A heavy silence befell the room after her words. She hadn’t meant to target Ashen with this, but she couldn’t spare him, and the guilt was legitimate too. After all, he had agreed to those rules as well as the others, and even if she knew it was her own pride talking, Cessilia was still bitter about Jisel. Even worse, she couldn’t swallow the hypocrisy of these men toward their own female relatives, and she refused to let him be used against her. If anything, Cessilia had grown up in a house where women were not looked down upon, and she wouldn’t let herself be here.

After a short while, someone in the room chuckled, awkwardly breaking the silence.

“...This is why I admire the Empress so much.”

The woman who had spoken was the only one seated as one of the Family Lords. In fact, she could have almost been mistaken for a man, with her short hair, strong jaw, and the fact that she wore the least jewelry out of all seven. She was wearing a modest, dark brown outfit too, with her legs open and large boots, some muddy water staining the beautiful floor under her. She turned to the other Lords with a smile.

“The Princess made a reasonable point. If it was indeed His Majesty with her, I don’t believe there’s any valid reason for her to be taken out of the competition.”

“The Hashat Family supports this,” immediately nodded Hephael.

“We’re not holding a vote!” exclaimed the Yekara Leader.

“We are,” retorted Ashen.

Because he had been so silent until then, the King’s ice-cold voice took them all by surprise. The Yekara Leader glared his way, and for a while, it seemed everyone was suddenly reminded the real monster was still there, just unusually passive. There was a very faint general movement in the room, a lot of people stepping an inch or two farther away from the throne. Some of the Lords even nervously shifted their positions on their chairs, sitting straight or leaning away. Even when he was slouching on his throne, Ashen was effortlessly dominating them all.

The leader of the Yekara Clan did try to hold his stare for a while, but Ashen wasn’t even glaring; he was like an ice fortress, a wall of contempt with the eyes of a monster. Soon enough, the man was forced to look down and admit his defeat toward the King. Still, he raised his head high again, gripping his seat and looking sullen. Since he couldn’t convince the King, the leader of the Yekara glared at his peers as if to dissuade them. Much to his annoyance, though, the leader of the Sehsan Tribe then raised his hand.

“The Sehsan Tribe also supports the Princess’ statement. We won’t require any more proof, either.”

“The Dorosef Tribe too!” exclaimed the man in the next seat.

With already four out of the seven Lords having spoken up, the outcome didn’t even need to be said. This was Cessilia’s win, and her green eyes went to the Yekara Leader as if to dare him to speak up and raise this issue again.

“...Are we d-done?” she asked in a loud and clear voice.

Despite her stutter, the imperious tone in her voice was leaving no doubt as to her superiority there. Those who had tried to humiliate her had completely lost. This Princess who had seemed to almost hide behind her cousin all along was now clearly standing her ground alone, and making a laughing stock out of the Clan Leader.

“...The competition isn’t over,” the leader of the Pangoja Clan declared suddenly. “At least now it is clear a few of us actually have the intent to keep things clean.”

He was actually glaring at the leader of the Yekara Clan, not Cessilia. It surprised her a little, but after all, he had lost one of his candidates, probably one of his younger relatives, to this competition already. From the murderous glare he was sending across the room, he had probably identified the culprit as well. However, his rival smirked. He may have lost to the King and the Princess, but the Yekara Clan Leader wasn’t going to be afraid of one of his peers.

“It’s not over indeed,” he said. “Perhaps we need to reconsider this... competition, after all.”

While the two of them kept exchanging glares, Cessilia sighed and turned to Ishira, mimicking with her lips for the young woman to meet her outside. Ishira nodded, and after whispering in her cousin’s ear, quietly stepped out first. Cessilia turned back to Ashen, giving him a little nod.

“Your M-Majesty,” she said, bowing faintly, “Lords, I will see you all at t-tonight’s banquet.”

She didn’t want to greet or thank them all excessively. She had already given them enough of her time, and the people whom she wanted to respect her already did and understood her actions. Cessilia turned around and left with her head held high, a silence behind her.

She waited until the doors were closed behind her to let out a long sigh.

“That cunning bastard,” said Ishira, appearing in the corridor. “I’m sorry you had to go through that, Princess.”

“It’s f-fine, I expected a few th-things like this to happen. And p-please, call me Cessilia.”

“Understood. So? Did you need something from me?”

Cessilia briefly went on to explain the situation, and what she was requiring of the Hashat Family. Ishira listened carefully, a faint smile appearing on her lips.

“...I understand; it’s a great idea! I will go right away to prepare everything, and meet you outside. We also have honey, sugar, and many edible plants we don’t need and can give to people. But don’t you talk about money; we will donate it all for free and I’m sure my cousin will agree to this. But… why didn’t you mention this in front of the Council? I’m sure you could have gotten them all to help.”

Cessilia shook her head.

“I d-don’t believe so. They would have d-done it by obligation, p-probably unwilling t-to really help me out, and I d-didn’t want to cause more c-conflicts between the clans. It is already hard t-to have them all in one room. P-plus, if they are watching me enough t-to know about what happened b-between me and His Majesty last n-night, they will find out about th-this soon enough too. It’s up t-to them to come t-to help or not, b-but it would be less likely if I had asked th-them.”

Ishira was a bit impressed.

Cessilia hadn’t decided to ask for help; not because she feared the clans or wanted to pick which ones would help her. She had considered the current psychological situation between the Lords, and chosen to let them think they would help out of their own volition. She had raised the chances for them to actually help willingly, as opposed to if she had asked, they would have done it unwillingly because they didn’t like her, perhaps with fewer means or people, out of spite. Now, the Lords were going to see this foreign Princess winning over the people and were most likely going to intervene to even the score. Ishira smiled, relieved.

“...I think you’re right,” she nodded. “Good. Then I’ll leave a note for my cousin and get going right away. I’m sure he’ll relay the word too, in a subtle manner.”

“Th-thank you.”

“I should be the one to thank you,” Ishira shook her head. “It is disgraceful that the most powerful people of our Kingdom are bickering in a room while some of our people are outside in this horrible weather. Thanks for reminding us of that... Alright, I’ll get going now. See you there.”

Cessilia nodded and watched the young woman quickly leave to get a servant to send her note to her cousin. Meanwhile, Cessilia turned around, reuniting with Nupia who had been quietly waiting for her outside of the Council Room.

“My siblings, Lady Tessandra, and Lady Naptunie have left the castle already, Princess,” she said as they were rushing down the stairs. “I also asked for horses, they should be ready for us right outside.”

“G-got it. Let’s hurry and–”

Before she could finish that sentence, Cessilia felt a presence behind them on the stairs, and looked back. It was Ashen, who had rushed out of the throne room to catch up to her. Nupia bowed and respectfully went down to the floor below to leave them some privacy. Meanwhile, Cessilia and Ashen reunited, grabbing each other’s hands in this narrow spiral staircase. He was still breathing quickly and loudly, probably having just left the Council. His chest going up and down in front of her got Cessilia thinking about the previous night, and she stepped back, trying to control her emotions. She was still a bit high on adrenaline from her angry outburst earlier. Her heart just couldn’t settle down.

“Ashen, if it’s about earlier, I’m not g-going to apologize,” she said coldly. “I d-didn’t mean to implicate you, b-but–”

“No, no. I know,” he said, lowering his head a bit, although he was still significantly taller. “...I had it coming for a while, anyway. It was just... Well, I think I would have rather had you punch me.”

“You’re lucky I p-prefer words then,” chuckled Cessilia. “B-but… I’ll think about it n-next time.”

Ashen grimaced.

“Fine...”

He released one of her hands gently, caressing her cheek instead. He did have an apologetic look in his eyes, although he also looked a bit hurt and sulky from earlier. Perhaps the Lords had irritated him more than her remark had. He had remained mostly silent, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t mad about the Yekara Leader’s twisted accusations. Cessilia nodded, hiding a faint smile. She was glad this wasn’t going to damage their relationship. At least, he was finally owning up to his wrongs...

“...I had a talk with her last night,” he muttered.

“You d-did?” Cessilia exclaimed, shocked.

“Yes... When I got back after seeing you, I ran into her, and... I knew I had to do something about my relationship with her. For you. I can’t pretend... even if it has only been in name for a while, I didn’t want to have her still known as my mistress. So, I told Jisel that... she and I needed to put an end to this.”

“How d-did she react...?”

Ashen slowly shook his head.

“Not... well. Perhaps she saw it coming, but she was not crazy about the idea. We argued for a while... In the end, she just left, saying she wanted time to think about it. I don’t think she had realized what... how much you mean to me.”