Mei Ruan May 3rd, 20xx

I went over the plan with the other three through the communication device one more time as we approached the castle. This was an opportunity to strike Esmeralda at a point of weakness, but we weren’t exactly at our strongest either. It would only be suicidal to rush in unprepared.

I wasn’t completely unprepared because I had already been planning this on my own, but I couldn't help but worry that it wasn't enough, that there was something I had missed and that it would cost us dearly.

There was also the issue of Cai’s safety after the attack. I had already received reassurance from Aruna that he was safe and had even forced our scouts to the royal infirmary, but I couldn’t help but worry.

This was already the second attack in less than a week.

Liose’s voice buzzed through the speaker in my moment of distraction and caught me off guard, causing me to respond a bit slower than usual.

“Nicosia is in place; all exits are sealed.”

Next was Zera,

“Durand is set.”

Finally, Talan’s voice bled through the speakers as well.

“Aslan waiting for your command, General.”

Despite the tense circumstances I couldn’t help but be filled with a faint sense of giddiness as my friends all checked in and prepared for a battle along my side. It had been so long since I had even seen them never mind fought with them.

Corin and Cambridge rode their own Fluttermoth in front of me and lead the charge with determined expressions on their faces. As they had known Esmerelda much longer than I had I guessed that the sense of betrayal was affecting them a lot more than they let on so I sped up to their side and called out to alert them of the preparations I had made, hoping that would help take their minds off things, or at least finalize any wavering sympathies that they may have had.

“The others are in place, Gagnon. Exits are sealed, the prisons and holding cells have been prepared and as long as you do not kill Esmeralda before the Prince arrives then no one will be able to condemn us.”

At the caution against condemnation Corin only gave a wry smile but said nothing on the subject and instead, against my expectations, began to praise me.

“Great job Ruan…. Even if something happens to us we at least know we can entrust his highness’s safety to you.”

Although she had a better idea of how strong Esmeralda was and who she had on her side I didn’t doubt in their power or my own. There was no reason for us to come out on the losing side of this and even less to go into the stage with doubts in mind.

“Speak less General Gagnon, this no time for losing speeches. Aruna already sent his highness on his way to the castle; should I have him brought to the stage or would it be better to have Esmeralda settled first?”

Their discomfort at me having so many things under control was pretty clear on their faces but I recognized that now wasn’t the time to hold back any cards and risk losing because of it.

I couldn’t help but mourn the fact that I had been under risk of being called disloyal to the royal family more in these past 3 months than I had in my entire life, but I couldn’t dwell on it. I’d just have to try later on to showcase both mine and the Ruan duchy’s loyalties later on.

“Careful Ruan. If one wasn’t careful, they might think you were already in control of the castle.”

Cambridge lodged a small warning at me but didn’t bother threatening me on it as she usually would have. I hoped that meant she had confidence in my motives and skills and was not a sign of readiness to accept a loss.

After Esmeralda was deposed of their approval would be the third most important ones to gain. With the first being the Prince’s grandmother and the second being Cai himself.

We began the descent into the open courtyard which I had designated as ‘the stage’ and was met with the neon green figure of Esmeralda awaiting us. She had a large crowd around her, with the majority of them being military people.

There were even some amongst the crowd I had trained myself during their military service.

Oh, how embarrassing.

I immediately put up my guard and slowed down in case of a direct attack but whether it was because of the suddenness of our assault or just the odd giddiness I felt, I forgot to consider other tactics.

My Fluttermoth began to wobble in the air and slowly descended to the ground under the effects of Elmbrow. Elmbrow was a plant that semi-naturally lulled Fluttermoth’s to sleep and effectively sealed off the enemy’s routes of escape when used. It was a pretty effective wartime tactic, but I hadn’t been expecting it to be used on royal grounds.

Cambridge spoke down at the green fairy who looked unsettlingly calm in the face of her condemnation. She didn’t yell but her anger was as clear as the day’s sky.

“Esmeralda, what is the meaning of this?”

I’d had Liose and Zera work together and spread the news of Esmeralda's actions, but I was sure they hadn’t bothered to hide the trails of information and guessed that they had even advertised their source to vouch for its validity. It wasn’t unexpected that Esmeralda had figured out our plans but it was concerning that she had been able to get ready with only a day’s worth of preparation.

I hoped we hadn’t underestimated her influence on the castle and even if we had I hoped it wouldn’t bite too hard.

Esmeralda stepped forward and waved at Cambridge and Corin like they were old friends before launching into her speech.

“Lieutenant and General Gagnon! This is probably what they mean by ‘great minds think alike’ correct? I had been planning to bring General Ruan to justice, but it seems like you already beat me to it.”

The confirmation of my earlier bad feeling came so fast quickly that my neck ached from imaginary whiplash, but I couldn’t help but feel somewhat relieved that this was the stand she had chosen to take. It would be somewhat difficult to work against but far from impossible.

“What nonsense are you saying now, Esmeralda. I’ve done nothing to be brought to justice.”

She waved an arm at the swarm of guards behind her and a fairy in chains was dragged out to the center of the stage. Her wings were still pierced from when I had got to them and repulsive crusted blood around the edges showed they had been too strained to heal properly.

“Baroness Saral, confess as you did earlier.”

The fairy shot Esmeralda a malicious glare, but it was nothing in comparison to the one she gave me.

I felt that it was rather unfair since all I had done was put her in a jail cell for speaking badly about the royal family, as I was supposed to. I didn’t even hurt her wings that badly and they would have recovered within the next week under proper treatment.

Esmeralda had probably hired a few thugs to beat her up in my name or had bribed the jail wardens to make her stay less pleasant than it needed to be. I made a mental note to investigate the case of bribery of the wardens since it was a big deal but I also found it hard to scrounge up the motivation to enact a purge of the jail authority on Saral’s behalf.

“Choose your words carefully Baroness. Don’t forget what happened last time you chose the wrong side.”

I couldn’t help but warn her. It wasn’t like she could join my ‘camp’ after all she had done. First supporting my elder sister in a raid on the castle and then supporting Esmeralda against me, even if it wasn’t consciously but if she backed off now, I wouldn’t make sure to eliminate her later on.

“WOULD THE GENERAL PLEASE REFRAIN FROM INTIMIDATING THE WITNESS!”

Saral seemed to get her nerve back after Esmeralda’s shout and began to testify whatever nonsense tale she had concocted or had been fed by whoever had offered her a chance at escape or freedom.

“Under the orders of the Ruan Duchy, I participated in what I believed to be a revolution for a better cause. Or that’s what they called it. I never questioned orders, nor did I dare to assume their intentions and instead did as I was told. Imagine my surprise when I found out it was all just an elaborate scheme! General Ruan planned to place herself as the prince’s saviour and to raise public opinion of her! She even gambled with his highness’s safety and framed both me and her elder sister for the crime! Then planned to let me rot away in prison while she enjoyed her time in the royal palace.”

Okay, now I was especially embarrassed, especially under the glares that Corin and Cambridge kept sending me.

I had been pulled in as a helper because I had a good reputation as well as a legitimate claim to participate in the matter, but I ended up being the weakest link that they chose to attack.

I had to deal with this properly or I didn’t doubt the sisters would throw me to the wolves and finish their conquest of Esmeralda on their own.

“That is some heavy slander you are throwing around there Saral, do you have any way to prove it beyond your testimony?”

She trembled under my full attention and even attempted to step back as I stepped forward, having finally disembarked my unconscious Fluttermoth.

“H-how could I have any sort of proof when you already got rid of all of it! Such a cruel person, did you really expect you could become Queen?”

I could only chuckle as the charade continued. I only needed to wait a bit more until Cai got here so we could properly launch the plan, but I didn’t mind keeping her company until then.

“Bar- or rather Ex-Baroness Saral. If I had gotten rid of all the ‘proof’ as you claim, then how do you suppose you are still alive? Surely you don’t believe Esmeralda would be enough to keep you out of my hands?”

I took another step forward, acting a lot less cautiously than I usually did but somehow feeling that much more relaxed. Like a heavyweight had been lifted off my shoulders.

“Or do you think that I'm such a careless person to have pulled such a half-cocked plan and then leave a witness behind. To kill a mere baroness-“

I extended my wand past the lack-lustre guards that surrounded her and let the edge push against her throat.

“Wouldn’t even be a matter of a thought to me. Don’t you think so?”

“General Ruan!”

“Esmeralda!”

I yelled back at the flustered fairy who hadn’t expected me to completely disregard the circus of a show she had tried to perform.

“And Esmeralda, I see you’ve mobilized the staff of the Royal castle, even an Aide has so much power in the royal family?”

As she slowly started to let her anger show and even brought out her wand, I decided to shut down my ‘persecution’. It couldn’t interfere with what we had come here to do.

“When I had her thrown into the prisons that night I made sure all the documentation was completed. Any of you that doubts me is free to go and check them.”

Having decided that I had handled it well enough on my own Cambridge finally stepped in and veered the conversation back on course

“Let’s not make this any more difficult than it needs to be Esmeralda. On account of our long acquaintanceship, I won’t expose all you have done and will even let you off with a light sentence of eternal confinement. We don’t need to draw blood here.”

The green fairy only chuckled in that same dislikable way she always did but an edge of insanity pierced through her pseudo calm tone.

“And what exactly have I done, Cambridge? Were you so taken with the thought of having a new queen that you are willing to eliminate the last remnant of the previous?”

Cambridge could only frown in response to Esmeralda’s words but kept her cool.

I, on the other hand, could only keep rolling my wand in my palm, wishing nothing more than to blast off the obnoxious fairy’s face.

“Don’t overestimate yourself, Esmeralda. There are numerous remnants of Belpheobe’s reign and among those remnants, you are far from being the most valuable.”

She cackled at Cambridge’s response and began to speak in that same unfoundedly confident tone that somehow ticked me off more than any other annoyance I’d had to deal with recently.

“By a remnant of Belpheobe do you mean the incompetent prince that has no intention of remaining with us? Or the prince that threatened to disappear to the human world when I tried to secure his safety? The prince that so clearly prioritizes his ‘human life’ and companions to those of us here?”

She went slightly hysterical as she spoke, and her distress was made clear to all the witnesses in the courtyard. If one didn’t know any better, they would assume the classic story of an aide committing their heart and soul to an ungrateful heir.

If I didn’t know Cai so well, I was sure even I would be swayed.

It was a fact that he wasn’t even half as committed to our world as the human world but that could only be blamed on Esmeralda’s actions of letting him run around there for so long.

While I hadn’t even been able to locate Cai in the human world, never mind investigate into what type of life he had lived there, I couldn’t imagine it had been any less pleasant than the type of life he was living here.

To expect undying loyalty for the land that had essentially abandoned him in a foreign world would only be idealistic and foolish. Even upon choosing to stay here permanently it wasn’t like it had been all roses and peaches either as he had just escaped his second assassination attempt.

Corin stepped in at this point, clearly less willing to broker peace than her younger sister but also not wanting to act impulsively.

“Silence Esmeralda. As for why the prince is the way he is I’m sure you know best. Something must have happened for him to have fled from the home he just returned to after less than 4 months under your care.”

And with that, she brought the conversation full circle.

“Esmeralda, As the Prince’s official guardians as well as fellow Aides of the late queen Belpheobe we declare you to be guilty of-“

Esmeralda cut her off harshly and spat out.

“Guilty of what exactly?! Trying to raise his highness into a somewhat reasonable prince in the short time I was given? And don’t pin it all on me neglecting the prince. The three of us were quite equally in charge of him, why didn’t you two go get your precious prince back sooner?”

A faint sparkle of pride glinted in her eyes as she thought Corin and Cambridge would back down at the accusation. And if not for the confirmation that she had put those spells on them I was sure that they would have backed down at this point.

“And you! general Ruan! Don’t pretend we aren’t all clear on your true goals of siding with the Gagnons in trying to displace me, the only one of the queen’s aides that isn’t on your side. Are you that eager to take the throne?”

“Esmeralda, even without bringing up anything else the mere fact that you are at odds with his highness is enough to displace you from your role. I haven’t even brought up how you worked with the witches against the Gagnon sisters or your blatant neglect of his highness even after his return. Don’t try to accuse me of coveting the throne and its power when it’s clear you are the one that is doing so”

Like she had taken a hit to the stomach she paled at my calling her out and immediately began another monologue like the one-song-bird she was proving herself to be. It was almost boring at this point.

“Yes! Of course! how could I, as such a low borne fairy dare to go against the royal family? Even when the ‘royal family’ has no intention of remaining here even with the knowledge that his absence could result in all of our deaths!”

The yard fell silent as the people were confused but a few faces that I took care to memorize dared show expressions of disgust at the thought of the prince completely abandoning the queendom. A few that were even more daring began to vocalize their agreement with Esmeralda and tied themselves to a sinking ship.

“If his highness wants to return to the human world then shouldn’t he just hurry up and do his duty here so he can go?”

“Imagine wanting to play around with humans even at the cost of your people.”

“I had heard rumours but to hear it directly from his highness’s aide is a bit…”

“But are you surprised? What else do you expect from a half breed”

I all of a sudden couldn’t take it anymore and called Liose in, taking care not to show how much I enjoyed the screams of the insolent fairies as they were dragged away by the forces I had borrowed from Liose. They were mercenaries so I didn’t have to worry about them suddenly switching sides on me.

Usually, I would have used my soldiers but I could see more than a few familiar faces and didn’t want to run the risk of using anyone else that had been contaminated.

Corin and Cambridge startled a bit at my sudden actions but didn’t stop me as I put all of them into custody.

They had attempted the peaceful way but it was clear that it was a dead end. It was time to do things my way.

Esmeralda began to panic as she realized the Gagnons had no intention of stopping me and even more so as she saw her comrades get put into large cages that Talan had prepared.

I wasn’t as optimistic as to believe that she cared about any individual one of them enough to use as a hostage but I held out for one of them cracking under pressure and beginning to testify against her.

She began to babble again, throwing out whatever ridiculous claims she could think of in order to show power she didn’t have and calm down her boneheaded followers.

“That is why even at my own expense I’m willing to do so much to make sure he stays here. To ensure the stability of the Fairylands I’m even willing to send people over to the human world and eliminate whatever bugs are keeping him there. The second I'm done here I’ll throw them all in elven dancing circles, so they are no longer a distraction. There is not a doubt in my mind that this is what her late highness Belphe-”

I had already half loaded a spell to fire at her, but someone beat me to it.

The green fairy was suddenly captured in a now-familiar golden globe and began to claw at her throat as magic began to one-sidedly flow out of it.

Cai stepped out of the bushes with an ugly expression of anger and unconsciously twirled his wand like a dagger in his hand as he approached Esmeralda.

“I think I recall telling you to keep my mother’s name out of your filthy mouth but it looks like a verbal request wasn’t quite enough for it to sink past your thick delusions.”

The fairy only clawed at her throat even more ferociously than before but never moved her eyes from the prince’s figure. Both expectant of him to release her and worried about the possibility that he wouldn’t.

My first instinct upon seeing him was to ask if he was okay as well as to try to calm him down but I was stopped by a multitude of reasons.

The first was that it was completely within his rights as a royal to enact punishment on his aide, especially one that was suspected of being untrue to their bonds. The second was that I could finally place the odd giddy feeling that I had been experiencing since entering palace grounds.

I hadn’t had time to confirm it before but in his presence, it was impossible to ignore. The bonds that had been set on me had significantly weakened.

“Lower your eyes before I decide you don’t need them anymore, Esmerelda. Remember your place”

Sounding colder than I had ever heard him, he harshly spat out a threat at the fairy that had switched from her previous panicked stare to what could only be seen as a malicious glare.

In a panic, a few fairies attempted to sneak off the scene but, once again before I could act to stop them Cai had already sealed every fairy on the site except for myself and the two Gagnon sisters, into spheres with a simple wave of his hand. Even more frightening than the sheer amount of magic and level of control that was required to pull such a stunt was that he didn’t even bother to use the wand to reinforce his go-to spell.

Even from my distance I could see how much weaker they were in comparison to the one used on Esmeralda but what kept them within them was arguably much more powerful than any spell that Cai could have used against them.

The fear of the royal family that had been forgotten for so long was slowly being reinstated in their minds.

And, I feared, into mine as well.