Red Queen

In a Blink

Prince Trystan wanted so badly to check on his younger sister but he didn't want to abuse his title. Although his commander was the younger brother of his friend he knew he still had to show respect for him because he was now in their territory and Arvel knew more about swords than he did so he wanted to take any chance to sharpen his skills. And he trusted his sister, she would've came to him if she was having a hard time and sometimes the older sibling had to let the younger one spread their wings.

On the other hand the General's step-brother's son, Mela's cousin Hugh, still thought of himself as superior to Mela because she was an idiot and his sister had already trained her to become her follower so he could bully her whenever he wanted, but after seeing her troops performance for recruitments there was a small fear in him. So whenever he saw her pass by he wanted to push her down and humiliate her but instead he found himself taking steps back as if he was avoiding her. "I'll find ways to make yourself lose your dignity. Only my sister is a match for the prince," Hugh was beginning to think of a plan to get rid of his cousin and that began with getting the prince interested in his sister. He thought it was going to be easy because they were in the same troop, but with his father only known as the General's step-brother he had to show that he was worthy of being in the same league as his cousins by also showcasing that his family weren't nobodys.

~~A year later~~

Over the past year the General and his family become a bit familiar with Mela's change but some of the things that she did were still surprising. Like a while back there were news of bandits kidnapping women and taking their virgin status away. The General and his wife didn't want Mela to deal with the situation because she was also a lady herself and she also had Princess Renee in her troop but his sons and their troops were doing their share of other work so they had no choice but to dispatch Mela, they could only pray that she didn't see anything that would make her scared.

The General, his wife, and their sons were pacing back and forth worried that something must've happened to Mela. Arvel had even volunteered to go check on the situation but the General knew his sons were tired from their trip and he knew he shouldn't spoil Mela forever, although she had changed drastically. "Sir! The young Miss has return," one of the guards said but the family was oblivious to the fear that was on his face and just ran out to meet Mela. They stopped, bumping into each other, after they saw an unscathed Mela talking to some of the guards who looked like they were holding onto their precious spot. "Mela are you alright? Were you frightened?" Slona asked her daughter oblivious to everything else. "I'm fine mother. I've dealt with the bandits and have returned the lost women to their families," Mela gestured her head to at least four group of tied men who seemed to be scared of Mela. "Ma'am! Please have mercy on us! That person is the true monster. S-s-she..." one of the bandit started to yell making everyone put their attention to him but when he was going to say something about Mela he looked hesitant and ashamed about what he was going to say. "S-she and her people took advantage of our rear ends!" The man yelled then every bandit looked down in shame and embarrassment that their leader yelled that out. The General and everybody didn't believe the man words but it was a shock that he would announce something like that. "It's true! The leader is not lying. Get a doctor here to check us out," another bandit yelled having more confidence that the girl was going to get executed for doing something shameful. But nobody would listen. "Guards take them to the dungeons!" The General yelled. "Sir there is something else that you must know," the guard seemed to have an hard time getting the words out. "Hurry and say it!" The General was impatient. The guard decided to whisper into the General's ear instead. After he was done the General's eyes went wide and unconsciously protected his precious spot. Then he noticed some blood spots on the bandits pants and looked back at Mela, who ignored his stare and continued to let Slona examine her.

The General later got a doctor to check on the bandits and what he reported back to the General was surreal. So now every time the family had breakfast, lunch, or dinner together the General would give his daughter a strange look. Since then Mela would come back from missions and something unusual would be reported back but the General didn't say anything to Mela because they were criminals and she wasn't getting into danger, so he turned a deaf ear to whatever she was doing. But there was one thing that caught his attention and he didn't know if it was a bad or good thing. Whenever Mela came back from somewhere Princess Renee was next to her, but the scary or strange thing was, Princess Renee seemed to have changed so much that if he hadn't known that there was only one other girl in the troop he would've thought she was someone else. The last time he had a good talk with the princess was when she was younger and she would always be smiling and following behind her brother, but now she didn't greet him with a smile but a little nod and every time she came back with Mela from the missions she didn't seem faze about what had happened, well maybe the first couple times, but its been a year and she was different. The General had mixed feelings about what the King would think of the change. Would he miss the smiling girl or is the change something beneficial to the kingdom?