Even so, Pride was still worried about the next male lead.
Elsewhere, a mysterious man was relaxing until he received a message. He was annoyed, because it meant it was time to work. Then he saw the brighter side of it: this meant they were one step closer to Frieia becoming a product on the shelf. The very idea entertained him.
Pride rushed over to Arthur that morning to confirm the good news. He had been promoted to vice captain of the eighth squadron. The two princesses hugged him tight to congratulate him, and it was too much for his heart.
It stayed on his mind for quite a while. He kept thinking about how nice she smelled, and how cute she was, all through the day.
Someone suddenly called his name, and he reacted fast, dodging a spray of knives while drawing his blade.
It was the eighth division captain, Durk Harrison, testing his readiness for combat at any moment. He had apparently forgotten to tell Arthur that he had to assume all the duties of vice captain by the end of the day. He also thought Arthur had been too slow finishing this bout, and that he should end it faster next time. Arthur thought he was terrifying.
In battle, the eighth squadron placed its importance on each member's special abilities. Strength was the only thing that mattered here, and he was ready for it.
While having tea with the two princesses, Leon mentioned that the second prince of the kingdom of Cersis, one half of the United Hanazu Kingdom, had told him that he wanted to grow closer to Pride.
Pride remembered the nation. It was a joint kingdom made up of the Kingdom of Cersis and the Kingdom of Chenensis, two smaller nations with a shared border — though their borders to the outside were closed. Frieia had continued to reach out to them to form an alliance. Leon had also reached out requesting something to that effect, and they had heard no response at all.
The prince would be arriving in five days, and he wanted Pride to know he was coming.
Pride was a bit appalled that this prince had decided to use another nation's crown prince as his messenger. That kind of reckless action sounded just like him, a year before the start of the game.
Stale and Arthur also thought it strange that this prince was suddenly visiting, especially the part about wanting to befriend Pride. The information Stale had was that Hanazu engaged in trade only with the kingdom of Anemone, and that, being rich in gold and minerals, they had been thriving even before they closed the borders. Vest told Stale that the firstborn prince, now King Lance, was an outstanding monarch who paid close attention to the state of the world. But there was hardly any information at all on the second prince, Cedric.
Stale still felt that Arthur's skills were not yet adequate enough to put him at ease, so he raised the seriousness of their sparring. The only thing that might really make him feel confident was if Arthur rose to captain — though even so, Arthur was able to close him out and win this time.
Then Frieia welcomed the final love interest from the first installment of Our Ray of Light: another victim driven into a corner by Queen Pride, and the future fiancé of Tiara, the world's protagonist.
His name was Cedric Silva Lel, and he told them he was grateful to be granted an audience.
Pride knew there was only one reason for this, and she had to pretend she did not, and look surprised. Cedric asked the queen to consider an alliance between their nations.
That was a huge surprise, and not at all what Pride had expected.
After the meeting, Tiara still thought the whole thing was strange. Cedric said his brother was busy and could not make the trip. And yet he was asking the queen to journey back to his nation for the signing. It seemed strange that he would negotiate an alliance single-handedly, even as the king's brother.
Still, he was a love interest. Unlike Leon, who was the flirt archetype, Cedric was a narcissistic prince who believed his own beauty was transcendent — with one major flaw.
He knocked at the door and asked for a little of Pride's time. He wished to be shown around this beautiful castle by her beautiful highness, Crown Princess Pride. Tiara cut in to say she would join them, making whatever excuse she could rather than leave her older sister alone with him.
As they walked and talked, Pride went over Cedric's fatal flaw in her head. It was his ignorance. He had an extreme lack of knowledge in the ways of the world. She even thought it fair to consider him an idiot. The childish innocence he showed from time to time, along with his sweet words and his assertiveness, had been a big hit with players who loved the arrogant type. He was a very popular character.
He suddenly lifted Pride's hair to look at it closely, describing it as gorgeous — a deep crimson, with a lovely smell — and then kissed it, catching her completely off guard. His excuse was that her hair was so beautiful he could not help himself, and then he kissed her hand as well.
She had no idea what was happening. She remembered the CG for this very well. In the game he did the same thing to Tiara, while staying at the castle after their engagement announcement.
Caleum and Arthur closed in around him. Crown prince or not, they told him to restrain himself.
He apologized, and made the excuse that Pride was simply too captivating, and she could see he was not sorry in the least. He followed it up with, "Your Highness, Crown Princess Pride, I fear I've become a prisoner of your beauty," and the worst of it was that now she could not think straight.
Knowing his backstory, she could not help wanting to smack him and ask whether he did not have bigger things to worry about. It was clear the Cedric route had been unlocked. Somehow, she was his target.
He pulled in close, just like the scene in the game where he tries to kiss Tiara after gazing at her. In the game it was Stale who intervened. Here, Arthur did it instead, while Caleum stayed polite and told the prince he should head back to his room.
Later, Stale learned what had happened, and he was not happy about it at all. He stormed off to speak with Cedric himself, to inform him that kissing someone of royalty here — even on the back of the hand — was a serious crime punishable by death.
Gilbert had witnessed the whole thing, and cut in to tell Stale he was being quite rude to a foreign prince. Then he reaffirmed that what Stale had said was true, and even remarked, mildly, that kissing the hand of royalty was discourteous. The two of them worked together, more or less, to make Cedric as uncomfortable as possible.
Meanwhile, the two sisters were preparing a dish using ingredients from Leon's kingdom. This special dish was to celebrate Arthur's promotion. Pride also wanted to bake some cookies for Stale in the shape of his face.
The two of them worked together, and by the end of it the dishes looked absolutely delicious, and the cookies showed Stale with a whole range of expressions.
Later, wandering the hall as the preparations went on, they overheard one of the maids in the kitchen telling Cedric to stop.
He was taste testing all of the food. He apologized to Pride for touching her without thinking — as soon as he had left his room to come and apologize, he had smelled a savory aroma in the air. He was surprised she could cook so well, and he simply had to try it, since she had done her best to prepare it all for him.
But Pride was furious. She had not prepared it for him. Not only was he munching on the main dish, he had eaten every one of the Stale cookies.
She started to cry.
And that was when Stale entered the scene, and saw her tell Cedric that she despised him.