“Ignacia, do you still not understand the severity of your actions?” the king demanded harshly, commanding the room at once with a voice ringing with royal authority.
Ignacia’s shoulders jumped. “I do...” He stood from his chair and robotically approached me...without a shred of guilt clouding his expression.
I don’t need his apology, I thought again. There were few things less useful than an insincere apology. I would much rather have received monetary restitution that I could put toward travel expenses and items I needed.
“From the bottom of my heart, I apologize for breaking our engagement and declaring your exile out of the blue,” Ignacia said, then remained silent as I offered no response. Does he expect me to forgive him? “Charlotte?”
“I do not think you should address me with such familiarity. We are no longer engaged.”
“Y-Yes. I’m sorry, Miss Charlotte,” Ignacia quickly offered, visibly quaking in his boots.
Still, keeping my mouth shut won’t help to end this. Swallowing an exasperated sigh, I said, “I do not need an apology from you.”
“G-Good. Of course you wouldn’t still be upset about—”
“I have no intention of forgiving you. It’s pointless to apologize,” I cut in. Although I struggled to comprehend how he could possibly think that I wasn’t angry with him for what he’d done, I kept going. “If you would like to offer an apology, I demand restitution. If you can agree to that, I will not resort to any form of retaliation and you can forget all about this incident. Why not wipe the slate clean so you can be with your new fiancée? Someone with a nice smile, instead of someone as emotionless as I—that is who you should be with.”
“Uh... R-Right...” Ignacia stammered out an agreement. He’d most likely already planned to offer some restitution, though. Queen Belltiana would not have risked her friendship with my mother by setting up this meeting if they hadn’t prepared a decent olive branch. And, not only was my mother her best friend, I myself was kind of her favorite. “All right,” Ignacia said more clearly, balling up his fists. “I promise to pay the amount you request, Miss Charlotte.”
“Thank you,” I said. I was glad there had been no proper apology and that we were settling this monetarily. We could both wipe our hands clean of this whole debacle. “Why were you in Zille, Your Highness? Were you there to look for me?” I asked. I would have thought he’d prefer to spend his time getting lovey-dovey with Emilia in Farblume. I’d guessed that he’d either been there to bring me back or to conquer Zille on his own, but I wanted to hear it from the horse’s mouth.
Ignacia answered hesitantly. “I need Emilia. But I also needed you, Miss Charlotte. Nothing has gone right since you left. Well, Emilia said she’s going to become the Holy Maiden, so that seems promising...”
“Are you trying to say that you need my backing?” I asked. Apparently I’d hit the mark because Ignacia’s shoulders began shaking and his lips twisted into a knot. For a prince aspiring to the throne of Farblume, he had a concerningly poor poker face.
“But! I have Emilia. I couldn’t very well have a Dark Mage as a wife. To make Emilia my queen, I needed to gain political support another way—by making a significant contribution to the kingdom. It would have all worked out if I’d been able to eliminate the Pope...”
“I see,” I said, feeling my blood boil at Ignacia’s words. He’d intended to kill Tithia for his own political gain. Even if Ignacia had been unable to get his hands on me, seizing Farblume’s rival nation would have been a historic feat. Of course, Leroy and the other Paladins would have made sure Ignacia’s legion never laid a finger on Tithia. The prince would have preferred to keep me under his thumb, but he’d been unable to accept some Dark Mage who never smiled as his bride. Without marrying a suitable match, Ignacia couldn’t offer anything to the kingdom that would secure his position as sovereign—thus, his scheme to take over Erenzi. How reckless is he? I supposed it didn’t matter since I’d have nothing to do with Ignacia after this. I gave a little scoff and said, “Good luck with that. Just so you know, I have a friendly relationship with Erenzi. If you ever launch an attack...I won’t hold back.”
“I-I know...!” Ignacia stammered. “I’ll never do anything like that again.”
I nodded and wondered what Ignacia’s precious sweetheart Emilia was up to. Judging by her absence, their relationship wasn’t all smooth sailing. I doubted they were even courting anymore, much less engaged. Still, she had been the catalyst of my troubles. Whether or not I requested she be punished, I wanted to know. “How is Emilia?” I made sure to direct the question to the king rather than Ignacia.
“She is from a common family... She lives in the monastery in town, healing the wounded and learning whatever lessons life has to offer. In the process, she’s paying off the fines levied upon her,” the king said.
“I don’t think she’ll ever set foot in this castle again,” the queen added.
“Mother...!” Ignacia began in an outraged tone, but he was soon silenced by the queen.
“I see,” I said.
“If you wish for a more severe punishment, that can be arranged,” the king offered.
“No. If she’s healing people and paying her dues, there’s nothing else I want from her.” Emilia had a questionable personality, but she was the player character of the Reas spin-off. It wasn’t inconceivable that her actions were predetermined by the story of the game, rather than born of her own free will. If that were the case, perhaps she deserved a second chance. She always did outlandish things, so there was no telling whether she would take this opportunity for self-reflection.
Seeing that I was satisfied with the update on Emilia, the king moved on to discussing the future of Farblume. “As you know, we have long been in conflict with the Sacred Land of Erenzi, but we are considering serious efforts to resolve that.”
Until now, Farblume had been known for its Swordsmen and Erenzi for its Healers. Those of Farblume had always been jealous of Erenzi’s ample Healer population because they had so few of their own to support their Swordsmen in battle. But now, the king was suggesting that relations between these countries could improve. When I’d played Reas, the tensions between Farblume and Erenzi had never gone away. Isn’t this a historical moment?! My heart thundered at the thought.
“Actually, it was requested by Pope Tithia. She said that our conflict had always weighed on her mind because of her hope for world peace,” the king continued.
“By Tithia...?” Something swelled up in my chest. Tithia must have had her plate full trying to sort out her own business, but she was already looking out for her people and even thinking about international diplomacy. I couldn’t have been prouder of how much she’d grown.
“I am ashamed to admit that she had to reach out her hand first,” the king added. He was definitely moving in the right direction by sincerely considering Tithia’s words. Even if it was too much to hope that Farblume and Erenzi become allies overnight, I would have loved to witness the first spark of a friendly relationship.
As Tithia’s friend, I have to be ready to mediate between the countries if something happens. For the first time since regaining my memories, I was glad of my family’s ducal title.