Unrational

"So... You kidnapped the Princess... Why...?" Ralf murmurs as he watches Michael lay the unconscious Princess down on the bed, the man palming his face at the sheer absurdity of their situation.

Michael shrugs, "She was asking for it... I told them what I wanted, they refused, tried to fight me, so I took something they couldn't do without."

"And you thought kidnapping the princess would make them more amenable to our needs?" Ralf asks, dumbfounded. "I suspect they will begin to employ far harsher tactics now that we've essentially committed war crimes..."

Michael shakes his head, "It's only a war crime if we kill her. I'd rather not do that if we can." he admits.

Ralf gestures at the burn scars around Henrietta's neck, "If it's all the same to you, maiming and torturing captives, especially Noble ones, is a war crime in Halkeginia"

Tiffania sits beside the princess with a sad expression, feeling as if Michael's actions were her fault. After all, it was her that needed the book, not anyone else. She uses a moist cloth to dab at the burn scars, occasionally using a herbal paste to cover them before finally wrapping it all with some cloth. "Did you need to use so much force, Michael? I understand we need the book, but, if we are going to hurt people then, maybe we should try something else? The Princess and Miss Valliere did nothing to deserve this, in fact, I think we owe Louise for summoning you to us in the first place..."

Michael shakes his head, "She kidnapped me from my home, it might have ended well for you two, but I'm still lost and without a way to get home. Not without the book at least. As for the Princess? Yeah, she probably doesn't deserve this, but she's standing in our way to freedom. So she's an enemy and should be treated as such." he explains, though, his reasoning falls a little flat to their ears, as if he himself wasn't sure of his actions.

Ralf lets out a sigh, "Be that as it may, we will need to relocate, it is only a matter of time until someone finds us. The only reason we haven't been discovered yet is because no one is searching for us... Now that you've kidnapped the princess though? We will need to be careful.

"Yeah, we'll move tomorrow. We'll have to leave a message for Charlotte when she comes back around with her mother though."

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Louise stumbles into her room within the palace, her shoulders slumped and her hand still tightly gripping her wand. The kidnapping of the princess was a big shock, not just to her, but to everyone else in the know. It was being kept secret for now, but the very fact that Princess Henrietta had been kidnapped inside her own city while attended to by her trusted attendants was a big knock to many people's minds.

Indeed, some had even begun blaming Louise for the situation, while most people did not know just how involved she was, it was clear that her own insistence on meeting with Michael had caused all these problems in the first place.

Michael's words had truly hurt her, as she had indeed thought that he was seeking some kind of pardon in order to return to her. A familiar was supposed to be loyal towards their master to the core, yet, her own seemed ready to disobey and go against everything Louise said.

It wasn't all her fault however, as it was Henrietta who'd encouraged meeting him, the princess thought they could bring him to their side, and gain a powerful ally in the battles to come. Neither had thought Michael's reason for inviting them would be so malicious though.

Now she was presented with possibly the hardest choice of her life. Hand over Brimir's Prayer Book, the thing that allowed her to learn and utilise her Void Magic. Or let her familiar kill the Princess, Agnes was aware of the situation and likely wouldn't allow her to choose the latter option, not that Louise had even considered it, but it was still a heart-rending choice.

Her whole life she'd considered herself a failure of a mage, unable to cast even the simplest spells. Then, the Princess had taken her in and given her the Prayer Book, making her feel that she could finally be useful... And now, she had to give away the one thing that could improve her life and the life of everyone in Tristain... "How could I have been so stupid? I should have listened... I should have known that Michael was going to do something like that!"

Back in the Academy, he'd seemed so lost and unsure of himself. Yet he was like a completely different person when they spoke earlier. His smile didn't reach his eyes, he spoke as if he was talking through a filter, and he looked at her and the Princess like they were pawns in a chess game, not as people.

And then they refused to hand over the book, and it was like a dam had burst. It was just, wrong. Really wrong! So wrong that she thought they might've been tricked and were talking to someone else who looked like her lost familiar.

Honestly, despite the anger she was feeling towards him, she couldn't help but feel pity. What had happened to force him to change so much? And what was forcing him to go so far to obtain the Prayer Book... He was clearly reluctant at first to use violence, but once that switch had been flipped, he was all too natural threatening and fighting.

Louise shakes her head, regardless, her thoughts on her familiar were useless. He was an enemy of Tristain who'd kidnapped the Princess, any hope of pulling him to their side was now long gone.