeming her and her actions as simple rather than having been something legitimately wrong to cause her to do this. It was almost as if they held her on some sort of pedestal, genuinely not believing that anything could hurt or upset someone as positive and cheerful as her.

If that was what they believed and how they treated her as a result, was it any wonder that she ran away after all? Surely they weren’t all naive enough to believe that simply finding Katarina would solve what appeared to be crippling self-esteem issues?

"The real question is how we're going to find her," Prince Alan said, raising his hand to run it through his hair, his brow furrowed as he looked down at his shoes, "knowing her, she could literally be anywhere right now."

Sora stood corrected, apparently they were naive enough to believe it to be that easy.

“I would have offered to bring Alexander the bear over in order to help find Lady Katarina, but I remember Lady Lana mentioning that he could only track individuals with strong magic aptitude,” Maria said, her hands moving so she could clasp them tightly together in her lap.

“That’s alright Maria. We’ll simply have to do this the old fashioned way,” Prince Geordo said, giving Maria a small reassuring nod before turning his attention across the room to Keith, who had been oddly silent after he’d finished explaining everything, “do you know of anywhere Katarina may have been interested in running away to? Any landmarks or towns that caught her fancy?”

For a brief second, Sora could have sworn that he’d seen him flinch at the question, before shaking his head in denial.

“I’m afraid not. The few times I went traveling with her, she did show an interest in all the small farming villages. But apart from that I can’t think of anywhere specific,” he said, his eyes drifting down to his shoes as he fiddled with his thumbs, “you’d be better off asking my father. He’s always been the closest with her out of all of us.”

Sora watched as Prince Geordo pursed his lips, clearly not happy with the response but at least seemed pleased to have been given an answer of some sort.

“I suppose that will have to do. Thankfully Sorcier does not have so many farming towns that it would be impossible to search every single one. At the worst it would merely be tedious and time consuming,” Prince Geordo said, before moving to rise from his seat, “in that case, I will go speak with Duke Claes about any locations Katarina may have been more interested in than others. While I do that, perhaps it would be beneficial for all of you to search Katarina’s room for any other clues that could pinpoint her location for us-“

It was at this moment that Sora felt he could no longer hold his tongue. His disbelief had only grown for the entirety of the conversation until he was nearly ready to burst. As such, Sora sent a silent apology to Raphael for breaking his promise to not cause trouble, before blurting out the first thing he could think of.

"Surely you’re not all so stupid as to believe that the situation is that simple, right? That finding her and dragging her home will magically fix everything, like some sort of half-baked fairytale?"

Oops. That came out much ruder than Sora had planned for it to come out. He was usually so good with his words, well, when he was charming people at least. But his impatience to just say something to stop this train wreck from going any further and his general frustration must have affected his usually silvered tongue.

Oh, well. There’s no use crying over spilled milk.

The reaction to his statement was immediate, everyone slowly turning their attention towards him with varying expressions of both confusion and genuine annoyance. Sora certainly didn’t miss the way Raphael sighed in exasperation at his words, yet he made no move to chastise him, meaning that there was a strong chance that he at least partially agreed with his words.

Before anyone could react and shout at him like they clearly wanted to however, Nicol was surprisingly the first person to open his mouth to speak.

"Sophia, why don’t you go do as Prince Geordo said earlier and search Katarina’s room for some clues?" Nicol said softly, gently forcing his sister to her feet with an almost knowing glint in his eye, as if he was trying to shield her from something he already knew but didn’t want her to hear.

Hmm, it seems like one of them might be more aware and observant than he thought.

“But-“

“I’ll assist in that regard,” Raphael quickly piped up, rising to his feet before hastily making his way towards her, turning his head to face a skittish and frightened-looking Maria, “Maria, would you be a dear and come join us? On the off chance that dark magic is involved, your light magic might be quite handy for picking up on hidden clues.”

Maria hesitated for a brief moment, her eyes anxiously darting around the room as if to take in everyone’s reactions, before slowly nodding, rising to her feet fairly quickly before making her way over to Sophia as well.

With that Raphael smiled awkwardly at everyone, before giving him a stern look, as if he was silently telling him to behave himself while he was gone. Even though the only reason he was being left alone in the first place was because Raphael simply wanted to run away and not deal with all the drama that was about to unfold.

“We’ll be right back. If we find anything we’ll immediately let you all know,” he said, before gently coercing the two young women out of the room semi-hastily.

As soon as the three of them left the room, those that remained immediately turned their attention back to him. It almost made Sora feel like a wounded gazelle surrounded by an angry pack of wolves. If he hadn’t lived the life he had, he might have actually been scared by such a display. Unfortunately for all of them, he’d been through far too much in his relatively short life thus far to be intimidated by the glares and scowls of barely adult teenagers, no matter how high the status was of said barely adult teenagers.

“I do beg your pardon, but what exactly do you mean by what you just said?” Prince Geordo asked, his eye developing a small twitch as he gave him a rather tense-looking smile. 

Sora leaned back casually in his chair, purposely keeping his expression relaxed in an attempt to both defuse the situation and show that he was not backing down in the slightest despite their intimidation attempts.

“What I’m saying is that Katarina may have had more reasons for running away then her mother saying something mean about her and her misunderstanding everything,” Sora said, raising his arm so he could dangle it over the back of his chair, “I may not know her as well as all of you do, but even I can see that.”

Mary let out a small huff, shuffling forward in her seat so she could glare at him.

“No, no you do not know her as well as we do,” Mary said firmly, a strange fire appearing in her eyes as she tightly clutched her fan in her hands, “if you did, then you would know that such misunderstandings with her are quite common. Love it or hate it, it’s an element of her character that cannot be disputed.”

Sora let out a small scoff, fighting the urge to once again roll his eyes.

“Oh, so it’s common for her to misunderstand something so badly that she uproots her whole life of luxury and runs for the hills? Is that common?” Sora asked, his tone somewhat mocking even as he watched Mary flinch slightly at his words, “I take it by your reaction that it is not?”

Mary said nothing in response, but Prince Alan quickly opened his mouth to speak instead.

“I’ll be the first to admit that this is probably the worse case of her misunderstanding something,” Prince Alan said, his tone oddly hoarse as he finally raised his gaze from his shoes, a lost look appearing in his blue eyes as he stared at him, “I…I’ve known her for a while and I’ve never seen her misunderstand something as badly as she’s done now. And I don’t know why, but my gut is telling me that this isn’t normal Katarina behavior.”

Mary seemed to flinch again, as if Prince Alan was saying something that she desperately didn’t want to hear. After a few seconds however, she faintly nodded her head in agreement.

“I agree. As erratic as she can be sometimes, this is not normal behavior from her in the slightest. There has to be something that we are not seeing,” Nicol said, before giving him a slightly stern look, “although I appreciate your attempt at bringing this to our attention, I would advise you to next time be more considerate to those in the room when you do so. My sister is quite emotionally fragile and this situation is already stressful enough for her.”

Sora’s expression softened slightly, before giving him a small nod. The small white-haired girl had looked like a stiff breeze could knock her over at the moment considering the way she had been shaking due to her tears, so he could only imagine how hearing all of this would have affected her if her brother and Raphael hadn’t sent her and an equally fragile-looking Maria out of the room.

Although most of the room seemed to be on the same page now, there seemed to be one person in particular who was refusing to see the truth.

“I still don’t understand what all of you are talking about. This is simply a matter of her misunderstanding the words of others like she always does, nothing more, nothing less,” Prince Geordo said hastily, a slight edge appearing in his voice as he raised his arms to cross them in front of his chest, his finger almost anxiously tapping his arm.

Sora actually did snort this time. He’d never met someone so heavily buried in denial before. Then again, when you could bend the truth to your will like Prince Geordo tended to do due to his status, he supposed it was only natural that he’d refuse to accept reality if he himself had not created it in the first place.

“Oh, is that so? In that case, how do you explain the bust that looks exactly like Katarina?” Sora asked, raising his eyebrows as he gave him an inquisitive look, “last time I checked, busts like that can’t be made overnight, and she never left the Claes manor yesterday until she made her great escape. So, where did she get it?”

Prince Geordo said nothing at first, merely staring at him in complete silence, as if his brain was frantically trying to come up with some sort of answer that worked in favor of his disillusion that everything was perfectly fine.

Not wanting to wait to hear whatever answer he eventually came up with, Sora quickly pushed forward, deciding to bite the bullet and come out with what he had suspected from the beginning.

"Face it, a bust like that can’t be made overnight. It would have taken days, maybe even years, until she got it the way she wanted," Sora said, staring intensely into Prince Geordo’s eyes, silently praying that the so called genius would finally get a clue, "the reality here is that, by the looks of it, Katarina has been planning something like this for a while. I couldn’t tell you how long, but this was absolutely something premeditated on her part."

Everyone’s eyes widened in complete and utter disbelief at that, as if the thought of Katarina actually planning to run away for an unknown amount of time genuinely hadn’t occurred to them.The only person who didn’t seem surprised with what he’d said was Nicol, who merely closed his eyes and winced, as if the thought had occurred to him yet he desperately did not wish to be proven right.

“P-premeditated? But…but why in the name of Sorcier would she-“

Sora decided to ignore that line of questioning from Mary for now, merely turning his attention to Katarina’s maid, Anne, who seemed to be the only person who had any genuine clue about Katarina and her moods.

“Has Katarina said or done anything over the last couple of years that you know of that could have suggested her planning to run away like this?” Sora asked, carefully watching the maid’s expressions to gauge her reaction.

Anne remained silent for a few minutes, shuffling anxiously the moment everyone turned their attention to her. Seeing the maid’s discomfort, Keith’s expression softened, before quickly opening his mouth to reassure her.

“It’s alright, Anne. No matter what you say, you nor Katarina will be in any trouble. But if there is something that you know, I beg you, please tell us.”

Anne bowed her head, her hands tightly clutching the front of her apron as nervously she opened her mouth to speak.

“She…..my lady would sometimes store money away in the back of her closet, when she thought I wasn’t looking or in the room,” she said softly, her head not rising from its bowed position even as she spoke, “she stored other things back there too, clothes and small toiletries perhaps. However I never had the heart to investigate further. Despite what her personality suggests, she can be quite private when she so desires.”

Sora nodded, mentally going over the things she’d listed in his head.

Money was a no brainer in regards to a premeditated runaway attempt. You couldn’t do much in life without it. Clothes were another factor that pointed towards that as well, as Katarina would need clothes to wear if she no longer lived the life of a noble and did not wish to waste money on it.

“So we have money to fund herself wherever she heads, clothes that she can wear on the road and at her final destination, and a bust to hide her runaway attempt, that all seems way too premeditated and specific if you ask me,” Sora said, listing the different things on his finger in an attempt to visualize it for everyone, “anything else you guys can think of now that we’re discussing it?”

At first everyone remained silent, as if they were quietly contemplating his question among themselves. It was at that very moment that Nicol’s eyes suddenly widened the tiniest amount, as if a thought had only just occurred to him.

“Vegetable garden.”

Sora’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion, not understanding in the slightest what he was talking about.

“Huh?”

Seeing his confusion, Mary immediately piped up to clarify, her expression slowly becoming more horrified as if something terrible had dawned on her.

“Katarina has been keeping a small vegetable field ever since she was nine years old,” Mary explained, her voice so soft that Sora had to strain himself just to hear it, “she was so passionate about growing them that she even started a farm at the academy back when we were first year students.”

Prince Alan’s eyes also widened, letting out a small gasp as if the same thing had occurred to him.

“But, that can’t be right. She’s had that thing going for about seven to eight years now!” he said loudly, a disbelieving tone entering his voice as he spoke, “if-if that’s all been apart of this plan than-“

“Then that would mean she’s been planning this since she was at least nine years old,” Sora finished for him, his eyes gleaming as he quickly turned his attention back to Anne, “Anne, was there anything missing from Katarina’s farm this morning?”

Anne’s eyes also widened, before quickly nodding.

“Yes, a large number of the cucumbers, tomatoes and other smaller vegetables were missing this morning according to gardner Tom,” she said, her grip only tightening on her apron until her knuckles turned white, “he-he said he thought an animal of some sort had gotten into them overnight. However, if the farm was truly only for the purpose of this attempt, then-“

“She must have harvested it before she left,” Sora once again finished, before turning his attention back to Prince Geordo, who had been silent the entire time they’d been speaking, “so how about it, Prince Geordo? We have money, food and other pieces of evidence pointing towards this whole thing being premeditated. So, do you still think this was all a spur of the moment decision based on a small misunderstanding?”

Prince Geordo’s eyebrows furrowed, a kaleidoscope of emotions rippling across his face almost like some sort of strange pattern. Surprise, horror, heartbreak, sadness then denial once more. He took a few moments to compose himself, purposely turning himself away from them all as if to hide his expression of uncertainty, before shaking his head in disagreement.

“This…this can’t be right, I can’t believe it. I refuse to believe that this is the case,” he said in an oddly soft tone, shaking his head once more as if he was attempting to shake off the truth, his fists clenching tightly by his sides as his shoulder shook with emotion.

“Geordo-“

Prince Geordo shook off Prince Alan’s arm, as if his very touch burned him.

“No, I cannot accept this! For as long as I’ve known her, she’s always been smiling and laughing, like she hadn’t had a care in the world. There is simply no way a person like that could have ever been planning a thing such as this the whole time!”

This time it was Nicol who tried his hand at approaching him, gently reaching his hand out so that he could rest it on the emotional Prince’s shoulder.

“Prince Geordo, please. You must listen to reason here. There is no more use denying it anymore.“

Sora almost jolted in surprise when Prince Geordo suddenly turned around to face them once more, and was even more surprised when he spotted tears resting helplessly in his sharp blue eyes, as if waiting for permission to start dripping down his face. Without warning, Prince Geordo suddenly reached forward, gripping the front of Nicol’s jacket tightly in his hands, his head bowed low in an attempt to hide his tears behind his golden locks as he opened his mouth to speak.  

“I…how can I possibly accept such a failure on my part? How can I possibly accept the reality that I failed to take care of her like I was supposed to, if she felt from such a young age that she had to resort to something like this for the sake of her happiness?” Prince Geordo asked Nicol, his tone so small and childlike that it sounded more like a plea to an older brother for guidance than a simple question to a close friend, “Nicol, I’m supposed to be a genius, yet this whole time I never once suspected that she was hurting enough to resort to such a thing. Even now, I cannot think of anything in her life that could have caused this. How can I call myself her fiancé after such a tremendous failure?”

Sora shuffled a bit in his chair, feeling somewhat awkward as he watched Nicol slowly reach forward to pull Prince Geordo into a loose hug. Sora had never been the squeamish type, but he suddenly had the feeling that he was intruding on something private.

Nicol held Prince Geordo silently in his arms for a few minutes, as if waiting for him to compose himself, Prince Geordo’s heavy breathes being the only sound in the oddly silent room, before opening his mouth to speak.

"You are not alone in this regard, of that I can assure you. We’ve all known her just as long as you have, yet none of us ever looked close enough to see the signs. However obvious they may be to us now," he told him, his words causing everyone to immediately look down, similar expressions of guilt plastered on their faces, "we…she has done so much for us, helped us all with our problems from the moment she met us. Yet, when she was clearly suffering from her own problems, we all failed to return the favor, failed to notice, failed to offer our assistance or our ears. The fault does not solely lie with you, it lies with us all."

Nicol slowly pulled away from Prince Geordo, his hand remaining firmly fixed on his shoulder as he turned to address the rest of the room, an almost solem look in his eyes.

“I may not know the circumstances that gave birth to her wish to run away so early in her life. However, what I do know is that whatever her mother said was merely the straw that broke the camel's back.”

Nicol’s words for some reason seemed to almost resonate with Keith, as for the first time since he told them of what happened, he finally opened his mouth to speak once more.

“A part of this might be my fault,” Keith admitted, his gaze remains fixed to the floor as his shoulders slumped with guilt, “after I came into the Claes household, mother started to favor me over her, and tended to treat her harsher as a result due to her unladylike behavior and unruliness. I saw everything, yet in my fear of losing our mother’s affection I did not say a word in her defense.”

The room fell silent at his confession, everyone silently processing what he had just said. By the looks of it no one seemed to blame him, if anything everyone looked oddly sympathetic towards him, as if they knew something about him that Sora did not.

“So, Katarina was having trouble with her relationship with her mother?” Mary asked, an empathetic expression appearing on her face, as though she had personal experience dealing with having a family member treat her with scorn, “is that it then? Did Katarina plan to run away because she was tired of being treated harshly by her mother?”

Although that sounded like a pretty sound theory, Sora got the distinct feeling in his gut that there was more to it than that. Katarina didn’t strike him as the type to leave for something as simple sounding as that. No, there had to be more to it.

Prince Alan seemed to agree, because as soon as his fiancé finished her question, he shook his head in disagreement.

“That doesn’t sound right. Well, it doesn’t sound wrong but, ugh, I don’t know,” he a small frustrated groan, his hand coming up so he could grip the roots of his hair, “it just feels like we’re missing something here, like we’ve only got half the pieces for the puzzle.”

Everyone murmured in agreement.

“But what is it? What are we missing?” Prince Geordo asked, his voice filled with nothing more than frustration as his hand came up so he could furiously wipe away his tears now that he’d calmed himself down.

Sora frowned, opening his mouth to speak. However before he could start suggesting theories-

“I think we may have found something that could answer that question for all of you,” a familiar voice called out from the doorway to the guest room.

Sora turned, only to see Raphael standing in the doorway, a shaky-looking Sophia and Maria standing on either side of him.

“How long were you three standing there?” Sora asked, carefully scanning the three of them.

Maria didn’t look worse for wear, rather she just seemed to be a little shaken. Raphael merely looked tired, although it appeared to be a different type of tiredness than the one he usually exhibited. The strangest reaction, however, was by Sophia, who was trembling like a leaf, yet there was an oddly determined look in her eyes, clutching a strange book in her arms like a lifeline. If Sora remembered correctly, that was definitely not the book she had originally been carrying when he’d seen her arrive with her brother, which meant that whatever it was, it was something they found in Ktarina’s room.

Raphael simply gave him a tired smile.

“Not too long, we only caught the last bit of the conversation,” he explained, before motioning to his left towards Sophia, “getting back on track, while we were searching Katarina’s room, Sophia here found something that we believe may have severely contributed to Katarina deciding to run away.”

Everyone turned their attention to Sophia, who took a deep breath as if to gather her courage, before opening her mouth to speak.

“I…I don’t know why, but when we were searching her room, I got this distinct urge to search under her bed,” she explained, before motioning to the book in her hands, “I decided to follow the urge on a whim, and that’s where I found this book. I think it might be Katarina’s journal.”

With that she flipped the cover over for all of them to see, revealing the words ‘Doom Prevention Journal!’ written in bold letters in what was clearly Katarina’s handwriting.

“Do you think the reason as to why she left lies within this journal?” Prince Geordo asked, his eyes focusing entirely on the first two words on the journal cover as if it would reveal its secrets to him if he stared hard enough at them.

Sophia gave a small shrug, her eyes staring down thoughtfully at the journal, gently running her fingers over the words with a strange expression on her face.

“I…I don’t know,” she said, her voice filled with uncertainty, “however, all I do know is that something inside of me is telling me that if we want to help Katarina, then we need to read whatever is inside this journal.”

Chapter Text

From a young age, Geordo had always had a knack for reading and predicting situations that were about to occur. However, to say he was expecting the series of vicissitudes to occur today would be a lie of the greatest order. Then again, attempting to predict anything Katarina Claes did was an impossible task in itself.

Katarina was the most unpredictable person Geordo had ever met in his entire life. Just when you thought you could understand and predict her actions, she’d barrel past all his expectations without so much as a hint as to why. He’d always found this aspect of her character both incredibly charming and frustrating.

Today was one of those times when he simply felt frustrated, since said unpredictable action involved her running away without so much as a hint as to the cause or her planning the action at all. At least, that’s what he’d first assumed.

Although he’d prided himself on his ability to read others, he always felt as though there was some sort of barrier between himself and Katarina. A barrier that, no matter how hard he pushed or shoved at it, he could never see through in an attempt to get a glimpse at her most inner thoughts and feelings.

It wasn’t like Katarina was actively trying to hide anything, or at least, that’s what it felt like to him. If anything, she was strangely open for a woman of her status, she wore her heart on her sleeve, and was far too genuine and expressive for her own good some days. 

Yet, there were these certain….moments. Moments when it felt like she was off in a completely different world with no hopes of ever being able to reach her. Moments when she became oddly pensive, her expression strangely guarded, almost panicked, and hard to read. Sometimes you could have a whole conversation in front of her, yet she could not recall a single word of it.

Geordo, to be honest, had never been concerned about these minor occurrences. He’d merely labeled it as one of his beloved fiancé’s strange yet endearing quirks, and left it at that. It was Katarina, after all, simple, cheerful, and frustratingly oblivious Katarina. Her skin was as thick as iron when it came to veiled insults, and she practically basked in the life she lived with a bright smile that never failed to warm his admittedly cold heart. Even if something was truly wrong, she would have told him, right?

Right?

It wasn’t until he had read her heartbreaking letter, until he had, rather grudgingly, listened to the words of Katarina’s previous kidnapper, that he finally understood how wrong he was in that regard. Because if she had been planning such a thing since she was nine-years-old, and so thoroughly too, then there was no way in Sorcier that she could have been as truly happy as he believed her to be.

To think he could fail so terribly as a fiancé that a complete and utter stranger, a dark mage and a former criminal at that, would have a better handle and more knowledge about the current situation was a complete and utter dereliction on his part. He’d never cursed his inability to properly read Katarina as much as he did in this very moment. As, despite still not knowing the entire situation, what once seemed unknown to him suddenly felt all so clear, in a bitterly ironic sort of way.

Down to her core, Katarina was truly selfless in a way that he could never fully understand. Despite the fact that she had spent all these years offering an ear and her warmth when they needed it, assisting them with their problems and saving them from their most horrifying inner thoughts, none of them had ever bothered to return the favor. They’d merely snatched away whatever she offered to them without so much as extending an offer for an equivalent exchange. And Katarina being, well, Katarina, hadn’t protested in the slightest to this gross neglect from them, silently accepting her smaller hand due to not wanting to burden any of them with whatever had been troubling her.

They’d all physically helped her, of course. The number of times they’d all volunteered to help her with her farm, her school work, or even simple noble etiquette was quite numerous indeed. Yet, none of them ever asked her if there was anything troubling her, never enquired as to how she was feeling or if she was truly doing okay after all that happened to her, too busy fighting with one another over who had the right to bask in her warmth.

 As a result of this and her infinite kindness and selflessness, she never made a single move to tell them, merely suffering in silence all alone with no one there to truly comfort her from whatever had secretly been bothering her all this time. Due to their self-inflicted ignorance, she had finally grown tired of silently suffering and had run off in search of peace, and none of them had a single clue as to why .

So when Sophia, Raphael, and Maria arrived with what appeared to be a book that held all the answers he was so desperately seeking, Geordo felt a sudden desperation fill him, compelling him to do away with all senses of decorum and read its contents. It was an invasion of privacy of the highest order, and that alone filled him with indescribable guilt due to feeling like he was betraying Katarina’s trust. But the sooner he got answers, the sooner he could figure out what was wrong so that he could plan the next course of action with regard to Katarina.

Geordo could live with Katarina hating or scorning him, however he couldn’t live with the thought of Katarina being heartbroken or upset if said invasion of privacy allowed for him to find a way to make her smile once more.

Even now, he severely missed seeing her usual carefree and happy smile. A smile that could light up even the most dark of places.To think such a smile could have potentially been hiding so much pain right under his nose…..

However, before they could crack it open, Keith insisted on making sure the Duke and Duchess were present as well, as apparently he’d promised to keep them in the loop in regards to the investigation. 

Although he could understand Keith’s logic, as Geordo was very much present when the group of them received a severe tongue lashing from the couple after word got out about Katarina’s kidnapping fiasco and their refusal to tell them about it. Yet Geordo still couldn’t stop his leg from anxiously bouncing while he waited for Keith to come back, his fingers impatiently tapping on his thigh as his gaze remained fixed on the guest room door. 

Thankfully, it had only taken him a few minutes to return with the two of them in tow. To say the sight of the current state they were in was alarming would be an under exaggeration.

Duke Claes’ posture was completely straight, almost unnaturally so. His expression was carefully controlled, as if he was attempting to hide how upset he truly was, despite his bloodshot eyes completely shattering the illusion of calmness he had carefully crafted around himself. Duchess Claes, on the other hand, made no such effort to do so, her expression uncharacteristically easy to read as she dabbed her tear filled eyes with her handkerchief in an attempt to make herself appear more presentable, purposely refusing to meet the eyes of anyone else in the room, as if she feared directly facing them due to the potential scorn they held for her due to her role in this unexpected yet horrible situation.

A part of Geordo genuinely wanted to treat Duchess Claes with the scorn she was clearly expecting from them, as her words had unfortunately acted as the quote unquote ‘final nail in the coffin’ that ultimately caused Katarina to run away. Yet, a part of him already understood that this situation was far more complicated than that, and as such, required a more careful and delicate approach.

If Katarina's diary, however, did end up revealing that Duchess Claes was the only true cause of this entire situation and caused Katarina to start planning to run away, well, Geordo would certainly be less kind about it.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Anne quickly moved from her place in the corner of the room, pulling out two chairs so that her master and mistress could join the small circle of lounges and chairs they had assembled while they waited for Keith to return.

“I suppose we should just get started, since everyone is now here,” Raphael said, an awkward smile appearing on his face as he took his seat, before motioning towards Sophia, who was sitting closer to the center of the circle, “Sophia, if you would be so kind?”

Sophia nodded, her nervous expression not shifting in the slightest as she fiddled with the large book in her lap, slowly cracking it open as though she feared it would turn around and bite her.

"I..I thought it was just a regular diary when I first opened it while we were searching Katarina’s room," Sophia began, turning the pages until she reached a certain point, "however, when I opened it, I noticed that all the entries made by Katarina don’t resemble a diary at all. If anything, it seems to be structured more like a recap of sorts. Like she was cataloging information away in an attempt to prevent herself from forgetting it."

Geordo felt his eyebrows furrowed in confusion, an expression that was instantly mirrored by the rest of the room.

"What do you mean by that, Sophia?" Nicol asked, reaching forward so he could give Sophia’s shoulder what appeared to be a comforting squeeze on the shoulder, a clear attempt by him to help her feel more comfortable.

Sophia remained quiet for a few minutes, as if silently contemplating what to say. However, before Geordo could grow any more impatient, she moved to speak once more.

"Well, although Katarina’s handwriting is hard to read on the best of days, let alone when she has scribbled the way she has here, for the most part I can read what she’s written here, and…." Sophia paused for a brief moment once more, biting her lip, "and what she’s written here is rather alarming."

With that, Sophia lowered the journal down onto the table, revealing to all of them what Katarina had written on the first page. 

Geordo felt like he had just short-circuited, his eyes tracing over the words frantically as his sharp mind tried to process what Katarina had written.

My name is Katarina Claes, daughter of Luigi and Miridiana Claes. However, before that, I was a seventeen-year-old Otaku chick from Japan. After hitting my head in the Royal Palace Garden, I recovered my past life’s memories and realized that I was reincarnated as the Villainess of the popular Otome game, Fortune Lover, and I’m on the verge of my doom!

"Reincarnation? I thought that sort of stuff was just a myth?" Alan asked, more so to himself than to anyone else, immediately turning his attention towards Geordo as though he expected him to just know the answer.

Geordo shook his head in an attempt to clear his thoughts, quietly going over his previous lessons from when he was younger in his head in search of answers.

According to his magic tutors, the existence of magical phenomena such as reincarnation was largely considered to be an area of abnormality and grossly understudied, hence it being considered more of a myth than a fact by those less focused on studying the more intricate parts of magic. His tutors had said that while it was something that could happen, it was extremely rare, and it was even rarer for said reincarnatees to gain their former memories, most often living completely oblivious to their past life. As such, the research done on it was very slim, as there was very little to study to begin with.

To think that Katarina was not only reincarnated, but actually remembered her former life was both incredibly fascinating and alarming as a revelation. Yet, it certainly went a long way to explain her apparent personality change she underwent after she’d hit her head. He would definitely be making sure that the rest of the Ministry did not receive word of this particular development, and considering the knowing look Raphael was currently giving him, he had a feeling he agreed with this notion as well. 

Seeing that most eyes had trained themselves on him while he was thinking, most likely wanting some more answers, Geordo quickly cleared his throat, before moving to explain.

"Alan is somewhat correct in his assumption. The majority of the magical community considers reincarnation to be nothing more than a myth due to the lack of study given to it," Geordo said, his gaze fixed on Katarina's journal as he spoke, "however, according to my tutors, reincarnation is most certainly real, just extremely rare and understudied. In fact, the exact statistics show that there is only a 0.01% chance of reincarnation occurring here in Sorcier, and a 0.000001% chance of the person gaining back previous memories in the event that it has occured."

Despite the mostly solemn mood of the room, Geordo did not miss the way Keith’s lip twitched up into a small sad looking smile.

“Of course, leave it to sister to somehow figure out a way to do the near impossible,” he said, getting small smiles out of the majority of the room.

Leave it to Katarina indeed.

“If Katarina really has been reincarnated, then it certainly explains a lot in regard to her behavior,” Mary said, her expression becoming more thoughtful, “why she acted more like a commoner than a noble sometimes. Perhaps she was a commoner in her previous life?”

There was a small murmur of agreement across the room.

"That would make sense. Come to think of it, it was only after she hit her head that she started to showcase a dislike for noble etiquette and a desire for the outdoors," Duke Claes said, turning briefly so he could look at his wife, "isn’t that right, Miri?"

Duchess Claes flinched slightly when the occupants of the room turned their attention to her, before slowly nodding.

"That is correct. Beforehand, she absolutely refused to go outdoors for fear of getting dirty unless given some form of incentive," she said softly, her nails tapping on her clothed thigh, "after she hit her head, however, you could barely keep her inside, she was so eager to run around in the dirt and muck."

“You all seem pretty quick to believe all of this,” Sora asked, giving everyone what appeared to be a curious but somewhat skeptical look, “how do you know she’s not making it all up? Imagination gone wild or something? She did hit her head after all.”

Mary let out a small scoff, waving off Sora’s statement with her hand.

“Katarina may have an overactive imagination sometimes, but she isn’t the type to openly lie, especially since she’s privately written this information down,” she said, her voice firm and leaving no room for debate, “and according to Prince Geordo, such a thing is possible, just rare. So why waste time discussing the legitimacy of it when we can focus on something more important?”

“Besides,” Raphael said, a thin smile appearing on his face, “there are certainly worse and far less believable ways for memories of another life to be transported across.”

The room went silent at that, the majority of them shifting uncomfortably at the small reminder of what had previously happened to Raphael. 

Now that he knew of Katarina’s current reincarnated status, he couldn’t help but wonder if that was why Katarina had always tried so hard to help Raphael and had such a soft spot for him after he’d hurt her. As despite the circumstances varying slightly, they both had experience with receiving memories that were not their own.

"But wait, what the hell is an Otaku?" Alan suddenly asked, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion as he leaned back in his chair, his arms crossed over his chest, "I mean, I don’t know what ‘Japan’ is either, but based on the way she phrased it, I’m assuming it’s the country or kingdom she’s from."

"I’ve never heard of a place called Japan either," Geordo admitted, turning his attention to Sora, who, from what he’d heard from Katarina, was the most well-traveled in the group, "I don’t suppose you know of it?"

Sora’s expression shifted for a moment, as if he was thinking, before he moved to shake his head.

"I don’t think so. Although, it could be one of the more eastern countries. I haven’t really traveled that way apart from when I was in Ethenell."

Geordo thought for a moment before slowly nodding in agreement.

Although Sorcier had close relations with the majority of the kingdoms surrounding its lands, there were still lands further out that Sorcier either had no direct relation to, or knew next to nothing about. So, in a way, it would make sense that this ‘Japan’ would fall out of their range if none of them were familiar with it.

Surprisingly, Sophia piped up next, her expression oddly thoughtful as she stared down at the journal.

"I think otaku may be a reference to a type of group of people from her previous country," she said, causing the majority of the room to turn their attention to her, "like some sort of subcategory that differs from their ethnicity."

"So like how we’re all separated into different social groups based on our ranks and titles?" Alan asked.

Sophia made an expression on her face that made it seem like she wanted to correct Alan but didn’t know why or how to. However, it was also at that moment that Raphael chose to clear his throat, causing the attention to shift back to him.

“I think we might be getting a little off track now. We’re supposed to be trying to find out why Katarina potentially ran away, not discussing what an otaku is,” he said, giving everyone what appeared to be a rather patient looking smile, before turning his attention to Sophia once more, “is there anything else of importance in the journal that may be relevant to her running away?”

Sophia’s expression shifted to a slightly more thoughtful one, her finger running over the final sentence in that first paragraph.

“Well, according to this page, Katarina claims to have been reincarnated as the villainess of Fortune Lover, a, um, otome game?” her eyebrows furrowed slightly in puzzlement, “I think I heard her mention something along those lines once before by accident when we were reading together. I remember she described it as some sort of pictured novel that allows for you to make choices that influence the story’s ending.”

Geordo felt his own expression furrow, not quite sure if he particularly believed that part.

Reincarnation was possible, he’d studied enough to at least know that with a great deal of certainty. But reincarnating into a fictional story where all of them were simply characters?

That honestly sounded a bit too fantastical to be true. Katarina was capable of doing impossible things; she'd more than once proved that, but even he believed she was not capable of doing something as unbelievable as that.

Alan appeared to share his thoughts on the matter, as he immediately made a move to express his disbelief.

“Yeah, look, I don’t doubt that she was reincarnated or whatever, but her believing that we’re all characters in this Fortune Lover otome thingy and she’s some sort of villainess?” Alan gave a confused shrug of his shoulders, “I don’t know how to feel about that.”

“It..it does sound quite whimsical,” Mary said, her expression somewhat uncertain as her hand came up to push back her bangs, “not that I think Katarina is lying, it’s just…strange.”

“I didn’t quite believe it at first either,” Sophia said, before moving to turn to another page within the journal, “however, I believe these next few pages more than prove it to be nothing more than the truth.”

Geordo leaned forward slightly in order to get a better look, only to feel as though he had been hit over the head with a mallet.

Because there, staring at him from the seemingly innocent journal, was a quite remarkable sketch of him, with a scribbled heading of ‘character description!’

There were sketches of all of them, all incredibly detailed, as if she’d made her absolute best effort to capture them from memory alone. They all appeared to be separated into categories, with Keith, Nicol, Alan, and himself falling under a heading labeled ‘capture targets,’ and Mary and Sophia under a heading labeled ‘rival characters.’ However, there were two particular character portraits that caught his attention, both of which were side-by-side, as if Katarina had been attempting some sort of mirror effect in order to reflect their duality.

The first character portrait was of Maria, with an almost heavenly hand-drawn background surrounding her with the heading ‘Heroine!’ The second one, however, was of Katarina. But rather than surround herself with any of the beautiful imagery she had used for them and Maria, Katarina had instead chosen to surround herself with small black flags with the word doom written on them and rather dark imagery, the heading of ‘villainess,’ sinking into Geordo’s brain like some sort of brand.

The thought of Katarina thinking of herself in such a way, regardless of whether there was any truth to it or not, made Geordo’s skin crawl. He’d heard her refer to herself as a villainess before, but he’d always assumed it was more tongue in cheek than actual seriousness. To think she genuinely thought of herself as a villainess...

"There’s more," Sophia quickly said, continuing to turn the page until she’d reached another page, "by the looks of it, she’s written small character bios for all of us. Due to some of the inconsistencies I spotted, it appears to be based on her knowledge of this ‘Fortune Lover’ story."

Geordo leaned forward once more in an attempt to read his own profile, his eyes blinking rapidly as he took it in.

Prince Geordo Stuart, the third prince of Sorcier, is the first of the many capture targets of Fortune Lover. Although he looks like a prince out of a fairy tale, his personality is twisted and scheming. He is a genius who can do anything. He has no particular interests and is bored with his everyday life.

As much as Geordo wanted to be offended at such a description, he knew all too well just how accurate it was. Besides, it wasn’t like he particularly hid this part of himself when amongst close friends and family. He only ever really doned the mask of the ‘perfect prince’ when he wanted something from someone. But still, having it pointed out to him in such a way was kind of strange and unnerving-

"Playboy!? What does she mean by becoming a playboy!?" Keith yelled out of nowhere, his face flushed red as he practically launched himself back into his chair as though he was attempting to escape from whatever was written about him.

Now feeling curious, Geordo immediately went to peek at Keith’s character bio, only to let out a small snort upon catching a glance at the last bit.

As if to fill the loneliness within him, Keith grew up to be quite the playboy, and played around with the hearts of many women.

“I didn’t know you had it in you, Keith,” Geordo said with a small smirk, more than happy to take advantage of his most fiercest rival’s flustered state.

Keith’s eyes narrowed at him, leaning forward once more so he could glare more fiercely at him.

"I do not have that in me, I cannot even speak to flirtily behaving women without growing flustered! I have no idea why Sister would believe me to be capable of such a thing," he said, pausing briefly with a contemplative expression on his face, "although that alone would go a long way to explain her... reaction to certain things I do or say."

Geordo felt his eyes narrow slightly at that, however before he could move to question him further, Nicol quickly piped up.

“Despite the minor inconsistencies, these character bios are alarmingly accurate,” Nicol said, turning to Sophia with an inquisitive look, “ as are the portraits she’s drawn. Are you sure she did not write any of this after she first met us rather than having knowledge due to this ‘otome game’ she believes us to be a part of?”

Sophia nodded, her expression uncharacteristically firm as she stared back at him.

“Yes, I’m quite sure. Here, look at this,” Sophia then pointed towards Katarina’s handwriting, “Katarina only stopped using this loop on her f’s when we all turned ten, so since her handwriting here has it, she would have to have at least written this before then.“

“Wait, that means that she would not have known me at the time she wrote any of this,” Maria said softly, her expression becoming completely shocked as she stared down at her own character bio, her finger gently running over the word ‘heroine’ that Katarina had written there to describe her, “so either Katarina has been getting visions of the future, or-“

“Or she really has been reincarnated into a fictional story, where all of us are characters,” Geordo finished, his mind reeling at the thought.

It was rather unsettling to think about. To think about how the very world he lived in was fictional somewhere else. Although….

Geordo immediately returned his gaze to the journal, his eyes scanning for Katarina’s character bio. As soon as he found it, he felt as though his heart had shriveled up and died.

Katarina Claes is the villainess of Fortune Lover, acting as the main antagonist towards Maria in both Keith and Prince Geordo’s route. Due to receiving a scar on her forehead, she forces the prince to become engaged to her, making herself his fiancé as compensation and considers the prince to be hers. She is very selfish and spoiled and vile by nature, bullying Maria Campbell and leading the charge in harassing her. In Fortune Lover, Prince Geordo has 0 love for Katarina and mainly uses her to avoid having other women trying to gain his attention. Katarina herself is very much in love with him and would do anything to protect her position as his fiancée. She does not realize that Geordo doesn't hold any feelings for her because she cannot see through his princely façade and thinks that his politeness stems from affection instead of obligation.

"She... she doesn’t truly believe herself to be a villainess, right?" Mary asked, her voice quiet and hesitant as she too darted her eyes over Katarina’s bio with a solemn look, "I mean, she is the nicest person I’ve ever met, so surely she knows she’s nothing like this character?"

"As horrible as it sounds," Alan began, slouching in his chair and running a hand through his silver locks, "it explains why she's always talking down about herself, why she couldn't spot our feelings for her despite how obvious it was. She must think things are the same as they were in the story."

Everyone else remained silent, as though they were trying to process the thought of Katarina, of all people, thinking of herself as some sort of villainess. It sounded laughable to make someone as kind and genuine as Katarina the antagonist of any story. She was always willing to help without regard for her own safety or needs.

How could a person like that be spoiled or vile? How could a person like that possibly be a villainess?

Although the girl he had met before Katarina had hit her head did seem like she could turn into such a person, the Katarina he knew today was nothing like her, not anymore. She was her own person, completely separate from this villainess who shared the same name, just as they all were somewhat different from their own counterparts.

Was that the true reason why she ran away? Because she felt that she was some sort of evil villainess who did not deserve to live the life she did?

At this very moment, Geordo wanted nothing more than to find this so-called author of Fortune Lover who painted her this way and throw them in the darkest dungeon in the kingdom. That way, they could not put such thoughts in her head anymore.

"So if we were never meant to fall in love with Katarina, who were we supposed to fall in love with according to this story?" Geordo asked before he could stop himself, turning his attention to Maria, "I assume it would be you, as Katarina claims that you are the supposed heroine of this tale?"

Maria’s face immediately flushed, only reddening further when the rest of the room also turned her attention towards her with contemplative expressions appearing on their faces as they scanned her up and down.

“I-I’m flattered, but I don’t-I mean no offense but-” Maria let out a small squeak, her hands coming upt to cover her face as she attempted to calm herself enough to continue speaking without stuttering, “I cannot speak for my apparent counterpart, but I have no such feelings towards any of you beyond friendship!” 

Majority of the room murmured their agreement, reassuring her that none of them had any such feelings towards her as well. Geordo however, had focused his gaze solely on Sophia once more, who had developed a rather nervous expression on her face, anxiously biting her lip once more as she kept her gaze down to the floor.

Geordo may not have known her as well as he knew Nicol, but he’d still essentially grown up with her visiting the castle along with her brother. As such, he could clearly recognise the signs of her purposely hiding something.

Geordo turned his attention back to the journal, moving to turn back to the first page Sophia showed them in an attempt to confirm something while everyone else was distracted. Once he turned to the page he was looking for, he carefully scanned the words they had all first read, the final sentence immediately catching his attention.

“Sophia, what exactly does Katarina mean when she says she’s on the verge of doom?” Geordo asked, turning his attention back to her once more, his eyes narrowed slightly, “is there any more information in here that you are withholding from us?”

Sophia flinched, her eyes slowly lifting from the floor as everyone fell silent, all turning their attention to her once more. Seeing her hesitation, Nicol shuffled closer to her in his seat, gently reaching over so he could place his arm around her.

"Sophia, if you believe it to be important, then you’ll need to tell us as best as you can," he said, giving her a gentle imploring look.

Sophia fidgeted slightly, her gaze traveling between Geordo and Keith for a brief moment before turning her attention back to the journal with a forlorn expression.

"I would like to first start off by stating that I know that this would never truly happen," she said, her voice so soft that he had to strain to hear her, "but, it’s the only thing that I can think of that she’s written down other than her status as the villainess that could cause her to plan to runaway."

With that, Sophia leaned forward, snatching the journal up off the table, quickly turning through it until she reached the page she was clearly looking for. However, she strangely made no move to show it to them all, merely palling slightly at whatever she’d seen before turning to face them once more.

"Do you all remember how I said this ‘Otome Game’ thing has multiple endings for different characters?" she asked, getting a small nod from everyone in the room, "the thing is, the endings available for Katarina’s character are... less than stellar to say the least."

Geordo felt his eyes narrow, an expression that was mirrored by the rest of the room.

“What do you mean by that?”

Sophia’s fingers began to tremble slightly, as if what she was about to say was something that brought great pain or fear to her.

“The only routes that actually give her an ending are yours and Keith’s,” she said, making a point not to meet either of their eyes, “and none of them are very good for Katarina.”

Geordo shared a brief glance with Keith, who looked incredibly wary and nervous at whatever Sophia was about to reveal to them. Due to his nerves, Geordo could feel his own hairs standing up on the back of his neck, as a part of him became direly tempted to tell Sophia to close the journal and be done with it all.

But Geordo knew he couldn’t do that if he wanted to find out why Katarina ran away, so rather than back down, he merely swallowed his nerves, before motioning towards Sophia in an attempt to encourage her to continue.

He needed to know far more than he needed not to.

Sophia gave him a small nod, before clearing her throat.

“Well, according to what Katarina’s written down here, in the good ending for both of you, Katarina is put on trial for her bullying towards Maria,” she said, shuffling uncomfortably in her seat as if the words felt strange to her, “as a result, Katarina is stripped of her noble title for her criminal activity and is exiled from the kingdom of Sorcier.”

Geordo felt his eyebrows furrow once more, an indignant feeling filling him at the mere thought that he’d do something so horrible to Katarina. Keith seemed to share the same sentiment as him, as he immediately let out an angry huff, moving to stand so that he could say something in his own defense.

“I would never do something like that! Besides, the act of bullying is hardly worth such a steep punishment-“

“Wait, Keith, doesn’t that sound oddly similar to the time when Katarina was put on blast by those noble ladies?” Alan asked, his eyes flooding with realization as if something had only just occurred to him, “jeez, no wonder she looked so scared that day, she really thought she was going to get exiled then and there!”

Raphael flinched slightly, causing Sora to give him and the rest of the room confused looks, while everyone else began to murmur in agreement with him.

Come to think of it, Katarina had looked absolutely terrified that day, despite the evidence against her being seriously lacking. It had puzzled him at the time, as he had wondered why she would be so scared despite knowing she was innocent and had many powerful friends and allies to back her up. Even when they’d all walked into the room, she still looked frightened, as if the thought of them being there to rescue her hadn’t even occurred to her.

She didn’t think they were there to help her at the time; she thought they were all there to condemn her. And now that he knew more about the way she viewed herself, he really wished he’d put more effort into complimenting her character that day, rather than embarrassing her in front of the whole cafeteria by calling her too simple to come up with such elaborate schemes.

If her meticulously planned runaway attempt proved anything, it was that Katarina was far cleverer than he’d ever given her credit for, and for that he felt completely and utterly ashamed.

However, based on the look on Sophia’s face, he had a distinct feeling that there was far worse to come. If what she’d just told them was only the events of the good ending then-

“What happens in the bad ending, Sophia?” Keith asked, an oddly hopeful yet dejected look appearing in his eyes as he glanced briefly at him, “according to Mary’s ending, she ends up with Prince Alan. If Katarina is the rival in Prince Geordo’s route, does she-“

Sophia shook her head, immediately crushing any hope either Keith or himself had of Katarina getting anything even remotely close to a happy ending.

“No, whoever wrote this wretched story couldn’t even give her the decency of having a happy ending,” Sophia said, her voice oddly angry as she stared down at whatever was written, “in fact, it’s somehow worse than her fate in the good ending.”

Everyone in the room traded wary looks before slowly turning their attention back to Sophia.

Sophia shook her head, as if attempting to shake off the strange rage that had filled her, before moving to speak once more.

“In the bad ending, Katarina attacks the heroine, for varying reasons depending on which route it is,” she said, her eyes slowly beginning to water, “as a result, in an attempt to protect the heroine from Katarina’s rage, both Prince Geordo and Keith-they both-they-“

Sophia’s shoulder began to shake, her hand coming up to cover her mouth as if she was attempting to prevent herself from sobbing. Nicol quickly made a move to comfort her, gently shushing her as he rubbed her back in a comforting manner.

“It’s alright, Sophia. Take deep breaths.”

Sophia did as her older brother commanded, her chest heaving slightly in time with her breaths as she attempted to calm herself down. Once she was calm enough to speak once more, she moved to reveal to them what had transpired in the bad ending.  

“In the bad endings, Keith and Prince Geordo kill Katarina to keep the heroine safe,” she said, her voice still shaking slightly as she stared at the two of them with watery eyes, “in Prince Geordo’s ending, he runs her through with his sword, but in Keith’s he crushes her to death with one of his Earth golems, both of them disappearing afterwards never to be seen again.”

Geordo felt his whole body freeze. It was as if he'd been submerged underwater, as the startled gasps and shrieks echoing around the room began to drown out as his mind began filling with a distinct ringing noise. Geordo couldn’t focus, couldn’t think straight, couldn’t even begin to understand.

In another timeline, another world, a future that could have so easily come to pass if Katarina had never injured herself, he had……he had.... the woman he loved with his whole heart and had sworn to always protect..... he had....

He had killed her.

Geordo fought off the urge to gag, quickly standing from his chair, the force of the movement causing the chair to launch itself to the ground. Geordo ignored the way everyone turned their attention to him, quickly rushing to move himself out of the room so he could attempt to breathe again.

Ignoring all calls for him to come back, Geordo ran his way through the corridors of the Claes Manor, relying on his excellent memory to guide him outside to the one place that always brought him true solace.

Katarina’s farm. Or at least, what was left of it.

It truly did look ransacked, with vegetables and fruit here and there having been roughly pulled out, as if whoever had done it had been in a hurry to do so. Regardless of its rugged state, Geordo nonetheless made his way over to it, falling to his knees so that he could relinquish the contents of his stomach onto the dirt just next to it.

The thought of him hurting her, of him killing her, had been enough to make him feel seriously ill, so ill that he had to physically clutch his stomach after a while in an attempt to fight off the nausea. However, he could still feel bile tickling the bottom of his throat, as if waiting for a moment of weakness on his part so that he could begin throwing up once more.

Geordo took a shaky breath, his hands coming up to cup his sweaty cheeks as he fell back from his kneeling position and straight onto his bum. He could feel his entire body shaking, as if he had caught a violent chill. However, fire mages did not get chills, so he knew that it was not the cold that caused him to shake as he did.

Geordo thought back on all his interactions with Katarina, cursing himself at every turn.

He’d always seen the way she would flinch slightly whenever he got too close to her without warning, the way she would nervously glance at his sword every now and then when she thought he wasn’t looking. Even after he’d confessed his feelings to her, she’d retained this behavior, as if, regardless of their closeness, she was still somewhat wary of him.

He’d thought nothing of it, simply thought she was just being shy due to his affections or later because of his known feelings for her. Had that truly been the case, or had he been unintentionally scaring her this whole time with his advances?

Whenever he teased her, or dolled affection on her, or even whispered sweet nothings in her ear in order for him to see her charming blush, had she been frightened the entire time? Had he mistaken her fear for flusterment? All those times she asked for him to end their engagement, had she been asking because she did not see his feelings or because she no longer wished to live in fear of him potentially hurting her anymore?

Geordo gritted his teeth, reaching inside his jacket to grab what could only be described as his greatest treasure. However, now, the sight of it only makes him feel hollow.

The old, terribly crude wooden snake in his hand had been the very first of the ones she had thrown at him. He’d originally only kept it so that he could use it in order to convince Katarina to do anything he wanted her to do out of guilt. However, he’d surprisingly become fond of the ugly thing over the years. It looked less lifelike than all the other snakes she had made with the purpose of throwing at him, so he no longer felt fear at the sight of it. If anything, the sight of it had made his heart feel warm, as it had served as a reminder that Katarina had at least been thinking of him when she made it, somewhat.

Now however, the sight of it only served as a reminder of how afraid she must have been of him at the time she made it. Why else would she work so hard to make a fake snake look so lifelike if it was not for the sake of preserving her life one day if he chose to one day attack her with his blade?

The actions of his counterpart, his choice to toss away his fiancé for someone else and to then get rid of them when they became a nuisance, it didn’t feel like him in the slightest. If anything, it felt like something he would do.

How satirical that a version of himself became like his wretched and promiscuous grandfather, despite all his hard work and attempts at becoming the exact opposite.

Geordo tightened his grip on the toy snake, clutching it to his chest as he felt tears begin to prickle in his eyes. Geordo leaned forward, squeezing his eyes tightly shut in an attempt to keep his tears at bay as he moved to bang his fist against the ground, cursing himself between every hit.

Perhaps if he screamed loud enough, his wretched counterpart would be able to hear him from whatever pit of hell he was currently resting in. Because there was no way the Claes family would ever let him live after what he’d done to their precious daughter, and he deserved whatever horrible fate was coming for him.

As did he, for failing to notice any of this in the first place.

“You wretched whelp!” 

Hit.

“Filthy imbecile!”

Hit.

“You swore to be by her side and protect her when you became her fiancé, did that mean nothing to you!?”

Hit.

“Do you have no honor!?”

Hit.

“You could have done anything else to prevent the woman you love from getting hurt, you so-called genius. So why’d you have to kill her!?”

Hit. Geordo chose to ignore the way his fist had begun to sting, as blood slowly began to prickle out of the small cuts he had opened on his knuckles.

“It’s your fault she’s gone!”

Hit.

“If you weren’t so terrible, she’d still be here!”

Hit.

“If you’d bothered to pay attention to her like she deserved, she wouldn’t be living in fear of me, now would she!?”

Hit.

“If you’d behaved as you were supposed to, she wouldn’t have to craft fake snakes in case I decided to hurt her!”

Hit.

“If you’d hadn’t been such a coward, she wouldn’t have had to run away now would she?!”

Hit.

“It’s all your fault!”

Hit.

“IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!”

Hit.

“It’s…..” Geordo paused, breathing heavily as his fist hovered above the ground before he collapsed into a heap, tears leaking out of his eyes as he pressed his face down into the dirt, curling up on himself as he silently wept, “it’s all my fault.”

Because if he had ever bothered to look close enough, he would have seen the signs. He would have. But he chose not to, and now he was paying the price for it.

It was all his fault. Now he didn’t know how to fix this.

“You know, if you wanted to pick a fight with the ground, you should have just come and gotten me. I could have made some golems for you,” a familiar voice called.

Geordo quickly wiped his face in an attempt to hide his tears, before turning to face the one who had spoken, clutching his bleeding fist close to his chest along with the toy snake.

Despite his current mood, he couldn’t help but twitch his lip up into a small smile at the sight of him.

“I never thought I’d see the day when you of all people came out to comfort me, Keith,” he said, tiredly staring up at his fiercest rival, “the world really has gone out of sorts, hasn’t it?”

Keith gave him a tired smile in response, walking over so that he could sit down beside him in the dirt, bringing his arm up around his knees.

“Nicol wanted to come out and talk to you, but I figured it would be best if I came out instead. After all-“ Keith paused, flinching slightly before turning to face him once more, “we seem to have one terrible thing in common at the moment.”

Geordo flinched as well, returning his gaze back down to the bloodied dirt as he clutched his fist tighter.

The two of them sat in an almost solemn-feeling silence, until Keith was surprisingly the first person to speak.

“Do you want to know something ironic?” Keith asked, a bitter looking smile appearing on his face, “the bad ending that happened to Sister in my route, it actually already happened. Technically.”

Geordo’s head whipped towards Keith, his eyes filled with both suprise and the slightest bit of anger at the revelation.

“What do you-“

“I was only nine at the time when it happened,” Keith quickly said, cutting Geordo off before he could enquire further, “my magic was quite….out of control at that age. So after Sister pleaded with me to show her my magic, I did so without question. Only…..”

Keith closed his eyes, leaning forward so he could lean his head on his knees as he began to slightly shake.

“Only, I ended up hurting her. My golem all but stomped her to death but-“ Keith’s bottom lip trembled slightly, “but despite that she still reached out to me, still ran to my room with a long handled axe in her hand so that she could break down my door and comfort me.”

Keith opened his eyes once more, turning to face him with tears in his eyes.

“I still don’t understand why she did that. Especially knowing what I know now, she should have run away from me the moment that it happened! But, she still stayed,” Keith said, his voice sounding more like a whisper, “she still stayed, she still stayed by both our sides for years despite knowing the potential consequences. Even now that she’s left, she’s only done so after the time period in which said terrible events were meant to occur.”

Geordo regarded Keith silently for a moment, before letting out a small sigh.

Truthfully speaking, he had no idea that such a thing had occurred between Katarina and Keith when they were younger. He hadn’t even known that Katarina had been hurt at some point. It made him feel all the more guilty for never having enquired.

It also shone a new light on Keith’s relationship with Katarina for him. At first, he hadn’t quite understood why he was so clingy with her; he merely dismissed it as a direct result of his romantic feelings for her. So, learning that Katarina was the first person to accept him despite having been hurt by him made him feel as though he’d gained a better understanding of his rival.

“I feel as though the answer to your question is rather obvious, as cliche as it sounds,” Geordo told him, his eyes drifting down to the toy snake he was holding in his bloodied hand, “Katarina stayed because, despite fearing us and what we’d potentially do to her, she still cared for us deeply. It may not be the care we so desired, but she cared for us regardless.”

Keith turned to face him completely, while Geordo merely tightened his grip on the toy snake.

"If today has taught me anything, it is that I have been undeniably selfish when it comes to Katarina," Geordo sighed, "that we have all been quite selfish in regard to her, and I, for one, no longer wish to stand for such a thing."

With that Geordo climbed to his feet, Keith hastily following as Geordo turned his attention back to Katarina’s farm.

“I do not want to become that selfish creature who shares my name in that wretched Fortune Lover,” Geordo said firmly, holding onto the toy snake as though he were a holy man making a solemn prayer, “therefore, when we find Katarina, I will fall on my knees and reassure her that I would never raise my hand at her or bring her harm. I will tell her as many times as I need to that she is not and has never been a villainess, that she is the single most amazing and selfless person to ever inhabit this kingdom, and then-“

Geordo swallowed thickly, it felt as though the next words he was about to say were bile. However, he knew deep down that this was the only way he could atone for his sins, both in this life and another.

“Then I’ll let her choose, I refuse to attempt to make any more decisions for her anymore,” he said, tightly squeezing his eyes shut so that he would not have to see the shocked look on Keith’s face, “I will lay it all at her feet, and then I will let her choose where she wishes to be in this world from here on out. If she wishes to return home with us, my heart would weep with joy. However, if she wishes to live her life somewhere else away from us, then that is her decision to make.”

There were a few moments of silence. Geordo could practically feel Keith’s disbelieving gaze despite his eyes still remaining closed.

“That’s…you know that at least some of the others will protest that course of action, right?” Keith said, his voice oddly hesitant but not disagreeing, “I know mother and father certainly will-“

"They can protest as much as they like for all I care," Geordo said, opening his eyes, a determined spark appearing briefly as he spoke, "because at the end of the day, Katarina is the one that matters most to me, and I refuse to fail at putting her first like I have done previously ever again. If her living her life peacefully as a farmer in some distant land away from us is what she wants, then so be it. I will happily fight the others for all of eternity if it means seeing Katarina truly happy."

Besides, it wasn’t like this would be the first time he had fought a seemingly impossible and lonesome battle with all of his friends for the sake of Katarina. This time, however, at least he knew it would have some meaning beyond his selfish desire to become Katarina’s husband.

He refused to fail Katarina. Not again, never again. He’d start a war with the Duke and Duchess all on his own if that was what it took to make her smile again.

Keith stared at him silently for a few more minutes, his expression oddly blank as he took in Geordo’s words. Keith’s eyes then hardened, his posture straightening as he reached a hand forward, his hand coming up to clutch the toy snake along with Geordo.

“In that case, I never thought I would ever say this, but I will do everything in my power to help you with that goal,” Keith said, giving him a stern nod, “for Katarina.”

Geordo gave him a surprised look. In all his years of knowing him, he had never seen Keith offer to help him before. Perhaps that just showcased how important this was to him, how important Katarina was to him.

Geordo returned his nod, giving Keith’s hand a strong shake to seal their temporary alliance with one another.

“For Katarina.”

Chapter Text

After about two hours or so of walking, Katarina found that she was quite glad to have agreed to let Cezar accompany her, as his way of filling the dreary silence of traveling she had not yet grown accustomed to had lifted her spirits immensely.

Although he seemed to be a really private person, Katarina genuinely liked Cezar. He was actually kind of funny, and kind of reminded her of her eldest brother from her previous life, at least in the way he looked out for and teased her while they were walking, as nostalgic as that thought was. He also seemed to have a whole lot of traveling experience compared to her, if the many different stories he’d told her while they walked proved anything. 

Despite all the small stories he’d shared with her of his travels, Katarina still couldn’t figure out what Cezar actually did for a living. But still, she couldn’t help but be curious about what sort of occupation would require him to not only travel so much, but carry a weapon on his person while he did so.

He had been in the middle of telling her a funny story about how he had gotten lost in some city in Ethenell and had somehow found his way into a brothel when the two of them stumbled into the first of the many towns on the way to Dewsbury.

While walking through Katarina’s stomach had unfortunately ended up growling loudly as the two of them passed a cute-looking cafe, the smell of freshly cooked ham instantly making Katarina hungry again. Katarina had initially been embarrassed by the whole thing, and tried to reassure Cezar that she was perfectly fine to continue. Even so, he merely let out a small laugh, before deciding that the two of them should stop for a quick bite to eat before continuing on to travel until later in the day.

Katarina had, of course, offered to pay for the meal or even go halvsies with him on it, as she was the reason they had to stop in the first place. But Cezar had waved her offer off, sliding the money to the server for their table before she could stop him.

The two of them had ended up requesting an outside table, so Katarina could still keep Pochi by her side, as she didn’t want to leave him alone outside, nor did she particularly feel like unsummoning him just yet. Pochi was currently sitting calmly in her lap, making no moves to steal her food due to his nature as a familiar not requiring him to eat. 

Not wanting her new friend to spend too much money on her, Katarina had looked for the cheapest items on the menu, a regular ham and salad sandwich with a simple glass of cold water. Cezar had given her an amused look when she told him what she wanted, most likely being able to tell exactly what she was doing, before ordering the same thing as her.

When food had arrived, Katarina let out a happy-sounding hum, eagerly lifting the delicious looking ham sandwich off her plate, before taking a large bite out of it. A small bit of ham, lettuce, and sauce spilled out as she ate, the sauce drizzling out of her mouth and down her chin, yet Katarina was enjoying it far too much to truly notice or care.

In her past life, she'd mostly been used to using chopsticks or even her hands for eating meals, making the use of regular cutlery a rather large challenge for her that required a large amount of adjustment on her part. So Katarina was grateful to be able to use her hands for once, not that noble etiquette had ever really stopped her before.

Whilst in the middle of chewing, Katarina looked up from her sandwich, her cheeks flushing slightly when she noticed Cezar was currently staring at her from across the table, his chin resting in his hand as he looked at her in complete amusement. His own sandwich remained completely untouched, as if watching her eat had completely distracted him from eating himself.

“I take it that you are enjoying it?” he asked, his voice teasing as he gave her another half-grin. 

Katarina’s cheeks flushed further, quickly swallowing before placing her sandwich back down, her hand grabbing her napkin so she could start dabbing some of the sauce off her chin that had leaked out of her sandwich.

“Sorry, I must have been more hungry than I thought,” Katarina said in an apologetic tone, giving Cezar a sheepish smile, her hand coming up so she could awkwardly scratch her still flushed cheek, “however, if I’m making you uncomfortable, I can try to eat more slowly-”

Cezar let out another laugh, waving his hand dismissively at her as he lifted his head out of his chin, leaning completely back in his seat to the point where she feared he might accidently topple it over.

"Do I appear to be the type of man who cares about such things?" he asked, the corner of his lips twitching into a slightly wider smile as he gave her another amused look, "eat however you want to; I don't really care."

Katarina gave him a somewhat hesitant look, causing him to nod his head towards her sandwich, as if he was silently encouraging her to resume eating. Cezar then turned his attention away from her, picking up his own sandwich and moving to take a bite out of it.

Katarina resumed eating her sandwich. However, she couldn’t help but self-consciously look up at him every now and then, just in case he had resumed amusedly staring at her while she ate. 

Thankfully, he seemed rather distracted now, eating his own sandwich without sparing her another glance, but whether that was because he was genuinely hungry or because he’d noticed how sheepish she’d gotten when she'd noticed him staring at her, Katarina couldn’t quite tell. 

It almost made her wish that Prince Geordo was here, as much as the thought saddened her to think about. He'd always been amazing when it came to reading people. 

Despite her mind advising her against it, she couldn’t help but wonder what he and everyone else were doing right now. Last time she’d spoken to everyone, they’d all told her that they’d be rather busy today. 

Prince Geordo was supposed to be attending brunch with the king and some business associates, Prince Alan and Mary were hosting a recital in the Hunt family gardens, and both Sophia and Maria were planning on visiting the Ministry with Nicol while he did some work under his father. Not to mention Raphael and Sora, who were probably already hard at work at this very moment. Keith hadn’t mentioned having any plans for today, but she was quite certain that her mother would be more than happy to take advantage of one of Keith’s rare days off so that the two of them could have tea together out in the outside garden like they usually did.

Katarina wouldn’t even be surprised if they were all so busy that they didn’t even notice her absence at all, as horrible as such a thought was.

Katarina placed the last piece of her sandwich back on her plate, no longer feeling hungry due to her dulling mood. Her expression must have given such a thing away, as she distinctly heard Cezar let out a sigh from across from her. He then leaned forward, reaching a hand out so he could gently pinch her cheek. Katarina immediately turned her attention back to him, only to find him staring at her the same way he did when he had first found her asleep earlier today.

“Such a melancholic expression has no place on a face as cheerful as yours," he said, pulling his hand back so he could rest his head in his palm as he gave her an inquisitive look, "whatever thoughts are currently running through your head must be quite dreary to cause such an expression to appear."

Katarina felt her eyes widen in surprise at how good he was at reading her once again. However, not wanting him to worry about her once more, she quickly shook her head, clearing her thoughts, as she hastily plastered a smile on her face once more.

“I was just thinking about silly things, that’s all. Don’t worry about it,” she said, waving her hand dismissively at him as her mind anxiously looked for a way to quickly change the subject. 

Her eyes were immediately drawn to Cezar’s shortsword on his belt once more, giving her an idea as to what to ask in order to bring both of their minds away from the depressing subject of Katarina's thoughts.

“Anyway, if you don’t mind me asking this, what exactly do you do for work?” Katarina asked, leaning forward slightly so she could get a better look at the sword, “I mean, I know whatever it is requires you to travel a lot, and I assume you carry the sword for protection. Are you some sort of merchant or something?”

Cezar stared at her silently for a minute, as if contemplating what to say, before leaning back in his chair once more with an almost lazy grin.

“I suppose a merchant isn't that far off the mark," he said, his fingers moving to tap on the edge of the table in an almost casual fashion, "I’m a mercenary."

Katarina blinked, her face scrunching slightly in confusion at the unfamiliar word.

“A mercy-what now?”

Cezar let out an amused-sounding huff.

“I always forget how peaceful Sorcier is compared to my own country, as well as the many others I’ve traveled to. I suppose that is the advantage of having both magic and a consistently standing army at hand,” he said in a slightly disbelieving tone, shaking his head before giving her another smile, “in simple terms, a mercenary is essentially a soldier for hire.”

“A soldier for hire?” Katarina asked, tilting her head at the concept.

Cezar nodded, his hand lowering down so he could absentmindedly run his fingers over his sword handle.

"Yes, as part of my work, I travel to many places all around the world, and if someone in the area I am in just so happens to need extra muscle to keep them safe, or another soldier on hand to protect something precious-" Cezar gave a carefree shrug of his shoulders, his lazy grin from earlier immediately reappearing on his face, "I simply offer my services and get paid to fulfill that task."

Katarina’s eyes widened slightly at that, her mind rushing to process what he had just told her.

Cezar seemed to mistake her silence for something else, as his smile shifted slightly to an expression Katarina couldn’t quite figure out, his hand lifting from the handle of his sword as he leaned a bit more forward in his seat.

"Sorry, I suppose an occupation like that would be quite shocking to someone like you," he said, shifting his gaze to the side and bringing one of his hands up to run it through his hair. "If it makes you uncomfortable, I will not discuss my work any further-"

"So cool..." Katarina said softly, her eyes sparkling as she looked up at him in complete and utter awe.

Cezar turned his gaze back to her, his eyebrows raising as he gave her a puzzled look, as if he couldn’t quite understand what she’d just said.

"What was that?"

Katarina grinned at him, as she all but stood from her chair, nearly knocking poor Pochi off her lap as she excitedly slammed her hands down on the table between them without regard to the attention such an action could attract. 

"I said that you’re really cool, Cezar!" she said, leaning forward so she could give him an amazed look, "I mean, if people pay you to fight for them, then you must be really strong, right? Not to mention all the traveling you get to do. You’re like some sort of land pirate or something!"

Katarina quickly leaned back after that, plopping herself back in her seat with a sheepish smile and a wince when she realized how many people were staring at the two of them thanks to her sudden actions. However, despite her embarrassment, she gave a surprisingly shocked looking Cezar another bright smile.

“I’m sorry for rambling so much,” Katarina said, her tone becoming somewhat sheepish, “I just find it all so exciting, that’s all. You really are amazing.”

Cezar stared at her for a few more minutes in complete and utter silence, causing Katarina to shuffle a little in her seat, worried that she might have unintentionally made him feel uncomfortable. However, thankfully, he then let out a loud, carefree sounding laugh, his shoulders shaking as he grinned at her once more.

"You…you really are quite disarmingly charming, aren’t you? I genuinely do not know how to react," he said, letting out one more huff of laughter, grinning at her once more, his hand moving to rest on his chest, "you should be careful what you say to me next. If you don’t watch your words, you might accidentally steal my heart."

Katarina felt her cheeks instinctively flush, hastily moving to take a sip from her cup in an attempt to hide her red cheeks. 

She’d received compliments before, mostly from her close friends and father, but there was something so... touching about hearing such kind words from a relative stranger. Even if she personally felt that she had no more charm than a snail attempting to crawl its way out of a paper bag. It was still nice to hear.

Cezar let out another laugh at her clear embarrassment, reaching a hand forward so he could ruffle her hair.

"I’m just teasing, please don’t work yourself too hard over it," he said, a small playful lilt appearing in his voice before turning his attention to Pochi, who was still peacefully sitting in Katarina's lap despite all of her previous movement, "and I must say, that dog of yours is very well trained. He hasn’t made a single move to steal a bite off your plate this whole time. It is rather impressive."

Katarina’s smile became slightly more nervous, reaching down to pat Pochi on the top of his head with an awkward chuckle.

"Yeah, that’s right. Pochi is the goodest boy, probably the best," Katarina said, getting a happy bark in response from Pochi, "besides, I already fed him before I ran into you, so he probably won’t get hungry until much, much later in the day!"

Well, he technically would never get hungry, as he was a being made of magic rather than an actual living animal. However, considering that not even some of her fellow nobility knew about the existence of dark magic or the familiars that are created from it, she highly doubted a foreigner like Cezar would even know. And Katarina really didn’t want to be the one to have to explain it to him.

Cezar let out a soft hum, before grabbing a few coins out of his pocket and slipping it on top of his plate as payment for their meal.

“Very well, in that case, we should probably get a move on then,” he said, moving to slide out of his chair, “if we want to get you to your destination at a decent time, we do not want to dally around too long.”

Katarina blinked before hastily nodding, gently sliding Pochi off her lap and onto the ground next to her as she moved to get out of her seat.

"So, uh, silly question, but how long exactly will it take us to reach Dewsbury by foot?" Katarina asked, falling into step beside him as the two made their way from the cafe.

Cezar gave her another amused look.

“Did you not research that before you began traveling?” he asked, however his tone conveyed that he was merely curious rather than attempting to patronize her.

Regardless, Katarina still felt her cheeks begin to flush again in embarrassment due to her minor misstep. 

“It was kind of a spur of the moment decision on my part to start traveling like this I guess. Well, I’ve been planning this for a while, I just never thought I would ever have to-” Katarina immediately stopped speaking before turning her gaze away from Cezar, making sure to keep her eyes trained on the ground rather than attempt to meet his eyes and have him read her expression again, “uh, nevermind.”

Cezar quietly regarded her, the two of them walking in relative silence as they weaved their way through the crowded town.

"Dewsbury is about a two-day walk from here if we take no more than three thirty-minute rest periods on the road," he finally said before the silence between them could start to become awkward, "however, there is a small shortcut that could cut about half a day off of our traveling time, if you're up for it, that is."

Katarina lifted her gaze off the ground, giving Cezar a curious look.

“What kind of short cut?”

"If we exit this town and immediately head west off the main road, there is a small path along the river," Cezar explained, pointing towards the edge of the town where the main road would begin once more, "it’s a bit rougher than the main road, more akin to a goat trail than anything else. However, it is most certainly the fastest route to Dewsbury that I know of."

Katarina let out a thoughtful hum, swinging her arms a bit as she thought on it.

It did sound like a good idea, especially if it cut time off of traveling. Traveling along the river would also give them access to fresh water, meaning they wouldn’t have to worry about purchasing or finding it elsewhere. 

“That sounds fine by me,” Katarina said, nodding her head in agreement before giving him another bright smile, “I’ll follow your lead.”

Cezar smiled kindly down at her, giving her hair one final playful ruffle.

“Very well. Although, do try and keep close to me, this path is a bit more…..rocky than the main road.”

Miridiana had wordlessly sat beside her husband in an almost catatonic state, the silence that filled the room after Lady Ascart’s reading of her daughter’s journal almost deafening to her.

She…had no words. She could not think of a single thing to say about any of the information revealed to her. Not about her daughter's reincarnation, about the revelation that they were all characters of some fictional story with a multitude of endings, not even to learning of the alternate version of her daughter's demise, as in her mind, it felt as though was a completely different person from the daughter she had now. 

Truthfully speaking, it felt as though she had gone completely numb, her blood feeling like ice in her veins and her mind feeling as though it had begun to hibernate. She’d barely even moved when the Third Prince abruptly rose from his chair, fleeing the room with only the slam of the door being a sign that he had left. The only time she found the strength to even lift her head was when her son had also left the room in a hurry, most likely chasing after the prince.

Her son.

Her son .

Her son whom, in another life, she had treated so terribly that he had to seek the company of multiple other women in order to fill the void she left behind in his heart.

However, that wasn’t the only thing that shocked her.

If she had had her way, if her daughter had turned out the way she wished her to, then she would have…..would have.

Her daughter would have died . Whether it was due to exile or flat out execution, she would have died because of the way she had shaped her. Katarina would have had no skills to rely upon in the chances of exile, and her body would have been slashed to ribbons by the prince in a physical confrontation, since she had no knowledge of wielding a blade like she did now. If her daughter had not been so stubborn, Miridiana's actions to protect her would have been more like a self-fulfilling prophecy than an actual good thing for the sake of her future.

Miridiana had no choice but to excuse herself the moment that thought crept into her mind, gently waving Luigi off when he moved to follow after her.

She needed to be alone. She needed some time to think.

So, she had quietly stood, lifting her dress so she would not trip over herself as she briskly exited the room, not a single person other than her loving husband sparing her a glance.

Miridiana had no set destination in mind, she merely wandered aimlessly down the hall, until she just so happened to reach one of her favorite sitting areas.

It was rather simply designed compared to all the other areas of the manor, with a plain red cushion that rested up against one of the windows on the second floor. However, it wasn’t the design that made it her favorite place to sit. No, it was more a case that she enjoyed the view it provided her with.

For, from this simple little sitting area, Miridiana had a perfect view of the manor’s backyard, along with her daughter’s farm, where Katarina spent so much time at practically all hours of the day. It was from this little sitting area that Miridiana watched her little girl grow up, watched her stomp around in the mud and dirt like the little hellion she was, with her friends and brother always following closely behind.

In some ways, that alone may have been her first failure as a mother, for she was always watching her daughter live her life rather than actively being a part of it. And when she was a part of it, all she brought with her daughter was scorn and scoldings, never realizing that Katarina’s rebelliousness was her way of attempting to save her own life from what she believed to be her destiny.

Instead of the sight of her daughter cheerfully hoeing away at her farm, happily chatting to whoever would listen, she instead observed the two sullen forms of both her son and the third prince conversing at Katarina's farm, or at least, what was left of it.

She knew the cause of their sorrow, as she herself had been rather shaken upon being shown the woman she could have been had Katarina not shown her the truth. A cruel and vile woman who was so wrapped up in her own problems that she failed to notice the truth right in front of her. A woman who had encouraged cruelty towards an innocent little boy and had refused to listen to her husband's pleas for her to just....listen.

Yet, the most terrifying part was not the tragedy that took place as a result of this woman’s actions, it was how drastically similar that woman was to the woman she was today. Reading her character bio and learning of her counterpart's actions had, for some reason, distinctly reminded her of all the times she had stood in front of a mirror in her youth, her brows furrowed as she trailed her eyes over all her faults, to the point where she wanted to do nothing more than cry herself to sleep. 

Miridiana was still cruel, or at least capable of it; she was still vile and unwilling to see reason until it was far too late to repair what she had broken. Everything about that woman, from her personality to her mannerisms, was Miridiana. To deny this would be like denying that her eyes are slanted or that her hair is brown.

However, instead of directing such cruelty to an innocent little boy this time, she directed it to a little girl, a little girl who had only done her absolute best, considering her unique circumstances that led to her existence, to make her proud from the moment she came into this world. A little girl who was now gone.

She wanted her daughter back. She wanted to find and apologize to her for everything she’d ever said or done, for any of the tears she’d caused her daughter to shed from her harshness towards her. She wanted to bring her home, so that she could try and fix all the damage she had caused.

But every time she thought that, Radea’s words almost seemed to ring in her ears.

“Fear not, Mirridiana. If Katarina is as strong as you say then you should have nothing to worry about when it comes to her future. All you can do now is sit back and let her live her life as best as she can.”

Perhaps this was her moment, her moment to follow Radea’s advice and finally let Katarina live her life how she wanted. Because she knew deep down that her daughter hated living as a noble woman. Katarina despised politics and constantly having to watch her behavior and her mannerisms and pretend to be someone she was not for the sake of her reputation. She preferred to run around outside in the sun, skirt held tightly above her knees, whenever she happened to wear one, and plow around in the dirt until she or the sun itself dropped.

Perhaps it was time to let her daughter go?

She was still planning on finding her daughter. She had a lot to apologize for, after all. In spite of that, maybe it was time to finally let her daughter live her life the way Katarina wanted, rather than force her own life upon her. As much as the thought of doing so pained her greatly, she would willingly let her daughter go if that was what Katarina wanted.

And if the bits and pieces of the conversation she caught between her son and the prince due to her excellent lip reading abilities (there was a reason she always hid her face with her fan when speaking to people) told her anything, it was that she was most certainly not alone with her thoughts, and that at least somewhat reassured her that she was making the correct choice.

Maria stared down at her shoes, too afraid to raise her head for fear of seeing judgment in all of her friends' eyes for her counterpart’s actions.

It had been rather shocking to learn that the very world they lived in was actually nothing more than a mere story somewhere else. To discover that the woman they all adored had been reincarnated, and apparently had believed from the moment she met them that she was fated for doom regardless of the changes she made. It was especially surprising to learn that she, of all people, was supposed to be the heroine of this 'Fortune Lover,' while Lady Katarina was dismissed as nothing more than a villainess.

Maria had never seen herself as particularly heroic. If anything, she always thought of herself as more of a coward, always cowering away the moment any sort of confrontation began to arise. If anyone should be thought of as a heroine, it would be Lady Katarina, not herself.

Lady Katarina was the one who jumped in front of her and protected her from bullies without so much as a thought in regard to herself or her reputation. Lady Katarina was the one who bravely went down to confront Raphael after he’d lost his mind, despite having been hurt by him before. Lady Katarina was the one who had wanted to run into a mansion overrun by dark magic to save her brother, despite the high level of danger such an action would cause her.

Yet, in a strange twist of fate, it felt as though Maria and Lady Katarina had switched roles, with Maria acting as the heroine, and Lady Katarina as the villainess. Because when Maria read over her counterpart’s actions, heroine was certainly not the first thought that came to mind.

Maria remembered how she was before Lady Katarina had taken her under her wing; a shy, lonely girl who was so incredibly desperate for anyone to see her as more than a commoner with light magic. So, to an extent, she could understand why her counterpart would have chosen to accept the attention and affections of multiple men, regardless of any prior engagements they may have had, even if such a thing was morally reprehensible.

But still, even after being exposed to the details of the many different routes her counterpart traversed, she most certainly did not see her as the heroine. 

For what was so heroic about essentially seducing a man away from their legal fiance?

Maria didn’t see the other version of Lady Katarina as a villainess for treating her so cruelly. If anything, she had most likely only shown her such animosity because she feared Maria was trying to whisk away her fiance and had seen her marrying Lord Keith as a threat to her family name. From what she had read, Lord Nicol and Prince Alan’s routes only proved that, as Lady Katarina had entirely left her alone in both of them.

It almost seemed unfair, that Prince Alan's counterpart could treat her just as harshly as Lady Katarina’s counterpart did, yet he still managed to somehow get a happy ending either way, while Lady Katarina was doomed to exile or execution.

Maria decided to summon her courage, slowly lifting her head as she spared a glance around the room.Thankfully, no one seemed to be staring at her in accusation as she first assumed they would. If anything, it seemed that everyone was rather distracted at the moment. Lady Sophia had decided to place the journal down in front of everyone again. As such, everyone had either entirely focused their attention on it, or were discussing its contents among themselves.

Lady Mary and Prince Alan seemed to be doing the latter, their eyebrows furrowed and their expressions tense as they whispered to one another. Lord Nicol, on the other hand, was entirely focused on Lady Sophia, his arm wrapped tightly around her shaking shoulders as he whispered words of comfort to her. Duke Claes was talking with Lady Katarina’s maid, most likely asking her about the contents of Lady Katarina’s journal and whether she had suspected anything like this. Sitting across from Duke Claes was Sora, who looked incredibly lost and confused compared to the rest of the room, most likely as a result of knowing Katarina the least of all of them.

Maria turned her gaze from person to person, until her eyes finally settled on Raphael, who was quietly sitting beside her.

His expression was oddly blank, as though he was looking at a ghost, his finger running aimlessly over his character portrait that Katarina had drawn. Unlike all of theirs, Raphael’s seemed to have been edited, with the name ‘Sirius Dieke’ being crossed out and replaced with ‘Raphael Walt,’ as well as a hastily scribbled description of him being a secret route, along with details of said secret route’s endings.

Maria quickly read it over, only to flinch at how terrible his ending was compared to all the rest. Concerned, Maria reached out her hand, gently placing it on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. Raphael flinched slightly at the contact but made no move to shake her hand off.

The two of them stayed like that for a few minutes, before Raphael moved to speak.

"I... there was a moment when I confronted her after you went missing. It was just before I put her to sleep," he began, his gaze not lifting from his character portrait, "she’d gone from innocently staring up at me without fear to somewhat frightened without me saying a word to cause such a reaction. At first I thought she’d somehow figured out that I was responsible for kidnapping you, but..."

Raphael slowly lifted his fingers off his character portrait, moving to give Maria a sad-looking smile.

“Perhaps she’d figured something else out instead.”

Maria bit her lip, feeling unsure as to what to say to make him feel better. However, she didn't want to leave him hanging either, so she quickly moved to speak.

"Well... it certainly explains how she knew where to find me after she awoke," Maria said, hesitating briefly before continuing, "and it also explains how she knew what to say to calm you down."

Raphael was surprised when she said that, but he quickly shook his head, his smile becoming somewhat more genuine as he turned his gaze to her once more.

"No, Katarina admitted in her notes that she never completed my route. The only information she knew about it was based on something a friend told her," he said, a fond expression appearing on his face, "so, without so much as a hint as to whether she was saying the correct things, everything she said to me that day was genuine. If I cannot take comfort in anything else I've learnt in this journal of hers, I can at least take comfort in that."

Despite herself, Maria couldn’t help but smile at Raphael’s words. However, before she could speak any further, Raphael’s smile became somewhat mischievous.

"I also learnt to be far more cautious around you . Have you been trying to seduce me this entire time whenever you came to check on me and make sure I ate?" he said, his voice teasing as he gave her a playful ‘tsk,’ "to think someone so innocent could hide such nefarious intentions-"

Maria immediately let out an embarrassed squeak, her hands coming up to cover her red cheeks as she swatted his arm.

"Raphael, I just said earlier that I don’t have such feelings for any of you! Why do you have to tease me about it further?"

"So you learn not to take your counterpart’s actions to heart," Raphael said, the teasing lilt in his voice immediately disappearing as he leaned closer to her, "just as I am not the person who caused such a terrible ending to occur, just as Prince Geordo and Keith are not the same men who killed Katarina. You are not the same as this Maria Campbell from Fortune Lover. As such, holding her actions against yourself would be useless. So whilst you should take it into account the next time you speak with Katarina, do not let it cloud your view of yourself as a person." 

Maria lowered her hands from her face, only to see Raphael smiling gently at her, a twinge of empathy in his expression. Raphael probably knew all about blaming himself for the actions of another, as he had spent years being influenced and possessed by a dark magic spirit who forced him to do unspeakable things. It was probably why he was handling this knowledge of having a counterpart do terrible things so well, as it was technically nothing new to him.

“When we find Katarina, you should probably give her the same advice,” Maria said, allowing a smile of her own to appear on her face, “she’s spent her whole life believing herself to be a villainess, and I don’t think she would listen to us if we were the ones to tell her otherwise. None of us understand her pain like you would.”

Raphael gave her another surprised look, before his usual gentle smile returned to his face once more.

"I will do my best," he said, before letting out a small chuckle, as if he’d thought of something that amused him, "Katarina and I can start a ‘reformed villain’s that suddenly got memories of another life’ club. It’s a bit of a mouthful, but I’m sure the two of us can workshop it later."

Maria let out a small giggle, knowing full well that Lady Katarina would probably love that idea, as she’d always been fond of spending time with Raphael. Maria was sure she’d appreciate having someone to talk to about her reincarnation who would actually understand what she was going through.

At that moment, the door to the guest room reopened, revealing the sullen forms of Duchess Claes. Without so much as a word, she silently moved towards her husband, placing herself in her seat beside him once more, gently waving off his worried hands as he moved to try and comfort her.

Not long after, both Prince Geordo and Lord Keith also returned, the two of them looking oddly determined as they made their way into the room once more.

Maria watched as Lord Nicol seemed to frown, a concerned glint appearing in his eyes as he stared  at Prince Geordo’s oddly stiff form, his eyes mainly training on Prince Geordo’s bloody fist, which he immediately hid from view upon noticing the two of us eyeing it.

“Prince Geordo, is everything-”

“I’m fine,” Prince Geordo said somewhat briskly, his hands clasped tightly behind his back as he remained standing in the middle of the room “more importantly, has everyone had enough time to process everything in regard to the information that was just revealed to us?” 

Maria watched as the majority of the room traded wary glances, not wanting to poke too hard at Prince Geordo while he was in such a clearly fragile state of mind. Maria also wanted to enquire about his well being and even offer to heal his hand for him, but she was slightly worried he might lash out at her in his current state if she were to do so. However, rather than pry further, the room merely nodded, silently steeling themselves as they prepared themselves for what was about to come.

Prince Geordo nodded stiffly before moving to continue.

"Good. In that case, it is probably best that we begin discussing our next course of action; locating Katarina."

Prince Geordo the his attention to Duke Claes, who straightened his posture when Prince Geordo turned his gaze to him.

"Do you know of anywhere that Katarina was oddly fond of? Anywhere that she could have potentially run off to?" he asked, his gaze shifting momentarily to Keith before returning to the Duke, "I tried asking Keith earlier, but he said you’d be more likely to know than him."

Duke Claes crossed his arms in front of his chest, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face as he pondered.

"Come to think of it, there were four towns that she seemed peculiarly interested in when she was a young girl," he said after a few moments of silence, his eyebrows furrowing slightly, "she always seemed to have a million questions about them when I took her to visit them. In hindsight, she was most likely trying to pry information about them, but I just didn’t notice at the time."

Prince Geordo’s expression briefly softened, before becoming serious once more.

“Do you know the names of those four towns?”

Duke Claes nodded, pulling out a piece of paper out of his pocket, quickly jotting them down before placing the list on the table next to the journal.

The entire room leaned forward to look, shuffling forward as they all moved to surround the table once more. Although, the moment they read the list of towns, everyone immediately let out exasperated sighs. Except for Sora, who merely let out a low whistle.

“Damn, she’s really thought this out. If I wasn’t so annoyed by it, I’d say I was impressed.”

Dewsbury, Stathmore, Norwich, and Calcherth. While they were all lovely little farming towns from what Maria had heard of them, they also happened to be in completely different directions from one another. Stathmore was located closer to the Lousabre border in the west, while Dewsbury was located closer to the Ethenell border in the east. Norwich and Calcherth were not as far away as the other two, but they too were completely opposite of one another, being to the north and south, respectively.

It was almost as if Lady Katarina had done it on purpose, as if she was trying to purposely make it seem confusing and inconvenient to find her in the event someone was attempting to track her down. However, considering the amount of thought and time Lady Katarina had put into this runaway attempt, Maria certainly wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case.

Prince Geordo let out a small ‘tsk,’ shaking his head as an almost fond glint appeared in his eyes.

“I should have known she’d do something like this. Unpredictability has always been her strong suit after all,” he muttered, quickly turning his attention to both Sora and Raphael, “what would the two of you suggest we do?”

Raphael’s eyebrows furrowed, his head tilting to the side as he considered the list of towns.

“Perhaps our best bet would be to split up into four groups and search each and every one?” he suggested, his hand coming up to rub his chin, “if we can’t find her in the towns, then we’ll most likely catch her on the road, as travel by carriage is most definitely faster than travel by foot-“

“Unless she’s taking the off-road tracks,” Sora quickly piped up, causing the majority of the room to turn their attention to him.

“Off-road tracks?”

Sora nodded, leaning back in his chair as he scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah, they're usually along any sort of river or mountain side just off the main road. They’re like a quick shortcut for anyone traveling by foot," he explained, giving a small shrug of his shoulders, "although, it’s pretty unlikely she’d even know about it without some sort of guide. They’re not on any official map and are usually used by either criminals or people who just don’t want to be found."

Prince Geordo’s eyes immediately narrowed, glaring down at Sora from his position leaning over the table.

"And why exactly have you never mentioned this to the ministry before now?" he asked, his tone sounding as though he was genuinely trying to remain patient, "I thought you were employed by the ministry for the sake of providing information that they currently do not possess."

Sora gave another shrug, a crooked half-smile appearing on his face.

"Hey, the ministry only ever asked me about dark magic, not my criminal history and knowledge."

Prince Geordo opened his mouth to speak once more, but before he could, Raphael let out a loud sigh.

"Sora’s tight-lippedness aside, I still think it would be more beneficial for us to check the main road first," Raphael said, giving Sora a stern look that conveyed that the two of them would most certainly be talking about this later, "if we do that and find nothing, then and only then should we resort to checking the off-road tracks."

“Wait, if we’re all separated, then how will we communicate if we find anything?” Maria asked, her hands reaching down to fiddle with her dress.

Raphael smiled, reaching towards his bag, grabbing something out of it before placing it on the table along with the list of towns and the journal.

"These are the newest prototypes of the Magic Communication Devices we used during Keith’s rescue mission," he said, motioning to the four devices he’d placed down, "however, unlike the ones we used on that mission, these ones do not require both parties to be three stories high. Although, as a result, you can only get a maximum of three words out per message."

“Do they require a wind mage on either side in order to get them to function?” Lord Nicol asked, reaching forward so that he could fiddle with one of the devices.

Raphael nodded, his expression becoming slightly more tense as he stared down at the devices.

“Yes, they don’t have to be particularly powerful, they just need to possess wind magic in order to power them up,” he said, his eyes trailing around the room, “although, since we only have three wind mages, I might have to request-”

“I can do it,” Anne suddenly said, causing the room to turn their attention to her.

Anne had an oddly determined expression on her face, her eyes no longer bloodshot as she stared at Raphael. Seeing that she had caught the attention of the room, she continued.

“I may not have formally studied magic, nor am I particularly powerful. But I am still the illegitimate daughter of a noble and possess his magic. Therefore, I am confident that I possess enough mana to power this device if needed,” she said, her voice firm as she raised her left hand as it softly began to glow, a gentle breeze filling the room due to her magic.

Raphael stared at her for a few moments, before giving her a soft, grateful smile.

"Well, that certainly solves that problem. Thank you very much for your assistance, Anne," he said, getting a small nod from her as he moved to turn over the paper with the towns written on it so he could write something down, “in that case, we can organize it so we have one wind mage per carriage. That way we can keep in constant contact while searching.”

He took a moment to jot something else down, before lifting his head once more.

"Mary, Prince Alan, and Sophia will travel together and search the path leading to Stathmore, Prince Geordo, Keith, and Nicol will search the path leading to Norwich, Anne, Duchess and Duke Claes will search the path leading to Dewsbury; and Sora, Maria, and myself will search the path leading to Calcherth," he said, showing the hastily scribbled map he had drawn for all of them, "since we only have three words to use for the devices, it’s best if we decide on codes so that we can quickly communicate with the minimum amount of words possible. Does anyone have any ideas?"

The room became silent, as everyone pondered on what the code words should be.

“How about ‘wild monkey spotted,’ if we find her?” Prince Alan suddenly suggested, his cheeks flushing slightly and hands fidgeting awkwardly when everyone gave him confused looks, “what? She wrote in her journal that she used to be called a wild monkey in her past life, I figured it would work.”

Raphael let out a thoughtful hum, before moving to jot it down.

“As unorthodox as it is, it does fit within the limit of three words,” he said, “very well, if we find her, the code words are ‘wild monkey spotted.’ In that case, the code words for not spotting her should be ‘all clear,’ I suppose.”

Raphael then turned his attention to everyone else once more, a small smile appearing on his face.

“Does that work for everyone?”

Everyone immediately nodded, causing his smile to widen slightly, his expression becoming somewhat relieved by the lack of argument.

“Good. In that case, I suppose it’s time that we get moving-”

Raphael was about to finish talking when Prince Geordo suddenly cleared his throat, making whatever Raphael was about to say stop right away.

"Before we go, I think there is one more thing that we ought to discuss," he said, his expression tensing slightly, as though he was silently preparing himself for confrontation, "mainly, about what we are planning to do once we actually find Katarina."

Raphael tilted his head in confusion, but before he could speak, Lady Mary beat him to it, her expression perplexed as she stared up at him.

"What do you mean by that? It’s quite obvious what we’re going to do, is it not?" she asked, her eyebrows furrowing, "we’re going to profusely apologize to her and explain to her that she is certainly not a villainess in our eyes. And then... then…"

Lady Mary trailed off, as if even she wasn’t sure what she was about to say.

"Then what?" Prince Geordo asked, his eyes almost burning as he stared at her.

"W-well, I don’t know, we’ll figure it out when we get to it!" she said, her cheeks flushing with annoyance as she stared at him with a slight glare, "since you seem so insistent on it, is there something in particular that you have in mind?"

Surprisingly, Prince Geordo nodded, his expression becoming almost stern.

"As a matter of fact, there is. However, I have a strong feeling that the majority of this room might not agree with it," he said, his voice firm, his eyes darting off to the side, "in my opinion, I feel as though too many of us have been trying to make decisions for her as of late. Something which I feel may have somewhat contributed to her desire to run away from all of us. Therefore, I greatly want to rectify that."

Prince Geordo then straightened his posture, his hands almost turning white from how tightly he was clutching them together behind his back as he let out a loud sigh.

"As a result, I believe that once we find Katarina and reassure her of her worth to us, we simply let her choose whether or not she wishes to return home with us."

An uncomfortable silence fell upon the room at his words, as if no one quite knew how to react to them.

Surprisingly, Keith then pushed himself forwards until he was standing right next to Prince Geordo, with the same determined look on his face as when he first came into the room.

"I don’t usually see eye to eye with him for, well, obvious reasons," he began, slowly raising his hand until it was hesitantly resting on Prince Geordo’s shoulder, "however, if there is one thing we agree on, it is this. I say we let her choose."

Maria blinked in surprise, never before having seen the two of them agree on anything before now. Even more surprisingly, Duchess Claes then stood, nodding her head as if she agreed with them.

“Mirri-dear, what-”

“I….I admit that I have not been the best of mother’s towards Katarina. For her whole life, I have tried to shape her into a perfect noble woman, despite knowing just how against her nature it was for her to become such,” Duchess Claes said, her voice so soft that Maria had to strain to hear her despite her words being strong enough to silence her husband, “I do not want to continue making that mistake anymore. So if Katarina wishes to live her life somewhere else as nothing more than a humble farmer, then so be it.”

Duke Claes stared up at her for a moment, an expression of disbelief and heartbreak present on his face, before he too nodded, hesitantly moving to stand by his wife’s side.

"I do not wish to see my beloved daughter so far away from me, but...." Duke Claes reached forward, grabbing his wife’s hands in his own with a watery smile, "but even more so, I do not wish to see her unhappy either. So if allowing her to choose makes her happy, then I wholeheartedly agree."

It was at that moment that Maria felt a burst of courage hit her, Lady Katarina’s kind words to her from her letter almost ringing in her ears as she hastily stood from her chair.

‘You’ve always been a truly amazing Heroine, now it’s time to step away and let you become who you were destined to be.’ 

"I wish for Lady Katarina to be happy as well!" she said, her eyes squeezing shut, her hands clenching down beside her and  her voice almost echoing around the room due to the sheer volume as she spoke, "from the moment she met me, Lady Katarina has been nothing but kind and caring towards me, despite knowing what ruine I could potentially bring her. So if she truly wishes to start a life somewhere else, then as someone who loves her, it is my sole duty to support her no matter what!"

Maria kept her eyes squeezed shut, too afraid to open them and face the backlash that would come from a commoner such as herself yelling her thoughts to people so above her station. But, if there was any time for her to become the heroine Lady Katarina believed her to be, it was now, when Lady Katarina’s happiness was on the line.

It was at that moment that Maria felt someone gently pat her on the head, as if they were trying to reassure her, causing her eyes to instinctively shoot open due to her surprise.

Lord Nicol’s expression was as kind as always, even with the slight hint of melancholy that had appeared in his eyes. He gave her one more final pat, as if silently telling her it was alright, before moving to speak.

“I…as much as it pains me, I agree with what Maria has just said,” he said, slowly removing his hand from the top of Maria’s head as he turned to face those who had remained quiet thus far, “if we truly claim to love Katarina, then it is our duty to try and make her happy, even if we ourselves are not happy as a result.”

“The essence of love is selflessness, not selfishness,” Sophia piped up after him, a sad smile appearing on her face as she nodded her agreement, “that’s a quote from Katarina’s favorite novel in the ‘Devilish Count’ series.”

Everyone took a moment to smile fondly at the thought, before Prince Alan let out a long sigh, leaning back in his chair as he ran his hand through his silver locks.

“Damn it, fine. I agree. Of course I agree. Anything else would make me feel like a total asshole,” he muttered, ignoring the soft hiss from his brother about his language as he turned his attention to his more stubborn fiance, “come on, Mary. You know you agree as well. There’s no use being stubborn about it.”

“Of course I agree, that doesn’t mean the thought of it hurts any less!” Lady Mary said, the small sniff she let out at the end of her statement removing some of the bite from her tone.

“I…I also agree,” Anne said, her voice and tone hesitant as she turned to her employers, “however, if she chooses to remain wherever she is, and if she allows it, I would greatly like to remain at her side, if that is alright with the both of you.”

The Duke and Duchess smiled at Anne, both readily giving the loyal maid their consent. Maria then watched as the tension seemed to leave Prince Geordo’s shoulders slightly, most likely as a result of how well received his idea was. He then turned his attention to the other two people in the room.

Sora immediately shrugged, his hands coming up placatingly when everyone else turned their attention to him as well.

“What are all of you looking at me for? This ain’t got nothing to do with me. I’m just a humble ministry worker and former criminal, It’s not like my opinion actually matters here,” he said dryly before he pointed over to Raphael, “he’s the one you guys need to be hounding, not me.”

Raphael immediately sighed, his hands coming up to rub his face as though frustrated. However, the smile currently visible on his face from under his hands gave away his actual amusement and exasperation at the situation.

"This certainly won’t be easy to explain back at the department. But I’m sure, with some helpful and powerful eye witnesses and clever paperwork, that I could make this work and hide any traces of her should she choose not to come home," he said, lowering his hands from his face with a determined glint in his eyes, "but you can certainly count me in. I owe Katarina a great deal, so if this is what I must do to repay her, then I will gladly do so."

Prince Geordo nodded. All of the tension from his shoulders went away when the last person agreed to his idea, and a small smile appeared on his face.

"In that case, now that all matters have been discussed, let’s go find Katarina post haste."

Chapter Text

Raphael let out a tired sigh, direly tempted to rest his head against the carriage window so that he could fall asleep and never wake up. Although Raphael was used to feeling very drained, as his current occupation required him to go many long restless nights without a single good night’s sleep, somehow this entire situation had managed to make him feel even more so. It certainly didn’t help that the road leading to Calcherth was oddly smooth and even, the gentle rocking of the carriage almost lulled him to sleep despite the seriousness of the current situation. They had only been travelling for no more than thirty minutes, and he was already tired.

It had been an absolute miracle that everyone had agreed on the search arrangements he had suggested so quickly, and an even bigger miracle that nobody had protested to Prince Geordo’s unexpected but reasonable proposal for their next course of action should they actually find their wayward friend. 

Raphael was aware that his friends were, on the whole, decent people. However, he had genuinely expected some sort of fight to break out the very moment Prince Geordo opened his mouth to suggest they let Katarina go if that was what she wanted, or at least a very aggressive exchange of words. After all, every single one of them, Raphael included, loved Katarina greatly. So the thought of never seeing her again would most likely churn even the most selfless hearts with a feeling of greed. Instead, everyone had responded surprisingly maturely, and so they had all agreed to let Katarina decide whether or not she wanted to come home with them.

With that, everyone had gone to their own carriages, with the ministry’s latest prototype wind devices in the hands of every wind mage present. They all mentally prepared for a long day of travelling and investigating. Raphael had offered to allow them all to take a minute or two to travel home and change into something more travel-friendly, but none of them seemed to wish to do so, all of them desiring to leave post-haste so that they could soon find Katarina and ensure she was safe while travelling on the road.

Raphael quickly rubbed his face with his hand in an attempt to wake himself up more, his attention drifting away from his tired thoughts so that he could examine his carriage companions.

Maria looked just as shaken as she had when she first discovered her ‘heroine’ status. However, thankfully, it appeared as though Raphael’s words to her earlier had cheered her up somewhat. At the very least, some colour had come back to her skin, even though she was still fiddling with her thumbs with her eyes still on her lap.

Sora, on the other hand, looked relatively unbothered by the events that had just unfolded before them, his expression as calm and even-tempered as always. Although, to be fair, unlike them, Sora hadn’t really been affected by the revelation that they were all technically characters in a story, as he hadn’t even been a character in it in the first place. In a strange way, it made Raphael seriously envious of him. He, too, wished more than anything that he could remain unaffected by it all, despite pretending for Maria’s sake that he was completely fine.

Despite everyone’s desperate attempts to pretend otherwise, it was rather easy to see how much learning about Fortune Lover and their unfortunate counterparts had spooked everyone. The story and characters themselves felt almost mocking, as if someone had personality plucked their worst traits from their bodies for the purpose of crafting their less-than-stellar mirror image, a reflection that practically shoved all these worst parts of themselves directly in their faces for scrutiny. That was probably the biggest reason everyone agreed so easily to Prince Geordo's idea, seeing as they were all too afraid to even consider doing something which their dreadful counterparts would have done without hesitation in the same situation.

The worst part wasn’t even that, though. The worst part  was just how much his counterpart probably thrived on this in that alternate reality, regardless of whether it was his route or another being played at the time.

Raphael could even see it now, the ways his previously possessed self would have manipulated and played on all of their counterparts’ worst traits, the ways he could turn them into even worse versions of themselves with the dark magic he had had at his disposal. It didn't matter if their magical cores were more powerful than his. If they had even the slightest amount of exploitable emotional instability, which they clearly had if Katarina had never come into the picture and acted as their own personal soothing balms for their personal problems, they were almost powerless against him. They would have been sitting ducks ripe for the taking, or coercion at least.

He knew, deep down, that Fortune Lover Katarina’s death and or exile had been no accident. Something that, thankfully, nobody else seemed to have figured out yet. His counterpart had probably taken one look at her weak magical core and pettily jealous personality and immediately thought of her as the perfect tool to truly destroy nobility. Because the death or exile of such a powerful and well-known figure at the hands of either royalty or a wealthy but not directly related heir to the Claes Duchy would almost certainly have resulted in civil war, or the start of one. This kind of chaos would have made it easy for him to become heir to the Dieke fortune and in turn seek revenge against the woman who had ruined his life. It would also have given the dark spirit that had attached itself to him the revenge it craved so desperately against nobility for the wrongs he received at their callus and ignorant hands.

Of course, he could have potentially got something similar in Prince Alan's path, with a little dark magic assistance to manipulate Mary's more... petulant side once the quote-on-quote curtains shut on Prince Alan and the heroine’s so-called happy ending. For even Mary's wallflower counterpart was likely to have secrets upon secrets of every single noble in Sorcerian society stashed away somewhere that he could have forced her stir even more unrest after Maria’s counterpart caused Prince Alan to break their engagement. But that would have taken more time and much more effort on his part to sow the seeds of chaos into nobility as he had previously desired. 

Nicol was somehow the only one who would, most likely, somehow scrape through with any sort of happy ending, as he had still thought of Nicol as somewhat of a friend at the time all of Fortune Lover took place. Nicol had always been kind and fair to him in this life, so he highly doubted such a thing would have changed in another. Allowing him to have a somewhat happy life after he got what he wanted would have simply been his way of returning the favour for his kindness towards him. Even if his courting of Maria would most likely end with her being subjected to even more fervent bullying and cruelty throughout the rest of her schooling and perhaps even throughout the course of her employment with the Ministry by Nicol’s numerous and rather possessive admirers. Nicol’s ignorance of their existence would do very little to protect her from such an onslaught, nor would he be always able to be there to protect her with his growing list of responsibilities as he grew older and more tired.

Even without his meddling, Nicol would be doomed to a miserable existence, constantly playing the white knight in shining armour for both his lover and his still very emotionally fragile sister. Two people who, regrettably, would never have learned how to defend themselves if Katarina hadn't decided to intervene and then shown them how.

Yet somehow, Raphael could imagine that no matter which route was taken and how many lives he destroyed in the aftermath, he would have been the most miserable of all. Because once he got his vengeance and had truly destroyed the kingdom and burnt all it stood for to ashes, the dark spirit would have finally been sated and would most likely leave him, dooming him to a life of loneliness and bottomless remorse and guilt for all the sins he had committed based on false memories that were never truly his own.

To think that the only thing that stopped such terrible futures from becoming a reality was Katarina hitting her head and regaining her past-life memories.

‘There’s no need to cry alone, Raphael.’

If the Katarina they all knew and loved had not existed, then who would have uttered those words to him in his time of need?

Because he knew, with absolute certainty, that Maria would not have said such a thing to him after discovering he was possessed by dark magic, regardless of the fact that he had no other information about his route that was not provided by Katarina's journal. She wouldn’t have had to. All she would have had to do was power up her light magic and banish the spirit into non-existence, freeing him with her magic alone.

Maria would have freed him with her magic, but Katarina freed him with her words and actions alone. And maybe, more than anything, that was all he needed. Someone to see his struggle and lend him a hand, someone to show him that if he just tried, he could free himself from the darkness he had trapped himself in.

In Maria's route, he had ended up finding a lover, but in Katarina, he had made a friend.That alone was more valuable to him than any romantic affair which could be easily severed and broken. Even if his feelings for Katarina are not quite as platonic as they should have been, he valued his friendship with her more than anything.

Learning of her reincarnation status had made absolutely no difference to any of this; if anything, it had only amplified his feeling of kinship with her, that he had always felt but never quite understood why. He’d always been curious why she would sometimes look sad when discussing an activity she loved doing, a look he often saw on himself in the mirror whenever he brewed tea just the way his mother would have liked it. 

She had also always seemed so understanding when he just wasn’t in the mood to talk after he had a terrible night when the nightmares felt too real for comfort when she came to check in on him. She didn't get angry with him when he didn't say anything. Katarina just smiled and asked if he wanted to go for a walk with her to get some fresh air. She would then spend the whole walk trying to distract him by talking about the weirdest things. Things that had never failed to bring a small smile out of him despite his greyer moods.

He hadn't given it much thought at the time, but now that he had the entire facts, her attempts for his sake were too rehearsed, too competent at trying to deflect attention away from the death and horror of the night before. Raphael was genuinely taken aback.

Was Katarina haunted by nightmares about the day she died? Because if she'd been reincarnated, she'd have had to die first, most likely at a young age based on her more childish demeanour. Did she, too, spend time thinking about the life she'd been forced to relinquish? 

Raphael's heart ached at the thought of Katarina waking up in tears on her own, struggling to breathe like he did on the rare nights he was able to sleep, as though every breath he took would be his last when he dared to dream of that wretched ritual.

Raphael could see her, wrapped in a blanket on her bed, weeping her heart out for everything she'd lost, for everything she'd been through, only to selflessly force a smile on her face the next day so she wouldn't worry anyone she cared about. Raphael not only highly regarded her strength and courage, but he also wept in empathy for the mental anguish she must have experienced for so long that went unnoticed. Katarina really shouldn't have to deal with such things, especially on her own.

Whether she returned with them or not, Raphael would do his best to support her now that he knew just how similar their experiences were. He truly wasn’t kidding when he told Maria that the two of them should start a club and talk about their experiences. Katarina had gone literal years without anyone to talk to and understand what it was like to have another person's memories and experiences in their head. Essentially, she had spent years living a double life and had been constantly on the edge for any sort of doom flag that might occur and end the second life she had been given. Raphael knew, because he had done something similar when he was forced to live under the guise of Sirius Dieke.

With all the miscommunications and misunderstandings, Katarina seemed desperate to simply vent and be understood, and Raphael would be more than ready to oblige. Naturally, with a lovely, hot cup of tea and an abundance of sugary treats for Katarina. Raphael probably wouldn’t have any, he personally considered himself to be more of a savoury sort of man-

Raphael felt a hand clasp down on his shoulder, gently shaking him as if attempting to get his attention.

“Uh, Raphael, are you doing ok?” Sora asked, staring at him with uncertainty as he pulled his hand away, “you were kind of dozing off just now.”

Raphael shook his head again, blinking quickly when he realised that he had been sleeping against the window of the carriage. Maria and Sora looked at him with different expressions of worry.

Raphael felt his cheeks flush slightly, quickly moving to reassure them that he was fine, silently cursing his boss for causing him to lose so much sleep due to leaving so suddenly for an important ‘mission.’ If he’d had normal working hours and an actually considerate boss, then he wouldn’t have had to face the embarrassing situation of falling asleep mid-mission like he just did.

“Just a bit tired, that’s all,” he said, wincing when he saw Maria’s eyes slightly narrow at him, her natural mother-heness probably seconds away from kicking in.

Seeing this look, Raphael quickly turned his attention to Sora once more, an inquisitive look appearing in his eyes as he moved to address him.

“Have you seen any sign of Katarina so far?” he asked, causing Sora to straighten slightly at being addressed.

Sora shook his head, moving so he could rest his hand on his chin as he turned his attention back out the window.

"No, not yet. It’s only been travelling merchants or farmers so far," he said, his lip twitching up slightly as if something amused him, "and before you ask, no, none of them were Katarina in disguise. I’ve been keeping an eye out for that just as much as for her in her regular appearance. But it's a negative for both."

In response, Raphael nodded, thanking Sora for his observations before returning his attention to the window once more to keep a close eye out for their runaway friend.

Raphael was then promptly startled as he felt a set of hands gently grab the wind device from his grasp, prompting him to turn and stare at the perpetrator. Maria, in retaliation, gave him a stern but concerned look. She then gently pushed his head down, which made it more difficult for him to get the wind device.

“You should rest while you can,” she said, her voice firm and leaving no room for debate, “Sora and I can keep a lookout while you do so. We’ll wake you if we see or hear anything.”

Raphael opened his mouth to protest, however before he could, Sora quickly beat him to it.

“Yeah, she’s got a point. You look like you’re about to drop any minute. I think nobody would blame you for taking a few minutes to catch some shut eye,” he said, his expression clearly showing that he agreed with Maria. 

“But I’m supposed to be in charge of this mission-“

“And the person in charge can take a quick power nap if he needs to,” Sora said, waving his hand dismissively at him, “look, if you’re really that worried, like Maria said, we’ll wake you the moment either of us suspect that we’ve seen something or if we get a message from the device. We’ll keep you in the loop the whole time. So do both of us a favour and just take a nap already.”

Raphael bit his lip, his gaze switching between Maria and Sora before nodding slowly in agreement. It was pointless to argue with Maria; she was simply too stubborn. However, since she'd somehow roped Sora into this as well, Raphael knew he had no way out.

Besides, he'd been utterly exhausted as a result of the two all-nighters he'd managed to pull off to keep up with the deluge of paperwork he'd been given. So perhaps a few minutes of sleep would be beneficial to him.

‘I’ll only sleep for a few minutes,” Raphael thought, leaning so he could rest his head against the window and catch some sleep, silently praying that Katarina was safe wherever she was.

The carriage ride to Stathmore had been completely silent so far, with none of the occupants of the carriage knowing what to say in order to break the silence. They had only been travelling for about twenty minutes, but somehow it was already becoming awkward. Sophia had personally never been alone with both Prince Alan and Mary at the same time, but even she knew that this silence was most unusual. 

Sophia observed the two for a few brief seconds before slowly lowering her gaze to the journal that has since caused so much grief but was still resting innocently in her lap.

Despite the emotional damage it had ended up causing them all, Sophia felt compelled to bring it along, not wanting to leave it behind in case it revealed anything else significant while she tentatively grazed it during the carriage ride. At least, that's what she told the others, with her big brother being the only one who saw through her rather poor deception. He, thankfully, decided not to call her out on that one, which she was forever grateful for.

The truth was, Katarina’s doom journal had felt almost achingly familiar to Sophia, or at least, the information within it had. Like the dreams she sometimes had that felt as though they did not truly belong to her.

She'd had these strange dreams since she was a child, strange dreams of a life and a world she couldn't quite recognise but that felt strangely familiar to her. Yet no matter how varied or different each of these dreams were to her, there seemed to be a recurring feature: a person who never failed to reveal herself to her.

Every night, without fail, she would dream of a girl with short, messy brown hair and large brown eyes whose smile outshined the sun. She had the face of a stranger, yet her presence always made Sophia feel warm, as if, deep in her soul, she knew this strange girl. However, it wasn’t until she had flipped to the back of the doom journal and gotten a glimpse of what could only be a sketch of Katarina’s past self, that she finally found out who her mystery dream girl was.

Now Sophia wasn't dumb. For as long as she could remember, she considered herself potentially reincarnated the moment these dreams started. She'd read countless novels of heroes or heroines and everything else in between, getting similarly bizarre dreams, only then to discover that they'd once lived and died in a completely different life. Her young and fanciful mind had naturally come to the conclusion that this could only mean the same thing for her. Even though she had never told anyone about this before, not even her brother or parents, because she didn't want to bother them after all the problems she had caused them because of her looks.

As she grew older, she decided to abandon these thoughts, dismissing them as a byproduct of her previous loneliness and longing for a more vibrant and adventurous life. However, a small part of her still wanted it to be true, even though the events of her academic years completely took her attention away from the theories she used to have about herself.

Reading Katarina’s journal had been both a blessing and a curse for Sophia, simultaneously granting her wish yet punishing her for ever wanting it in the first place. Not only had this doom journal validated all of her younger self's assumptions, but it had also revealed that Katarina and Sophia’s former self, who she still did not know the name of, were almost certainly friends in the world she dreamed of. As self-centered as the notion was, it nearly gave Sophia the impression that Katarina and her were destined to be together, much like the characters in the romance books she read, who always found each other regardless of which incarnation they were in.

However, the world in front of them wasn't just a romance novel, and even if it were, she had no desire to be a part of it if it resulted in Katarina suffering as she had in the ostensibly romantic Fortune Lover. It was almost comical how a single story could disgust and turn away a hopeless romantic like herself with its brutality. It made Sophia desperately want to return home and destroy any book in her personal library that contained the words execute or exile within its ornate covers, for fear of being reminded of the fate Katarina might have endured once upon a time. It was as if the image of Katarina being crushed or impaled had been burned into Sophia's retinas, and no amount of blinking or rubbing could erase it. 

Meanwhile, it became clear that Prince Alan was getting restless because the carriage was so quiet. His attention quickly turned to Sophia as he tried to talk to her.

"How are you holding up, Sophia?" Prince Alan inquired, leaning slightly forward from his position beside Mary, his eyes filled with concern and empathy as he spoke surprisingly gently to her.

Sophia jerked herself out of her reverie, the vision of Katarina's demise lingering in her mind even as she proceeded to address Prince Alan.

"I'm fine," she said, shifting slightly in her seat as she noticed they'd both turned their eyes to her, their gazes kind and understanding. 

Somehow, Prince Alan's expression became more soft, and his hand reached out to gently pat her delicate shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.

"That’s good. I’ll admit that, apart from Geordo, you were the one I was most worried about," he admitted, his hand moving off her shoulder so he could awkwardly scratch his cheek, "finding that journal must have been pretty hard, especially since you were the first to even read the damn thing-"

Mary quickly swatted Prince Alan on the arm, a sharp hiss of 'language' muttered lowly towards him as he merely scowled down at her in minor annoyance.

“What? It's just Sophia; she's known me since the both of us were little," he said, rubbing the place where Mary had swatted him, "so she's definitely heard me say worse."

"I don't care if the two of you are the thickest of thieves; there still is no excuse to use such language while ladies such as us are present," Mary said, letting out a small huff before turning her attention to Sophia, "but in all seriousness, are you truly alright? You've been looking exceptionally pale since you returned from searching Katarina's room."

Sophia couldn’t help but smile, touched by her friend's concern for her. Mary was one of her rivals for Katarina's heart, but she'd always been kind and considerate towards her, even though she truthfully had no reason to. As had Prince Alan and Prince Geordo, who acted as her unofficial older brothers when her actual brother was unavailable. Which was rather ironic given that she was technically older than them all, albeit by a few months.

“I’m fine. I promise,” Sophia said, making sure to keep her voice even in order to show how honest she was being, “I’ll admit that I’m a bit shaken by everything that’s happened. But I’m handling it all better than I expected.” 

“Yeah, I think it’s safe to say that we’re all pretty shaken, that’s for sure,” Prince Alan said, letting out a tired sigh as he leaned back in his seat, “honestly, I don’t know how Katarina didn’t just go crazy with all of this running through her head all these years. I know I would have lost it if I was in her shoes.”

“Katarina’s always been strong, even when we were little and still discovering ourselves, she always seemed so sure of who she was. Like nothing in this world could ever bring her down,” Mary said, a sad smile appearing on her face as she lowered her gaze down to her lap, her knuckles paling due to how tightly she was clasping her hands, “perhaps it was because of this that we all failed so terribly to see the signs that she was struggling just as much as we were. I am ashamed to admit that  I didn’t even know until today that she too was unsure of herself, that she also felt self-conscious about her looks like the two of us did.”

Instinctively, Sophia raised a hand to her hair, staring at it thoughtfully as she moved to stroke it. Come to think of it, Katarina had never really discussed her own looks, always seeming to direct compliments towards everyone but herself. Sophia hadn’t heard her say anything favourable about her own appearance the whole time she had known her, a thought which saddened her due to her never noticing it despite thinking similarly of herself long ago.

“I hate to say it, but I’m not surprised that I missed it. Reading people has never really been my forte. Especially someone as spontaneous as Katarina. Hell, I can’t even read myself sometimes. It took me years and her getting put into a coma for me to-” Prince Alan paused, his cheeks flushing slightly in embarrassment as he let out a small cough, “never mind. I guess what I’m trying to say is that, no matter how hard I’m kicking myself about it now, there isn’t anything I can do to change the past. All I can do is try my hardest to do better the next time I see her. That’s all any of us can do.”

Sophia blinked, an action that was instantly mirrored by Mary as the two of them turned their attention to Prince Alan, who’s blush seemed to only worsen upon noticing the way they were staring at him.

“What? Why are you both looking at me like that?”

“No reason. That was just surprisingly profound of you,” Mary said, the sadness slightly disappearing from her smile as she let out a small laugh, “I always forget how much you’ve grown since we were kids. It’s hard not to imagine you as the short-tempered and competitive little boy you were in our youth.”

Prince Alan immediately scowled, his arms quickly rising so he could cross them in front of his chest, although his expression held no true malice.

“Jeez, you sound like my mother when you phrase it like that,” he groused, “next you’ll be reaching forward to pinch my cheek, and tell me how adorable I am.”

Sophia couldn't help but laugh, the image of the Queen of Sorcier pinching Prince Alan's cheek and cooing up at his taller form simply too comical to resist laughing at. 

Mary’s smile widened slightly, a more teasing glint appearing in her eyes to replace the melancholy that was there previously.

“Do you want me to pinch your cheek and tell you how adorable you are?” she asked, grabbing the sleeve of her dress as if she was preparing herself to actually pinch him, “you know how I very much admire your mother. So if I can emulate her in any way then I would be most happy.” 

Prince Alan’s scowl deepened, throwing his hands up in a ‘I give up,’ fashion.

“That’s it. This is the last time I try to cheer either of you up ever again,” he said, shooting Sophia a false accusing look, “and don’t think I didn’t notice you laughing at me, Soph. You're no longer in my good books either.”

“That’s what you always say, and to this day you have never kept to your word,” Mary said dismissively, before her expression quickly softened to one of gratitude, “teasing aside, thank you, Prince Alan. I don’t know why, but I really needed to hear that. So….thank you.”

Sophia nodded, reaching forward to gently squeeze Prince Alan’s hand in gratitude.

“Yes, thank you, Prince Alan. I needed to hear that as well.”

Prince Alan’s scowl softened once more, waving his hand dismissively at both of them.

“Yeah, yeah. You’re welcome,” he said, leaning back in his seat once more so he could turn his gaze back out the window and onto the road, “now, let’s hurry up and find this monkey girl already before she somehow gets herself into more trouble.”

“You’re never going to let that nickname go, are you?”

“What? It’s pretty funny, and it explains how she always beat me in our tree climbing contests. The little cheater.”

As Cezar had warned her, the off-road track was considerably more tricky to navigate than the main road. In contrast to the road, it was clear that the track had never been officially made. Most likely, it was made by people walking on it for a long time. You could still see where the grass was supposed to grow, as well as the many loose stones that made the path dangerous for horses or carriages to pass through. Something that felt almost strategic given how Cezar had described the uses of this path in the first place.

In a split-second, Katarina felt one of the loose stones on the ground hit her foot, making her stumble forwards with a surprised yelp. Cezar reached over as soon as he noticed her slip, catching her by the forearms before she landed on her butt in the dirt.

“Careful there,” Cezar said, quickly releasing her the moment he noticed she was stable once more with a small chuckle, “if I had known you were this clumsy, I would not have suggested this path.”

Katarina immediately pouted, her cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

“Hey, I’m not clumsy! The rock just snuck up on me, that’s all!” Katarina said, reaching forward to give Cezar a not-so-gentle shove, causing him to let out another chuckle, “it’s not my fault that this path is so lumpy.”

“I did tell you to watch your step, yes?” Cezar said, a teasing smile appearing on his face, “like I said earlier, this path may be quicker, but it’s certainly rougher and less taken care of then the main road.”

It was at that moment that Cezar reached out his hand to stop Katarina from continuing to walk any further forward, with Pochi faithfully slowing to a halt at her heels when he did so with a small bark. Cezar’s head then motioned to the path ahead, where there appeared to be a ledge, with the rest of the path continuing below it. It didn't appear to be that far down, probably the equivalent of jumping down from a small tree, but Katarina could tell that, given the overall unevenness of the ground, all it would take was one small misstep for a serious injury to occur while jumping down.

Cezar took a few steps forward and then leapt down, landing in a low crouch with all the grace of an alley cat on the path below. It was then that he straightened back up to his full height. He then turned around and extended his arms up to her, as though he was awaiting her to throw him a package.

Katarina stared at him for a few minutes, puzzled, before quickly realising what he was up to.

Regardless of the fact that Pochi was tougher than most dogs due to his nature as a familiar, not that Cezar knew that to be fair, it was still nice of him to offer to help Pochi down. So, with a happy and grateful smile, Katarina picked up her faithful pooch, who happily licked her cheek when she grabbed him, before gently lowering him down so Cezar could safely grab him.

Cezar laughed and then reached up to grab Pochi from her hands, gently lowering him until he was on the ground next to him. Katarina then made her way closer to the ledge, shuffling so that she was sitting on the edge of it in order to make it easier for her to slip down. However, the moment she turned her attention back to Cezar, she was surprised to find that he was once more holding out his arms towards her, only this time Katarina suspected it was not for Pochi.

Katarina's cheeks flushed once more as she carefully slid herself off the ledge and into Cezar's awaiting arms. The moment she dropped, Cezar’s arms immediately grabbed her by the waist, causing her hands to instinctively grab ahold of his shoulders as he gently lowered her down to the ground. Despite the fact that his hands were incredibly calloused from all of the hard work he'd done as a mercenary, and his shoulders were strong and firm, his grip on her was so gentle that she barely felt it. It made her feel like she was one of those helpless maidens from Sophia’s romance novels staring into the face of a rugged hero, a thought that only made Katarina blush even more.

Katarina took a quick step back, Cezar's hands dropping off of her the moment she decided to move.

"Uh, thanks for helping me down," Katarina said, still feeling strangely flustered for some reason as she looked down at the ground, her expression somewhat sheepish as she kicked at the loose dirt with her shoe, “and for helping Pochi down as well. I’m sure he appreciated the hand too.”

Cezar merely smiled, reaching forward so he could affectionately ruffle her hair like he did earlier.

“Of course, I’m always happy to help,” he said, his tone kind as he adjusted his bag over his shoulder, motioning with his head towards the path once more, “shall we continue?”

Katarina nodded, adjusting her own bag before quickly falling into step with Cezar once more, her cheeks thankfully calming down as they resumed walking again.

After a few minutes of relatively comfortable silence, Katarina felt the urge to speak once more.

“Hey, Cezar, can I ask you something?”

As soon as she spoke, Cezar turned to face her with a kind expression on his face.

“Of course. What is it you would like to know?”

"You said earlier that this path is the quickest path you know of to Dewsbury," she began, a curious gleam appearing in her eyes as she stared at Cezar, "if it’s so quick, then why isn’t it used more often? Or by more people who are only travelling by foot?"

Cezar paused briefly, as if Katarina’s question had surprised him, before he continued to walk as if nothing had happened.

“These sorts of tracks were once very popular among commoners. Especially farming commoners who wished to quickly transport seedlings amongst themselves. It is because of them that these paths even exist at all,” he said, letting out a small sigh before continuing, “however, nowadays they no longer wish to risk such a thing anymore.”

“Why? Is the path too unsafe for them to travel on it anymore?”

Cezar bit his lip, giving her an almost uncertain look before moving to speak once more.

“Technically no, the path itself is still as safe for them to travel as it was when they formed it,” he said, “the only real danger for them is the people who are more likely to travel on it once they learnt of its existence.”

Katarina’s expression furrowed, her head tilting slightly in confusion at what Cezar was trying to say.

“Are you……are you saying that only bad people use these paths anymore?” she asked, her voice uncertain as she desperately hoped she didn’t offend him when she said that, considering he was a mercenary.

Cezar’s lip twitched up slightly, giving a small shake of his head at her.

“Not quite. Whilst there are undoubtedly people who use these paths with less than stellar intentions, and they unfortunately do make up a fairly large majority of the traffic, there are still good people who use these paths, for varying reasons,” he explained, his pace slowing slightly in an attempt to allow her to catch up to his faster strides.

“What kind of varying reasons?” Katarina couldn’t help but ask, feeling strangely curious about it all.

Cezar gave a small shrug of the shoulders.

“Like I said, they can greatly vary depending on the person. Some people are well-travelled like I am and are simply looking for a shortcut. Some people may have gotten caught up in something they shouldn’t have and are desperately trying to escape. And some…….” Cezar trailed off, his eyes slowly drifting in her direction, “some might simply be running away from something, or someone.”

Katarina paused, feeling as though her heart had stopped as she lifted her head to meet his knowing gaze. 

“I, uh, I can’t imagine what that last one would feel like,” Katarina stuttered, letting out a nervous-sounding laugh, “nope, not in the slightest. It’s a completely foreign concept to me-“

Cezar let out a small sigh, completely stopping in his tracks as he turned to face her completely.

“It’s alright, Katarina. You can give up the ruse now. I know,” he said, not a hint of accusation present in his voice, “in fact, I’ve known for quite a while now, so you don’t have to pretend otherwise anymore.”

Katarina stared at him hesitantly, to which he responded with another kind look, his expression oddly gentle as he stared down at her.

“What…..what gave me away?” Katarina asked hesitantly, somewhat desperate to know where she’d slipped up so she could improve for next time, “how….uh, how long did you know for?”

“I will admit I was only slightly suspicious of it the moment that I met you,” he admitted, smiling kindly down at her, “however, I’m afraid your twitchy demeanor and some of the things you said did eventually completely give you away-“

Cezar suddenly paused in the middle of his sentence, his expression narrowing slightly as if he was listening closely to something. Katarina took a cautious step towards him, a concerned look on her face as she approached him.

“Cezar, is something-“

It was at that moment that Pochi started growling, a sound that startled her because she'd never heard him make that noise before. Cezar quickly grabbed her by the hand and pulled her behind him, pulling out his blade in one fluid motion.

Katarina was confused at first by the sudden tenseness her usually calm companion was demonstrating. However, when she heard the sound of fast-approaching footsteps and loud swearing, she quickly realised the seriousness of the situation.

“Katarina, I would highly suggest you pull out your weapon right about now,” Cezar told her, his voice low so as to not alert whoever was approaching them, “it appears we might soon have company, and not the good kind.”

Her skin prickled with nerves as she pulled her hoe off her back and gripped it tightly. She'd sparred before, but this might be her first real fight. So she was anxious about the situation. Her hope was that Cezar was wrong, and that whoever was approaching was actually friendly, if a little boisterous and unorthodox.

That hope was quickly dashed when ten rough-looking men came around the corner of the path, their clothes dirty as if they'd just been in a fight, and their expressions filled with a variety of aggression. They were all clearly armed, each man brandishing some sort of blade or metal pipes. Cezar and Katarina both tightened their grips on their weapons at the sight.

“Can we help you, gentleman?” Cezar asked, stepping a bit more forward in order to block her from view, his voice hard and gaze sharp as he looked them all over.

One of the men stepped forward, his greying hair filled with grease and his expression nasty as he eyed the two of them with his one good eye, the other being hidden from view by an old-looking eye patch. 

“The boys and I were just looking for a few quick bucks,” he said, making a point of holding his weapon a bit higher so they could both see it,  his voice hoarse as if he’d had one too many cigarettes, “money is so hard to come by nowadays. So if you and your lady friend here wouldn’t mind emptying your pockets for us, it would be much appreciated.”

Cezar took another step forward, his expression narrowing further as he brandished his own weapon towards them.

“I’m afraid my companion and I can’t help you with that today,” he said, his tone somewhat casual despite the visible tenseness of his shoulders, “so I believe it would be in your best interest to find your fortune elsewhere-“

Before Cezar could finish his sentence, the man’s attention suddenly turned to her, his eye narrowing slightly as if he recognized her but was trying to place it. Katarina took another step behind Cezar in an attempt to hide herself more, afraid that he might realise who she was if he looked too closely. However, it appeared this was in vain, as his eye quickly widened, a rather frightening smile appearing on his face as he turned his attention back to the others.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here boys. We got ourselves the real jackpot here,” he bellowed loudly, “I’d recognise those sharp eyes anywhere, we’ve snagged ourselves a runaway noble!”

Katarina felt her blood freeze, a feeling of both dread and nervousness filling her as she realised just how bad the situation had gotten. 

‘I really have the worst luck, don’t I?’ she thought, wincing and tightening her grip on her how when she saw Cezar glance at her from the corner of his eye, ‘of all the people to try and mug us, it had to be someone who could recognise me, didn’t it?’