The three moved to a wooden bench set up in a corner of the training grounds. Anne and Keithwood appeared with drinks as if they had been waiting to show up at the perfect moment.
“Thank you, Anne.” After flashing her maid a grin, Mia returned her attention to the two boys. “I’ll need to go to Ganudos Port Country soon, actually.” She explained what she had heard from Orania, sounding just like a runner who had come to report to their captain. “This is bound to be revealed sooner or later, and when that happens, trust in Ganudos’s royal family will plummet.”
Mia’s primary goal was saving the king, but she wanted to avoid any shifts in the authority governing Ganudos as well. She was hoping things would fix themselves so Ganudos wouldn’t have to become a territory of Tearmoon. And I need to do everything I can behind the scenes to make sure they don’t build that ominous gold thing either!
Now that Mia had her priorities straight, she continued. “So, we need to investigate the situation and speak with Ganudos’s king. And if possible, I’m hoping we can reform him. Luckily, Orania already wants to fix the problems facing her nation, which means it’s important for us to support her, convince the king, and remedy the situation.”
It was always important to have clear goals. It would be terrible should anyone mistakenly believe she was going herself just to take the bad guys to task.
“I see. I’d gladly come with you. My own kingdom once suffered at the hands of revolution as well.” Abel was the first to speak. He admitted there were problems in how his father governed Remno, while also highlighting the need to maintain royal authority. It was hard for him to consider Ganudos’s current state as unrelated to his own.
Mia giggled. “Thank you, Abel,” she said with a satisfied nod. Then, she looked toward Sion. Sion’s always fussy about these sorts of things. I’m sure he’d stick his head in even if I didn’t ask him, since what’s currently happening in Ganudos is clearly unjust. She had let her guard down!
“I think...I’ll sit this one out.”
“Huh?” Mia stared back at him. She hadn’t expected this response. “What’s gotten into you, Sion? This isn’t like you at all! Are you not feeling well? Does your stomach hurt?”
Seeing how intensely worried Mia was, Sion put on an awkward grin. “No, that’s not it. It’s just...” He swallowed his words. “I was thinking I’d go and see Echard.”
“You were?”
“Yeah. I’m worried he’s having a hard time being away from Sunkland. It seems like he’s doing his best, and I was hoping to reward those efforts.”
“I see... I suppose you did visit him this summer. Well, if that’s how it is...” Mia was half convinced, but she still had a nagging suspicion. This was Sion! Sion Sol Sunkland, the man who would do anything in the name of justice! Could he really turn a blind eye to what was happening in Ganudos?
Hmm. Is this Sion...a fake? thought Mia, absolutely ridiculously. But it really is a shame he won’t be accompanying us.
But there was more on Mia’s mind than these silly thoughts. She wanted to show Sion exactly how she planned to handle the situation with Ganudos, which faced similar circumstances as Tearmoon once had.
The golden rule was a very convincing axiom, stating that one must do unto others what they would want done in return. Branching from this rule was another axiom, that one must do what pleased others, and not what pleased themself.
Thus, Mia had wanted to use the golden rule to demonstrate how she wanted to be treated by displaying how she treated Ganudos. She was hoping to contrive things so Sion and the others were more amenable to this, making it easier for them to realize what sort of treatment Mia wanted. Basically, she wanted to tell them, “If things take a turn for the worse in Tearmoon, I want you to do this. This is what will make me happy, so hurry up and realize that, okay?”
First, you tell them what’s right and what’s wrong, warning them nicely if possible. If they still didn’t listen, then you really laid down the arguments, and if that didn’t work, you warned them more harshly. Then, you gave them one final warning, and if that whole process proved a bust, then that was it. The next step was revolution and the guillotine.
There were steps to this! Mia thought there was plenty they could have done before throwing her in the dungeons and decapitating her at the guillotine! And even if that wasn’t how things tended to work, she wanted to make sure they knew that was the process they needed to follow when it was her turn!
Both Miss Rafina and Sion have gotten a lot better, but I can’t let my guard down. Hearts change, so there’s always a chance they’ll suddenly want to punish me in the name of justice. And as someone who had a neck that fit perfectly in a guillotine, Mia needed to be cautious.
She turned to study Sion. “So you’re planning on heading to the Greenmoon domain?”
“I suppose so, but I’m hoping to show my face at the Holy Eve Festival too. But first, I was planning on going to Tearmoon, then spending the new year in Sunkland.”
In that case, I might be able to have Esmeralda drag him to Ganudos if I give her the news in advance, thought Mia with an inward grin.