The General

Finley Cai Aies Hall: April 18th, 20XX

I felt strikingly alone as Corin and Cambridge drifted over to the left side of the giant room. Even the workers I'd grown used to seeing every time I turned around went to line up on the wall.

As soon as they found their order, with Esmeralda at the front of the line and everyone else behind her, a complex ritual started.

It was flashy, foreign and extravagant, but it was slow and tedious. After the second member of each party flew forward and exchanged weak spells, I lost interest and looked around for something else to keep myself occupied.

From the left side of the room, my eyes finally landed on the party's front member. I didn't plan on looking at her for too long, but as soon as we made eye contact, I was ensnared and found it hard to look away.

A pair of deep brown eyes, flecked with bright, hypnotizing bronze sparks, directed themselves towards me as I sat, dismissing my discomfort to satisfy their curiosity. The general's invasive gaze probed me like two surgical knives, stripping away any defence I could put up and demanding my attention in return.

There was no way I could have returned that look, even if I wasn't playing the part of a weak-willed prince. I looked away as quickly as I could and pretended to be distracted by a small flying beast that had entered the space.

A somewhat displeased smile graced her lovely face, and she slightly narrowed her eyes in annoyance, but she otherwise didn't react and quickly finished up the long and dry ritual.

Esmeralda fluttered around them as she guided them to the couch and scolded one of my workers to bring them something to drink. She looked displeased as the worker ignored her and looked at me for permission but otherwise kept on a bright smile on the visitors.

I waved a dismissive hand at the worker, showing that I didn't really care what they did. While frustrating Esmeralda made me happy, now wasn't the time to drag things out.

The visitors took a customary sip of the provided drinks before stepping forward.

Unlike myself, who had an entourage of over twenty people, the visitors had only come with a party of five. There was the one with the bronze eyes, a fairy that was dressed in entirely black clothing and had the darkest wings I'd seen yet, being a dull brass and deep blue colour.

That fairy stepped in front of the bronze-eyed one and inclined her back in my direction. She pulled her wings closed as she bowed to complete the genuflect.

Before I could say anything, Corin had pulled out and loaded her crossbow while Cambridge pointed her spear at the bronze fairy. Esmeralda had a slight frown on her face but otherwise said nothing and left the scene to the two sisters.

Ah, that was right.

There were different levels of bows in this place. Since I was technically a member of the royal family, they should have completed the full form, which was to get down on both knees and fold in both knees.

I supposed I was being disrespected.

It felt like pursuing this would drag out for a long time, and I honestly just wanted to get this all over with.

My cheeks stretched into a beatific smile, and I motioned for the dark fairy to get up. I didn't immediately ask for her head to be cut off or anything as drastic, but from the frustrated exhale Esmeralda let out, I should have.

"I'm assuming you have an explanation for this, general Ruan."

Cambridge stepped forward and pushed the edge of the spear closer into the flesh of her neck. It didn't create an open wound, but it would only take a slight movement of the wrist to inflict a fatal injury.

The general's full lips flattened into a straight line, and her mostly exposed arms flexed in preparation. She looked nervous and reluctant, which gave me a bad feeling.

I didn't know what she planned to do, but I wasn't planning on letting her follow-through.

Cambridge and Corin had emphasized the whole point of this visit was to score an engagement with the general. I didn't know why she'd picked a fight like this so early into her visit, but it had little to do with me.

"Corin, that thing up there-"

I pointed to a creature that had entered the space through the open slinging. It looked like a cat, but it had six tails and soft-looking petals for fur. The beast walked along the walls like a spider and cautiously explored the space it had entered.

"Your highness?"

"Can you catch it for me?"

Corin looked thrown off by the sudden request but quickly aimed the crossbow at it. She nocked the device with a magic arrow and speared the beast through its foot.

I looked away from the potentially gruesome scene, regretting my choice of words. Maybe 'fetch' would have been a better command?

The creature let out an off-putting low yowl as the arrow sank into its furry foot and dropped to the floor like a brick. One worker flew out and captured it in her arms.

She fed it a cube of condensed magic and stroked its head a few times, murmuring something in an unfamiliar language. It quickly calmed down and settled into her arms after hearing her words. It didn't look happy, but at least it had stopped its suicidal attempt at breaking free.

I felt bad for the creature as they gently placed it into my arms but thanked it for its service as an excellent distraction.

"Thank you. Why don't we all take a seat?"

My efforts didn't go unnoticed as the general narrowed her attractive eyes at me and put up a confused expression. Everyone looked confused at my sudden diversion, but no one questioned it.

One perk of being a royal, I guess.

Whether she disrespected Cai, the prince of the fairy world, really didn't affect me at all. I had to wonder why she'd done that when her family had put forward the proposal of an engagement first, but I didn't think about it too much. This would just have to go under the long list of social conventions I didn't yet understand.

It reminded me of a strategy I'd learned in my relations class, though. To purposefully disrespect another business to put both parties of you on the same playing ground, or to put them below you.

I'd used this strategy a lot with Volui when dealing with the company's ex shareholders and other companies, but that and this were two completely different things.

In that case, I was already on a higher platform than the others, and I hadn't needed their investments to keep the company afloat. I also held the majority in the company shares since I'd inherited my mother's shares and few others of those that were in jail.

I could be as reckless as I wanted since the playing fields had been so drastically in my favour.

The general's family, despite being the leader of the four dukes of the queendom, wasn't comparable to the royal family. In fact, the only reason they could propose this engagement was because they relied on my mom's casual words from the distant past.

It was ridiculous to use borrowed power on the family one had borrowed it from.

As if I had rewound time with my actions, the dark-themed fairy got up again and bowed to me, but she executed a proper greeting this time. She folded in both wings, ducked her head into her chest and set both her knees on the ground.

"I am Lillian, aide to the true duchess of the Ruan family. Here to introduce General Ruan and introduce ourselves to the newly found prince!."

She gave the introduction while facing my direction, but it was clear that she was speaking to Esmeralda, who was technically my primary guardian.

I ignored the last part of her statement and moved my attention to the general, but Esmeralda's smile tightened enough to confirm her words. She'd been the one that told me a million times not to let them know I'd been in the human world for so long, so it annoyed me she'd turned out to be the weak link.

I turned my attention back to the catlike beast that had made itself comfortable in my lap and gently scratched at the back of its ears. Its six tails gently whipped back and forth in pleasure, but its claws gently dug into my legs and showed its wariness.

The general finally got up from her seat and bowed at me as well. She only got down onto a single knee, slightly inclined her head and folded in her right wing. It was much less formal than that of the other fairies, but it wasn't disrespectful.

"Greetings to the royal family from General Ruan."

I still hadn't heard her first name, but I supposed that would come in time.

I reminded myself to play the role of an air-headed prince one more time and purposefully detached myself from the conversation Esmeralda held with the guests.

At the end of this, none of this would impact me more than I wanted it to. At the worst, I could just run away to Theodulus or the human world, and they wouldn't be able to find me, no matter how hard they looked.

As the general exchanged formalities with Esmeralda, her eyes never left me, and she continued her intense glaring. The dark fairy took over talking with Esmeralda, and the general leaned back into the couch and continued to look at me.

It was uncomfortable, but I tried my best to ignore it and focused my attention on the creature that had entirely relaxed by now. I'd done my best to replicate the condensed magic snack the worker had made a few minutes ago, and the beast seemed to like it. I made a few more in a smaller size and continually fed it as I enjoyed the feeling of its unique pelt on my fingers. It was soft but distinctly plantlike and in place of strands of fur, were delicate petals that danced in between the pads of my fingers. The beast was clearly alive and mobile, but it felt cool to the touch and unlike a warm-blooded creature.

As I devoted my attention to the interesting monster, I suddenly felt a small tendril of magic prick me. It was harmless and more like a poke to the face than anything, but it caught me off guard.

The training with Theodulus and Cambridge kicked in, and before I could stop myself, I coated my palm with a thin layer of magic and snapped it in half.

It gave slightly more resistance than Cambridge's magic, but not enough that I had to retake my attempt to break it.

Up till now, I had only practiced using my magic with Cambridge and Corin. While they were powerful, they'd had most of their power sealed by my mother. They could still use enough magic to overwhelm most of their enemies, but they were so much weaker than me in terms of magic usage.

While I wasn't completely giving up on my act as a useless individual, I didn't want to give up the rare chance to test my magic against another powerful individual.

The general stiffened as she felt her magic break. I expected her to be frustrated, or at least annoyed, but she surprised me by tilting her lips into a small smile. A pleased sparkle lit up her eyes, and she searched my face to confirm I'd broken her probe. I kept a dazed expression on my face and avoided her eyes as naturally as possible.

Her eyes narrowed at the challenge, but she looked too entertained for me to be scared. I saw another magic tendril inch toward me, but this time it was thicker and the magic was slightly more aggressive.

It easily snaked past Corin and Cambridge's defences and grabbed at a lock of my hair like it had attempted to before. She held the magic there and waited for me to act.

It was a clear provocation, but I figured rising to it wouldn't break my act too much. Besides, we'd been here for a few hours by now, and I was near bored to death.

Thankfully, it didn't look like anyone else could see what was going on, so I acted bolder this time and directly crushed the tendril instead of gently snapping it as I did before.

The general's stoic expression finally loosed, and she let out a full smile, no longer stifling her facial expressions.

Once she retracted the oppressive air she carried around like a sword, it stopped feeling like a crime to call the general pretty. She carried a tall and slender frame that made her look very fit, and the clothes she wore only highlighted that.

She'd worn a tight bodysuit that showed off the unhealthy amount of barely concealed weapons she'd brought into the castle and had thrown a sheer and loose gown over it all. The fabric was shimmery and had mesmerizing patterns stitched into it, but it did little to cover the body and weapons it claimed to screen.

I didn't think she was taller than me, but I wouldn't be able to tell until I stood right beside her and measured it. I didn't know about physical strength since I'd been training with Theodulus and on my own in the human world, but the expert way she handled her magic and the barely visible weapons she carried under her clothes.

"So this is the prince? He's decent-looking."

She suddenly spoke up and caught the room off guard. Esmeralda and Lillian's sentence ended prematurely, and they both gave her their full attention, revealing the unspoken hierarchy in the room.

I resisted the urge to draw my jacket close as everyone else in the room looked me up and down like a doll.

Uncomfortable. I was very uncomfortable.

Esmeralda glowed as if the general had complimented her and jumped to flatter the general.

"Well, he is the child of Belphoebe. It would be stranger if he wasn't. But he's honoured to receive your praise."

The general paid little attention to Esmeralda, but she put on a displeased sneer at her sleazy actions and words. She nodded at Lillian, who immediately stepped forward.

"We've dilly dallied enough, Esmeralda. Are we safe to assume that his highness has accepted the proposal?"

The general stared me down as Lillian asked and waited for my response. Esmeralda coughed and tried to lead the two away but quickly switched to Lillian when she noticed the general had no intentions of moving.

"Why don't we discuss this in another room and leave the two young ones to get to know each other."

Lillian looked to the general for permission.

"Go. I'll discuss this with his highness. I'll trust you to work out the details with his guardian."

I expected Cambridge and Corin to fight against leaving me alone with an unfamiliar woman that I'd met this morning, but they didn't go against Esmeralda's orders. I thought it was because they planned to leave the workers with me, but the workers soon filed out of the room as well.

Soon the large space was populated solely by the general, the cat beast, and me.

I had a hard time figuring out the social norms of this world. They would sometimes treat me similar to a princess from the middle ages, at others like a child incapable of doing anything by myself. Then, in times like this, when I'd assume supervision was necessary, they left me to fend for myself.

Now that we were alone, her already loose posture wholly relaxed, and her movements became languid. Her wings beat at a slow, steady pace as she propelled herself to her feet.

She flew closer to me in long movements, covering yards of distance with a single flap of her wings. All the while, she continued to look me over with a sense of intense curiosity.

"Pleasure to meet you, your highness. My name is Mei Ruan. I would assume you know why I'm here, but you've yet to speak a single word on the matter. What do you think about all this, your highness?"

It felt like a loaded question, despite sounding innocent enough. What did she expect me to say back? Or what type of information was she aiming to get out of me?

Regardless of the aim, I needed to respond quickly. My cheeks hurt from smiling for so long, but I couldn't stop. Instead, I pulled up the sides of my lips even further back toward my ears and made proper eye contact with her for the first time.

"Does it really matter what I think about it?"

I tried to sound flippant, but my voice came out apathetic and morose. Like I'd accepted an inevitable but unpleasant fate.

"Aren't you worried I'll mistreat you? or worse?"

"Will you?"

That wasn't a question I wanted to hear from the potential perpetrator. If she wasn't sure, then how the hell was I supposed to be?

I had heard that General Ruan was a distant person. The stories said that she only cared about her younger sister but did her job to the best of her capabilities. She'd seemed like the perfect candidate for me, who planned to spend most of my time between the human world and wherever the hell Theodulus was.

Hearing all of that had encouraged me to cooperate in drawing the Ruan family into the Royal family, but as things currently were, I learned not to trust rumours.

Things were fine so far, but I could see my dreams of a leisurely life sprouting wings and flying away.