For a moment, Queen did not know what to say. He turned the word “marry” over in his mind, but the only thing that came out of his mouth was “Uh...wha...?”
Fie tilted her head in confusion. “Is that a no?” she asked.
Queen didn’t even need to think before shaking his head. How could he not want to marry Fie?
Seeing his response, Fie grinned. “So that’s a yes, right? Gotcha.”
Then, with a nod, she turned and leaped off his second-story balcony. She waved to Queen from the ground and called, “See you later, Queen!”
“Huh? Uh—yeah, uh, bye!”
Still not caught up to speed, Queen watched stupefied as Fie waved again and then ran off. He stared at the place where she had been, half-believing this was some kind of dream.
I’m going to marry her... Queen felt such shock that he could have been knocked over with a feather.
✦ ✦ ✦
Fie crept back through the palace garden. She had slipped out without telling anyone earlier, so it was vital that she get back before she worried her maids. Thinking about it, this garden reminded her an awful lot of the garden she walked through on that fateful day when she escaped the consort’s chambers for the first time. That was the day she had spotted a paper, blown to her in the wind, advertising the squire admission test, and decided to become a squire.
Now her dreams of being a squire were shattered, but she knew so much more than she did before. She could see now that her life seemed so hopeless only because of her sense of pride; had she reached out to those around her, perhaps everything would have turned out differently. Now she knew Sir Crow, Captain Yore, and all the other knights in the 18th platoon. Now her friend circle consisted of Gormus, Remie, Slad, and Gees, with Queen rounding out the bunch. If someone turned back the clock and presented her with the same choice, she knew she’d choose in a heartbeat to be a squire once again, because she couldn’t imagine a life in which she hadn’t met all of her friends.
Those had been such bright, fun days, but now those days were over, and the time had come for Fie to choose the course of the rest of her life. Even though she already knew she could never be a squire again, the initial news had still sent her into a depression. Now that she had recovered, it was time to consider the possible options for her future.
If she let things run their course, she would still be Roy’s consort, and, if luck was not on her side, she would become his first wife and rightful queen. Most everyone around her was hinting at this possible outcome, save for the chancellor who had told her point-blank that this was his desire. As much as that would hurt Queen, she wasn’t entirely opposed to the idea. Growing up, she had thought she’d never have a chance to marry or fall in love with anyone, doomed to spend the rest of her life wedded to a complete stranger against her will. (Well, she wasn’t wrong about that last part...)
King Roy was an honorable man. She had hated his guts at the start, but as time went on and she had such fun living in Orstoll, she continued to hate the man himself, but not his work as the king. After all, she had spent the best time of her life here in Orstoll, the country that he governed. Then there was Captain Yore, he who always did his best in helping others, caring for Fie with compassion, and, occasionally, harshly rebuking her. She worked as hard as she could and became a useful ally to him with only a little misbehavior (from her perspective—besides, she always apologized to make up for it). Now that Fie knew that King Roy and Captain Yore were the same person, the prospect of spending the rest of her life with him didn’t sound all that bad.
However, that left the issue of Queen. He was the first person in her entire life who had ever claimed to have feelings for her, and he was one of her best friends. Now that Fie understood his feelings, she knew that choosing to go with Roy would hurt her self-critical friend.
If she was going to end her marriage with Roy to be with Queen, she had to do it now. Once Fielle was safe, the country would want to head off in a new direction, dragging Fie along with it. If that were to happen, she couldn’t imagine others would be very supportive of her having a boyfriend. If things went bad enough, Queen might even end up in trouble. However, simply having a boyfriend was not sufficient reason to end a marriage. At the very least, she needed to make plans to marry Queen, hence why it was so important to understand what Queen wanted too. Did he love her enough to marry her, or did he simply want to date more casually? It’d be a complete mess if she somehow had the wrong idea. Queen was still young; maybe he wanted more time to sow his wild oats à la Sir Crow before settling down. Therefore, she had decided to ask Queen if he wanted to marry her. What a relief that he said yes—she hadn’t had the wrong idea after all.
Now, having confirmed Queen’s intentions, Fie needed to do her part in convincing the king and everyone else involved to let her marry Queen. But, Fie thought, this was her captain, after all. Surely he would be understanding.
Wrapped up in her own thoughts, she realized that she had spent far too much time on this midnight stroll. She needed to get back to the palace, and fast, or else risk the chancellor’s wrath.
Before she left, Fie looked back over her shoulder up into the boughs of a tree. Roy had told her plenty once her true identity was revealed, but she already knew, even before coming to the palace, that there had been one more man watching over her the entire time. That meant he was probably still here too, just like when she was a squire, keeping an eye on her and worrying all the while. Maybe he had even lent her a helping hand from time to time. She knew that if she annulled her marriage with the king and married Queen instead, he would no longer be there for her. Therefore, she waved her last goodbye to the man who had taught her so many things, the man who had helped her from the shadows, the man who had given her the gift of his kindness.
“Thank you for always watching out for me, Sir Cain,” she called.
There was no response, save for a rustle of branches. Fie giggled and turned to walk away again.