The Saintess and the Villainess

Chapter 55

"Oh? That sounds ominous," said Sebastian, cheerfully. He took a seat near Anne's fireplace, crossing one leg over the other and placing both hands on his knee, looking up at Anne expectantly.

Anne glanced back at Eva and Betty.

"I was kind of hoping to talk to the Prince in private..." she said. Then she added. "Eva, I can catch you up on what's going on later."

Betty bowed and left right away. Eva took a bit longer, looking from Anne to Sebastian and back to Anne again. Finally, she seemed to come to a conclusion.

"As you wish, dear Saintess," she said, bowing and leaving the room.

"So, Sebastian..." said Anne, sitting in a chair across from Sebastian.

"Oh, before we get into that," said Sebastian. "How are you doing? That can't have been easy, hearing all that awfulness earlier. I'm so sorry all this happened. I swear I didn't know my dad was planning to do something like that."

"Oh, well..." said Anne. "Corvina knew, so... it's fine, I guess."

"She did?" said Sebastian. He shook his head, bemusedly. "Of course she did. So she told you about it beforehand? Let you prepare yourself?"

"No, she didn't tell me..." said Anne. "That's actually sort of why I wanted to talk to you today, you see—"

Sebastian clicked his tongue. "She should've told you. It was the least she owed you," he said. "And now you have to leave the city!" Sebastian put a hand on his forehead in an exaggerated gesture of woe. "We've only just become friends and now you have to leave already! I only wish I could come with you."

"Good news then!" said Anne, speaking loudly to try to interrupt Sebastian's momentum. She was worried she would miss her chance to say anything otherwise. "Because we actually need you to come with us. To Longren. Well, the border of the Sacred Forest. So we can kidnap you."

Sebastian leapt to his feet, clutching his chest in shock. "You want to kidnap me?"

"Not me, personally," said Anne, reaching out to Sebastian to tug on his arm and try to get him to sit down again. "One of my half-brothers probably. Elyon. Or maybe Zaos is Elyon doesn't wanna do it. The elves anyway. The Sacred Forest elves specifically, not just any random elves. And it's more of a staged kidnapping than a real kidnapping. We're all going to be in on it together. Come on, Sebastian, sit down, let's talk about this."

Sebastian shook Anne off. "None of that makes it better!" he said. "You have to see how that doesn't make it better. Goddess' tits, woman, I know there must be some sort of scheme behind this but have you forgotten that the elves hate my family? For good reason, I'll admit, but for Goddess' sake you're gonna get me killed."

"Um..." Anne rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "About that..."

"Oh my Goddess, I can't—" Sebastian covered his mouth with his hands and took a deep breath. "Okay, I've calmed down. You can tell me."

"A while back, I received a vision from the Goddess," said Anne. "A prophecy of the future. In the prophecy... well, basically if you stay in the city you might get assassinated. You will get assassinated. Probably."

Sebastian sat back down again.

"I told you it would be a lot to process..." said Anne.

"Why can't I just leave the city and not get kidnapped?" asked Sebastian. Sebastian looked genuinely scared and vulnerable, like a small animal caught in a trap.

Anne felt bad for him. He was the Crown Prince, theoretically one of the most powerful people in the Empire, and yet even his closest allies had written him off as stupid, shallow, and useless ever since he was a young kid. No one told him anything. No one included him in anything. Everyone had just... given up on him. No wonder he turned out the way he did.