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 Forty-Third
They kept on with the puzzle.
It was tedious.
Time-consuming.
Exhausting.
They kept searching, moving around the room, and gathering up the pieces of the puzzle.
Each piece was a relief.
They were running out of the images with the three of them, after all.
But the ones they had gathered so far seemed to be telling some sort of story, though what that story was and how it tied in to the actual puzzle, Emily hadn't the foggiest.
There were carvings of her and Adrien sitting together, or just the two of them holding hands, or kissing, or dancing, or eating at a fae-style outdoor restaurant.
She could have sworn she spotted one where they were flying together on the back of a dragon, but...she might have just imagined that last one.
...Eventually, Emily was pretty sure they'd checked all the carvings, three times, and they were definitely out of any new ones depicting themselves.