Chapter 2: Consort to the Prince of the Kingdom of Strange Powers
IT was a clear, sunny day.
“Safe travels, Princess Hermine!”
“Bless you, Princess!”
Droves of civilians rushed to the harbor to see off Sara’s boat, waving their flags and pennants adorned with the Kingdom of Saleilles’s coat of arms. Sara, draped in a magnificent rose-pink dress, stood on the ship’s deck and waved at them, a graceful smile on her face.
The ship set sail, and Sara watched as both the people and the harbor gradually became a speck in the distance.
“You did wonderfully, Princess Hermine,” said the chamberlain. “It will be quite some time before we reach Ferrier, so feel free to relax in your cabin.”
“Yes,” Sara said with a nod. “I’ll go do that.”
The two of them slowly walked to her cabin, and Sara told the chamberlain that she was a little tired and would like to be left alone. Once she was by herself, Sara sat on her bed and let out a deep sigh.
She then opened her trunk, which had been placed nearby, and took out a flimsy wooden box from inside. From this box, she removed the portrait of Prince Richard that Ferrier had sent her.
She propped up the portrait by leaning it against her pillow. Sara smiled, but barely—it was more like a vague grin.
When Sara had heard the devastating news about Hermine and Firmin five days earlier, she had exiled herself to her bed. Those in the castle who knew about the situation let her be, and she had been very grateful for that.
To Sara’s surprise, however, she had barely cried at all. At one point, she became worried that she had lost the capacity for sadness altogether, but fortunately, that wasn’t the case.
It wasn’t until the following morning that she’d realized that other feelings had overtaken her sadness at their backstabbing and their vilification of her—namely, anger and a strange feeling of exaltation.
Sara had been betrayed…by both her lover and the master she was indebted to.
It was undoubtedly a sad situation. But Sara was not some delicate flower who would collapse in tears, eternally inconsolable, unable to even eat.
Those jerks! I’ve never been so upset! I can’t believe this! Those two are total garbage! Traitors! Worthless trash!
Once Sara had snapped, the loyalty she had held for Hermine for six years and any trace of affection or love she had developed for Firmin over the last ten years were all blown away.
Sara had been forsaken by her lover, her master, and her own king…
So what was she to do now?
“I will absolutely—absolutely—be happy in Ferrier!” shouted Sara, smiling brightly as she rubbed Richard’s cheek on the portrait with one of her fingers.
Then she lifted a tiny wooden box out of the trunk and took out the object held inside.
It was a corsage roughly the size of a child’s clenched fist. It looked like a rose, but it was actually made of several layers of thinly cut crystal stacked on top of one another. Despite its fragile appearance, it was rather heavy.
Her father had given it to her mother when they got married, and Sara had often looked at it as a child and admired its delicate construction. Despite the terrible state of her parents’ bodies after the carriage accident, the corsage had escaped unscathed because her mother had worn it on her chest and simply folded over it. It was the only memento from her parents she had been able to keep.
Sara’s parents had always told her, “It’s all right to cry and feel down when times are tough, but you must always find a way to get back on your feet.”
Sara wrapped both hands around the corsage and spoke to her parents in her heart.
Dad… Mom… I won’t lose hope!
If Sara spiraled just because a few people she trusted betrayed her, and she ended up taking her own life, she would be too ashamed to face her parents in the afterlife. Sara wanted to become happier than anyone else so her parents could rest peacefully in God’s presence.
Sara had every right to be happy.
But for better or worse, Sara was on her way to Ferrier, a kingdom filled with mutants.
She had no idea what kind of people awaited her, what the kingdom was like, or what kind of a welcome she was to receive. Given that she was the princess of a defeated kingdom, people there might even despise her.
But there was a possibility, however slight, that Sara could make a new life for herself in this kingdom and become even happier than she had been in Saleilles.
“Prince Richard… My husband.”
Sara had meant to murmur nonchalantly, but strangely, she felt embarrassed instead. Feeling self-conscious (despite saying it to herself), Sara automatically turned Richard’s portrait face-side down.
His Highness… I hope he’s a good person.
If Sara found happiness in Ferrier, she could snuff out any lingering attachment to her birthplace.
And then, if one day she crossed paths with Hermine and Firmin again…maybe she would be able to laugh everything off.