Our expedition continued for the next few days without many surprises. Which could become especially dangerous, since the Queen was starting to get bored.
Then, one day, something finally happened.
"There's a..." Sabrina was about to tell us something, but the Queen covered her mouth.
"There's nothing ahead of us. Certainly not a teleportation trap that will send each of us to a different place," the Queen said, struggling to keep Sabrina's mouth shut.
Okay, Queen, I think everyone already got the hint.
"But, my Queen, it is my duty to warn about traps," Sabrina finally managed to say.
"What trap? There's no trap. You're just imagining things," the Queen said, winking at Sabrina in the most obvious way possible.
"Oh yes, my Queen, there's absolutely no trap ahead. But if there were, I'd tell everyone to get ready, because it could be dangerous." Sabrina finally gave in and decided to go along with the Queen's will.
Well, at least now we knew what was coming.
To no one's surprise, after just a few more steps forward, a large magic circle formed beneath our feet.
"Oh, Sabrina, a teleportation trap. Why didn't you warn us?" I heard the Queen say as she vanished.
When I finally got used to the sudden change of scenery, I noticed that the only person teleported to the same place as me was the Elf.
It's almost as if, after revealing our shared past, the author had forced this party-splitting scenario just to develop our relationship. But I'm sure it's just coincidence.
"Are you okay?" I asked her.
I was really worried about her, okay? I wasn't just asking out of politeness.
"Great, of all the people who could've been teleported with me, it had to be you," she replied.
"You wouldn't have been my first choice either," I answered.
"We are not going to have sex!" she stated firmly. "Don't even start thinking that with your dirty mind."
"I would never do that to the Queen, or to Ted," I replied. "I'm a faithful man, if you didn't know."
"I personally saw you getting pretty comfortable with Mary," she countered.
"Only because that's what the Queen wanted," I answered. "It's not my fault if my fiancée's creative mind tends to favor me now and then."
"What was she thinking, huh?" Sylph started to complain. "Making us fall into that trap on purpose..."
"She was probably just bored," I said. "If I were you, I'd watch what I say. She wouldn't have done it unless she planned to spy on what we're going to do. From now on, act like you're on Big Brother or something."
Later on, I'd find out I had hit the nail on the head.
We started moving forward, looking for a way to reunite with our companions. The environment was completely different from where we had been before, so we were probably far away, and it would take a few days to find them.
We still had our fast-travel artifacts, so if we wanted, we could just return to the castle. But I figured the Queen might destroy the artifacts if anyone tried to use them and mess up her little game. So we didn't use them, and probably neither did the others.
We walked for a few hours without much trouble, until we ran into three giant scorpions. Each the size of an bull, with claws that could cut us in half and a stinger whose venom could be fatal with a single drop.
"I'll take the front line and you support me." That was the whole strategy I managed to think up before they attacked us.
Sylph summoned wind barriers to protect us, so I saved my mana and didn't cast any spells.
I dodged the claw of the first scorpion and struck the second before it could get past me. That gave her enough time to cast a levitation spell and get herself out of the monsters' reach, giving her a clear line of fire to hit them with air blasts.
The show-off was handling three spells of completely different types at once like it was child's play. I had to admit: she was a very talented mage.
I didn't want to fall behind, so I kept attacking as fast and hard as I could, waiting for an opening to land a killing blow.
One by one, the scorpions were killed. But then, before I could land the final blow on the last one, the monster took advantage of a distracted moment from Sylph — who had relaxed after two of them were already dead — and managed to sting her in the thigh.
I quickly killed the monster before it could do more damage and rushed to help Sylph.
"Oh, Arthur, it stung me. You'll have to suck the venom out," she said, giving me a seductive look and showing the wound on her thigh.
I just grabbed an antidote from my magic pouch and tossed it to her.
"Hmph... you used to be more fun in the past," she teased. "But I bet if you weren't afraid the Queen was watching..."
"I'd never do that to her, even if she couldn't find out," I replied with conviction before she even finished.
"Start a fire, put a cauldron of water to boil," she started giving orders. "I'll butcher the scorpions, collect the valuable parts, and save some meat so we can make a stew."
"Since when do you know how to butcher monsters?" I was genuinely surprised. "You used to be disgusted just by seeing them dead."
"I don't know if you noticed, but I've changed a lot since we last saw each other," she said as she began butchering the scorpions.
"You can bet you have," was all I could say.
"When did you recognize me?" she asked. "Until you admitted it that day, I thought you were just some idiot who didn't even know who I really was. Well, you are still an idiot."
"i'd not recognized right away, but the moment your song started insulting me out of nowhere, I realized who you were," I replied. "The only thing I still don't understand is why you're so mad at me."
"You really are an idiot." She didn't answer, but I insisted.
"Seriously, why are you so mad?" I asked again.
"Do I really need to answer that?" she turned abruptly toward me, angrily pointing her blood-soaked butchering knife at me. I must admit, it was quite terrifying.
"You're the one who broke up with me, remember?" I argued. Could that be why she was so mad?
"Back then, people still saw me as a boy. My father hoped I'd marry a foreign princess and give him lots of heirs. How could we have kept our relationship?" she asked me.
"We'd have found a way," I replied. "It didn't matter how people saw you. I always saw the beautiful girl you were."
"Then why didn't you wait for me?" she asked, not giving me time to answer. "But it doesn't matter anymore. I love Ted. He's the man, I mean, the bear, of my life. There's no room for you anymore."
How was I supposed to know she wanted me to wait after that brutal breakup? Well, I didn't keep arguing, because it wouldn't lead anywhere. That ship had sailed long ago, and we were in a different phase of our lives.
"Alright, so let's make a deal: you keep being the airhead you've always been, and I'll keep being..."
"The coward prince," she cut into my speech.
"...the coward prince... wait, what? Anyway, I'll keep being myself. But let's be friends again," I proposed.
"Okay, I can agree to that," she replied.
And yes, being separated from the rest of the group helped us start rebuilding our relationship, now as friends.
Maybe that had been the author's intention all along?