For a girl that had always prided herself for being a super brilliant person, she had just gone and done something even the dumbest person alive would never do. She had antagonized the Crowned Prince of Lyvera in his own home. Albeit accidentally, but still. What did she think would have happened anyway, it wasn't as if she didn't know Timothy?
Four years in the same Academy with Zelda should have told her that Timothy was never going to change how he saw her no matter what she did. For a moment she had actually entertained the thought of him seeing her differently thanks to the letters she had sent to him regularly for three years. However seeing him look at her with so much venom actually gave her second thoughts about this whole trip.
She had happily come to the Imperial City with the hope that she would get a second chance at being close to Timothy. She had hoped she would finally be able to make him stop hating her as he'd done in the Academy and make him see that she could be very useful to him. Or even better, actually like her.
Oh how silly that hope now seemed to her given their altercation in the dining hall.
"Your Highness?" A man servant asked as she walked out of the dining hall with a scowl on her face and her fists balled tightly. "Your dress?" He asked out of concern, concern she didn't need at the moment.
"Tomato sauce." She said as she touched the dried blood which was the only proof that Timothy had stabbed her. "Got some on my dress." She finished before she walked passed him.
"Your shirt is torn there though…" The boy said.
"Have you ever heard of this rare skill that has been passed down by the Ancients from our ancestors to us? It's this rare skill that is at risk of completely dying out." She began as she stopped walking to turn around and face the nosy servant.
"I have never heard of it your Highness." The servant said with a low bow as he kept his head down.
"It's called minding your damn business." She said as sweetly as she could manage, while fighting the urge to transfer her aggression on the boy.
She didn't even bother to look at the servant's reaction or the look on the faces of the guards after that remark. She simply walked away from the hallway to her quarters to change. There were bigger things on her mind, like what she could do to make Timothy like her despite her antagonistic behaviors to him in the past.
"You don't look like you are in the mood." Her maid servant said the moment she entered her bed chambers.
"Thanks for your great perception ability Sandra, I would have never known otherwise." She replied as she removed her dress with hands still shaking in anger.
"Wow, you are full blown sarcastic, I guess your long awaited reunion with the Crown Prince didn't pan out as well as you would have hoped?" Sandra asked as she went to her wardrobe to bring out another dress for her.
"What do you mean by long awaited? There is no way in the heavens that I would anticipate seeing him." She ground out in embarrassment.
"You kept muttering to yourself about how amazing it would be to finally meet the only guy in the Academy that really challenged you. Sure everyone else says you bullied the Crown Prince with your superiority in everything he was good at and bad at, but hey, their words not mine." Sandra said and laid down her dress with a cheerful smile.
"I never anticipated seeing him, I had only been curious as to how he was handling everything seeing as his father just died." Zelda said in a low voice as she avoided her servant's eyes while she approached the dress.
There was no point getting into the topic of whether she bullied Timothy or not, it was irrelevant in the grand scope of things.
"I'm guessing the 'tomato sauce' on your dress was as a result of a very happy reunion?" Sandra asked as she began to help Zelda wear the dress.
"Whatever." She surrendered as she looked at the simple dress she was wearing. It was still regal, the quality very obvious to anyone who saw it, but it was still simple in its ability to let her move freely but not reveal too much skin.
Her relationship with the Crown Prince had always been tense. From the day they had met each other till the day they had graduated, there had never been a dull moment between them. If she hadn't been forcing him to spar with her, she had been challenging him in the other subjects all in a bid to make him better. The fact he had hated her hadn't bothered her though as long as he had gotten better every year. And over time, she had proudly watched him go from that scrawny scared kid with only Green magic to a man confident in his abilities with the Green magic he had.
In her mind, she had actually been getting close to the Prince. Sure he hated her, but at least he spoke with her, sparred with her and didn't threaten to destroy her kingdom despite how strict she had been with his education. But after three years since graduation, she had to admit that her plan to be his friend had failed woefully, hence the rebranding.
Other than her colossal failure at befriending the only person she believed could stand up to her, she couldn't help but wonder why Timothy had reacted the way he had to her prodding.
Surely there was no truth to her assumption, surely he wasn't what she feared he was. When they had been in the Academy, she had always commented on his ginger hair to get a rise out of him. This time however, the fear she had seen in his eyes as he'd stabbed her made her wonder if she had really been spot on.
Had she been right, had she really been right in her assumptions? Was Timothy a bastard?
This was bad. If she could simply guess and have him react like that, what then would happen if her father found this out or any of the Kings, or worse his family? What if they were able to find evidence and then use it against him before his coronation?
She was worried, admittedly, but why wouldn't she be? Timothy was smart and capable, her training had seen to it, but all of that was useless against his heritage! He needed help, maybe that was why he was looking for a wife.
Oh, now that was where she could help him. She just had to be smart about it.
It had been painfully obvious to everyone at the dining table that he had fallen for Elizabeth, something she didn't understand since she wasn't all that. Sure she was pleasing to look at, but that was about everything remarkable about her! She wasn't the smartest or the most ruthless, she was just a beautiful dumbass. Zelda really questioned Timothy's taste in women at this point.
To be honest, if Timothy wanted to pick a wife, his safest bet had to be Violet. Not only was Violet a Grey Mage, which could prove useful to him on coronation day, she was also very loyal to Timothy. Timothy had to choose Violet, not Elizabeth, if not for anything else, then at least for the sake of the girl's Grey magic which would help the thrones glow green and grey.
"Sandra." She began as they left her room.
"Yes your Highness?"
"Where do you think Violet is?"
"Princess Violet?" Sandra asked as they walked down the hallway that was sparsely guarded by the Paladins. "I don't know, maybe the library or the Arena?"
"The Arena." She said with a smile as she thought about all the Paladins that would be there going against each other for the entertainment of the noble women who happened to go there.
"You want to go watch them train?" Sandra asked as they got down the huge stairs.
"No." She said as they jogged down the stairs. "I want to spar with them."
Sandra chuckled at her words for a while before she went silent at realizing that Zelda meant what she was saying. "I'm sorry your Highness, but the Imperial Paladins are the Empire's best of the best Grey and Green Mages that can take down an entire Kingdom upon command. Only an Imperial Paladin can match an Imperial Paladin."
"I know that, but ever since the Academy I haven't been able to find anyone willing to spar with me. The Paladins at home are all too weak for me, but here in the Imperial Capital I'm sure I will find one or two Paladins good enough to make me sweat."
"But you were asking for Princess Violet only a moment ago, change of plans?"
"What, can't I kill two birds with one stone? Speak to Violet while I also stretch my muscles?"
Her question went unanswered by her maid servant who simply looked at her in utter confusion as they descended the flight of stairs and went to the courtyard. Moments later, they flagged a car that took them straight to the Arena.
The loud noise of Paladins yelling at each other as they smacked boulders on shields could be heard from afar, long before she and her servant arrived at the location. The Arena was as big as could be imagined, built completely through the Grey magic and reinforced by Green magic to ensure no considerable damage was done to the building. From the outside, she could already tell that it was a full stadium with many noble women and some peasants looking for entertainment.
"So where first, the Ring or Princess Violet?" Sandra asked as they paid the driver his money and headed for the gate.
"The Ring obviously." She said as she went towards the hallway that led to the Ring.
"Sorry, only Paladins are allowed in here." The guard in front of the massive door.
"I am Princess Zelda, I think I can go wherever I want to go, don't you agree?" She asked the guard who immediately bowed at her in fear.
"My apologies your Highness, I didn't know you were… royalty." The man said. "Some of those noble ladies have been trying to get into the Paladin changing room for a while now, I just thought you were one of them."
"Trust me, I am not here to ogle on some of the Paladins, I am here for something else." She said before she turned to look at Sandra. "Stay here will you?"
"I will be waiting for you in the Arena." Sandra said and bowed her head before leaving for the stands.
"Your Highness." The guard said as he bowed his head in understanding and opened the door for her to go in.
With a nod at the man, she went into the changing room and saw so many Paladins half dressed as they either got out of their training wear or into their training wear.
No wonder the guard restricted people from coming in here. This was quite a sight and would be one thing many would love to ogle at if given the chance. Her interest however was in getting into the Ring, if she changed here and got into the Ring, there was no way anyone of them would refuse to fight her.
She ignored all the Paladins and instead went to the spare training wear that hadn't been worn and grabbed it. Once she took it, she turned around to look for a more decent place to change only for her to hit the chest of some Paladin that had been coming in her direction, and fall to the ground.
"Yeah sorry about that." The Paladin said in apology as he bent down to help her up. "I was not looking where I was going."
"It's okay." She said as she took his hand and got up before she looked up to see his face. "Oh." She said as her eyes went wide and his narrowed.
"You." He said with a frown and an obvious grinding of the teeth.
"My apologies your Highness, I didn't see you there." She said as she remembered they had an audience, which meant he wasn't going to do what his instincts were telling him to do as long as she behaved.
"Twice in one day, this has got to be a record." He muttered. "Are you stalking me or is this some crazy coincidence?"
"Crazy coincidence." She said as she showed him the training wear. "I came for a little bit of training, what about you?"
"I came to see the Imperial Paladin Head, seeing as I am to be the new Emperor in two moons time. Not that it's any of your business." He said as he looked at her and then the audience that had their eyes glued on them.
"Ah, that's smart." She said before clearing her throat. "How about this, your schedule, send it to me every morning." She said.
"Why, so you could stalk me more efficiently?"
"Don't flatter yourself your highness." She said with a scoff. "If I have your daily schedule, then I will try my best to never be in the same place you go, how about that? That way, we never have to see each other, except for official events." She said as she stretched her hand out to him. "Do we have a deal, your Highness."
Yes, this was a nice plan she had made up on the spot. With Timothy's schedule in her hand every morning, she could help arrange accidental meetings between Violet and Timothy until finally Timothy accepted Violet as his logical choice. This was a good plan if she was able to get Violet to trust her. Once that was done and she was able to put things in motion, then she could actually save Timothy from certain destruction.
She would be lying if she said she didn't feel proud of herself. Why wouldn't she be proud of herself when there was a high chance that she could actually succeed in her plan? Why wouldn't she be proud of herself when she could finally make Timothy see that she no longer had to be his villain? Hopeful with this act, he would embrace her.
With a huff, he shook her hand. "Of course we have a deal."