Part Two: The Witch of the South
1. An Unexpected Invitation
IT happened one day not too long after I’d become an eighth-year student. My brother, Charles, came to me with an interesting new development to discuss.
“The Sunruta Kingdom? I got one, too?”
Apparently, the neighboring Sunruta Kingdom’s prince, Prince Daniel, had sent me an invitation to his crowning ceremony.
In Najir, my kingdom, a crown prince is born already titled. But in the Sunruta Kingdom, he must first go through a crowning ceremony once he’s come of age before he can be officially recognized as the prince. I recalled that my brother Charles had received this same invitation in my past life. But of course, I hadn’t.
Despite that, it’d apparently been emphasized that my presence was desired this time around. I’d guessed that the crowning ceremony would be held this year, but I never expected to be invited!
“I think my invitation came by mistake,” I insisted.
“Nonsense. It has your name on it. See?”
Charles sighed and rolled his eyes, waving my invitation at me. It was penned on very fancy paper and had “Annabel Gottenheim” written in cursive on it. There was no doubt at all that it was addressed to me.
“We’ll send back our RSVPs together. Once you’ve finished writing yours, hand it over.”
Charles was acting like me attending the ceremony was a foregone conclusion. Well, I suppose it was. After all, I couldn’t just stay home when an invitation addressed to me arrived from royalty belonging to our neighboring country, now could I?
“Who else is slated to attend?”
“The Diplomatic Minister, Marquis Judeon, will be acting as our official representative. Also accompanying us will be the Royal Magician, Lord Actini, and an envoy of Imperial Guards.”
“I see…”
“What’s wrong, Bel? Don’t you want to go?” Charles frowned with concern as he noted my unexcited expression.
“…No, that’s not it. It’s just so sudden! I’m a bit shocked, is all.”
“This will be your first time stepping out onto the international scene, Bel. But there’s no need to be nervous! I’ll be right there with you.”
“Right, of course. Thank you, Charles.”
To be honest, no, I didn’t want to go.
The Sunruta prince-apparent, Daniel, had been my fiancé during my previous life. His full name was Daniel Burleque. He locked me up in a jail cell and threw away the key the last time I saw him. Who’d ever want to go and celebrate the coronation of a man like that?
I wasn’t sure I’d be able to fake a convincing sense of jubilation. Actually, I felt so scared about going that my knees were starting to tremble.
But I knew there was no way to avoid going.
Besides, I’d already sworn to myself that I’d change my fate and have a happy future with Ed this time.
I silently chided myself for being frightened, wiped away my frown, and put on a happy smile. Charles sighed with relief to see me back to my usual self again.
“Well, I have to be heading off. As soon as I can get my official duties done, I’m going to have a sword practice session with Dohle. There’s still so much I don’t know yet! I really need to get some serious studying done, too…”
“You always study so hard,” I remarked.
“Yep! It’s for the good of the kingdom, so I’m happy to do it, too.” Charles nodded and grinned.
After graduating from Grail Academy, Dohle had taken up a position as Charles’s personal guardian knight. Every now and then, the two would spar in the sword-fighting practice ring.
Charles was always destined to inherit the throne once he came of age, but that didn’t stop him from giving everything he did his best effort.
Actually, Charles’s diligence was one of his most redeeming features. Being a good student and constant hard worker meant that the kingdom’s subjects all felt like he’d become a monarch they could believe in.
When I told Charles as much, his eyes widened in surprise and he blushed. He may’ve been a splendid prince already. But he was still only seventeen years old. That boyish, embarrassed grin of his was infectious and made me smile right back.
“Give it your all, Big Brother!”
“Thank you. I will.”
I watched as Charles left the room then picked up the envelope that was lying on the table. Flipping it over, I could see that it’d been sealed with a red wax seal showing the Sunruta Kingdom’s royal crest of arms.
“I wonder why this invitation came, anyway?”
As I gazed at the crest of arms, I felt a heavy mood settle over me.
Slicing under the seal with a letter opener, I withdrew the invitation inside. It was written on a stiff piece of paper, folded twice. I froze as I scanned the page.
Just as Charles had said, it was a personal invitation to the coronation of Daniel, prince-apparent to the Sunruta Kingdom’s throne.
But that wasn’t what’d taken my breath away. It was the personal message scrawled at the bottom of the letter. It slanted slightly to the right and was clearly written in a different hand to the fancy calligraphy of the official text above it.
“I am eager to see you in person, Princess Annabel. I will make sure to have the palace decorated with beautiful dahlias to greet you when you arrive.”
Dahlias. My favorite flower.
I’d first met Daniel at a party in my previous timeline, where our engagement was decided. It was my coming-of-age party when I’d turned sixteen.
Daniel was nineteen then and had come to foster good relations between the Sunruta Kingdom and Najir. That was when he proposed marriage to me.
After Daniel had learned of my love for dahlias, he’d made it a habit to send me regular bouquets of the beautiful flowers. He’d sent them to me every day during his time here and had kept sending bouquets along with his letters after returning to the Sunruta Kingdom.
This slanted, scrawled handwriting looked extremely similar to the handwriting I remembered from his letters back then.
Did Charles, or Daddy, or someone else who knows about my love for dahlias tell Daniel? How could he know such a private thing about me?
I suddenly began to panic that there’d been private talks between Najir and Sunruta behind my back. Talks of marriage between Daniel and me.
Forget it! I am NOT marrying him! Not in THIS timeline!
I realized I was clenching my fist, accidentally crumpling up the invitation.
I refused to suffer the same fate again.
Besides, I’d sworn myself to Ed. I was going to wait for him.
So there was no way I was getting engaged to Daniel!
I looked down at the crumpled invitation again. Apparently, the coronation ceremony was due to be held in two months.
I won’t let things go wrong this time. I swear it!
I bit my lip and stared at the invitation until the text began to blur.