"Start packing, we're going," I announce when we finally emerge from our bedroom and find our maids and guards nervously stepping in front of the door, anxiously waiting for our decision.
"Today?!" the maids get startled by the sudden urgency.
"Would tomorrow be any better?" I shrug. "Besides, the Divementis are hovering above the mansion already and don't seem to have any intention of leaving. We'd just be unnecessarily prolonging the inevitable and if what my father said is true, we should hurry."
"We still have to decide who comes with us," Gotrid reminds me.
"Riiight," I chew my lip. This will undoubtedly make some Celestials unhappy if they aren't picked, but my father said that forty is the limit. Wait, what?! I have to facepalm myself in my mind. When did I start thinking that forty is too few when it comes to my entourage?
"Your Majesty, the Celestial Council is waiting for your decision," Vermiel comes to pick me up and he's extremely tense.
"Okay, let's...," I don't get to finish that sentence, though, Ayala interrupts me.
"His Majesty will come in half an hour," she says uncompromisingly.
"Eh? Why? It's not like I have to change my clothes," I tilt my head.
"Maybe because it's three o'clock already and you still haven't had lunch?" Ayala raises her eyebrows.
"We have more important things to attend to," I take a step towards Vermiel, but both Gotrid and Erik grab my sleeves and stop me.
"Love, don't forget that the Emperor's health is the Celestial priority," Gotrid has to be strict with me. "You have to eat properly no matter the circumstances."
"I'm not... hungry," I murmur. Why is it that every time I get stressed over something, my appetite disappears? Is it a Divementis thing? I'll have to ask my father about it when I have a chance.
"Honestly? We don't care," Erik pushes me down on a pillow in our living room and the maids quickly serve us a Japanese full-course.
"We saw the Divementis today and while they were all super slim, you were the thinnest among them," Gotrid laments. "We can't have you skipping meals."
"Okay, okay," I take a bowl of rice with vegetable curry and start gobbling it quickly.
It's obvious that my caretakers aren't happy about my speed, but at least I'm eating without protests. I know that they are right; my eating habits are horrible. It got significantly better over the last few months, but it's still far from ideal. I might sometimes act annoyed, but I'm actually grateful that they are watching over my diet and nagging me about it.
After the late lunch, we get to the throne room which is packed with high-ranking seraphs. Evidently, they worry that if I don't see them in person, I will forget to include them.
"I started with the pre-selection process already, my Emperor," Liana informs me. "This is the list of candidates I recommend to take with us."
"You didn't wait for me to announce if we're going?" I'm surprised.
"Nah, there was no doubt," she waves her hand. "Sure, we're scared whether we will be able to protect our embodiment of magic, but there's a fucking spaceship hovering above us, aliens claiming that they are barely suppressing the rifts and calling you their Crown Prince. I don't see in which alternative universe we could stop you."
"I also decided that, for the sake of convenience, we will accept the Divementis offer and use their spaceship," I add slowly.
"Figured as much," Liana nods without any complaints. "Please, choose your entourage."
I sit on the throne to preside over a room full of anxious and zealous Celestials. Everyone wants to join my entourage and when I go through the list name by name, they step forward and argue why I should choose them over others.
It's a tiring and lengthy process. I'd prefer to leave the governmental representatives here to rule in my stead and take just the Imperial Guards, but they oppose that they do their jobs remotely anyway and I need skilled diplomats to negotiate with the Divementis.
In the end, I decided to take eight officials which sounds reasonable enough, five maids (three for me, two for Liana), Noage as my private physician, my partners are coming as well, of course, and then I have to also count me and my Viceroy. That means I still have room to bring twenty-two battle mages as our protection.
That's when the selection process gets especially heated. Naturally, every Imperial Guards demands to go so that they can fulfil their duty—everybody wants to be there to protect their Emperor. I leave it to my Viceroy for a moment and sip a cup of exquisite green tea Dalia just brought me.
Father, do you hear me? I try sending out a telepathic message even though I can't focus properly. Still, I think that I've already established a link between us.
Of course, son, he answers immediately.
I decided to go with you, I inform him, trying to sound confident. I'm bringing thirty-nine subjects with me as my entourage and protection.
Sure, as was our limit, he confirms. I promise not to harm you or your subjects in any way. On the contrary, the Divementis will do anything in their power to protect their Crown Prince.
That sounds funny considering that the Divementis were prepared to kill me if I didn't meet your crazy telepathic standards, I retort. So excuse me for being overly cautious.
Your thinking is too Celestial; you don't understand our point of view, he sighs. I hope to show you new perspectives.
My thinking is too Celestial? If that was meant to be a subtle insult, I'm happy to hear it. I desperately want to be more Celestial than Divementis; waging war for my partners isn't a rational Celestial way of doing things.
Can you cloak us as well? It would look suspicious if we suddenly disappeared into thin air when entering your vessel. There could be drones from the press lurking, I ask.
That can be done easily, he agrees. When you take off, we'll cloak you immediately and render our ship visible to the Celestial eyes so that your subjects know where to enter. Are you packing already? If possible, we'd prefer to depart today.
"Love, are you...?" Gotrid suddenly puts a hand on my wing and interrupts our telepathic link.
I notice that the throne room grew quiet. I thought that I had a few moments over the tea because several battle mages who weren't chosen started arguing with Liana, but, as always, I'm under constant scrutiny.
"Yes, I was talking to my father," I nod. "They are ready to receive us, ideally by the end of the day. Start packing, I'll hear no more protests."
And that takes care of that and nobody tries to argue anymore. Those chosen run off to pack and I ask those who weren't to stay in the throne room for a little longer. I want them to know that I didn't choose them because they aren't good enough, but simply because there's a limit to my entourage and their skills are better used elsewhere. They feel much better after my reassurance.
"Wait, what is all that?" I frown when we return to our suite and find our three maids waiting on the porch with a ton of baggage.
"Mostly your clothes, Your Majesty," Cien shrugs nonchalantly. "We don't know how many days we will spend there so we packed for two weeks."
"We can't know how big our guest room is going to be, you have to minimise," I oppose.
"We did, this is the minimal viable option," the maid purses her lips.
I sigh resignedly. There's no arguing with the maids about my clothes, it's a losing battle.
I'm afraid you will have to send a shuttle for our baggage, I quickly send my father another telepathic message. It feels so easy now. Natural even.
No problem, give us an opening, he answers readily.
I focus on the crystals all over the mansion and deactivate the shield. The shuttle slips through and I close it again. Four Divementis appear and start bringing our baggage inside without uttering a single word. They don't even frown at the amount of stuff we want to bring. Fortunately, the shuttle is big enough to take everyone's baggage so we can fly light. Are they really able to accommodate so many of us comfortably? I don't want my guards to sleep in bad conditions.
"I don't know how I feel about flying in that thing," Erik hesitates when everyone is ready to take off. Only Noage is forced to take the shuttle and doesn't look thrilled about it.
"You're going with me," I smirk and hug him. "You're not getting out of it this time, let's finally try that levitation platform."
"Pff, special treatment," Gotrid picks on Erik jokingly because I'm not offering the same service to him.
"Whaaat?" Erik panics. "W-wait, I'm not ready!"
"Trust me," I kiss him and envelop him in my wings while I conjure a levitation platform under our feet.
Erik cries out and wobbles when we go up a few centimetres, but I'm holding him tightly. As a pilot, he isn't afraid of heights, but he isn't a Celestial either. Humans don't feel comfortable when hanging on seemingly nothing.
"Love, open your eyes," I encourage him. "There's no scenario in which you would fall when I'm with you."
"I-I know, b-but...," he slowly opens one eye and then another. "Oh my god, we're that high up already?" he gulps when he sees that we're above the roofs.
I continue ascending slowly so that he can get used to it. I'm using my wings to cushion him and give him a sense of stability. It seems to work because he gradually calms down.
"Hmm, it's not as scary as I expected," Erik admits when we're fairly high in the air and his nausea mitigates. "Now I regret we didn't try it sooner."
"Maybe you're comfortable with it because you experienced a few of my flying dreams," I speculate and I'm proud of him. "Still, this isn't our preferred way of transport. Maintaining a levitation platform is quite taxing on mana consumption and flying on it is extremely slow when compared to our wings."
"We can try it occasionally," he suggests, eager now. "This is the only thing I can't share with you and even though I try to look like it doesn't bother me... well... it does."
"Erik...," I whisper his name and my heart sinks.
I want to ask him if he regrets that he didn't transform, but I don't dare to open that complicated and possibly sore topic now. Our levitation platform might be slow, but we're almost at the spaceship. I quickly close the shield so that the Celestials who stayed in the mansion are safe and come inside through an opening the Divementis prepared for us.
I dissolve the levitation platform and we smoothly land on a metal floor. It seems this is a docking station of sorts. The shuttle is here already and the hall is full of Celestials who stand in sharp contrast with the Divementis who are here to receive us. I release my feathery embrace and I look around. A real alien spaceship, no kidding.
I study a random Divementis in the crowd of onlookers. I get a feeling that it's a woman. Afraid that I'd hurt her like those diplomats before, I don't dare to dig, but I still touch her mind—slightly, really gently. I'm just curious, that's all. The Divementis woman gives me a panicked look, fortifies her mind and bows to me deeply.
"The Crown Prince... he really has the Royal bloodline!" the crowd roars excitedly.
It's like an avalanche. Suddenly, every Divementis in the hangar kneels in unison. I clutch Erik's hand and shiver. At that moment, the gravity of being the Divementis prince finally sinks in.