Francis followed Erzsébet down the stairs, having to stall his own sure steps every so often. If the skirt hadn't been so huge, he might have been able to circle around and meet her at the bottom of the stairs. Instead, he had to slowly tailgate, careful not to accidentally step on her dress and make her lose control and fall the rest of the way down.
Erzsébet stumbled on a step and caught her balance, earning a chuckle from him.
"That's what you get for choosing such an enormous skirt," Francis teased, "How are you even going to sit in that thing later?"
"Be quiet, Francis," Erzsébet quipped back as she started moving again, "I'm about to get married, I can do what I want."
"It's not that special, you know," Francis remarked, "You've already been married once, how many more husbands do you want?"
Erzsébet ignored him in favour of watching her steps, mumbling to herself as she guided her concealed feet. Francis could only roll his eyes and shake his head in ridicule as she figured out the second half of the staircase. Finally, she sped up on the last few steps, then accelerated across the flat surface on the main floor.
As they marched through the hall before the garden entrance, Francis thought he heard whispering behind them. He slowed his pace as he checked over his left shoulder, and though he saw nobody there, he could've sworn that someone ducked out of sight into the adjoining corridor.
"I think we're being watched," Francis warned as he turned to catch back up with Erzsébet.
"Not surprising," Erzsébet dismissed, "Any maid in this castle would love to be in my shoes right now, and that's even before the dress gets considered."
As they reached the outside door, Francis took his place off to the side behind the guards, who had raised their trumpets to deliver the royal fanfare. It was planned for Erzsébet to walk down the steps to the garden on her own, allowing the gentry to marvel in awe of her glorious beauty as she descended to the ceremony. Once she had entered the party tent, Francis would teleport down there and take a seat in the back row for the show.
It's when he reached the railing of the balcony and looked down that Francis noticed that something was wrong. The tent's entrance was completely shut, and only the guards placed on patrol were able to watch the Queen approaching. Erzsébet was still descending the stairs, and Francis could see that her right hand was glowing with her green magic, a special signal for him that she might need his help on this.
As she reached the final step, she snapped her fingers and made the glowing magic explode into a small green firework, unseen by the guards but visible to Francis. Understanding the message as a demand for him to join her immediately, Francis left the railing and went down the stairs after her. As he descended, the shadow of a bird crossed his path, and Francis glanced up briefly to see a raven flying towards the castle. Hoping it was not an omen for what might happen, Francis looked forward again and focused on this current situation.
Once he reached the ground, he rushed over to Erzsébet, who was most of the way down the path and entering the clearing before the tent.
"Where is everyone?" Francis heard Erzsébet ask the guards.
"They're all inside, your Majesty," one of the guards answered as Francis reached her side.
"Francis, go ahead," Erzsébet requested, "Open the tent for me."
Francis nodded before circling around her enormous skirt, finally moving ahead of her to take the lead. He jogged over to the edge of the tent, where a long rope hung near where the flaps overlapped. Once he had it firmly in his grasp, Francis looked back to Erzsébet, who was just stopping in front of the tent. She looked his way and nodded at him, and Francis pulled the rope.
As the flaps lifted and the inside of the tent was revealed, Francis could finally see why it had been shut in the first place. Inside the tent were all the members of the Stulikyan court, all dressed solely in their undergarments. Each courtier's head of hair and makeup were immaculate, but there was not a single dress or suit for it all to go with. In addition, they all shared the same general expression of humiliation and frustration on their faces.
"What is going on here?" Erzsébet demanded in bewilderment as she entered the tent, "Where are all your clothes?"
"This is outrageous, your Majesty!" an angry courtier shouted at the Queen.
"Insulting!" a woman in the back of the tent added.
"Humiliating!" another woman at the other side of the tent added as the shouting picked up from throughout the tent.
"Your Majesty, we cannot tolerate this blatant disrespect," Baron Roderich Edelstein declared as he stepped forward, silencing the jeers of the other courtiers, "If you are unfit to handle a few bandits, then you are unfit to rule. The court wants you deposed, your regency is over!"
Francis's jaw dropped as the other courtiers nodded and murmured in support of Roderich's declaration.
"I'm sorry, Baron," Erzsébet stuttered, "Did you say -"
"Deposed, dismissed," Roderich elaborated, "Removed from office and from the throne."
"There is clearly some misunderstanding here," Erzsébet defended, "Where is Prince Ludwig, could someone please get him for me?"
"That's not possible," Yao refused from his chair by the altar, also stripped of his clothes, "He's not here, he's been stolen."
"Stolen?" Erzsébet tested, "By who?"
"Princess Natalya," all the courtiers answered in unison.
Francis stood there in dread, immediately realizing what they had been unable to prevent. Just as Erzsébet had feared would happen, Natalya crashed the wedding with her band of dwarfs and ruined everything. He dared to look at Erzsébet, whose face showed her shock at the development.
Erzsébet slowly turned away from the courtiers, and Francis watched as the shock faded from her face, transforming into pure rage. He could tell what was going to happen next: Erzsébet would storm off, find her way into the woods, track down Natalya and have her revenge.
Before any of this could happen, a trumpet fanfare blasted from the palace doors, drawing everyone's attention to the melodic tune reserved for the Royal Family of Stulikya. Erzsébet looked up at the steps into the palace, and her expression of fury suddenly morphed into one of disbelief and horror. Francis shifted his own gaze towards the palace, only for his own jaw to drop as well.
At the top of the steps of the palace, accompanied by her own entourage, was Princess Katerina of Stulikya.
A very much alive Princess Katerina of Stulikya.
"Impossible," Francis muttered to himself.
Francis could only watch in shock as Katerina descended the steps to the garden, arms linked with the Duke of Baisicia. Behind them came King Gilbert, who was somehow human again, accompanied by both Prince Alfred and Princess Madeline. Rounding out their group were two of the Prathagean rangers, and the otherworldly man.
Francis's catalyst spell had clearly backfired. This otherworldly man, Arthur Kirkland, was helping the others undo all his hard work. That must be how all these events culminated to this very moment, and how all these royals could be assembled here now to confront Francis and Erzsébet.
It wasn't until the entourage had reached the bottom of the steps that Francis finally snapped out of his stupor, feeling the skirt of Erzsébet's dress brush his legs as she moved forward to meet the approaching royal guests. There was no reason to hide himself from this party, so Francis followed closely behind.
As they entered the clearing, the Stulikyan princess released herself from the Duke's arm and walked forward to meet Erzsébet. Both ladies halted their steps once Katerina was three feet away, the only thing between the two sisters-in-law being the front edge of the enormous feathered skirt.
"What's the matter, Erzsébet?" Katerina asked, an unnervingly sweet smile on her face, "Are you not pleased to see me?"
"You should be dead," Erzsébet denied, "I watched you die."
"You could've orchestrated that a bit better," Katerina criticized, the sweet smile dropping as she gave Francis a lethal glare reminiscent of Natalya's, "Francis shot the arrow six and a half years ago, didn't he?"
"And yet here you stand, alive and well it seems," Francis brought up, "May I ask how that is even possible, your Highness?"
"You can plot my death all you like, but my birth spell protected me," Katerina explained as she alternated her self-righteous glance between the two of them, "I was awoken from my death-like sleep, and got to see what Erzsébet had done to my family to steal the crown. It almost feels like poetic justice, or maybe karma, that I awoke from the dead to set things straight. Before that happens, though, I do have a very important question for you both."
Although his eyes were mostly fixed on the Princess as she spoke, Francis could not help but notice the movement happening behind her. The other members of her entourage had been whispering to each other while Katerina distracted the two sorcerers, and now the conspirators appeared to be strategically positioning themselves. The Duke of Baisicia had joined Katerina, looping his arm around her back, while Prince Alfred and the blond ranger had circled around them to Erzsébet's left.
"And what is that?" Erzsébet quizzed.
His gaze shifted over the shoulder of Princess Katerina, where only Arthur remained with King Gilbert.
"Rumour has it my brother is still alive," Katerina accused, "Is it true? Did you really fake his death?"
Francis looked to his own side as Katerina spoke, and made direct eye contact with the other princess in the party. She had circled around to his side with the brown-haired ranger.
"Whatever the rest of you are planning won't work," Francis diverted, his eyes not leaving the Ice Princess, "The moment you try to make a move, so will I. You cannot kill me here."
"You know where the dagger is, don't you?" Madeline alleged, "The third weapon in your death vision?"
"I know exactly where it is," Francis confirmed, summoning a ball of magic to his hand, "That's how I know I can do this."
Francis immediately shot a blast of magic at Madeline, who cast a shield of ice for it to hit instead. While the ranger pulled the princess around, Francis looked back over towards Erzsébet amidst the chaos. The Duke was pulling Katerina back out of the way, and Erzsébet was forming a shield of magic in response to the summons of Prince Alfred's fire magic.
Francis leaned forward as best as he could without tripping over her skirt, and grabbed Erzsébet's arm while he summoned his teleportation magic. He quickly set the destination as his study in Virside, and cast it just as Prince Alfred was launching a ball of fire at them.
The blue haze of the teleportation spell surrounded the two of them, although Francis could see the red swirls mixed into the mist that meant some of Alfred's fire travelled with them. Even before the blue aura faded away, he could already smell the smoke from something burning, which was quickly accompanied by Erzsébet's small yelps.
As his study finally came into view, Francis was finally able to see that the enormous skirt of Erzsébet's dress was on fire, and all those feathers were burning to ash. The flames were quickly climbing up her body, so Erzsébet was using her magic to put it out. She was spinning around as she did so in the middle of the room, making the skirt spin so that the flaming part hit Francis in the legs.
As he stumbled away from the contact, Francis's vision was overcome with that vision and the sharp pain again. He saw the frozen stabbed heart again, surrounded in flames that seemed to burn brighter this time than ever before. Francis understood exactly why he was seeing it this time around: he had come into contact with the fire which, when combined with that dagger and ice magic, would kill him.
As his sight returned, Francis realized he was now sitting on the floor of his study, not feeling himself fall. Erzsébet stood in the middle of the room, the skirt of her dress now torn all the way around at mid-thigh and hemmed with singed feathers. The green aura of her magic hovered over the smoldering ruins of her large skirt, before it all vanished and left the wood as clean as ever.
They both paused a few moments to catch their breaths, before Erzsébet broke the tense silence.
"If I want someone dead, it seems that I'll have to do it myself."
"I would advise caution with whatever you're planning," Francis warned, "If Alfred and Madeline can find Natalya and acquire her dagger, they can kill me."
"All the more reason to kill Natalya while we still can," Erzsébet insisted, "You know where her forest hideout is, we'll go back as soon as possible to kill her and the dwarfs. Then you can take that dagger and do whatever you want with it."
"And how exactly are you expecting to kill them all?" Francis scrutinized, "My magic has already backfired on me when it comes to them, what chance do you stand?"
"You forget what power I have at my command," Erzsébet scoffed, "After all, I did tell everyone Princess Natalya was killed by the Beast of Bueswood, so why not make that really happen?"