Chapter 2: Princess Mia Thinks...and Thinks...

Decked out in full battle gear, Mia gave her cheeks a few invigorating slaps as she prepared to metaphorically ride out to war.

Fortunately, this time, she had a lot of pieces to play with. Esmeralda, Citrina, and Tiona were all hers to command, forming a powerful trifecta for her vanguard. This formation was further rounded out by Ludwig’s impeccable smarts, and on top of that, she even had Rafina at her back. Anne, her walking, talking anxiolytic, was at her side, and Bel had come along too. The latter mostly because she was a rabid Sion fan, but anyway.

All right. I know what I have to do, so let’s get down to business.

While giving herself the pre-combat pep talk, she sorted through her thoughts one last time.

There are two problems I have to deal with: The first is that if Esmeralda marries Prince Echard, it’ll strengthen my political opposition. The second is that Sion is going to be assassinated... Actually, no. She shook her head.The political opposition issue isn’t something I should be thinking about. Ludwig said he had some ideas about it, so I should leave it to him. Right now, what I need to focus on is making sure Sion doesn’t get assassinated tonight. Nothing else will matter if I can’t keep him alive.

Further consideration solidified her stance.

Besides, Esmeralda can help me on the political front. And once I tell Sion that I literally saved his life, I can have him back me up too.

Her sole mission right now was keeping the poison away from Sion.

According to the Chronicles, Sion dies by poison. And according to Rina’s investigation, it’s highly likely that Prince Echard received some sort of poison from the Chaos Serpents...

The Chronicles’ passage alone had failed to explain how such a young prince had managed to get his hands on such potent poison. Citrina’s report had bridged the gap.

She apparently has the antidote ready too...

Mia glanced at Citrina, who nodded back.

“Don’t worry,