Chapter 4 - Royal Visit

...

Wow. Just, wow

Apparently, Mariana wanted to bring me to the testing room and I followed along, but I was greeted with the most unexpected scene... ever!

I thought the testing room would be one of those normal little rooms that had a desk in the middle and an orb laying on top, but boy was I wrong.

I was brought to this gigantic room with fancy decorations and a huge.. abnormally shaped rock laying in the middle?

Mariana walked over to the rock and said "This is the testing stone, every adventurer's guild has it. There are 4 different branches of the adventurer's guild, each ruled over by a great hero. They're located in the capitals of Frostillia, Pafizika, Forestvilla and Slypheria. Now, come over and put your hands on this tablet"

I walked over and put my hands on the tablet. It might've seen like I was listening to Mariana explain the rest of how the stone works, but my mind was thinking "Damn, what a huge stone. Too bad it's not edible"

Suddenly, the stone started to glow so brightly that I thought I was gonna go blind and after a few seconds, there were some numbers displayed on it.

100

wut?

"EHHHHHHHH??? Is the testing stone broken? No, I just tested it a few minutes ago. If it's not broken then than means..!"

LE GASP!

Mariana stared holes into me and after what felt like an eternity, she ran up to me with stars in her eyes and said "Welcome to the Adventurer's Guild! Come with me to meet the guild master."

Before I even understood what was going on, Mari directly dragged me up to the second floor and kicked open a pair of grandiose doors.

"OLD MAN! GET YO BUTT OUT HERE! I PICKED UP A JEWEL~"

"Mari! How many times have I told you not to call me old man."

"SHADDUP, THAT ISN'T IMPORTANT! COME, LOOK AT THIS KID'S RESULTS!"

The handsome middle-aged dude sitting on the couch received the papers Mariana was handing him and his eyes almost bulged out of their sockets when he read the test results.

"WHAT? LVL 100?! HOW? ARE YOU SURE THE TESTING STONE DIDN'T BREAK DOWN OR MALFUNCTION?"

"No way, I checked it a bunch of times!"

"Damn.. haha.. and she's only three.."

"That's why I told you she was a jewel"

"We have to keep the test result private. No one other than you and me knows about this right? If word gets out that a 3-year-old is level 100, who knows how many people would want to eliminate her?"

"Don't worry, no one else knows about this! I even added a special function to her card so that it'll seem like she's only F Grade, but only you and I can access the real information."

"Good"

"Ummm... I'm here too.. you know?"

They lifted their heads and stared at me as if they just realized there was a third person in the room.

"Oh right! Hey kid, since you heard all that, you must promise me to never tell anyone about how strong you are okay?"

"I don't plan to die young, thank you"

"... Hahahahah, I like you kid. Welcome to the Adventurer's Guild. Aki, right?"

"Actually..." I bit my lips because I felt guilty lying to these kind-hearted people. I secretly made a resolve in my hear to only tell these two about my real circumstances "my real name isn't Aki. It's Nadina Loctine. I'm the Crown Princess of the Loctine Family, rulers of Frostillia"

"eh?" they both exclaimed

I was worried. Would they get mad at me for lying to them? No.. I don't want to be hated by the people I care for.. Mari-san and guild master are kind people, but even so, they'd be really mad because I lied right?

I peeked through my bangs and I was startled by the expressions they had.

They were.. smiling!

"Haha, lad! Although I didn't know which wealthy family you were from, I knew you were a noble from the way you were talking and sitting, so no biggie!"

"Oh, don't worry about those minor details Aki dear! I'm really glad you were honest with us though."

"Yo-you're not mad?"

"Of course not" "Why would we be?"

... Haaaaaaaah, looks like I was overthinking it.

"Hmm, though your identity may be a bit of a problem since quite a few people would know what you look like.. I know! You can pretend to be a boy and tie your hair into one of those ponytails that quite a few boys have. Contacts work as well!"

"Nice idea!"

"Umm, but didn't a lot of people in the lobby already see me?"

"Don't worry about that, I'll go tell them you're a boy, but your friends played a trick on you and you were forced to dress as a girl"

"Ohmygosh, old man, you can actually use your brain for once! Aki-chan, let me dress you up~"

... What a stupid idea

Did I just enter a guild of stupid people

Yeah, no one's gonna believe that

----------

"Hey everyone! We got a new recruit, his name is Aki and due to the loss of a bet, he was forced to dress up as a girl earlier"

"Hello everyone! My name is Aki and I'm three years old. I hope you take good care of me" I said with a bow

'No one's gonna buy this crap' is what I thought until the most bizarre thing happened

...

"Damn, that must've hurt your pride as a man, though I have to admit that you'd look pretty good as a girl. "

"Yo, welcome Aki!"

"Wassup kiddo, I seriously thought you were a little missy before, sorry bout that!"

Woah, wait what? They actually believed it?! Hey, Darius you bought that as well? Stop looking at me with those sympathetic gazes!!!

I give up!

And so, that was how the girl who would be known as the "Grim Reaper" joined the Adventurer's Guild.

--------------------

Its been a year and I finally turned 4 eleven months ago! But right now I have a little, no, HUGE problem plaguing me!

WHATDOIDOWHATDOIDOWHATDOIDOWHATDOIDOWHATDOIDOWHATDOIDO!!!

My fiance, Ace Fairmond, also known as the most popular capture target in 'Doki Doki You Stole My Heart Desu' is coming over for his annual visit.

Yeah, ANNUAL. Why does he come over so little? He probably finds me annoying.

So.. I should keep acting annoying!

Look, I don't want him to start "paying attention" to me and find me "interesting" like how the heroine acted in those cliche novels and games, (Author: You're in one right now x'D) but I don't feel like dying.

In the original story, my parents grieved for endless nights until they finally fell ill and died because of 'my' death. I don't want that.

It's enough that my parents and brother know my true character, so until I gain more power and influence, I'm not going to change the way 'Nadina' acted. (Author: That's.. Not gonna work, but good luck with it)

Plus, even if I do get executed, death isn't scary. I already died once.

The scariest thing to me would be seeing those you love to perish right in front of you, yet you're too weak to do anything. It's scary that after everyone you ever cared for dies, you're left all alone to fight everything by yourself. You have no one. You immerse yourself into the darkness. There's just.. nothing.

Living every day in an empty void, separated from the world outside. Becoming a walking shell with no soul. Despair, anguish, madness and all those other negative feelings overwhelm you. And you remain like that, for eternity.

Ahem..

Haha, what am I saying?

Nevermind, let's get back to where we were!

That Idi-- I mean Ace, if going to arrive in an hour so I have plenty of time to get ready, mentally and physically.

I don't have many things that aren't prissy princess style in my wardrobe in the first place, so I just decided to wear whatever I saw first.

And so, I chose a beautiful blue dress laced in a silky pink cover with soft, white snowflakes sprinkled on top. Pretty, right?

If being pretty could get me out of my current situation, I would be elated.

But it can't.

So.. yeah.

BOOOOOPBOOOOOOOOOOPBROOOOOOOPPP (insert annoying trumpet sounds)

"The Royal Family of Pafizika have arrived!"

DAMN IT! NO, GET OUT! WE DON'T WELCOME YOU!

Three people came out of the carriage, and I assume they are the king, queen and crown prince. Wow~ they all look so majestic and they just have this air of "I am royalty" surrounding them.

Time felt like it was slowing down with each step they took as they advanced towards us. I swear I could even hear my own heartbeat since I was so nervous.

"Yo, so you finally decided to pay us a visit? You damn old geezer"

"Nathan, ma boi, you know we have lots to do! It's pretty hard managing a country after all."

"Fine, fine. You win. Let's get in and go play some games while the children play"

"Fufufu, Veronica dear, it's been ages! Don't mind those silly men beside us. All men are stupid. You must've been tired from your journey, come in and let's sit."

"It's wonderful to see you too Belliana-chan~ Ace! You go play with Nadina-chan while your mother catches up with her best friend, okay?"

"Yes mother"

What? No, don't leave me alone!! Mom, did you seriously just sell off your adorable daughter?! Okay. Breath in, breath out. You've practiced this many times before. It's okay.

"Ace darling~ come to the patio with me and let's play,okay?"

Eww, that sounds disgusting, but it's the exact feeling I tried to create. Good job, me!

"Of course, my lovely fiance"

What a fake smile. How did the original host even manage to fall for his fake smiles?! I mean, he does look pretty dazzling even with his fake smile, but the point is that it's fake! Sighs..

And so, I kept this up for the next 3-4 hours and just as I was panicking about the fact that I ran out of things to say, I head my mom call.

"Sis! It's time for dinner!"

Oh.. THANK GOD! I swear, I was going to die from loss of saliva, if that's a thing.

"Acey-boo~ Shall we go to attend dinner?"

"Anything for you, my princess."

I think I can see his facial muscles twitching from the constant exposure to my "love". I feel bad for the guy, he's only 5 after all.

Oh right! On the topic of Ace being 5, he unlocked some pretty rare magic in the ceremony! They were: Fire, Light and Space. Pretty benefiting of the most popular capture target right?

Though, I do remember only giving him fire and light, but that's okay! As long as I can protect myself from my bad ending, I don't give two f**ks about what the hell is going on with those I don't care about.

You could probably guess what happened next. We had dinner, play games with each other and the process repeated for the entire week.

Everything went as planned other than the fact that the prince gave me a strange look as he was leaving.

I didn't get found out, did I?

Nah, no way!

Right?

Ehh, whatever, who cares!