I want to be a pretty princess - Let's Play the Royal Trap

[Kipeci]

Marry him, get a decent spymaster and we can go from there.

 

[oscar]

Nah lol

 

[Crooked Bee]

Yes, of course we want a nice house and stuff.

I hope that doesn't mean we'll have to marry Callum though. You can never tell with this visual novel.

 

[Shadenuat]

Yes

- Marry someone rich
- Poison him
- Marry someone richier
- Poison him too

 

[Lagole Gon]

Enslave entire nations with vaginomancy.

 

[Crooked Bee]

 

[Delterius]

Doesn't she know you just can't fault people for learning to climb the social ladder with CK - II? Its Marriage -> Unfortunate Accidents all the time.

 

[LundB]

As a 1%er I feel very emotionally hurt by Georgina's comments indicating that I shouldn't want the main character to romance a character of a suitable socioeconomic class. Just because we make more money, you shouldn't say we don't deserve a chance at romance. Check your, uh, anti-privilege.

 

[LusciousPear]

"rpgcodex isn't the world"

FFS YES IT IS

 

[Erebus]

I take it from her comments that we really can't play a gold digger. Too bad, it'd have been an amusing satire of the usual love stories.

Anyway, what can we play, at this point ? Most of our choices seem to have no purpose but to determine whether we like Callum enough to live happily ever after with him. The intrigue and spying are all but forgotten, we can't decide how to act (only what to say) and it somehow seems to be already too late to try for a different romantic interest.

 

[abnaxus]

Alea iacta est

.......yes.

I...I'm not sure what to say, now.

Callum, I-

No. No, we – mustn't get carried away. You'll consider, I'll plan. That's good.

<He brings his stumbling tongue to a halt.>

I want everything between us to be perfect.

For the moment, there are other matters to consider. The investigation.

What have you discovered?

I think it's best if I wait until we are all together to discuss that.

My sister is currently not allowed out of the sight of the guards, except within her own chambers.

Therefore, we will need to meet in her rooms rather than mine. Are you fit to climb?

Of course. Should I go straight away, or wait until evening?

Earlier is better.

Then I will see you there.

<He nods, and turns away.>

<Once the door has closed, I lose the battle with the silly smile on my face.>

<Everything I have wanted might come to pass. A home of my own, and a man who is my match.>

<But first, I have to get through the next few days, beginning with today's meeting.>

I'm glad everything is going so well!

What do you mean?

Oh, never mind.

<Has Callum been talking to her about me?>

Come and see the others. There's something I want to show you.

Look! Oscar sent me a poem.

<She holds up a sheet of parchment, decorated with lines of elegant script.

<Oscar's handwriting is an accomplished skill. The problem is the words that he writes.>

She dances on a dewdrop's smile with crystal clear delicacy, and sings a song of our erstwhile forgotten dreams beyond the sea.

<Oh Oscar... what does that even mean?>

Isn't it sweet?

It seems you've made quite an impression on him.

Did he bring this to you?

No... the guards delivered it.

That's something else you have in common at the moment. You're both held under lock and key.

Oh, I'm used to that.

With all of you here, I'm getting to talk to a lot more people than I ever did before.

I can't blame my parents for being careful, not when it seems there really are enemies...

Yes. About that.

What have you found so far?

The guardsman who attacked us, one Devante, was a relatively recent recruit, hailing from lands under the control of the Grandessa.

No surprise there.

Grandessa Marie, the Wisdom's sister and your aunt, correct?

Yes, although I don't know her well. She almost never visits the palace.

She and Mother don't get along.

This Devante was not well-liked among the guards or other soldiers, at least not that anyone will admit.

His closest companions were a pair of servants who came from the territory of Duke Pherod.

A sullen stable-boy named Vito and a maid, Raquel, who fancied Devante and is now too distraught to make much sense.

That may be an act, but I do not currently have permission to question her more sternly.

Raquel is a ninny, she believes every romantic nonsense she hears. She couldn't drown a mouse.

Never knew Vito to notice something with less than four legs, but nobody'd cry if you whipped him.

Neither is suspected of being another assassin at this point.

I don't know any of these people...

What about the guards?

Rotations have been drawn up based on previous access and opportunity, to minimise the risk to Cassidy.

No obvious threats have been uncovered.

So that just leaves all the subtle ones.

And the most subtle and suspicious of all is Duke Pherod.

Duke Pherod married Sophia, the Grandessa's daughter.

Now that they have a child, she – Rielle – is my heir until I have a daughter of my own.

Which gives Pherod the strongest possible motive. Through Rielle, he could become regent.

Also he hates everyone.

<Conversation is disrupted as eyes turn to Dolores.>

What? It's no secret. Even their people don't make any friends here. Hard folk, all of 'em.

I remember seeing some of his entourage at dinner, my first night. They stood out like flies in a milk glass.

Their clothing, their manners... everything was too rough.

He harbors thugs under our very roof.

You should get along fine, then.

What else do you know about Pherod? Does he have support? Other noble relatives?

No, I believe he was a clerk before his marriage.

Mother said that Sophia had many suitors but Aunt Marie drove them all away.

She wanted her daughter to remain unmarried to stay in the line of inheritance.

Because of Caspian, she thought there was a chance that I might not survive.

That's an awful way to think about her own family.

They're nobles. Isn't that how it works?

All of you, so stuck on whose blood and whose land you're born to, like it means something.

You're no better than the rest of us.

Insult me as you like. These two deserve better.

<I can't help smiling when he says that.>

<But we are being diverted from the root of the matter.>

Pherod may have the most to gain, but is there any evidence? The connection with the servants is very thin.

Nothing as yet.

I wasn't making it up earlier, what I said – him and his folks have been keeping the maids out of their rooms.

That's suspicious.

You also said you knew what Pherod and Sophia were plotting.

...I did?

At the river.

Oh. Well, that part I made up. Thought you'd be interested, that's all.

Of course, nothing that you say can be trusted.

Too late to shut me out now.

There's no need. We can help each other.

Is that a gobelin?

What?

Oh, no. That's my bear.

<It doesn't look much like a bear to me.>

I've had him since I was a little girl. He was my very favorite toy.

You'll always protect me, won't you, Callie?

Callie?

That's his name! Callie Bear. Isn't he wonderful?

...!

Is something wrong?

I've... just remembered something.

We must speak.

Without other ears.

~What, Cassidy is tranny after all?~

<He looks at me, then jerks his head at Dolores.>

You know, you're making this harder for yourself.

You don't want to trail around waiting on Callum, and he doesn't want you there either.

If you tried a little harder to be agreeable, you could come to some arrangement and stay out of each other's way.

If he could trust you, he'd likely give you the freedom of the palace, so long as you didn't bother him.

As it is, you're dragging each other down.

I don't want the 'freedom' to move around this tomb. I want to be free.

If your prince is prone to vomit at the sight of me, he'll want to get me gone, no?

My 'prince'?

Isn't he?

Perhaps not...

Maybe I could make my life easier by playing their game, but for me, I cut that line already.

I know what I want, and I'll do what it takes to get it, 'cause nobody else will.

Nobody else... you really have no one you can rely on, do you?

No family. No true master. No friends. No lover. No one.

So what?

 

[Kz3r0]

It's a weakness.

 

[Bluebottle]

I can't see any of those getting a favourable response, really.

It's a weakness probably seems the most likely.

 

[Hirato]

It's sad

 

[Crooked Bee]

Sooo sad

 

[Kipeci]

Very sad.

 

[Tytus]

What are we sad about, again?

 

[Kipeci]

Not particularly sure.

I would prefer to laugh at the plight of the non gold-digging semi-peasants, but the vote isn't looking friendly in that direction and I don't want to go through with B.

 

[Shadenuat]

It's a weakness.

 

[LunaEclipse18]

It's sad

 

[ManFromBa]

Sad, so very sad.

 

[Lagole Gon]

Another codexian revelation incoming...

It's sad. But I'm here for you bro.

 

[Undead Phoenix]

View attachment 1318

But don't they understand?

RPGCodex is for and not true-blooded males, as proved by them favouring being a pet over being free.

Makes us laugh. Seriously, she's got the exact some personality as Skyway.

 

[LundB]

I told you guys the protag's cursory external trannycheck wasn't enough. Called it.

No, I believe he was a clerk before his marriage.

Mother said that Sophia had many suitors but Aunt Marie drove them all away.

She wanted her daughter to remain unmarried to stay in the line of inheritance.

So titles are passed down to the nearest unmarried female? That's a nonsensical system of inheritance that would never come about in a plausible setting. This isn't even me being anti-wimminz, since it's not the 'female' part I take issue with, but the 'unmarried' part. One of the top priorities for any monarch is to produce an heir, so that they can keep the crown within their bloodline. Barring married individuals from obtaining the crown is just begging for a succession crisis, and would never happen.

Unless they're saying this Sophia would be taken away by whoever she married, but then that indicates male-driven inheritance and begs the question of why marrying Pherod has taken her out of the line of inheritance, replaced by her daughter.

Don't point something out unless you're going to make it consistent.

 

[abnaxus]

It seems like a terribly sad way to live, that's all.

I don't need your syrup.

Everyone needs someone to care about them.

Well, I haven't got it!

Do you want to spend your whole life alone?

Yes!

...No. But I'm doing it anyway, because there isn't anyone for me.

Nobody's like me. Nobody thinks like I think. So there's no one who'd understand.

How do you know until you try?

<What's going on?>

What difference does it make now? They already suspect!

You may as well know.

~END OF CHAPTER 6a~