Consequencess (1/2)

"I don't like this," Mera muttered while using one of her hands to hold Sarah's long, golden hair while moving the brush up and down with her other hand.

"Something's wrong?" Sarah asked, looking up in one of the rare moments when she was free from her usual task of reading the reports.

The princess glanced up, making sure not to disturb the process of having her hair brushed while doing so. Then, guided by where her friend was looking, she turned her eyes toward the window.

But contrary to standing Mera, Sarah was sitting. As such, the angle of her vision made it impossible for her to look and check what was going on outside.

"It's not like there's something wrong in particular," Mera shook her head before turning her eyes back to the top of Sarah's head. "I just don't feel like this is a good thing," she added, her eyes once again turning over to the window.

"You know I can't see it?" Sarah asked, her face filling with a sense of distance, still just a slight worry.

"Ah…" Mera jumped a little before her face covered in a slight blush. "There are riders gathering at the courtyard. And there's quite a lot of them to boot," the saintess explained, only to turn her eyes towards the chamber's door when the noise of someone's footsteps reached the room.

Soon, the doors burst open, revealing the figure of the old noble in charge of the city along with two of his guards.

"My princess!" the noble shouted, instantly lowering his head in an obligatory show of respect toward the royal bloodline.

"Ever heard of knocking?" Sarah angrily snapped.

She was in her usual clothes and Mera was quick enough to cover her face…

Still, there were only a few extreme situations where barging into a room where a royal lady resided could be forgiven.

"Was the city invaded?" Sarah asked in a gritty voice.

"Huh? What? No!" the old noble stuttered, confused by the sudden questioning.

"Did a rare and powerful monster appear near the city, then?" Sarah pushed with her questioning.

"I don't understand what you want to say, my princess." The old noble picked the safest route of just bowing his head again.

"If no one is invading this city and no rare monster appeared…" Sarah listed out the two facts she checked in advance. Then, she allowed all of her fury to surface in her eyes as she shoot up from her chair and started to walk towards the noble.

"Then what," she called out while barely holding back her fury, uttering one word for each step she made. "…gave you the right to barge in on my quarters?!"

The shadows in the chamber flickered, before a group of four men clad in darkness surrounded the noble, instantly cutting him off from his two companions.

"My princess…!" the noble shrieked, desperately waving his hand to prevent his companions from drawing their iron. "I… I came to report on the matter you tasked me with!"

Sarah didn't even flinch.

"And you think that gives you the right to intrude upon me without asking for an audience first?!"

Without a single order from the princess, the four shadows drew their blades… But held back on pointing them toward anyone.

The threat was there, and without any hint, the shadows wouldn't dare to get ahead of themselves. Regardless of how easy and satisfying it would be to wipe the life out of that self-satisfied smirk on the noble's face.

"My princess! My men found out that the champion you are looking for has run away!"

Sensing the danger of the situation he was in, the noble decided on the only defense that could potentially help him right now. And by actively listening to the noble's words, the smile on his face resurfaced.

"My men found him while still in the city, but like the vile barbarian he is, he ended up slaughtering them in the most brutal manner!" the noble cried out, falling down to his knees and slamming his forehead against the floor. "Princess! I urge you! Issue an imperial order to wash the blood shame that befell my clan!"

Sarah didn't bother to open her mouth from the moment the noble started to talk about the champion of the recently concluded tournament. She stayed silent throughout his plea…

And once the old noble finished, the princess heaved a deep sigh before retreating back to her chair.

Instead of sitting down, though, she rested her hands against the top of the chair's backrest and stared down through the window.

"When you manipulated the tournament to favor your bloodline, I turned a blind eye to this as it's a repulsive yet common practice," Sarah spoke. Her voice changed though. This time, there was no anger or fury in it… or any other emotion to begin with.

"When you abused your authority to deprive the champion of the generous reward he deserved by upturning his fate, I decided to keep silent, to give you a chance to mend your mistake," Sarah continued to speak without moving from her spot even an inch.

A bit to the side, Mera shriveled a little, her deep eyes locked on her friend's face while her body instinctively retreated to the corner of the room.

"Back when I admonished and humiliated you, I still left you with a chance to mend your ways," Sarah spoke and turned around, looking in the noble's direction once again. "But you went and antagonized the champion even further…"

Sarah's voice changed again. This time it was filled with just simple disappointment.

"Hule, what really happened?" Sarah then asked, turning her eyes towards one of the shadows surrounding the noble.

"We found out where the champion was staying at. There was a pile of chopped flesh that made up a group of four attackers. Judging by the marks left by the weapons, it was done by our younger sister."

Just like the girl that the nobles rewarded the champion with, Princess' shadows were Imperial Slaves. Yet, by boasting a rank of seventeen and above, they were well within their right to refer to a thirteenth-rank girl per a younger sister.

"So the slave that you gifted him ended up doing her job and protecting the man," Sarah commented. "But Imperial Slaves are known not to get ahead of themselves. In other words…"

Sarah looked away from the noble and towards the Shadow that spoke. Then, she gave him a little nod.

In a single instant, the shadows grabbed the old noble's body and raised him above the ground, rendering him completely and utterly immobile.

"On behalf of the Imperial Court, for the crime of trespassing on Royal Quarters, I hereby relieve you of your duties and order triple strip of your rank," Sarah announced before glancing over to where her friend stood. "Mera, could you?"

The noble's eyes opened wide as he slowly digested the shock of the sudden development.

For a noble of fiftieth rank like him, a triple strip would bring him below the rank of the families that served his clan.

In other words, it was a political execution, an action that could only be followed by retirement and passing the power down the line to his heir… Who regretfully was of a twelfth rank himself.

All in all, Sarah's verdict was no less than a social execution of the family powerful enough to rule over one of the prosperous imperial cities.

"My princess, please, I beg of you!" the noble somehow freed himself from the hold of the shadows… Only to fall down on his knees and slam his forehead against the stone of the floor.

"Seize him!" Sarah ordered angrily.

The next second, the noble was back in the hands of the shadows, with two of the noble's companions now a breath away from reaching for their weapons.

It was an execution. An execution that could be prevented oh so easily, just by cutting down four slaves and the two defenseless girls…

Sarah threw a short, cold look at the noble's companions. And that was enough to make them realize just how foolish of an idea it would be to go against the royal bloodline of the empire.

"Mera, please," Sarah called out, not even bothering to look at her friend this time.

Without a single hint of her usual clumsiness and happy-go-lucky attitude, Mera gracefully walked forward with all the dignity of her status that one could expect.

Mera then pulled out her hand towards her face mask before pressing her forefinger against her bottom lip through the cloth and then biting down.

With the help of her mouth, Mera pulled the white glove off her delicate hand before reaching out and pointing a single finger at the old noble's head.

"Spare me! I BEG OF YOU!" The noble cried out while Mera whispered a few words that failed to escape her mouth.

The saintess's finger shone for a little, only for the light to abruptly cut. The air in the room suddenly started to flow a bit more freely, as if something that stifled it up to this point finally let go of it.

Mera then turned her face to her friend.

"It's done," she spoke from behind the cover of her mask.

"Bring him away. I do not want to stare at his ugly mug any longer," Sarah picked up before waving her hand at her shadows.

And according to their usual fashion, the shadows disappeared from the spot before anyone could as much as blink, taking the old noble with them.