Crown Princess Lyra Belle de Anemoi
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Chapter 28

Upon King's demands, Lyra nibbled her lips while Medea and the rest proudly waited for her to say something.

At this Mika and Vile spoke up,

"Your majesty, pardon our overstepping the boundaries, however, Crown Princess Lyra is not to blame. Duchess Medea was slandering the former Queen and even claimed to have poisoned you both."

"What?"

Derek glared at Medea who shrugged in response,

"I do not know what they are talking about. Of course, these two would be on Lyra's side. They are her knights."

"Even if we weren't, we swore on our Knight's honor on what we heard."

"You bastards. You will lie to this extent? Are you crazy?"

"With all due respect, this is not lying."

"We are merely stating what we heard and observed."

"You ought to be punished for your insolence."

"Enough!"

"We will talk about this later. For now, Lyra should apologize for her behavior."

Smirking Medea looked down upon Lyra, who muttered a small inaudible sorry before marching away.

Mike and Vile follow after her as the King then glares at Medea,

"Listen here. Just because I stay quiet does not mean I do not know what's going on. Be careful not to overstep your boundaries."

Gritting her teeth, Medea was about to reply but Derek went away.

Hubris who was watching everything quietly ran up to Lyra who was stomping away in anger.

"Lyra....! Wait!"

Lyra didn't stop one bit as he barely managed to catch up to her. Instead of trying to stop her, he started walking next to her which irritated Lyra even more as she continued to pretend as if he didn't exist.

"...are you okay?"

He asked in a soft tone. This was the first time in all her life that had she heard Hubris speak to her in such a caring tone. It made her feel disgusted.

Meeting with silence, Hubris nevertheless continued to talk to her,

"I apologize for my mother in her stead. They were all in the wrong. Don't worry, I will make sure they will do nothing to harm you."

Still, Lyra didn't utter a single word. He kept going as tears started forming into his eyes,

"I know you may feel weirded out by my behavior right now, but trust me. I have learned my lesson. After that night spent in jail, I realized who my real enemies are. I...uh...also wanted to apologize for all my behavior until now. And also say thank you for opening up my eyes. I was blinded by their greed before....Lyra?"

Lyra started walking faster than him. In her mind, she thought she didn't care how he acted. Right now all that was in her mind was her father's reaction and the way he made her feel humiliated. She was also shocked by knowing that a mere possibility exists that her mother was killed by Medea.

"Lyra? Are you mad at me?"

Lyra didn't reply he then saw her going towards the King's room. He opened the door for her. However, she snatched the handle from him as she glared at him.

"Get lost."

Those were the only words she said to him before going inside and shutting the door loudly in his face.

Meanwhile, as Derek went to his room after his daily walk which had become hectic, he was surprised to find Lyra sitting in his room waiting for him.

"What was that?"

She instantly bellowed at him as he calmly sat down on his sofa.

"What?"

"You knew she was in the wrong! Why did you say and do that?"

"It is better to tie down the situation quickly since Medea always creates such a fuss."

"Oh so is that your reason? Are you kidding me? So just become that damn woman who makes a fuss, we are going to stay silent and allow her to do anything? What if she one day wants to take the throne? Are you gonna quietly hand it to her all for the sake of not having to deal with her fuss?!"

Lyra kept ranting as she scoffed,

"You have no self-respect..."

Saying that she left while internally vowing that she won't let Medea do as she pleases. She already knew she is trying to kill them and recently found out she had possibly killed her mother whom she thought died of an accidental death. Lyra then vows to get her revenge as she wants to make Medea beg her for forgiveness.

Marching back in anger and newfound motivation, Lyra without answering Solon's concerning question enters her office as she orders,

"Gather everyone at my office. Bring them through the secret door."

"Everyone?"

"All my allies. Duke Atlas, Duke Wren, Count Edwin, Viscount Vile, Count Javis, Count Hildred, Baron Ford, and all the other five council members and three board members of the council. Right now."

Lyra calls for a secret meeting as she sends them a message simply stating it's time to step up.

Astrid, her sister, who had overheard the chaos that took place is extremely worried for her sister since she knows that Medea just won't let this go. She is also aware of the fact that her sister will be coming of age soon which means her coronation is nearer also known as her death. It's an open secret that Medea will try to kill Lyra, everyone knows of it. Even the maids whisper about it. They are all just waiting for when and how will Lyra be able to avoid it.

As Lyra gathers her files, Astrid marches into her office and exclaims worriedly,

"Lyra! I overheard what took place! Are you okay?"

She scanned Lyra's face and body to look for any signs of abuse but thankfully, she takes a sigh of relief as she founds her unhurt.

"I am fine. But I swear she won't be. Enough is enough. I won't let this go."

"You are going to fight back?"

"Yes."

"But it's too dangerous! You should be trying to save your life right now!"

"I will. I will."

Lyra sways her hand as if not taking Astrid seriously. This frustrates her, as she grabs Lyra's shoulder to gain her attention and gazing directly into her eyes firmly states,

"We are going to Helios tomorrow. Forget about all that happened for now. Tomorrow is the day we finally can get away from all this mess. Don't worry. We will be all right. Just don't take too much stress and think about tomorrow."

Lyra instead of replying studies Astrid's worried face. Seeing her helpless expression, Lyra nods slightly in assurance instead of replying.

The next day, however, Astrid should have known that Lyra was the type to never let things go as she sat alone in the carriage on the way to Helios.

It happened that morning when all the bags were packed, and she sat in the carriage waiting for Lyra when suddenly the carriage started moving forward. Worried, she ordered everyone to stop and wait for her sister. However, no one listened to her. She should have known they all are quite loyal to her sister. All she got were two letters from Lyra. One for her and one for Dylan. She frantically opened the one addressed to her,

"𝓕𝓸𝓻𝓰𝓲𝓿𝓮 𝓶𝓮, 𝓶𝔂 𝓭𝓮𝓪𝓻 𝓼𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓻. 𝓜𝔂 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓽 𝓯𝓮𝓮𝓵𝓼 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓿𝔂 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓾𝓷𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓪𝓭𝔂 𝓵𝓮𝓪𝓿𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓾𝓷𝓯𝓲𝓷𝓲𝓼𝓱𝓮𝓭 𝓫𝓾𝓼𝓲𝓷𝓮𝓼𝓼.

𝓘 𝓯𝓲𝓷𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓰𝓪𝓲𝓷𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓶𝓸𝓽𝓲𝓿𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷 𝓽𝓸 𝓭𝓸 𝓼𝓸𝓶𝓮𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓸𝓷𝓬𝓮 𝓲𝓷 𝓶𝔂 𝓵𝓲𝓯𝓮. 𝓘 𝓬𝓪𝓷𝓷𝓸𝓽 𝓵𝓮𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓬𝓮 𝓰𝓸. 𝓦𝓮 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓪𝓵𝔀𝓪𝔂𝓼 𝓹𝓸𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻𝓮𝓭 𝔀𝓱𝔂 𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓵𝓲𝓯𝓮 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓬𝓮𝓻𝓽𝓪𝓲𝓷 𝔀𝓪𝔂. 𝓦𝓱𝔂 𝓭𝓲𝓭 𝓯𝓪𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓪𝓬𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝔀𝓪𝔂? 𝓦𝓱𝔂 𝓭𝓲𝓭 𝔀𝓮 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓼𝓽𝓪𝔂 𝓺𝓾𝓲𝓮𝓽 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓫𝓮𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓮 𝓭𝓮𝓪𝓯 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓫𝓵𝓲𝓷𝓭 𝓪𝓼 𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻𝔂 𝔀𝓻𝓸𝓷𝓰 𝓽𝓸𝓸𝓴 𝓹𝓵𝓪𝓬𝓮?

𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓪𝓷𝓼𝔀𝓮𝓻 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝓺𝓾𝓲𝓽𝓮 𝓼𝓲𝓶𝓹𝓵𝓮. 𝓦𝓮 𝓼𝓲𝓶𝓹𝓵𝔂 𝓭𝓸𝓷'𝓽 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓲𝓯 𝔀𝓮 𝓭𝓸𝓷'𝓽 𝔀𝓪𝓷𝓽 𝓽𝓸. 𝓘 𝓹𝓻𝓸𝓶𝓲𝓼𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾, 𝓼𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓻. 𝓘 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓻𝓮𝓬𝓵𝓪𝓲𝓶 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓹𝓪𝓵𝓪𝓬𝓮 𝓫𝓪𝓬𝓴 𝓪𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓹𝓵𝓪𝓬𝓮 𝔀𝓮 𝓸𝓷𝓬𝓮 𝓬𝓪𝓵𝓵𝓮𝓭 𝓱𝓸𝓶𝓮. 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓹𝓵𝓪𝓬𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓱𝓮𝓵𝓭 𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝔀𝓪𝓿𝓮𝓼 𝓸𝓯 𝓵𝓪𝓾𝓰𝓱𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮 𝓪𝓼 𝔀𝓮 𝓶𝓪𝓭𝓮 𝓬𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓲𝓼𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓶𝓮𝓶𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓼.

𝓘 𝔀𝓲𝓼𝓱 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓯𝓾𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮. 𝓨𝓸𝓾 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀, 𝓱𝓸𝔀 𝓶𝓾𝓬𝓱 𝓘 𝓵𝓸𝓷𝓰𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓰𝓸 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮. 𝓟𝓵𝓮𝓪𝓼𝓮 𝓼𝓮𝓷𝓭 𝓶𝔂 𝓪𝓹𝓸𝓵𝓸𝓰𝓲𝓮𝓼 𝓽𝓸 𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻𝔂𝓸𝓷𝓮. 𝓣𝓪𝓴𝓮 𝓬𝓪𝓻𝓮."

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Young Princess Astrid Amara de Anemoi