<h4>Chapter 478 </h4>


    <strong>Princess Mia Thinks… and Thinks…</strong>


    Mia pped her face a few times as she got ready to ride out to war in a metaphorical sense.


    She was lucky that this time she had a lot of pieces to y with. She was in charge of Esmeralda, Citrina, and Tiona, who together made a strong front line. This setup was even stronger because Ludwig was smart, and she also had Rafina on her side. Anne, who could walk and talk, was with her, and Bel had alsoe along. The second one mostly because she was a huge Sion fan, but still.


    <i>Okay, then. Let’s get to work. I know what I need to do.</i>


    She went over her thoughts onest time while giving herself the prebat pep talk.


    <i>I need to take care of two issues: The first is that if Esmeralda marries Prince Echard, it will make my political opponents stronger. The second is that someone is going to poison Sion… In fact, no.</i>


    She turned her head away.


    <i>The problem of the political opposition is not something I should think about. He said he had some thoughts on it, so I should let him handle it. Sion’s safety is the most important thing I need to think about right now. If I can’t keep him living, nothing else will matter.</i>


    After more thought, she became more sure of her position.


    <i>Also, Esmeralda can help me with my political work. Also, I can get Sion to back me up after I tell him that I saved his life.</i>


    Right now, her only job was to keep Sion away from the poison.


    <i>The Chronicles say that Sion died from poison. And Rina’s research shows that it’s very likely that the Chaos Serpents gave Prince Echard some kind of poison…</i>


    The text from the Chronicles did not exin how such a young prince got his hands on such strong poison. The gap had been filled by Citrina’s ount.


    <i>It looks like she has the antidote ready too…</i>


    Mia gave Citrina a quick look and a nod.


    “Do not be afraid, Your Highness. That item is already in our possession.


    “Um, what item?”


    “It was the dried mushrooms. They were picked up on the way to Sunnd by you.”


    “The dried mushrooms…”


    “Yes. It has been done for a long time in the Equestrian Kingdom to hunt with a yin-type poison. That’s the poison I’d use to kill someone and make it look like the Equestrians did it. The nts you picked earlier have a yang-type poison that works against it, so they can be used as an antidote..” Citrina stopped for a second and raised one eyebrow. “But I thought you already knew all of this?”


    Mia took a big breath, causing the reflexive She almost said, “Of course I did!” She could lie her way through this question, which would make Citrina trust her even more, but…


    “No. I’m afraid I don’t know as much about poisons as I’d like to.


    Being honest was the better choice for her because she knew it didn’t pay to act smart, especially when poisons were involved.


    “I didn’t n to buy those mushrooms.” She stated, “The fact that we have them now is just a coincidence. In the same way I said before, I believe poison will be used at some point. Rina, I am counting on you.”


    “Understood, got it. There is one thing you should remember, Your Highness, even though I will do everything I can. It is hard to fight poisons, and there is no perfect remedy. There is never a promise.”


    “I see. Making sure the poison doesn’t reach him in the first ce is the best thing that can be done. Hm…”


    “Also, are we not going to tell Prince Sion about this?”


    When she heard the question, Mia screwed up her face.


    “I have thought about the option, but…”


    In fact, she had already asked Dion to tell Keithwood about the strange things that were going on with Prince Echard. Since Citrina’s story was at best only a hint of what happened, using the prince directly of nning to kill someone would be, to say the least, foolish. That being said, she also couldn’t say nothing. Keithwood was a tactful person, thank goodness. He was the only person who could handle the political nightmare that was looking into a Sunnd prince based on a tip from a foreign nation. Technically, Sion should also be able to do that, but Mia really didn’t want to tell him, and she was starting to understand why. The dress she was wearing gave her away.


    <i>Sion’s little brother is the one who is going to kill him..</i>


    That was why she didn’t want to do it, she realized. What would happen if Sion found out about the n and told his brother about it? Because what happened was criminal in nature, he would probably have to ask for a trial. And punishment.


    ".


    <i>Sion has changed, that’s true. I don’t think he’d want to do that. But how can he refuse in the first ce? Would Sunnd let him?</i>


    She thought she knew Sion pretty well as a person after everything they had been through together. Of course, because she was Mia, she might not have fully understood, but she had a good idea of how he saw the promised crown on his head and the standards he held himself to. She thought that the Remno event had brought his almost crazy interest in justice and fairness down to a more reasonable level ofmitment. He was not the same Sion as before.


    But that was when they were on trips and his home country didn’t have much control over what he did. This is the middle of Sunnd, where people value fair and just leaders very highly. If someone tried to kill their crown prince, there would be a huge demand for a fair trial and justice. Punishment that is fair, neutral, andpletely unforgiving.


    <i>He would have to kill his own brother… That would definitely scar him for life…</i>


    Mia’s fingers got tighter around her neck scarf. She had no siblings. Her father, the emperor, was the only family member she knew. She didn’t even really like him. She actually thought he was pretty annoying. He felt different when he saw her in this dress, which her mother—his wife—had made herself. The glowing happiness that he had given off was, well, adorable. It didn’t make him less annoying, but… In the past, when she heard that he was going to be put to death before her, it really scared her. He was annoying, but not really…


    Also, she didn’t remember her mother, but she would have loved to get to know her. And if possible, have her with her. That was one’s family. They were too valuable to exin. She couldn’t think of any other way Sion could be feeling.


    <i>Even though he’s great and knows way too much, I’m sure it hurts him to have to put a family member to death.</i>


    It could have been because she was wearing a dress that her mother had made. For some reason, Mia couldn’t stand the thought of Sion and Echard’s rtionship going so badly wrong. There was nothing wrong with killing a few killers, but if one of them was Sion’s brother, she wasn’t sure if telling him would help him or hurt him.


    <i>So, that’s why it’s so important that no other nobles find out about this.</i>


    For Sion, not telling anyone about what happened would keep him from having to kill his brother for the sake of justice.


    <i>But let’s say Sion forgives Echard and no one else finds out. How would Echard feel about Sion?</i>


    She couldn’t help but think that it would make the younger prince even angrier, especially after hearing Keithwood talk about how he felt like he wasn’t good enough. The brothers were more and more open to being manipted by the Serpents as the gap between them grew.


    “Which would be even worse. To be honest, I’d rather deal with killers.


    One thing that made the Serpents so dangerous was that they could use good people as pawns. Vital pieces of the intricate system that was society would be corrupted, but their function would be no less vital. If Sion killed a normal killer, it wouldn’t hurt his conscience too much, but killing a brother who had be an assassin would hurt him a lot more.


    The situation at hand would need to be handled with the greatest finesse.


    “I feel like this time, saving Sion’s life won’t be the most important thing for me.”


    The Princess Chronicles didn’t promise to tell her about every looming danger. It would be best to stop a problem before it gets worse if she saw oneing.


    “Let’s say I have Rina follow Sion around. Esmeralda can stick with Prince Echard. As for Tiona, I think I should also put her with Sion.”


    As she thought about how to use her forces at the party, she forgot about one thing.


    It really does pour when it rains.


    Bad luck neveres by itself.


    Bad thingse in three.


    She didn’t think about what these well-known proverbs meant. With the Serpents involved and the princess at odds with each other, a third round of trouble was sure toe along like the two-legged guillotine of her dreams.