Titania regarded the events that occurred before her with a pensive expression. She didn’t seem too terribly surprised by it, but she didn’t look glad that her personal guard had been slain either, along with many hall guards. Hmph. It’d take a great rally to replace them all. How inconsiderate of that girl to give her so much work to do! Nevermind, at least Cedric had stopped her before she could move any further. Maybe he was good for something.

“No, no. Stay your sword. Let us keep her in the dungeon and question her. I want to learn more about that magic-neutralizing sword of hers. And if Ulric and his men were so easily slain by a single woman, well… Better off without them. Will you take her on your back and walk with me down to the dungeon, Cedric?”

He didn’t seem to want to, but he did anyways once shot with one of her death glares.

“Oh, and will you please let everyone planning on seeing me here today know that we are very sorry, but we must postpone the meetings, Henry? Thank you.”

So the fat man and the unapologetic woman went down to the dungeon together. Once there, the heaving Cedric plopped Sable down unceremoniously and Titania was forced to shackle the prisoner herself due to sheer shorthandedness. When she was done, the Red-Eyed Ghost was fastened to a vertical board by her wrists, ankles, torso, neck, and forehead. There was no way to escape, and that’s just how the princess liked it.

“You may go, lord of fools and cowards,” she muttered quietly though venomously.

“It’s time that you died a tragic death, isn’t it, Lady?” Titania could hear his dagger being unsheathed, though not a sliver of worry perforated her calmness. Even though her back was turned to him, she knew he hadn’t the courage to so much as touch her. Time passed and the princess laughed.

“Do I lie, Sir? Do I perjure in saying that you are a coward? Now go socialize with the filth here. And don’t let any other unholiness to do with my assassination taint your mind, lest I have you put to death for treason.”

He scampered away silently while Titania’s eyes saw him out. When he was gone and the door was shut, the princess approached the unconscious Sable, scrutinizing her.

“It’s a real shame, you know. You could have been wife material,” she mumbled to herself, taking hold of the other girl’s chin with her thumb and first finger on either side of it, squeezing firmly. “With skin this pale, it’s a wonder you don’t burn and die in the light.” With her auburn hair falling in her face already due to a hastily-done bun, the woman shook her head, smirking slightly. “It’s a shame. Just a shame.”

After a while, she tired of looking at the girl and instead walked around the perimeter of the stone prison, chuckling as she remembered who each of the blood stains had come from. Perhaps she was a bit of a sadist…

Nevertheless, it was fairly necessary in her day and age to be a bit of one at least. What with all the messiness involved in nobility, no wonder she’d developed the philia in order to cope with the near-constant bloodshed, even in the era of relative peace.

“It’ll be nice to get back into the swing of things down here. It’s been a while since someone’s done something this deplorable, and I even had the pleasure of seeing it all with my own eyes. Ha! What a glorious day, huh?”