"Hey psychopath."

The princess swivelled her head and parted the purple strands behind her ears, "Sup loser?" 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

The breeze brought about a cool night and upon the balcony none of it was scarce. The chimes jingled and the shrubs rustled as Jotou walked towards the balustrade.

"How’s planning going?" her blonde locks drifted.

"Pretty good. Soon enough all of you can join in for the feedback. They really want your strategy ya know."

"Mine?" Jotou scoffed, "I can plan for myself, not hundreds of soldiers."

"Don’t sell yourself short."

"I don’t think it’s considered ’selling myself short’ when it’s on this scale..."

"I’ll say it again," Daiyu rolled her eyes, "You got this, scale be damned. How’s training been goin’?"

"Pretty good. Shoulder-Charge is harder than it sounds," Jotou lifted the sleeve of her blouse to reveal a blackened bruise.

Daiyu winced and snickered, "Ara getcha?"

"No..." she glanced to the city lights. "Lightning went from my shoulder to my feet and dashed me forward by an inch, the tip of my boot caught onto a rock and I fell onto my side onto another rock; luckily it was smooth."

The princess cackled into the sky whilst Jotou sighed into the wind. "Oh you poor unfortunate creature."

Her eyes glazed over, "My affinity’s not defensive, so it’s harder to create a shield around me than you think."

"Magic-wagic thingies, if it’s a spell you can cast then it doesn’t matter what the second thingy on the paper is. It just means you suck."

Jotou stuck her tongue out. Daiyu responded in kind. "Anyways, I gotta do some training soon too."

"You should, you expert level basic bitch~"

"Calm it down a notch Joey Toes, I’m not a masochistic spell caster~"

Her head tilted... just a smidgen, "Doesn’t that mean I’m just up to the challenge and will quite literally die to become a better caster? Where’s your spirit huh?" her eyes sparked.

A gem-like ripple flashed across Daiyu’s eyes, of which her right half-closed, "...It’s only a matter of time before your lightning gets grounded," she smirked.

"How long’ve you been coming up with that line hm?"

"Oh just as long as it’ll take me to kick your ass into the sky."

"Forever?"

"More like ten minutes."

"Trust me, I’ll last much longer than that."

"I don’t even want to begin to know what that’s supposed to mean."

"It means if I go down, I’m getting back up."

"Not if I kick you up smart-ass."

"Great, lightning tends to be better from above."

"Never gonna give up are ya?"

"Never gonna let you down."

"I hate you."

"Hate you more psychopath."

Daiyu groaned into a smile, "Why d’you come up here?"

"What? Can’t have a chat with a friend?"

"Of course you’re always welcome here dumbass, but what about?"

"I know it’s basically useless, but you’re really gonna be in the battle huh?" the blonde stared back to the city, a hint of melancholy in her eye.

"You’re going."

"I know; I’m the Thundering Blade."

Daiyu gave a half-cocked glare, "And I’m the Undying Princess-"

"Of Cravolta..."

"What’re you trying to say? Spit it out."

"...Cravolta needs its princess. You know what you want to do for this country. You can make changes and make it better; for everyone. Even create a safe haven if we fail-"

"Don’t you fucking say that Jotou Howllett."

"Look, I’m all for hoping for the best outcome, but to neglect the worst is just dumb. We have no guarantee we’re winning. I can think of ways, strategies on the spot, figure things out fast.

But take it from someone who’s been looped through time, you need to prepare for some eventualities. Not every single thing, but win, lose and draw are the major ones; and I don’t even think we can draw."

"There’s no losing either. No doubts, no fear. You’re asking me to run away from this and I can’t do that."

"You’re a fucking badass and there’s no denying that-"

"No buts," Daiyu grabbed Jotou by the arm and shook her. Jotou faced the princess in the eyes. "Stop. Preparing. For Failure."

Jotou glared, "You can hammer it into my head all you want, but that isn’t gonna change. Preparing for failure gives me certainty that if the worst case scenario happens we can bounce back-"

"Exactly why you shouldn’t," she gritted her teeth. "This is my fight and I’m not planning some cushiony surface for us to fall on. If we fall, we fall; and damn is it gonna hurt.

It only gives all the more reason to win. Stop making failure comfortable because then you feel more good about yourself if you fail.

I’ve been telling you this for years, so get it in that stubborn head of yours for once in your life, that there is no losing, no failure and no failsafe."

"If we have no failsafe-"

She recoiled her head and widened her eyes, "Everything crash and burns. You wouldn’t want that would you? So you fight. You keep fighting so that doesn’t happen. Know that if you fail, it’s over."

"...You can always get back up."

"Not from this. You be by my side and I’ll be by yours; like always loser. Till every bone’s fractured, till every artery’s bled and then some. Show them a taste of hell," she beamed. "What say you?"

Jotou stared and stared into the eyes of his best friend. It was not idiocy, but it could barely be called intelligence. Still, some sort of wisdom was there.

The blonde tipped her chin up, "Till everything crash and burns; and then some," her shoulders rose and fell in her breath.

"That’s what we’re avoiding smart-ass."

’Psychopath...’ She smirked, "Let’s throw them hell then."

Daiyu let go of Jotou, her smile as proud as ever, "Both works." The princess slumped onto the railing. Jotou looked up to the stars—clouded, much like what the future would hold. She followed suit.

The two stared off in silence... Minutes passed one by one, the wind picking up and dying down on a whim. "Hey."

Jotou’s eyes darted, "Hey."

"I was uh, thinking before you got here."

"You? Thinking?"

"Crazy I know. But seriously."

"Let’s hear it."

"The countess."

"Mhm."

"How do I put this...?" Daiyu sighed, "I realized there’s no real way to commit her to the dungeons anymore."

Jotou’s head began calculating as to the reason why... "Huh. Yeah, we kinda shot ourselves in the foot on that one."

"All the foreign nations know, all the council and Trailon, that we allowed someone who attempted treason to walk around amongst them."

"You can change the dates, but even then there’s no telling how the information could leak; the council and the Royal Guard know. Not to mention the registration papers from the prison for those affinity-locks and the Maleficos Ordinate chief."

"I thought of that too, but I don’t wanna do that. That’s just another lie on top to the people, to everyone. If I’m gonna tell the truth by having a lie, what’s the point?

I might as well keep lying about everything Jotou. I don’t like the idea that I’m basically running this country on lies; how long before it becomes my solution to everything?"

Jotou pouted, "I think you’re facing the thing that everyone with power comes to face. What to do with it and how."

"It feels wrong. The people don’t deserve this, our allies don’t deserve this. Telling them the whole truth will put us in a bad spot, and telling half of it isn’t right after what we made the count and countess do."

’...Wrong and right become blurred Daiyu. I’d say just change the dates, but it’s not like information can’t leak that way either. Nothing’s fool-proof.’ She remained silent with her thoughts.

"It’s too late to tell the secret. I hate to say it, but the only thing to do is keep this secret, forever..." Daiyu’s eyelids fell, watching Cravolta’s City’s night go by.

’I wish I could tell you the truth too.’ "It’s better to keep rumours, rumours then; I’m sorry." ’This sentiment you have for keeping this secret from the city and the world; it’s no different than mine. I’m, so, sorry...’

"Don’t apologize, come up with something, ugh," Daiyu pursed her lips.

"Come up with what?"

"What to do with the countess. She has an estate she has to get back to, I can’t just let her do that! She has to face the consequences for what she did and I hate that she’s just roaming free."

"She attempted to poison us and failed."

"Attempted."

"And with it, took with her the majority of the traitors within the staff and Royal Guard, leaving us only a handful to deal with last week."

"Traitor."

"Ever since then, she admitted to all her crimes, helped us in preparing the gala, mingle with foreign guests, teach Asobi illusion magic, hasn’t lied and has been honestly complying with us."

"It’s all part of her act..." Who was the paranoiac again?

"Or maybe she just came to terms with the fact that instead of going against you, she could help you become a better princess. She said it herself, she’s against Trailon and for Cravolta.

She just hated you being the one that took the old princess’s place. Maybe she’s come to like you? It’s not that hard to believe that you’ve been a pretty decent princess.

And with Trailon closing in on us, she must’ve had to make a choice. I don’t think it’s an act, I think she’s with us."

Daiyu sighed and held the bridge of her nose, "Maybe."

’Is it bad that I was expecting to be detected by her truth feet? I made sure to bend the truth enough for none of it to be a lie... But I didn’t feel a shock in my hair... GAH!’ "Then maybe it’s time to move on," she said calmly.

"Just let her go on good behaviour? That seems stupid."

Jotou pondered for a moment, glancing to the gardens below, "Let’s keep the affinity-lock and let’s keep her in the palace; where she’ll spend the rest of her days. I have a story for the masses."

"Lying to the public? I thought I told you-"

"It’ll be from the countess’s mouth, not yours. Besides, let this be one final lie to end this overlived lie once and for all."

_

"This is the solution you’ve decided upon!?" Countess Keya hissed at the documents presented. The count read over her shoulder.

"It beats being in the dungeons doesn’t it?" Fumeko shrugged.

"Yes. You are to stay here until your time passes. You will be magically bound to the palace, unable to depart. All your needs will be facilitated of course," Feyan spoke.

"And once you sign there, the Ordinate will come by and bind you to that contract and this palace," Hotaru added on.

The countess glared to all of them, "And you want me and my husband to forfeit all our property and assets!? Under the pretences that we want to permanently aid Tamara Palace and the princess!?"

The small conference room allowed some amount of privacy. "Keep in mind, you two’d be rotting in the dungeons anyway; this is your other option," Daiyu half-closed her right eye.

"It’s true isn’t it? This allows you to help Cravolta as a whole, stay in luxury and not ever be publicly announced as traitors to the crown," Jotou tried to convince.

"All you have to do, is make a public announcement that you’re staying here. You’ll be free, in a sense," Hotaru winced an eye.

"This is just-!"

"Dear," he put a hand on her shoulder, "Read this," the count pointed to one of the passages on the pages. It stated that their estate would be used as an orphanage and the staff would aid in keeping the estate running.

With it, all their riches would also aid in the endeavour. It stipulated that the details would be discussed later of how it would be run, but for the moment, that the agreement had been made while they dealt with the Trailon Regime.

"It would be nice, wouldn’t it?" the count whispered. The countess turned and looked up from her seat to face the standing count. "We could name it after him. It would honour him, don’t you think?"

The countess’s mouth opened ever so slightly... Her glare removing itself. "...If, you want to," she whispered back.

"It’s better this way dear. We are already bound to the palace, one way or another," he reasoned.

The countess blinked... "I love you," she whispered and turned to the face the rest of them.

"Love you too dear."

"Fine," the countess spoke aloud. "We shall take this deal. Announce to the world of our new permanent residence. However, we get to oversee the progress of this orphanage."

"You want to be in charge?" Jotou queried.

"That could be arranged. They would not be there, but they can still own it. The story would still make sense whether the property belongs to Cravolta or them," Feyan relayed.

"Also, less paperwork," Hotaru’s ears flickered.

"We’ll go with that then. Once this whole ordeal’s over, you can make your announcement," Daiyu declared.

"Till then, we let leaks be rumours," Fumeko crossed her arms.

"And we let rumours be rumours," Jotou finished.