It took us a few weeks to return all the hostages to their families safely, and it was just as draining as predicted. Autumn was investing in self defense now, but I was starting to get worried about how close he was to Keane. Not to mention, Maximus had given me another rose today. It seemed to be one a regular monthly schedule.

Despite the fact that I know the otome game was based on this world rather than the other way around, everything was still so suspicious. Besides, there is always some fact hidden behind every fiction.

I still needed to focus on the impending war with Gaia above all else, but I had plenty of worries about the future plaguing my mind, such as Autumn passing me a letter that he has a crush on Rena.

This was bad, I needed to focus on this information about Gaia.

There was a knock on the door. “What is it?” I asked, my voice a bit snappier than I intended.

One of the messenger students came in, looking nervous. “You said you wanted express news on anything Gaia, right? Well… Gaia was conquered by the first prince of Beraud. It was just announced publicly.”

My mind blanked out for a second. “The first prince? That was Lann El Beraud, right?” I asked in automatic.

“Y-yes… Are you okay?”

I blinked. “Sorry, yes, I am fine. Can you call the usual group for a meeting ASAP?”

The messenger darted off.

My brain was running in circles. Didn’t we have to prepare for a war? How is it that the main instigator of the war was taken out by a small country like Beraud? Beraud was famous for its innovation and machines but none of them were weapons. Their trains couldn’t reach Gaia without tracks either. Were they hiding some sort of major weapon no one knew about? Was this all a ploy to make Tethia let it’s guard down?

By the time I made it to the usual meeting room my head was starting to hurt. The others arrived fairly quickly.

“Why the emergency meeting all the sudden?” Maximus asked, his full attention on me.

Alois looked so tired he could fall over at any moment. “Please make it quick. I haven’t gotten a chance to sleep for a bit.”

“Prince Lann of Beraud has overthrown Gaia,” I told them.

There was a shocked silence before Alois stumbled to his feet. “The Great Empire of Gaia, the country so large that it would take all the countries on the continent and then some to defeat? That Gaia?”

“Yes…”

“And it was taken down so quickly by a prince without us hearing anything about it until it was over?!”

“That is what I was told.”

Alois slumped back down in his seat and held his head. “This never happened last time.”

“I never heard anything about it last time either, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it did not happen,” Wayde corrected.

Autumn was starting to look pale. “Guys, I think we might be worse off than before. I thought Prince Lann was familiar somehow, but now I am certain that he was the main villain from the game.”

“So the war with Gaia is still happening but Lann was our real enemy this whole time?” Rena clarified.

Even after finding out about all of our pasts she had just taken it in stride somehow. It was probably easier to dismiss things like that if you could explain it away with something like summoning magic.

“I never was clear on who was leading Gaia and the other countries to war,” Wayde agreed and turned to Maximus, “Do you remember anything?”

“Yes, actually,” Maximus said, “There was someone named Lann who wanted to steal the Heart of Tethia after you left for war. I barely escaped with it in time.”

The Heart of Tethia was the king’s artifact. It was embedded in the crown and was said to protect Tethia. Unfortunately, that was all I knew as a queen candidate.

“So he is after the Heart? Maybe some other artifacts too,” Alois mused, “The pavilion can’t be stolen, the Bracelet of Creation is more like a tattoo on the head magician’s arm. Isn’t the Tears of Tethia a necklace though?”

“It is,” I confirmed, “It’s power allows the wearer to see visions of the future of Tethia.”

“The artifacts are useless to someone outside of Tethia,” Wayde reminded.

“Do you think Lann is the kind of person to just conquer Tethia so he could use the artifacts?” Keane suggested.

I looked at Autumn who was slowly becoming paler.

“I think we need to prepare for that possibility,” I decided.

“Actually,” Caleb spoke up, “I got a package this morning I think you all need to know about. It was a book with the title Records of Tethia, and if felt suspiciously like another artifact. It had the symbol of the medical research head.”

Did that mean that there were five artifacts? Medical research was certainly as important as magical research but I had never heard of an artifact for them. Unless… it was stolen.