This time, the smirk disappeared from Tessa’s face. Jisel looked a bit amused at her reaction, as she had just shown that such insults wouldn’t hurt her at all. It was clear she was used to it, and not willing to take offense so easily. She seemed like a very intelligent woman to Cessilia, but it didn’t change how she just couldn’t like that woman. Her green eyes didn’t hide it, nor did she shy away from the black eyes staring right back at her.

“I am not your enemy, Princess,” said Jisel, tilting her head. “As you probably already know, I am not even a contestant to be His Majesty’s wife. I have no desire to fight you either. ...After all, aren’t we almost relatives? I was surprised when I saw you too... I had heard rumors. That the infamous War God had fallen for a white-skinned concubine... Looks like it was all true.”

Tessa frowned and clenched her fists, annoyed about Jisel’s words. Even if it was true, she didn’t like this woman pointing out their common heritage.

Yet, to everyone’s surprise, Cessilia smiled slightly. The Princess was just as calm and composed as the King’s mistress facing her. The tension between them was obvious, but there was also a clear intent from both women not to let the other get to her. Never had the Counselors thought they’d ever witness such a passive argument... The green-eyed Princess finally stopped staring at Jisel and grabbed one of the old books.

“You were r-right,” she said.

“...About what?” asked Jisel, frowning.

She was clearly surprised by Cessilia’s reaction, as was everyone else. Shouldn’t she be annoyed at the King’s mistress? Yet, the Princess quietly opened that book, her fingers caressing the pages with a very calm demeanor. After a short while, she closed it.

“...You’re not c-competition,” she said, without looking at the redhead.

Those words left Jisel stunned, and Cessilia turned around, ignoring her. Although she was a bit lost at what had just happened, Tessa felt a bit proud of her cousin, and followed her as she walked away between the shelves, leaving her rival there.

She held that old book against her chest, but Cessilia didn’t look at any more books as she walked out. She just wanted to leave this room, and get as far away as possible from the woman that made her uncomfortable. The little group followed behind in silence, the two Counselors visibly awkward. For Cessilia to run into the King’s mistress so quickly was among the worst-case scenarios. Even if nothing major had happened, both old men felt bad for the young Princess. However, Cessilia had acted strangely calm and composed all along, and even her stutter hadn’t taken away her little win over the redhead. She had left her rival speechless and walked away before Jisel could find a comeback. In his heart, Yassim grew a bit prouder of the Princess each minute.

Cessilia wasn’t as composed inside as she appeared to look. In fact, she just focused on walking, sealing and muting her emotions in the back of her mind, until she suddenly stopped, realizing she had no idea where she was.

She glanced around and turned to the two old men who had remained quiet the whole time.

“I’m s-sorry,” she muttered. “Where...?”

“Oh, this way Princess,” said Yamino with an honest smile. “We’re very close!”

Following them silently, Yassim was once again baffled. In just a few minutes, the Princess had gone from a fierce tiger ready to stand her ground against her rival, to now looking like a lost and inoffensive young lady again. Only Tessa didn’t seem surprised at all, and just followed behind with a satisfied expression. Yamino was happily chatting with her about his niece’s whereabouts, but Yassim knew his friend was probably as curious about the Princess as he was. He really couldn’t trust his own eyes when it came to the Dragon Empire’s people...

“Naptunie, sweetie?” Yamino gently knocked on one door.

He slowly opened the door, which led to a very small office. In fact, it was just large enough for two desks facing each other against a window, and another table full of piled-up books, parchments, and broken feathers.

“Uncle Mino!” exclaimed a young woman, almost jumping off her seat. “Look, I finished doing the math on...”

Naptunie froze as she saw that her uncle wasn’t alone. She was strikingly similar to her uncle, with a very round face, very round body, curly black hair, and small eyes. Her skin was very dark too, and she was of a small but large build, with her two high pigtails making her look even cuter. Cessilia was immediately reminded of those baby bear cubs her brother had found once, with her little upturned nose and small, pouty lips. She wore a very simple, long, blue dress, and for jewelry, two large nacre bracelets around her wrists, and similar hoop earrings.

“Hi...” She smiled, sending curious glances toward her uncle.

“Princess Cessilia, Lady Tessa, this is my niece, Naptunie. She’s sixteen and a very bright, intelligent girl.”

“Oh, Uncle... Wait, Princess?” she immediately opened her eyes wide and turned to Cessilia and Tessa. “You’re the two ladies who attended court this morning? The Princesses! I’m so pleased to meet you! And you’re so pretty too! Is your skin color real? Can I touch it? Oh, sorry, I probably shouldn’t ask things like that… Oh, hi, Uncle Yassim! Welcome back... He’s back for real, right? Is it alright to ask?”

She had a cute voice and spoke very fast, clearly not bothering to sort out her thoughts first. Cessilia thought to herself she was a bit like Tessa as she spoke with little to no filter. Though in her case, it didn’t seem like she did it on purpose. Even right now, she turned her eyes to her uncle with a worried expression to ask for confirmation, realizing a bit late her poor choice of words. Yamino laughed and nodded, while Yassim stepped forward.

“Yes, Lady Naptunie, I am back for real. You’ve grown well.”

“Oh, not so much...” immediately replied the young lady, blushing and patting her chubby cheeks, visibly embarrassed. “I am happy to see you again. And the Princesses! Are you really from the Dragon Empire? You’ve never been here, right?”

“First, I’m not a princess,” said Tessa. “I’m just Tessa. Second, yes, first time here, regretting it already.”

Naptunie was very clearly more curious than afraid and kept adding questions to her previous questions without leaving the girls a single second to try and answer, to the point where even Tessa let her jaw hang after a few seconds, completely baffled.

“...I never thought I’d see a worse word mill than my sis... Seriously, never,” she whispered to Cessilia, shocked.

“You n-never know,” chuckled the Princess, amused.

“Nana!” suddenly shouted Yamino, obviously used to it but nevertheless exhausted. “I told the ladies that you would escort them downtown and show them around. You are about the same age and know the main streets better than Yassim or myself. Princess Cessilia and her cousin, Lady Tessa, are visiting our Kingdom for the first time. I think it would be best if you showed them around...”

Naptunie’s eyes immediately sparkled as she smiled brightly at the two young women.

“Of course! I know all the best places to go, the best shops, and the best restaurants! You girls will love it! Oh, and we should go see my cousins, they have the best fish beignet shop! They even have the rarest ones, and the best sea powder cakes too!”

Tessa smiled awkwardly, but Naptunie’s bright optimism was shining and contagious. Cessilia nodded, feeling a bit excited to meet a young woman their age to guide them around this new city.

“Nice t-to meet you, N-Naptunie.”

“Oh, please call me Nana!” replied the young woman. “Everybody does! Oh, should I call you Princess? Or Your Highness? This is my first time meeting a real Imperial Princess! Do you have a real tiara? Is it made of gold? You have so much gold on you! Is it real gold? It has to be, right? Oh, one of my friend’s aunties has the best jewelry shop, we should stop by and say hi! Of course, we will drop by my cousins’ shop first! Do you guys like fish? I’m sorry, I tend to talk a lot when I’m nervous, and meeting new people makes me very nervous… “

“Who would have noticed...” muttered Tessa.

“You should go, ladies,” chuckled Yamino. “The weather is meant to be nice today, you young ones should enjoy it all you want. Old men like us wouldn’t be able to keep up anyway, and the Capital is more enjoyable with people your own age!”

“Please come back to the castle before the sunset, my ladies,” said Yassim, visibly worried. “If anything happens to you–”

“If anything happens to us, it will rain flames,” scoffed Tessa. “Come on, let’s go and enjoy ourselves. I feel like we will not have many days like this once this damn competition thing or whatever really starts...”

“Oh, I know exactly where to go first!” exclaimed Nana, walking ahead. “Have you ever tried fresh coconut juice?”

“No, and what in the world is a coconut...”

Cessilia chuckled, watching the two young women leave first, bickering in the corridor. She glanced toward Yassim again, with a gentle expression.

“Thank you,” she muttered.

Yassim was a bit confused as to why exactly she was thanking him, of all people.

For bringing her here? This whole ordeal was nothing like he had promised. No, in fact, if it wasn’t for Yamino’s niece offering them a tour of the Capital, he wouldn’t have known what to do or say to the young ladies. He still felt bad about all of this, despite still knowing he had sincerely done what he thought he should. Because he had acted for the Kingdom’s sake, not Cessilia’s. In just one morning, she had already met the King and his mistress, discovered the three spies placed by her side, and been stared at with disdain by all of the most powerful people in this Kingdom. All that right after she had been taken away from her family, from her home she was perfectly safe in. In fact, Yassim was still at a loss as to why this young, brave woman that still looked so fragile at times would willingly go through all of this, and with such a soft smile too...

Walking down the corridor, Cessilia was oblivious to Yassim’s considerations. In fact, she was even fine with ignoring the triplets still silently walking behind her, and instead, she was smiling at Nana’s non-stop chattering and the faces her cousin was making. As someone used to having a very chatty sister already, despite her earlier complaints, Tessa could endure Nana’s word mill spinning at full speed just fine.

Moreover, it wasn’t just noise, she was actually providing them with a lot of information and turned out to be not only very chatty, but highly informed about pretty much anything an educated woman her age would be.

By the time they reached the ground floor, they already knew all about how she had six siblings she got along with, her family coming from a long line of fishermen and fish sellers, their pride as part of the Dorosef Tribe, and her own upbringing. Even how she had been given books to keep herself busy since she was too precocious even for her parents to keep up, Tessa rolled her eyes multiple times at that part, and how she had begun her apprenticeship as her uncle’s assistant just four years ago. Apparently, the only thing that could rival Nana’s love for books and knowledge was her love for food. As they walked by the kitchen, she greeted all the cooks, calling them by their names and proudly introducing the two cousins as if they had been friends forever. In fact, Nana’s blinding optimism was such that she didn’t even seem to realize how many jaws dropped as the kitchen staff realized they were being introduced to an Imperial Princess.

“Let’s go!” she quickly said as they walked out of the castle. “The earlier we go, the better our fish buns will be. Normally, people start queuing before dawn for my auntie’s fish beignets, the fresh ones are the best!”

“Fresh ones?” repeated Tessa, frowning. “You don’t... cook the fish?”