I was originally just looking for an answer as to why Adelade stalled. Now she throws at me that Quinn is interested in me. ME! How does a prince of a nation even get interested in a girl like me? Okay, I guess it’s because of the hero thing. If I wasn’t this hero, would he still be interested? Probably not.

What do I have to offer him? Medical training and vague ideas about a myriad of other things and technologies that I could never make on my own? Is that really worth offering to marry me? Wait... marriage? If he wants me to be queen, that means we would…

Okay. Deep breaths. Calm down.

And now he wants to talk. Does he only want me physically? That isn’t what I want. He said he finds me attractive, but also mentions the hero aspect of my life. I think that answers the question really. He wants to use me and doesn’t actually care about me. He also used a meme to say that… I miss memes.

I say that and then he goes and says something vaguely romantic. Fine, I guess I can see if we can make a relationship work. What is this about him having multiple queens? I’m not signing up for that. If we become official in some capacity, I’m definitely making that clear. I don’t care if polygamy is valid here or not. We’re going to start slow and build up to something. Whatever that is.

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Phillippe and Vivette went off earlier after talking with Quinn. Apparently this is where they are originally from. I hope they have fun reuniting with their family since they’ve been away for what sounds like a while. That makes me wonder though, what’s with kids working here at such young ages?

Okay. I know that where I’m from we only got rid of child labor like a hundred years ago. Technically that means child labor has been the norm, not the exception. Since Sengar is probably somewhere between four hundred to six hundred years behind my previous life, is it even more common?

Quinn mentioned education specifically for training other doctors, which is something only I can help with, but there’s a number of other medical positions that don’t necessarily require the same level of training. Some require a lot still. I mean, a nurse will have to know some things so mistakes aren’t made. If we can train up others to fill these positions, that’d be great. Maybe that starts with basic schooling for children. Reading, writing, math, science and stuff. Maybe I can start those kinds of things too.

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Lizardfolk are a reptilian species of the beastfolk race. They have thick, leathery skin, with some having various degrees of scaling on their limbs, torso, and head. Much like their animal counterparts, they are cold-blooded, which I still can’t wrap my head around how that manages to work with their size. Their sense of smell is apparently terrible, but they can ‘taste’ scents with the flicky tongue thing that snakes and lizards do. Some animal biologist would probably hate me for calling it that, but I don’t know the technical word for it. I studied human biology.

This tropical climate here in the Islands is perfect for the lizardfolk, but there are also a few other races that make their homes here including humans and elves. It’s a decent place for a beach trip, but it seems like only young kids go to the beach for leisure here. There’s not even any swimwear that I’ve seen, so I’d have to make it myself. Ah, distraction.

There’s a sort of standard array of tropical diseases here. Malaria has been pretty common among all the patients I was able to see today. I learned that they have a far more terrifying name for mosquitos here: needlebiters. Well, perhaps it’s more of an apt description. I asked how the name came about and heard three different accounts, so I can only conclude that it’s unclear.

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Quinn seemed worried about something, with Wyen and Adelade sharing the same grim look. I was about to ask when he dropped the bombshell on me. They wanted my opinion about the political situation here in the islands. My immediate thought was how was I supposed to know anything about the place since I’ve never been here before, but they filled me in with their version of events.

Before I died, dad always said to remember that there’s always another side to the story when people disagree. I’ve always tried to keep that in mind when I’ve found myself in conflict or was asked about situations by others. That said, it is difficult to get the other side to this story, since Quinn and the others are keeping the Azural’s away from me.

I asked a few questions, but the answers were pretty much what I expected. The islands were important to the kingdom is what it boiled down to. They weren’t too thrilled with my initial idea of letting the islands go.

Before I’d died, mom and dad had taken me on a trip one summer to the capital and the nearby region to check out all the history and stuff around there. It was a valuable experience, which I was lucky to have, but I wasn’t particularly moved in my day-to-day life back home by what happened in the capital. It’s not that I hated what went on there, it was just detached.

It was a sentiment I tried explaining to Quinn. Travel was more difficult and less frequent here than in my previous life, so citizens didn’t move around much and weren’t tourists. How many would see and know him as the king when his time came? Few if any of the common folk.

While Wyen seemed to understand my thoughts, I could tell that none of them agreed with my ideas. I think I shocked them with the schooling thing and my lack of nobility, but they didn’t press on that. Why did they even bother to ask me though if they weren’t going to take what I said seriously?

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The last few days have been hell. I don’t even know where to start. I understand why Quinn didn’t trust the Azural’s now. Lady Cindra, or I guess it’s former lady, had us chased both in and out of town. All because she wants me as a counselor or something. She was going to kill Quinn to get her way!

Frankly, I was tired and exhausted by the time we stopped to rest under a tree. I barely remember the battle that occurred or the short while after. I was just so shocked at the level of violence both Cindra and Quinn were willing to go to when it came to my future. It was my future and they were fighting over it like I had no say! I was getting quite upset and about to make my own comments when things changed at the return of Phillippe and Vivette.

I really wanted to talk with Quinn immediately, and offered to use my mobile clinic ambulance so that we could, but Quinn shut me down with stuff about being the hero and hiding my powers in front of untrustworthy folks. I admit that the speech he gave in town was a bit inspiring. I had not seen him act much like a prince and future king before then, but he made it seem natural. I was impressed, but the overarching atmosphere was very tense.

We ended up talking a few days later on the voyage to the capital. I really laid into him with what I was feeling about the fight and what I’d heard. To his credit, he answered my questions and addressed my comments, and he seemed honest about his responses. I warned him about tyranny, or at least what I thought about tyranny.

Surprisingly, he still wants to try the relationship thing. I agreed but said we clearly have stuff to work on before getting to that point again.

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While I don’t think I’ve been everywhere yet or seen everything I want to see, the challenges of traveling incognito have only increased because of everything. As such, I decided to stay here in the capital. I did that more for the people I’ve already cared for as opposed to Quinn’s expectations. I’ll help establish a medical school, but I’m going to leave in a couple of years once it’s established. Then the king summoned me.

I was a nervous wreck with that, but Quinn assured me it was going to be fine. I went and it was everything I thought. The king was happy that I decided to work with them in Sengar. It was a nice country for the most part, so I felt okay with that decision.

I was less excited about the king’s proposed engagement to Quinn. I suspected Quinn was trying to rush things by making it look like he wasn’t behind the push. Maybe he wasn’t, but I wasn’t going to give in. Since I expected it to be brought up though, I had my answer ready. Why are they so shocked about me saying I want to be the only queen?