A noble dressed in fancy clothes approached Meira with two of his guards walking beside him dressed in black attire. They looked like to be his bodyguards, but no one other than this person knew who they were. The man is dressed in a fancy white with gold embroidery shirt wearing blue slacks and white shoes. They walked over toward the group introducing himself to them all then dragged Meira off so he could talk to her alone in private inside the banquet hall. 

Meira looked at him surprised when he just suddenly jerked her away from the group, but judging by the expression on his face it looked to be quite urgent. "What might I do for you, Duke Padraig?" Meira was a bit in a state of confusion since she wasn't quite sure what was going on. She also saw a moment ago a girl dressed in a dress that looked more like a skirt approaching her but they suddenly stopped turning around facing the other direction. She wondered what that was all about. 

The Duke smiled pointing toward the door as he walked toward the door where Meira turned around, "Don't worry, I'll be right back. Seems that Duke Padraig has something to tell me. Just enjoy yourselves until I get back." Meira said toward her friends as she waved before turning around and following the duke through the doors down the hallway. They continued to move through the castle until the elevator they got on reached one of the higher floors where he told her ladies first before following behind her. Meira was curious what could be so important that they had to talk in a place that was hardly secure at all where there was no one around or to be seen.

"This way, Princess Meira if you please." The duke answered letting her pass by him as he held the door open then a grin hid under his face which was turned away from her at the time as he shut the door then locked it.

When Meira heard him lock the door she became alarmed where she questioned out of curiosity, "Why did you just lock the door?"

The duke told her it was for her own protection while they talked. He then walked casually over toward sofa on the other side of Meira with his back turned. He started to grin since he knew he managed to get the princess to fall for his plot. He was about to hatch his plan for her but before doing so he grinned saying while trying to hide the laughter in his voice preventing from jumping the gun before he could reel her in, "You probably want to know why I brought you here, don't you? Wouldn't any curious princess who asks too many questions?"

Meira was confused by his last statement since she had no idea what he meant by curious princess who asked too many questions. She had hardly asked any questions and was only alarmed by why he locked the door after she went into the room. It was a legitimate questions due to the fact that his actions seemed a little suspicious. Though she found it hard to believe that someone close to her like Duke Padraig would plot anything. She casually said as she walked over toward the door, "Why don't you just tell me now, because I need to be returning to the throne room. The coronation will start soon."

"I'm afraid you won't be attending the coronation, Princess." Padraig said with sincerity as he turned around and unveiled a handgun which he pointed at Meira with. "In fact, you won't be going anywhere, my dear." He grinned.

"What are you doing, Padraig? What is the meaning of this? I demand an explanation for this kind of behavior." Meira demanded as she kept her distance from Padraig and not moving from her position since he would probably shoot her. "This is a joke, right?" She said as she tried to step one foot forward only to have Padraig yell, "Don't move one step, princess. If you do I'll be force to use this on you." Meira then realized he wasn't joking. She didn't know what to do and before she could react two men grabbed her from behind. 

She tried to struggle but Padraig revealed what looked like a trigger out of pocket with his free hand putting his finger near a red button on it. "Behave princess or your friends might pay the price." He smiled as he looked at her with a serious look on his face showing that he wasn't kidding. He didn't yet reveal what that thing in his was for, but Meira knew it looked like some kind of trigger to a bomb.

"What have you done!?" She demanded while his one of his two men kept her held back while the other one prepared a chair that they most likely planned to force her to sit in.

"Isn't obvious?" Padraig grinned as he approached Meira then let his hand embrace her face caressing it. "I planted bombs in the throne room. If you do not do as I say your friends will die, understood?" He finished his statement with a more sinister tone in voice as the accomplice that wasn't pinning Meira's arms behind her back was looking around for probably some rope to tie Meira to the chair he prepared for her.

"YOU MONSTER! HOW COULD YOU!?" Meira yelled only to have the one accomplice clamp his hand tight over her mouth to keep her quiet. Padraig threatened to push the button by tapping on where the goon whispered into her ear to stay quiet and he'd release his hand on her mouth. Meira had no choice other than obey their commands and the man released his hand on her mouth returning it to his side.

Walking back and forth near Meira Padraig paced slowly on each pass as he continued, "I've waited too long for an opportunity to take control of this country. It was years I waited to take control of this country and you stole my chance at seizing the throne. I still have a chance as long as you don't show up. By default of your absence I will assume control of the throne. I'll make sure that I tell them you were too ill to attend." He paused there as he again approached Meira and grabbed her chin pointing up toward his face, "You behave like a good princess and do as these men say. Your friends might just live if you do."

As he went to unlock the door seeing Meira gave into his demands he ordered his men as he opened the door turning his head, "Tie the princess up and keep her quiet. I don't want anyone screwing up this plan of mine." He paused then he added as he closed the door behind him, "Kill anyone that comes through this door that isn't me." He ordered his two guards as he walked away down the hallway grinning about the fact he would soon become King Padraig and control the entire Windgrace populous. It was like a dream come true for him. With the princess under wraps and safely secured away all he had to do was return in time for the queen's resignation. He walked pass his two guards informing them to kill anyone that tries to go through the door that they are guarding. From what it looked like as he walked back to the elevator once he had the princess in captivity the security suddenly heightened in the castle.
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Meanwhile back in the throne room, certain girls in the room had saw Meira had left with the duke though she didn't return. It had been nearly an hour and she still wasn't back after going with Duke Padraig. Siia and Miia who were both dressed in fancy Chinese dresses with two slits on the side became very suspicious about what was going on. It wasn't like Meira to miss an important event and it certainly wasn't like her to take an hour to hear someone's report. Something was very wrong. Siia looked over toward Miia and remembered that someone that looked like one of the bodyguards of Padraig lured Ranathia away from Meira saying that had a report for her. Though she noticed when Ranathia got over toward the position that person was supposed to be there were nowhere to be found.

"Something is wrong." Siia said toward Miia where she looked over and noticed the girl that met earlier with pink hair that was with Meira's mother was also gone. She wondered where she went off to as well. Her suspicion became even more clear when Padraig returned to the throne room, but Meira was nowhere to be found. There was an unusual cheerful look on his face which you wouldn't see naturally since he complained about the fact Meira was going to become ruler of Wingrace and not him.

Melianth herself who stood beside Ariesu while intermingling with the Erewhon Pavilion group was also concerned. She wanted to intervene but Ariesu stopped her shaking his head. He told her it wasn't wise for her to get involved and that she should just wait for right now. There was no clear evidence that anything happened to her since they would have heard about it already. Though he did keep a very close eye on Padraig knowing that there was something that he was hiding under that new expression he had on his face. Some suspicious activity can be seen as guards look like they bar the door after Padraig talked to them. Everyone else was too busy enjoying themselves to ever notice that two guards stood in front of the door.
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Back upstairs Meira was lead toward the chair with a man pointing a gun at her back. She had no choice other than to obey their commands as long as they held leverage. If she showed up at the coronation Padraig might detonate the bombs in the throne room. There was nothing she could do at the moment. She hoped no one would come looking for her since it would endanger the guests. She took a seat in the chair where the tied her hands behind the chair securing a loop to one of the posts on the chair to prevent her from getting out of it. He then coiled several layers of rope below her breasts securing her tightly to the chair. 

"Ouch dammit, that hurt!" Meira protested since the rope pinched her skin and it hurt. The man tying her up loosened it a little bit so it didn't irritate her that much as he looped a layer in between her hands to prevent her from easily squeezing them free. He then bent down low and poked his head underneath her dress where Meira first thought was pervert. The man never looked up to see what she was wearing underneath. He tied her ankles in the same way as he did her hands with a layer in between to make sure it was hard for her to get free then secured a portion of the rope to the chair so she went nowhere. Meira thought in her mind how she hated the predicament she was in right now. She needed to find some way to escape when they were done or hope someone came to her rescue. She sighed to herself, "This sucks and I cannot believe Padraig would do something like this. I can't warn anyone or they might kill everyone."

"Comfortable princess?" One of the men grinned as he stared at the trussed up princess who was tightly bound to a chair. Before he made his next action he would wait and see what the princess had to say. They were told the princess had a big mouth and it was something they learned from a Guardian noble they happened to run into at a bar. They weren't sure if Meira would behave like a good girl until the queen's resignation was over. They weren't sure if they needed to force her to be quiet or not. The two stared at each other shrugged.

Meira heard a girl's voice outside where she whispered to herself what was going on. The two men who tied up earlier were now sitting at a table playing a game of checkers. When the voice came closer she heard the words "okay dammit, don't be so pushy" she realized it was a girl. She wasn't entirely sure the girl was but when the door was unlocked and finally opened she saw a pinked hair girl with her hands tied behind her back being lead into the room by some of the guards in the castle. Meira turned her head away for a moment as they forced her to continue to walk forward into the room until they pushed her hard in the back on a bed. One of the men finished tying her ankles together before they exited the room. Meira thought she had seen this girl somewhere before but where? Then it hit her, it was the same girl she saw down in the throne room lobby that looked somewhat like her. She was curious to know who that girl was, but the men kept the girls separated to prevent them from talking to each other. One of the men that was in the room watching TV demanded at the captured girl, "Sit there and shut up. No harm will come to you or the princess if you behave. Got it?"

The pink hair girl nodded at him though she was very uncomfortable because her ropes were tied rather tight. She tried to fight against her bonds to no avail where she realized she was wasting energy. She looked over toward another pink haired girl who she knew was Princess Meira where she contemplated to herself quietly, "I knew Padraig was up to something, but my carelessness got me caught. Damn this floor is crawling with these cronies. I was stupid enough to get myself captured which is embarrassing. They also took all my weapons and I did not like how that guard patted me down."

One of the men walked over toward the girl lying on the bed pulled out a handgun and pressed it hard to her head to get Meira's attention. It was pressed so hard against the girl's flesh that she cringed when it was pressed against her temple. "Now that we have a hostage we can use against you I think you better just do as we say, princess. Otherwise this girl dies. It'll be a lot easier now that this girl went snooping where she didn't belong and landed right in our laps. You two behave like good girls and no harm will come to either of you." The man with the handgun said as he pulled it away from her head and returned it to the concealed holster in his coat.

"Who are these guys?" The pink hair girl questioned as she looked at the man with fire in eyes, but was forced to obey their commands as long as they had a hostage to force either of their captives into submission with.
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Ranathia noticed that Mithos was looking at her rather strangely like if it were a stare which irritated her. She immediately shifted into a serious pose as she approached Mithos a little closer where words finally came out of her mouth. "What are you looking at!?" She said in frustration not amused by the blonde hair man's audacity to stare at her which she found not only rude but also very insulting

"You're Princess Ranathia, aren't you?" The silver haired wing girl asked Ranathia as she examined the room closely. She felt an unusual air within the room which she knew was a bit suspicious. She would refrain from saying anything about it not to alarm anyone, but she needed to consult with her advisers as soon as she was done with her conversation with Ranathia.

Ranathia turned her head away in a hmph type of gesture staring at the ground not pleased by the girl addressing her as princess. She hated the title princess since she thought it was a sexist way for males to say women were incompetent. "Ranathia, yes. The princess part I can do without."

"Oh I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. Forgive my lack of manners, Lady Ranathia. I am Princess Pheliana of the Kingdom of Eden. I came to this banquet in hope of strengthening my relations with the Kingdom of Windgrace. Strange a non-Windgrace member would be taking control of this country. Throughout the course of history, all members who ruled over Windgrace had "Windgrace" in their last name." Pheliana said after her introduction she made toward Ranathia. She wasn't sure how things were going to go with trying to strengthen the ties between the two countries, but she did hope they'd at least be considerate and listen to what she had to offer. It was better than hearing her advisers talk about what politics would benefit the Eden country. It was a way for her to shield herself from the political world for a short while which she would take full advantage of.