NOVEL NEXT Chapter 43: In Which I Meet The Pitiable Princess of Prophecy, Adeline
The next morning, I woke up in the larger body again. It was slightly disconcerting.
Sasha sitting next to me on the bed, watching my face, smiling slightly as I awoke. “Princess Asperia said we can go over to Princess Adeline’s today, so I took the liberty of swapping us back since we shouldn’t do it on the way.”
...Right. Since we were going in these bodies, we didn’t really need the protective devices she had in mind for us to not be at risk of losing our bodies.
I sat up and stroked her head and scritched behind her ears a little, and she half-closed her eyes and pressed her head into my hand and I petted her a little more. “Do you miss having ears and a tail when you’re in this body?”
She opened an eye all the way and stared up at me. “A little. Don’t you miss having power and respect when you’re in this one?”
“Not even remotely. The only reason I’m taking this body today is because I’m the right person to do this.” I felt as if we were just girlfriends borrowing clothes for a moment. “...speaking of, I need a buy a few more dresses.”
“You need to get dresses tailored, do we have the time for that?”
“What would you suggest?”
After a little asking around the harem, we found out Velt knew how to tailor, and with a yellow dress donated from Ava – she left a note saying “since I don’t want you to embarrass our Princess”, which seemed a little passive aggressive, but I guess she was helping us – and Velt measured me naked. This was a bit embarrassing, but it’s not like I hadn’t been fucked in front of everyone in this place, and soon enough she was reworking the dress and spiffing it up a little with gold-enlaid ribbons and a plethora of little diamonds and sapphires that I did not ask the cost of, using magic to hold and rotate clothing and a few different pairs of scissors of various sizes to make efficient cuts, before sewing with another spell. Sasha did up my hair with a few of the ribbons with gems inlaid in them, and she and Velt stood back and admired their handiwork… and then Velt did my makeup while Sasha adjusted my hair more.
“There,” said Velt, finally satisfied after like, an hour. “now she doesn’t look embarrassing for our Princess’s fiance.” She blinked, tensing as she realized what she said, then glanced over to me – but I was too busy flushing and looking down at the floor to be mad at her. She smiled a bit uneasily at me and placed a hand on my arm. “Sorry, Mistress… you look very good even naked, it’s just we can’t show any sign of weakness.”
“No, no, of course, I understand,” I said, laughing a bit awkwardly. “Thanks for helping me dress up.”
“Of course!” She beamed up at me. I guess acting slightly reasonable got me approval now that I had power… but Velt was just a friendly girl in general, really. Still, she wouldn’t have tensed at saying the wrong thing to me if I was Sasha right now.
“Yeah well… thanks again.” I took Sasha’s hand and lead her back into our room, and she looked at me questioningly as I stripped off her clothes, but didn’t resist, nor did she resist as I put a simpler, lighter yellow dress on her. “Does that look appropriate? I want to make it clear you’re with me.”
“Yes, that should be fine. Thank you,” she sounded a bit disappointed, though… maybe that I didn’t do anything more with her?
I leaned in for a soft kiss on her lips. “I don’t want to delay us longer, and we need to look proper.”
She looked up at me with a bit of confusion for a moment, then nodded. “It’s fine.” Did that really mean it was fine? We did need to get going, though, so I took her hand gently and lead her outside into the waiting carriage, and with a bit of fanfare we started on our way over to Princess Adeline’s estate out in the country a little ways.
Sasha sat next to me then slid up into my lap, and rested her back against me, and I wrapped my arms around her. She started rubbing the curves of her ass against my crotch a little, and I made half-uttered sounds and took a moment to be able to say comprehensible things again as my cock started to thicken and harden underneath her soft pressure. “Hey, we need to be presentable.”
“Just checking,” Sasha responded, her voice a bit flirtatious and domineering.
I swallowed. If she was going to act like that, it’d be pretty hard to be responsible.
“Now pet my head and ears more,” she requested, or perhaps demanded. It mattered not, I obliged happily, showering Sasha in affection as she relaxed in my lap. I wanted this cute little dog-girl to be happy… well, I wanted the soul inside her to be happy too, although it was weird to think about it that way since that was her original body but at this point it felt more like I was in her body and she was in mine, even though these were in fact our original respective bodies? Except the one I was in now had been altered, for which I was very grateful right now... to Sasha, I guess?
Being small and cute just suited me better than being big and strong and beautiful, although I thought the girl currently in my lap was rather precious and terrifying either way. Right now, I technically had absolute control over her, but I knew that if she really pushed, I’d probably let her have control of whatever she wanted, and I wasn’t entirely sure she wouldn’t abuse that.
But after a little while I looked out and watched the scenery, zoning out as I pet the cute dog-girl relaxing in my lap... I wondered if I looked that cute in that body.
We arrived at Princess Adeline's estate soon enough, and were let through the gate after our identities were announced. The carriage dropped us off at the door, and drove off towards the stables, I assume to wait around and take care of the horse until we were done with our conversation with Princess Adeline.
We were ushered into a large marble room with several couches and a low table, and at one of them, a young woman with white hair and white eyes whose face otherwise slightly resembled Princess Asperia's sat, staring up at me impassively.
I curtseyed as Sasha kneeled behind and to one side of me. "A pleasure to finally meet you in person, Princess Adeline."
Princess Adeline raised an eyebrow. "Is it? Truly?" She gestured to one of the couches.
I sat down on the couch, Sasha getting up and then kneeling again next to me on the floor. "...in a sense?" With her direct question, my honesty easily got the better of me. "I found a way we can perhaps all get along, and I really want the best for the largest amount of people."
"No, it's impossible. And I must say – that's a strange goal."
"Can you at least listen before you refuse it out of hand?"
She stared at me for a long moment, deadpan. "I am," she said flatly, "a seer."
"How often do you discount possibilities because you've already seen the outcome? Doesn't that make prophecies self-fulfilling at times?"
She blinked, and looked at me with a little more interest. "I do admit I didn't expect you to follow the Daverna school of thought on how seers work."
"Ah, no... self-fulfilling are a thing I learned from my world, I'm afraid. Where we seem to have lost the art of seers, as far as I know."
She raised an eyebrow that could have been the basis to a monument to skepticism. "...how would you lose such a thing?"
"Maybe they just keep their abilities hidden?" I wasn't going to say in our world we mostly kind of thought they were charlatans, after all.
"...that could be wise of them, I suppose, if people fear them and they aren't in charge." She waved her hand. "Tell me your plan to get along, keep it brief because it won't work anyway."
"Can you at least try to keep an open mind?"
She stared at me quietly for a little while, and I finally decided to tell the plan as briefly as I could. "It's pretty simple: you let me use mind magic on you, I read your mind to find out you have no ill intent, and, given Princess Asperia has no ill intent, you should be able to see that."
She stared off into space for a long moment. "No."
"...why not?"
Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Insolent." After a long moment more staring off into space, she shook her head slightly and looked back to me: "Even if your plan had no flaws in it, her rising to the throne makes the downfall of the kingdom almost certain. As a member of the royal family, it is my duty to keep the kingdom running. If she abdicates the throne, I should be able to protect her. Otherwise..." A slight shrug of her shoulders.
"...did you really send an assassin after her when you were twelve?"
She stared at me for a long moment. "Of course not. I would never wish harm on my sister. However, without control of the situation, I can't prevent bad things from happening to her. It is unfortunate she misconstrues my motives." Her voice sounded utterly bored, and I suspected at the very last that the part of her never wishing harm on her sister was a lie. "Are there any other rude questions you wish to ask?"
"What's your motivation behind wanting the throne?"
"I already told you. She's going to destroy the kingdom." She tapped a finger against her temple. "I guess being able to fix everything would also be nice."
"...fix everything?"
"There's a lot of things with uncertain futures that could be made certain." A slight pause. "You can leave her side and work for me, if you want." There was no conviction in her voice on that second sentence.
"...sounds like you don't want that."
"No, I merely know it's impossible. This entire meeting was a huge waste of time."
"Princess Asperia really treats those she cares about well, you know...."
"Her tools are also her lovers, certainly. Can't say I have an interest in being either of those."
"So your only motivation is to make things more certain, not better."
"More certain," said Princess Adeline slowly, as if she was speaking to a particularly foolish child whose antics she did not care for, "is better. The kingdom is not ideal for anyone in it, nevertheless, it is infinitely better than chaos, disorganization, and the constant struggle and war that would happen as others fight over these lands." She rubbed her forehead a little. "Were you told by someone to kill me if I didn't join you?"
"I would never... attacking as a messenger, and a messenger of Princess Asperia, no less... I don't even want you to die, truly."
"I know you won't attack me, which is why I allowed you to come here. I simply didn't know the reason. You should join my side. She's doomed to lose, after all."
"How have you seen the destruction of the kingdom if she's doomed to lose?"
"So you want the destruction of the kingdom?
"No, but I certainly can't trust you to be perfectly honest with me, now can I?"
"I suppose not. Would you like some tea or anything?"
"Ah, no thank you."
"...it's not poisoned, you know."
"Oh, of course not. What reason would you to have to poison your big sister's fiance in front of everyone?"
Princess Adeline stared into the distance for a long moment. "I'm afraid I am getting a headache and must retire. You are welcome to stay around as long as you like, but it is unlikely to recover while you stay here."
"Ah, well, don't let me take up your time." I got to my feet and curtseyed again, with Sasha copying my action.
"Yes, yes, you are dismissed." She gave another casual wave of her hand, and I turned away. I glanced back at her, seeing her holding her head, staring down at the floor, and grimacing.
She looked horribly small and alone, but I didn't know how to help her.