Mid Afternoon - Late Spring : Kingdom of Kaelallan

- Lucy Kaelallan ~

It had been a few hours since my parents sent me out of the room.

"Can I go check on Father now?"

"Miss.." Martha gave me a look like she was annoyed. "Haah.. he's sleeping, I told you that already."

"So? I've walked in on him sleeping before so why not now?"

"He is hurt, he needs the rest far more now."

"Hmph.."

It was a warm afternoon so I had the doors open to allow a nice breeze into the room.

Walking out onto the balcony I looked over the garden.

"Has Vasilias come back?"

"I haven't heard about him si-"

*Boom*

"What was-"

*THUD* The entire palace shook.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" I whipped around to see Martha with her dagger in hand.

"I'm not sure. Miss, please stay here for a moment. Lock the door after I leave and only open it if it's me or your parents."

I gave a nervous nod as she disappeared out the door.

Being sure to follow her words, I ran up and locked the door, closing the balcony door and closing the blinds as well.

My heart was racing as my mind began to wander.

-Ever since he came.. it's been nothing but disaster..- Since Vasilias came to Kaelallan, nothing but awful things have been happening.

-Several assassination attempts on mother and father, a huge city wide disaster.. father being hurt.. mother being so stressed she looks sick..- Sitting in the dark, motionless room, my emotions started to fester.

Around an hour after Martha left, there was a knock on the door.

*Knock* *Knock* "Princess, please open up, the situation has been fixed."

An unknown maids voice was on the other side of the door.

I slowly got up and started reaching for the doorknob.

-Wait what am I doing..- My emotions being in a huge storm made me nearly forget Martha's words. "I cant open the door unless its my personal maid or my parents outside."

"Martha is busy at the moment, she sent me to tell you everything is fine."

My heart began to race again as I assumed the worst. "I'm sorry, I can't do that." I slowly and quietly backed away from the door and picked up a dinner knife I left on my desk from lunch.

My heart was beating out of my chest as I stared at the motionless door.

After several more minutes I heard some mumbling outside before another knock.

*Knock* *Knock* "Miss, sorry I took so long."

It was the voice of Martha!

*Cling*

Throwing the knife on the ground I ran up to the door and quickly undid the locks.

*Click*

On the other side was Martha wearing a worried smile.

Seeing my state, she started to panic.

"Miss, are you alright?! Did something happen?"

I ran up and hugged her waist with tears coming to my eyes. "I thought something bad happened again.."

"Right, I should have been quicker. I'm sorry." She reached down and embraced me as I struggled to hold back tears.

After comforting me for several minutes, I finally separated from her and sat on my bed.

Finally able to think straight after letting some pent up emotions out, I went ahead and asked. "So what was that.. racket.."

"Ah, according to the Missus, it was the Grandmaster mistaking Vasilias as an enemy and attacking him."

-Hmph he deserved it..- In my heart, I cursed him. I believed that he was the cause of all of the disasters that struck Kaelallan since he arrived.

"The reason I took so long was because I needed to take the Grandmaster to the medical ward."

I jolted up from my relaxed pose. "W..what?"

"Yeah, the first explosion was the Grandmaster, and that.. shaking was from him throwing her into the wall."

-Is she alive?!- I had never seen Nation ranks fight, the only thing I had to compare them was seeing some of Lawton's training sessions and feeling the shake from Vasilias beating the dragon at the plaza.

"She should be alright, only a few broken bones. Luckily she seems to have had an artifact on her that was a barrier artifact. It seems to have activated before she hit the wall so it kept her body in decent shape compared to the wall."

I sat there, staring at Martha, simply too stunned to speak. "S..so where is he now?"

"A while ago, a maid saw him rush into the Lord's room in a panic."

My heart skipped a beat.

"Id assume he's still in th-"

I sprung up from my bed and dashed out the door.

"Where do you think you're going?"

I was stuck, I couldn't move. Martha's hand was resting on my shoulder as she held me in place.

"I just need to make sure he isn't hurting father!" I tried to get out of her grasp but it was useless.

"Miss, listen to yourself. Vasilias just nearly killed the second strongest nation rank in Kaelallan without trying. If he wanted to kill your father he wouldn't wait until he was hurt to do it."

"I.. I guess.." I couldn't refute her logic.

"Haah.. what am I going to do with you.." She slowly dragged me back into the room and set me on the bed. "So would you like anything to drink or snack on?"

A gleam appeared in my eye. "One of Mother’s pops please.." (a cake pop)

"Alright, I'll go grab one. Please.. stay here.."

"Of course.." I laid back onto the bed and spread out to relax.

A few minutes after she left I got up and checked the hall. -Coast is clear..-

Father’s room wasn't far down the hall so I was able to get there quickly and sneakily.

I reached up for the door knob and slowly opened it. -He better not do anything to Father..- My festering emotions began to surge again.

But as soon as I looked through the crack in the door, I froze.

There was a wall of mana, so thick I could barely see through it.

My piled up emotions including the anger and the frustration towards Vasilias vanished.

My heart simply stopped.

I was immediately reminded of that dreadful fear from when I first saw him. -How could I forget that…-

My whole body started shaking before some of the aura oozed from the room and wrapped around me.

My mind blanked, but it felt tranquil, still as a lake in the morning.

My heart stopped beating out of my chest and my breathing steadied.

The fear vanished as if it was never there.

"I'm doing something pretty important so I need you to stay out of the room for a bit." A calm and majestic voice filled the air.

The voice sounded a little unfamiliar but I knew who it was and instinctively complied with it.

Almost like I was in hypnosis, I closed the door and took a few steps down the hallway before sitting down.

A few minutes later, my mind finally cleared up.

-What was that..- I could think straight again but my emotions were still cleared up as if a hurricane turned into a light rain.

I reluctantly looked back towards the door just a few steps away. -That didn't feel.. too bad..-