Seeing that she couldn't convince Vicente to come over to her family's side immediately, Lina gave up pressing the issue, satisfied that he was at least willing to rethink the matter in the future.
'If The Purification really does come to life, then he'll probably change his mind, ' she thought to herself. 'If the calamity doesn't happen, he'll probably leave the kingdom in a few years. Then it wouldn't make any difference to us.'
"Then take your time to think about it." She stood up before picking up a scroll and throwing it into Vicente's hands. "This is the royal edict that His Majesty recently issued. You have three months to report to the capital, Vicente Fuller."
Vicente opened that parchment and saw the king's orders, who wanted a face-to-face conversation with him.
"That..."
"Don't be late." One of the soldiers closest to him and Lina advised. "If you miss that deadline, a group will be sent to 'escort' you to the capital."
Vicente laughed. "I actually have a matter to settle in Diamond Province. It's not against my plans to go to Grandis."
"That's good," Lina commented, thinking of letting Vicente go for the time being since they had already discussed what they wanted to talk to him about.
They would investigate in depth what had happened in the city and, depending on what happened, would talk to him again. But for now, they had fulfilled their responsibilities related to Vicente.
Before leaving, Lina advised. "Don't be so hard on your little sister. If you try to forbid her anything or keep boys away from her, she'll have more desire to do those things you don't want her to do.
Let her make up her own mind and make her own mistakes. That will make her less inclined to rebellious attitudes and terrible mistakes.
That boy from earlier didn't seem to look at her the way you fear. And even if he did, would it be so bad for her to be with him?"
"As long as he's willing to follow the rules, no. But that's the problem, princess." Vicente said sincerely. "Who knows what's in that young man's mind?
I don't have the power to undo things. Once the milk is spilled, we can only wipe the floor...
If he does something he shouldn't, I can only seek justice for my sister. But I won't be able to undo what he does to her, and that will be the case forever.
I'd rather scare him now than let him think he can do anything and get away with it. He can't. Either he follows my rules, or no one can save him."
The soldiers around him understood Vicente's mentality and, in a way, agreed with him. However, this young Sovereign was talking about the Third Prince, which naturally mattered as much as their opinion.
Lina smiled at Vicente, as he only seemed to be looking out for his own sister.
"See you later." She said goodbye, soon heading towards the interior of that academy, while Vicente went to Nina to return home.
...
As Nina and Vicente left the academy, the young Killian entered alongside his 'uncle' into the academy's boardroom. None of today's visitors had access to it.
Arriving there, he came across Lina and some of the soldiers who had come to this city with the princess.
"Big sister..." He smiled bitterly at the brown-haired woman sitting in the armchair of the person in charge of the academy.
"Killian, what are you planning?" Lina asked, serious. "That girl's brother isn't simple. Bear that in mind before you decide what you're going to do. He wasn't joking earlier. If you get involved with her, you must take on all the responsibilities.
That includes marrying her and having only her as your wife.
From what little I've talked to Vicente Fuller, I can tell he wouldn't allow you to have relationships with other women if you married Nina."
Killian said nothing, imagining this must be the case. "Don't worry, big sister. I'm just a friend of Nina's. I got close to her at first because of Vicente Fuller, but I soon realized that there was no way I could have someone like him in my sphere of influence.
It would be presumptuous to think I could have his support."
"Humph! It would be presumptuous of me to think I could achieve that. Just imagine a boy like you?" She said as she laughed at Killian's initial thought.
"That's why I abandoned that idea. But Nina is an intelligent girl and a good friend. Without realizing it, I became her friend, and even after abandoning that plan, I kept getting closer to her. So don't worry, our friendship is sincere. We enjoy each other's company." He said in a voice that was no longer so childish but still bore traces of his youthful age.
Lina didn't say anything to Killian about moving away from Nina or anything else. She approached him and put one of her hands on his left shoulder. "Just remember what Vicente Fuller said, and don't cause trouble for the family. Just be her friend or follow his rules. Whatever it is, make it clear to the family, to her, and to him."
Soon after, she set off with her group, leaving only Killian and his bodyguard, his 'uncle', behind.
Seeing the expression on the young prince's face, the old man next to him smiled, watching Killian being pressed from all sides while such a young man didn't comprehend much.
But the adults understood well. From relationships like Killian and Nina's, many babies and marriages were born around the continent. The two youngsters might not see it, but the adults saw it easily.
Nina was currently 12, the same age as Killian. While he was thickening his voice and gaining muscles and hair here and there, her waist was thinning, her hips were growing, and her breasts were getting bigger every day.
It was only a matter of time before the two young people left their childhoods behind and began looking at each other as a man and a woman.
Was their friendship just that, or could it develop into something more? There was no way of knowing until they became adults.
However, Vicente wasn't the kind of person who would accept a young man 'trying on' Nina and then realizing it wasn't exactly what he wanted. Whoever would be with his sister would have to take on all the responsibilities before getting into bed with her!
That made total sense to adults, but Killian and Nina were more or less floating in this situation, feeling many adults were viewing them strangely.
"Don't think about it, Your Highness. Just continue your journey calmly. It's not as complicated as you think. Time will make you understand everything better."
