Chapter 46 – Castle Ruckus

That night, the King holds a private meeting in his study. "Well we've certainly become acquainted with an amazing young lady." The Queen comments resting her head against her hand. Sebastian and Captain Lewis nod.

"You should try her cooking. It's unrivaled." Captain Lewis heartily laughs.

"Surely it's not that amazing?" Queen Helen mutters looking at the King.

"It is. Her dishes outmatch anything the Royal Chefs can provide." The King nods admitting.

"Well. I'll have to try this for myself." The Queen mutters.

"Mmm. I want to try and tie her to the family in some way." King Victor replies.

"Unfortunately, we only have daughters. We would have to find a trustworthy person to match her with." The Queen laments.

"Sire, I think that would be hard to accomplish. If you force her into a relationship..." Captain Lewis interjects.

"Yes. I'm aware of what she's capable of. But if she ends up in a mutual relationship with the prospect of marriage, then... What? What's wrong?" The King proposes his plan, but the deepening frown on Lewis' face stops him.

"Your Highness has yet to truly see her body. Two of the guards peeped on her despite her warnings. I questioned her about it and unexpectedly got a direct view. Her body is a truly horrifying sight. She was very adamant that it wouldn't be possible to fix her body anytime soon. Only men with a unique taste would be interested in her. Everyone else would quickly find a mistress and completely ignore her from then on." Lewis replies. He represses the nausea that appears when he remembers the sight of Senna's scarred body.

"... T-there has to be someone normal..." King Victor protests, but Lewis silently shakes his head. "We have to at least try..."

"If your Highness desires..." Lewis shrugs showing his lack of hope for the entire plan.

"Before anything, we should first find out what type of man she's interested in. We can figure out the rest later." The Queen interjects.

"Fine..." The King relents with a sigh.

***

The following morning would later be known among the servants as 'Toilet Hell' for the physical and mental agony and embarrassment caused that day.

The servants originally heeded Senna's words organizing an antidote drinking schedule. However, the schedule quickly fell apart after the first group consumed the soda ‘antidote’. The resulting praise and desire for the sugary drink lit a strong reaction among the servants. Some of them gave in to their curiosity and drank their antidotes ahead of schedule. The ones that loved sweets fell even faster and attempted to steal from one another after finishing their own bottles. The remaining servants that wanted to patiently wait made a break for it as small mob formed among the female servants. The frenzied maids took down a pair of guards that had attempted to break up the group. An onlooking maid shook her head commenting, "Never stand between a woman and sweets."

The escaping servants ultimately chose to drink their sodas eliminating the mob's desired target. Instead of dispersing, the sugar addicted maids sought out more and went to demand more from Senna only to meet a dead end at her locked bedroom door. Some of the maids almost broke down the door if someone hadn't threatened to report them to the King and Queen. Left with no other option, they camped out in front of the door waiting for Senna to wake up. Only one of the maids chose to leave and have a normal night's sleep.

The next morning, Senna instantly rejected providing them with any more soda when she woke up. Before they could press her, the maids clenched their gurgling stomachs. They ran off to find a toilet to relieve themselves only to find most of them occupied by some of the others. Scattering throughout the castle, they were unable to find a single open lavatory.

Senna ended up using magic to create some makeshift outhouses in the rear garden considering how many people were stuck in the same agony. The relief of having an accessible toilet was quickly cut by their increasingly agonizing stomach pains. Wails of pain spread throughout the entire castle as their bodies tried to expel the tumors in their bodies.

The yellow tumor was partially dissolved after detaching from a person’s magical core, but it was still a large physical mass. Left with nowhere to go, their bodies attempted to compress the tumor to eject it from their bodies. Thankfully, the yellow tumor was deactivated after the separation leaving it with no risk of exploding. Unfortunately, the tumor itself was fairly dense making it hard for the intestines to break it down into normal feces. As a result, most of the servants were forced to expel the tumor as is. A problem that was significantly more painful for the more heavily poisoned servants with larger tumors. A few high pitched wails drowned out their surroundings as they tried to expel the tumor. Senna helped some of the servants magically grinding the tumors up, but left the troublemaking servants to their own devices.

***

"Well that was quite the eventful morning." Queen Helen comments during brunch. Their breakfast was delayed because of the morning commotion and lack of free hands forcing them to wait until now to eat.

"Indeed. Senna, please treat Helen with more care." King Victor agrees adding on his own concerns.

"Even if you didn't ask, I would have already done so." Senna plainly replies cutting up the bread in front of her. "I only let the servants suffer so much because of the commotion they caused last night."

"Indeed. Attacking one another in such a way is unacceptable for a servant of the Royal Family." Sebastian grumbles.

"Well I understand why those girls were so expectant with such a wonderful treat presented to them." Irene replies staring at Senna with a patient and silent gaze.

In response, Senna gives a long sigh putting down the utensils in her hand. Not only Irene, but Princess Liliana and a group of maids eavesdropping from the kitchen have been ardently staring at her for some time now. "I'm not going to give you any more." An oppressive atmosphere fills the dining hall with Senna's response. "Haaah. Sebastian, please make an announcement to the rest of the servants about what I'll say next."

"Understood." Sebastian stands closer to Senna to catch every word.

"The antidote will be firmly controlled to deal with the poison and will not be given out purely for their love of sweets. Furthermore, drinking the soda more than once a week will cause problems to their health. One, problems with their blood that will need them to regularly see a healer. Two, it will cause their teeth to rot and look similar to someone from the slums..." Senna glances at the eavesdropping maids hidden behind the kitchen door. "Finally, three, you gain weight that can eventually give you a body like the fat Prime Minister. Change the example as you please if there's a better reference."

A quiet slam takes place the second the words 'gain weight' leaves Senna's mouth. The maids had shut the door and scattered losing all interest in the soda. "Understood." Sebastian bows memorizing Senna's words.

Senna silently returns to her meal feeling no guilt to her exaggeration. The soda mass production can be left to someone else once she passes on the recipe. The commotion caused by her cooking will be enough of an issue to deal with as it is. If it wasn’t necessary, she would have preferred to keep the superfluous and diabetes causing drink buried in the depths of her mind. After finishing, she stands up. “About an hour after lunch, I’ll help treat the Queen. I will give special care to make the process as painless as possible.”

Senna spent the rest of the morning treating the three quarantined servants. They had already learned about the events in the castle and no longer feared for their lives. They heavily thanked Senna for the help particularly because of their inability to even stand. After finishing their treatment, she spent the remaining time improving Princess Iris’ condition and further examining the remaining tumor samples. After lunch, the Queen is quickly treated breaking down the tumor, so that it passes through the body semi-painlessly.

***

Several hours after lunch

"Mm...m...nnn..." Princess Iris groans lightly shifting her body.

"Oh!" Senna puts down the tools in her hand. She calls for a maid and has her pass on a message to the Royal Family. Unfortunately, Iru is away doting on her younger sister after Senna treated her or else Senna could have had Iru pass on the news. Walking over to Iris' side, Senna places her hand on Iris' forehead.

Iris' eyes flicker open feeling the heated touch. Her blurry vision focuses on Senna warmly watching over her. "Ah...an...angel..." Her raspy voice sounds from her unused throat.

Senna unconsciously looks at herself wearing a simple white dress and her long white hair draped behind her. {I guess it would be easy to make that kind of mistake with this kind of appearance.} Iris moves her hand forward to touch Senna and grips firmly onto Senna's breasts. Her hand moves about feeling the shape of Senna's chest, while occasionally squeezing it. Senna wryly smiles watching Iris’ perverted hand. {I'm glad I'm wearing a bra right now. It makes it harder to feel the scars.}

The warmth of Senna's body starts to transmit down Iris' hand. When her brain finally processes the sensation, her eyes open wide. "...Ah..."

"Hi~" Senna smiles brightly. "It's nice to know that the Princess is so fond of breasts~" She teasingly adds.

Iris' face turns crimson seeing her hand still firmly gripped on Senna's breast. "I-I-I'm so sorry!" She quickly releases her hand and pushes herself up. “I didn't mean to!"

"It's fine. If it helps the Princess be more 'energetic', then please go ahead and grope all you want." Senna replies still teasing her. Iris blushes even harder in response. Senna’s expression becomes stern as she looks at Iris. “Okay, enough teasing. How do you feel? Any pain or discomfort?”

"Eh?" Princess Iris flinches at the sudden question. Her hands unconsciously move touching her stomach. Her eyes widen feeling her body move so easily. She looks down touching herself in various places. "I can move!" Her mouth drops when she sees her legs moves. She slides her legs off the bed and carefully stands. Her mind trembles as she moves one foot forward. Her legs remain steady as she shifts her weight from one foot to another. The carpet brushes against the soles of her feet as she takes another step forward. Iris' emerald green eyes sparkle as she breaks into a brilliant smile.

Senna stands to the side quietly watching as Iris examines her body. Her face is serene, but her mind is reeling in shock. The magic she used to treat Iris helped recover some of the muscle atrophy, but it shouldn't have been enough to stably stand and walk. She had estimated that Princess Iris would have need to spend a month or two in rehabilitation building her strength back up. And yet, here she is happily walking around the room with a bright smile on her face. Senna's thoughts go back to the changes in Iris' status after her blood was taken into Iris' body. {The change was more significant than I thought.} Senna coughs surprising the Princess. "How are you feeling? Any problems?"

"Ah! No. I feel great!" Iris answers red faced. In her enraptured atmosphere, she had completely forgotten about the presence of the stranger next to her. "Oh! I'm sorry for the late introduction. I'm the First Princess of Erein, Princess Iris Erein, daughter of King Victor Erein and Queen Helen Erein."

"Yes. I know~ My name is Senna. Magician... And Healer." Senna giggles happily responding with a slight bow. She motions to the bed. "Please sit." Iris obediently sits down. "I'm not sure how aware you are, but it's currently the 10th day of the 8th month. It's currently the 231st year.

"EH?! It's been that long?!" Iris cries out mentally calculating her age. She looks at herself and notices how young and healthy she looks compared to her memory of her previous condition.

"Yes it has." Senna nods. "Your current appearance is a side effect of my treatment. Your body was heavily damaged, so I had to make you younger to help you live longer. I apologize for making these changes without your consent."

Iris becomes flustered seeing Senna bow apologizing. "No! No! I should be the one thanking you! It's thanks to you that I'm healthy again."

The door bursts open at that moment. "Big Sister!!" The petite Liliana rushes into the room crying up a storm. She latches onto Iris giving her a big hug. “Big Sis, Big Sis, Big Sis…” Liliana buries her face in Iris’ chest shaking her head left and right.

Iris smiles and hugs Liliana back. “I’m here. Don’t worry.

Liliana’s hug weakens as Iris’ hands start to squeeze her. When her bones start to creak, Liliana lets out a groan. “Ugh. Big Sis, it hurts…” Her tears of happiness are replaced by tears of pain. Iris' hug makes her body feel as if her body is going to split in half.

“Oh! Sorry!” Iris immediately lets go of Liliana and looks at her hands. Senna also stares at her hands, but chooses to say nothing. Liliana groans falling on the bed next to Iris.

Senna wryly smiles casting a healing spell for her. “Feel better?”

“Yes. That really hurt though.” Liliana groans and sits herself back up. She looks at Iris with a weird gaze.

Iris hides her hands behind her back on reflex feeling a bit embarrassed. “I didn’t…”

The King and Queen burst into the room a moment later. “Iris!”

“Eh? Mother. Father.” Iris raises her hands to hug them, but immediately puts them down. The King and Queen wrap their arms around Iris giving her a big hug. Tears well in all of their eyes at their reunion. Iris decides to carefully pat their backs this time. Unfortunately, she produces a similar results.

The strong slap sends a strong vibration through their body. King Victor and Queen Helen's hug weakens from the impact. The taste of iron fill their mouths a few moments later. "Hng." "Ugh."

"Eh?" Iris carefully retracts her hands hearing them groan. "…Why?"

"Well I suppose we'll need to take special care of the Princess until she can adjust her strength on her own." Senna awkwardly laughs seeing the three of them suffering from Iris' random bursts of strength. She uses some healing magic seeing the King and Queen’s state.

"What happened?" King Victor asks straightening himself up.

"My treatment caused Iris' abilities to spike by accident. I'm not sure why it became like that either. It's not a bad thing though because she can recover faster than normal because of it." Senna replies.

"But..." King Victor looks at Iris with a bewildered expression.

"But she's having a bit of control problems because it's new for her. The amount of power you use to open a door is quite different from when you perform an attack in battle. Iris is using a strength for one thing, but her power is high enough to pass into the level of the other. Right now in a match of pure strength, …she could probably match one of the royal guards." Senna awkwardly admits the side effect.

"That's..." Their gazes concentrates on Iris.

*GROOOOOWWWWLLLLLLLL*

At that moment, a crisp rumbling echoes throughout the room. Iris' face turns a bright crimson as she quickly covers her stomach. "A-A-Ah...This is..."

"Well you've been asleep for so long, it's normal you'd need food once you're awake." Senna shrugs not minding the noise.

"I'll have the cooks to prepare something." Irene steps into the room.

"Ah. It's fine. I have some soup." Senna stops her from going to the kitchen. An earthen tray appears in her hand with a piping hot bowl of soup.

King Victor and Princess Liliana stare at the soup and unconsciously drool at the sight of Senna's homemade food. "Senna~" Liliana tugs on Senna's clothes using her best pleading face.

Senna laughs realizing that everyone is staring at her, or rather the food in her hand. "...Alright. No need to beg. Let's relocate to the Dining Room then." Storing the food, Senna moves over to Iris and picks her up in a princess carry.

"Wah!" Iris cries out. Her face heats up feeling Senna lift her up, but a calm sense of security spreads as she savors the touch Senna's embrace. Her heartbeat begins to accelerate pound against her chest. Iris buries her face in Senna's chest wanting to escape from her embarrassment and her conflicting feelings, not to mention her staring family.

As they leave Iris' room, they see Iru quickly approaching them. She offers to help with the Princess, but Senna immediately refuses. In everyone’s best interest, Senna believes Iris shouldn't touch a thing until she learns to control her strength. Iru is forced to concede after such a clear reasoning.

In the dining room, the Royal Family sits at one end of the long table. Senna carefully seats Iris while instructing Iru to feed Iris. The only thing Iris should do is open and close her mouth and swallow her food. "Even then, I'm not sure if she'll accidentally snap the spoon off by accident." Iris has an uncomfortable look from being treated like a doll and a monster. Senna smiles patting Iris' head. "Endure it for now. We can practice some strength control afterwards."

"......Yes..." Iris feels her face flush again at Senna's touch.

Senna distributes a bowl of soup to everyone in the room. They heartily enjoy the soup, but much to their dismay, Senna refuses to provide seconds for everyone but Iris.

"Senna, are you sure you don't desire more for your reward?" After the meal, King Victor questions Senna again.

"I'm sure." Senna shakes her head. "You're already providing me with money, access to the Royal Library, and funding the creation of more cursed equipment for me. It would be inappropriate to ask for more."

"You have done great favors for our family. I do not feel like we've properly repaid the favor." The King refutes.

"I'm a simple adventurer. I'm set as long as I have the necessities to travel." Senna continues to reject his offer.

"We can grant you much more than material items, such as a title. The Prime Minister is to be heavily punished and his control over his territory removed. We could grant that to you and provide you with the title of Visc...no, Countess."[1] King Victor persists in trying to reward her. "Even as an adventurer, you'll need a stable income for your future. What better way than a prosperous land that will steadily produce money."

"I appreciate the gesture. But I'll have to decline." Senna answers with a strained smile.

"Why?!" He angrily slams the table.

"Even if it isn't physical, it's still material. In the end, material gains are pointless if you aren't around to enjoy it." Senna ends with a somber note. An awkward atmosphere forms at Senna's insinuation. A wave of surprise passes through the Royal Family, but Iris feels her heart skip a beat realizing that Senna will be gone.

Liliana jumps up and rushes over to Senna. "Senna, you're not staying?!"

Senna lightly knocks on her head as her jovial atmosphere returns. "Silly. Of course I have to leave. I have to go my see my family."

"Th-then come back when you're done! Or have your family come live here!" Liliana persists in trying to convince Senna.

Senna pokes Liliana's forehead. "I will come back when I'm done to visit and play, but I don't plan on staying. As for my family, that's for them to decide." Liliana holds her head while tearing up with frustration that Senna refuses to stay.

"Then Senna, what do you plan to do now?" King Victor interrupting their dispute.

"I plan to stay a month or two making sure Princess Iris' condition is completely stable. I need to restock on supplies since I used quite a bit during my travels. I can take the time to gather some of the local herbs and experiment with some new potions too. Not to mention taking the time to read all the books the city has to offer~" Senna expression becomes progressively brighter and practically shines when she starts taking about reading. A stunned silence spreads at their first experience of Senna's completely pure smile.

Senna coughs composing herself. "Excuse me. Regardless, I have things I need to do and do not plan on staying. Speaking of which, I should let you have some private time with the family while I finish up my current project.” Senna stands up and leaves the room without turning back.

Iris watches her leave with an awkward expression. “Is she always like that?”

“““Yes!!!””” Everyone answers in unison.

[1] He was going to Senna the rank of Viscountess, but stopped partway and bumped it up one rank to Countess.

Author’s Note

I think that’s everything. Take care until next time~