“Why did you pick the night to do this?” Red asked, sitting on a branch.

“Because I got an earful the other day from Mom about sneaking into places I didn’t belong. She also confirmed that the letter was about keeping up the quota of helping more people get out. Not that I believe it but…” Yuki stared down at the quarantine zone. Even at night, the Zone was lit with mana crystals. Guards patrolled the outer perimeter and there were two guards per tower this time instead of one.

“And you want to break in there?” Red asked.

“You can fly, right? You’re a Dragon-Kin,” Yuki replied.

“Dragon-Kin, yes. But do you really expect me to be able to carry the both of us in there? Dragon-Kin wings are good for lots of things but not two passenger flights,” Red said.

“Just asking. So we need to somehow get in there without being detected by the guard. Question is… how?” she asked.

“In all the time you’ve been here, you’ve never once looked for an alternate entrance? Like holes in the fence or hiding underneath one of those carriages?” Red asked, nodding towards an incoming one.

Yuki turned her head to see the lights of a carriage coming into view on the path below. The carriage stopped at the gate as guards inspected it.

“Okay, there’s a way in. How do we get under one?” she asked.

“Or we can look for a hole in one of the fences,” he said.

“Or make one,” Yuki added, holding up her hand. A blue flame manifested around her fingers.

Yuki stood with her back to Red’s, keeping a look out for any patrols. It was decided that Red would cut the hole in the fence. As a Dragon-Kin, it was far easier for him to do so than it was for her. It was also easier for her to keep an eye out for patrols due to her [Hyper Sensory] skill.

“Are you done yet?” Yuki asked, glancing over her shoulders. Her red eyes gleamed brightly in the moonlight.

“Almost… and done!” he said. A metal opening the size of a large dog was seen as Red popped off the part of the fence he sliced. He crawled through before beckoning Yuki to follow after.

She crawled after him, making sure that the fence was placed back into the hole. She used an ice skill to freeze the fence.

“Come on, it’s this way.” She darted past him, trying to stay as quiet as possible. The two hid behind a crate of supplies as a guard passed by.

“There’s a lot more guards here than I originally expected,” Red whispered.

“Yeah, there’s more guards here than usual. Come on, we need to get to the tent. We’re still a ways away from it,” Yuki said, silently creeping past him.

“This is probably the most un-princess-like thing you’ve ever done. Seriously, if people find out, your standing will fall amongst the upper class. Soon, they’ll start forming factions to support Ryusei over you,” Red hissed.

“I know but… this is for my people, Red. And the Upper Class can stand to benefit from this too. A healthy population means more people bringing in revenue and stimulate our economy,” she said. Her ears twitched and she grabbed Red by the back of his collar, pulling him into a tent.

“That was close,” he said, sighing.

“...”

“Yuki?” he turned around and almost gagged at the sight. In front of them were a row of bodies covered in blue tarps. One of the tarps was about the size of a small child. Red turned to Yuki to see her fists were clenched so tightly that she drew blood from her own hands.

“We need to find that Panacea,” she said.

“Then let’s go,” Red said, grabbing her by the hand and dragging her out of the tent.

After several minutes of sneaking past patrols, the two arrived outside of the Medical Storage Tent. Unlike the other tents, this tent was heavily guarded. Imperial Soldiers patrolled the pathways. Two soldiers were stationed outside of the tent while a soldier from the watchtower made regular passes with his light.

“This place is more guarded than the captain’s quarters. Aside from what’s in front of us, I hear people on the sides. Now, how do we get in without getting caught?” Yuki muttered, watching from behind the crate.

“Hmm, looks like we might stop here. There’s no way we’re getting into that facility unless we’re a doctor,” he chimed in.

“We can be one,” she said.

“What? How?” Red asked.

“We can mug one of the doctors we saw on the way over here. If I remember correctly, there were two doctors making rounds about 2 tents back. All we need to do is steal their uniforms,” Yuki said.

Red and Yuki walked to the Medicine Tent. Both of them were using [Physical Masking] to disguise themselves to solidify their doctor personas.

“Are you sure we won’t get caught?” Red asked.

“Yeah. Just remember to remain calm or else we will.” She whispered as the two arrived before the guards.

“State your business here,” the guard said.

“Hi, I’m Doctor Nakamura. I’m here for my batch of medicine,” Yuki said. The guards were taken aback by the tone of her voice. Red shook his head slightly. She was using her Princess voice to intimidate the guards into giving it to her.

The two guards looked at each other before one pulled out a clipboard.

“Doctor Nakamura, are you perhaps referring to your box of Idunn? You came for these earlier today,” he said, reading the clipboard. “Are you short on your supply?”

“Er, yeah. We’re short one. We have one more patient in need of Idunn,” Red said, answering for Yuki.

“We got another patient in today. We didn’t have the supply necessary to treat him. If it’s alright with you, could we get a vial of Idunn?” Yuki asked.

The guards glanced at each other once more before nodding. One of them went inside the tent for a few minutes before coming back out with a small blue vial.

“Here you go. This should be enough to accommodate the patient?” the guard asked.

“Thanks. This should be enough for the night. Take care, gentlemen.” The two walked off, vial in hand.

“We need to get back to the Palace now before Mom and Dad are finished with the meeting for the night. It’s almost midnight so we need to get back.” The two walked away with a brisk pace back to where they entered. As the two arrived at the hole in the fence, they threw off their doctor robes and dropped the [Physical Masking]. And like a phantom, the two disappeared into the night with very little trace of their existence.

“So this is the miracle drug?” Kaguya asked, inspecting the small vial of blue liquid. “It looks so mundane.”

“They call it, Idunn, after the Goddess of Spring and Restoration. It’s supposed to be able to cure any disease. At least, that’s how the rumors market it,” Red said, leaning against the wall.

“We don’t have any sick things to test this on,” Yuki said.

“We do, technically. I can catch a sick animal to use it on. Although, I don’t know how ethical that would be,” Kaguya said.

“Where are you going to get a sick animal?” Yuki asked.

“There are lots of bird’s nests here. There’s probably a sick bird chick that we can use,” she said.

“As much as that sounds horrible… we can’t really use a live person. Just… just go get one.” Yuki felt sick to her stomach even approving this idea.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes. The birds are sleeping so it’ll be easier for me to swipe one of their chicks.” Kaguya opened the window to Yuki’s room and crept out onto the roof.

A few minutes later, Kaguya returned with a struggling chick in her hand. “Just hurry and drop some in its mouth while it’s screaming.” She had a few scratches on her face.

Yuki nodded and opened the vial. She allowed its contents to flow into the bird’s mouth before closing it. Kaguya sighed and placed the chick down on Yuki’s bed.

“Is it sick?” Yuki asked.

“I don’t know. I just grabbed the one closest to the edge of the nest,” she said.

“How long does this usually take?” Red asked.

“I don’t know. We’re basing this off rumors. If this thing actually works, then why isn’t this more widely distributed? Why confine it to the Zone? Surely, the Gentry can see the profit of this, and the Health Commission can see the benefits of allowing emergency use for the public,” Yuki said.

“They’re probably testing it out,” Red said.

“But given how long this has been going on. I asked around when I was at the Zone and they said it’s been well over a year. And that’s a year I didn’t know this existed. We just need to see how long this takes. If this bird is even sick,” Yuki said.

Yuki sat on her bed, watching the bird chick hop around her room. Red and Kaguya had long since fallen asleep on her couch. Red had one side of the couch while Kaguya laid herself out on it. Her head was on his lap as she slept soundly.

“Looks like you’re not sick after all,” Yuki said, holding her hand out. The chick curiously hopped over to her hand, tilting its head as it watched her. “Sorry for taking you from your parents. I just wanted to see if it… huh?”

Her eyes narrowed when she saw a part of its down fall off. Beneath on its shriveled bird skin, she saw a faint series of bulging black veins. “What in the…” she picked the bird up gently and brushed some feathers out of the way.

“Guys. GUYS!”

Kaguya and Red woke up with a start, running over to see what was wrong.

“What’s going on?” Red asked. Fire exuded from his mouth while lightning crackled around Kaguya’s fingers.

“That bird… it’s sick! It has the same thing that the others had!” Yuki said.

The two looked at each other before Red carefully picked the bird up.

“It has black veins on its skin. Look!”

Red glanced over to Yuki before parting some of the down on its body. True to her words, the bird had pronounced black veins appearing on its body. He gently set it down on the bed before nodding to Kaguya.

“Oh… Oh dear Vaye,” Yuki said, falling to her knees. “This medicine…”

“Wait, hold on! How do we know that it’s the medicine’s fault?” Red asked. “Kaguya said that the bird might have been sick.”

“I said might have. I just grabbed a random bird and hoped for the worst. But, I can remember if that thing had black veins on its feet,” she said.

“Yuki?” Red turned to her for input, only to find Alfheim’s First Princess hyperventilating on the floor of her room. Her eyes were wide and in shock at the mere thought of it.

“Red, the Gentry, the Health Commission, possibly even my parents. They’re poisoning their own citizens,” she said, looking up at them.

“That’s kind of a leap, isn’t it? There’s no way that their Imperial Highnesses would condone this. Think rationally here, Yuki,” Kaguya said.

“No, no, you’re right. It’s just the shock but…” Yuki got up and grabbed the bird. “Kaguya, I need you to mobilize whoever you can. Red and I are going to go confront my parents.”

“My Lady, I don’t have the authority to-!”

“Say that you’re doing it by the order of the Imperial Princess.”

“Aren’t you rushing into this a little too fast?” Red asked.

“Maybe… but, this might be the only way to move my parents’ hand. Sacrificing my freedom to bring this to light. I’ll gladly do it for the people of Alfheim.” Yuki glanced at the near-empty vial on her table. It had enough of its contents left to present to her parents.

“Come on, there’s no time to waste.”

Red and Yuki ran down the hallway, ignoring the remarks from the maids and servants that passed them by.

“They should be adjourning for the night and in their office. If we run fast enough, we can catch them before they head to their rooms and-” Yuki slammed into something as hard as a stone wall. Clutching her nose, she fell on her butt and looked up. “Aunt Lilia?”

“Yuki? What are you doing here?” Lilia asked, brushing an errant lock off her face. Her red eyes peered down at her niece before glancing over to her niece’s guard.

“Aunt Lilia! Something’s happened. The Commission! The Gentry! They-”

“Slow down and breathe. Now tell me what’s going on,” she said, kneeling before her.

“The Zone. It’s not a place to treat the patients! They’ve been infecting them! The Idunn!”

“Hold on… I thought you stopped going to the Zone. What’s this about the Zone? And Idunn?” Lilia tried to get her niece to calm down.

“The Gentry are planning to infect the entire city!”

Lilia’s eyes widened before she cupped her hand around her niece’s mouth. Her ears twitched a little before a look of relief washed over her face.

“Okay, this will be extremely sudden and out of place. But… I need you, Red, to take Yuki and leave now. There’s no time to argue.” Lilia began looking around, her tails stiffening behind her.

“But where? Where do we go?”

“Somewhere I can find you later. But nowhere near here. Not even in Alfheim,” she said.

“Aunt Lilia, I don’t understand. What’s going on? Why do I have to leave? What about Alfheim? What about the-”

“Yuki! You have to leave. If what you say is true, then our worst fears might come to light. Alfheim needs its First Princess to survive. So leave now while they’re still unaware of your knowledge,” Lilia said, turning to her niece. “I promise, when the time comes, we’ll bring you home.”

“But, Alfh-” She never finished her sentence as her vision began to swim. Yuki fell to the ground, fading in and out of consciousness. The last thing she saw before passing out in Red’s arms were the worried faces of her parents as they came running around the corner.