Hephael and Ishira were both surprised by her question. They were ready to be loyal to her, but they hadn’t been clear about their position toward the King, and she had picked up on that. Cessilia wanted to be sure they wouldn’t run the minute Ashen was under attack himself. She might be a decent candidate for Queen, but it would all be meaningless if anything happened to the King. She was a foreigner, and couldn’t become Queen if there was no one to marry… Right now, she was glad for their support, but it was all very fleeting, and conditional to Ashen making her his Queen.

Their hesitation in answering spoke volumes in their stead.

“Didn’t he make you guys rich, though?” said Tessandra, frowning. “You said it yourself, the Hashat Family was like any other before the King rose your status and gave you mansions inside the Capital.”

Hephael lowered his head, nodding faintly.

“That is true, but… for the longest time, we had suspicions about the King’s intentions. See, it is not the first time a king has risen a family’s status, only to use them and abandon them afterward.”

“Ashen is n-not his father,” declared Cessilia, a hint of anger in her voice.

“You… sound like you’re familiar with His Majesty,” noted Ishira, surprised.

“The K-King has a history w-with my family. I d-didn’t come here only b-because Counselor Yassim invited me. I c-came to b-become his Queen.”

Hephael and Ishira stayed mute in surprise, both staring at her dumbfounded, but it was only to be expected. This was the first time she was revealing her personal interest in Ashen, and speaking so vehemently too. Cessilia blushed a little once she realized that and grabbed some food to try and act normal. Next to her, though, Tessandra had a faint smile on. Only at times like this did her cousin leave her shy demeanor aside to shine, when she was determined and ready to fight for who or what she believed in.

“…See?” she chuckled. “My cousin is pretty stubborn when it comes to these things. You guys may be fine making promises to someone who has yet to become Queen, but you can’t keep stalling and hesitating any longer. The Yekara and Pangoja Clans you fear so much have made their choices already. It’s only a matter of time before they try to overtake the throne.”

Ishira’s face went pale, and she dropped her cutlery.

“What are you saying…”

“It’s easy to lie in wait when you’re hiding behind a king you don’t even trust,” Tessandra continued. “You can’t simply shift your hideout to my cousin’s shadow and pretend you’ll be all good once this is over and sorted.”

“That’s not what we said!”

“Th-then m-make a real d-decision.”

Their eyes shifted to Cessilia, whose green eyes looked more emerald than ever, shining and almost… reptilian. Right now, she had changed from her shy demeanor from earlier to a completely different woman. They could see the Empire’s eldest Princess in her. It was as if she’d matured and grown a few inches in the blink of an eye, her presence was suddenly overpowering them. Even Tessandra seemed to have taken a back seat behind her.

“I will side with K-King Ashen,” she declared. “If your family simply waits for me to b-become Queen t-to openly support me, I won’t c-consider your intentions as g-genuine. I will not accept a c-coward, even if they are related t-to my mother.”

“How can you call us cowards?!” exclaimed Ishira. “We have been doing all–!”

Before she could finish that sentence, her cousin grabbed her shoulder and had her quietly sit back down, his eyes on Cessilia. Hephael was clearly more lucid about the Princess’ clear warning, and more realistic too. He had underestimated her because she seemed to be of a kind nature like her mother, but right now, she had the aura of a War God’s daughter…

“You hide far from the C-Capital and b-behind your father,” Cessilia continued. “You want t-to support me, b-but you are not ready t-to take action. The other c-clans have already t-tried to k-kill me, and they will k-keep on doing so. I c-can’t trust p-people who are all t-talk and no action.”

“…What about the other tribes you met?” asked Hephael, frowning. “I thought the Princess would be more willing to trust our Hashat Family, but it looks to me like you’re asking us to be on the frontlines while letting the Dorosef and Sehsan remain hidden.”

“N-Naptunie and her uncle are with us every d-day,” retorted Cessilia, a hint more anger in her voice. “No one ignores the fact that the D-Dorosef Tribe is now my ally.”

“And don’t you think you, of all people, should be more supportive of us than the Sehsan Tribe?” added Tessandra. “You knew who we were, our common ties to the Rain Tribe’s legacy, but they reached out to us first, and even offered an opportunity to trade with the Empire, knowing full well how risky that was.”

“I b-believe the Hashat should b-be more p-proactive than them. Your family might only b-be healers, but you’re p-powerful enough to openly d-display which c-candidate you will support. D-did you even consider that the smaller families might be looking up t-to you?”

The two of them exchanged a glance as if really surprised by her words. They clearly hadn’t even considered the influence they had over other tribes.

“We… Well, we don’t mix with the other families…”

“You should s-start,” Cessilia coldly retorted. “You’re one K-Kingdom, one p-people. You c-can’t act like you d-don’t care what happens t-to each other anymore and p-push the liability onto others. Otherwise, th-there is no use in waiting for a q-queen. You are all already letting the other c-clans win by not d-doing anything. If the t-tribes d-don’t unite together against those c-clans, neither the K-King nor I will be able t-to do anything. Your passiveness will b-be the downfall of this K-Kingdom.”

A heavy silence followed her words. Ishira looked as if she had just been slapped awake, while her cousin’s face held a stern, indecipherable expression. Neither of them could say a thing, and Cessilia was done talking too. Next to her, Tessandra was simply re-filling her own plate with more meat, a satisfied smile on her lips.

“…I see we underestimated the Princess,” finally muttered Hephael.

His cousin glanced his way, looking a bit worried and unsure about what was going on now, keeping her lips sealed. Meanwhile, Hephael grabbed the teapot and refilled Cessilia’s cup himself, an obvious gesture of submission from someone who had his cousin serve him all along.

“I’ll admit, I was raised to put the needs of my family first and foremost. Never did I envision the day would come so soon when I would consider partnering up with other tribes. Our knowledge in medicine was always sufficient to maintain our way of life.”

Cessilia looked a lot calmer now, but she accepted the cup of tea with a faint nod, bringing it to her lips gracefully. She took a sip and put the cup down before talking again.

“The b-best doctors learn not from other d-doctors, but from other c-cultures. The Sehsan T-Tribe can sew th-things in better ways than I have seen b-before, and I want to t-try their techniques on fresh wounds. The D-Dorosef know the p-properties and nutritious values of fish and have s-studied algae so much they c-can use it for health b-benefits as well. No one is only g-good at one thing, b-but if you c-combine many p-people’s talents, you learn and improve even faster.”

“If you keep yourselves to yourselves,” added Tessandra, “you are bound to hit a slump sooner or later. No offense, but I’ll bet your medicine hasn’t improved much from what your mother taught you already.”

Hephael and Ishira’s expressions betrayed them before they could even come up with a response to that. Eventually, the young leader sighed, defeated. He didn’t look like he had lost to Cessilia in any way, though. In fact, he smiled confidently, slowly nodding.

“Lady Cessilia, you exceeded my expectations, by far. I did not expect to be lectured today, but I’ll bow down without shame to your words. You’ve proven not to be a princess in name only, but a woman of character and great insight, and I respect that. In fact, I am more confident than ever in supporting our future Queen. I will set my doubts about King Ashen aside for your sake, and trust the King the lady has chosen. …If you prove yourself as our future ruler, I will also step up, as you requested. The Hashat Family will no longer hide. How can we prove our loyalty to you?”

“Hephael,” muttered his cousin, a bit worried about what she could ask.

Cessilia’s answer came right away.

“Reach out t-to the other t-tribes,” she said in an imperious tone. “The Sehsan, the D-Dorosef, and even those who have yet t-to take a side. D-do not wait for me; c-create an alliance with them.”

“…Aren’t you worried we’ll create an alliance in favor of another candidate?” Hephael raised an eyebrow.

“I d-don’t believe you will b-be able to b-betray me if you c-can’t agree on another c-candidate. We know most of the smaller t-tribes have chosen a c-candidate without real b-belief they will be p-picked by the King, b-but now, you have an opportunity t-to take a real stance, b-by supporting me.”

Tessandra loudly put down her own cup, giving them a cunning smile.

“On a side note, I’ll add what Cessi here is too nice to tell you, that you guys really better not dare betray us. Our family has a history of cutting off toxic relatives. …Quite literally.”

“We will remember that,” nodded Hephael, the corner of his lips lifted. “However, we are not liars or traitors and as my lady mentioned, we won’t keep acting like cowards either. …I’m sure you’ll see the result of this very soon.”

He was most likely referring to the upcoming banquet, but Cessilia didn’t need to inquire any further. She smiled back at him and they resumed eating as if this conversation had been very natural. For the rest of the meal, they didn’t mention anything else about tribes, conspiracies, or rival clans. In fact, they quite happily chatted about their medicinal knowledge and the differences between the Empire and the Kingdom. Each side of the surviving Rain Tribe had perfected their knowledge according to the new ingredients and herbs they had found, and Cessilia was quite happy to chat about their respective discoveries with Hephael and Ishira. They had asserted they were probably something like distant cousins, and now that the hardest and most serious part of the conversation was over, they were acting quite familiarly. Tessandra and Hephael happily drank together, each boasting about their talent for handling alcohol, while Ishira and Cessilia much rather enjoyed staying sober to discuss more complex medicine. Each duo had begun more naturally leaning toward each other, and Cessilia noticed how Ishira smiled while staring at her cousin.

“You t-two seem close,” she whispered.

“Oh, in my heart, Hephael is as close as an older brother. We were raised together by my mother, and since we don’t have other siblings, it was always just the two of us. He’s always been very protective of me since I lacked a father figure. ...You have many siblings, right, Lady Cessilia? Are you close to them as well?”

“I am.” Cessilia smiled. “I have two older b-brothers, and they d-do tend t-to be very p-protective, b-but they are nice... I have f-five younger siblings t-too.”

“It must be nice growing up in a large family! It was always just me and my mother. My father died when I was young, and my uncle never cared much for us. He was always too concerned about his wife, and almost jealous about how close my mom had gotten to her... unlike Hephael. My cousin always made time for me and my mom who helped raise him, despite taking on a lot of responsibilities since he was young. I knew he was growing up to become the Family Leader, so I did my best to become one of our best healers as well. Just so I would be useful to him. He never pressured me to get married, either; I’m the one who offered to volunteer as a candidate.”

“Really? B-but his father…”