Alfred stood out on the veranda, leaning against the railing and staring at the ocean as the sun set on the western horizon. While the view was peaceful, his mind was certainly not, as his thoughts swirled with all the things he had learned since Natalya returned to the human realm a few days ago.

It was an absolute shock to learn just how many secrets his sister was keeping from him. Madeline never told him, in all those years, that she had befriended a fae and had eventually fallen in love with them. And it wasn't just any fae either, it was the Prince of the Unseelie Court! If Alfred had known that she intended to marry a fae prince and not a human, he wouldn't have let any of the Aegaimore courtiers anywhere near her. No wonder she hated that situation so much, she needed Alfred to get married first before she'd be allowed to marry Ludwig.

As for the saga of rescuing Natalya from Yuvalon, Alfred was flabbergasted to learn of Madeline's numerous counter-efforts. She had sabotaged the rescue, helped Gilbert attempt to remerge the human and fae realms, and made alternate arrangements for Natalya's safe return to Alfred. The only circumstance Madeline had not prepared for was Natalya acquiring the dropped glamoured dagger and killing Gilbert with it. It seems that the regicide was entirely unpredictable, not a single fae involved in these shenanigans was able to foresee it.

And yet, much to Alfred's bewilderment, it all still worked out in his sister's favour. It was a shame that she would give up her humanity and join the fae, especially since she forfeited her royal title in Aegaimore by doing so. Arthur had reported that, as soon as she drank some faewine and became fae, Ludwig declared to all of Yuvalon that Madeline would join him on the Unseelie Throne as his queen. The wedding and coronation has already been scheduled for a few months from now, after a required mourning period for Gilbert's death could be completed.

Arthur and Tolys had already spent the last few days going back and forth between Tivalon and Niba to convey messages between the siblings. Alfred had informed her of his disappointment in what she had hidden from him all that time, but understood how she could've made these choices in the name of her love for Ludwig. They agreed that, when the dust settles in both realms, Alfred could visit her in Tivalon to discuss these choices in person. There was also the matter of reconciling matters with his future brother-in-law, as their first ever interaction was definitely not a positive one. Erzsébet has already agreed to brew the potion to ward off hunger and thirst in Yuvalon, just as long as Alfred gave her plenty of notice for any visits.

Hearing footsteps behind him, Alfred snapped out of his thoughts and turned to see Natalya approaching him.

"I came to watch the sunset," Natalya said, "I can go elsewhere if you want to be alone -"

"Of course not," Alfred welcomed, "Come join me."

"Thank you," Natalya remarked as she approached, "I hope I didn't distract you from anything."

"Just my mind running around in circles," Alfred divulged, "I'm still processing how much my sister has deceived me all that time."

"That took me by surprise as well," Natalya recalled as she leaned against the railing beside him, "When I found out she was taking my place in Yuvalon, I had feared that you forced her to sacrifice herself for your happiness. It took assurances from her, Arthur and Ludwig to convince me she was doing it out of her own free will, and not just to reunite the two of us."

"Madeline has always been gentle and kind, except when she decides to be stubborn and resilient instead," Alfred pondered, "She needed to make sure I find my true love and take the crown of Aegaimore, so that she'd be free to join Ludwig in Tivalon. Speaking of which, the two of us need to discuss the true love situation at some point."

"I have a few things to say on that matter," Natalya addressed, "If you're ready to get into it now, or we can wait to gather our thoughts."

"Now's a good time," Alfred approved, "We might as well take advantage of this lovely evening, all these twists and turns have finally led to this peaceful moment."

"Starting with the twists and turns, you deceived me on the night we first met," Natalya accused, "You never told me you were a prince rescuing your true love from a high tower at the base of the Tailian Mountains!"

"Meeting you that night was a crazy stroke of luck," Alfred defended, "Arthur had shown me an image of you in that tower with your long hair, so that I would know how to find you. You weren't in your tower that night we met, and your hair wasn't seventy feet long, so I wrote it off as a coincidence that you looked a lot like the woman in the vision. To be fair, if I had told you all of that, and you immediately claimed to be the woman, I don't know if I could've believed you."

"That's fair," Natalya considered, "We had only just met, and revealing all that would've left you vulnerable to deception."

"It's also a fluke that I encountered your siblings on the road after that," Alfred continued, "They had used the compass to measure the tower's location from both Quvell and Hawyth, so they knew where to go too. The night I met them, Katerina checked the direction again and the compass told us you had already moved too far south to still be at the tower."

"To think, I could've saved the three of you all that trouble if I stayed in the tower another week or so," Natalya contemplated, "Then again, if I hadn't come to Niba, what would've happened to Erika and Feliciano? I helped bring them together, and found myself in a good place to wait and figure out my own fate. And as the fates would have it, you would find my abandoned tower and send Arthur to talk to us."

"That still all backfired a bit too though, right?" Alfred reminded, "When Erika was in pain and you took her to the docks, Antonio recognized you and told you all about the betrothal to Gilbert. He's probably the one who told the fae you were here, which then prompted your abduction to Yuvalon."

"And they proceeded to lock me in another tall tower," Natalya added, "Everything got so twisted and convoluted so quickly."

"Tolys told me you weren't too pleased about that," Alfred brought up, "He passed along your message about being in enough towers already to last a lifetime. You wouldn't believe it, but that ties in nicely to the advice I was given on how to handle this true love situation."

"Does it?" Natalya asked, "How so?"

"Lovino was the closest on the matter," Alfred elaborated, "He told me about your reaction to finding out we were meant to be each other's true love. You were wary of becoming my future queen, that such a life of strict duty and behaviour would make you feel trapped. The gilded cage of a crown would be no better than a tall tower, you wouldn't be free to make your own life choices."

"That is an accurate summary," Natalya commented, "I hope you aren't offended by my dismay for a royal life -"

"Oh no, I get it," Alfred appeased, "You haven't had the opportunity to live a proper life and make those choices, you deserve the chance to do so. Your freedom to choose your fate is actually tied to the advice Arthur gave me, before I could even set out on this journey. Finding you and bringing you back to Thagia to be my queen was only one piece of the puzzle. The other part was winning your love and convincing you to marry me. If you didn't want that fate, you'd resent me for forcing you into it. That would make a waste of all my efforts, not to mention putting to shame the concept of true love."

"So I still have a say in the matter then?" Natalya checked, "You're not going to drag me back to Thagia immediately to marry me?"

"That's right," Alfred pledged, "I need to earn your love, and persuade you to tie your fate to mine. If you find that the crown is not what you desire, I have no right to force you to stay. However, if there's any way I can make becoming my future wife and queen an appealing placement for you, I'll gladly bend over backwards to make Thagia feel like home for you."

"That sounds like the advice Madeline gave me in Tivalon," Natalya explained, "She said we should take our time getting to know each other, there is no need for us to rush into anything. When we are both ready, perhaps we will be able to love each other, and then we can happily marry and rule Aegaimore together."

"My sister has always been a smart one," Alfred recognized, "Just enough to keep me in line."

"She did also say that you're a bit headstrong and eager at times," Natalya amended, "And yet, apparently you do still have a good heart."

"Sounds like you intend to test me on that last part," Alfred teased, "So, now that we've cleared the air, do you know what you want to do now?"

"I do want to see the world a bit before we decide what will happen between us," Natalya considered, "I'd like to explore with Ivan and Katerina, and see what I've missed out on in my past. Perhaps I'll spend some time at Erzsébet's cottage outside of Quvell, or maybe my siblings can take me to meet my parents in Hawyth. I'd definitely come back to Niba to visit, but perhaps at some point I'll be ready to visit you in Thagia."

"I'll have the palace prepared for your visit," Alfred promised, "I'll pull out all the stops to impress you, so that maybe you'll eventually decide to stay."

"From there, who knows," Natalya speculated, "Maybe I will enjoy being with you in Aegaimore."

"Only time can tell," Alfred yielded.