Hello, everyone !

I'm back with the thirty-eighth chapter !

I hope you enjoy your reading :D

Disclaimer: I only own this plot

P.S: Four chapters left until the finale !

Dancing had never been the biggest forte for the men of the Dragon Country's Royal family. Grandine was a very good dancer, a trait which Wendy inherited. Their talent even shone more since the two of them loved to dance. But for the princes? Well, let's just say that they made a quite hilarious robot dance group with their father. It's a well-known secret in the entire country and even for its allies.

Zeref spent almost six months to practice his dancing steps for his wedding with Mavis. After his hard work paid off on his wedding day, Zeref never stepped onto the dancing floor ever again. Mavis didn't mind though, since she also loved to dance. Whenever she stepped onto the dancing floor, she would always dance with other nobles while Zeref watched over her from the side. Sure he couldn't take his wife to dance on the dancing floor together, but that doesn't mean he would let other guys do whatever they wanted with his wife while dancing.

The problem is, dancing is a common ability shared by all of the people in the Dragon Country, nobles and pheasants are all included. There are several occasions where it is inevitable for the princes to avoid dancing, such as a royal wedding or a royal debutante ball. So, Zeref who had stopped learning dancing ever since he got married to Mavis had to re-learn what he considered as 'the cursed lesson' once more for his only younger sister's upcoming debutante ball.

It was another morning where the princes were sprawled on the floor to take a break after an intense dancing lesson.

"Why do we have to dance?" Rogue complained. "This debutante is for Wendy-nee, she's supposed to be the only one dancing!"

"Where's Father?" Natsu asked. "He couldn't possibly miss this lesson while we're stuck in it!"

"Mother's giving Father a private dancing lesson." Zeref said. "And I think it's so much better being taught by Count Vijeeter, rather than by Mother."

Vijeeter Ecor was the Count of Ecor family who was also responsible as the Royal's dancing teacher. He was considered the best dancer in the entire West. He was a kind-hearted count but turned into a demon when he started his dancing lesson. He was so strict, even the princes couldn't defy him much.

But no one beats the strictness of the Queen. Grandine was a very gentle woman, but once her switch had been flipped… She turned into a very scary and powerful woman.

"Agree." Natsu and Rogue muttered.

"I'm so envious of you, Natsu." Zeref complained. "Out of the three of us, you're the least concerning."

Natsu chuckled. Seemed like his Father's horrific dancing talent wasn't that dominant in him. Out of the three robotic dancing princes, Natsu was the best. He didn't like dancing that much, but he did have a better talent compared to his brothers.

Besides, Wendy's debutante ball would be the first event where he got the chance to dance with Lucy publicly. He wouldn't mess that up, not a chance. He knew how terrific Lucy would be in dancing and he didn't want to embarrass her.

She deserved all the best of him.

"If only I'm half as good as you, Natsu-nii…" Rogue sighed. "I'm so anxious, my stomach is starting to hurt."

Zeref and Natsu laughed a little then hugged their little brother. They knew Rogue was feeling twice as pressured, because he would be Wendy's partner for her debutante dance.

"You'll do great, little brother." Zeref cheered.

Rogue sighed but smiled a little. "I just don't want to embarrass Wendy-nee."

"Never." Both Zeref and Natsu said at the same time.

"You can never embarrass Wendy or any of us, Rogue." Zeref said.

Natsu nodded. "Even when you used to cry a lot when you were little."

Rogue's face blushed out of embarrassment and he playfully slapped his brother's arm. "I didn't cry a lot!"

"Sure, sure." Natsu laughed back. "Said the one who used to bail his eyes out because I couldn't play with him."

"Or when Lucy couldn't read him a bedtime story." Zeref added.

"Or when Sting was too busy to have a sleepover."

"Or when—"

"Alright, alright!" Rogue said exasperatedly. "I guess I did cry a lot!"

Both Zeref and Natsu burst into laughter. Rogue rolled his eyes but then laughed with his brothers as well. They teased him a lot, but he knew they felt so guilty when he cried.

"Having fun, Your Highnesses?" Vijeeter suddenly stepped back into the practice room, shutting the princes' mouths immediately.

Soft groans came out of their mouths instead. If Count Vijeeter is here, then the break is over and the lesson will be resumed.

"Come on, we don't have all day!" Vijeeter clapped his hands, cueing to his princes that they had to get back up. "We've been practicing the dance for five months already and yet your movements are still too stiff, Your Highnesses! The debutante ball is only one month away, so we definitely cannot slack off!"

The princes groaned again but stood up nonetheless. A minute later, Vijeeter started his lesson again.

While the princes were busy studying dancing, the princesses were busy in another aspect. Wendy was busy doing fitting for her debutante dress, while Lucy and Mavis were busy preparing the venue. Since the debutante would be held in the palace's ballroom, they had a lot more to prepare than when they were preparing for Sting's birthday party.

Mavis and Lucy hadn't stepped out of the ballroom since they had breakfast. Wendy had her dancing practice earlier with Vijeeter, before the strict count dedicated the rest of his time for today to teach the princes. As for Mavis and Lucy, they had a tighter dancing practice schedule on the weekends.

They had been so busy with their schedules all day long, Lucy had only seen Natsu during their breakfast. They even had their separate lunch.

"I wonder how Zeref is doing with his dancing practice." Mavis chuckled as she cut the steak neatly. "He's been complaining about how his feet are hurting every night before we go to bed."

Wendy laughed. "He better enjoyed it then. If it weren't for my debutante ball, he wouldn't go back to that practice room any longer."

"Are they all that bad?" Lucy asked curiously. Of course she had heard about the prince's incredible reputation for being terrible dancers. She just found it hard to believe because she had never seen them practicing before.

Mavis and Wendy instantly laughed.

"Yes, they are all that bad." Mavis admitted.

"But Natsu danced really well on Sting's birthday party." Lucy said. She remembered how well Natsu danced that night during Sting's birthday party. Lucy was secretly known as a great dancer back in the Celestial Country, so she was surprised to see how well Natsu led her during their dance.

"Natsu-nii is indeed the best one among my brothers." Wendy said. "But he still danced like a statue."

"Besides, he practiced so hard for that dance with you, Lucy." Mavis winked. "When we heard that Sting's birthday is coming and we're about to throw a party for him, Natsu immediately practices his skills."

"Twice harder than his effort in practicing for my debutante." Wendy giggled.

Lucy's gaze softened and she felt so moved. Natsu actually did that? For her and for Sting?

"It's his first dance with you after all, so I'm sure he wanted to impress you, Lucy." Mavis said.

"I've never seen Natsu-nii wanting to impress anyone before, Lucy-nee." Wendy added. "Not even to Zeref-nii whom he looks up to so much."

"That morning flight on Sagittarius? It was also the first time Natsu took another person to ride on Sagittarius in the morning together. He never does that with anyone else, not even with us as his family." Mavis smiled.

Wendy nodded excitedly. "Sagittarius is pretty cranky in the morning, so Natsu-nii has never taken anyone else with him for a ride. You're the first one ever, Lucy-nee! And also the first one that Sagittarius loves to see in the morning except my brother!"

Lucy blushed upon hearing that, although she unconsciously fisted her hands out of pain. Natsu had always been kind, considerate, and sincere towards her, and yet she pushed him away so many times at first. They were attracted to each other pretty fast, and while Natsu wasn't shy to admit it nor show it, Lucy was troubled with it. She was so bound by her terrible past that she kept considering herself as unworthy to have Natsu. It took her a lot of internal debating with herself until finally she decided to accept Natsu's feelings for her as well as her own feelings for him.

Even when she finally followed her heart and stood beside Natsu, Lucy was still feeling conflicted with guilt every day. She was feeling guilty for loving Natsu and for accepting his love towards her, even though she knew she had to leave him one day. She was feeling guilty for allowing herself to drown in Natsu's warmth, even though she knew all she could repay him with at the end was a numbing coldness. She was feeling guilty for not telling Natsu and his family the truth about her and the peace treaty offer, especially after she knew how much they trusted her and her country. She was feeling guilty because despite of everything that Natsu had done for her, a part of her secretly wished for him to stop loving her so that he wouldn't get too hurt once she was gone.

Remembering how Natsu joked about getting married to her as soon as possible the other day made her guilt worsened. It was clear as day to her how much Natsu loved her. She couldn't stop loving him more and more either, and yet she one-sidedly decided to disappear from Natsu's life. She still dared to wish that Natsu would stop loving her, even when she knew his love for her would only getting stronger by each day.

It was this conflicting feeling that made Lucy sometimes hated fate and herself.

"Lucy?"

Mavis's gentle voice snapped Lucy back. She looked up, only to see Mavis and Wendy's worried faces.

"I'm fine." Lucy said. "I just got a bit lost in thoughts, that's all."

Mavis and Wendy smiled in understanding.

"After this debutante, you can rest a bit while we're preparing for your wedding, Lucy-nee." Wendy said as she affectionately squeezed Lucy's hand.

Another pang of guilt and wave of pain hit Lucy's heart hard. Her wedding with Natsu. The wedding which would never happen. Lucy fought back the urge of breaking down in tears. She couldn't waver now.

"Thank you, Wendy." Lucy unconsciously squeezed Wendy's hand back and let out a smile.

That night, Lucy sneaked away as usual to give her fake report to King Jude. But unlike her first nights here, she had something else to do at the border. When she got there, the guards nodded in understanding and let Lucy stepped into their post.

Crux was inside, waiting for her already.

"Grandfather Crux!" Lucy walked over to her tutor and hugged him.

"Princess." Crux greeted back.

Both of them then sat down, and Lucy gave her fake report to Crux while the old man fished out several papers himself. He laid those papers on the table and showed them to Lucy.

It was the latest reports about the Celestial Country's financial and political condition.

This was what Lucy had been doing for the past one year. A year ago, she managed to sneak a letter for Crux and he answered her request. Lucy asked Crux to come to the border at night to discuss about the Celestial Country's latest financial and political condition. Crux immediately complied, overjoyed at the thought that Lucy had finally begun her move to take over the throne and save the country.

Only for his wish to shatter when Lucy told him her plan. Crux was so shocked and even got angry at Lucy's plan to let the country fell into bankruptcy, but realized that Lucy's plan was the only way to liberate the country and its people. Lucy had no noble support back in the Celestial Country, it would be practically impossible for her to continue the throne due to her status as an illegitimate child. Moreover, if she let the Dragon Country took over the Celestial Country by force, then the people would suffer the heaviest casualties. Not only that, but Lucy's life would also be in grave danger. Her presence would be deemed as a humiliation for the Dragon Country, while at the same time the Celestial Country would hunt her down for betraying them. But by letting the Celestial Country to fall in bankruptcy while arranging a mass refuge for its people, Lucy limited the casualties to only befall on her and the Royal family.

Without the people and the wealth, the Heartfilia would lose its reign on the country and the country itself would naturally cease to exist. The greed that was passed down through generations in the Royal family as well as in the nobles' family and the country's allies would end in Jude's era.

Lucy was also prepared to break the peace treaty offer after the Celestial Country fell. She would convince the Royal family that the peace treaty was no longer exist and having her as a daughter-in-law wouldn't do any good to the Dragon Country. Crux didn't know how she would reason with the Royals, but Lucy was determined to break the arranged marriage and to disappear after that.

Lucy was also determined to carry the secret of her birth to her grave. By breaking the arranged marriage, Lucy saved the Dragon Country from facing the humiliation of having an illegitimate child offered as the next daughter-in-law. This way, no one would be able to use Lucy's birth secret as a way to gain any advantages over the Dragon Country since she was no longer there. Crux had known about Lucy's intelligence since she was just a little girl, but she had never ceased to amaze him.

If only she was a legal heiress of the throne just like Jenny, Crux was positive she could bring the Celestial Country to its prosperity.

"They're falling a bit faster than I thought." Lucy's soft mumble brought Crux's focus back. Lucy tapped her fingers lightly on the table as her eyes read the reports carefully.

"Yes, Princess." Crux cleared his throat a bit. "It seems that they believe your fake reports very much. They believe that they will be able to seize the Dragon Country's immense wealth once you finish your espionage mission."

Being the royal tutor, of course Crux was aware of the real meaning behind the peace treaty offered by the Celestial Country. Crux was also aware of Sting's adoption to a ducal house in the Dragon Country and he couldn't be happier. He knew just how painful the young prince's life was back in the palace of the Celestial Country and he also knew just how unwilling Sting was to take the burden as a successor to the throne.

"I still have about nine months left until the end of our agreement to postpone the marriage, but I think we have to fasten our pace a bit." Lucy said, pain flashed in her eyes for a split second knowing that her time with Natsu was actually running out faster. "The King might be fooled, but not with the Queen."

Crux's body slightly tensed. Yes, Eileen was actually more ruthless and smarter than her husband. She didn't want to be directly responsible in managing the country simply because she wanted to spend the rest of her life in lavishness and spoiling her children. For these past two years, Lucy's fake reports were directly delivered to Jude's hands. If Eileen one day reads them…

Crux's body shuddered a bit as he imagined his Queen's wrath.

Lucy caught Crux's slight shudder and knew exactly what he was thinking. She smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, Grandfather Crux. Everything will be okay."

Crux let out a small smile. He should be thankful on how ignorant the officials and the Royals of the Celestial Country were. It wasn't easy for him to keep falsifying all of the necessary records and he was starting to get scared of being caught.

"How's the relocating going for the people from the cities near the capital?" Lucy asked.

"Not as smooth as when we relocated the people from the borders, but it isn't something we should be worried about." Crux answered. "These people are afraid with the consequences of moving away, they are a bit more hesitant than those who lived at the borders. It has been a few months since we started, but more than half of them are still staying there."

Lucy nodded. "Let's keep trying. Just make sure the nobles aren't aware of this. They are all in favour of the King, this plan will fail once they whiffed about it."

Crux solemnly nodded. "You can trust me, Princess Lucy."

Time passed and one month flew by in a blink of eye. For tonight, they would have a little breather and got to enjoy Wendy's debutante ball. Rogue was honoured to escort his sister for her big day. They officially opened the ball by dancing together. Rogue's hard work didn't fail him and he managed to execute his dance perfectly although he was a bit stiff due to nervousness. But Wendy gently led her brother's steps, resulting in a massive applause from the crowd once they finished their dance.

Lucy also applauded proudly. Just then, Natsu reached out his hand to her. Lucy gladly took his hand and they stepped onto the dancing floor, along with the rest of the Royal family. Rogue and Wendy also took the spotlight again.

The music started and the Royal family started to dance. Murmurs could be heard across the ballroom about the second prince's betrothed. This was the first time all of the nobles saw what Lucy looked like, apart from certain friends of Natsu's.

"She's so beautiful…"

"I didn't know the Celestial Country has a dazzling princess like her."

"She's the perfect match for our second prince, don't you think?"

"Absolutely."

"Mother, the second prince's fiancée looked like an angel!"

"Bless our King and Queen for having another beautiful daughter!"

Lucy was embarrassed upon hearing the nobles' praise on her, but Natsu couldn't be more proud. He finally got the chance to show her to the world.

Natsu twirled Lucy around, his hand firmly wrapped around Lucy's slim waist and brought their bodies a bit closer than the others. Lucy's face reddened, her heart was suddenly thumping way too fast.

Natsu chuckled as he stared at his bright red fiancée's face. "What are you so embarrassed about?"

"Don't start teasing me." Lucy mumbled.

Natsu's gaze softened, but his selfishness kicked in. "Lucy, look at me."

Lucy lifted her head up, her gaze was instantly locked on Natsu's when their eyes met. Natsu smiled and his warm dark green eyes were drowning Lucy even deeper. "Don't listen to their praises. As much as I'm happy to hear it too, I want you to keep your eyes on me."

Lucy's breath hitched. How come Natsu's voice could be so… sexy when he was being serious like this?

"This is our first dance together in the public, so keep your eyes on me." Natsu said.

There's just no way Lucy could reject Natsu when he already looked at her like that and spoke to her with that voice. The guests squealed upon seeing how close and how in love the second prince and his fiancée were, while the other Royals smiled in happiness. Igneel and Zeref even teased the couple a little which earned them a small slap on the arm from their wives. But neither Lucy nor Natsu could hear them as they kept their focus on each other.

The dance finally ended and the nobles cheered. Natsu landed a small but sweet kiss on Lucy's forehead which made her face blushed madly and another cheer from the crowd, but Natsu just grinned it away. Lucy excused herself to fan her hot face out in the balcony, because she couldn't think straight at the moment. Natsu chuckled at her scurrying back, he loved to tease his betrothed way too much.

Lucy had just arrived at the balcony when a hand grabbed her from within the curtains and spun her body around, trapping her between the railings of the balcony and the culprit.

Lucy squeaked in surprise but her eyes widened when he saw who had just grabbed her. A second later, her eyes beamed in happiness.

"Laxus!"

Done !

Me and another time skip *LOL*

By the way, I realized that I had made a quite huge mistake about the Dragon Country's palace. At first I wrote that the palace 'isn't as big as the Celestial Country's', but then I wrote it as 'three times bigger than the Celestial Country's' XD

The correct one is the latter, the Dragneel's palace is three times bigger than the Heartfilia's. I'm so sorry for my mistake and confusing you guys !

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