My Knight Rescuer is a Jerk! So Why should I ignore the Prince?
"Always remember, no matter how much a fae may seem like they experience emotions, no matter how human like a fae may behave...a fae can never be a human." The Keybearer. A young maiden from another world foretold by ancient prophesy, destined to collect the seven keys and save the world. Surely that's the kind of story that finds some plucky high schooler dreaming of adventure and whisks them off to find their true love, right? Overworked salary women like Emily have long passed the point where such fantasies can come true, and even if they did, it's not like she'd know the first thing about what to do. ...So of course, nobody even bothered to ask her before dropping her into an entirely new world full of magic and danger. Like the three hungry orcs eyeing her as soon as she wakes up. "What do you mean I can sense the keys if I use magic?! What magic?!" If Emily could, she'd have immediately issued a rejection letter, but unfortunately, the only way back is to finish her quest somehow. But it's not all danger and confusion. The knight who rushed into battle to save her is charming and kind and gorgeous, and the beautiful and lonely prince has a soft and kind smile only for her. If everyone she meets along the way is like them... Well. It can't be that bad, right? "...--I'VE BEEN KIDNAPPED BY A PAINTING?!"
One Hundred and Second
It was late. Late enough that most of the palace had gone to sleep already.
Still, Emily couldn't sleep at all. Not a wink. Merwyn offered to give her magic to put her to sleep but...
No.
She didn't like the idea of being trapped asleep and caught in a nightmare, or anything like that.
So she'd gone wandering again.
This time instead of wandering the halls, though, she'd gone outside.
Still within the safety of the palace grounds, but nowhere that she might run into a trap door that dropped her into some kind of hellish room full of suffering and secrets that robbed her of her sleep.
She sighed and laid down on the grass, arms spread out to either side of her, as she stared up at the sky above.
This was a mistake, she recognized this immediately after laying down.
It had rained earlier, and so the grass was wet.
And now her entire back half was wet too.
This earned yet another sigh.