I’d only ever met with the king outside before now, so seeing him in my bedroom of all places felt so surreal. The pale light enveloping him was so mystical that it ended up making him feel even more unreal.
Seriously, though, this was a little girl’s room. This is unlawful entry.
“The moment you suggested it, she had no choice but to accept. If Deir had refused under those circumstances, the imperial family might’ve apprehended her to prevent her becoming a real threat.”
Wait, I was in that much danger? Someone tell me these things! At least give me a little more time to think.
(I had already decided I would support her regardless of what she said. If the empress had gone against Deirdre’s wishes, then all the spirits of the empire would’ve become the empress’s enemies.)
Hang on, hang on, don’t suddenly drop a bomb like that in the middle of such a breezy conversation. I can feel the stomachache coming on!
“You like Deir that much?” Chris asked, hesitant.
“But you wouldn’t cooperate with me if I was going to use my power for evil, would you?” I asked the Spirit King.
(And what constitutes evil? What seems evil depends on one’s own position. We have decided to believe in and stand by you.)
In other words, even if I were deemed the worst person to exist by other people, if I had decided on a course of action, they would carry it out without question?!
“No, no, no way. I definitely can’t use power like that. That’s way too scary.”
(And that is precisely why I chose to trust you.)
After saying that, the Spirit King smiled gently and began to approach me, but before he could get any closer, Alan leaped over the table and picked me up. He paid no mind to the clattering of cups falling to the floor, instead passing me straight over to Chris while keeping his eyes glued to the king. Chris took me and placed me on the sofa beside him, refusing to let go.
(What is the matter? I informed you of our meeting, did I not? I simply came to collect her.)
Alan was kneeling on the table on one knee—he was clearly in position to fight.
“Alan? What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Your Sacred Majesty, surely you do not intend to take Deir away to the land of spirits?” Instead of answering me, Alan directed his question to the king.
(What is this all about?)
“There is a book that says there are cases of people being kidnapped by spirits who have taken a liking to them.”
(Ah... So that is the cause of your wariness.) The Spirit King laughed at Alan’s insinuation. (Deirdre, it seems your brothers are deathly afraid for you.)
“Excuse me?”
(Let me ask: Do you have any intention of leaving your family and coming with us for good?)
“What? No, not at all. I don’t want to leave my family.”
(And there you have it. As her supporter, I would never do anything to sadden her. I will, however, take her away if she ever desires it.)
Alan finally let out a sigh of relief and leaped off the table again to sit beside me.
“Take her away?” Brad was clearly holding back a cry of alarm over the realization that such a danger existed, but beside him, Rex had simply been watching my brothers’ teamwork with excitement. I couldn’t blame him. Weren’t they cool? I looked like a heroine, right? I didn’t look like a piece of luggage being hauled off to get packed into a delivery truck, right?
“Excuse our rudeness.” Chris bowed his head, as did Alan after a bit of a delay. Despite their willingness to apologize, the two of them still had a hold of my arm and shoulder and refused to let go.
(Deirdre, are these two not worthy of your trust?)
The Spirit King probably knew that I’d come here from a different world; I imagined that topic would come up during our meeting.
I looked from Chris to Alan. For all their smarts and maturity, they were both still children, after all. Yet they thought only of protecting me, even while up against the Spirit King, someone whom even adults would struggle to handle.
“They are. They’re my beloved brothers, after all.” I grabbed both their arms tightly. “You might hate me after this, but there’s something you both need to hear.”
“Hate you? That could never happen,” Chris stated with full confidence.
“Right,” Alan chimed in. “We’re on your side no matter what happens.”
Oof, I felt bad that I’d hesitated to bring this up for so long.
(Shall we go, then?)
“What?”
Now?! He really doesn’t care about our circumstances at all!
“Your Sacred Majesty, you’re a long-lived being, right? Do you feel time like a dragon?” I asked.
(Like a dragon?)
Wasn’t it pretty common in fantasy stories for races with very long lives to feel time differently than humans? You’d tell them to wait a bit and they’d go, “A bit? So about a week?”
(Hmm... I think I understand what you mean, but everyone had a lot of free time on their hands, so the moment I mentioned you to them, they came straightaway, saying it seemed fun.)
So, to him “straightaway” was three days later. It didn’t seem huge but there definitely was a difference in our perceptions of time.
(Tell the margrave that I’ll be taking all of his children away.)
“Don’t make it sound like you’re going to kidnap us!”
“Wait!” Brad called out. “Please let me come too.”
(Deirdre was originally the only one who was meant to be joining us. I can’t push it any further than I already am.)
“Tell father we’ll be back by evening,” I ordered.
(You know you can spend as many days with us as you wish, correct?)
Honestly, it probably wasn’t a good idea for all three of us to leave at once like this, especially if something were to happen to us while we were there, but neither of my brothers were willing to stay behind and they still hadn’t let go of me. I waved my hand to reassure my two valets we’d be fine, and then my vision was enveloped by a soft light.