A Selena Interlude

Selena Berg had heard many rumors of people, of women, better than her, more deserving of standing at the side of her beloved prince. Lady Susanna Randall, a talented, refined beauty. Lady Mary Hunt, dignified and charming, and renown for her beautiful gardens. Lady Katarina Claes, the Saintess of the Academy, kind and welcoming to all. In the last few months, there had been Lady Maria Campbell, already literally a storied figure before she had officially become a lady.

She'd never expected to be entertaining one of those women while another was probably torturing two people in one of her guest rooms.

"Don't worry," Lady Katarina had said with a reassuring smile. "Ma– er, Lady Campbell might look scary, but she's really a good person. She's always taking care of me and making sure I don't get sunstroke or dehydrated or have crumbs on my face. I'm sure Lana or Larna, whatever, and Rufus will be fine."

"Do you… really think so, Lady Katarina?" Selena had said as she'd led her down to the dining table, where the remains of the breakfast she'd felt too sick to eat were gone.

"Call me Katarina," she'd said with easy cheer, and it was like looking into the sun, bright and radiant. "You let me sleep in your house, after all. And we fiancées have to stick together! Even though I'm only a stand-in fiancée though…"

She seemed to just shrug off that last comment, which was the most outrageous thing Selena had ever heard. And she'd just heard she was being used as a dupe for a plot by not one but two people she'd thought were in her employ.

Much of the staff had been given the next few days off, which was… very strange now that Selena had come to consider it. She tried to remember but…

"Hmm? No one's here?" Lady Katarina said, looking around in justifiable confusion. Then she shrugged. "Well, I guess we'll have to feed ourselves. Come on Selena, let's finds the kitchen!"

"Huh?" Selena said.

This was a very strange breakfast.

They'd found the kitchen, which Selena had never been to before. It had…not been appetizing, smelling of watery starch and soap and things she hadn't been able to identify underneath the faint tinge of food. Warm pots still contained food, and Selena was mildly surprised to see how little of what had been cooked had gone to her meal. Lady Katarina had looked around and found wooden bowls and plates that Selena didn't know they actually had and after giving them a quick rinse from the water spigot and… wiping them on her skirt !? Yes, Lady Katarina had wiped them on her skirt and begun filling them with food.

"Can you help me carry this?" Lady Katarina said. "We need to bring enough for everybody. I don't think Lady M– Lady Campbell's had breakfast yet, she looked really tired."

That was an understatement. Lady Maria Campbell had been wearing the suit she had famously worn on her knighting and were even now being replicated by a certain kind of lady who thought they were ahead of the trends. It had been wrinkled, covered in dust and smelled strongly of sweat. The lady herself had looked tired, haggard and travel-stained. If rumor was anything to go by, it seemed like she had literally run to the capital to follow some trail to Lady Claes, though what that trail could possibly have been Selena had no idea. Her face had been drawn, her eyes dark and sunken from tiredness. Selena had been vividly reminded of the childhood scare stories about hollows who rose out of the ground, taking bad girls and sucking out their Dark Soul to make them hollows in turn, mindless fuel for the usurped Flame.

She had then proceeded to become a terrifying force of violence armed with nothing but a wooden stage prop.

Selena was reminded that part of those old stories had been how hollows had been a dangerous threat to the Chosen Lord on his journey to usurp the Flame.

They left the odorous kitchen, Selena carrying several wooden plates and pewter utensils, while Lady Katarina carried a bowl of breakfast porridge, a basket of bread rolls, a large jar of jam, a bowl of warm sausages, and a large jug of cold milk.

"Isn't that… heavy?" Selena said, looking at the awkward array of things Lady Katarina was carrying.

"Oh, not really," Lady Katarina said cheerfully. "I'm used to carrying things like this during harvest time."

They placed the food and utensils on the dining room table. They had clashed horribly with the fine-grained, smooth sanded wood, but Lady Katarina had started serving her, and then her own self, so enthusiastically, as if the dishes were the finest dinnerware.

"So," she said, in between enthusiastic bites and declarations about how delicious the food was, "Tell me about Prince Ian. I don't really know much about him except he's the second prince…?"

And what could Selena say when invited to speak of her favorite topic?

"Well, Prince Ian is…"

It was inevitable. Any discussion on how wonderful Prince Ian was ultimately led to how unsuitable Selena was to stand by his side, of how Prince Ian disliked her, how she was holding him back and was unsuitable for him.

She found herself crying into her breakfast, and then crying into Lady Katarina's chest as the girl held her like a child.

"There, there," Lady Katarina said soothingly. "I hear all that all the time. 'Katarina isn't suitable to be queen', 'Katarina has horrible manners and will bring shame to the country', 'the prince should select another fiancée', 'Katarina will do nothing but hold the prince back', 'Katarina, stop apologizing to commoners, it's improper for a noble'… I try not to let it get me down. They have a point, after all. I'd probably make a terrible queen. Although I'm never going to be, of course, since I'm just a stand-in fiancée… Besides, it's really unfair for people to compare you to Prince Ian. I mean, all the princes are high-spec, and super talented! Really, it's unfair for regular girls like us to be compared to them. Of course we don't look like much next to those talent-monsters!"

"Selena was shocked to hear this. Lady Katarina, the kind and admired Saintess of the Academy, being accused of the same things she was?

"Most of it doesn't matter," Lady Katarina continued. "I bet a lot of this comes from jealous women who think that if you stop being the prince's fiancée, he'll somehow pick them instead. They're just jealous and cruel. Actually, they're exactly the kind of women I keep away. I might not make a good queen, but they'd be worse, locking people up in towers and putting curses on them and stuff."

Selena knew that. After all, how could she be not aware that other women wanted to be with Prince Ian in her place. It made perfect sense for them to want to be by the side of such a wonderful man…

"And your relatives are probably only saying that because they're worried about you," Lady Katarina continued. "I mean, if they see you unhappy because all those mean women are picking on you because you're engaged to the prince, naturally they'd tell him to pick someone else so you'd stop being unhappy. I know Keith says it sometimes because he doesn't think I'd enjoy being queen."

Selena wasn't a gossip, having… well, no one to gossip with, but even she knew that Lord Claes was unnaturally attached to his sister and saw the Third Prince as an obstacle. Though they had both remained surprisingly civil about it. Nobility were used to strange and unnatural lusts—which were, of course, only unnatural– but it usually erupted into scandal well before now. the fact it hadn't was… well, strangely even more scandalous, in some people's eyes.

"But… Prince Ian himself has nothing but contempt for me?" Selena said, confused.

"Eh? Has he ever said so?"

"N-no, of course not! Prince Ian is always wonderfully polite and proper!"

"Eh, then how do you know he feels that way if he's never said so? Did you read his diary or something?"

Selena was aghast. "I would never!"

"Then how do you know he feels that way about you?"

"Well… everyone around me always says it…"

"Are these the same people who tell you that you shouldn't marry him because they want to do it themselves and think you're in the way?"

"…"

Selena… felt like such an idiot

Lady Katarina started patting her head. "Don't worry Selena, you just need friends to tell you the truth so lies and bullying like that aren't the only thing you hear. Someone to tell you 'don't worry Selena, you're a wonderful person', 'Selena has talents too', or even just 'Selena, it's nice to see you!'."

Each phrase struck at Selena's heart. She'd always been shy and reclusive, and hadn't made friends well. She'd had a few casual acquaintances in the Academy when she'd studied there, but she'd never heard from them after she'd graduated. "I've never had anyone like that, Lady Katarina," she said tearfully.

A cloth was dabbed at her tears. "Well, you do now," Lady Katarina said. "I said it, didn't I? We fiancées have to stick together! So don't worry Selena. You're a wonderful person, and it's been very nice to meet you."

Her smile was radiant and pure and warm and kind. And honest.

For the first time, Selena could understand why rumors claimed so many people had been charmed by this girl, who seemed the Sun-Child born again.

"That's… the first time anyone has said anything like that to me…" Selena said as if in a daze.

"Well, from now on I'll say it as many times as I need until you believe it," Lady Katarina said. She held up a finger. "Under one condition."

Cold dread filled Selena, and a part of her began to wail in despair. She knew it, she should have realized… still, to think even the Saintess had this side, that wanted something from her for–

"You stop thinking of me as 'Lady Katarina'," Lady Katarina said. "There, you just did it again! I know you did! If we're going to be friends, then it has to be just 'Katarina' from now on. Friends mean not having to care about rank and stuff. I'll be Katarina and you be Selena. Got it?"

Selena stared at her… and started to cry.

"Ah, oh no, please don't cry! Argh, I was bullying you wasn't I? Oh no, I AM just an evil villainess! Please stop crying Lady Selena, you don't have to call me Katarina if you don't want to! I'm sorry for being mean and making you say it!"

Selena found she was laughing through the tears. How long? how long had it been since she had laughed, and it had been some forced, fake thing? Too long, if she had to ask. "No, it's fine… Katarina," she said. "I… I'd be happy to be your friend. I'm… glad to have at least one friend."

"You're a wonderful person, so I'm sure you'll have more soon," La– Katarina said, looking relieved she hadn't hurt Selena's feelings after all. How long had it been since someone cared? "In fact, I'll introduce you to my friends at the Student Council, and when they see how wonderful you are, they'll become your friends too. That's nine new friends, easy. In fact, we can start when Maria comes down. If you can be friends with Maria, you can be friends with anyone."

Selena looked alarmed.

"Don't worry, Maria's really nice," Katarina assured her. "And if anyone can help you deal with those meanies, it'll be her. People always behave when Maria's around."

Distantly, they heard the door upstairs open.

"Oh, I guess she's done," Katarina said. "I hope she'll like breakfast."

Selena took a deep breath and hoped L– Katarina's assessment of the Wandering Knight was correct.