Black Rose

Three Years

Three years and not a single news from the Black Bulls. The Clover Kingdom all but forgotten the problem squad.
The Wizard King never ceased to believe that Yami and his squad would return, he would never fail to express his desire to see his protégé again. The first few months, Captain Nozel and Captain Jack would express their repulsion at the idea, but after a year or so, the two would just keep quiet at the Wizard King's wish.
"Yami will come back for sure," Captain Fuegoleon told Charlotte one day. They were going back from the captains' regular meeting with the Wizard King. After the battle with the Elves, his sister Mereoleona went back to travelling and exploring the world.
"What makes you say that?" she couldn't help but ask, she immediately righted herself though. "Not that I particularly care if he does or not."
"Yami had this ability to overcome any obstacle that came his way. He just kept on getting stonger in the face of crisis. He wouldn't go down so easily. Besides, Asta was with him. They'll definitely come back."
She sure hoped so.

A little while after that..
Charlotte was in the Roselei family's mansion. Servants fussed over her as they helped her into a beautiful white ball gown her father picked for her on this grand day. The bodice were a little too tight but her mother insisted to crush her ribs in to make her waist a tad smaller than a teenager's. Her hair was tied into a bun on top of her head, adorned with a sapphire-clad tiara. Her shoulders were exposed but a tall high stand collar that looked like fans around her neck. The layers of skirts were too heavy, she couldn't move properly. She felt ridiculous.
"You look fantastic!"
She turned and saw her father with an approving look on his face. "Isn't this too much, Father?"
The head of the Roselei family frowned at his only child. "We've already discussed this, Charlotte. The elders won't shut up about having a maiden as the family head. We can't let your cousin Randall take over the family, he's an idiot."
Randall Roselei was her father's eldest nephew from his younger brother and the next-in-line head if she, the only living heir of her father couldn't find a husband before she turns thirty, which was just a few months away. For the past six months, her parents had been trying to set her up with the kingdom's most eligible bachelors.
"What does being single have to do with my ability to lead the Roselei Family?"
Her father was horrified. "It is unthinkable for an unmarried woman to be the head. The men of our family as well as the elders won't have any of it."
Her mother held her husband's hand to calm him down. Maria turned to her daughter. "You're still waiting for your savior, aren't you, Charlotte? That man who broke the curse."
"W-what are you talking about, Mother?" she stammered. "There's no way.."
Her father scoffed. "That ruffian was gone for more than three years already, he's never coming back. Besides, how could I give my precious daughter to such an uncivilized man."
Before she could stop herself, she blurted out. "That uncivilized man saved our entire family from the curse, Father. He also saved the entire kingdom from the elves three years ago."
The elder man was rendered speechless.

A big worn-out wagon stopped at the palace gates, alerting the guards. They immediately got into battle formation between the gates and the wagon.
"Who goes there?"
The elderly driver seemed to care less about the unwelcome treatment, he looked like any ordinary market seller who's at least sixty years old. Rather than deal with the surly guards, he knocked on the wooden wagon frame behind him. "We are here," he called out.
There was no response.
The guards circled the wagon to check what was going on. The more senior guard instructed the much younger soldier to open the canvas covering the interior.
The youngster swallowed hard before complying. But before he could touch the fabric, a loud excited holler knocked him down as a boisterous group of individuals in black robes popped out as if breaking free.
The older guard stammered. "Y-you are..!"