The Ball

"Lynn?"

The three women fell silent for a moment. They had complicated feelings when it came to Lynn.

Their relationship had improved because of Lynn.

Ria had been the first of them to meet Lynn, and she had seen him at his best.

Leticia, on the other hand, had mostly seen his negative side, though there had been some good, too.

Yuffie was much like Ria.

What had Lynn been like in the past?

Ria had known him since childhood, so she knew.

"Lynn, you're amazing! You'll definitely become a great mage someday, right?" Young Ria watched Lynn show off his talent as everyone around them praised him.

"Of course." Lynn had been so confident.

Back then, there had been nothing unusual about Lynn.

Innocent and naive, Ria had looked up to him.

At the time, Ria had followed Lynn around everywhere. His talent really was extraordinary, and he could handle anything.

But as Lynn gradually grew up, he became like this: "I'm a genius anyway, so why should I work hard?"

"You're so annoying!"

"Mind your own business!"

"You should be happy you get to be friends with me."

That was when Ria and Lynn began to drift apart.

But Lynn kept chattering away and pestering her relentlessly.

It was around that time that Ria met Leticia. The two hit it off quickly and became good friends.

The Holy Knight protected the Saintess.

Later, Lynn had eaten himself into a fat pig. A year afterward, no one knew what had gotten into him, but he started to change back—though only a little. For instance, he began cursing out the Emperor and the Church every now and then, openly picking fights with them.

"I don't want to pick fights with them either. My hands just itch. I can't help it."

"The Church is trash."

Eventually, Ria really was persuaded by Lynn. But back then, everyone thought he was just some spoiled young scoundrel, and they all called him one.

Leticia had it a little better. The first time she met Lynn was at a ball, where he'd said, "Hey, commoner. How about I give you a chance to be my dance partner?"

How could Leticia put up with that?

She'd clashed with Lynn right then and there.

After that, Lynn went all out to target Leticia. But after he lost weight, he changed, and inexplicably apologized to her, which made Leticia wary.

He could even come out with some really cheesy lines.

That alone wouldn't have been a big deal.

But then!

Then!

Then!

Leticia, who had resolved to build a harem, met an unforgettable blonde beauty!

Compared with the Imperial Princess Yuffie, whom she'd admired at the time, and Ria the Saintess, her relationship with that blonde beauty had progressed the fastest!

And it turned out she was Lynn in disguise!

Even now, Leticia still didn't understand how Lynn had managed to act like the girl named Lilith.

How had he changed his height? And his build?

How had he changed his voice?

Leticia had been completely dumbfounded. After that shock, she could no longer bring herself to pursue beautiful girls.

She'd finally fallen for someone, only to find out it was a man!

Do you know how much of a psychological scar that leaves?

It works the other way around, too!

For example, you fall for a beautiful girl. You go on adventures together, solve problems together, and weather hardships together. What wonderful memories!

Then you find out she's a man.

Or you fall for a cute femboy, only to discover he's a woman.

Or you fall for a handsome guy, only to discover he's a woman!

Anyone with a clear sexual orientation would be devastated, wouldn't they?

And that guy was still trying to screw you over!

She had no proof, but Leticia had that feeling. She couldn't shake the sense that he was gradually trying to screw her over.

Anyway, after the Blood Plague Incident ended, her blonde, red-eyed beauty, Lilith, was already dead. And the experience had left Leticia so devastated that she'd lost all motivation to pursue beautiful girls.

Since Leticia had stopped pursuing and trying to win them over, naturally, her relationships with them had faded.

While Lynn was around, they'd all shared the same enemy: dealing with that spoiled young scoundrel. Later, the scoundrel said he wanted to reform, and they knew about it, but he started making more and more outrageous statements.

He spoke ill of the Church to the Saintess, who believed in its faith.

He spoke ill of the Empire and even the Royal Family to the Princess.

And Leticia... he'd deceived people about his feelings while dressed as a girl?

Not to mention all those other womanizing antics.

"You wouldn't want to..." and so on.

For some reason, Leticia suddenly thought of that scoundrel, and neither of the other two disagreed.

Yuffie didn't disagree, but she said, "I wasn't thinking about him."

The other two nodded, then fell silent again. Just a year ago, they'd been close comrades-in-arms. Now that they had no common enemy, their relationship had only gotten worse.

Yuffie stopped talking.

Leticia seemed to realize something. "Your Highness, Yuffie, are you saying that although the Goddess seems to have won everyone's affection, she hasn't actually brought about any meaningful change?"

Yuffie quietly moved to a corner and nodded.

The Empire's First Prince, Second Prince, the sons of other dukes, and the sons of marquises were all flocking around the Goddess. But in the end, the Emperor, a man old enough to be her father, married her.

Though, to the nobility, that wasn't much of an issue. Even in this day and age, people accepted it as long as the age gap wasn't too great.