Two-Faced

“Kaito! You did it!” The rest of the gang joined Rina in the arena to praise Kaito.

“I did it?” Kaito initially said, shocked. “I-I mean, of course I did it!”

While Kaito’s friends excitedly shook him, the rest of the nobles in the crowd conversed about what they had just witnessed. They couldn’t believe that Francis had lost. What was going to happen with Rina, they thought.

Suddenly, a cane slamming the ground echoed throughout the arena. Everyone went silent. Rina’s adoptive parents stood in the center of the area to confront the group.

“Rina, why can’t you just behave for once in your life!” the mom proclaimed.

The main group stared at the mother in shock. That wasn’t exactly a motherly phrase.

The mother continued, “I’ve had it up to HERE with you and these hooligans. I’ll have them all executed before they can even think about taking you from us again!”

The father stepped in. Grabbing the mother’s shoulder to calm her down.

In a calm, methodical tone, he started talking. “Rina… I assure you, you should think twice before you leave. As the daughter of King Nakamura, you have a duty to uphold.”

The group took a second to process what the father had just revealed before they looked at Rina. She sat there unfazed, as if a shadow had been cast over her face to hide her emotion.

The father continued. “Surely you understand. You are to become the family head, marry Duke Francis, and take your rightful place as the ruler of Taelesta. Of course, that means we all would become Kings and Queens, isn’t that swell~”

Rina didn’t react. Instead, she stood up ominously, picking up her sword beside Kaito.

“Rina!” Khrom shouted. He sensed her bloodlust and grabbed Rina before her adoptive parents’ heads rolled.

“You knew everything all along!?” Rina yelled, pained and angry at her parents. “You never planned on telling me, did you!?”

The father scoffed. “Of course, we were going to tell you, but only when you were announced as Queen. After all, if we told you earlier, you probably would’ve left on some stupid revenge case.”

The adoptive parents grinned mischievously, as if they had Rina in checkmate.

“Rina, everyone here knows now,” the mother ordered. “Come and let us rule Taelesta together.”

Rina took a deep breath and calmed down. Khrom slowly let her go.

“Kaito, how far is that ride of yours? Since I’m an orphan now, I have no right to be here,” Rina stated as she stared at the Duke and Duchess of the establishment with dead eyes.

“I’m glad you asked!” Kaito shouted, getting up. “That’s your queue, Fiona!”

“Guards!!!” the Duchess yelled to try to detain Kaito’s party.

Fiona transformed in front of the whole arena, unleashing a strong gust of wind that blew the guards back. After all the nobles recovered from the wind blast, they stared at Fiona.

“A dragonkin!?”

“What is that thing doing in the capital!?”

“Get it away from me!”

Mixed emotions came from the nobles, primarily fear and disgust. One thing that was for sure was that Fiona’s presence was not welcome.

“What. Is. THAT!!!” Rina said in awe.

“Oh, this is Fiona,” Kaito responded. “I can properly introduce you later, but let’s get out of here for now.”

Kaito lent Rina a hand and helped lift her onto Fiona.

“Oh, and make sure to keep your mouth closed!” Kaito spoke from experience.

Rina, not fully registering Kaito’s warning, made a deduction. “Wait a second, is this the dragon e—”

Fiona launched off and out of the arena, cutting Rina off. The Duke and Duchess were left to stare as the group escaped back to Giora.

____________________________________________________________________________

The group successfully returned to Giora. A day had passed, and everything seemed to have returned to normal. At least for the most part…

Rachael and Kaito sat on a bench with Rina in between them. Rina was pouting…

“I’m a princess? What am I supposed to do with this information?” Rina vented out. “My dad is dead, and my mom is missing… How am I supposed to find her and my dad’s killer?”

Kaito and Rachael sat there awkwardly. They didn’t exactly know how to bring up the fact that they knew who killed her father.

“And what the heck happened while I was gone!?” Rina shouted out, darting a glance at the two consolers. “How did I miss so much in such little time? Kaito’s level 60, Evona’s level 54, Iori’s level 29, the egg hatched, and apparently, it gets weird epiphanies!?”

“Well, you were gone for a month…” Kaito mentioned.

Rachael glared at Kaito, scolding his dumb comment without any words. Kaito felt attacked and looked away nervously.

“How about you guys take on a mission!” Rachael suggested. “It’ll catch you up and get your mind off things!”

“And we can have a party afterwards!” Kaito added getting up from the bench. “My treat!”

Rina sat for a second, then responded. “Yeah… It’d be nice if something happened to get my mind off things.” Rina smiled, “Thanks, you two.”

“WARNING WARNING!!!”

“STMAPEDE INCOMING. ALL ADVENTURERS PLEASE PREPARE FOR BATTLE!!!”

Kaito covered his ears. “What the heck is going on!?”