—back to the present—

Soon they came to a stop before an elegant-looking door, designed intricately along with a mint-green shade colouring the entry.

When Frey opened it, he was greeted by the sight of a surprised maid changing the lavish bed sheets.

"Oh, Prince Frey!" she exclaimed. "Did you see the Princess?"

Frey looked slightly taken aback. "Isn't Lym here?"

"Oh, no! This is awful. You must have just missed each other!" she cried. "Until just a little while ago, the Princess was waiting here for you to visit, Prince Frey… But she got tired of waiting and went off with Lady Miakis to look for you! Could you see if you can find her, Prince?"

"My poor little Princess!" a maid from the left side of the room wailed. "She's too young! It's too soon for her to be thinking about a husband. No doubt it'll either be that Godwin lad or the Barows boy, but… Whichever of them it turns out to be, I don't like it. Oh, my poor little girl!"

"H—Husband…?" Erza stammered, her cheeks red and her body trembling slightly.

"The Princess is to be wed soon," Lyon explained as they went out the door. "The Sacred Games will decide who her husband will be."

"Sacred Games?" Gray inquired.

"Hey, is that some kind of food?" Natsu asked eagerly, already drooling from his mouth.

Gray scoffed. "Are you an idiot or what?"

"What?! Say that to me again and I'll—"

"U—Um!" Lyon intervened, nervously eyeing Erza's death glare at the two boys. "I've just noticed that Happy isn't here. Where…?"

"Oh, Happy?" Natsu gestured to his red vest, especially the noticeable bulge at the back. "He's sleeping. Got worn out from using his magic after what we went through. He shouldn't have overdone it."

Gray snickered. "No wonder people were staring at you strangely while shaking their heads. Probably thought you were a real hunchback or something."

"H—Hunch… what?!" Natsu stuttered.

Gray sighed, all humour lost from his expression. "Never mind."

They had come to a door not too far away from Lymsleia's where two maids seemed to be standing guard outside.

"Oh, Prince Frey!" one of them exclaimed. "Are you looking for Lady Sialeeds? She just got back and went straight to bed. Do you have something urgent you need to see her about?"

"No," Frey said softly. "Please let her sleep."

"A—Are you sure…? I don't have to—? Oh, thank you, Your Highness! Thank you so much!" the maid cried in relief.

Lyon gave a short giggle from beside him and Frey smiled in amusement. Both of them knew the reason why the maid was so nervous about waking Sialeeds up.

"…Ahem," the maid coughed, realizing her unnecessary outburst. "Very well, then."

The other maid from their right gave a sigh. "Lady Sialeeds always appears so bright and cheerful in public, but I can't imagine she's very happy," she conversed. "She had her right to the throne taken from her, not to mention the marriage… I know it's all about the throne and avoiding conflict within the royal family, but really! The poor thing!" She faced the Prince fully, her eyes imploring. "Prince Frey, you'll be there if Lady Sialeeds needs someone to talk to, right? You know, she considers you more of a brother than a nephew."

"What was that about?" Natsu asked once they went out the door of the western side of the palace.

"I don't really know, either," Lyon said.

They kept on walking south until they reached a guard standing by a swirling staircase at the center of the second floor.

"Are you entering the Sealed Room, Your Highness?" he asked. "There's nothing in there now sir, but the Rune expert might be helpful if you want information."

Frey gave a nod of thanks before going up and entering the large brown door leading to the Sealed Room. Inside, there was a pure-white head statue in the center surrounded by four pillars. On the forehead of the statue was an empty Rune slot.

A man who was known as the Chief Runekeeper of the palace turned around, looking faintly surprised to see them.

"A-ha! Prince Frey!" he exclaimed. "What an unusual pleasure to see you here." He cleared his throat for a moment before continuing. "Well, you've come all this way. The least I can do is share a bit of knowledge about Runes. So, what is it that you want to know?"

"What are Runes, exactly?" Frey asked in a polite tone, taking advantage of this opportunity.

"Hmm… Well, in a nutshell… You probably know all about how the world is made up of forces, right? Water, wind, earth… Competing and combining with each other, these forces together shape everything. Now, each Rune symbolizes one of those forces, so they say. Of course, the Runes predate humanity, so no one really knows for sure."

Frey became thoughtful for a moment. "Is that a Rune on Mother's forehead?" he asked, seeking for more information pertaining to his mother's condition.

The man hesitated only the slightest bit before answering. "Well, you see, one who bears a Rune upon their body gains the ability to harness that Rune's power. The Water Rune grants the power of water. The Wind Rune the power of wind. You get the idea. So, you can imagine what the Sun Rune does. That's right — the power of the sun itself. And that's what Her Majesty used on Lordlake when…" He immediately cut himself off to keep from treading into dangerous matters. "Ahem… that's another matter entirely."

Frey took another chance for a question. "What are the three Runes of Falena?"

The Chief Runekeeper's face brightened. "Ah, you mean the Sun Rune, the Dawn Rune, and the Twilight Rune! Well, the Sun Rune is blessed, you see. It brings the Queendom of Falena prosperity. And the Dawn Rune and the Twilight Rune bring the Queendom protection, or so the legends say. Unlike most Runes, those three are each unique and incredibly powerful. Especially the Sun Rune. No other Rune anywhere near here comes close. Some people even say it's one of the 'True Runes', all born together with our world at the dawn of time." He then coughed slightly. "Perhaps we should leave it at that for today. If we delve too deeply into things like this, we'll end up talking forever!"

"Wow…" Lyon said in amazement as they went back down the stairs. "I never really knew much about the history of Runes and what they actually are, so I'm glad we went there."

"Runes…" Erza murmured. "Are those the magic you use here in this world?"

"Well, basically, yes," Lyon replied. "I've never used one before, though, and the Prince doesn't really use them much. I think Lady Sialeeds has a Rune, but I've never seen her use it. Georg, I know, has one, and it's really powerful and deadly."

Natsu yawned, stretching his arms. "I think I dozed off a little after that guy started explainin' things 'bout something…"

"Don't mind him. He's hopeless." Gray sighed.

Frey led them towards the eastern side of the second floor, turning around the corner and entering the first room.

A maid greeted them in surprise. "Oh, my! Prince Frey! Welcome back! You must be tired from your long trip. Shall I fetch the royal pajamas?"

"No thanks," Frey said politely. "I haven't seen Lym yet."

"Oh, that's very sweet of you, Prince Frey!" the maid gushed. "No matter how tired you are, you always think of your little sister! The Princess will be so glad to see you!"

Frey gave a nod and a smile before leaving. Lyon and the others followed him down the stairs.

"Where are we going, Prince?" Lyon asked.

"Maybe Lym's with Father," Frey replied absently, his tiredness making him even quieter than usual. "So we're going to the guard room."

They were about to turn the corner when they suddenly heard voices.

"Indeed," a haughty noble was saying. "Sending the Prince off to the provinces for an inspection…! What could she have been thinking?"

"Don't tell me she's considering getting him involved in politics someday…?" an obsequious noble remarked.

"Ha! Lord Godwin and Lord Barows would never stand for that! A third player in their little tug-of-war?"

"Not just any third player — a royal! A royal male, no less! Ridiculous!"

"Yes, a Falenan royal male. They've always been useless. Waving to the crowds, that's all they're good for."

Natsu didn't really understand much of the conversation, but he knew well enough o know that Frey was being insulted, and insulting his comrades was not something he was going to stand.

"That bastard," Natsu cussed, about to shove his way towards the two nobles when Gray clamped a hand on his shoulder, preventing him from making do on his threat.

"I know how you feel, but forget about it," Gray told him.

"Gray's right, Natsu," Erza said firmly. "Going there will only make things worse."

Natsu gritted his teeth. Logical reason was not something he wanted to hear right now, but Gray and Erza had a point. Perhaps because Frey was shaking his head at him very slightly as if willing him to relax while Lyon was staring at her charge with a sad expression on her face that he calmed down a bit.

So Natsu had no choice but to be forced to listen to the nobles degrading Frey and his position.

"Well, that and marrying off to foreigners," the haughty noble continued on. "Seriously, the Prince is as good as deadwood!"

The obsequious noble barked out laughter. "How rightly you speak! Ha, ha, ha!"

Natsu's anger fueled. "Why that—!"

Suddenly a voice cut in the conversation between the two men.

"Well, you boys look like you're having fun!" A Queen's Knight appeared before them, a smile curling his lips. "If you're gonna speak your mind, you should really pay attention to where you are. You never know — some rogue knight might slip out of the guard room and come passing by… Okay?"

"Kyle…?!" the obsequious noble exclaimed.

Kyle was a handsome man. Most girls could attest to that. He had long blond hair, the top part of it tied into a bun with a long, thin blue ribbon and his blue eyes were like the colour of the ocean when shone upon by the bright sunlight. His stance was completely relaxed and easygoing, but there was no doubting the strength he had hidden up his sleeve, guarded by his friendly persona.

"W—What are you talking about? W—We were just standing around having a little chat, that's all!" the haughty noble stammered.

Kyle shrugged. "Well, yeah, but I can't exactly ignore what you're chatting about, me being a Queen's Knight and all…" He looked thoughtful for a moment. "You know, the part about the Prince being 'as good as dead'…"

"What?! Don't be ridiculous! We never said anything of the kind!"

"Of c—course not! Not 'as good as dead'! 'About as good as deadWOOD,' he said…"

"Shut up, you idiot!"

"Mmmph!"

"Oh, deadWOOD. Okay, well, no one's gonna care that you said THAT…" Kyle's smile turned sly. "Not even Her Majesty…"

"Eeeek! Sir Kyle, no!"

"P—Please, no! I'm begging you! Please, I… What'll it take to keep this quiet?"

"Do a dance," Kyle said flatly. "Seriously, right now, do a dance."

The two nobles looked at him, not knowing what they should do first.

"No, just kidding." Kyle laughed a little. "Look, I don't wanna be a tattletale… so just try not to bad-mouth anybody, eh? Especially right where I can hear you. Which is pretty much everywhere."

"Yes, sir!"

"O—Of course! We'll be good! We promise!"

"N—Now, if you'll just excuse us!"

After the nobles ran away, not even noticing Frey and the others in their haste, Kyle spoke up.

"Hey, Prince? Lyon? You can come out now."

"Wow, they talk like that in the halls now?" Lyon said, amazed as they stepped towards Kyle.

"Thank you, Kyle," Frey said quietly.

"Ah, just doin' my job," Kyle said humbly. "And, hey, all that stuff they said — don't worry about it. Court's filled with those kinds of losers. Spend all your time worrying about each individual one, and your hair's gonna fall out."

"Kyle…"

"Oh, and by the way! Little late now, but… Welcome home, Your Highness, Lyon," Kyle said, smiling.

"Th—Thank you!" Lyon said, slightly taken aback.

"Hey, you guys should come visit the Queen's Knights' guard room with me! Been a while, right?" Kyle suggested.

"Hmm, I'd better go see Lym first…" Frey said.

"Oh, you're looking for the Princess? In that case, you really should go to the guard room," said Kyle. "You guys keep missing each other, right? Going back and forth? If you wait in the guard room, she's bound to find you there eventually! So let's go!"

Frey and Lyon both gave a nod before following him.

"Hey, haven't seen them before," Kyle suddenly said.

"Oh, they're friends," Lyon said, beginning to introduce the mages one by one. "This is Natsu, Gray, and Erza. They'll be accompanying us for a while."

"Oh, really?" Kyle stared straight at Erza. "Hey, she's pretty hot."

"Don't start," Gray warned him. "She'll pummel you to the ground."

Kyle blinked. "Really?"

Erza's infamous death glare made him freeze. "Yes," she said sternly.

"All right, all right!" Kyle said, thinking about his life. "I'm sorry!"

"I apologize," Lyon said cheerfully. "Kyle just loves chasing after girls."

"As long as he doesn't touch me," Erza said.

Lyon giggled.

• • •

"Do you think they'll come here?" a woman's voice asked.

"Hmm. I think they will," a man's voice said lightly.

"What are you going to do to them?"

"Nothing. Or, we can get them on our side and work together for a while."

"Until we eventually betray them?"

"Yes… When we get back to our world."

"As you wish, Lord Siegrain."

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to be continued