Pride sighed, remembering how she had shouted at Cedric the other night. Tiara offered her lap, so Pride decided to get another good rest there.
She woke later to the sound of the fourth and eighth squadrons on patrol. Tiara had nodded off by this time as well. Pride got up to peek at what the knights were doing from a distance, and came across Cedric out there too.
He apologized for what he had done the other day, and he seemed sincere about it, and then he pleaded with her to consider the proposed alliance between their kingdoms favorably.
She could not believe he thought winning her over was his means of getting her to accept the alliance — even if he intended to come clean about his true intentions later.
He was stunned that she knew about that.
She called him stupid, and he shoved her back against the tree and demanded to know what she knew. He was desperate. His brother was desperate. Everything was riding on this alliance.
Blades were drawn, and several of them shot into the tree right beside them. Pride used the moment to kick him off, and Arthur followed by driving his sword into the ground between them. Alan and Eric had the prince at blade point. Every one of them was going to protect Pride.
She sighed and said it had only been a little argument, and told Cedric to go back to his room.
Later, Pride met with Val, who greeted her with, "Every moment I can't see you feels like an eternity." He had heard ladies like her loved that kind of thing, and he wanted to know whether it was cute or not.
She was not having any of it, and told him to get these letters where they needed to go. She was still upset about the prince eating all the food she had made.
Val could not believe she would say a thing like that about anyone. The prince must be a real idiot.
She caught Cedric trying to leave. He was going to return to his kingdom, since the negotiations had failed. Pride was not going to let him — not until he had explained everything to her mother, including the fact that he was here without his father's permission. She knew he was out of time.
But even while she was willing to help him, she was not going to forgive him for the kiss, or the food, or the attack in the garden, or the fact that he was using her to push the alliance through for ulterior motives. She called out the suspicion hanging over him: that he was setting their country up for turmoil, and that by forging this alliance he intended to drag Frieia into a plot to invade another country with the help of several others.
It was a long back and forth, with Pride calling him stupid and reckless throughout.
Then they all stormed into the throne room together, and Pride told her mother that Cedric was ready to lay everything on the table.
Cedric thought back to his brother scolding him for running away from his instructor again. He had told Lance that his very existence had plenty of value without his learning a thing. His brother kicked the tree, telling him he would be better off injured than spending his time quietly in his room.
Yohan helped Cedric into his room and told him kindly that he should not cause his brother Lance so much trouble. Lance had only just become accustomed to his duties as king.
Either way, Cedric thought there was no need to study, since he was so handsome. And with Lance barging into his room, the scolding to study only increased.
At seventeen, he had no memory of being brought up by a mother or a father. Yohan and Lance were his only family, the only ones who understood him. Thanks to them, he was able to live his life. He wanted things to stay exactly as they were, so that the two of them could smile forever.
Cedric really did believe he could do anything without penalty because of his good looks.
He loved his brother, and he loved Yohan like a brother too. He just wanted them to be happy. And as things stood, the country was going in a good direction — or so he thought at the time.
That was until a messenger from the kingdom of Copelandi stepped into their country and told them they must submit to the Raja Empire. They had one month to answer. If they defied, two other kingdoms would escalate and storm in on them.
Lance was already considering giving in to their demands. But that was when Cedric remembered the inquiry of alliance they had received from the kingdom of Frieia, the country of people with special abilities. Surely a superpower like that could help save the United Hanazu Kingdom.
Cedric's plan had been to win the crown princess over with his charms, and after that, to talk about the situation in his country.
He apologized to the queen for withholding the truth about his kingdom. He made a deep bow before her and begged her to save his country. Chenensis, one half of the United Hanazu Kingdom, was in danger of being invaded. Another kingdom had demanded they submit or face devastation.
Pride told her mother that she had seen the invasion in a premonition, and the queen accepted it. She only needed some time to confirm the situation; once they knew the truth of it, they could enter into an alliance and do whatever they could.
He apologized to Pride afterward for all the trouble he had caused, and that was no issue. What angered her most was how much effort he had put into protecting his pride.
He asked what he could do to earn her forgiveness, and with no answer yet, he took his leave for the time being.
The knights were swarming Cedric, telling him he could not return home yet. The ruckus was so loud that Pride was pulled away from her work, and she was so angry that she shouted Cedric's full name. She also told Arthur that she needed him to stay by her side for this.
Cedric was shaking through their meeting as he begged to be allowed to return to his kingdom temporarily. Even knowing this would damage the alliance, he did not care if they had to start again from zero.
Pride grabbed Cedric by the shoulder and asked him what was going on.
Something was going to happen to his brother Lance.
She answered by telling Cedric that she hated him. She was not forgiving him. But she promised to help him, even if he did not want her to tell anyone else what was going on besides her.
Cedric set down the letter he had received on the table. As he scratched at his head in his anguish, Pride read the contents, and learned that the invading kingdom had shortened their grace period for the invasion by nine days.
She already knew these details from the game. King Lance would suddenly go insane. The Hanazu Kingdom would split in two, with their partnered kingdom calling off the alliance and committing to total surrender.
There were only six days left. But if Cedric took a boat now, he might make it back in five.
He wept over it, blaming himself for leaving the country without permission.