“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have let the other mercenaries from earlier leave.” Livia apologized profusely over and over.

Amaryllis raised a hand to silence her. “Stop blaming yourself, Livia. There’s no way you could have known why they were after her nor what their actual intentions were. Not to mention, if they were mercenaries, capturing them would not necessarily take care of the person who hired them.”

Livia did not look comforted at her words. 

Amaryllis was also concerned at the thought. Who hired the mercenaries to capture Sybil? How did they know she was the next oracle, and what did they intend to do with her?

The Terravalen soldiers were now interacting with Sybil in awe, as most of them had never met an oracle before, nor met someone who was as close to divinity as her. As for the mercenary that Ralfe overpowered, he was now taken into custody once a priest was notified of the situation. 

The priest also confirmed that Sybil had the blessing of Delphine, marking her as the next oracle, but when they tried to remove Sybil from Amaryllis’s care, but Sybil loudly protested, “No! I don’t want to leave her side!” Thus, the priest gave in and allowed Sybil to remain in Amaryllis’s hands until the oracle could take her into her care as her successor. Amaryllis did ask Sybil about her parents or guardians, but Sybil flat-out dropped the information that she had no one to go back to. Sensing her sadness, Amaryllis decided not to press any deeper.

Amaryllis handed Evan’s dagger to Ralfe. “Here, now that you have repaid Evan’s debt by saving me earlier, I will return this to you so you can give it back to him.”

Ralfe blinked. “Oh, this isn’t necessary. I was only doing what a soldier should. Besides, it is my duty as a mortal to protect the oracle with my life. Otherwise, wouldn’t we incur the gods’ wrath?”

“Just accept the dagger so that your captain is released from his debt. I don’t want him to feel pressured about owing me anything, so please do it.”

Reluctantly, Ralfe took the dagger. He then remembered something. “Miss Ella, is it? I also remembered that Tr- Evan owed you about fifteen gold coins. I will have someone send them to you shortly, so could you tell me your full name and where you live?”

“That’s not necessary,” Amaryllis refused. “If he wants to repay that as well, just tell him to pay the kindness forward. I will take my leave now. Livia, let’s go back home. Sybil, you’re coming with me too, right?”

Sybil cheerfully agreed and bounced alongside Amaryllis as she and Livia walked in the direction of their mansion. Between the attempted kidnapping, the soldiers’ assistance, notification of the incident to a high priest, and the confirmation of Sybil’s status as the future oracle, hours have passed and the sun was now setting.

“Mother and Father should be back for dinner soon,” Amaryllis noted. “The meeting must have been over by now.”

And if the meeting still hasn’t been concluded, she would find a way to break in. Maybe she could convince her parents? They must have known by now that the other parties don’t have ulterior motives or they would have acted on them by now.

Not to mention, Amaryllis looked forward to introducing her new friend to her parents.

“Sybil, would you like to have dinner with my family?” Amaryllis asked. “I’m sure my mother and father would absolutely adore a cute child like you.”

Sybil pouted. “I’m not a child! I’m eight!”

Amaryllis giggled. It felt like she obtained a little sister. What a shame that Sybil won’t stay with her for that long. As soon as the oracle is done with all the political interrealm business in those never-ending meetings, she will take Sybil into her care. Well, if those meetings are never-ending, then could Sybil stay with her forever?

Amaryllis’s parents returned not long after she arrived home. By then, she and Sybil had both gotten cleaned up. Now that Sybil had a proper bath and was wearing clean clothes, she seemed even cuter in Amaryllis’s eyes. Sybil’s black hair was short and curly. Her large eyes sparkled like an amethyst. Her features were small and dainty, like those of a doll. 

Even Sybil herself seemed surprised to see her reflection in the mirror. To her, she must have looked like a stranger.

It was in the middle of dressing Sybil up that someone announced the arrival of her parents. Livia had managed to acquire a child-size dress in a short period of time and Amaryllis was dressing Sybil up like a doll when the news came.

Excited, Amaryllis held Sybil by the hand and walked her down to the dining room where she knew her parents had decided to go first. They were usually hungry after the hours of debating in the meeting they’ve just left.

“Mother, Father, look at who I met today!” Amaryllis excitedly threw open the door to the dining room, only to freeze at the sight of her parents’ serious expression. While they usually looked stressed or deep in thought, today’s faces were different. On top of that, there was a strong cloud of somberness and dread hanging over the two.

They were already in the middle of their dinner, probably conversing with each other in low voices when Amaryllis interrupted.

“Mother? Father?” Amaryllis’s steps faltered in her path.

Both turned to look at her, startled at her entrance, then quickly hid their expressions with false happiness. 

“Amaryllis! How was your day?” Her father quickly tried to distract her with a question.

Amaryllis wasn’t fooled by their act, and they knew it because they were aware of her power to sense emotions. 

“Do you have something to tell me?” Amaryllis asked.

“Can we discuss this later?” Her mother was the one who spoke this time. “And who is this?”

Sybil curtsied just as Livia had taught her earlier. “Greetings to the queen and king consort of Etheria.” She seemed extra serious about the greeting, as if to prove her maturity and that she was not a child.

“This is Sybil, the next oracle.” Amaryllis introduced her as she helped pull out a chair for Sybil to sit on. “Sybil, these two are my mother and father.”

“The next oracle?” her father nearly dropped his fork in shock. “How did you two…?”

“I found Sybil earlier today when Livia and I were out in the commercial districts. She was being hunted down by a group of mercenaries, so I saved her with some help from a few people nearby, and brought her here.” Amaryllis answered as she sat into another seat.

She neglected to tell them that it was a group of Terravalen soldiers who helped her because she didn’t feel like explaining why they helped since she would then have to explain about saving their captain.

“Why didn’t you take her to the high priests?” Her mother was startled to hear about her daughter’s misadventures today.

“She did, but I wanted to stay with her!” Sybil proudly announced to the couple, jumping to Amaryllis’s defense. 

“And the high priest agreed since he knew my identity and had a level of trust in me.” Amaryllis finished.

The royal couple were still stunned. Her father finally broke the silence. “This is an extraordinary turn of events. What an impeccable timing!”

Her mother nodded. “Makes one wonder if this was by the gods’ design.”

The servants chose the moment to enter the room to bring the meals for the two newest people in the dining room. 

“Ooh!” Sybil exclaimed in delight as the servants placed a dish in front of her and lifted the cover to reveal a steaming plate of sumptuous food. Vegetables and perfectly cooked meat, perfect for a growing child. She had probably never eaten such a finely cooked meal before in her life.

While Amaryllis had been eating well the last few days to the point she had gotten used to it again, she still remembered going for long periods of time without eating something like this due to her long tenures as a nurse, so she perfectly understood Sybil’s sentiments.

Sybil dug in ferociously, stuffing food into her mouth as fast as she could despite already eating a lot of snacks earlier today.

“Sybil, slow down or you’ll choke.” Amaryllis reprimanded her.

Sybil pouted again, but did as she was told.

Amaryllis then started eating her dinner as well, but her parents’ earlier mood had unsettled her to the point she could barely enjoy it.

She took a sip of her drink. “Well, aren’t you going to tell me what happened in the meeting today?”

Her parents suddenly seemed to find their almost-finished plates fascinating. The avoidance of eye contact only confirmed Amaryllis’s suspicions that something was wrong.

She sat down her drinking glass with a loud thud. “Don’t tell me they decided to forgo the truce!”

That was the very outcome she was fearing. All this hope for nothing. In the end, nothing has changed, and nothing probably will. Human hubris has won over the desire to support the common good again.

“No! Of course not!” Her father blurted out.

“The meeting is over.” Her mother started in a hesitant voice.

“Over?” Amaryllis asked. “As in over over?”

“Yes, today was the last day.”

“Then, what was the outcome?”

“Everyone agreed to a truce.”

“That’s good, right? Why do you look so serious?”

“Well,” the queen started. “We reached the point on how we can ensure that the truce lasts, then the oracle proposed something.”

“What?”

This time, it wasn’t the queen who answered but Sybil. “A royal marriage!”

Both her parents looked at Sybil in shock, forgetting what it meant for her to be the future oracle, but Amaryllis’s reaction was different. The pit of her stomach dropped deep and a feeling of dread washed over her.

“Does this mean what I think it means?” Amaryllis asked, her voice rising higher and higher. No wonder her parents were so nervous around her. “You arranged a political marriage for me? To someone from the Northern Alliance?”

“It’s not binding!” her father hastily added. “It was the oracle who proposed this idea, not us. At first, we were thinking about pairing Martieus and the first princess of Terravale, but she was older than him by about half a decade or something. Then the queen consort of Terravale asked for you to marry her son instead. So they’ve decided to send a former offer of marriage to you.”

“Her son? The one known as the Sword of Terravale? The one who was thought to be dead for a few weeks?”

“We were against it, obviously.” her mother was the one who spoke this time. “There’s no way we’re sending our only child to a former enemy kingdom.”

Amaryllis paused to think more on the situation. “But, will the marriage preserve peace?”

The queen hesitated. “You don’t have to accept the marriage proposal, Amaryllis. You still have the right to refuse him. I’m sure they’ll just arrange another marriage with a different partner.”

“Mother, what’s your opinion on Prince Tristan? He was also at the meeting, wasn’t he?”

Her mother thought hard about her question for a minute. “If he had been an Etherian, I wouldn’t have been so against it.”

That was a surprise to hear. The queen actually had such a high impression of the mysterious prince? Even the king consort looked startled at his wife’s words.

“Please elaborate,” Amaryllis prodded.

“He’s very handsome, I can’t deny that. But most of all, when his mother and I were arguing about the probability of an arranged marriage, he mentioned that we need your consent above all else. Can you believe it? He respects your autonomy in a situation where you weren’t even present.”

Amaryllis blinked in surprise. “Really?”

“I can’t deny that he really upholds the values of chivalry.” Her father added. Him too? Were both of her parents approving of her prospective groom? They were against her marriage because of the fact that she would have to move to Terravale, but they didn’t disapprove of Tristan Ethanova.

In that case, Prince Tristan must be quite extraordinary.

“I think I’d like to meet him,” she said. “Shouldn’t we meet at least once before he sends a formal proposal?”

“There’s no need for that,” her mother said. “Everyone thinks you’re still in Etheria. I asked the high priests to conceal the fact that you’re actually here in Elysara.”

“If I do accept this marriage,” Amaryllis started in a slow voice. “My ability will be an advantage. I can determine who wants to harm me and who doesn’t. That way, wouldn’t I be able to take care of myself?”

Her parents’ face turned somber again. “Does this mean you are accepting?”

“I’m considering it seriously.” Amaryllis admitted. “But I want to speak to the oracle one last time first before I decide anything.”