With the Princess in Academy City -4-
The princess's fingers twitch, arms crossed, as if feeling their emptiness.
Despite the tense atmosphere, no weapon in hand. Probably just feeling awkward.
"Tell me everything you know."
"There's still some parts I'm investigating. So let's fill in the blanks starting from the beginning."
"The beginning?"
"Yes. Let's go over the details from the start of your memories. I'll fill in what I can."
"…."
Rohan rustles open the hamburger wrapper.
He offers her one of the two burgers he bought on the way, but she shakes her head, saying she doesn't need it.
Wise choice—not eating something handed over by a stranger in a spot like this.
"Princess Testarosa. This isn't a tough problem."
"?!"
"Just recall your memories and check the suspicious bits. Starting from the day Tigrova's ruler changed."
A title Rohan had never used before.
Her eyes fill with shock at hearing it from someone else's mouth.
"…You've dug that deep into me. Impressive. Actually makes you more credible."
"If it bothers you, I can switch titles. Give me a pseudonym, and I'll use it."
"No need. It's just an empty name anyway. No reason to demand etiquette."
"Is that so."
"No need to force polite speech either. Call me however you're comfortable."
One word of permission.
Rohan drops the formal tone immediately, like he'd been waiting.
"Testarosa's too long… How about Sion?"
Sion Testarosa.
How long since she'd heard her real name from someone's lips, not "princess"?
That single word ignited a spark in the darkness before her eyes, and she couldn't hold back a strange thrill, letting out a hollow laugh.
"Unbelievable. My name sold out that easily."
"No one around me knows it but me. It's exclusive info I've got pinned down solo, so no worries."
"Ever thought words like that put you in danger?"
Rohan barely stifles a laugh at Sion's half-hearted threat.
Someone innately unable to persecute the innocent pulling that line.
Prime material for scheming old elders, but to Rohan, she just looked green.
"I've proven my info-gathering chops, so I figure I'm safe from getting offed."
Sion shrugs: who knows.
"I'd like a name worth calling you too. Pseudonym's fine."
"Rohan."
Sion mutters "Rohan" a few times, then nods.
"Good. Let's recall the day Tigrova's ruler changed."
"Yeah."
Rohan chews fries, ears perked.
"Honestly, not much to recall. I was just a clueless kid back then. Stayed in my room, heard the news of my parents' deaths from the elders, and bolted right away."
That's when Rex Frozenheart—Noah Frozenheart's father—became Tigrova's new ruler.
Rohan nods to show he's listening, letting her chew over the key facts.
"You didn't see your parents' deaths yourself? Just heard it from the elders?"
"…Right."
That part had to nag at her most.
Rohan chalks up a first win for stirring it.
"Let's correct the biggest fact first."
"I'm listening. Speak."
A brief pause.
Satisfied with her focus, Rohan opens up.
"First off, Rex Frozenheart never killed the Testarosa royals."
"…."
"But he did fight and win. Tigrova's a place where personal strength is supreme power."
Rex Frozenheart proved overwhelming might and claimed rule legitimately.
Yet he wasn't pointlessly cruel; backed by deep public trust that needed no examples, he sent Sion's parents back alive.
His later actions didn't match the monster in her head either.
He welcomed the few elves in the coniferous forests into the fold and tried placing Testarosa blood in Tigrova's high posts.
"That's it for now."
Rohan's rundown ends.
Sion's face twists with an indescribable unease.
Blood trickles from lips bitten hard to stifle her feelings.
"Even granting everything you said is true… then my parents…."
Her question—who hurt them?—never finishes.
Assuming Rohan was right, suspects flicker through her mind.
The elders. And Rohan.
One side was definitely lying.
"Let's step through it to make conclusions easier."
"…."
"What do you think the elders want?"
Her head was already a mess.
The air hung heavy, crushing.
"Answer me. You know what they expect from you, right?"
At Rohan's low prod.
Sion murmurs soft.
"…Take Tigrova back from Rex Frozenheart."
Spilling it so readily, no defenses—sign of deep confusion.
Sorry inside, Rohan drives the talk forward.
"How?"
"Me—the last Testarosa blood—fighting and winning."
"Fair and square?"
Rohan strokes his chin at her nod.
If they tack on 'someday,' zero chance isn't impossible.
Rex would age; Sion's power would crest in her prime.
But.
Pin "within a few years," and it was a flower-field fantasy worth scorning.
Unless the elders had some special play.
"Now think on this. What do you suppose they're doing, roping in loose cannons like that?"
"…."
"Can't even help train you with their own skills. What're they up to?"
The cramped room falls dead silent.
Creak—Rohan leans back in his chair and waits.
Not for words.
Just time for her to think.
"Sion."
"…."
She looks up at his call.
Eyes dulled, lost their sharp gleam.
Face swollen with grim hypotheticals.
"What are humans and beastkin to you?"
"Humans and beastkin…."
Her dazed mind latches on.
A pat answer bubbles up reflexively to the curveball.
But it dies unspoken.
Rohan's stare and vibe radiate a savage warning: don't you dare.
She wrenches free from the sticky mire.
—Princess. Humans and beastkin have filthy blood, no different from Satan.
—Don't mix words with any race but elves. Vile mouths that spew lies at every chance.
Words hammered in during her formative years by the elders.
Heard so often they echoed in dreams, hallucinations too.
Sion winces at the stabbing headache.
"Not what someone taught. What you've seen and felt yourself. Passersby on the street—what'd they seem like?"
"…."
No strong impressions.
Neither saintly nor sinister.
But.
The closed-eyed girl she'd bumped into buying Water Drop Friends merch.
Could she call that girl—warm smile, greeting first—filthy blood?
"…."
Rohan gives her space again.
Watching suffices.
That info from the jump had to hit hard.
Thought he'd softened it plenty, but too brutal anyway.
Fine if she doesn't shatter.
Unpacking this first doubt was basically the meat of the Broken Crown storyline.
How long the elf girl stays mute against the wall.
Beep-beep-beep—! Beep-beep-beep—!
The clock smashes the quiet, tolling time to move.
"First… guess I should head back…."
Sion staggers up, voice drained.
Slips on her boots, pulls goggles from her bosom.
"Dunno if that helped. I'll dig up more."
Rohan swings the window open like seeing off company, cool breeze rushing in as he murmurs low.
"Sion."
"…."
The girl—one foot on the sill—glances back.
"Don't take it so hard. No need to swallow my info wholesale right now."
She mutters: then what after hearing it all?
"Sorry," Rohan adds one more.
"Ways to check the facts yourself will come to mind."
"…."
Doubts aplenty, naturally.
Long years outside.
Thud.
Sion drops back into the room from the sill.
Faces Rohan head-on, asks.
"What if… really, what if…."
"Yeah."
"If I judge everything you said is true… what do I do?"
Sion teeters on mental collapse.
"Head exploding with rage or not, don't rush into anything."
"…Wait? Or stay cool?"
"Both."
"…."
Sion clamps her mouth shut.
No confidence either way.
"Wait."
Rohan snags the leftover burger from the desk, scribbles his number on the wrapper again.
Forces it into her hand.
"Remember what I said?"
"…."
One chat surges up in her memory.
Short talk from their first meet in the ruins.
—I jotted rough times I can take calls, so ring anytime. Even non-business.
—Worries? Craving sweets 'cause life's rough? Trivial stuff's fine too.
Sion nods, worry eased a touch.
"Careful on the way," Rohan bids her off again.
"You'll run into me again anyway."
Utter nonsense from her angle, any way you slice it.
Yet undeniable—she memorizes his words and leaves Academy City behind.