yoooo

I'm low-key stressing while I look for a job but let's manifest I get one in the next week! I'm optimistic!

Layla chewed on her thumbnail, forever stressing about Lucy's situation.

Even though her husband didn't have a choice, how were they supposed to hand Lucy over to Tartaros some day? It would do more than cause controversy; who'd ever heard of a human having relations with a demon? The whole kingdom would begin to fall apart, and worse, her daughter was unknowingly subjected to this fate.

What were they supposed to tell her if these demons ever showed up? That she had no choice but to go with them?

And how would they even deny them practically abducting her daughter? It was a sin to make a deal with a demon and a curse to rescind on a promise.

She had hoped Lucy would want to reach out to one of the many suitors looking her way; that could be a loophole, no?

Maybe if Lucy fell in love with someone else, they'd see that taking her away to marry their prince wouldn't help anyone.

~000~

"Princess, we'll be having a guest joining you for tea today, so your afternoon lessons have been canceled." Spetto said as she drew open her curtains, Lucy yawning as she stretched out of bed.

"Oh, really? All of a sudden? Who is it, a friend of mothers?" She asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"From what I recall, Mest Gryder? Your mother invited him for tea."

Lucy felt herself stumble as she halted on her journey to the bathroom, turning carefully to face her maid.

"She invited Mest for tea?" She felt a hard lump bob in her throat as Spetto nodded, turning to face her with a smile.

"Isn't that exciting? Everyone's raring to help you get ready, it's not every day that the duke's son comes for tea,"

"I suppose," She laughed lightly, the nervous sweat on her face going unnoticed.

Lucy felt her anxiety ride with every passing second; there was no such thing as an innocent tea when it came to meeting with the son of another family.

Her mother knew what it meant to invite him; didn't she say she was okay with Lucy wanting to abstain from dating?

She stared at her ring in the privacy of her bath, sighing at the sensation of its warmth spread throughout her. She didn't think she'd have to face this issue so soon.

There was an anxious feeling crawling down her back throughout the day, her stomach swirling as the minutes ticked by. The words sat on the tip of her tongue, Lucy wanting to scream out,

"I-I can't allow Mest to court me! There's…! There's someone else!"

She wanted to calm the chilling feeling in Salamander's arms, with his hand cradling her cheek. The thought made her pout and her mind wander to thoughts of the entity that lived in her candles.

He provided a similar comfort that her ring did, but there was no comparison to his embrace. It made her crave Natsu's touch, Lucy itching for the day they might meet again.

Lucy felt her throat tighten as she heard the audible crunch of footsteps in the gravel spread throughout the garden maze, her mother smiling from across the table already set for tea. The gazebo around them cast a shade from the glaring sun, a maid finally emerging with their honored guest.

"Your highness, my lady; Duke Mest Gryder has arrived."

He flashed them a kind smile before approaching Lucy first, taking her hand in his.

"It's entirely my honor to meet you, Princess," He lowered his lips to press against her knuckles as he bowed, the queen not-so-silently hiding her pleased squeal.

"The honor is all mine, Duke Gryder," Lucy forced her smile but felt a soured shiver crawl up her arm. "Thank you for joining my mother and I for tea, today."

"Actually," Layla cleared her throat as she stood up. "I have a meeting with your father and some of the members of council, so I'll have to excuse myself. But I hope you two have a wonderful time without me!"

She practically laughed as she disappeared into the garden maze, Lucy finding her stomach to be swirling with more uncomfortability.

"I guess we have the afternoon to ourselves then," Mest smiled as he took the queen's previous seat across from her, moving the cups around to pour himself some tea. "I'm glad, I didn't get a chance to talk to you at your birthday banquet. There's a lot I think the two of us might have in common."

Aside from being born into royalty, what did they share? Absolutely nothing. He was your classic Duke, an aristocrat with nothing more on the brain than politics and sword fights.

She sat, mildly siping on her tea, his every other sentence going in one ear and out the other. He was nice, but she didn't want to put herself into too much of the conversation. They had a chance to possibly be good friends, but she didn't want to give him the impression that she was interested.

Lucy wasn't the type to socialize with men aside from her own knights, and now Salamander, but there was always something so different about a boy who was solely trying to impress her.

He was probably nice enough in most ways, and he wasn't harsh on the eyes. But he just seemed so…boring.

Something told her that Natsu would never be this boring. Even if he were the type to obsess over sword fights and general politics.

She could tell just by a singular glance that he was a ball of energy that would never fall short, someone she couldn't wait to get to know.

Lucy couldn't find it in herself to do much more than fake a smile as he continued to go on and on about himself. She could chalk it up to nervous rambling and hope that the next time they spoke, things wouldn't be so awkward.

But she really didn't want there to be a next time. Lucy knew what her mother was doing; as if it wasn't completely obvious. In what world was this anything but their first date?

She wanted to nervously hold onto her ring, the words daring to fall from the tip of her tongue.

Lucy was taken, even though she hadn't managed to have the conversation clarifying it as so. But she knew there was no walking away from Natsu and Salamander. She already had something to figure out, and didn't want to waste time with the Duke's son she knew she couldn't be with.

When his carriage finally took off, Lucy rushed her way toward her room. Mest was pleasant enough as a person, so how was Lucy supposed to convince her mother that he wasn't what she wanted.

Lucy huffed as she turned the corner, letting out yelp as she ran into whoever had been walking in the opposite direction. Her nose burned at the sudden impact and her balance was thrown off; whoever she ran into quickly catching her before she fell.

"O-Oh, gosh, I'm so sorry," She shook her head as her vision refocused, looking up to meet the eyes of who she assumed to be a butler. "...Natsu?"

Hi I'm so sleepy but I hope you like