"Oh, Freddy," the mage continued, his voice high pitched and clearly altered by magic. He bat his eyelashes flirtatiously as Frederick tried in vain to avoid his embrace. "It's been so long since I last saw you. I was beginning to wonder if you had cast me aside for someone with a better lineage like my mother told me you would. I knew she was wrong about you!" Lie.
What...what exactly was I watching?
As if sensing his audience, the mage turned dark eyes toward me. "Who is this?" He demanded of Frederick, sounding just like a jilted lover in one of the old telenovelas in my previous life. "Was my mother right about you?"
I found myself smiling at the dramatics. Was there anyone who would fall for something like that?
"Frederick," the Duke said lowly. I looked down at him, surprised to see the anger on his face. "Who is this young lady?"
Hmm?
I looked from my uncle to the mage and back again. Was there something I wasn't seeing? The mage was wearing his robes in the male fashion, so there shouldn't be any confusion—!
Unless...
Was there...an illusion at work?
That made the most sense, given the situation. If the mage was using an illusion to mess around with Frederick, then everyone else was seeing something completely different from me.
After all, illusions had no effect on me.
With another glance at my uncle's increasingly dangerous expression, I decided to rescue my poor idiot cousin.
I folded my hands together at my waist and bowed lowly, as a servant would to their master. I had hoped that I would never have to lower my head like this again, but I wasn't in the Capital, yet. To think, my years in the monastery would actually have some use.
Aiyah~, Freddy had better be grateful.
"This lowly one greets you, Ser Knight," I said in a monotonous voice perfected after years of greeting 'important' guests. "How may I be of service to you?"
I could feel the weight of everyone's gazes, but I kept my head lowered. Aiyah~, why was I missing my veil, all of a sudden? I felt so exposed.
"Aha, forgive me, priestess. I didn't recognize your status and made a fool of myself." Truth. Without the magic disguising it, his voice was warm and mellow. "Please forgive me."
I rose from my bow, but didn't straighten entirely. To maintain the façade—and keep my resemblance to the Royal Family hidden—I kept my gaze on his boots.
"Not at all," I made sure my tone was the perfect blend of amused and condescending. "It is good to see the young Duke getting along with his friends."
Phrasing it that way made it seem like I was a priestess in the Shay family's employ. A priestess was a symbol of morality. Offending one, even by accident, was considered a slight against their temple and, by extension, their God. A lot of the priestesses at the monastery liked to lord their superiority over me before my stigmata was revealed. Given that most of them were commoners or low ranking nobility before donning white, I suppose it was natural that some of them would let the newfound power go their heads. When else would someone born with low status be able to rebuke a Royal Knight?
All I had to do was channel some of their arrogance while putting on a show of humility and bam! A perfectly hypocritical priestess! Even if my dress wasn't quite right, it was the right color and my attitude was flawless. I was totally confident the mage would completely overlook me. Otherwise, I never would have risked calling attention to myself.
"Christopher Fenwick," the Duke said with a sigh. "I should have known." Truth.
With my head lowered, I couldn't see anyone's expressions, but I was used to that. Christopher Fenwick was not a name that meant anything to me. He was probably one of many unnamed mob characters. Ironically, this made him even more dangerous than named threats. They, at least, I knew something about. This Royal Knight was a mystery.
And not supposed to be here.
Royal Knights were the exclusive bodyguards of the Royal Family. They very rarely moved on their own. If this mage was truly a Royal Knight, then that meant a member of my family was somewhere close by.
Terror gripped me. Deceiving one Knight was one thing, but there was no way a member of my family wouldn't recognize me. I looked too much like my father for anyone familiar with him to overlook me. I needed to leave. Now.
Even so, I couldn't lift my head or speak out of turn. As a priestess in the Duke's employ, I could scold someone for playing a prank on his son, but I dare not advise the Duke himself. Doing so would leave an impression in the mage's mind and we couldn't afford to risk that. I could only stand beside my uncle, head bowed, and wait.
Luckily, Dilan Shay wasn't an idiot, unlike his son. "I don't know what brings the Crown Prince's personal guard all the way here, but it must be of great importance. Come, Frederick, we should remove ourselves."
The Crown Prince. Oddly, knowing that my brother was here and not some other member of our family put an ease to a lot of my anxiety. Theodore Albrecht II was the only member Acan's Royal Family who treated Theophania honestly in the novels. That's not to say he treated her well. Still, Theophania expressed a fondness for her brother if only because he never lied to her. It was more than anyone else in the novels could say. At the end, when she was sent off to her death, he'd even given her a vial of potent poison that would end her life painlessly, if she wished. That alone made him better than the rest of them, even if it was horrifying.
Theophania's story was a tragedy, after all.
"It wasn't my intention to drive you away, Your Grace," he said with a nervous laugh. "His Highness will be upset to learn you left in such a hurry because of him." Lie.
Oh? Did my illustrious older brother want us to leave? Well, I had no issue with that.
I gathered my skirts with one hand and placed the other over my chest as I curtseyed. "May Alítheia bless you, Ser Christopher."
It was a dismissal. A kind one, but one he couldn't get around. My uncle turned away from him and mounted the new horse the servants brought to him.
"Frederick," he said sternly. "Escort the Sister into the carriage."
He hesitated before obeying his father's command, throwing an apology over his shoulder to his mage friend. I kept my head down as I was pulled into a new carriage, the other one left behind to help scatter our trail. Not that it would matter much now. My brother would definitely receive a report about my uncle's movements. He wouldn't necessarily place any importance on a priestess, but I had no way of knowing if he had been told about me, yet. If he had, then my uncle rushing to the capital with a priestess in tow would be very suspicious.
Oh, well, too late now. At least I was in the carriage, now. I had no intention of meeting Theodore until after my Coming of Age Ceremony. I didn't want to give anyone in my family the upper hand over me.
Frederick sighed and rubbed at the back of his neck. "Stupid Chris, why'd he have to go and make us leave like that? I hate carriages." Truth.
Me too, Freddy. Me too.
"Honestly, how were we supposed to know the Crown Prince would be on one of his little dates?"
He froze, eyes wide. He looked at me with obvious dread and it took me an embarrassingly long moment to realize why.
Crown Prince Theodore was gay. It was something revealed in one of the later novels when the original Theophania saw through the illusion he was using to hide a secret rendezvous. She made the mistake of telling her father and the King had his son's lover removed from the palace. Theodore was heartbroken, but he never took it out on his sister. Yet another reason he held such a large place in her heart.
Of course, I knew all this because I read the books. Frederick, on the other hand...
If he knew about Theodore's secret lover, then they had to be very close. This fantasy world was steeped with ridiculous prejudices for the sake of drama. My brother's position as Crown Prince could be jeopardized if the Noble Faction found out about his sexual orientation. My cousin was supposedly a member of that Noble Faction, and yet, he was close enough to not only know my brother's secret, but loyal enough to keep it. If he was that close with my brother, then that made him my enemy.
I knew it.