“Isn’t Lucia taking too long?”
The Sacred Maiden was the first one to comment. I had been thinking the same thing. Lucia’s audience with the King was taking longer than any of our meetings, and I had just been trying to decide whether or not I should go check on her.
“I’ll go see.”
Coming to the conclusion that I’d be fine as long as I didn’t actually enter the audience room, I got up. The uneasiness I felt had to be from what the King had told me just before.
“You do not suit each other. I have prepared a suitable partner for you.”
I thought back to how the King had spoken against our marriage. Though he’d backed off in the end, it still bothered me. I had honestly expected that reaction, because if Lucia was going to be celebrated as our world’s Sacred Maiden, I was still worrying that she’d be chosen to marry the prince. Because the Sacred Maiden had announced that she was going to return home, that just raised the probability that Lucia would end up as Queen.
The King had been planning on using “the Sacred Maiden” as a political card from the start. There was no way he’d allow a former commoner-turned-knight like me to marry a Sacred Maiden, but after I asked for it as my reward for our journey, he’d finally agreed, hesitantly. My audience with His Majesty had ended after that, but... I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
“I’m going too!”
“No, please wait here, Sacred Maiden.”
The Sacred Maiden firmly shook her head, with no regard for her hair, when I tried to stop her. Though she was usually quite pale, she was white as a ghost now.
“No! I’m scared. Back when I saw the King, all I got were really iffy answers. I’m afraid because it seemed like he was scheming something.”
“Scheming?”
“Maria, what did Father say to you?”
“Vague stuff like, ‘I hear your wish, and I will grant it.’ At first, I thought he was gonna let me go home. But the smirk he had makes me think he meant something else. I wouldn’t be worried if Lucia had come back quickly, but she’s taking so long.”
She looked worried as His Highness pressed her for an answer, and repeated what she had been told as the prince held her by the shoulders. I felt something I couldn’t explain shoot through me when she said the word “scheming.”
Perhaps there was an ulterior motive behind his words. I had thought that His Majesty had given up on making Lucia the prince’s queen and agreed to let me marry her. But what if I was wrong? After all, Lady Maria Nishime was, publicly, the only “Sacred Maiden.” It would be difficult to suddenly announce Lucia as a Sacred Maiden who would marry His Highness, both timing-wise and emotionally.
Yes... It would be too difficult.
“You do not suit each other. I have prepared a suitable partner for you.”
Remembering the King’s exact words, my head shot straight up.
“Excuse me. Your Highness, Commander. I’m going to go check on her!”
I’d thought that a knight like me wouldn’t be fit for a Sacred Maiden like Lucia. But what if he meant she wasn’t a fit for me? I might have been overthinking it, but I doubt I’d be able to calm down until I saw her.
✦ ✦ ✦
I ran as uneasiness filled my chest. My destination was the audience chamber. That was where Lucia should be.
I sprinted through the halls, knowing full well that I’d definitely get reprimanded for it. I would write as many written apologies as they wanted. I might have just been overprotective. She might be absolutely fine. But I wouldn’t be able to calm myself down until I saw her — until I heard her voice.
“Inside...”
“What!?”
When I finally got to the audience chamber, I breathlessly went to ask the First Regiment guards on either side of the door about who was inside. Only then, I came to a sudden realization.
“The guards...changed?”
“Huh? Ah...yeah, we just started our shift. Why?”
“Is Lu— Ah, um, was there a girl inside?” I asked them, trying to maintain my cool.
“No... The chamber is empty right now.”
“Yeah. His Majesty just retired to his chambers. No one else has come out, so it should be empty.”
They both turned towards the heavy door. Unable to stop myself, I went through them, reaching for the door.
“Wait!”
“Captain Clementi!?”
“Lucia...!” Slamming the door open, my voice and the sound of the door hitting the wall echoed in the empty room. “Lu...cia?”
My blood ran cold. There was only one path from the audience chamber to the waiting room where we all were. There was no way I could have missed her. But she hadn’t come back that way, which meant she was taken somewhere...by someone. She’d never leave on her own without telling anyone first.
“Was there anyone else inside when His Majesty left!?” I grabbed one of the royal guards by the collar. I didn’t even think about the fact that he was a noble.
“Uwagh!”
“No one! There was no one! I thought it was weird when he didn’t even have an attendant with him!”
“And before that!?” My tone was on the verge of yelling.
“Hell if we know! The other guards didn’t tell us anything, either! So let Leopold go! You might be the Captain of the Third Regiment, but you’re not going to get off easy for raising a hand against nobles!”
The other guard tried to rip my hands off the first one’s collar, but there was no way someone who only got into the knights because of their rank was going to overpower me.
I shot him a glare. “So you didn’t hear anything about who had an audience with His Majesty before you switched out with the first set of guards!?”
“Y-Yeah... His Majesty left the chamber alone a bit after we switched. No one’s been in or out since. Are you done? Let, let Leopold go...” I must have looked terrifying, because he quickly backed down after that.
“Sir Celestino!”
“Hey, don’t run ahead like that!”
“Celes, you’re way too fast!”
Just as I was about to beat more information from the useless royal guards, I heard a rush of footsteps and voices I recognized. It was the Sacred Maiden and the Canalis brothers.
“Where’s Lucia!?” the Sacred Maiden yelled.
I ignored her question. I didn’t have time to answer.
“Where are the guards you just switched with?” I asked the two again.
“P-Probably in the break room...”
“Hey, Celes!” Gaius called out to me. Ignoring him, I turned to run off again in search of Lucia, only to be stopped by his arm slamming into my neck. “Calm down! What happened? Where’s Lucia? What do you think you’re going to accomplish running off alone like that?”
I stopped, coughing and trying to get my breath back, while Lord Reynard rubbed my back. “Brother! You could have stopped him some other way!”
“Good idea, Gai! So Celes, where is she!?” The Sacred Maiden moved in beside me, clearly irritated, but all I could do was shake my head.
“I don’t know. She’s not inside the chamber. These two guards didn’t see her enter or leave, so I’m going to ask the two they relieved about who took her.”
“Took her? What do you mean?”
“None of us passed her on the way here. You know there’s only one path back, right? If she’d gone the other way, there’s no way she wouldn’t have told me — told us — first. And if she didn’t go on her own, that has to mean someone took her!”
Once the words were out of my mouth, I turned to run again. I didn’t have time to explain that to them.
“Is it true that Lucia isn’t inside, Celestino?”
“Your Highness!”
The prince belatedly appeared behind the others, with the Commander at his side. Even Eric came up behind them.
“You two, explain.”
“Commander!”
The two First Regiment guards straightened up in the presence of His Highness and the Commander.
They saluted before answering, “Captain Clementi seems to be searching for someone, but His Majesty has been the only one to exit the chamber since we relieved the last shift.”
“We haven’t heard anything from the last shift about comings and goings.”
Commander Agliardi’s face went white as they mumbled their answers.
“Where is Florido? Celestino, find him before you go for the last set of guards!” As I stood confused as to why he would even bring up the Vice-Commander, Commander Agliardi started barking out orders to the others. “Reynard, find Florido and detain him ASAP! Eric, Gaius, go check with the gatekeepers! Telling them that it’s an order from the Commander should get them to temporarily close all of the exits.”
“Commander, what do you...”
“I’ll explain later. Celestino, you join Reynard on the search for Astorga!”
I didn’t have time to think as I followed the raging Commander’s orders. His Highness, watching it all unfold, raised his hand as he spoke. “Fernando, Maria, come with me. Ah, you two can leave. Right now.”
“B-But, Your Highness...”
“I ordered you to leave. This is an emergency. I can’t have any outsiders involved.”
The First Regiment guards turned and left, giving us quick glances as they were sent off by the prince.
“Sir Celestino, let’s go!”
Why were we searching for the Vice-Commander? I ran after Lord Reynard, still confused.