Stigmata

I am not an Easy Target

I don't know why I expected riding a carriage to be similar to a car, but I did. Needless to say, I was gravely disappointed. Spending hours in a bouncy, poorly padded box was not fun.

"Are you sure you don't need us to stop?"

I glared at my uncle's only child, Frederick Shay. He was seated across from me inside the carriage with his arms crossed over his chest like a child throwing a tantrum. Like his father, he had an average, boyish face, but was much younger and inexperienced. He didn't understand why we were rushing to the Capital like this, and neither I nor his father cared to explain it to him.

My poor cousin. It wasn't his fault we needed to keep someone in the dark. It would make our lies less obvious.

After our first conversation, my uncle wasted no time getting me out of the monastery. Leaving was more sweet than bitter, but it was still strange to leave behind the only home this body had ever known. Although I read the original novels, I had no real experience with fantasy world I was stuck in. Fear began to bloom in my heart as we got closer to the Capital. Was there someone there who would notice I wasn't the real Theophania? Surely, if anyone could, it would be her mother, right?

Aiyah~, this was too stressful. I should have stayed in the monastery. At least, there, I wouldn't have to worry about political intrigue or assassination attempts.

Or demons.

I sighed and Frederick pounced on the chance to call me out on my weakness again.

"See? You're not feeling well. We should stop for a moment and—."

"Ugh, would you shut up? We're not going to stop."

He widened his grey eyes at me and a stranger might have thought I'd cursed his mother. "Cousin! How could you treat me like this? Such uncouth words are unworthy of a princess." Truth.

Ha. So that was his aim. I still remembered the way this 'cousin' treated the original in the novels. He, like many others in the Royal Palace, did not accept Theophania's sudden appearance. Though he should have been her closest ally, he instead led the young Nobles in ostracizing the vulnerable princess. He really was a scumbag who didn't deserve an ounce of respect.

So I would give him none.

"And whining is unworthy of a Duke's heir," I snapped back at him, my frustration cutting through my nausea. "I don't want to stop, and, even if I did, Uncle wouldn't allow it."

Mentioning his father had him swallowing his tongue. He looked out the carriage window and pouted like a child, never mind that he was three years older than me and a fully recognized adult in society. At nineteen, I was still technically a minor and would fall under my father's guardianship as soon as I set foot in his palace.

Which was one of the reasons we were rushing like this.

My birthday was in two weeks. If I wanted to get any use out of the trash who called himself my father, I needed to do it now. In the novels, Theophania was picked up by a Royal procession—after reaching adulthood. She entered the palace having had no Coming of Age Ceremony and was isolated from the rest of the Court under the pretext that she was not officially an adult, yet. The novel described it as her father's only means of protecting her, but that was just the excuse he used while forcing her to rely on him even as he poisoned others against her. He was a twisted man and I would not fall into his palm so easily.

Once we arrived in the Capital, my uncle would hold my Coming of Age Ceremony at his manor. This would serve the dual purpose of publicly declaring my allegiance to the Noble Faction and freeing me from my father's coverture. It would make the Royal Faction furious, but what did they expect? They threw me away first.