Cutscene: The Kingdom on Fire (Lancelot)
Ariel's monopolization of Maria's left arm lost its novelty on day one. Yet now it made the onlookers have mixed feelings as the girl stopped sobbing on the lesser noble's shoulder. Said lady didn't seem to mind, her focus wholly on the blonde resting on the health quarters of the Academy.
Maria didn't look happy. Granted, her eyes had kept having dark spots below them. And her fair skin looked paler than it should, but now he wasn't referring to that.
"It's dead." The raven haired girl stated. So matter-of-factly it almost didn't look like her eyes could freeze hell with a glance. So strongly the waver of her voice didn't matter.
"She's joking." Charlotte quickly assured Ariel when she saw Vincent breath "He's not dead."
"What could Lady Charlotte possibly be talking about?" Maria spat, mocking with a vicious glare pointed at Vincent but not directed at him "I am declaring the thing that did this to him dead. Here and now, be glad. For I've sentenced it's a dead man walking."
"Could you please stop doing that?" The Fatillas heiress snapped, about ready to hit Maria at any moment "That thing you do when you're angry and start using honorifics? It's really annoying. You're not going to make your words more biting like that."
"I don't need to change my speech to hurt your feelings. It's a waste of time and effort." Maria retorted without giving the lady a glance "Stop being nonsensical, it is unbefitting of someone of your station." Charlotte had never been confronted so directly, save by her parents and sister. None of them had been, for that matter. Lancelot could see Erwin panicking and looking at the older nobles to see who'd snap first.
Poor boy.
"See? Exactly my po─"
"Alright, that's enough." The prince clapped his hands from his seat. He glared at both of the girls but Maria didn't look at him either "And Ariel, Maria is going to work. If you could─"
"Do not pretend to use me as an excuse to vanish her out of your sight." Maria's glare intensified, now turning it towards the royal. Everyone in the room began seeing the effects of Maria's spirits in the ambience, as the temperature dropped. And Lancelot saw how diligently her spirits were. Just like her "If her presence bothers you so much, then be a man and tell her off by yourself."
To say Arnold became speechless would be an understatement. The prince got so surprised Lancelot wouldn't find strange if he spontaneously forgot how to talk at all. Maria's cold glare just had enough venom to freeze your mind like that.
Her expression softened. Sir Marcus looked like he wanted to jump out of the window.
"Alright. Talk to me, what did you do?" Maria turned her head back to the unconscious Vincent, but tilted it slightly in Lancelot's general direction. As he had used his spirits to heal him, she could only be talking to him. She didn't comment on a poor job yet, so maybe he managed to satisfy her overwhelming sense of accomplishment?
"I closed his wounds." As he was asked to "As per your request I tried to heal him from the inside out. Not the easiest task, but I managed." Lancelot began looking around. He placed a small pouch on the table as preparation for when she came back, but he could no longer find it.
Damn.
"Yes. His skin looks alright. Can't really move him to see his back, but I'll trust you did an acceptable job." Acceptable. How many times has he heard those words? Never mind from the time he trained within the state, but somehow that cold treatment from Maria hurt more.
"I did my best…" His words made Maria turn. Not even hiding the inquisitive look of her raised eyebrow. It made him feel like she was dismissing him.
"And for that, I'm thankful." Ariel rose her head slightly from Maria's shoulder. Still hiding most of her face, only showing her bloodshot eyes "Thanks to Lancelot, Brother will get out with just scars. Because, apparently, it's not the queen's job to treat the critically wounded that get delivered straight to the palace."
Arnold flinched on his seat at his fiancé's words. His expression contorting into barely held back rage.
"…There is hardly any need, since Miss Maria is here with us." Marcus interjected, placing a hand on his prince's shoulder and stepping forward "Isn't that right?"
"That is indeed correct." Maria's smile carried the coldness of her glare. Except, it's not the glare of someone angry. It's the cold treatment of someone who does not care about what they are looking at "It is useless for the queen to be said to have such potent magic if it's not going to be used. Much more on the child of a marquis that went to such lengths to appease the people of the capital on his own volition." Maria chuckled, and Lancelot felt the scorn bleed out of her voice like a poisonous miasma threatening to feel the very air with its toxicity "Though, it comes to reason if those praises are naught but baseless rumors."
"Enough!" Arnold stood up, his spirits covering him in a mantle of fire for a moment before they realized he was in no danger "I will not stand this slander to the crown! Maria, your words are unfounded and uncalled for!" The Viscountess looked at him from the corner of her eyes, but kept on with her duties. She kept brewing that strange potion she brought half done to the room and didn't rise to Arnold's loud voice "Are you listening?!"
"I am." The raven haired beauty responded with restrained neutrality.
"Then I don't have to tell you what to do, do I?" The prince scoffed, allowing himself to fall back on the couch and resting one arm on the furniture's own "I think an apologize is due. I'll show magnanimity for I know you're better than this."
"Well, that's going to be a problem." Maria poured a glass of… Of something over a vial of green liquid without breaking stride "Because I will not apologize for the truth."
The fall of a pin could have been heard from how silent the room became.
"Maria…" Charlotte began; Arnold rose a hand to shut her up.
"Try again." The prince's face was contorted in rage and completely red. That vein pulsing on his forehead did not look healthy at all.
Why did Maria go so much against Arnold? Is Vincent so important to her as to defy the authority of the heir apparent? That doesn't sit well with Lancelot, but aside from that he became nervous for the girl that kept ignoring the prince in favor of continuing to mix the potion on her hands.
"Maria, I warn you…"
"Please, by all means. Cry me a river, highness." Maria sighed, already more tired than angry at the royal "Go ahead, make my day so I get to see the moment you realize how much you're embarrassing yourself."
"Embarrassing…?" The heir apparent didn't get interrupted this time. But he still stopped talking when Maria turned around, Ariel still in tow, and showed him the strange beverage she had been cooking up for the last half hour or so.
"Does his highness know what this is?" Maria asked like a teacher fully knowing they were dealing with a problematic child.
"Well, I am no expert when it comes to alchemy but…" With each word, Maria's smile grew. That smile would have broken Lancelot's heart it had been pointed at him.
"Of course." She turned to the other nobles in the room. Sorting Ariel's weight without much trouble as the girl's attention was also picked by the bottle with the bubbling liquid "Does anyone?"
Lancelot looked around. Erwin looked lost and scared, Charlotte was staring hard at it but didn't seem to get it. Arnold's knight stood with his back to the wall, staring at Vincent worriedly.
"No. I suppose you wouldn't." Maria gave them an understanding smile "This is something I took from a book from here, since the palace doesn't have theirs open to the public─"
"Nor would they help out either way." Ariel said under her breath.
"─But fortunately, with a bit of research, I found out about this potion. It's used to treat things like blood poisoning and minimize the properties of noxious things that can be eaten by accident." Maria look at the thing, a bit in thought before resuming "Well, it's used for more potent agents than that. But the idea remains the same."
"Vincent is not poisoned." Arnold pointed out, with sarcasm filling his tone.
"We don't know that." Maria dismissed his attitude with a flip of her hair. How she didn't spill the contents of the bottle only Lancelot would know: She held it in place with her spirits "Because magic can reknit flesh and close the most grievous wounds when used right. But ailments and sickness cannot be treated with magic." Maria nodded in Lancelot's direction. Weirdly, it made the noble a bit happy to be recognized "In any case. I'm brewing this potion because, you know what attacked him?"
"The Wretch." Arnold scoffed, not understanding where she was going with her questioning.
"Wrong." Maria put down the potion and carefully grabbed at the blonde noble's arm, caressing the scar along his forearm while showing the royal "This? This is no fang, no claw and no stinger. This wasn't caused by any sort of animal or demonic creature. This was caused by a fellow human."
"Wait. How does that tie up with the matter at hand?" Charlotte asked like an exasperated mother done with hearing her children's excuses.
"You're all focusing in completely irrelevant things." Maria told them straightforwardly, not bothering to check their reactions at all "The same goes to the king and queen. It is simply unacceptable that they did not heal lord Vincent. It is unacceptable that they're pushing their duties to me when their contingence fails. And it's unacceptable that this is happening because you people aren't rising to your stations."
Ok, now that was uncalled for.
"We always act up to them." Lancelot stated firmly "Always. Since our birth."
"You're wrong." Maria commented, no longer as invested in the argument "Because if you were, you'd out there helping put the fires down and helping people."
Lancelot frowned "There are knights and servants for that."
Maria chuckled bitterly "Then what's the point in you people being around?" The question felt like a slap on both cheeks at the same time. Even Ariel looked a bit hurt by her question "Then why are aristocrats tolerated? If it isn't so they rise and protect the common folk when they have no means of doing it themselves? Why do people allow you to amass fortunes and live comfortably when people starve to death in this very city?"
Maria turned to them, a seriousness like when she helped Arnold control his fire replacing her annoyed expression "Do not misunderstand. You've earned nothing, and having everything delivered to you in a silver plate is not your birth right. There is nothing inherent in your name that provides more rights than commoners and lesser nobles. You are not different from me: your titles were given for a purpose. It just so happens that the king is more blatant about it with me."
"To be named by the crown is a great honor…" The prince regretted his intervention almost immediately.
Maria moved her hand to her forehead. Another headache? "An honor? By all means, take it back. I doubt it's a privilege when the summoning from the palace can be summarized in "hey, remember this favor with did for you? Yeah, you're in debt forever now, so go and clean up the mess we made or else". Truly wondrous."
Yeah… The World had an epic cutscene ready for the second meeting with the rulers of the kingdom. But when the Chosen does the equivalent of repeatedly hitting the "skip" button, well… Why bother?
The World hates those impatient people the most. Those who simply ignore the craft in each dialogue and just want to complete the game. It hates them almost as much as that one guy who made an All Out Attack Let's Play of Elemental Party. The asshole triggered Vincent's and Frey's route in a New Game +, choosing the earth element for the main character.
With the two hidden characters plus Marcus, the guy steamrolled the hardest difficulty possible. Skipping ahead on dialogues by choosing Marcus' route and advancing the relationships with the other two with a manual.
The World doesn't even understand why Elemental Party is more popular among men than women. Granted, the combat is good. And the developers never claimed the game is anything but niche. But, c'mon! It's an otome game!
"Maria…" Ariel separated from the raven haired girl, her hands on the hem of her skirt.
"It's alright." The lesser noble assured the blonde heiress "I am here. I'll correct things at once." She said, giving the younger girl the bottle she had been working on "He needs to drink it. Tell him it's not peniciline. But this should do."
"Where are you going?" Lancelot asked. Maria didn't even attempt to say her farewells.
"I'm going to the slums. I am rested and prepared. I will end this before anyone can make it worse." The girl decided, a kind of fire burning in her usually cold eyes. It didn't change how frail she looked physically, but it gave her a sort of inner strength that Lancelot hasn't seen in many.
"You don't have to do it right now." Charlotte crossed her arms "Everyone's on edge. The consequences are many without counting on the Windhill house going crazy over this." She gave a dubious glare to Ariel, but quickly returned her sight to Maria "You know you can count on us. Don't push us away like this."
"Charlotte is right." Lancelot took the opportunity to get a word. It clearly displeased the prince, but the heir of Aqusmea had his thoughts elsewhere "You can rely on us. It's honestly discouraging that you keep trying to take on everything by yourself." The classes came to his mind, and probably to Maria's as well but none brought them up. Perhaps it was for the best.
"So you can get in the way?" Maria's question didn't sound like it carried ill will. Simply an honest question requesting an honest answer. It hurt a lot worse to know that "I'd rather not."
"Believe in us a little more!" Even Lancelot himself got surprised by the strength of his own voice. He felt like tears would pop out at any moment, but he knew how to school his feelings from years of drilling ways to do just that "You said it yourself, right? This is why you trained us. Then let us do your jobs."
Because otherwise she'd never allow them closer. Because otherwise Lancelot will always see her Ariel and Vincent side to side with her from the rear and the idea made his blood boil.
Because in the end, if Maria Theodore wanted someone worthy of her expectations. Lancelot Minister would prove he is that person.