𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙨𝙩 ~ 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚 𝐱 𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 [𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫]

𝖢𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝖳𝗁𝗋𝖾𝖾 - 𝙰𝚛𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙿𝚒𝚎𝚌𝚎𝚜

Princia

The meeting room was as spacious as it was empty to the lone Wizard Queen, who took a rather long sip from her fresh mug of coffee as she sat at the very end of the table.

Days like these, this room was almost always the same to her, with the rays of the afternoon sun beaming through the high wide windows behind her, and illuminating the room enough to bounce off the gold trims adorning her seat. More pointless than anything, she thought. The rest of the room wasn't that spectacular either, save for the large golden chandelier that hung above the meeting table she sat at and the wooden mantlepiece adorned with branch-like engravings and the clover insignia to her left.

The table in front of her was lined with six wooden seats, three on each side and all decorated with a small three-leaf clover. All reserved for the Magic Knight Captains she now had complete control over, including the one in current command of the Blue Rose Magic Knights.

It was strange to think about, though not a bad feeling to have. One of many perks that came with her esteemed position.

Princia leaned back in her chair and sighed, bringing both hands under her chin whilst she closed her eyes in thought. "All this for one person... At least it's something different compared to wartime discussions." She mumbled to herself, barely above a whisper.

Still, whatever the reason was for being here today, it still didn't change Princia's distaste for the room itself. Not for the decorations, or why it was used. No, like most things lately, it felt like a pure manifestation of her most cursed thoughts, only this time she couldn't differentiate anything between them.

Why does it always come back to strength? Each individual who sits on those chairs are worthy of their rank, of their own power that allowed them to lead their Magic Knight brigade. They could take on an entire Diamond Squad invasion force and be back home in time for dinner.

The woman clenched her fists as she felt her breath tremble a little, she had to remember that there were people visiting today. No time for vulnerabilities.

Yet... even with that proven strength, I sit here with them, and all I see is a room full of empty seats to me.

Why? Am I that selfish to think of my own comrades as... lesser?

The mere thought of that word made her shake her head and mentally berate herself to the extreme for even considering her closest allies as such a detestable thing.

That all-consuming solitude had begun to infect even her daily activities. An inspiration, someone to be feared or admired... nothing had changed on that mountain of victories since her ascension...

KNOCK KNOCK

The door knocking couldn't have been more of a welcomed distraction, where Princia effectively dumped her upsetting thoughts into a mental bin she hoped not to come back to.

"Come in." Princia affirmed amidst another long sip of her coffee. The third serving today, and most definitely not her last. Perhaps something stronger was in order? Paperwork was tedious as it was.

Although the final pieces of today's paperwork regarding Magic Knight activity in the outer reaches of the kingdom were done at a record speed that had even her advisor Evelyn stumped.

Diamond Kingdom activity does seem to be ramping up a little, more reports of simple scouting parties keep cropping up before we can do anything about them...