The hero is now gone, but I’m still here, now what? (Undergoing editing)

Capscaria jolted awake and immediately saw an unfamiliar ceiling. She groaned, the words of a certain disgrace echoing inside her head, she totally flunked everything last night didn’t she? ‘I’m gonna heed her advice my ass,’ she said to herself as she sat up, the first thing that she noticed once she did was that she was fully clothed, “What?”

Did some guy seriously just bring her to their room without trying anything? She laughed, not caring that her voice sounded hoarse or even that it was atypical to be seen doing so. An esteemed lady such as her, does she really hold no value? She groaned and let her body fall back into the bed, hey, at least it felt comfortable-

“You should get up,” the voice of a girl, young? Was she the wife? Or maybe her rescuer? “Mistress Neophyte would soon wake up and I have plans that I want to enact before she does,” Neophyte… that name sounded- Oh! Ohhhhh- she remembers now! So that’s what happened, she thought it was just some sort of fever dream.

Can the princess really eat that much? What about other Pledge Bearers?

“An entire table of meat… Pledge Bearers are lucky,” she murmured as she got up.

“No, that’s just Neo,” she heard the maid- well it should be Zathania if her memory serves her right, “she’s… unique like that.”

“Uhuh, so you’re telling me that normal humans don’t usually eat an entire table for dinner?” She joked with a smirk to which Zathania nodded seriously, Capscaria groaned, talk about being a golem, “okay, you’re serious, you said you had plans?”

“Yes,” came the blunt answer, “see, I do not know if you know this but Neo is being asked to marry by her father,”

“Big deal, she should get on the ride, everyone does it.” Capscaria rolled her eyes then eyed the maid, “so what? Our little princess doesn’t want to marry so you want to?.. What? Exactly?”

“Oh, no-no,” Zathania shook her head, “the problem isn’t the princess but rather me,”

Raising an eyebrow, Capscaria looked the maid up and down, she didn’t seem like a guy, with her ample bust and wide hips, heart shaped face and well, smooth shoulders, not broad, smooth. And all of that is shown perfectly despite the maid outfit she is wearing, and Capscaria briefly wondered how the girl would look should she wear a proper dress but dismissed the thought.

“Okay, you’re the problem, got it.” she chorused, “what kind?”

“I like her,” came the unexpected yet expected answer and Capscaria had to laugh and she continued to do so, stalling for time and hoping that it was some sort of sick joke but no- Zathania was serious, her face was still and as stoic as a statue while staring her bed-ridden form down, Capscaria stopped laughing and the maid cleared her throat, “let me correct that, I love her.”

“Right. Girls loving girls. Because the princess’ life couldn’t get any weirder right?” She said with a smirk, “I never knew she was a dyke,”

“She isn’t,” the answer was quick, “and I would not prefer to be called such an insulting term but yes, I am lesbian,”

“Yeah, good luck with your little hidden love story and keep pining for Neo,” Capscaria waved the maid off and stood up, “I’m gonna go back to my husband and proceed to bear a child, like a normal woman.”

“The same husband who cheats on you?” Zathania retorted, making Capscaria snort.

“Cheat on me?” She growled out, gesturing to her petite body, “do you really think he would do that?”

“Well, you’re right,” Capscaria smiled smugly, “it wouldn’t really be cheating if he never touched you right?”

“Wha- Yes he did!” Why did she bother to reply so quickly and so aggressively? That just gave off the impression that she’s defensive didn’t it? She bit her lip and glared at the maid, “we’ve slept together once or twice before,”

That was a weak defense wasn’t it? Especially considering how long she’s been married…

“You do realize that House Phagea is a major noble household that trains maids correct?” Capscaria nodded and ignored the implication, its not like maids liked to gossip- they totally do don’t they? “And you also realize that I am the daughter of the scion of that house also?”

“You’re father’s the scion?”

“Yes.”

“Well so what?”

Zathania leaned in, “it means that I can ask any maid out there for information and get an answer,” she smirked, “and from what I’ve gathered, you and your “husband”-”

she raised both her hands and air quoted condescendingly, “- have separate rooms, and from what I’ve gathered, your marriage was more than just forced, I remember back then, come to think of it, House Tequi and House Nari marrying their two youngest children so that the latter can earn financial support while the former earns a bit of land-”

“Shut up.”

The maid continued, uncaring of her threatening tone, “so tell me, Capscaria T. Nari, how’s the land that you got from your marriage?”

What other reply could she give other than try to slap her? And of course it fails. Because of course the maid is combat trained, house Phagea also offers the services of battlefield ready servants don’t they? It’s expected that the daughter of their scion would be trained in such arts. She should've-

“Your husband doesn’t like you,” Zathania let go of her wrist and Capscaria’s hand fell weakly, “as his family sold him and their lands to yours unofficially,”

“And?” Her voice was breaking now, but Capscaria held strong, “so what?”

“Well, I can offer you an opportunity to move on from such a pathetic, loveless marriage and not feel guilt in regards to it,” the maid shrugged, “just do as I say,”

“Do I have a choice?” The gaze of the maid told her no. Capscaria closed her eyes, “... fine.”

“Good. I want you to spread the word that you’ve had a threesome with me and my mistress,”

What? “Sorry, can you repeat that?”

“You heard me.”

“YOU-” Zathania's glare stopped her shout short, “You’ll ruin my name!’

“And? Wouldn’t it have happened already? Last night, the only reason why you didn’t wake up naked next to some other guy is the fact that you’re with my mistress, she decided to help you, otherwise your reputation would’ve been hurt.”

“I can always just refuse, I have the power to do that,” Capscaria refuted.

“I have maids all across Everlast, spreading the word of you “having a threesome” isn't that hard, you personally saying it just makes it valid and not a rumor.”

Capscaria sighed. She really didn’t have a choice, did she?

Capscaria found herself staring at the sleeping form of Neophyte, who for the sake of her guest’s- Her - modesty, decided to sleep on a chair instead of her own bed, and at the thought of that, the young noble found herself glaring at the princess’ personal maid, “Neophyte is so kind and yet… you bother doing this.”

“I admit to that guilt,” the maid replied, “but… - And I am also admitting to being a failure of a maid and servant-” she looked away from Capscaria’s eyes, “but… I… want to pursue my feelings, even if it means that I’ll hurt her.”

“What do you think Neophyte is gonna do once she realizes that you’re the one who actually spread the rumors of the threesome?”

“... I don’t know.” She sighed, “but what I do know is that her reaction will hurt me like I hurt her at least, I suppose it’s payback,” she gave out a shaky smile.

“Well…” Capscaria turned away from Nia and towards Neophyte, she was breathing lightly, causing her chest to move up and down, the young noble smiled when she saw that Neophyte still hadn’t changed out of her dress, did she plop herself on the cushions of her chair and just immediately fell asleep? So much for a princess of Everlast and her generation’s most prodigious Pledge Bearer.

Capscaria sighed, it was better to let all the stress out- “... at least I’m not being forced to this by some backwater, useless, mundane noble from some random no-name house that dragged my drunken ass to their room the past night for 2 minutes worth of humping.”

“Silver linings,” Zathania smirked.

“Yay~~” Capscaria faked a cheer.

Igneous Sear Everlast sighed and stared down at the member of House Tequi kneeling in front of him, this is way too early for any royal proceedings and yet here he was, already sitting on his throne at 6 o clock in order to deal with the most recent issue his strayed daughter has given him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, it is best to face the music, Igenous.

The King opened his eyes once more, “repeat what you just claimed.”

“I’m afraid that it isn’t a claim, Your Highness,” of course it isn’t! He heard his servants tell him that his daughter brought a drunken girl to her quarters last night!

“Yes, of course,” Igneous did his best to smile, “now, say that again.”

“I… admit to the guilt of having a threesome with your daughter.”

His anger bubbled and reached its boiling point- “WHY?!”

The girl flinched but she remained stoic, “I… have no idea, it was just a spur of the moment thing-”

“I get that, I get that.” Igneous bit out, “I just want to know why you decided to spread the word around,”

“I- I thought that the maids who came to my presence at the guest’s bathroom were Zathania so I talked openly and-” This girl is an idiot, Igneous concluded, which means that he’s not dealing with just a simple mistake, Tequi is gonna have to ask compensation for this, and Nari as well since… well, Nari could be dealt with easily enough, and perhaps Tequi might even want the marriage of the girl in front of him renewed…

Hm. Capscaria also isn’t a bad marriage partner for Neophyte either… And Tequi is a good house…

“- that is why I am sorry, for I have made the grave mistake of sleeping with your daughter.”

“You are forgiven, dismissed.” He waved her off, the sooner she leaves his sight the better he can handle the upcoming storm, “there is a flying carriage waiting for you on the sky path of the castle’s rightmost wing, take that and go.”

“As you wish,” the girl shakily stood up before bumbling out of his throne room.

Igneous looked to the side once the girl left, “so, Falya, what do you want to do now that Neophyte has shown no interest in men?”

“I do not know…” his wife admitted, “but perhaps her brothers and sisters may talk her out of it? Who’s awake right now?” She turned to the butler standing to the side, “Can you call them?”

“I shall,”

And whether he hated it or not, Igneous now has some peace and silence for himself, time to think about the girl’s mistake. Which will last until the butler comes back with his children.

The King closed his eyes and forced himself to start thinking about his stray daughter- Neophyte is… talented would be the wrong word, she is prodigious in all the right ways, she’s smart, capable of using powerful Light Techniques, and her Pledge is one of the most powerful ever recorded, up there with those who joined forces with past Heroes.

But she’s also problematic- that word is also the wrong one to use in order to describe her because Neophyte is, for the lack of a better term, catastrophic with her chosen choices, as proven by the unspeakable thing that she did when she was young.

“Well,” Igneous opened his eyes when a new voice echoed across the throne room, “would you look at that! Pearl wasn’t lying!” A laugh and the King turned to his third oldest son; Basalt is a complicated child, with his own whims and choices that seemingly stray from Igneous’ own, yet at the same time, he is talented, but that doesn’t really stop the wake that he leaves behind whenever he does something.

He is handsome, with a face that reminded Igneous of his younger self.

“She really is a Dyke!”

Has a problematic mouth too.

“Don’t call her that,” Falya scolded and Basalt only shrugged- shows his respect for those older than him.

“Don’t treat our family members like that,” Cobalt, his 5th youngest grabbed Basalt’s head and pushed it down. Igneous nodded at him gratefully.

“Still unexpected though,” Adamantite, the oldest and most proficient when it comes to using Light said with a small smile, “I’m happy for her but… I’m also quite concerned, what would happen to her when she doesn’t want to bear children?”

Igneous silently noted that his son said doesn’t and not couldn’t, aware that Adam wanted to plant the idea of her being a useless Queen who would marry someone who can’t get her pregnant should the time come.
It was a wholly unnecessary political move, let alone one that’s done so early in the morning but if that is what the boy wishes to do then why not? It’s not like he’s incapable of earning the place of crown prince. He has the talent for it, so he might as well learn politics.

Neophyte has to compete with her older brother for the title of Crown Princess. That much is evident.

“I say just let her be,” Bismuth, said as he passed through the door of the throne room, the glare he shot at everyone was harsh, “she wants to love girls, then what’s the harm? It’s not like it’ll kill us,”

“It may very well have the chance of normalizing such a way of thinking,” said Igneous, “should I remind you that she is a role model to most of the girls in Everlast? As she is both a princess, a dream of every little girl out there, as well as a powerful Pledge Bearer, which is also their dream, I suppose.”

“They would want to imitate her,” said Bismuth, “is that what you are implying?”

“Yes.”

“So what?” Bismuth said, “The girls of Everlast are doing well for themselves because of their wish to be like her, so what’s the harm of trying to find their desires? Unless you’re calling love wrong, father?”

“I did not imply as such,” Igneous replied quickly and before The Goddess overheard such a blasphemous claim, “now, personally, I want to hear from her about what she wants to do.” He sighed, Goddess have mercy, how is she late? “Which begs the question, where is Neophyte, Zathania?”

His daughter’s personal maid stepped forward and bowed, she had been standing there for the better part of an hour now and so far, has taken the tiny punishment he’d given her well.

“She is sleeping in her bed your highness,” she said, “once miss Capscaria left, she has decided to continue her rest, should I call for her again?”

“Do it.” The maid nodded and left.

“Now that I look at her, Zathania is pretty beautiful isn’t she?” Adamantite hummed appreciatively, “I wouldn’t mind having someone like her as a concubine,”

“Sister would have your head for that,” Cobalt mentioned.

Adamantite shrugged. “I’ll fight her, I can take her on.”

“Like all the times where you fought her and lost?” Basalt said with a derisive smirk, “when she goes all out, sister’s the strongest fighter out of all of us, you cannot possibly hope to beat her with your… lackluster Techniques yes?”

“Are you implying something?” Adamantite growled.

“Children.” Igneous commanded and they all stood straight.

“Everyone here knows that your sister is simply on another level,” he said the truth, that much is fact, and Adamantite is talented, yes, but he’s… sort of a specialist, while Neophyte is both a generalist and a specialist, someone who has learned martial arts- and anything else she’s sought to learn all these years, - yet also capable of using Light Techniques like no other.

And she knows so much about Light and how it functions that sometimes Igneous wonders if the Goddess had somehow given the girl secrets in order to better repent for her sins, as she simply knew too much for it to be natural.

But perhaps that’s just her talent, “now, since you all decided to stop bickering, let us talk about the possibility of her going to Pledge Academy.”