The news of Duke Zerenade’s insurrection reached Fie as well—or, rather, King Roy told her directly. Roy did not look himself as of late, and had been awfully busy, she thought. She was very thankful that he took the time out of his busy day to come tell her the news in person, but she was concerned for his health. The Captain Yore of today looked far more unwell than the captain of yore.
As another one of Roy’s meetings wrapped up, he stepped out of the council room to find Fie waiting outside.
“Heath!” he said. “No, excuse me. I mean Princess Fie.”
“Good to see you, Captain!” she said.
He felt a stab of pain in his heart every time he saw her; however, that was no excuse to avoid her. He had a responsibility towards her as the one who had placed her in her unfortunate situation to begin with.
“What’s the matter?” he asked. “Is something bothering you?” Even as busy as he was in the war preparations, he’d see to it at once to resolve any problem Fie might have.
Fie giggled and pulled out an enormous tea pot. “I made you tea to help perk you up!” she said. This tea was made from boiling stimulant herbs.
The ministers watching this exchange all thought, Oh no. King Roy had already drunk five cups of the stuff only a few minutes ago, claiming he had no time to waste eating lunch (much to the ministers’ horror) and that he’d make it through the afternoon by guzzling cup after cup (much to the ministers’ continued horror). Roy’s veins must have been running with mostly tea at this point.
Yet he took the cup anyway. “Thank you,” he said. There was no getting out of this now. Roy had a responsibility to drink this as, he reminded himself, the one who had placed her in her unfortunate situation to begin with.
“You’re welcome!” Fie chirped. She poured him another cup with a beaming smile. (Roy’s poor stomach...)
“You shouldn’t push yourself so hard,” Fie chided him as he knocked back the tea.
“Yes, but I want to bring this war to an end before anyone comes to harm.”
(Roy’s poor stomach!)
Roy drank five cups in all before his stomach felt like it would explode. However, he didn’t betray a word of his discomfort to Fie, tightening his abdominal muscles and sloshing off to his next meeting.
With nothing else planned, Fie returned to her assigned room and ruminated on what to do next. Nowadays, she spent her time either exploring the palace or talking with Captain Yore, but Fie did not have any particular goals at the moment, which also gave her nothing particular to do.
Reflecting on it now, Fie remembered being told that she was taken on as a squire because her small build made her suited for espionage work. Yet now that the investigation into the duke was over, that left Fie with no more reason to pursue the knighthood. I’ve been completely removed from my post, she thought to herself, and internally sobbed. She was already well aware that she couldn’t return to the knights, but realizing her potential job was gone hit her with a fresh sting of disappointment.
Of course, she was thrilled that Fielle’s problems were almost over, but she couldn’t help feeling lonely when she knew that she’d soon be left alone again.
“What’s going to happen to my future?” she asked herself with a sigh.
“Pardon?” asked a nearby maid, startled by the question.
Fie looked at her curiously. “What’s up?” she asked.
“N-Nothing, Your Highness,” the maid mumbled. She was one of the maids assigned to Fie upon Fie’s return to the palace. At first, the prospect of working for such a person of such ill repute filled the maid with trepidation, but she soon discovered firsthand that Fie was quite a lovely person. In fact, she even regretted being complicit in spreading those rumors.
From the maid’s perspective, Fie’s future was set in stone. Everyone in the castle now knew Roy and Fielle’s marriage was a sham, which made Fie the closest thing to the king’s legitimate first wife. It would have been another story if Roy and Fie did not get along, but the two were, to an outsider’s perspective, shockingly close, even more so than Fielle and Roy, the pair everyone thought were so in love. The biggest mystery was how a second wife shut away in the consort’s chambers could then have become so close with the king.
However, from Fie’s perspective, her future was a worrisome thing she had no control over. She sighed again. “There’s nothing I can do about it...” she mumbled.
The maid was at a loss of what to do, seeing her mistress look so distressed.
Yet as the maid looked at her, Fie continued pondering the question: What did she want to do? Well, she wanted to support Fielle, and she wanted to assist Captain Yore. But now that Fie could no longer become a knight, she didn’t think she’d be allowed to do either of those things. Those were both best left to the adults.
Just then, Fie suddenly realized why this bothered her so much—she was lonely. Sure, she talked to Sir Crow and Captain Yore, but only occasionally, and she couldn’t see Queen, Gormus, Remie, Gees, Slad, the 18th platoon, or the rest of her squire friends. She wasn’t alone per se, but she had suddenly lost everyone whom she had once been able to see at any time. From here on out, she likely wouldn’t be able to see even Sir Crow and the captain on a frequent basis either. That, she thought, was what was making her lonely.
But how selfish of her to worry about that, she chided herself. Captain Yore was working his hardest to help Fielle out of a very sticky situation, so it was up to Fie to grin and bear it. “I shouldn’t think that I’m lonely,” she told herself.
The maid overheard this comment and rushed to the head maid in a tizzy. The king’s wife was lonely! What if that led to issues in their marriage? However, the maid was also worried for Fie’s emotional wellbeing. If you had told me a year ago, she thought to herself, that I would someday be rushing off to care for the most infamous girl in the kingdom, I would never have believed you. Yet after a month with her mistress, the maid was so fond of Fie she couldn’t help but worry for her.
The maid’s feelings and other circumstances aside, Fie felt that her current position was too uncertain. She couldn’t return to the squires, so what next? She had not the faintest idea. Then there was her relationship with Queen, which was likewise stuck in limbo. Oh, Queen... She wondered what he was up to now. Maybe he had forgotten all about her. Or, maybe, he still had feelings for her after all this time.
What did it mean to have feelings for someone anyway? She didn’t know, and that meant she couldn’t begin to imagine how Queen felt about this whole scenario. Was there anything she could do to help him? And what would that even be?
Fie added her concern for Queen to the list of things weighing on her mind.