Chapter 5: The Selfish Princess and the Trial

Chapter 5:
The Selfish Princess and the Trial

“OH, STALE. Are you training with Arthur again today?”

I’d just finished my lessons for the day when I ran into Stale in the hall, dressed in his usual practice gear.

“Yes. Arthur said this time of day works best for his schedule. You two should join us, if you have the time.” Stale smiled at me and Tiara before hurrying for the practice room.

Ever since he and Arthur trained together yesterday, Stale was possessed with renewed passion. He spoke to Arthur like a comrade, a friend. He looked happier than ever when Tiara or I caught a glimpse of the two of them side by side. And the same went for Arthur. The timid boy who’d hid his face behind his hair perked up the moment he saw Stale.

“We just seem to get along,” Stale had explained when I asked him what happened between them.

That wasn’t much of an answer, and it left me feeling a little lonely. I also worried this was the rift that drove us apart, like in the game.

“Princess Pride!”

I turned to find Jack the guard rushing toward me. He was normally a quiet man, so it surprised me to see him in such a fluster.

When he stopped before me, he said, “Her Majesty has summoned you.”

***

“I’m sorry to call you here so suddenly, my dear daughter.”

We met in the throne room. Tiara tagged along, not wanting to leave my side. She seemed worried about letting me be on my own, but Mother didn’t mind, so I figured I might as well take her with me.

Mother sat atop her elegant throne, the seat reserved for the highest authority in the kingdom. She was the very picture of dignity and grace as she looked down at her daughters. Father sat to her right, and Uncle Vest, the seneschal, stood to her left. Prime Minister Gilbert lingered at Father’s side.

“It’s no trouble, Mother. What is it that you needed?”

“I want to speak about what happened to the order,” she said.

I flinched, struggling to maintain my composure. There’s no way she knows I went to the cliffs, right?

“Are you aware that a man was taken into custody after the ambush?” Mother asked me.

Thank goodness. It’s not about that. I stifled a sigh of relief.

“Yes, I know about that,” I said honestly. I was the one who more or less took him into custody, after all.

“We believe that that man—or rather, his organization—is directly involved in the disappearance of our neighbor’s royal order.”

Prime Minister Gilbert filled in the details. “The plan was to have our neighbor, the kingdom of Anemone, welcome our new recruits into their land,” he said. “Their knights would guide ours through the country. However, when their knights failed to arrive at the scheduled time, our knights’ commander made an emergency expedition with a band of new recruits in tow. Well before they reached the border, a group of men ambushed them.”

That was pretty much in line with what I remembered too. Mr. Carl had given me a similar explanation when we went to observe the order’s training exercises. The kingdom of Anemone, though… Something about that name rang a bell. I knew we’d recently formed an alliance with them, so I might have read about their kingdom in a history book.

“The man we arrested tells us that he works for an organization that opposes our alliance. They took the Anemonian knights as prisoners, obtained information about our own order, and planned the ambush at the cliffs. They were aiming to take out both of our armies simultaneously.”

In other words, it was all part of a larger plan.

“Unfortunately, the prisoner knew very little about the leaders of this organization he works for,” Prime Minister Gilbert added.

This all made sense, but what did any of it have to do with me?

“Pride.” Mother called my attention to her. “I heard from Albert that you’ve been studying our country’s laws lately.”

I snuck a glance at my father, Albert. He looked impassive as he waited for her to continue, but a strange little smile tugged at Mother’s mouth. Then, she abruptly pointed toward one side of the room with the white, polished tip of her fingernail.

“As the next in line to the throne, you’re to put this man on trial,” she announced.

At her signal, the door behind me opened up for the second time. The guards dragged a man into the room. A gag covered his mouth, and rope bound his body. I recognized him immediately—Val, the man I’d forced to save me and Commander Roderick. Still, I wouldn’t even know his name if it weren’t for my memories of the game.

The guards shoved Val to his knees. When he spotted me, his eyes flew wide and he struggled and grunted, issuing a muffled cry of “Monster!”

“The offender’s name is Val,” Prime Minister Gilbert said. “He claims that the Anemonian knights he captured are alive and being detained somewhere far from the site of the ambush.” He glared down at Val with frigid eyes. “However, he claims he’s unable to explain the precise location in words. If we’re to rescue these men, we’ll need him to lead us there.”

“So, my dear daughter, enlighten us,” Mother said. “How do you intend to deal with this criminal?”

I see. She’s testing my capacity as the future queen.

I took a deep breath. “First of all,” I began, “the act of ambushing the order is a grave crime in itself. Appropriate punishments range from a life sentence to execution. Considering his actions may have affected our alliance with the kingdom of Anemone, I believe death to be an appropriate punishment.”

Val’s eyes went even wider, but this was merely the law.

“However, if he knows the whereabouts of the Anemonian order, then we can make use of a fealty contract.”

Such contracts weren’t an uncommon way to punish criminals, though they were unique to our kingdom. It was a useful way to get someone to confess the entire truth of any information they held. A fealty contract would force them to obey every order from their master for the rest of their life, which eliminated any threat of them breaking the law again.

“I can think of three ways to punish this man,” I said. “First, we give up on finding the prisoners and sentence him to death. Second, we make him sign a fealty contract, rescue the captured knights, and then carry out his execution afterward. Third, we have him sign the fealty contract, rescue the captured knights, then release him, knowing he can no longer perpetrate any crimes.”

I glanced at Val, who glared back at me with bloodshot eyes. The person I was in my previous life wouldn’t be able to balance a life-or-death decision like this, but the part of me that was Pride coldly weighed the options. It was a stark reminder that I was still the ruthless, heinous queen from the game, no matter what I changed in this world.

At my side, Tiara squeezed my hand.

“Very well then, Pride,” Mother said. “Choose which of those punishments this man will receive. I leave his judgment to you as the crown princess.”

With such a heavy judgment before us, Mother sat there calmly, completely unruffled.

“The captured knights must be rescued before anything else,” I reasoned. “Even though both of our kingdoms’ new recruits couldn’t complete their joint training, Anemone is still our ally. In fact, because our joint training fell through, we need to prove our allegiance by saving their knights now more than ever.”

We couldn’t abandon their knights—not if they were still alive. If we gave up as soon as our own knights were home safe, they’d see us as selfish and unreliable allies.

“And then…”

Would we execute Val after that? He’d certainly committed a horrible crime. Even if the cliffs hadn’t come down, his ambush could have killed the commander and all those knights. The chaos would weaken our alliance with Anemone, which was surely his goal. Plus, both kingdoms would be left without knights. No doubt he deserved death for his transgressions, but…

I stepped forward, leaving a terrified Tiara behind as I approached Val and ordered the guards to remove his gag.

“If you speak out of turn, I’ll have you executed right here and now,” I warned him. “Answer my questions and say nothing more.”

Please don’t say anything about what happened at the cliffs, I prayed, then looked into his eyes.

“You’re Val, is that right?”

Up close, I noticed new wounds all over his body. They must have tried to torture the information out of him. Yet he glared defiantly at me, the person who’d ruined his mission and gotten him captured. Seven years from now, he worked as Pride’s underling, but in the game, he never got captured like this. Without my interference, he probably would have survived the cliff collapse thanks to his power and returned to the kingdom at some point in those next seven years. My memories of my previous life could very well mean his life ended decades before it should. Still, I felt no sympathy or guilt for that.

“Big Sister,” Tiara whispered.

Even though I’d left her behind me, I regretted bringing her into this room at all now. I should send her back to her room. No, she’s the one who will become the true queen someday. She needs to see all of this, even if it’s from behind me.

Part of the queen’s job was making hard choices.

Val had committed a grave crime. His group kidnapped the Anemonian knights and ambushed ours. Even if he led us to the missing knights, it would only be because we forced him to. Everywhere he went, he left a trail of victims behind. The Anemonian knights and their families were still suffering right now.

“Val, tell me which death sentence you prefer.”

His eyes bulged; the man was downright bewildered. There was no reason to make him choose between life and death, as the answer was obvious—but I needed to hear something from him.

“If you sign a fealty contract, you’ll never be able to commit another crime again,” I said while he gaped. “You’ll work an honest job, confined to this kingdom forever. Your life will be nothing like this one, even if it is a life. If someone harms you, you can never retaliate. No matter how hard someone strikes you, no matter how much they take from you, you can never so much as raise a hand. For you, it might be a fate worse than death, if you choose it.”

It was true. A fealty contract did not provide any easy way out for Val. His darker complexion already made him stand out in our kingdom, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if he had been treated as an outcast his entire life. These thoughts played out across his face as he deliberated.

“I don’t wanna die,” he said at last. “I’ll sign that fealty contract or whatever you want. As long as…”

He grit his teeth, humiliation twisting his face.

I nodded. He wanted to live, no matter what.

“Very well. We’ll have him sign a fealty contract, at which point we can release him.”

The room fell silent. Val, Prime Minister Gilbert, Uncle Vest, Father, and Mother—everyone just stared at me. Finally, Mother smiled, offering me a nod.

“You’ve made your decision, Pride,” she said.

Mother then reached out toward Uncle Vest. He retrieved a scroll and pen from his breast pocket, then handed them over to her.

“My dear daughter. You’ve just bestowed your judgment as the crown princess. Now you must be the one to execute the fealty contract.”

Whenever a fealty contract went into effect, the queen took on the role of the “master.” This prevented anyone from using such elements of power against Her Majesty. Mother herself had formed fealty contracts between herself and dozens of criminals, and now she wanted me to do the same with Val.

Mother presented the scroll to me. I didn’t need to read it to know its contents. I would sign my name, and once Val followed suit, he would have to obey me for the rest of my life.

I took the pen and paper, but hesitated. Once I signed my name, I could never take it back. Even if he was a criminal, I was damning a human being to a life of servitude.

It was terrifying, to be honest. I was about to control someone’s entire life. The heinous queen Pride did the exact same thing to Stale. I… She even treated the entire population of Freesia, not just the love interests, as pawns for her benefit. My own crimes were so horrific, they made Val’s look trivial in comparison, yet he’d be the one bound by this agreement.

With trembling hands, I gripped the pen and scribbled my name. I couldn’t help fearing this was the beginning of my life as Pride, the evil queen. But if I didn’t sign it, Mother would. She might execute him after that. I had to be the one to do this. Besides, this likely wouldn’t be the last harsh, cruel decision I had to make. Queens sentenced criminals to death all the time.

Val wanted to live, despite his crime. He wanted to live here, in this kingdom. That was his wish. I wanted to grant him that grace.

I was going to commit unspeakable crimes in seven years, and they would be even worse than anything Val had done, but before then, I could still live as the heir to the throne in my kingdom. Eventually, I would be the one who deserved execution, but until then I could spend my days with the people I cared about.

I wanted Val to get that same chance.

I finished signing my name and passed the pen to the guard. He undid Val’s restraints and handed him the pen. Val trembled even more than me as he signed the contract. The moment he finished, something shifted, as though my and Val’s hearts beat in time.

Prime Minister Gilbert passed me another scroll. Val’s punishment wasn’t finished just yet. Next I had to read out the many terms of the contract for him to hear. A fealty contract could not be broken. The signer could not physically travel a certain distance away from their master without permission. They must obey their master’s every order.

Then I added my own orders. Val could never commit a crime. He could never defy me or my family, nor could he lie to us, keep secrets, or treat us with anything but respect. He could never use violence, even in self-defense. He could never leave the kingdom without my permission. He could only live with the money he made from a real job.

I had to list out all these terms in detail. Simply telling Val he could never commit a crime wasn’t enough if Val himself didn’t see certain actions as “criminal.” I had to explicitly forbid each crime: He couldn’t steal. He couldn’t claim anything he found on the ground as his own. He couldn’t take money under false pretenses. He couldn’t make deals that he knew would be disadvantageous to another party.

It was more exhausting than I expected. Though I simply read the list of items on the scroll, my throat, eyes, and mind wore down over time. The orders would bind Val as long as he could hear them, even if he wasn’t processing each item. Thus, it fell to me to be careful about each and every word and not omit a single thing.

It took a long time to get through the entire list. But even when I finally reached the end, there was one more thing I had to add.

“I grant you temporary permission to leave the kingdom,” I said. “I will also allow the royal order to give you commands. You must do everything in your power to safely assist the knights and make it back to Freesia. But your master is your priority. No matter what happens, you must stay with the knights and return to your master within seven days.”

Hopefully, this would let Val leave the kingdom with our knights to rescue Anemone’s knights and return to me without fail.

Val never said a word to me—no vow of hatred, nothing. But even when the guards took him away, and he was no longer bound by his earlier restraints, I could see him watching me with a look that told me there was something he wished he could say.

***

“By the way, Pride, I heard our knights made it back to the castle safely.”

It was the day after Val’s trial. When Stale gave me that update, I sighed in relief.

After he left the throne room yesterday, Val and the knights went straight out to rescue the captured men from our neighboring country. With Commander Roderick still healing, Vice Commander Clark had led the rescue mission. They located the prisoners, escorted them home safely, and returned to Freesia today. Our officials learned everything from one of the soldiers capable of long-distance projections. This allowed them to watch Val lead our knights to the prisoners and help escort them home.

The captured knights had clearly suffered. Some had infected wounds and soaring fevers. They could’ve come to our nation for treatment, yet they all pleaded to go straight home to Anemone. I was just thrilled to hear they made it back alive.

“I’m sure the commander is very pleased too,” Stale said. He smiled at me, seeming to sense my relief.

“All our injured troops won’t be able to rest if they see their gravely injured commander up and moving,” the vice commander had said.

Well, he was right, after all. Though Commander Roderick’s injuries were on the mend with the help of special powers, just to be on the safe side, they decided on sending the vice commander in his place.

“Pride, may I come with you when you interview the criminal?” Stale asked. I wanted to squirm away, but he fixed me with a heavy gaze. Yesterday, he’d gone pale when he heard about the trial from Tiara.

“Why didn’t you call for me?” he’d said. “Did Prime Minister Gilbert say anything to you? You signed a fealty contract with a criminal?!”

I hadn’t kept the information from him out of malice. I just didn’t want to interrupt his practice with Arthur. But I found myself apologizing as Stale entreated me to invite him whenever I had to meet with Mother, Father, or Prime Minister Gilbert.

In light of that, I agreed to let Stale join me when I interviewed Val. It was kind of him to worry so much for my sake.

“Big Sister, may I join you as well?”

This time, the question came from Tiara, who was squeezing my hand and staring up at me. She’d been so scared of Val yesterday, but she was still worried about me enough to join. I was such a lucky big sister.

With my siblings in tow, I returned to the throne room to face Val again. He sat on his knees on the floor with guards standing over him. He flinched when he noticed us.

Don’t worry. The fealty contract made it so he can’t hurt us, I reminded myself. But the situation still made me nervous, so I told Stale and Tiara to stand behind me.

“Val, let me hear you speak,” I said. “While we’re here, throw around any insult you have for me. Tell me what you really want to say.”

I stepped closer to Val. His dark brown eyes glared straight through me.

“Monster,” he spat.

Val had witnessed my rampage on the battlefield. I wasn’t surprised by him labeling me a monster, though I had to hold a hand out to keep Stale from reacting to it.

“You’ll be released very soon,” I told him. “Tell me how you plan to live in the outside world.”

With the rescue mission complete, the knights would release Val from their custody. Thanks to the contract, he couldn’t lie to me about his plans. He instead went quiet for a moment, then responded with a simple, “I haven’t thought about it yet.”

“I see.” I closed my eyes, centering myself, then opened them to look at him. “Val, you’re not allowed to discuss what happened at the cliffs or what I did that day with anyone else. I order you to keep all the information about what we did a secret. Finally, I have two more orders to give you, and they may be the very last.”

Val furrowed his brow, tensing in anticipation. He couldn’t disobey my commands.

“First,” I said, “if you sense some kind of emergency, use your power to protect my beloved sister, Tiara.”

“Pride, what are you—” Stale began, but I ignored him.

Val made a little noise of shock, but why wouldn’t I use him for this purpose? He could use his special power to build tall, sturdy walls of dirt. It had protected the commander and me from the landslide; surely, it could protect Tiara from ordinary threats. In the game, Val protected Tiara from Pride several times. I needed to leverage that again, here and now, to make sure that when I became the evil, devious final boss, Tiara would still be safe. After all, she would be the one to rebuild the kingdom from the ground up once I wreaked my destined havoc—whether that was destroying the castle, as in some routes, or otherwise.

“This order takes the highest priority,” I declared. “As long as you’re following this order, as long as you’re protecting Tiara, you can disobey any other command I’ve given you.”

This command wasn’t just for him. If I became so evil that I ordered him to harm Tiara, I needed him to disobey me. Val might not understand, but that didn’t matter, as long as he complied.

“Finally, the second order…”

Val tensed all over again, preparing for another strange order.

“Val, if you find yourself in trouble, if you’re in desperate and utter need of help, come and speak to me.”

He blinked and leaned back a bit, as though my words had physically hit him. But once again, it didn’t matter if he understood or not.

“Those are my orders. You’re free to go, so begone from the castle.”

Val rose in a daze, stumbling toward the door. He turned before he made it all the way to the exit.

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” he snapped. A very natural question.

“Exactly what it sounds like,” I said. “If you never find yourself in trouble, you’ll never have to worry about it.”

Val shook his head, but he accepted the order. Finally, he left the room, escorted by the guards toward the castle’s front gates.

“Pride, why would you order something like that from a criminal?!” Stale demanded.

“Big Sister, why did you mention me? Aren’t you the one to protect me?” Tiara said.

Stale and Tiara pelted me with questions the moment the throne room doors closed behind Val.

“Well, you’re much more fragile than I am, Tiara,” I said. “And what if that man gets into some kind of trouble his contract won’t allow him to escape, even though he’s finally free now?”

“Then that’s what he deserves! He’s a criminal!” Stale shouted, and I empathized with his feelings.

“Even so, now that he’s free, he’s just another one of my subjects,” I said.

If he hadn’t had information on the prisoners, we probably would have had to execute him. But now he could live as a normal citizen of the kingdom, despite his restrictions. And honestly, I wanted to help him do that, if he ever needed my help.

Stale didn’t seem convinced. He sighed, shoulders slumping. “Very well. So be it. That side of you is why I…” He trailed off, but I caught him muttering under his breath. “I’ll just have to keep an even closer eye out…”

Huh?

Was I already growing closer to becoming the wicked queen? Was Stale already suspicious of me now that I’d had Val swear fealty just like him? Queens had to sign fealty contracts all the time, but if my actions had put Stale on guard already, perhaps I wasn’t as in control as I thought.

“Big Sister…” Tiara tugged on my hand. When I glanced over at her, tears shimmered in her eyes and her lips trembled. “Am I a burden to you?”

What?! I grabbed her tiny shoulders.

“Of course not! I love you very, very much, my little sister. Why do you think that?”

“You’re going to be the queen, so no one deserves protection more than you,” she said. “But you ordered that man to protect me because I’m so weak.”

That wasn’t my intention at all, but Tiara didn’t understand. I knew from my past life that Tiara needed protection due to the events of the game, but now I’d upset her.

“I’m sorry, Tiara. You just mean so much to me. I want to know you’re protected. I didn’t mean to give you the wrong idea.”

I pulled her into an embrace then and she fisted her tiny hands in my dress.

What should I do? First Stale and now Tiara. What if she thinks I secretly despise her? I squeezed Tiara hard. I knew from the game that she just wanted Pride to love her, but I’d already messed that up.

“I love you, Tiara,” I said firmly. “We’re family, and I care about you. You’re my one and only sister. No matter what happens in the future, right now, I mean it, from the bottom of my heart. Please believe me.”

Even if, seven years from now, I do something you can never forgive. Even if I hate you when that day comes, or you or the love interests hate me. I need to be sure you remember that right now, I truly love you.

Please never forget—there was a time when I loved you.

I hugged Tiara, as though I could press those thoughts into her very heart.

“Yes, Big Sister,” she whispered, nodding against me.

Relief washed through me. I reached out for Stale, who’d been watching our exchange in polite silence, and pulled him close enough to join the hug as well. He stumbled into our embrace.

“I love you too, Stale. You’re my one and only brother. Even if I lose all right to call myself the next queen, at the very least, I hope you’ll always see me as your big sister, until the very end.”

Stale’s face flushed red, maybe because he was so close to Tiara. I just ignored it and held the two of them as close as I could.

When the time came for them to deliver my punishment, I hoped with everything in my heart that they would remember this moment.

***

“Ah! There they are, Big Sister!”

Tiara pointed off in the distance and tugged my hand gleefully. I followed her finger and spotted two familiar figures in the midst of a bout. Tiara and I rushed over to see them.

“Stale! Arthur!” I called out.

Stale and Arthur practiced in Stale’s training room. Now that all that business with Val had concluded, Tiara and I could watch them fight today. They paused when I called out to them, and Arthur actually flinched. Stale waved, lowering his sword.

“We’ve been waiting for you two,” Stale said. “Thank you for visiting us even though you’re so busy.”

I apologized for the interruption, but Stale just shook his head and told me they were about to take a break anyway. He tried to get Arthur’s agreement, but Arthur had completely frozen up, eyes wide and flickering between me and Tiara.

“Prin—ide! Wh—! Stale! You!” he stuttered.

“Oh, sorry, I forgot to mention I invited the two of them to watch us,” Stale said.

Just moments ago, Arthur had looked so calm and natural sparring with Stale. But the arrival of more members of the royal family had him so flustered, he could hardly speak. Well, Tiara was an especially beautiful girl.

“Tell me next time!” he roared at Stale.

“Sorry,” Stale muttered with a shrug. He didn’t look particularly remorseful.

At least Arthur spoke casually to Stale. It seemed they were getting along, even knowing each other less than a week.

“It’s nice to see you practicing so hard, Arthur,” I said. “I’m really happy that you agreed to be Stale’s partner, so thank you for doing this. How are you feeling? You’re not working too hard, are you?”

I knew he practiced with the commander of the knights, his father. Coming all the way to the castle had to cost him a lot of time and effort.

“N-no!” Arthur yelped, then took a step back. “I’m totally fine. My body’s just fine. And it’s helpin’ me out a lot more than him, uh, Your Highness. I’ve only got my stu—my dad to practice with, and Stale, he teaches me all kinda new things.”

Arthur stumbled over his words, clearly unsure how to address so many royals at once. His gaze flickered shyly to the ground, and his face was flushed, but a smile tugged at his lips when he mentioned Stale.

“Thank you,” I said. “I hope you’ll take good care of Stale for me. Tiara and I will be happy to see you every day, Arthur. Isn’t that right?”

“E-every day?!” Arthur squeaked.

“Right, Elder Sister,” Stale chimed in. “Please come visit us. Having you and Tiara watch us will be good motivation. Don’t you agree, Arthur?”

He patted Arthur on the back, but Arthur was going redder by the moment. He opened his mouth, but no sound managed to come out.

“If it’s too much of a burden…” I said, worried.

“Hell no, it’s no burden, Your Highness!”

“That’s a relief,” I said. “Stale also seems to be enjoying himself ever since he began training with you. Tiara and I can never be that much fun for him.”

Knowing what I did about the game, it was strange to see them becoming close. But I was just happy that Stale had a friend, and a boy near his age, at that.

Yet somehow, my comment flustered Stale. “That’s not true!”

“It’s not a bad thing,” I said. “You both look so strong out here. It’s so impressive watching you spar.”

I smiled as I spoke, but the boys only looked more embarrassed, perhaps due to receiving so much praise in front of Tiara. They were both going so red that steam could have burst from their ears.

“I’d like to see it again later, okay?” I said, and they managed to nod.

“Pride, please come back and watch us,” Stale said. “I promise I’ll get even stronger than I am now.”

“Me too,” Arthur added. “I’ll definitely become a knight!”

The two of them placed their hands over their hearts, and Tiara smiled at my side. I grinned as well, but a dull ache held me back somewhat. I knew someday one of these two—or perhaps both of them together—would put an end to my wickedness.

“Do your best,” I told them.

“I’ll support you forever and ever, Stale and Arthur,” Tiara said.

Stale, Tiara, and Arthur. How could I ask for better companions than these? Even if someday my actions drove us apart, at least for now, my heart burst with gratitude for their affection.

My world had gained such beautiful colors.