ᴡᴍᴍᴀᴘ: ℌ𝔢𝔯 𝔊𝔬𝔩𝔡𝔢𝔫 ℭ𝔥𝔞𝔦𝔫𝔰

Danse Macabre, the Wheel of Fortune: II

The pact would be made and kept, even when she became her imperial majesty, the Empress, in the future that was to come. Roger swirled the wine in his glass and the taste permeates through his senses, lifting his spirits even further.

She was the winner here. As long as daddy was by her side, as long as she was the crown princess, all was well. All would always be well. She knew it would be, as planned long before she could even talk properly without a lisp.

 From butting heads with Roger Alpheus to luring him over to her side without a hitch, from effectively blocking out Jennette's presence from within the castle so that nothing entirely unexpected could occur without her knowing about it in seconds? 

Truly, victory was in the palm of her hands, glittering a fine shade of gold, and tasting like the sweetest of chocolates on her tongue. 

Claude, as of right then and there, is somewhat preoccupied with the faint footsteps that were trooping to the hall in a hasty manner, to pay closer attention to what Athanasia and the duke's shared words are. He can guess what both matters are about, which was enough for him. 

As much as he would like to put a hand between them, they were far apart anyways, and pressing matters made the timing all the worse for him to interject, and he crosses his legs, the very picture of grace as the doors open with a bang.

A group of mages, dark hoods covering their faces, nothing distinguishing one from another except their varied heights. They turn their heads- well, their hoods, in various directions, and the leader makes his way to the emperor's side, pretending the guests seated were air, and the nobles are flummoxed by this turn of events. 

Their chatter has simmered down, Jennette leaning over her plate to see what was going on, her hair dipping into the murky pumpkin soup.

A report is whispered into the emperor's ear, and to be perfectly clear, they didn't have to come all the way from their tower to where he was. But the bigger the show, the better the reveal, is what Athanasia had said, when she had first revealed what she knew about the onset. 

Claude nodded and the group of mages spread out, pulling staffs from out of thin air, from inside their robes and sleeves, some plucking off jewelry that grew in size, and they all began. "It's nothing to worry about."

Claude's voice drew the attention of the seated guests from their stupor at the mages that were now creating magic circles that hovered over the table, some of the runes winding on the walls and the ceiling. 

"They have assured me that it's not an issue. Just that something they have placed here as a precaution has... had a reaction to something in this room. They'll all leave once they find out exactly what set it off."

He lowers his hand, the guests still uneasy, and Jennette's fingernails dig into her arm, drawing blood. Athanasia on the other hand, sits nonplussed, in her seat, and she exchanges glances with Claude, which doesn't go unnoticed by Duke Alpheus. 

The duke knows something is up, and he also, decides to take certain precautions, rubbing the ring with magic cancellation on his ring finger. It lights up, underneath the tablecloth, and the princess's eyes meet his, and she raises her eyebrows.

' I see you have your own protection, Duke Alpheus...' the princess's voice rings in his head, and he stills, the taste of chocolate spreading in his mouth again as the princess easily uses high level magic. 

He replies, '...I hope your highness is not offended with my doing so..?' 

He dares to glance at his majesty and finds the emperor's face seemingly disinterested, but the tiniest of blue flames dance within the emperor's eyes.