There’s shock at first, air ripped from her lungs and vision blurred as mental faculties try to reorient to the suddenness of trauma.

  Adrenaline dumped into her body reorienting pain to alertness, eyes wide open as neurons regain senses with a snap. The arms grabbing her shift upward, fingers grasping her cheeks and towards her mouth, slapping her face in a surprise assault.

  Fight. Fight for your life, you rotter.

  She tries to push against the thing that grabs her, arms flailing in the suddenness of what has to be a direct attack. She manages to connect her fist with something thin and bony, a soft grunt as she continues to counterattack; the force relentlessly attempting to…

  The Crown Prince of Tianci is on top of the young woman, a hand on her chest and another gripping her cheeks.

  Oh Goddess, is he actually trying to kill me?!

  “SOPHIA!” Zai screams at her. “BREATHE!!!”

  Are we breathing? Every thought process within the young woman turns at once to the brain stem, which nervously chuckles as it very shyly returns to its forgotten post and reactivates the lungs.

  A sudden breath, life returning to her as she sprawls out onto the cold hardwood floor. A heart rate pounding in her chest, released by the young man as he himself doubles over coughing onto the ground next to her.

  “Za-hueueueue.” She barely moans out as the body tries to find the air that was knocked out of her. “Why’d you…?”

  “I thought…” The Prince groans back, his own ribs bruised by an extremely well placed punch. “... you’d hit a poison mine. Paralyzed…”

  She recovers faster than he does, that unpunched constitution allowing her the next few words. “You thought… I was poisoned? How could I have…

  To be fair, you did just stand in the middle of an open doorway drooling for twenty seconds without replying to him twice. Not exactly indicative of a twenty one year old woman in perfect health.

  “I’m fine.” Sophia echoes back at her partner with a short laugh, who just stares at her with those eyes of infinite depth. “I’m alright, really.”

  Sophia, if that room was filled with arisoled tetrodotoxin… His look tells her. I could have died trying to save you.

  “Thanks.” She breathes, hands touching her own body to ensure that she in fact, was not actually poisoned by any sort of exotic toxic gases. “Are you alright?”

  “Yes.” He coughs out, “I believe so…”

  Oh thank the Goddess you didn’t just break his ribs or something. You wouldn’t want him to think you’re a monster who beats their spouse.

  And she turns that intrusive thought into a joke. “First week Zai; and we’re starting it off with a bit of domestic abuse.”

  Did you actually say that out loud… holy hell you actually did say that out loud.

  Her partner just stares wide eyed at these words, shock and horror as the sarcastic statement falls flat on its face. “W-What?”

  “Um.” Sophia attempts to salvage this, pulling from nothing the greatest anthesis to laughter possible. “I-It’s a joke? Yes, it was a joke… sorry.”

  “Oh… ha?” He wants to say something more, a response or question to that absolutely terrible attempt at humor but instead just swallows and keeps it within him as from the hallway they hear the response to the commotion.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  Royal Guardians come to intercede, in full sprint as they barrel down the entire wing in five seconds flat. A race towards their charge, neck and neck as despite the half-plate armor the Imperium’s warrior monk keeps up with the assassin-like movements of the Tiancin woman.

  Sophia’s impericutta slides to a stop next to her, left hand aiming its submachine gun into the opened room while its right grabs the hilt of its power sword. Two weapons for close quarters combat, the lethal shape of the fully automatic firearm pointed towards any possible assassins within clearing it at first visually, then with a methodical charge directly into the chamber.

  A catlike movement as the Royal Guardswoman is on top of the two in an instant as well, eyes darting between a bracelet on her left wrist and any other threats within the space.

  “W-wait…” Sophia manages to yelp out before the stern tone of the Legionary scuffs out a report.

  “Clear.”

  The Guardswoman takes a little longer to confirm the action, shaking the bracelet as she ensures its stable coloration. “No poisons, clear.”

  And as one they both turn towards the sprawled out royals on the ground.

  Dear Ensolian girl,

  We were there when it happened in the eons past. We saw the mothers and fathers holding limp, unbreathing children; felled by smuggled snakes and a dose of poisoned food. We saw bodyguards shoot their own queens and kings in brazen attacks; we listened as they choked on their own lifeblood in the slow minutes of death.

  Your kind is not immune to the mortalities of life, and you never will be.

  The Eighth Sophia of the Elise line, take care in your life.

  The Tiancin Guardswoman is so maternal in her voice, accusing yet stern in her half-yelled lecture to her regent. “What the hells were you two thinking?! Are you insane?! We specifically told you to wait as we cleared the building!”

  “We just…” Zai begins to stammer, covering both Sophia and him as he distributes part of the blame onto himself. “Mori, I…”

  She focuses on him, only him. “ZAI, ARE YOU TRYING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED.”

  The Crown Prince of Tianci doesn’t even look back, instead averting his eyes towards the ground as she continues with an even, yet harsh tone.

  Goddess she is dressing him down. Sophia realizes as she listens, hovering her gaze over the Guardswoman; the Fourth Princess’ own Impericutta legionary simply just staring at her through this immense awkwardness.

  Can you imagine an impericutta even raising their voice towards you? The internal monologue in the back of Sophia’s mind begins to question. Goddess, you really don’t know a thing about these Tiancin do you?

  All thought processes continue to watch slowly, mouths agape at the language, at the utter disrespect this Guardian was bringing to her supposed master. By the ancient ones she is really laying it onto him.

  One of them raises the important point, really working the secondary definition of nobility towards the other noble in this chastising. You should probably take responsibility for this thing, this is our fault and yet he’s the one taking most of the blame for it.

  Sophia begins to open her mouth, her internal monologue taking a deep breath. This is gonna require a whole lot of personal confidence and integrity that I do not have.

  BETTER TO SPEAK THAN TO REGRET.

  “Cease this bickering.” Sophia Elise the Eighth, Fourth Princess of the Ensolian Imperium snaps with a supernatural authority. Demanding yet yielding, confiding her court of three in admittance to the most egregious (minor) crime imaginable for a heir to the Imperium. “I take responsibility for this, Guardswoman. There is no need to insult your charge any further.”

  They all stop, staring at her suddenness; at this commanding aloofness that demands for them to listen. She slowly rises to her feet, dusting off her dress with incredible grace.

  “I request this room.” The Princess, without any emotion whatsoever, simply stares at the open door in front of her. “Prince Zai shall take the fourth one from the right, next to mine. Our associated guards will take our flanks. Are there any objections to this room assignment?”

  There are none, especially not after ten seconds of silence.

  “Very well, it’s decided then.”

  And then Sophia Elise calmly strolls into her assigned room, hands held behind her back as her entire psyche completely dissolves into embarrassed mush.

  Not an hour into this excursion and you’ve already humiliated yourself. Great work girl.