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Esmeralda exclaimed as she walked into the room.

“Oh my, what’s wrong?” Mia asked Esmeralda, “Why do you look so upset?” as she stole a look at her hand, which was empty.

No tasty treats!

Anne poked her head in and announced, “Milady, Lady Esmeralda brought some baked sweets as a gift, so I’m going to prepare them now.”

“My! Esmeralda, is that true? You don’t have to, you know,” Mia said, instantly getting up again. Her mood depended on whether or not she had something to eat.

“Oh ho, I can’t show up empty-handed now, can I? To be honest, a merchant brought it to us when he came to see us,” Esmeralda said in a sorry voice.

Mia, on the other hand, liked that the gift was recycled. It seemed to show that Esmeralda had listened to her warning about wasting money and decided not to buy high-end sweets.

“And to tell you the truth, Esmeralda, good for you. I told you to cut back on your spending, and you did just that. I’m so happy to hear that!”

Mia thought that all sweets were the same, and that some were not better than others. It didn’t matter at all how or where they came from. In fact, the fact that they were bought cheaply and with care only made them better.

Once they were both settled at the table and a few teacakes were put in front of them, Esmeralda went back to what she had been talking about.

“Anyway, as I was saying, you won’t believe what happened to me, Mia-sama!” she yelled. “My father is terrible!”

“Oh no, what happened to your dad? Mia asked with a half-smile, “I thought you were on good terms with him.” Really, only half-heartedly. The teacakes were where the rest of her heart was. They had such a sweet smell. So sweet. Just as her nose started to twitch with excitement…

“Good terms?! No longer, no! He says I should get married! How could that be? He has everything planned out!” Esmeralda was furious, “It’s completely unforgivable!”

“My… Well, congratulations, then…?”

A possible marriage was a very important thing for women of the elite. Even though Esmeralda was still in school at Saint-Noel, she was old enough to get asked out on dates.

“There’s nothing here to be happy about! “He wants to set me up with a Sunkland noble!”

“Oh, Sunkland, I see…”

“Oh, but even if I end up going to Sunkland,” Esmeralda quickly added when she saw Mia’s quiet response, “you can still count on me to keep my promise to you, Mia-sama.”

Even so, she was met with silence.

“You’ll no longer be in Tearmoon… This place is going to get lonely…”

Mia’s eyes were still downcast. It just so happened that the angle lined them up perfectly with the teacakes on the table, but that might have been a total fluke. After all, she liked the treats that Esmeralda always brought her, and she always looked forward to their tea parties. Also, she didn’t know many other wealthy girls her age with whom she could have an honest conversation. Esmeralda was like an older cousin, and she didn’t have many other options. If she got married and moved to Sunkland, she wouldn’t be able to go to as many tea parties. That was a pretty depressing idea.

“Mia-sama…”

When Mia looked up, she was surprised to see Esmeralda with tears in her eyes, but her face soon became more determined.

“B-But don’t worry, because of course I’ll turn it down! I’ve always planned to.” She said with a firm pump of her fists, “I’d never leave my best friend behind to get married off to some foreign kingdom.”

“Huh? You can marry if you want to. It’s not like that—”

“No, I made up my mind! I’m going to tell them to stop! I’ll do it today, in fact! I’ve been asked to a party at the royal castle in Sunkland, but they can stuff their party—”

“Stop! Hold it.” Mia heard a word that she couldn’t forget. She looked at her friend in a strange way. “Please explain.”

“Hm? I was asked to come to their castle. Since I’ll be closer to their royal family if I get married, they threw me a party to break the ice. Even though it doesn’t matter, since I’m not going—”

“What do you mean by saying you won’t go? That would be a waste. They spent a lot of time and work setting it up, didn’t they? You might as well go have fun,” Mia said as she started to think of a plan. “I’ll go with you, in fact.”

How could she keep Sion from dying? Definitely, it was to protect him. Most likely by having Dion Alaia hang out with him all the time. But even if she stopped one attack, would that change what would happen to him?

Most likely not…

Her body told her no. Since winter, the Serpents had been very quiet, but she didn’t think for a second that they’d stopped being sneaky. If they really were the ones who killed Sion…

Stopping them once can’t be enough. I’m sure I’ll find something else in the Chronicles that says he died in a different way.

It was good that she knew this, but as long as she stayed in Tearmoon, she couldn’t do anything about the whole thing. Then what should she do? The answer was obvious.

I have to find a way to get to Sunkland. That’s the best way to do it. Since I’ll need protection, that gives me a reason to bring Dion with me. Hm… Maybe I should also invite Citrina, who is an expert on poison. After all, poison is often used to kill people. Also, I’ll probably have to stay there for a few nights, and I’ll feel better if I have some protection who can stay close by, so I’ll ask Tiona and Liora as well…

Standard etiquette said that a Tearmoon princess couldn’t just say out of the blue that she was going to Sunkland and expect to leave soon. Guard convoys needed to be set up, and Sunkland also needed time to get things ready. Her trip to Perujin happened earlier than planned, but that wasn’t the point—it had been planned all along. They just moved the plan around a bit. As for the time she went to Remno, she broke all the rules to get there, so it wasn’t exactly a good example. If she wanted to get close enough to Sion to protect him, she couldn’t sneak into Sunkland. That meant she had to go through the right channels to get into their kingdom.

Lucky for me, it might work if I say I’m going as a member of Esmeralda’s entourage. Instead of the princess of Tearmoon making an official visit, an Etoiline is there, and I’m just along for the ride.

Only Mia was more famous than Esmeralda in Tearmoon. When a daughter of the Four Dukes went abroad, she had to do a lot of the same things that a princess did. Most importantly, those plans had already been made. They only had to make a little more effort to keep people safe.

When everything was taken into account, it seemed…surprisingly possible. At least to her. Anyone in charge of making this sudden change was in for a nightmare, but Mia didn’t hear their screams of anger because they were in the future. She didn’t realize there was a difference between what was happening and what she thought would happen, so she kept planning the next steps of her plan. This is called “counting unhatched chickens.”

Once I save Sion, the whole Sunkland royal family will owe me a big favor. That will help me a lot when I do this empress thing.

She folded her arms and gave herself a nod.

“I’m coming with you, so make room for me—Wait, what?”

When she turned back to Esmeralda, she saw that her friend was crying again.

“Oh, Nina…” Esmeralda cried and looked over at her servant. “Did you hear that? Mia-sama told me she’s coming to help me get out of my marriage… She’ll tell them right to their faces!”

“Yes, I heard you very well, madam.” Nina said, “I’m glad for you” in her usual dispassionate way as she held out a handkerchief.

Esmeralda took the cloth and wiped her eyes with it.

“Thank you, Mia-sama. This is a big deal. Really, it does. To know that you’d go so far for me…”

Mia felt a little bad because her friend was so happy, so she decided to help her out. She put her hands on her hips and said, “Of course, I’d be willing to. We’re the best of friends, right? Since I’m coming with you, you can rest easy knowing that Captain Mia is in charge!”

So, Her Imperial Majesty’s Ship set sail with Esmeralda and Sion’s futures on board. Did the captain, who rode the waves, have what it takes to steer the ship through the dangerous seas ahead? Only time would tell.