After following Sir Celes to the men’s room, I hesitated in front of the open door. I had never stepped into a man’s room in my life, so I was a bit nervous... Granted, it wasn’t like it was only Sir Celes staying there, and Sir Gaius and Eric were behind me with the four men, so I shouldn’t have had anything to worry about.
“Lucia, go on in.”
“Ah, alright.”
Sir Gaius gave me a pat on the head to bring me back to reality, so I steeled myself and walked inside. Sir Celes put a hand on my back to soothe me.
I gripped his cape, which had been over my shoulders, tightly. He’d lent it to me to hide the damage to my dress. Though being surrounded by his scent calmed me down, it also made my heart pound.
Blushing as I walked into the men’s room, I found that it was much bigger than I’d thought. There were three rooms off the main one, with the three men I was with sharing one, the middle being for Sir Agliardi and Lord Reynard, and the last one being for the prince. According to Sir Gaius, they’d been given separate rooms upon arrival, but His Highness asked for adjoining rooms.
“Okay, I’ll go grab His Highness and the Commander. I’ll leave things here to you two,” Sir Gaius said, turning towards the door.
“I wanna go!” Eric protested.
“You could drop a lightning bolt or something on ’em if anything happens, but I’d have trouble handling more than one. Do your best. Captain, take care of Lucia.”
“Of course I will. I’m not leaving her alone. Good luck, Gaius.”
“Oops, said too much. Anyway, see ya later.”
Turning his back with a wave of his hand, Sir Gaius went off in search of the Commander and His Highness. Eric sighed as he watched him go, before turning his gaze on the four kidnappers.
“You guys should get ready, because you’re in for a scare whether or not you tell us who hired you.”
The men all looked down in response. They all had their hands tied behind their backs, but they didn’t seem like they’d try to fight or run. They were so obedient that you never would have thought they tried what they did.
“You guys tried to kill Lucia, right? You did it knowing that she wasn’t from Dal Canto, but was part of the Sacred Maiden’s party, right? There’s no way you were gonna get away with that. I don’t know what you were thinking when you took the job, but the way we deal with you is gonna change based on whether or not you tell us who hired you. Think about it.” Eric told them off in a thorny, irritated tone, while Sir Celes put his arm around my shoulders and held me close.
Suddenly, the door flew open, and in flew Miss Maria, screaming, “Lucia!”
Behind her were His Highness, Sir Agliardi, Lord Reynard, and Sir Gaius.
“Lucia, are you okay!? You aren’t hurt, are you?” After I caught her, she started roughly checking me over. That hurts, Miss Maria!
“I’m alright, no injuries anywhere,” I said.
“You lot! I heard it all from Gaius! How dare you try something like that!”
“Gyuwah!”
After making sure I was fine, she turned, threatening the kidnappers. On her shoulder, Shiro opened his wings and tried growling threateningly. Miss Maria was usually so cute, but she was scary when she was angry.
She tried to grab at the immobile men’s collars, Prince Edoardo calmly stopped her. “Maria.”
“Ed!”
She looked unsatisfied, but His Highness put a hand on her shoulder and smiled. He might’ve been smiling, but the air around him was chilled. It feels...just like it did with Sir Celes a little while ago!
“Maria, be a good girl and go to my room. Bring Lucia with you. Alright?”
“...Fine.”
He was smiling, but it was unsettling. Now we had two people like that in the same place. What were the chances? I must have been tired, thinking that His Highness and Sir Celes smiling was scarier than an obviously angry Miss Maria.
“Celestino, show Maria and Lucia to my room, and then come back. Eric, you wait in Fernando’s room. Fernando, Reynard, Gaius, you go ahead and hear these men out first.” The prince gave everyone their orders, still smiling brightly.
“Now, you lot. You’ll tell me all about everything, right?”
Visibly shaking, the kidnappers looked absolutely terrified of His Highness’s beautiful smile.