Ever The Contrarian

CHAPTER TWENTY TOO

Rue? Rue, you say? but, Nox, my name is Mercury.

... Is what she wanted to say. But she already picked up on the hint. There was only one person who it could possibly be, since only Mags and the Crown Prince knew about her identity as Rue, and Nox hadn't directly met Mags yet. The fricking prince! leave her alone for once, ya douchebag!

"Nox, take some water. You're going to collapse." Mercury snorted, handing him a glass of water. Mercury sat back down in her chair. Nox accepted it and stepped aside for the head of the crown prince to poke through, along with one gloved hand that waved to her. Oh, she had forgotten how he looked. No! snap out of it mercury! no more weird thoughts! we're not going to let this turn into a romance novel, remember? right! Mercury animatedly shook her head and bowed. "Hello, your highness. what brings you here?"

"Whaddaya mean, what brings me here? what did you get on the Mercury lass?" he asked, finally showing his entire self and leaning against a doorway. Mercury stared into his deep blue eyes for a moment, and then hastily muttered, "We... found some information about her."

"Oh? well, out with it." the prince said, and Mercury let out a long breath. If she said the exact opposite of herself, then she would be safe, right...? Yeah! sure, let's give it a shot!

"Alright! so she was an introvert in town, who never talked to anyone, and lived in a desolate field out of town that was well-constructed, and one that definetly didnt crumble under her fingers or anything! nobody tried to kill her, and she certainly didnt kill anyone either! and she got a super poor-looking and obvious scroll, which was defiently not lined with anything fancy like gold thread, and then... she set off.... with her 6 friends! yeah, she had 6 friends, her connections! and she's currently standing still, probably just like chilling at a basecamp somewhere, but we dont know where. She's deifnetly not on the run and definetly not in this town! hallelujah!" Mercury reported, spinning absolute nonsense and gibberish from the top of her head. Also, all of this was the exact opposite of the situation that she, the real mercury, was actually in.

"Quite the digging you did, I see. You must have some good sources" The price said, and Mercury almost punched him. To think he would blatantly accuse her of lying and spinning information (even though that was exactly what she was doing)...! how despicable! (like before, the fact that she was indeed lying was completely different.) "Yes, I have some very good sources." Mercury huffed, leaning back in her chair. That would do for now. Take that, royalty! The prince fornwed at her, and then gestured for her to tke his arm. "I am standing across the room, your highness..." Mercury muttered sarcastically, and the prince offered out his arm again. "Would you like to talk in the garden?"

No! she does not! just go away already, you piece of junk! who even invited you here?! AAAAAAH, SCREW YOU, PLOT ARMOR!!! "Eh, sure." Mercury said idly. no no! don't fall for his face, Mer! like she had anything better to do, and also, the prince's status was so high above her's that she was in no position to refuse. She gently link their arms together, and they exited the hotel.

"huh? wait? this wasn't here before." Mercury said, glancing around to see a lot of pottled plants ad even a fountain that she was absolutely sure had not been there the previous day. yesterday, the outside of the hotel had been a concrete wasteland. "Of course. I just had the underlings build me a new garden to walk in." the prince said, smirking at her. Mercury's jaw dropped, and she gaped at him. Built a garden...? a fricking garden! oh my gosh! You trying to flex or something, sir???

well, actually, he was, but Mercury meant that as a joke. "w-what? you built a garden within an hour?" Mercury asked, and the crown prince grinned. "Of course. I have that much power, after all. But you must be curious as to why I called you here." he said, and Mercury flinched. OH GOD! DID HE FIND OUT HER TRUE IDENTITY-

"I want you to fight in the war." he said, and Mercury exhaled. Her life was still safe! or, maybe not - "WAIT, WHAT? WHAT WAR" she shreiked, leaping back. war! the world was at peace! there was no fricking war! or, was he trying to start one? no no no!

"I think you might want to sit down for this one." the crown prince said, plopping down on one of the benches and patting the space next to him. Mercury glared. This is not a romance novel! never! she wasn't sitting next to the handsome douchebag! cautiously, she sat down on the opposite bench. no way was she gong near the person who might have been about to start a war! the crown prince frowned at her, and then fixed his expression and cleared his throat.

"I want to kill my father."