Published at 16th of March 2026 6:19 am

Chapter 139: A New Deal

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So, do you care to explain why you deliberately disobeyed my direct demand that you stay away from my delightful Theodore? Princep Cecillia asks, nearly hissing through her teeth.

I shrug in a casual manner that hopefully belies my rapidly rising heartrate. I was instructed to by your sister, Princep Talia, as youve no doubt guessed, your highness.

Why? she says with as much menace as a single word can muster.

I have no idea. She declined to say. I say as indifferently as possible.

And you dont believe that she was placing you to better act against my precious Theodore?

No, your highness, I say succinctly but deferentially.

And why not? she asks through gritted teeth.

Well, far be it from me to guess the thoughts of any imperial Princep. She scowls at my deflecting precision, so I hasten to add. But it wouldnt make sense. Her specific instructions were to become a true friend to him, which I fail to see how that could weaken his position.

A true friend? she scoffs. You dont honestly think you are that to him, do you?

Of course not. That takes time, your highness Time and connection from both sides.

Indeed, she says, her head snapping away in a contemplative gesture, thinking silently for several seconds. But regardless of the intent of my dear elder sister, why did you follow her instructions? Did you think my wrath at you neglecting my forbiddance would be less than hers for refusing her bidding? Unlike when she calls Theodore dear, its clear that she does not mean it for Talia.

I assumed her capacity for ire would be equal to yours, and with things being equal, that I should move to best resolve the situation I found myself in.

By which you mean extricating yourself from your entanglement with my loathsome brother, Vincent?

I open my mouth to acknowledge, but pause to consider if agreeing with her could be seen as my calling Vincent loathsome, resulting in a minor addendum. With the brother you call loathsome, yes.

And you did not come to me because you feared that my aid would come at the cost of entangling you more into the very situation that you wished to escape?

As you say, your highness.

Then, when she proposed you befriend my dearest Theodore, you no doubt calculated that she and I would negate each other with our respective grace and ire, leaving you up the favour of Theodore?

I dont deny it, your highness, I speak cautiously, slowly to give myself as much time as possible to think, but fail to come up with anything better than passive admittance.

Indeed, she tosses her head slightly in a confident display of preparing to dismiss me from her thoughts forever. A reasonable calculation. But now that sister Talia has been called off to war, her ability to protect you from me is greatly diminished, and Theodore wont help you if I say not to. Thus, your calculation has shifted, and you will no doubt follow my instructions and find a reason to permanently dismiss yourself from Theodores company. She says it as if a question, but it is clearly a demand.

I suppose this is as good an outcome as I could hope. Or at least, she does seem to be indicating that there wont be any punishment for my going against her, so long as I now fall in line. It would be everything I wanted when I first approached Talia solving the Vincent problem without punishment and without having to spend time with the youth whose exuberance I still find annoying and yet

And yet I find myself hesitating. Theodores plaintive voice as I listened in on his conversation with her. That he wanted to keep me. Of course, the idea that any Arkothian princep might keep me is absurd. Yet, there is something in being desired. Something nice. Something that does at least feed my instinct to refuse the demands of an enemy Princep. Pride too, at my skill being the source of the desire. But something more ineffable too. But the pride is enough to remind me not to give in by default.

No, your highness, I say after at least a half minute of consideration and growing courage.

No? she says, half turning with a voice that is equal parts irate and incredulous.

No, I reiterate, but with a much more apologetic tone. Of course, should his highness desire a break, then I will abide by that wish. However, now that a proximity has been established, it would be improper for me to be the one to initiate a schism.

You arent the one initiating the break, I am, she says through gritted teeth.

I nod politely. Forgive me, your highness, but will you be informing him of that fact? I ask, knowing full well that she wont, given how awkward that would be due to her saying that he could keep me.

But of course, she doesnt know I was listening to that conversation, and that I know her threats dont have quite the edge as they would have otherwise, so she presses on.

I think youll be too busy dealing with the consequences of refusing me for that to matter much for you, dont you?

I shrug, growing somewhat bold. And yet, I wonder if those consequences might be mitigated if I were to inform him of the source of my troubles. After all, this conversation should be redundant if you could get him to dismiss me on his own. The fact that youre even talking to me suggests that you dont want him to know that youre forcing the separation.

Are you threatening me? she asks, suddenly stopping to stare directly at me.

I shrug. With what, your highness? Im merely talking about mitigation, which wouldnt happen anyways if I happen to be wrong.

She stares at me for several nerve wracking seconds before sighing and continuing to walk. You understand that hes weak, right?

Your highness? I say, baffled by the change in direction.

Theodore. Hes weak Well, maybe not compared to most noble mages, she says noble as if its as beneath her as peasants are to us, but compared to his siblings, or even royal heirs to other countries, hes weak How much do you know about how our divinity, passed to us through mother, empowers us?

No more than most, your highness.

Hm well, there is a common misconception that it just enhances our ability in whatever path we take. For instance, a royal knight would become stronger much more quickly than a commoner. Which isnt false so much as its incidental. The true benefit of our divinity isnt just doing what others of our paths can do, but more so, but rather that we can perform feats that are categorically different. For instance, the absurdities your patron Tallia can pull with her pet.

Tallia isnt technically my patron, but her treating her as such is beneficial, so I dont correct her. Also, what shes saying about the divinity isnt exactly news to me, but I dont think I would have put it in such precise terms either, so theres no reason to interrupt.

Unfortunately, the exact way in which we get empowered isnt fully predictable, but it is always thematically tied with our individual efforts for self-improvement, and it always allows us to ignore some rule that our lessers are bound by. The dullest example being a fire mage who can burn water or other notably non-flammable substances. Do you perhaps see Theodores problem from this?

I nod, seeing what she means immediately. Princep Theodores main interest is in divination, whose limitations arent inherent, but arise from the passive cancelling that radiate out from each divination performed nearby. Therefore, there arent any limitations that it would make sense for his divinity to ignore, as those limitations are the result, in part, of divine beings much more powerful than him.

She nods, accepting my chain of thought. Indeed. Theodore, of course, has training as a standard mage, but throwing fireballs never interested him much. Rather, he caims a fascination with the interconnectivity that divination reveals. Hes a capable mage, but no more than most nobles his age. Thus, in a sense, his divinity is wasted, as theres simply no room for it to be applied to.

I nod, but pause mid gesture. But, couldnt he perform far prophecy, or aid her majesty in her efforts there?

Hush! she hisses at me, looking around for anyone who might have heard us as we saunter circularly through the rows of books. Seeing no one, she glances at Phillip, who shakes his head. Dont spread such rumours, and dont probe me for such indecent information on Mother.

I um I stutter at the sudden intensity of her chastisement. Forgive me, your highness, I didnt realize such information was so restricted.

Its not restricted because its not true, she snaps in a way that I do not believe. Mother does not perform far prophecies, and even if she could, the required divinity would be far beyond what Theodore possesses. Understand?

Yes, your highness.

Good. Now, Theodore is not the first royal to throw themselves into the study of divination. Its likely that hell become one of the oracles, spending his days performing lengthy divinations on the far-reaching effects of laws and policies. Useful, powerful in its own way, but not categorically more potent than a non-royal oracle. After all, theres not much room for improvement in terms of reliability. Really, the only thing that would make him better than his counterparts is the speed in which he does the divinations. But the potential improvement is limited. Doing the work of two other oracles is impressive, but most royals are worth dozens of their peers.

I see, I say, not quite certain if her assessment is fully accurate. The famed oracles are known for their reliable divinations that come at the cost of rituals that take anywhere between hours and weeks, depending on their complexity. Shes right that theyre already skirting up to the point of far prophecy already, so theres not much room to improve there. In fact, the only reason theyre able to see so far is because they limit the scope of what they divine to the behaviour of large groups rather than individuals. Since, as with normal optics, large objects can be seen farther away.

However, there may be ways for a semi-divine individual to improve on their methods. The aforementioned lengthy rituals typically limit what they can effectively divine to premeditated actions, such as what effect the exact wording of laws might be over the course of months or even years. Its harder to use them to divine reactively. They can obviously use lesser methods, but then it wouldnt be an oracle.

But, if Theodore could gain the ability to perform oracles more quickly than his peers, say twice as fast as she said, then it wouldnt merely be that he could do the work of two regular oracles. Rather, the category of subjects that could be effectively divined might expand. Possibly allowing him to use oracular techniques reactively. The benefit of that being something I cannot guess at, and I certainly will not help them out by publicly trying to. However, at the very least, the military application could be staggering.

Is there a particular reason why youre telling me this, your highness? I say after several seconds of contemplation.

So that you know how his obsessions can override whats practical. He could have easily applied himself to general magic to the point where he gained a divine trait, yet he has refused time after time. The moment you no longer feed this obsession, hell toss you aside, forgetting even to make sure youve benefited from your time with him.

I try not shrug with my reply. Plenty of others seem to have found how to stay by his side.

She smirks, looking down on me by at least a foot. Yes, he always has been unable to distinguish parasitic sycophants from useful ones. She looks towards her pet Marquis with a petite smile, who flashes a radiant smile in return, tossing his long mane-like hair just a he enters a beam of sunlight admitted from a window in the ceiling, the exchange indicating which kind of sycophant they both view him as.

An idea sparked by the exchange, I stop and address her directly. And what must I do, your highness, to prove that I will be of the latter kind to your brother?

She stops to look back at me and smirks in a way to let me know this is one of the outcomes she was willing to allow this conversation to end with. An excellent question, Monhal, one which I will be contemplating in the days and weeks to come. But worry not, Im sure Ill come up with something for you to do.

With that ominous statement, she dismisses me with a wave and carries on, a faint chuckle winding through the shelves, leaving me feeling rather trapped and uncertain whether my fit of pique in staying with Theodore was worth all the annoyances shes no doubt scheming to inflict on me.

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