It wasn't easy, but, somehow, I had managed to quell the raging storm in my stomach enough to enjoy two biscuits covered in syrup, as well as a few pieces of fruit. Things had fallen back into awkward silence after we discussed our situation. So, breakfast was a quiet one, which was fine by me. But the moment was over, and now it was back to business. We set our plates aside for her maid staff to take care of and left the majestic garden behind for the grand halls of the castle.

I followed closely behind Cynthia as she led me past the dining hall. I caught a glimpse of my parents, seemingly finished with their meal and schmoozing it up with members of the royal staff. Mizuki took notice of me and Cynthia walking past the open doors and her expression was less than enthusiastic. I wanted to ask her what was going on, but it wasn't the right moment for that. Instead, I kept behind the princess, following her up the stairs and all the way to the entrance to her room.

"This is it," she said, pulling open the large double doors. The room that was revealed to me was massive.

I thought the room I spent the prior night in was big, but the room that I stepped into was easily three times the size of that one. Shades of purple and pink presented themselves upon the walls, bed sheets, and carpets that covered sections of the marble floor. A gorgeous stained-glass window hung high up above the canopy bed, which was itself located high above the rest of the room on a pedestal made accessible by a staircase below it. The window's design depicted Cynthia with her hands clasped together, gazing at the sky above.

The rest of the room contained things most people could only dream of having in their homes, let alone their bedroom. An opulent fireplace, exquisite art pieces, and all manner of expensive luxuries populated the spacious chamber.

However, there was something else that I took note of, something that couldn't be ignored. Her room was...messy as hell. Entire sections of the giant bookcases lining the walls were bare, with the books that once occupied those spaces lying splattered all over the floor in piles that would drive a librarian to commit murder. Scrolls and rolled up documents covered every inch of a coffee table across from her fireplace, and every cushion on the couch that accompanied the table was smothered by boxes overflowing with folders, binders, and more. Even the stairs leading up to her bed were covered in stray papers.

"Damn, princess...you live like this?"

She gasped and shoved me further into the room, which caused me to stumble over a bunch of clutter on the floor. "Sh-Shut your mouth, you uncouth mutt!"

"Hey, don't push me! What if I tripped over this crap and hit my head on that table? Is your grand plan to get out of this arrangement to kill me?"

"I won't tell you again, shut up and sit down!"

I looked around, befuddled, and asked, "where...?"

She growled and marched past me, grabbing hold of my hand in the process and leading me up the stairs toward her bed. She shoved me back onto the mattress and rushed back down the stairs to riffle through some of the books on the floor.

"My room is a mess because I was looking for information all night while you were sleeping oh-so comfortably. So, pardon me," she hissed.

"Is the holier than thou, pampered princess of Steylia really trying to frame me as privileged right now?"

"Well, one of us had a good sleep last night and the other didn't. I'm sure your meager brain can figure out which of us is which."

"...You really do think you're above it all."

"No, I don't!" she protested. "What are you talking about?"

I pointed to the platform beneath the bed I was sitting on and said, "well, for starters, you literally sleep above it all."

She growled and shot her jade glare at me. "Gods, shut up already! I'm quickly tiring of your quips."

"That wasn't a quip, it's true. Yeah, you had your accident, but whose fault was that, huh? Here's a hint, it was yours, Princess Cheesecake. You received the best healthcare known to man in literal seconds and were good as new. Yet here you are whining that the guy who got sucked into this because of you got a little rest. Just admit you don't know how to be regular person."

She paused for a minute and stared at me. A sigh followed before she took a rolled-up paper in her hand and ascended the stairs. She sat beside me and unrolled the document. "You're right, I don't know how to be a regular person. Because this has been following me my whole life."

She handed the paper to me, and I scanned over it. "Candidates for arranged marriage?"

"Yes" she confirmed. "From the second of my birth, my parents began planning my marriage. The candidates are all other future world leaders, and I have no say in which one I will marry. My parents will make the decision by my birthday next year."

"I don't get it, don't the other families have to consent to something like this, too?"

"Steylia is the largest, most powerful kingdom in the world. Do you think any royal family in their right mind would refuse the opportunity to marry into my family and become a territory of Steylia? That would change the political dynamics of the world in their favor in an instant, forever."

I looked over the list. I recognized most of the names from reports on the news and Internet articles, but I was admittedly ignorant of the specifics of most of the individuals printed on the document. It didn't matter either way, though. The look on her face told me all I needed to know.

"Is there anything you can do about it?"

"No," she said, anger rising in her voice. "I've tried to tell my parents for years that this is unfair. I've tried to tell them that it's an awful idea that will drastically shift the balance of power in the world for generations. I've tried to tell them that I have no interest in most of the candidates. But they won't hear any of it. Above anything else, my parents are traditionalists. This is how it's always worked, so that's how it will continue."

"Right, but that approach made sense when it was used as a means of peaceful territorial expansion. All the arranged marriages since Steylia became the largest kingdom have been unions with royals from smaller kingdoms. And besides, isn't the queen Steylian? I thought your family was done with that approach."

"You know more about this than I thought," she said. "My parents were born fifteen years after the war with the Ashar Empire. The world was still very politically unstable at that time, and everyone was on edge that the continuing skirmishes between kingdoms meant another massive war was on the cusp of breaking out. My grandparents thought it unwise to commit to an arrangement with any other nation with so much uncertainty in the air. By the time my parents were set up and married, the world's climate was peaceful again."

"So, you're saying your parents think now is the time to return to business as usual?"

"Exactly." She shook her head and clutched her dress tightly at her knees. "But they're wrong, this whole situation is wrong. They've been wrong about so much, but they won't listen to me because, apparently, it's too much to fathom that I'm smarter than them. No, because I'm young, I must be naïve and confused—never mind that my IQ is higher than theirs and everyone else in this kingdom. I'm literally the only one who isn't an idiot, yet like they treat me like I am!"

I resisted the overwhelming urge to roll my eyes at her supremely arrogant statement. Instead, I set the document aside and said, "but none of that matters now because of this stupid White Knight thing, right?"

She rose to her feet and stormed down the steps. Books and papers flew in every direction as she dug through a pile of both in search of something. I bounced on her bed until she broke her silence with a resounding, "found it!"

She unrolled what looked to be a very old document. Her green eyes examined its contents rapidly, all the while, her expression alternated anger, disgust, hope, and pondering.

"Care to share?" I asked.

She made her way back up the platform and rejoined me on the bed. "This is the original White Knight Contract. It's exactly as my father said, any person that saves the life of the princess during a potentially fatal crisis shall have her hand in marriage."

"All right, we knew that. Anything on that potential opt-out clause?"

"...Yes."

Her response to my question was muted, to say the least. I would have thought she'd have been more thrilled about the existence of some way out of this, but that didn't seem to be the case.

"Are you going to go on, or what?"

"How are you with magic?" she asked, nervously.

"What? Why do you care?"

"Just answer the question, idiot."

I groaned and shrugged. "Awful. I'm not good at it. I've never been able to get a single spell past the length of my fingers."

The blonde whined and gripped her face in the palm of her hand. "I'm so screwed."

"Will you please explain?"

"The only way to get out of this stupid contract...is if you agree to face the other eight candidates in a sanctioned combat gauntlet."

The silence that followed her words was deafening. However, if one listened closely, they'd have been able to hear the thunderous sound of several brain cells imploding in my skull.

"Let me see that," I said, grabbing the roll out of her hand.

Sure enough...

The White Knight Contract dictates that anyone who should save the princess of Steylia's life will be granted her hand in marriage. Neither party is permitted to refuse this arrangement unless the "White Knight" opts out of the contract. If this occurs, the "White Knight" must agree to take part in a gauntlet in which he or she must compete in sanctioned combat against each of the other candidates for the princess' hand in marriage.

"What the hell is this!?" I cried, my eyes wide in the face of the text in my hands.

"I told you, that's the only way out of this. It's to test the worthiness of you and the other candidates. If you lose, you're disqualified from marrying me and you're free."

My ears perked up when they heard the word 'free'. "Wait, so I can just throw this whole thing and the problem is solved?"

"No, you can't just lose on purpose. The fights are judged, and if it's determined that you didn't actually compete, you'll be forced to do it again."

"What if I fake it really well?"

"It doesn't matter either way," she said, irritably. "If you're really that bad at magic, you'd just end up losing anyway. In that case, you're free."

She didn't sound happy about the last part. "I'm free? What about you?"

"Stop asking me stupid questions and read the document in your hand, dumbass. It says the candidate you lose to automatically becomes my fiancé."

I looked over the contract, and, as expected, her words were verified. "So, if I lose, I still win, but I doom you in the process."

She stared at the floor, her eyes solemn but her tone furious. "I'm doomed no matter what. I'm either stuck with you or stuck with someone else. The only person who stands to gain anything from this is you. Which, hey, lucky you. Take the opportunity."

Sigh

"What if we just ignored this whole thing? We get engaged but never get married or acknowledge being a 'couple' at all?" I asked.

"You really think my parents would allow that? They'll force us to wed, and I'd have no power to fight them at all until I properly take the throne. Besides," she continued, her posture slumping a bit. "It's the principle of it all. I have no freedom at all in any of this. My fate was decided before I was born, and even if we stuck together in a loveless marriage, the point is that I shouldn't have to marry you or anyone else if I don't want to. It's as simple as that."

I looked at the document again.

If the "White Knight" wins the entire gauntlet, he or she is freed from the contract and the princess gains the right to choose her own fiancé in place of the king and queen.

The terms were a joke. It was true what she said, she had no agency here. Even in the best-case scenario, I would be the one earning my freedom by proving myself. She would only win the right to choose her partner because I, in theory, would have disqualified the others from candidacy. In other words, I would have to fight for her freedom for her. The thought of being in her position filled me with so much despair, humiliation, and frustration that, for the first time, I actually felt bad for a royal.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"I don't need your pity," she bit back. "You should go through with it so you can get your freedom. But you should also know that if the person that defeats you is of less than upstanding character, this decision will eventually come to affect you. After all, you are a citizen of Steylia."

That was true, if some crazed tyrant came to be the future king or queen of Steylia, it would not only cause problems for Cynthia, but also me, my parents, and Mizuki.

Oh, and the world too, I guess.

She placed her hand on my knee and looked at me with an expression that carried the torment of hurt pride and desperation. "Please...consider taking this seriously and attempting to win this. For both of our sakes."

The doors to the room opened, preventing me from responding to Cynthia's plea. It was Helena, who paused briefly when she took note of the dismal condition of the room. "I'm sorry to intrude, but the king and queen have requested Mr. Watanabe downstairs."

Oh no.

***

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