Later that day, in the palace throne room

The queen is seating on the throne while other nobles are arguing with each other. The discussion is heated and some even insulted each other.

The queen's rubbing her temple with the left hand and has her head resting on the right one, which elbow is supported by the armrest of the throne.

Her head screams in agony, causing her huge pains in the frontal lobe. Her eyes are begging her to let them shut. Her mouth is dry, almost as if she didn’t drink in days. She didn’t even bother to apply makeup to hide her bags under the eyes.

All this points to one conclusion: The queen didn’t sleep for days.

“That’s the only way I can see us capturing Lady Nora.”

“Oh well, why not invite him to my home while you are at it? Might as well serve my head on a silver platter to him and save him the effort!”

“He’s just one Servant! As powerful he may be, we have the numbers to face him.”

“Are you out of your mind!? Did you see him in the tournament!? Nah-ah, no way! Prepare whatever trap you come up with, but you are not doing any of those on my land!”

The nobles keep arguing over how to capture Nora and whether they should capture or kill Alddan.

The general consensus is that in an ideal scenario, Alddan should be captured. But, he may be too dangerous to be captured alive.

“Why are you two making so much fuss? Traps? Why do we need traps? It’s easy, just let my Servant do the job.” The noble points to his companion. “He’s an archer and can hit anything from miles away. That Servant won’t even notice the arrow coming for his head.”

“That’s assuming your Servant hits the first time, sir Luxem.” The queen interjects.

“He will, your majesty.”

“No, he will not because I don’t approve such risky plan. If he fails the first shot, he will not have enough time to draw a second arrow. Then they would escape again.”

“As you wish, your majesty.” The man replies with a disappointed tone.

“I’m sorry your majesty,” Another noble speaks up. “but I also believe we should kill the Servant without triggering a confrontation, if we---”

“Are you defying my decision, lord Vintom?” The queen questions with an imposing voice.

“N-no, your majesty.” The man nervously replies right back, with a cold sweat.

“Gentleman,” she gets up from the throne. “might I remind you what we are dealing with here? We are talking about an unknown Class S, white haired, Servant. We don’t know his motivations nor why the assassination happened.” She closes her eyes as if she’s reflecting about something. “Whatever we do, we can not confront him in a direct battle while he’s in his full power. Our plan should focus on lady Nora.”

She sits down again.

The nobles stand in silence, but after a few moments, one speaks.

“In that case, I believe we should use my plan. We should lure them into a trap and--”

“You again with that ridiculous idea!? I told you, I will not allow you to do anything on my land! Nor will I take part in such stupid plan!”

“Lord Marevar,” The queen interjects again. “this issue concerns all of Coeburg. Are you saying that you are not willing to fight for your own nation, for your own crown?”

“N-n-no your majesty! I b-beg your forgiveness! I didn’t mean that!” He kneels and bows down his head.

“Of every idea I heard today, lord Dawn’s idea is the most likely to bear good results.” She remarks and looks at the noble who suggested the trap idea.

“Thank you, your majesty.”

“Tell us again, to make sure everyone hears it.”

“Yes. My idea is simple, simply lure away lady Nora from her Servant. Then we have to convince lady Nora to surrender herself and force her Servant to commit suicide. If that step fails, we have to kill her in order to weaken the Servant. Then we would only need to wear him down until he runs out of mana.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t agree with such plan.” Another noble speaks up. “What if Lady Nightingale realizes something is wrong and calls the Servant too soon? Don’t forget that she’s also a red mage.”

“Mana doesn’t mean anything if the user lacks experience. Lady Nora shouldn’t prove too much trouble to deal with if the worst case scenario happens.”

“What about in case she calls her Servant too soon?”

“There’s one, person I believe, that could make her feel at ease. I wouldn’t dare to suggest him though, but… Your majesty, I trust you know who I’m talking about?”

The queen nods slightly, turns her neck to another side of the audience, and calls:

“Lord Nightingale, I believe you can lend us your support here.”

A noble, older than the queen and with yellowish hair and mustache, steps forward. “I can and will, your majesty, but on one condition.”

“Speak then.”

“I support that man’s plan. I also want to be the one to talk to my daughter when we lure her away from the Servant. However, if I convince her to surrender herself, whether you find her guilty or not, you have to promise that you’ll forgive her for any crime that she may be accused of.”

The room becomes loud with nobles whispering to each other, surprised by the daring request.

“Silence!” The queen orders.

The room turns silent after that imposing order.

“My brother, that’s an audacious request. Even for you.”

“I’m now part of the Nigtingale family and we do not owe Coeburg any loyalty. If my daughter is guilty, I will punish her myself. That’s my only request and it’s not negotiable.”

Most nobles become enraged by the daring words of the man. “You think you---”

“Silence!”

“P-pardon me, your majesty.”

She looks back to her brother, who provoked the nobles reaction.

After a moment of reflection, she finally answers. “Very well. I accept your condition.”

The nobles this time didn’t dare to speak up, but it was obvious their disapprovement of the queen’s decision.

“Captain, I believe you already have clues about their location?” The queen asks aloud, without turning her head.

A yellow mage, wearing an elegant shiny armor, standing close to the side of the throne, speaks up.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have much to go on with, your majesty. We deployed soldiers in the cities and towns around Merfield Forest. If they spot them, they will notify us right away.”

“I see. Gentleman,” she raises her voice “be ready to act at any time. As soon the captain calls for you, I want you to follow his instructions to the letter. Especially you, brother.”

“Yes, your majesty.”

“Uh, majesty, there’s another detail that should be mentioned.” The captain says.

“Speak.”

“During our searches, we found a significant trail of blood. The trail is too long to be of the Servant, he would have healed before the end of it. We believe the blood is from Lady Nightingale.”

The queen’s expression stiffens, as her brother’s did too. She turns her gaze to the captain.

“Might I know why you only mentioned that now!?” She asks with an angry tone.

“...”

She facepalms and let’s out a frustrated sigh. “I’m surrounded by idiots.” She murmurs.

After a small moment, but not so small for the captain, who was certain his carelessness was going to cost him dearly, the queen finally asks. “How much blood? Is it possible that she’s dead?”

“T-the trail was long, huh, it’s plausible that the wound was serious. It’s possible that… Lady Nightingale isn’t among us anymore.”

“I see. But it’s only a possibility. Continue to assume that she’s alive.”

“Y-yes, your majesty.”

The main doors of the throne room open. The queen’s Servant, Daniel, walks in.

Aldorah notices him.

“This meeting is over. You all heard the plan. Dismissed.”

The nobles in the room bow and leave through the main doors.

“Captain, you also have a job to do. Get to it.”

“Yes, your majesty!”

The captain bows and quickly leaves the throne room, leaving the queen and her Servant alone.

“Are you ready, your majesty?”

“Yes, let’s go Daniel.”

She raises from the throne and walks to the left, towards one of the doors. Daniel follows her.

…

They are in a corridor, walking.

“Any idea when the other monarchs are coming, your majesty?”

“In a week or so, Daniel.”

“I see. Why are they coming?”

“Because of the treaty, Daniel.”

“Treaty?”

“Yes. The Unity Treaty. It was a treaty formed roughly 800 years ago. It’s an agreement among the four countries of this continent. It was an attempt to keep us united in case the Empire got any funny ideas back then.”

“I understand, but what does it have to do with what happened?”

“The treaty says something along these lines, ‘if any of the involved nations is attacked by a foreign entity, the involved nations shall work together against said entity’ and yada yada yada.”

“Foreign? But lady Nora isn’t foreign.”

“Technically, she is. That’s why I hate these loopholes.” She releases a frustrated sigh. “The Nightingales are a merchant family, and they don’t have any direct relations with any country. In other words, they don’t have any nationality whatsoever. Therefore, they are foreign. And so, Nora, who is a foreign entity, attacked Coeburg royal family.”

“Ah…”

“And even if they weren’t foreign, the other monarchs would just use another excuse to come here.”

“What do they gain with coming here?”

“The treaty states that the nations must work together. In other words, the borders become open. If the borders are open, they can march right in with their soldiers. And they probably want to use them to search for Nora and Al.”

“Can’t we forbid them from entering? Or limit their movements?”

“That would violate the treaty, and they could declare war on us. We don’t have any means to defend ourselves against three nations at the same time.”

“Difficult situation…”

“Indeed. Now you understand my frustration.”

“If only I could be more helpful…”

“You’re doing what you can, that’s good enough for me.”

“Thanks, your majesty. That means a lot to me.” Daniel takes a moment to think to himself. “Hmm, do you have any plan? Is there any way to prevent this from escalating?”

“There’s only one way to solve this, sadly.”

“...”

“Al, Nora’s Servant, must die. It’s the only way to prevent the war.”

“I see…”

“I just hope my brother can convince Nora to order him to kill himself, otherwise…”

“We might have to kill Nora, in order to kill Al.”

“Yes…” The queen’s voice faltered for a moment.

She stops.

“Your majesty?”

“I… Please, I need a minute. *snif*” She covers her face with her right hand. She’s trying to hide the fact that she, a queen, the most powerful person in Coeburg, is crying.

“Please, take as long you need.”

“... Kuh, first my son, and now I might have just ordered her death, and that's if she’s not dead already. Damnit…”

“...”

They stay in the middle of the corridor for a few minutes.

Daniel tries to come up with something to cheer up Aldorah, but he can’t find the right words.

Then finally, Aldorah manages to stop crying and cleans her face. “*ahem*, let’s go. We have work to do.” She starts walking.

“Yes…”

…

…..

…….

They are now in a dungeon-like room.

The walls are made of stone and the room is cold enough to make anyone uncomfortable, but not enough to kill. The only illumination comes from torches hanging on the walls, unlike the palace.

On the wall in front of Aldorah and Daniel, there’s a woman naked with chains on her hands. The chains force her to endure the pain of standing for hours. She doesn’t have any wound or injury.

“Oh dear, today I have a new visitor. Ha ha...” She says so, weakly, but with a sarcastic smile on her face.

“She’s tough, your majesty. She didn’t confess anything yet.”

The queen gets close to her.

“So, your majesty, the majestiest of the majesties, what else do you have planned for me? Besides surprising me with hidden rooms I never heard about.”

“...” Aldorah’s expression is stern as she looks into the woman’s eyes. “You must be very loyal to hold out for so long.”

“Loyal? Phu-, Hahaha! Loyal, right.”

“...”

“This has nothing to do with loyalty. I didn’t do anything to begin with.”

“Don’t try to fool me. We both know the truth. You’re the one behind my son’s assassination.”

The woman rolls her eyes. “Well, if you say so, who am I to question you?”

“Just some treacherous bitch.” Daniel replies.

“You know, you’re really funny. Out there you try to be a gentleman and educated and all, but here... How is it raping a woman who can’t defend herself? It feels good, right?”

“...”

“You know queen, this guy here takes his sweet time with me. In fact--”

“What makes you think that I care what my Servant does to you?”

“Oh, my bad. Hehe, it doesn’t really matter, I’ve been doing it for years with your son. So I’m pretty much used to it.”

“I couldn’t care less about what you feel, what you think or what you want. Tell me who you were working for!”

“*sigh* I don’t know what you are talking about.”

The woman keeps her eyes focused on the queen's.

“You think you saw the worst we can do to you?”

“Of course not your majesty. Where’s the juicy stuff? Where’s the blades? Where’s the hot iron? Until now, you haven’t really done nothing to me.”

“Stop lying. We both know that this is taking its toll on you. The dark room, the cold, the moisture, the lack of water and food… And trust me, I have something much worse coming up. If you don’t tell me what I want to know, you’re going to suffer for months.”

“Hee, hehewhahaha, yeah, bring it on! Whatever you do to me is nothing compared with what my guys can do to me if they discover I said anything.”

Aldorah’s face gets close to the woman’s. “Who said you were going to walk out of here alive?”

“...”

“This room, this is the last thing you’ll see before you die.”

“...”

“But how you are going to die is up to you. I can promise you a quick death if you tell me what I want, otherwise, I’m going to give you the true hell. You’re going to spend entire days in this room, without light, with only the bare minimum of food and water. Humans are pretty resistant and can endure months on those conditions. How much time you think you spent here? Well, let me tell you, it’s only been a few days.”

“...” The woman loses the smile she had.

“I don’t mind waiting. Your testimony means nothing to the nobles up there. And if you are working for who I think you are, I won’t be able to get my revenge anyway. So really, I really don’t mind how long it takes to break you.”

“...”

The woman continues to look into the queen’s eyes, but unlike before, she’s lifeless. Almost like as if she lost her reason to live.

“You killed my only son, you gave me hell and if everything goes wrong, many more mothers will cry for their sons and husbands.”

“...”

“So tell me, right now, who ordered you to kill my son? If you answer, I will offer you a quick death.”

“I…” The woman takes a while to answer. “I… I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“I see…” The queen steps away from her. “Daniel, prepare the water torture.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Daniel immediately leaves the room

“In case you are wondering, this torture consists of dripping water on your forehead, with you chained and immobile. Sounds inoffensive, but trust me, you’ll be crazy in few hours.”

Aldorah heads to the door.

“Have fun.”

**********