A/N: I own nothing but plot. Enjoy!
In less than an hour, the delegation from Mandor was kneeling at Percy's feet.
"How do you plan on explaining this situation?" Percy asked in a deathly calm voice.
The chill calmness in his tone was more frightening than had he been outwardly angry. The head of the delegation, the second prince of Mandor, regretted bringing his uncle to Eldoris. If the Grand Duke of Mandor hadn't begged and thrown a tantrum to the king of Mandor, there was no way Mandor would have sent the Grand Duke on such an important trip. Now because the Grand Duke had tried to humiliate the newly crowned Eldoris queen for Kiran's favor and failed, the Grand Duke had caused immense trouble. Eldoris would for sure exact a heavy price.
"It was an accident!" The Grand Duke exclaimed. "I didn't mean to hurt the queen!"
The second prince of Mandor clenched his teeth. Even his younger sister had been affected. Were it not for the Eldoris queen who had saved his sister, then he feared...
"Impertinent!" Percy scolded. "There were so many witnesses around who saw you ram your boat into my queen's. Are you saying that they were all blind or are lying?"
The Grand Duke opened and closed his mouth foolishly as the knights behind the king of Eldoris subtly touched their sheathed swords.
"And what do you have to say about this, Princess Alana?" Percy turned to the silent princess.
Princess Alana sat on the sidelines, sipping her tea and remaining silent. As Mandor was a subordinate country of Kiran, Kiran had been dragged in by the Mandor Grand Duke's foolish actions. But she, too, had fallen in the water.
"Your Majesty!" Sir Luke stepped up and protested. "Princess Alana is also a victim of the Grand Duke's foolish actions."
Percy raised an eyebrow. "That is precisely why I must ask Princess Alana her thoughts on this matter. Did you presume that I was blaming her for this matter?"
Percy had a feeling that Alana had purposefully instigated this accident behind the scenes, preying on the Grand Duke's humiliation to borrow his hands in an attempt to harm the Eldoris queen. But this was hard to prove and merely a theory. Still, Percy had requested Lady McLean's presence at his side to thwart any use of light magic against him. Princess Alana's gaze was slightly distracted as though she was unsure why something wasn't working out. By his side, Lady McLean subtly clenched her fingers.
Sir Luke hastily bowed. "I was being rash. Please forgive this one's errant judgement."
Percy said nothing to the knight. The closest witness who saw that the Grand Duke knocked into the Eldoris Queen also said that it was strange that Princess Alana's boats were flipped over. That witness was Princess Reyna from Barinia. She was the one closest to the scene as her boat was closer to Queen Annabeth's, yet Princess Alana's boat was the one that was flipped while Reyna's stayed afloat.
If Alana did not use her magic or bribed the Grand Duke to overthrow Queen Annabeth into the water, then she at least tried to benefit from the situation by pretending to fall into the water and seduce Prince Jason. Without this witness statement, perhaps this situation would have gone a completely different direction without Kiran being noticed.
Still, Percy's aim wasn't to make Mandor give up their treasures. What would he want from a poor country that had to depend on another to survive? Their own princess had almost drowned from their Grand Duke's actions. No, what he wanted was to pull in Kiran as much as possible.
At this moment, someone walked into the Grand Hall.
"I greet Your Majesty, the king of Eldoris," the man said.
Princess Alana stiffened as recognition filled her face.
Percy said nothing at Alana's reaction. Over the time through fighting with Kiran, he had noticed that there was a power faction within Kiran's royal court. The prime minister of Kiran was in the opposite faction of Princess Alana. But before Percy could take advantage of this fact, Prime Minister Alexander had been executed at the hands of Kiran's royal family. Now, Percy intervened and invited the Prime Minister of Kiran to witness this scene.
Prime Minister Alexander quickly analyzed the situation and felt his heart pound faster through excitment. On one hand, Kiran was in trouble because it was Mandor, their satellite country, who had caused this situation, but Kiran's princess was affected as well. The Eldoris king seemed so incensed that he wasn't just going to want the Grand Duke's blood, but also Kiran's. On the other hand, Princess Alana was supposed to oversee all the delegations of the countries underneath Kiran during this trip and couldn't control their behavior. She herself had missed the wedding and crowning ceremony, embarrassing Kiran and insulting Eldoris. This had consequences for Kiran but was a political boon for the prime minister. This was an opportunity he could not afford to miss.
"I have heard about Kiran's and Mandor's actions and came here to apologize on behalf of Kiran's king," Alexander said, bowing his head.
"Prime Minister!" Princess Alana stood up quickly, her chair making an ugly sound as it screeched across the floor. "What is the meaning of this?"
For once, the princess of Kiran had almost lost her full composure. The Kiran prime minister's sudden appearance had truly shocked her.
Alexander ignored the princess. "The king has sent these gifts and hopes that the relations between Eldoris and Kiran will remain friendly as ever. We will naturally take care of Mandor and send a proper explanation for Eldoris."
Percy smiled inwardly as he saw that the Kiran king had sent over a deal lessening the tariffs of Eldoris goods. Fools. Did they think he wanted this? Eldoris would no longer trade with Kiran, not after securing a strong alliance with Tynan and Barinia. Barinia's princess had seen how the Kiran princess had acted, and Prince Jason would not be pleased that Lady McLean had become a victim in this power play of Kiran's and Mandor's.
"Then I trust that justice will be carried for Eldoris and for my Queen Annabeth. Sir Grover, see the guests out."
Besides, he didn't need to personally dole out punishment for Mandor and involve Eldoris. With this incident, Kiran would naturally insure that an "accident" would befall on the Grand Duke of Mandoor's head before long. Then Mandor and Kiran would be at odds, looking away from Eldoris. It was best to borrow another person's hands for this matter. Why dirty his own?
Prime Minister Alexander bowed and left with a steaming Princess Alana marching behind him. The Kiran delegation was leaving tonight and with good riddance. No doubt these two would start clashing soon as long as Percy stirred things behind the scenes.
Percy didn't bother staying in the Grand Hall any longer but went back to Dahlia Palace. The events surrounding Queen Annabeth of the past few weeks had been bothering him. Though he was sure that Annabeth looked exactly the same as his past life, there was something different about her than what all his sources had revealed.
Queen Annabeth's knowledge about chess. How she was literate. The way she was daring and intelligent. How she knew to swim. All these factors were in contrast to how she was supposed to have a feeble personality and lacking education while she was abused by her family.
It was as if a different person was occupying the same body.
These words were almost nonsensical. But hadn't Percy been able to perform the ancient magic of witches past and turn back time? There was no ancient magic he knew of that could transfer souls or possess another body. At least, none that he knew of. Was this related to shadow magic, where one could manipulate another's body? Admittedly, his knowledge of the ancient arts was rather lacking. Still, Percy had to confirm it, almost dreading the truth.
And what if it was another ghost or being in the body of Annabeth? What could he do? He had already married the woman and knew nothing about expelling the ghost of another.
Percy fingered the tiny bottle he kept hidden in his pocket. The contents contained a single drop of a potion that could prompt people to tell the truth for a little while. It was all that was left after being passed down through the generations of Eldoris rulers. This could not be wasted.
Before this, he had thought of using it on the dowager queen if he was not able to gather enough information about her misdeeds. But even if he did use it, the dowager queen's family and faction would still protest and argue against trusting the words of such a truth serum. In the past, Percy had been killed before being able to use the potion at all, and he had no idea how long the effects would last before all his questions were answered. How to even feed it to the dowager queen or whether the potion worked were other problems.
Was it worthwhile to use on the queen, who had done no wrong? Or was it better to save it for the dowager queen as the final piece of evidence once he had gathered all the information?
Percy shook his head to clear out the thoughts. Trust was important for any kind of relationship. If his suspicions and paranoia overtook him, then cracks would form, undermining all he had worked for.
The queen was sleeping when Percy sat by her bed. He brushed his hand over her forehead, feeling how heated of a fever she had. The physicians had said that the queen would be fine, but that she had a minor cold from her poor health and going into the water. Still, her forehead was burning underneath his palm.
Percy regretted allowing the boat outing to happen. He hadn't expected that another country would be so foolish in their actions.
"Your Majesty?" The queen stirred awake.
Percy retracted his hand from her forehead. "I didn't mean to wake you. But have some medicine and food before you go back to sleep."
The queen nodded tiredly and pushed herself to sit up. Percy personally propped the pillows behind her back.
"How are you feeling?"
"I'm just a little fatigued." She answered. "But I'm feeling better. I should be back to normal by tomorrow."
He studied her face. She was paler than this morning, but her face was still tanner than when he first saw her due to the walks out in the sunshine. Thankfully, some color had returned to her lips and cheeks.
"That's good to hear."
"What happened to the little princess from Mandol? Is she all right? I remember pushing her up from the water but I don't recall what happened after we all came out of the lake." Queen Annabeth murmured. "Lady Piper fell into the water as well. I should tell her to take a break from her duties for now."
"They're all doing fine, unlike you. Your body is so weak that even an eleven year old coddled princess could come out from this incident fine, while you're the only one to catch a cold and have a fever."
Percy pinched her cheeks teasingly. The queen shot him a glare from her grey eyes.
"Well, what's going to happen to the Grand Duke of Mandol?"
Percy grabbed the chicken soup from a maid's tray. The bottle of truth serum shifted in his pocket as his hands brushed against it.
"Eat first. Don't worry about those useless things."
Quietly, he fed her the soup and tore the bread into small pieces for her.
"You know," the queen said. "This scene is familiar. Reminds me of when we were back at that inn."
Percy recalled how frail the Kiran princess had been. Now, she had a sign of life and vivacity, only diminished somewhat because of the Mandor bastards' horrendous actions. Percy then frowned as he recalled the situation with the inn woman's daughter.
"You must be confused because of your fever," he chastised gently. "Here is Dahlia palace, not that dirty inn with its vulgar people."
Her grey eyes, though fatigued, looked at him in amusement, understanding his words that he wouldn't be taking on a lover. Percy felt a sense of exasperation in him. She still didn't believe his words of being faithful to one woman, it seemed. He would have to thank his father-in-law for the cynicism in his wife.
When the food and medicine went down in the queen's belly, she settled back down in the covers sleepily. Percy replaced the now warm cloth on her forehead with a cool damp one, dismissing all the maids and Lucy from the room.
"Really, who are you?" He quietly asked.
"Hmm?" The queen murmured, drowsily.
The medicine made by the physicians must have contained sleeping medicine.
"Who are you truly, my queen?" Percy asked again. "Tell me the truth."
Even as she was falling asleep, she opened her mouth to mumble. "Why are you asking that? I'm just me, Annabeth."
"Is that the truth?" Percy persisted again.
Annabeth furrowed her brows again but the effects of the sleeping medication were hard to fight against. "You're being weird, Your Majesty. I feel like you're the one who knocked his head against the boat. I'm your wife." Finishing her words, Annabeth yawned. "I'm so sleepy."
At her words, Percy felt his smile grew softer. "Really. I wonder which side of you is the real you."
The queen had drifted asleep at this time. Percy brushed her curly hair off of her face but couldn't help but cradle her cheek in the palm of his hand. Just two weeks ago, there were still traces of bruises on that same cheek.
If this was the real first princess of Kiran, then that was fine. She was just someone who hid herself very deeply.
If she wasn't...Percy felt that he could accept it. Even now, the queen had asked what happened to all the innocent bystanders before she even cared about the perpetrator of the crime against her. Someone like her could be so intelligent and cunning at times, yet still keep on being so kind at other times.
"Sleep tight, my queen."
When he went back to Gardenia Palace, the truth serum bottle was placed back in its original hiding place.
He would have to keep a closer eye on her. The moment she showed an ounce of betrayal, then he would...
Percy's hand twitched towards his sword as he walked to the depths of the secret dungeon in Gardenia Palace.
A/N: A few chapters ago, Percy mentioned that he had sent for two people. One of those people is indeed Prime Minister Alexander from Kiran. As for the other, hmmm...
We also see in this chapter that Percy is simultaneously more suspicious of Annabeth and also impressed with Annabeth. As to whether he used the truth serum, heh, I'm not going to say, but the outcome of this will come into play in the future. If you were in his position, would you have used the truth serum on Annabeth or your partner?
Welp, this week's exams and tests have also been absolutely Hera cow-poop horrendous, so I've been feeling absolutely terrible about myself. If I could insert a meme, it would Ralph sitting in the school bus/Simpsons meme, where he chuckles and says "I'm in danger." That is the state my of mind this weekend as I suffer from studying. LOL. My therapy is just memes. But it's okay, next week is another opportunity!
To: BlueHorseDream, I don't know if you can PM me on Fanfiction, but I'm happy to give you any advice based on where you are on your pre-med journey (experience only based on my American med school journey, IDK how it works in other countries). If it's about the application itself, if you're applying next year or after, start writing your personal statement in Feb-April, find professors, PIs, English majors, and someone knowledgeable about the process to look over them. You'll be ready to submit when AMCAS application submission opens by late May. Then in April-June, pre-write all your secondaries so you'll be ready to submit to different medical schools. Topics can be found online if you do a Google search or look on threads on , but don't stay on that site for too long to preserve your mental health. Use the same essay for every medical school, but tailor the essay and mention programs you like about each med school. Secondaries are a little late (at least to me) if you submit them late September. The earliest bird catches the worm! But give yourself time to relax and keep up with family and friends. Health is important! But yeah, feel free to PM me if it's other advice you seek.
Anyways, as always, thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing. I hope to see you all next week!