Hey all, I'm experimenting with giving short chapters. For a while, we'll see if this is what can be done from now on or if I should just stick to the original full length once. Anyway, enjoy the read!

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“Wait, what happened?” I asked Elenia when I finally came back to my senses.

She scoffed and said, “You fell for my Elvish Magic, Scent of Hrung.”

AN: For those who want to know what a Hrung is, it is similar to marijuana.

“Scent of Hrung?”

She nodded and said, “It allows me to easily make anyone fall under any illusion I want them to see.”

“But why would you do that?”

Silence crept upon us as the wind blew and ruffled her dress. The moon appeared and she looked regal and beautiful. But her eyes were sad as if she was struggling on how to answer my question. It felt like hours passed by before she answered but it was probably only a minute or so.

“I don’t know,” she said in a melancholic voice. Her expression darkened and became even more despondent.

“I’ve caused trouble for my family and not even my friends would talk to me anymore.”

It felt awkward as the one responsible for this to happen was my sister.

“It’s not that bad,” I said knowing full well that was a lie. Once excommunicated the family no longer has the support of the church. In the case of the royal family, they would also lose the support of their retainers as well as the people they lead.

She scoffed and said, “What a load of crap. I know full well what I did and now I have to suffer the consequences.”

Another minute passed and I asked, “Why would you even do that? I mean, why are you so disrespectful?”

She smiled and said, “We’re not even friends and you want to know how I act? I would think that you would know full well about why I would such a thing seeing as you’re a prince! Or maybe because you think that Elves are all slaves that you don’t even think about what we all feel! You humans think you are so superior!”

She shouted the last sentence filled with hate and anger at everything.

I stood there dumbfounded and thought about all the things she did.

She was the princess of the High Elves, a proud race.

She has the right to inherit the throne of the High Elves.

She has to go to participate in a competition with Humans.

Humans have slaves of all the races. Here, near the capital, High Elves are more common to see as slaves.

And then it hit me, it was right there all along!

“… For your people? For your people, you embodied pride so that no one will ever disrespect your race?”

She smiled wryly and said, “Close but not quite. True it is for my people but it is also for my family. I’m taking a huge risk in this but I assume that you have not been told of my sister’s kidnapping by your family?”

Her face darkened and I saw contained rage in her eyes.

“Your sister?” I asked incredulously.

“Yes, my sister, Talleria, was captured by your family and they forced us to attend this competition. I don’t know what

you’re family plans to do but it seems that you were not informed.”

It got quiet as I thought about who in my family could do such a thing and thought of my father. I grit my teeth and knew that again, he was ruining lives that he shouldn’t ruin. I don’t know what he plans to do but if he keeps this up, the Lunaria Continent will be embroiled in a war.

“So you see,” she said, “everything has pretty much been planned, although your existence as well as your sister’s interference is a problem.”

“Planned?” I asked.

She nodded and said, “Originally I only wanted to see if you were part of the plot but it seems that you aren’t.”

She looked at me and said, “And it seems that your family is also against you or is it the other way around? In any case, I believe it would be to our benefit to help each other.”

She raised her hand towards me and I took it and said, “It is not my family that I am against but rather my father. Since we will be helping each other, I have something to tell you…”

I then told her about Kaiser and Sasha and everything that happened to us concerning my father. Of course, I withheld some information and only gave the ones needed for cooperation.

After telling her everything, she nodded and said, “I see. With this, it becomes easy to conclude that it is your father that captured my sister. If anyone else is involved, your brothers might know too but were probably misinformed but… you are the only human I trust so I will not get rid of the idea that your brothers are also a part of it. Your sisters seem to be too preoccupied seeing as your sister is able to excommunicate a member of the royal family, even if they are from a different country.”

“It’s fine for you to think that but I am sure that my father is involved.” I said resolutely.

Silence and then she said, “The night is late and you have given me much to think about. It is good that you are a prince of the Rigel Kingdom. Your country may have some hope yet.”

“What do you mean?” I asked after her as she started to walk away.

She turned her face a little bit just enough to see her lips. She looked foreboding as she said, “We too have our own measures. Why do you think that we have not been attacked?”

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