“Owwww…” Raven complained as he got to his feet with a pained wince. Then, he opened his eyes to witness Cornelia antagonizing Marialite. “Eeeeeek! Yikes! It’s Lady Cornelia!”
He squealed as though he’d just seen some sort of humongous insect—but it seemed that Cornelia was far more comfortable receiving that sort of reaction than the one Marialite was giving her. Her expression morphed into a wicked, arrogant smile, and she laughed in a high-pitched tone.
“And, what do we have here? The little bird that pecks around Lord Sirius’ feet! Were you asked to ‘guard’ our little saint here?”
“Hold up! Why the heck are you here?!” he said in a panic, shaking his head.
“Isn’t it obvious? I just had to see the woman for myself. That’s why I came here today, after all. But then, His Highness was being so awfully stubborn. He’s all, ‘I won’t let her meet the likes of you!’ He probably thought I would roast her alive,” she cackled, conjuring a deep red flame in her hand.
Her ashen eyes were full of murderous intent. That was all she needed to do in order to deter the soldiers who were attempting to enter the room. Raven froze, too—worried about what might become of him if he moved.
“The small fry can just shut up and behave. I’m here to talk to the saint, not you,” Cornelia said, huffing through her nose before turning back to Marialite.
“So, you’re Lady Cornelia!” Marialite beamed, finally finding her voice again. She didn’t seem at all paranoid that she might steal away her fiancé. For Marialite, meeting Cornelia was an amazing experience.
And she even came to find me herself!
Her excitement was intensifying by the second.
“Y-Yes… I am,” Cornelia replied unsurely, set off-balance by the look of joy on Marialite’s face. That was the last thing she expected. She approached her, bringing the fireball in her hand closer. “I’m Lord Elestial’s only daughter, and this country’s best hope of having a worthy empress.” She repeated the same line from earlier, but this time, her voice was much higher. She wanted to make triple sure that Marialite heard that part. “What say you? Does my presence paralyze you with fear?”
“Fear…?” Marialite echoed in confusion. She wasn’t trembling nor backing away. She simply stared in wide-eyed amazement, studying Cornelia from the tips of her ears down to her toes. Her mouth opened and closed several times as she analyzed the fiery woman in front of her.
“Not at all! I think you’re beautiful. And very sweet, too,” she giggled.
“…What?!” Cornelia screeched. Her pale cheeks turned apple-red. “Do you realize how foolish you sound? Can’t you see the flames in my palm?!”
“I can. They’re absolutely mesmerizing!”
“All right, I concede. You’re stunned by my powers and my looks. I can understand that. And…? What else? You must have other opinions of me, too!”
“Huh? Like what?” Marialite frowned, becoming increasingly confused. She thought Cornelia was a very charming woman. What else was there to say?
“You are far more beautiful than she could ever be, Lady Marialite.”
Marialite suddenly felt breath against her ear as a low, seductive murmur interrupted her.
She turned around to find Sirius standing there; at some point, he must have teleported into the room without her noticing. Violet-tinted lightning sparked around his right hand, shooting a crackling sound through the air. Wasting no time, he thrust his hand out towards Cornelia with all his might, sending a terrifyingly powerful lightning bolt in her direction.
She dodged it—just barely. It must have missed by a hair’s breadth. Instead, it sent a shock through the chair behind her, rendering it a pathetic, ashy pile of wood.
“Thank goodness you’re safe,” Sirius sighed with relief, reaching out to wrap his arms around Marialite from behind. However, Marialite quickly ducked down, and he ended up embracing thin air. Sirius stumbled, thrown off balance for a tense moment before regaining his composure.
Then, he shot a red-hot, angry glare at Cornelia.
“What are you doing here, Cornelia?” he growled.
“I only wanted to say hello!” she sighed. “How could I resist? The Jade Saint, who took the long journey here from the human realm… I had to make sure for myself that she was fit to become empress. But you forbade me from meeting her!”
“What did you expect? A repulsive woman like you doesn’t even deserve to breathe the same air as Lady Marialite.”
“That’s a little harsh, don’t you think? Besides, you’d have to be insane to think that she’s deserving of the title of empress,” Cornelia scoffed. “I thought that perhaps she has no fear for her personal safety, but since you turned up, it appears the fear has crippled her.”
Sirius’ irises were instantly dyed a furious crimson. That wasn’t all, either; countless balls of lightning appeared in the air and illuminated the room with purple flashes. Cornelia faced him with an expression of total composure, and a flurry of fireballs floated in the space around her. It had only taken a minute for the ornate, elegant room to morph into a treacherous battlefield. It was well past the point of a friendly tousle; something about the focused buzz in the air suggested that neither of them would let up until somebody died.
Raven took refuge in the corridor outside the room and watched over the scene of carnage along with the soldiers lined up there.
“Lord Sirius! Could you at least send Marialite out of the room?!” he panicked. “If she stays with you, she’ll get caught up in the conflict!”
“That will be unnecessary. The safest place for Lady Marialite is at my side.”
“Pfft!” Raven scoffed in disbelief. “The ‘safest’ place?! More like the most dangerous!”
Even if there was a grain of truth in Sirius’ claim, now was not the time to test it.
“Ew… You people make me sick,” Cornelia muttered, absolutely revolted by the way Sirius couldn’t bear to be apart from Marialite for even a second. Despite her violent personality, it appeared she was actually rather weak-stomached when it came to romance.
The onlookers silently prayed that her disgust would spur her into giving up and going home, but there was no way Cornelia would back down now. If she did, that meant never becoming empress. And she couldn’t let that happen.
“Listen, Your Highness,” she sighed. “Even if you make that saint your wife, I won’t stand for it.”
“…What?” Sirius spat.
“Oh, my… Did I forget to tell you? The truth is, I—”
Ignoring Cornelia’s taunts, Marialite suddenly moved away from Sirius. Apparently, she wasn’t all too worried about the situation, because she walked up to Cornelia without a care in the world.
“Lady Marialite!” Sirius gasped urgently. Taken off-guard by her unexpected movements, even Cornelia automatically took a step back.
“Wh-What are you doing?” Cornelia asked uneasily.
“Is this yours, Lady Cornelia?” Marialite asked, holding her hand out. Between her fingers lay the broken chain of a necklace with an ash-gray jewel as its centerpiece.
Cornelia slapped a hand to her own neck in a fluster. It must have broken when she dodged Sirius’ lightning attack. There was a look of uncertainty in her ashen eyes, but Marialite simply gazed into them and said, “It’s the same beautiful gray as your eyes.”
“Beautiful?! Wh-What do you…?” Cornelia yelped, her cat ears pricking right up. Both Sirius and Raven peered at her with a look of confusion on their faces.
“Saints really are all-powerful,” came a murmur from the crowd.
“L-Listen, you! Jade Saint!” Cornelia yelled, pointing a finger at Marialite. “I will pulverize you in a Duel of Maidens! I’ll drive you out of Celaeno, if it’s the last thing I do!”
Despite her declaration of war, her manner of speaking was far from that of an oppressor addressing someone vulnerable; she sounded more like a small-time villain in a fantasy novel trying to make a quick escape.
The fireballs surrounding Cornelia clustered into one big, swirling mass and rose into a pillar of fire. A moment later, the whoosh of fire went silent, and the magical pillar disappeared along with Cornelia. Marialite pursed her lips.
She forgot her necklace…