Chapter 2: Princess Mia Thinks...and Thinks...

Decked out in full battle gear, Mia gave her cheeks a few invigorating slaps as she prepared to metaphorically ride out to war.

Fortunately, this time, she had a lot of pieces to play with. Esmeralda, Citrina, and Tiona were all hers to command, forming a powerful trifecta for her vanguard. This formation was further rounded out by Ludwig’s impeccable smarts, and on top of that, she even had Rafina at her back. Anne, her walking, talking anxiolytic, was at her side, and Bel had come along too. The latter mostly because she was a rabid Sion fan, but anyway.

All right. I know what I have to do, so let’s get down to business.

While giving herself the pre-combat pep talk, she sorted through her thoughts one last time.

There are two problems I have to deal with: The first is that if Esmeralda marries Prince Echard, it’ll strengthen my political opposition. The second is that Sion is going to be assassinated... Actually, no. She shook her head. The political opposition issue isn’t something I should be thinking about. Ludwig said he had some ideas about it, so I should leave it to him. Right now, what I need to focus on is making sure Sion doesn’t get assassinated tonight. Nothing else will matter if I can’t keep him alive.

Further consideration solidified her stance.

Besides, Esmeralda can help me on the political front. And once I tell Sion that I literally saved his life, I can have him back me up too.

Her sole mission right now was keeping the poison away from Sion.

According to the Chronicles, Sion dies by poison. And according to Rina’s investigation, it’s highly likely that Prince Echard received some sort of poison from the Chaos Serpents...

The Chronicles’ passage alone had failed to explain how such a young prince had managed to get his hands on such potent poison. Citrina’s report had bridged the gap.

She apparently has the antidote ready too...

Mia glanced at Citrina, who nodded back.

“Don’t worry, Your Highness. We already have the item on hand.”

“...Uh, what item?”

“The dried mushrooms. You picked them up on the way here to Sunkland.”

“The dried mushrooms...”

“Yes. The people of the Equestrian Kingdom have a long tradition of using a yin-type poison to hunt. If I wanted to poison someone and make it look like the Equestrians did it, that’s the poison I’d use. The mushrooms you picked up earlier have a yang-type poison which counters its effects, allowing them to work as an antidote...” Citrina paused for a second, one eyebrow arching. “But I thought you knew all this already?”

Mia gulped, forcing the reflexive “Of course I did!” back down her throat. She could certainly bluff her way through this question, and it’d surely deepen Citrina’s trust in her, but...

“No. Unfortunately, I’m not as familiar with poisons as I’d like.”

She chose honesty, for she knew that it never pays to play professor, especially when it came to poisons.

“I bought those mushrooms on a whim. It’s actually a complete coincidence that we have them right now,” she admitted. “Like I said before, I think it’s very likely that poison is going to be used at some point, so I’m counting on you, Rina.”

“Understood. I’ll do everything I can, but there’s one thing you should keep in mind, Your Highness. Countering poisons is very difficult, and no antidote is perfect. There’s never any guarantee.”

“I see. In other words, the best solution is to make sure the poison never gets into him in the first place. Hm...”

“By the way, are we not going to tell Prince Sion about this?”

Mia scrunched up her face at the question. “I’ve certainly considered the option, but...”

As a matter of fact, she’d already asked Dion to inform Keithwood about the suspicious activity surrounding Prince Echard. Considering the fact that Citrina’s report was, at best, only circumstantial evidence, outright indicting the prince of plotting murder would be unwise, to say the least. However, she couldn’t afford to say nothing either. Fortunately, Keithwood was a tactful fellow. If anyone could successfully navigate the diplomatic nightmare that was investigating a Sunkland prince on a foreign tip, it was him. Technically, Sion should be capable of doing so as well, but Mia felt a strong resistance to the idea of telling him, and she was beginning to understand why. The hint came from the dress she was wearing.

The one who’s going to kill Sion...is his little brother...

That, she now realized, was the source of her reluctance. What would happen if Sion were to discover the plot and confront his brother? The criminal nature of the incident would likely require him to demand trial. And punishment.

Of course, Sion has changed. I doubt he’d do so willingly. But can he even refuse in the first place? Would Sunkland allow him to?

After everything they’d been through together, she felt like she knew Sion pretty well as a person. Being Mia, the details of her understanding might be questionable, but she nevertheless had an approximate grasp of how he saw the promised crown over his head and the standards to which he held himself. The Remno incident had, in her opinion, brought his near-neurotic fascination with justice and fairness down to a more reasonable level of dedication. He was no longer the Sion of old.

But that was during their adventures, where his homeland held little sway over his actions. Here, in the heart of Sunkland, where they prized just and righteous rulers above all else, an attempt to assassinate their crown prince would be met with a tidal wave of demand for fair trial, along with fair punishment. Fair, unbiased, and thoroughly unforgiving punishment.

He’d be forced to sentence his own brother to death... That’d surely scar him for life...

Mia’s fingers tightened around the scarf on her neck. She had no siblings. The only family she knew was her father, the emperor. She wasn’t even all that fond of him. If anything, she found him rather annoying. When he’d seen her wearing this dress, though... The dress that her mother—his wife—had made with her own hands... The beaming joy that had radiated from him was admittedly endearing. Not that it made him any less annoying, but... Back in the previous timeline, the news of him being sent to the guillotine before her had rattled her to no small degree. He was annoying, but not that annoying...

Besides... Though she had no memories of her mother, she certainly would have loved to know her. And, if possible, have her at her side. Such was one’s family. They were precious beyond reason. She couldn’t imagine Sion feeling any different.

I mean, yes, he’s perfect and flawless and knows way too much for his own good, but it must still hurt him to be forced to sentence a family member to death.

Perhaps it was the fact that she was wearing her mother’s handmade dress. For some reason, Mia couldn’t stand the thought of the relationship between Sion and Echard turning so dreadfully sour. Offing an assassin or two was no problem, but if one of those assassins was Sion’s own brother, she wasn’t sure whether telling him about it would do him more good than harm.

Anyway, that’s why it’s absolutely imperative that no other nobles find out about this.

So long as the whole incident was kept under wraps, Sion wouldn’t be forced into a position where he had to kill his brother for the sake of justice.

But assuming no one else finds out, and Sion chooses to forgive Echard, how would Echard feel about Sion?

She couldn’t help but think that it would only make the younger prince more bitter, especially considering Keithwood’s description of his character and the inferiority complex he suffered from. As the rift between the two brothers widened, it would leave them increasingly vulnerable to manipulation by the Serpents.

“Which would be even nastier. Honestly, I’d rather deal with assassins.”

What made the Serpents so problematic was their ability to turn well-behaving citizens into their pawns. Vital pieces of the intricate system that was society would become corrupted, but their function would be no less vital. A regular assassin could be eliminated with minimal harm to Sion’s conscience, but doing so to a brother who’d become an assassin would cause a lot more collateral damage.

Dealing with the incident at hand would require utmost finesse.

“I think...saving Sion’s life is going to be the least of my problems this time.”

There was no guarantee the Princess Chronicles would warn her of every impending crisis. If she identified a potential problem down the road, it was best to nip it in the bud.

“Let’s say I have Rina follow Sion around. Esmeralda can stick with Prince Echard. As for Tiona...maybe I should assign her to Sion too...”

As she contemplated how to deploy her forces during the party, one issue slipped her mind.

When it rains, it pours.

Misfortunes never come singly.

Bad things come in threes.

She failed to consider the implication of these...