Ochako smiles weakly, trying to ignore the seething king behind her. Her heart ached to say that yes, it wasn't an easy night at all, but she held the words back. "Thank you. Prince Shouto received me well," she decides on saying eventually.
"Too well, it seems," quips King Enji with a displeased grunt. "Not that it seems to have fixed you, or done anything to the curse. Or has it, Shouto?"
The Prince scowls, but doesn't say anything.
"A failure, then," King Enji declares, glaring sharply at Ochako. To General Miruko, he says, "It means that there's no meaning to this woman staying here. Take care of this. Quickly."
"Your grace?" the General asks, voice careful and neutral.
"I have no room for failures in my kingdom," he answers simply.
Ochako's insides begin to churn as her eyes dart from the stern, cold look in the King's eyes, the General's hand resting on the hilt of the sword at her hip, the angry and purposeful forward step of the Prince next to her--
Fuyumi, suddenly authoritative, snaps her head to them. " Father. Don't be hasty. It has only been a night. Surely you don't expect this to be magically fixed so quickly!"
"Of course I expect the curse to be magically fixed, " grumbles the King, "It's a bloody curse asking for true love, how else would it be fixed other than magic?!"
Unexpectedly, the woman who was otherwise standing by quietly behind Fuyumi begins to speak, so shockingly casual amidst the tension of the room that Ochako has to keep her jaw from dropping to the floor again. "That's what we're sayin', my King, my liege, my boss-man. You can't rush love!"
Tossing her amber hair behind her, the servant ambles carelessly to where the stunned couple stands and throws her arms around them. "And it needs to be true love, right? You need the magic to happen between these two before the magic happens to the Prince, so I think the best way to make the magic happen is to let it happen, in the most natural way possible. See-what-I'm-sayin'?"
A muscle under Enji's right eye twitches violently. "Fuyumi, what is this disrespectful, ill-mannered commoner who dares speak to me this way?!"
"Father, don't be rude to Lady Utsushimi. She isn't a commoner, she's an important member of my entourage," Fuyumi tells him sternly. "And Camie dear, perhaps speak less casually? You are in the presence of the King, after all."
"Wh-- I'm rude?! She's the one who--"
"Sorry your grace. Sorry princess...es. Sorry, Prince Shou. Not trynna be rude, promise," the woman called Camie says with an easy going laugh that has no fear in it whatsoever. "But you gotta admit, I make a lot of sense, yeah? There's no way these two are gonna fall in-love with each other in just one night. That's fairy tale stuff, I mean, you guys hardly know each other. In real life, people need trust and oodles and oodles of steamy hot skinship before--"
"Enough, Utsushimi," Prince Shouto interrupts sternly, removing himself from under the woman's arm. "Despite the unnecessary details, you make a sensible point. I wonder if the King understands as much."
The glare he sends the King's way is as sharp as daggers. For a time, Enji stares back at him in silence.
"You don't have a lot of time left, Shouto," he says, voice uncharacteristically quiet.
"I know," Shouto answers. "It also means I don't have a lot of time to waste."
"You might already be wasting your time," Enji implores through grit teeth. Glaring at Ochako, who tries her hardest not to glare back because of how insulting the wrinkle in his brow deepens, he says, "This woman might not be right for you."
After all he put her through, this man has the absolute gall to look at her like she's garbage?! Anger flares up from the pit of her stomach. "Well, didn't you choose me for him, your majesty?" she quips before she can stop herself. "If I'm not right for him, then it's your mistake, isn't it?"
She resists the urge to clap her hand over her mouth when Enji glares at the audacity. "Exactly. If you are a mistake, it falls on me to fix it."
Lip trembling, Ochako keeps her chin up and says, "I don't plan on being a mistake. Because your son and all those women and everyone else involved in this mess deserves better."
