Exile? No, Vacation
2 days after Geord "Sentenced" Katarina to Exile.
King Stuart sighed, looking over the documents that his third son had presented. Some ridiculous notion of Exiling his fianceé for harassing the girl that had caught this heart. It seems like it was just to the extent of tripping his fianceé tripping his mistress with her magic, threatening her, talking down to her, and ruining her baked goods. It seemed that he had just made some grand announcement about Katarina being Exiled and annulling Their engagement. All in all this situation could be summed up in one way. "Geord. Has love made you Stupid?"
"Excuse me, Father?" Geord replied
"Geord, what are the two most influential Duchies in Sorciere?"
"The Claes, and Ades Duchy, the Claes Duchy—"
"OF COURSE THE CLAES DUCHY WILL BE A PROBLEM!" King Stuart roared, "YOU JUST ATTEMPTED TO EXILE THEIR ONLY DAUGHTER! NOT ONLY THAT, THE GRANDDAUGHTER OF THE ADES DUCHY!" King Stuart took a deep breath. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"
"Katarina is the Granddaughter of Duchess Ades?" Geord was shocked.
"I'm sure she's mentioned how her grandmother dotes on her." King Stuart said, gazing at Geord with disappointment, "But you should at least know who your fianceé is related to."
Geord was sweating, "I'm sure we can convince the Claes Duchy to not be a problem. Their heir was on my side."
"Did he step forward with you at your little "Condemnation," event?" King Stuart said.
"…No?" Geord, in fact, couldn't recall Keith being there.
"You've just recently gained an interest in other people besides Nicol and your brother so you may not know this, but The relationship between the Claes family is something like a Cold war. You'll end up ruining that family if I let you do this." King Stuart said as he rubbed the bridge of his nose
"Won't some other family rise up to replace them?" Geord countered.
"Sure. In 100 years. But what do you think Will happen to the Duchy in the meantime?" King Stuart looked at his son meaningfully.
"…" Geord was speechless.
"Really, why did you have to take after me in the worst of ways? I'm overturning Katarina's Exile." King Stuart rubbed his left temple. "But she won't be able to be in Sorciere for a while." King Stuart perked up, "Oh I could send her there. Yes, its a good opportunity."
"Where, father?" Geord queried.
King Stuart, looked at his son coolly, "She's not your fianceé anymore and you almost caused another Civil war. This is not your concern. I'll need you to start cleaning up this mess immediately. Get to work!"
This wasn't how Geord had expected this meeting to turn out.
2 hours later
Katarina was miffed, first she was exiled by her so called fiancé and now she was called in by the king? What more could the Royal family want with her. She walked into the King's office. "You called for me, Your Majesty?"
"First off, I'd like to say that I've overturned your Exile." King Stuart said. "You may have bullied that Light Mage and other people, but that's no reason for Exile."
"What?" Katarina was baffled. Why would the king go so far for her?
"However, I do have to send you out of the kingdom for a while. Just until this blows over." The King said with a sigh.
Katarina raised her left eyebrow and kept her mouth in a firm line, "So you're banishing me, after all?"
"No. I'm sending you on a diplomatic mission to a Kingdom across the sea." King Stuart corrected her. "Think of it as a working vacation. You can come back whenever you want."
"Excuse me, Your Majesty. I'm grateful for you overturning the Exile. But if I may say so, I'm definitely not the best choice for a Diplomatic mission." Katarina pointed out. "I only know our language and etiquette. I have never been to the international assembly so I only know our culture, as well. The only knowledge I have on foreign countries is just the situation of our neighbors."
"That's why you'll have an interpreter. Someone knowledgeable enough to fill in the gaps of your knowledge. I already have someone in mind." The King waved the issue away. "Now, on the Continent I'm sending you to, Everyone can use magic. I'd like you and you interpreter to study that magic system and send me reports."
"How would I accomplish that, Your Majesty?" Katarina was wary but intrigued.
"We have magic tools for that." The King smirked and handed her what looked like a a slab of glass and metal with an antenna Attached to it's rightmost corner. "You'll use this to contact us. We've already confirmed that it still works on that continent and can transmit to our continent from there. Although you'll have to be in a high place for it to work."
Katarina's heart skipped at the mention of a high place. She pulled herself together. "And how often do I have to send reports?"
King Stuart rubbed his chin, "Hmm... Every six months. You can do whatever you want in the intervening Time."
"… So if I wanted to plot my revenge against Geord-sama…" Katarina asked.
"Go for it, " the King said, "Granted, I won't let any harm come to my son but you can do whatever you want, while you're on the continent I'm sending you to." The King said. "I'd be happy if you could set up trade for magic items though."
Katarina smiled, just that? It really was a paid vacation. "Thank you, your majesty."
"You'll depart in two weeks. Right when your "Exile" was scheduled so It is nice and convenient."
"Thank you for this chance, Your Majesty." Katarina said with a bow.
"You're welcome Katarina. I'd recommend going to the Magic tools department of the Magical ministry within a week. There's nothing else So you may leave, Katarina." King Stuart dismissed her.
1 week later, Claes Manor, Luigi's office.
Luigi had called Anne to his office, saying he had something serious to discuss with her.
"Anne, You've served my daughter faithfully for many years. I hope you can accompany her on her trip to the Clover Kingdom." Luigi said
"It would be an honor to, Your Excellency." Anne said bowing.
"There's another thing, Miridiana wanted me to hand these to you. Take them and think it over," Luigi said and handed a small of stack of papers to Anne.
"This is?!" Anne recognized exactly what the documents were. Then she remembered the trouble that these papers had caused in the past. "Before I give you my answer, Have you talked to Her Excellency about Lord Keith?"
"Why would you bring that up?" Luigi asked
"I don't want Lady Miridiana to think I was a hidden bastard like she does with Lord Keith. Please. This can't go on, Lord Luigi."
Luigi raised his eyebrow. "All right. I'll try, once more, to have a proper talk with my wife."
3 hours later in the Claes family dining room
Miridiana was throwing things around Luigi. They were the cheap ones because she didn't want to destroy her favorites. If Katarina was present she would have been shocked by this most unladylike behavior from her mother
"8 years!" Miridiana said throwing a vase at the wall behind Luigi. "Eight years!! I thought I wasn't enough for you!" She threw a wooden bucket at the ceiling to emphasize her point.
"Miridiana. I love you. I always have." Luigi said standing perfectly still as the fragments of the broken objects scattered around him. "I would never cheat on you."
Miridiana responded by throwing a bronze plate a foot over Luigi's head. "If you had told me that from the beginning, I never would have doubted Keith was adopted!" Miridiana exclaimed by throwing a steel cup at the floor in front of Luigi. "What am I supposed to think when the man I love brings home a child that looks like him and tells me that the boy is our son!" Miridiana said with tears streaming down her face. "I have been utterly terrible to Keith and there's no making up for it! I even let Katarina get away with what I should have stopped!" Miridiana prepared to throw a bowl but her wrist was caught by Luigi. 'He was 25 feet away... how??'
"You love me too?" Luigi zeroed in on that substantially important detail.
"Yes, of course I do." Miridiana responded "But that's not the— " That was as far as she got before Luigi cut her off with a kiss.
Keith who had witnessed the whole thing because he had wanted a snack closed the door baffled that the woman he had thought was so cold could be so emotional. He...had a lot to process.
Meanwhile
Katarina was being lead through the Magic tool warehouse when she spotted a book and a hand mirror. She picked them up, and examined them. 'Now what would these be doing here?' She wondered. "It is okay if take whatever strikes my fancy , correct?" She asked of the ministry worker who was escorting her
"Yes, Claes-sama." The ministry worker agreed. He kept to himself that they were mostly trinkets.
Katarina nodded and stuffed the book and mirror inside her satchel and continued to look for potentially useful magic tools.
2 hours later, Claes Manor.
Katarina had returned home, her Satchel heavy with an eighth of the Magic Tool Department's experimental products. The head maid, Joanna, informed her that her parents were in the middle of reconciling be that it would be better if she not interupt. Katarina had demanded what she meant and not even a second later she had heard her mother's voice as no child ever wants to hear their mother's voice. A little green, she asked JoAnnna to deposit her Satchel into her room and strode away rapidly to her still waiting carriage. She's not expected to behave anymore so maybe... She got onto the carriage and ordered the coachman to take her to the downtown bookstore.
Katarina had planned to get what material there was on Clover Kingdom, at least that was the plan until she spotted the porcelain skin, ruby eyes, and transcendent white hair of Lady Ascart. She hadn't known that she'd run into her here. But then again, the Lady Sophia had a reputation for her bibliophilia so she supposed shouldn't have been surprised. Still she couldn't help herself.
"Well, if it isn't the Rare Lady Ascart." Katarina said crossing her arms and looking down her nose to meet Lady Ascart's eyes. "Fortune must not have abandoned me entirely if I run into the Treasure of the Ascarts on my first trip to this... establishment." Katarina said with a smirk
Lady Ascart jumped as if she were a bunny that had just been startled. When she recognized who had been talking to her haughtily, she gave a smile that at once unsettled Katarina and made her extremely curious about The Lady Ascart.
"My! Miss Katarina." Lady Ascart said delighted. "To think you'd visit my favorite bookstore the week before your departure from the country." She slid up to Katarina and grabbed her hands. "I've always wanted to spend time with you."
Katarina was unnerved. This wasn't how she had heard Lady Ascart acted. The fact that her hands felt more comfortable in Lady Ascart's than they ever did in Prince Geord's unnerved her even more. "You have? Well I suppose we're both fortunate."
The Lady Ascart's smile was more like a wolf's than anything as she slightly tightened the grip on Katarina's hand. "Oh yes. There are some books that I wanted to recommend you. If you'll come with me to my reading room in the back...."
Katarina had a bad feeling."That sounds lovely, Lady Ascart. But I'm looking for books on the language and culture of the Clover Kingdom."
Lady Ascart's smile brightened and lost its predatory nature. "That sounds wonderful, Miss Katarina! In fact I know just where they are." She led Katarina in the opposite direction of the reading room she had been trying to lead her to before and Katarina had the feeling that she had dodged a bullet.
An hour later they found that they had a lot in common.
"I was unaware that you knew Prince Geord personally." Katarina remarked flipping taking a book on The Clover Kingdom's fashion culture from the shelf she opened it up closed it scandalized, 'Up to the thighs can be shown?!" Katarina wondered if King Stuart was sending her to a county of deviants.
"He's my brother's friend so I have had conversations with him. I don't really like him." Lady Ascart said casually as she picked up a Clover Kingdom grammar guide.
Katarina was shocked, "I thought everyone liked Prince Geord.. He's so perfect."
Lady Ascart surprised her by letting out a full bellied laugh. When her giggles subsided and she saw Katarina's full pout she explained." I wasn't laughing at you Miss Katarina. It's just... the thought of Prince Geord being perfect is absurd."
Katarina was a little offended. "That's the first I've heard someone so openly commit Lese Majeste."
Sophia put a her right hand on Katarina's cheek and smiled as of she were indulging her. "Don't worry about it. He knows exactly how I feel. He's more open around my brother. He and I were even friends once."
"You were? Campbell wasn't the first he courted?" Katarina said stunned at this revelation.
"I wouldn't know anything about that. Our friendship ended when he called my favorite book "drivel.'"
"... that doesn't sound like something he'd say. If anything he'd just clam up and smile coldly." Katarina said according to her experience with Geord.
Lady Ascart shrugged, "He's more open around my family for better or worse." Sophia looked at the clock and realized the time. "Oh I didn't realize it was this late. Miss Katarina, if we ever meet again feel free to call me, Sophia. I enjoyed our talk." Sophia rushed to the counter and grabbed a package. She briefly glided back to Katarina and placed it on top of her stack of books. "A gift for your departure. Good-bye, Miss Katarina!" With that Lady Sophia was out of the shop like a whirlwind.
After some time, when she bought her own books Katarina realized that Lady Sophia had been calling her 'Miss Katarina.' It struck her as off that she didn't mind at all.
1 week later StarRoad Port.
Katarina had finished her preparations and was heading to the Docks when she ran into Lady Sophia."I truly did no expect to see you again What are you doing in a place like this?" Katarina asked.
"Um...the king… His Majesty sent me along as an interpreter for you Lady Claes." Lady Ascart said. They started walking to the docks.
"Oh. That's unfortunate." Katarina said surprised by how hesitant Lady Sophia was being and disappointed that she was calling her Lady Claes. For reasons entirely lost to her."I'm sure you would rather be at school with your friends."
"No... and I can't ignore a royal order either." Lady Sophia said as they arrived at their Ship.
"Well there's no helping it then. Shall we depart?" Katarina said taking the first step on the boarding platform.
5 hours later.
The unthinkable happened. As soon as they were into International waters their ship was hijacked by pirates.
Katarina had only one thought as she was tied to the mast of the ship. She looked to the sky, 'ARE YOU FUCKING WITH ME?!!"