It wasn't much later in the day that the princes took their leave. They stood in front of the large doors of the front hall facing Eden, myself and our parents. Clara and Gwen stood just a little off to the side and the entire inner mansion staff, in the background to give a proper farewell.

"This was... really fun," the prince said as if a little surprised the visit ended up going so well. "Eden, it was very good to meet you."

He turned to me, "you as well Briar. You were definitely... different."

I could feel Velma's eyes boring a hole into the back of my head. There was no doubt she was going to drill me afterwards to find out exactly what I did that was so different. Teaching me to obey etiquette really was a losing battle, I felt a little bad for her.

"It was a pleasure," I said, curtseying daintily, hoping to appease my nanny by at least doing things right now.

Prince Lucas' eyes were watering this whole time and finally, he began to bawl. "Bye Briar!" He cried and hugged me tightly.

There, I have won the affections of a prince. Are you happy Velma?

I hugged him back comfortingly and I could hear the room notably aw at the radiant cuteness of the scene. I hoped this interaction wouldn't give my household any match-making ideas. Although I highly doubt the Earl has the authority to make such a proposal to the king.

"I hope to hear from you soon," Eden said, as if finishing off a job interview... well, I guess he technically was.

"It might be a while before I can make a decision," the older prince admitted. "I am obligated to visit every house on the list of candidates."

"I understand," Eden bowed. The rest of the house bowed as well.

I couldn't as I was still being glomped onto tightly. "I'll write you!" Lucas promised.

"I look forward to it," I nodded. My cheek brushed against his head at this action. It was like he still had his baby hair, very soft. He even kind of had that baby smell. Which only brought on the horror again that this kid was literally my age.

As I finally got him to peel off, I subtly sniffed my own hair.

Gwen put two hands to her chest in absolute despair. "Oh Prince Luther, it was such a gift to see you again today. It will be with anticipation that I will wait until we meet again."

"Sure Gwendoline," He said in a way that suggested he never believed my bluff and knew she had orchestrated their meeting and will probably continue to do so.

I think I will need to talk to her.

Unperturbed, she pulled out the handkerchief she had embroidered for him and approached. "I wasn't anticipating doing this so early, but I want you to have this."

He received the present and glanced at it. "My family crest," he said. "You just happened to have this on you today."

"Well, when we visit each other's houses, we practice our embroidery together," I said truthfully.

"Indeed," she said. "I've been practicing for quite some time so I could give you a handkerchief someday. I wanted to show the girls my most recent product."

"Well, thank you. I will happily accept this," he smiled, I squinted. Were those sparkles surrounding him? It was as if his princely aura was so strong that it was actually becoming visible. 

The doors burst open, interrupting Gwen's greatest moment and bringing forth her worst: an angry-looking redhead I recognized as Gwen's brother stormed in.

"Reid!" Luther greeted in delight.

"Luther," He nodded in acknowledgement and turned to his sister in unconcealed annoyance.

"Brother!" Gwen exclaimed, very displeased. "Whatever are you doing here?"

"I came here to drag you back home idiot!" He said. "Luther doesn't want you following him around everywhere he goes, it's annoying! I came as soon as I heard you were out stalking him again!"

Gwen looked horrified and embarrassed, having been scolded in front of a room of people that included an assortment of her peers.

"But-" she started to say, fists trembling at her side.

"We're leaving now," he said firmly. "Straight home."

Gwen glanced at her fiancé. Prince Luther made no effort to intervene, and this lack of action spoke more than words.

She looked like she was about to cry.

I guessed I could save her one more time. I personally loved to make a spectacle of myself. 

"Wow Reid, is the kettle calling the coffee black right now?" I asked jokingly.

He looked at me in confusion. "What? You can't just call me by my first name. Who even- are you the girl from the tea party?"

"Such a boy," I said to my mother, who just gave me a what-are-you-doing-now look.

"Listen," I said to him. "Everyone knows that Gwen is my guest today. I invited her." Then I winked at him. "If you're going to concoct a random reason to see me again stud, don't bring her into this. She's one of my best friends and I want her to come back, which she might not feel comfortable doing if she was humiliated in front of my entire house."

His jaw dropped, "I didn't-"

I looked to the prince and mouthed, 'he's obsessed with me.'

Luther watched this exchange with his best friend with extreme amusement. "Wow Reid, I had no idea you had your eye on Briar. She's a good one, I hope you work this lover's spat out."

"I don't even know her!" The Duke's son protested.

"Ug, sure," I said, enjoying this far too much. "Maybe you and Gwen should just take your leave for today. I'm going to be honest with you, you're a nice guy, but I'm taking a break from boys, and I don't like how you get so defensive when you're around your friends." Well, he's athletic and has good bone structure. The little mole under his eye was cute too. He could be a hottie in the future, I shouldn't burn any bridges. I shook my head as if my seven-year-old self was just exhausted with the world. "I don't know, hit me up in like, ten years and we'll see where I'm at and if you're single and I'm single... well, we'll see if this can work. It's unlikely though, I'm a pretty hot commodity."

"Shut up, ugly! We're leaving!" He spat and then stormed out, dragging Gwen with him. She glanced over her shoulder at me as they left and I waved.

I didn't know what Viola had meant, he really didn't seem like much of a lady-killer. 

Eden turned to me, "You're not ugly."

I scrunched my eyebrows together. "Yeah I know, I'm downright adorable. He's just lashing out because I broke his heart." I walked over to the window and looked out, faking a distant expression. "I hope he can learn to love again, in time."

Prince Luther laughed. "I wouldn't worry too much about him."

I returned to my family's side and mother shook her head.

"You are a very fearsome girl," she said.

Father, who had never actually heard me say much more than 'good morning' just looked perplexed.

Clara stared at the doors with a dead expression. "Am I supposed to be following them? She was my ride..."

"We can take you home," Prince Luther volunteered. "We're to head to the Wharton estate next so it would only be a small detour."

"Thank you very much, your highness," Clara said with a deep curtsey.

Eden perked, "Oh right, before you go,"

Clara turned.

"I got your handkerchief cleaned immediately, I think it's dry," he said, pulling out the neatly folded item.

She looked at him for a moment with those impenetrable black eyes.

"Um," she said and brushed some loose bangs behind her ear. "You can keep it."

Eden looked baffled, "Oh, ok."

"As an apology," she added quickly and headed out the door.

Interesting.

"I guess that means we're leaving," Luther said, "Again, thank you for having us."

____________________

Author's notes

So it's one of those chapters where the characters only take a few steps each.

Lol, last chapter Manganerd1087 asked about whether Briar has previous martial arts/swords experience and, lol, I spent more time trying to write a reply to that than write this chapter XD

Short answer: No. She 'studied' the martial arts but not in the sense of doing them, but more in the sports trainer/physical therapist way where she knows what moves cause what chronic injuries and what exercises she'd give which client to improve their performance. Admittedly, she is literally boxing in the front cover, but I kinda see her more as a boxercise kind of girl than a martial arts master. She's all about that fitness lifestyle.

I'd gotten Briar's life as Meg more or less mapped out in preparation for chapter 1 but then I didn't think it would be good storytelling to throw it all out there at once even if that's the cookie cutter isekai light novel way. The story is in first person so it would come off awkwardly for her to just sit there and list off to the reader all of her life accomplishments. Usually, when someone has to tell you about how great they are, they're not that great (sorry not sorry XD)

So her full story never really got shared but I use it to kind of dictate her values, actions and reactions. She has this second chance at being completely able-bodied and her greatest fear is losing it again. The lowest points of her last life were the times she was recovering from injuries during her gymnastics career, and later when she was losing bodily control from her disease since her whole self-identity was basically rooted in fitness culture and her athleticism. So it's hard to picture her signing up to get onto the battlefield. 

Y'all can let me know if you want Meg facts in the author's notes. Freebie: This chap's Meg fact is she was born and raised in California and her favourite song was unironically Katy Perry's California girls. She's been pretty openly proud in this current life of Briar's tanned skin tone, despite it being completely against the beauty standards of Casselia. In adulthood, she listened to Lana Del Ray when she was feeling nostalgic for her teen years but her past wasn't nearly as angsty and rebellious as she remembers, it was actually a little less Lana and a little more Malibu Barbie.