I was met at the door by a knight dressed in plate mail. She bore the royal crest, a gryphon on a red field, emblazoned on her armor’s chest, and had little interest in talking to me. She confirmed my identity as ‘Amelia,’ and that was that - even as I tried to tell her I preferred ‘Amy,’ she turned away and gestured for me to follow her.

She led me to the school’s administrative building. More specifically, to the principal’s office - the best the school could arrange under the circumstances, I suppose. The king sat behind a large desk, swept clean of all personal belongings. Behind him were two more guards. They were armored, similarly to the one who’d brought me there, but the background of their crests were purple instead of red.

“You may leave us,” the king told the leading guard, who nodded her head while placing a fist upon her heart. She turned and left, closing the door behind her.

“Amelia,” the king stated, studying me. “Or should I say Amy?”

“I’d prefer Amy,” I replied, cautiously studying the king in turn. He had short cropped brown hair, and his eyes reminded me of flames. Eyes that were regarding me with a quiet intensity.

“You look just like her, you know,” he said, after a moment.

“I would,” I replied, weighing how much to tell the king. Bridgette would probably urge me to tell him everything, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to trust him with that… “I’m in her body, after all.”

“Yes - the work of a demon, correct?” the king asked. He chuckled, then, no doubt noticing how my eyes had widened in alarm. “Bridgette sent me a missive. She might be in your court, girl, but she’s still loyal to the crown - and I’m the one who sent her to guard you, besides. Never forget that.”

I nodded, biting my lip. Of course. I’d been thinking of Bridgette as… as an ally, I suppose, if not a friend. But she wasn’t hanging around me because she wanted to, was she? From the start, it had been nothing but orders - that and her sense of justice.

“Oh dear,” came a familiar voice, making me shiver as my face paled. “You’re making the poor thing depressed… It’s almost as if you’re aiming for some sort of miscommunication arc.”

The king tensed, while his guards moved to grab their weapons. I didn’t bother to respond beyond a tired sigh, though - not even when the demon manifested right besides me, a smile on their face.

“They do this sometimes,” I explained. “Please believe me when I say that I have no control over them.”

“Of course,” the king replied, his tone betraying not even a hint of wariness as he placed a familiar looking stone upon the desk. “The purpose of this meeting is trust, after all.”

“Oh?” the demon murmured, glancing between me, the king, and then the stone. “You’re putting it out in the open? You’d think someone like you would play their cards closer to their chest - and yet here you are, exposing it, despite being within its radius yourself.”

“Come now,” the king said, turning his full attention to the demon. “I think all three of us know there’s no reason to even try to get away with lies in front of Miss Amy, here. I lose nothing by letting the stone alert her to lies she can already detect.”

“You…” I started, then stopped. Had Bridgette told him that as well?

“Oh, don’t give me that look,” the king said, letting out a sigh. “I’ve known about Lady Amelia’s truth telling ability for quite some time - since she developed it, in fact. For all of Duke Tearbolt’s many flaws and ambitions, he’s actually quite loyal - told me first thing that a new truthteller had been born to the kingdom.”

“A truthteller?” I asked. “That hardly feels like an apt description of Amelia.”

“And yet the term has long been set so,” the king replied, smiling wryly. “Though I do find it hard to argue with you there… She wasn’t always a liar, of course… but that girl closed her heart off from a young age, I’m afraid. No doubt sick of all the lies she detected around herself.”

“Just so,” I murmured, thinking back to how I’d written her. The king didn’t seem to know about her future sight, seeing as how Amelia had kept that secret even from her Father.

Why wouldn’t she, when her very first vision had been of her Father’s eventual betrayal?

The demon clapped their hands. “Yes, yes, that’s all well and good, and I’m glad we’re putting things out in the open, but forcing you two to talk about obvious things isn’t really why I’m here.”

“You’re the one who brought this conversation about in the first place, though!”

“I did, didn’t I? And yet now I’m bored of it. Such is the way of things, sometimes - as I’m sure you’ll learn as you grow older… again. For now, though, the important part is that Bridgette likes you. Understand? She isn’t just spending time with you because the king commanded it, or because her knightly code demanded it, or whatever other thoughts are going through your brain.”

“You seriously came here just to tell me that?” I asked, irritated. “This is my meeting with the king! To prove I’m not Amelia!”

“And you’re doing a fine job of it,” the demon assured me. “But seriously - I’ve read things with miscommunication arcs. I won’t name names, but let’s just say that reading fifty plus chapters of it gets annoying.”

“This isn’t a story!” I protested. “This is my life!”

“And my entertainment!” the demon replied. “Aren’t I allowed to pop in and keep things interesting?”

“You… you…” I scowled at them. 

“Ah-hem.” The king cleared his throat, bringing my attention back to him, a light blush tinging my cheeks. 

“Apologies, your Majesty,” I murmured, dropping into a curtsy.

“Enough of that,” the king said, waving for me to get up. “It’s good that the demon is here - it helps to prove your story. That you were forced into this body by another’s hands, at the true Amelia’s request - is that correct?”

“It is,” I said, nodding my head.

“Indeed,” the demon confirmed. “The girl - Amelia - asked to be taken away from this place… and I obliged.”

“And so the girl in question is safe?” the king asked, arching an eyebrow.

The demon smiled. “I really should be going - there’s someone waiting for me, you see. I promised to show them a new story - I’d tell you the title, but it would only torment you knowing that you wouldn’t be able to read it… Oh, who am I kidding? That only makes it better! It’s called-”

“Out!” I shouted, causing the demon to laugh as they turned their way out of existence once again. 

“…So that’s the demon that plagues you,” the king remarked. “Bridgette described them as such, but I must admit - I found it difficult to believe… or perhaps I merely didn’t want to believe that such a powerful being could act so chaotically and without restraint upon my lands…”

“They haven’t actually hurt anyone yet,” I remarked, frowning. “In fact, I’m not sure they can…” They were limited, at the very least - or else why would the demon have used a potion upon me, instead of simply saving me themselves? Unless they really did simply lack the ability to do healing magic, but… Well, so far the demon had at least tried to present themselves as omniscient, if not all powerful. They always seemed to show up at exactly the right moment, and knew exactly what was going on. Were they really just watching me that frequently? Or was there more at play?

“Is there something on your mind?” the king asked me.

I shook my head. “No-” I began, only to pause when the stone turned bright red. “I mean, yes, but… I’m not certain enough of anything for it to be worth articulating.”

This time the stone remained inert. The king nodded. “Very well, then. It’s a relief to know that the stone is working, at least. Can you then state one more time, for the record, that you are not the original Amelia, or the one who committed the crimes she was to be executed for?”

“I am not the original Amelia,” I said, my voice kept as firm as I could make it. “And I have not committed any crimes within this kingdom, to my knowledge.”

The stone did not react, and the king smiled. “Wonderful. A pleasure to hear it. In that case, I am proud to declare you innocent of all charges, and free to continue living your life. I’ll contact your father - or rather Amelia’s father - about adopting you back into the family. You’ll need that sort of backing if we want to keep the local riffraff from bothering you.”

“…What?” I asked, hardly able to believe my ears. “Wh-why would you do that? Why would you go that far for me? And… and adopting me? The Duke? I’m just a stranger to him! If anything, shouldn’t he despise me for taking over his daughter’s body?”

“If anything, I’m afraid he’d thank you,” the king replied, shaking his head. “I mentioned the man had faults, and I fear this is one of them - he’d likely see this as the restoration of a useful tool to the kingdom.”

“A tool?” I parroted. “What do you mean a tool?”

“Let it be known that I’m not quite so cynical in my view,” the king explained, no doubt hoping to placate me. “But yes - a truthteller makes for a powerful asset to any kingdom. Do you know how enchantments are made?”

“Enchantments?” I asked, confused by the sudden shift in topic. “No?”

“Enchantments come in two forms. One is beast cores, which can be crafted into items that replicate a monster’s natural abilities. The other is ‘imprinting’ - something generally done with the help of a dedicated enchanter. Essentially, the special abilities certain people are born with - like your truth telling, and Bridgette’s ability to hear things on the wind - can be imprinted onto enchanted items. This is where truthstones come from. And considering how important truthstones are in any noble courtroom…”

“So my ability makes me valuable?” I asked. “Is that why you want me back in the Duke’s family? To tie me to the kingdom, and make use of my ability?”

“It’s certainly a factor,” the king replied, without an ounce of shame. “But I do believe it would be best for you, as well.”

“And if I refuse?” I asked, my tone colder than I’d intended it to be.

The king tilted his head, confused. “Why wouldn’t you? The alternative is to live as a commoner once you leave this school.”

“A commoner with a royal education,” I pointed out. “I’m sure I’ll be able to make a name for myself.”

“And if you were to lose access to that education?” the king asked. “You have no money to pay tuition - without a scholarship from me, you won’t be getting any degrees from this institution.”

“That’s… I… you won’t do that. Not if you truly want to make use of my ability.” So I said, but in truth I was shaken by the king’s words.

“We don’t need you to be willing to serve as imprinting material,” the king remarked, and for a moment his eyes seemed to go cold - but then he closed them, and sighed. “But as I said before, that is only one factor in my decision… so very well. I will not force the issue - but I must again ask why. Why are you so determined to avoid becoming the duke’s daughter?”

“I…” I hesitated, there. Not because I didn’t want to say, but because I wasn’t entirely sure myself. It just felt… wrong to me, I suppose. Signing up to join him, after the way he’d so casually thrown aside Amelia… and… and more than that… there was something else. Something harder to explain. A revulsion at the idea of belonging to that man, again, in the eyes of the law…

“If you don’t wish to speak of it, you don’t have to,” the king said, with surprising gentleness, before glancing at the truthstone. “In fact, perhaps it’s better for me not to know…”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, frowning.

The king chuckled. “Secrets, my dear - even kings must keep them. But still - I’m afraid this puts me in a difficult position… You see, I need to keep you connected to this kingdom. Becoming the Duke’s daughter again was one way to accomplish it - but, in truth, one could say it was part of the set-up for the true trap… to engage you once more to my son.”

“You wouldn’t!” I whispered, horrified.

“I would,” the king said, his eyes again going cold, and his voice stern. “For the sake of my people, I’d force both your hands…”

“I’d rather die than marry a man,” I said, instantly. “I’m… I used to be a man, so… so…”

“Men take men as lovers all the time,” the king remarked, shaking his head. “But very well. If it’s his masculinity you have an issue with, then there’s an easy solution - a better fitting one, in fact, considering it avoids traumatizing Henry further… And there will be less of an outcry from the nobles, no doubt - especially his supporters, of which there are quite a few… Yes, I think this will work out quite nicely indeed…”

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

The king smiled. “I mean to engage you to my daughter - Firanna.”

~~~

Author'sNotes

Well, looks like Amy's keeping her head at least! That's the main takeaway here, right? ...Right?

We'll be diving a bit more thoroughly into the king's plans and motives next chapter, for the record, so don't worry if there's something you don't understand quite yet.

If you'd like to read ahead, please do considering joining my Patreon, where you can read up to chapter 22 for as little as $1!