Wizard World Irregular

“Are you sure about this, Joanne?” Princess Ramona asked. “Why don’t we tell Ethan about this? If my brothers were to do something, the two of us might get into big trouble.”

“Relax. Nothing will happen,” Joanne replied. “Don’t worry. I don’t trust your brothers as much as you do. I'm simply confident that nothing will happen to us.”

“Are you sure about this? Shouldn’t we at least tell Ethan where we are going?”

“Don’t be too dependent on him, Ramona. He won’t always be around you. If you wish to become a Queen, you should learn to rely on your own strength, especially since you are and will be surrounded by enemies in your own home.

“Right now, your brothers won’t dare to hurt you because they know that it will incur that fake Tidebringer’s wrath. As much as I don’t want to admit it, I am confident that he will go on a rampage if you get hurt.”

Princess Ramona blushed after hearing Joanne’s words.

“Will he really go on a rampage if I get hurt?” Princess Ramona asked.

Joanne rolled her eyes at the young princess, but she still reluctantly nodded in the end.

“Yes, yes, and yes,” Joanne replied in exasperation. “Happy?”

Princess Ramona nodded before hugging her friend.

“I’m sure that he will do the same if something happens to you,” Princess Ramona whispered. “Although I can tell that you don’t like him, he still calls you his little sister, so I’m sure that he will get angry if you are hurt.”

Ethan’s sister pried the princess’ hands off her body and took a step back.

“We need to go, or we’ll be late for the meeting,” Joanne stated. “But, no matter what happens, don’t let your guard down. Also, if your brother, Prince Amir, asks you to go with him, just follow him.”

“Eh? Why would I do that?” Princess Ramona blinked innocently.

“It’s because their real target is me,” Joanne replied. “It seems that your brother, Rufus, wants to talk to me about something. Don’t worry. Nothing will happen to me. So just follow your brother if he decides to separate the two of us.”

Princess Ramona frowned, but she still nodded.

“Be careful, okay?” Princess Ramona said. “If anything happens, just shout.”

“Silly girl.” Joanne lightly pinched the princess’ cheeks, pulling it a bit. “I’m not a helpless damsel in distress. If your brother tries anything funny, he’ll regret it ten times over.”

After their talk ended, Joanne held the Princess’ hands and dragged her out of the room.

She wanted this to be over before Ethan returned and ruined the plan that she was planning to execute.

***

“Is everything ready?” Prince Rufus asked Princess Amir, who was sitting beside him in a gazebo at the center of the garden in the Fourth Prince’s villa.

“Yeah. I’m done with my preparations, so hold this,” Prince Amir handed Prince Rufus a gold token. “Once you activate this artifact, the preparations I made will activate. Even if she has a high resistance to your Charm Ability, it will not work once you activate that token.”

“And why are you certain that it will work if I activate this token?”

“Because there's a leyline right under this Gazebo. The magic power of whoever holds that token will drastically increase. With that, your Charm Ability would be at least twenty times more effective.”

Prince Amir wouldn’t have lent the token to his brother if the latter's Charm ability affected guys as well.

Fortunately, it only worked on girls, so he would be safe even if Prince Rufus used such an ability.

Suddenly, Prince Amir looked in the direction of the Gate of his residence, sensing the presence of his two guests.

“They’re here,” Prince Amir said. “Remember—wait until I take Ramona away before you start.”

Prince Rufus nodded. “Don’t worry. I know what to do.”

His Charm was a single-target ability, so he didn’t plan to take any chances and have Ramona disrupt their plan.

Prince Amir had already planned to separate the two girls after a while, so he just needed to wait until then.

A few minutes later, the two girls finally arrived at the Gazebo.

“Thank you for inviting us, Brothers,” Princess Ramona said. “So, what do you want to talk about?”

“We can talk about it later,” Prince Rufus said. “For now, let’s have some snacks first. The talk can wait after we’ve all eaten.”

The table was already filled with cut fruits and other sweets that the people of the Magdar Kingdom treated as snacks.

At first, the two Princes tried to engage the two girls in a small talk, but only Princess Ramona joined the conversation.

Joanne remained aloof and quietly ate the fruits that she found to her liking.

“I’ve always wondered, do you and your brother really live under the sea like the legend says?” Prince Rufus asked Joanne in order to change the topic of the discussion.

Instead of answering, the young lady only sipped on the fruit juice and treated Prince Rufus like air.

Perhaps, sensing that the time was right, Prince Amir decided to execute their plan.

“Ramona, come with me for a bit,” Prince Amir said. “I want to discuss something privately with you. This is about the fight for the throne, and if possible, I want you to consider my offer seriously.”

The Princess glanced at Joanne, who was casually sipping the fruit juice in her cup, and remembered what Ethan’s sister told her earlier…

‘Things are happening just as she predicted,’ Princess Ramona thought. ‘Joanne is really amazing.’

While she didn’t know how her friend guessed what would happen, she decided to follow through with their plans.

After all, if Joanne was able to predict that the two of them would be separated from each other, that meant that she already had a plan in mind.

“Understood, Brother,” Princess Ramona replied. “I’ll go with you.”

“Good.” Prince Amir nodded. “This way, please. Brother, make sure to treat our guest well.”

“Don’t worry. I’m very good at handling girls.” Prince Rufus smirked.

Princess Ramona threw her friend one last glance before she followed the Fourth Prince, who had a faint smile on his face as he led his sister inside the villa.

Seeing them leave, the smile on Prince Rufus’ face became wider. Excitement filled his heart at the thought of conquering the Tidebringer’s little sister, who was the key that would make him sit on the throne of the Magdar Kingdom.