"Is that so?" she said with a soft smile.
She continued looking at with that sa warm expression, the kind that made it obvious she genuinely cared about how people were doing.
Then her gaze slowly moved away from and toward the rest of the room.
"Everyone," she said.
Her eyes scanned across the table carefully, landing on each student one by one. She didn’t rush it. She made sure every single person felt included in what she was about to say.
And just from the shift in her tone, it was obvious that this wasn’t casual conversation anymore.
"I’m sure many of you are already aware that sothing unusual has been happening within the castle," she began.
The room imdiately beca quieter.
"Right now, the Kingdom stands on the brink of a civil war. There are factions attempting to seize control of the throne."
Soft murmurs spread across the table.
A civil war.
Even if the term sounded unfamiliar to so of the students, the aning behind it was easy to understand.
It ant people from the sa country fighting each other.
A civil war was a high-intensity conflict between organized groups within the sa state. Those groups usually fought to take control of the governnt, claim territory, or force major political changes.
It might sound less dramatic than two countries going to war...
But in reality, it could be just as devastating.
"It is a situation that may place all of you in danger," Princess Myrcella continued.
Her voice softened slightly.
"I am truly sorry that you have been caught in the middle of this."
Then she lowered her head.
She bowed.
"P-Princess, you don’t have to bow your head," I said quickly, the words leaving my mouth before I could stop them.
"I-It’s not like this is sothing within your control."
And that was the truth.
None of this was her fault.
The people responsible for this ss were the greedy nobles trying to grab power... along with the commander who had stirred everything up in the first place.
Princess Myrcella had only been trying to help us survive in a world that was honestly brutal.
A world that didn’t go easy on anyone.
Not even a princess.
She slowly lifted her head again.
"I am grateful that you think that," she said gently, her warm smile returning.
She looked at again with that sa gentle smile.
And for a mont, it honestly felt like the entire room dimd around it. Not literally, of course, but that was the kind of presence it had. Her smile wasn’t flashy, and it wasn’t exaggerated either. It wasn’t the kind nobles forced onto their faces during banquets or the kind politicians used when they were pretending to care about the peasants. No, this one was simple.
It was soft and warm.
Honestly, it might have been the kindest smile I had ever seen in my entire life.
And when I say my entire life, I an all of it. Not just the one I was living right now in this world, but everything before that too. Across my whole existence, across all the people I had t, the cities I had walked through, the teachers, students, strangers, friends, and even enemies.
I had seen kindness before, sure.
I had t people who were naturally good-hearted. The kind of people who helped you pick up books when you dropped them. The kind who shared food when soone forgot their lunch. The type who would hold the door open even when they didn’t have to.
But the Princess...
Her kindness felt different.
It didn’t feel practiced. It didn’t feel calculated. It didn’t feel like she was trying to look kind.
She simply was.
And because of that, doubting her didn’t even cross my mind.
Which was exactly why I felt so guilty about what I had seen earlier.
Seriously... the mont that mory floated back into my head, my stomach twisted a little.
How could that man cheat on her?
No, really. How?
The Princess was already a perfect woman. She was beautiful, graceful, kind, responsible... basically the full package that most guys would spend three lifetis praying for. If relationships were graded like exams, she’d be the kind of person who casually scored 110 out of 100 and still apologized for "not doing better."
And yet that guy still cheated.
So people really did treat loyalty like it was an optional side quest.
Honestly, if stupidity had a physical form, it would probably look exactly like that man.
I quietly let out a breath through my nose.
Yeah... I definitely needed to tell her about it later.
Not here. Not now. Definitely not in the middle of a tense political situation inside a castle that might turn into a battlefield in the next few hours.
Timing mattered.
Right now though, the Princess continued speaking.
"However, right now, with the imbalance within the kingdom and the foundation of the kingdom starting to crack, I don’t think you should be thanking ," she said.
"You may actually be risking your lives just by being inside the castle right now," she continued. "I doubt they will let you leave scot-free. They might try to use you for their own gain... or possibly conduct so kind of experints on your bodies. I’m afraid that, considering the current situation of the castle, this really isn’t a safe place anymore."
The words settled into the room like cold mist.
For a mont, nobody spoke.
Then it happened.
A visible ripple passed through the dining room.
It wasn’t sothing you could physically touch, but you could feel it.
It felt like a cold shiver had crawled down everyone’s spine at the sa ti.
We all understood what those words ant.
We all knew, deep down, that a battle was coming.
Not the distant, romanticized version people read about in history books either. No dramatic speeches with flags waving behind them. No heroic background music playing in the distance.
Just chaos.
Violence.
And a whole lot of uncertainty.
We were already far outside our comfort zones.
Most of us were used to classrooms, schedules, and predictable daily routines. Wake up, attend lessons, complain about howork, maybe grab food afterward. That kind of life.
Now?
Now we were standing inside a castle whose political foundation was apparently cracking apart like an old wall during an earthquake.
Safe boundaries?
Yeah... those were long gone.
And it was painfully obvious that it would take quite so ti before we could even think about leaving this place and returning sowhere safe.
Now that the reality of it was right in front of us, the danger slowly creeping closer like a storm cloud rolling in, we could finally feel the weight of it pressing down on our shoulders.
"Which is why I believe it would be best for all of you to move sowhere safe," the Princess said.
Her voice softened just slightly.
"A friend of mine, soone I think many of you already know, will be able to provide that safety."
A quiet wave of relief moved through so of the students.
It wasn’t loud. No one cheered or anything dramatic like that. But you could see it in their shoulders relaxing just a little.
Those words suddenly sounded extrely attractive.
Still... sothing about it kept poking at the back of my mind.
Like an itch you couldn’t quite reach.
My brain kept turning the thought over and over.
Wait a minute.
If we were leaving...
Then what about—
Before I could overthink it any further, the words slipped out.
"Then what about you, Princess?" I asked.
A few heads turned toward , probably thinking the sa thing but not wanting to be the one who said it first.
The Princess didn’t hesitate.
"I will remain in the castle," she replied. "I’ll be assisting my mother in this war."
And just like that—
A violent shiver ran through .
It wasn’t the mild chill from earlier either. This one felt like soone had just dumped a bucket of ice water straight down my back.
Princess Myrcella was still young.
That fact suddenly hit with uncomfortable clarity.
She was only in her early twenties. Still standing at the beginning of adulthood, the sa stage where most people were still figuring out what they even wanted to do with their lives.
She was practically the sa age as my students.
The sa age as people who worried about exams, deadlines, and whether the cafeteria would run out of food before they got there.
Yet here she was.
Talking calmly about war.
Not watching it.
Not hearing about it from a distance.
But participating in it.
And the only reason for that was because she was the princess.
Responsibility.
That single word carried an enormous weight.
It pressed down on her shoulders so naturally that she didn’t even seem to notice it anymore. Like soone who had been carrying armor for so long that it simply beca part of their body.
Still...
Knowing that didn’t make it easier to accept.
Because no matter how composed she looked, no matter how brave she sounded, the truth remained the sa.
She was willingly stepping straight into a dangerously uncertain situation.
And sohow, that calm smile of hers hadn’t disappeared at all.
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