Elodie was her mother's daughter, possessed of a royal grace even as a young child. The true battleground of any war is the hearts and minds of the people. That quiet power would only deepen over the years.
ABOUT
Princess Elodie of Nova is the only child and heir of the Queen Regnant of Nova, Fidelia, recently deceased in mysterious circumstances. As she is still a minor, she will have a year of regency (The age majority is 15).
The uniqueness of the Novan royal system means that the children of nobles, merchants, royals, and even some chosen commons study during their childhood as equals, and only begin royal training as adults. With parents gone too soon, these children have very little time to catch up to rule, and they are at their most vulnerable. Elodie must spend her current year avoiding not only manipulation, but also murder attempts, during this very difficult year where she is the most vulnerable. And to top it all off, Elodie only recently found out she is a Lumen, a magical being, and she must bond to her crystal and harness her magic before others try to either steal it from her or kill her to avoid another powerful Lumen to rule.
Despite being depressed and afraid, Elodie knows she is a fast learner and excellent student. She does her best at looking the part of a princess and future queen and secluding herself out of mourning, but there are occasions where she must show up, where she does her best to look the part and say or do little. She spends her weekdays studying and her weekends also studying, but tries to do more physical activity and eventually wields a sword made of magic easily. Nova is in the middle of warring kingdoms, which see Fidelia’s death and Elodie’s lack of political presence as the time to strike. Threats are all around her, despite her father’s best efforts. Because of the nature of her position and her newly magical power, decoration and singing become almost as life-saving as leading a navy (The former is the only reason she stopped a foreign invasion during a magic duel). The subjects of her learning may sound frivolous, but they never are.
During this difficult year, her father becomes disabled and she learns of a bastard commoner brother who inherits her father's lands. However, he is not heir to the crown, that honor goes to her cousin Charlotte.
Backstory
A play-by-play of every week of Elodie’s last year as princess. It’s missing her lesson plan (Very exhaustive) and combat training, except for mentions that are plot relevant. It is also missing most of her time sitting the ruling chair listening to petitions, which she did for very few hours a day under her Regency. It is also missing her weekly time in the Royal Cathedrals, which is four to six hours every Sunday. It is very long.
Week 0: Fidelia dies, Elodie quickly gets brought home in secret. Fidelia’s death announcement is sent out to the world after Elodie’s rooms and chambers have been inspected by trustworthy magicians and servants. Joslyn announces his regency, and that it will only last until Elodie’s fifteenth birthday.
Week 1: Elodie arrives, depressed, attends service, organises her study plan. Her wardrobe begins to change, and the first change is to remove the ribbons in her hair that represent her as an innocent child. The second change is removing all of her toys from her room, and switching the furniture in her wing to something more adult: She will soon host young nobles, and she must never look like a child to them, and they will look.
Elodie secretly kept some dolls in a secret corner of her room. If seen, she will claim she is planning to give them to her future children. She spends time at the Congregation, leading for 24 hours of silent prayer.
Week 2: Julianna, duchess of Ursul and known Lumen, arrives to teach Elodie magic. She accepts despite Joslyn’s protests, who admits that Fidelia’s magical powers are the reason she is dead. Being a Lumen alone is controversial (Unless you are from the reigning family) but Julianna is also controversial as she was her father’s youngest child, yet he chose her as heir, bypassing her older brother. Despite this trust, Julianna is neither married nor childed. Only Ursul’s royalty keeps the pride of being a Lumen.
Elodie is visited by her uncle Laurent, Duke of Merva, his wife Lucille, and their children.: Heir Charlotte, and children Emry and Zahra. It is rare that they visit, as their mother, Lucille, fears danger to a degree she delayed Charlotte’s attendance to the school. However, Elodie is comforted by the visit of her younger cousins.
Week 3: A milk viper (highly poisonous and not native to the region) attacks Elodie and Charlotte (Laurent’s heir). Laurent and his family retire from court as soon as they’re done giving Fidelia homage, publicly to keep their children safe, and unknown to Elodie, after Lucille made sure Joslyn named Charlotte as the princess’ heir, if anything happened to Elodie (As Laurent was Fidelia’s only brother, his claim is right behind Elodie’s, and Charlotte is his eldest child).
Elodie learns, from Julianna, that Lumen crystals are indestructible and that anyone can bond with a crystal, as long as it hasn’t been bonded with. Despite crystals being attuned to either bloodline or character, Julianna fears it going into the wrong hands. She expresses fear of the unbonded crystal being stolen, specially since Fidelia may have infused it with knowledge or secrets before she passed.
Despite Elodie bringing this up, Joslyn refuses to give her any information at all, and the later fact convinces him that the crystal drained Fidelia’s life force, killing her. He admits that he has no power to stop her after she is crowned, however. It keeps him up at night.
Week 4: Perhaps aided with divination, as she has been seeing more omens recently, Elodie also finds out the location of her mother’s Lumen crystal, necessary to unlock most of her powers: Her father hid it in a special cove in the treasury. It is extremely well guarded, and her and Julianna fear Joslyn would move it if she asks for it, so they devise a plan to get it.
Week 5: Since a month has passed since the Queen’s death, nobles begin sending Elodie offers of marriage. One of them is Talarist, a foreign Lord from a neighboring country with claims to the Duchy of Sedna, whose current heir is a boy of eight and who had a lot of family die mysteriously recently. Elodie doesn’t formally reject him, but refuses to wear his gifts, lest she give the wrong impression. Sedna is to be inherited by a boy of eight, Adair, and to keep him safe Elodie fosters him at the crown palace. His father accepts.
Week 6: Elodie meets Selene, a priestess of the Second Circle, who is close to Julianna and aids her in magical training. Selene has a calmer, more discreet way of doing magic, but no less deadly. It heavily contrasts to Julianna. Elodie speeds her learning of decoration and singing to understand her training to the fullest.
Elodie spots an intruder, who she chases by climbing a castle wall: It turns to bea peasant boy who steals apples from the royal garden. She tells the guards that she was chasing a cat so he isn’t punished over something so silly.
The princess also presents a plan of accounting to the royal treasurer, to have access to the royal vaults, at the very time the guards change position. While he inspects it, she retrieves her crystal without anybody knowing. Julianna is already disliked at court, but after this event, it increases: Joslyn assumes she took the crystal and doesn’t want her to give it to his daughter. He makes up that she used sorcery on her father to pass over her older brother as heir to Ursul, and makes courtiers spread the terrible rumor.
Unknown to Elodie, Joslyn has seen in a vision that she would die young during a Lumen duel, and the dream keeps coming. He fears it terribly.
Week 7: Elodie bonds with her crystal, to Joslyn’s dismay and disappointment. She is now a Lumen. He does his best to reverse the smear campaign from the week prior, as he now wants Elodie to be taught as much as Julianna can teach, but it is very difficult. Elodie moves her training hours to the earliest of mornings and latest of nights, so she and Julianna can plan and learn undisturbed: Julianna has the night shift, and Selene the morning.
Adair arrives at the castle, he enjoys the animals, and Elodie makes sure she has trustworthy men at the stables at all hours so he can visit during the night. In return, Adair teaches Elodie how to catch frogs, and laughing, she shows her father.
Joslyn’s heart sinks: His princess and daughter is still a child, the crown is heavy enough for him. He begins to search for a wife to have allies for his daughter, and an heir to Caloris, which he is Duke of. Having heirless territory revert to the crown has made nobles revolt before, as they always think there are better claimants. He does not share the worries with his daughter.
Week 8: A man proposes to invent the printing press. Elodie invests in it and makes his children wards of the nobility, which means his children can go to the same school she did. Some think this a childish fantasy, and start accusing Elodie of miss-spending the treasury. Others think she is misspending the crown’s money to spite her father. Elodie’s recent seclusion begins to play against her.
Through meditation she learned from Selene, she learns about magical auras, and is surprised to know her aunt Lucille is an active, though secret, Lumen.
Week 9: Banion, Earl of Serenitatis and Duke of Maree, asks Elodie, and not Joslyn, for help in battle against an invasion from Ixion. Elodie instead chooses to negotiate, and does it herself without her father. Banion spreads the rumors of her being weak and misrepresents things she said in their secret meeting. Elodie loses popularity for giving safe passage to an Ixionite who is also a con-decorated war general.
Week 10: Elodie negotiates with the Ixionite. Banion’s older sister, Brin, dutchess of Hellas, overstepped boundaries in her territory, which limits with Ixion, but she also admits the Ixionites turned to armed conflict unprompted. One of her terms is allowing Ixion to choose a husband for Brin, which enrages both her and her brother.
Elodie, however, secretly tells Brin that she will have no problems divorcing an Ixionite (As any divorce trial will happen in Hellas) and suggest she does so as soon as she has a child. Though she agrees, Banion and Brin begin a smear campagin against Elodie.
Week 11: A keythong (wingless griffin) is spotted in the old forest. Only now Elodie learns that the nobility does nothing against them save issue a warning: The nobility just lets them eat the commons and go back to the depths of the forest and the old capital. It is taught to her, in private, by her father Joslyn, that fighting these magical beasts only encourages more to show up.
Elodie begins researching the old capital, and why it was abandoned: While the official story is that too many Lumen caused a negative energy sweep that only ended when Lumen members of the royal family sacrificed themselves, Elodie begins to suspect it isn’t the case, and Selene agrees. Selene also says the Old Capital is full of magical artifacts, and they agree that it is dangerous that so many magical items including Lumen crystals are there unattended. Elodie privately decides that she will lead an expedition there as soon as she is queen, but doesn’t share it with anybody lest they think she has a death wish and would be an imprudent ruler.
Week 12: A Healer comes to the crown, not for the first time, with a project for a hospital. Finding Elodie in the castle grounds, she takes the chance to expose her idea in luxurious detail. She impresses Elodie, who funds her venture, making one of her terms to agreeing to fund her to learn medicine from her or someone she found equally as skilled.
Her father does not contradict her in public, but as germ theory isn’t very established in the setting, he thinks it’s a terrible investment and that putting so many sick and wounded together is a bad idea. So does most of the nobility, who found out about the expenditure at a morning announcement.
As this is the second time it seems she dispenses money from the crown for a fruitless attempt, and specially because Elodie did this without consulting any advisors, Joslyn decides she is much less than ready. With the Festival of the Good Lady coming in less than a month, Joslyn reduces her public appearances, making it seem as if Elodie is praying extensively for her mother.
Week 13: Despite the above, he cannot stop her sitting the throne completely, and the princess has audience with the Earl of Io, who seeks punishment for a woman who attempted to poison his sister Corisandre. Their elder brother, Hyacinth, was infamous for his exaggerated hedonism, and used to enjoy the company of attractive servants who he had maimed or killed in “accidents”.
Elodie understands the poor peasant woman: Her brother was killed by Hyacinth. And she understands that Earl Kevan values his family’s honor above all else, and that he greatly values his sister’s life. She “sentences” the woman to hard labor in her own castle, making sure she has a servant’s duty after Earl Kevan leaves, stating that she had no right to harm Corisandre. She, however, names Kevan’s now deceased Hyacinth guilty, and frames it as if it was Kevan’s intent all along, keeping his family’s honor intact.
Small waves of praise finally go to the young princess from the very few witnesses to the trial, for handling such a complicated manner swiftly. It does not help her in the long run: Too few witness saw the affair.
Week 14: Elodie gets updates on the printing press. It seems working fine! Her happiness is short lived, as she is plagued by omens of future doom, disease, and ill tidings. She spends her week doing her best to interpret this message from the gods. Her advisors assume she is having a tantrum as for once it seems she is ignoring her studies.
Elodie recognizes and befriends the apple stealer: He’s named Evrard, and he is a baker. They begin a friendship, which Elodie hides: She does not want others to harm the poor guy, an unprotected peasant. She does, however, publicly announce minor reforms in the city that aid peasants.
Week 15: Preparations begin for the Parade of the Good Lady and the Royal Ball after the goddess’ day. The highest ranking noblewoman is the one meant to lead both, and Joslyn, despite wanting to protect her, cannot stop her from both, though he suggests she skips the parade for silent prayer instead. Elodie refuses, and choses to lead it. The newly working printing press finally bears fruit: Elodie sends out papers with religious doctrine for the Good Lady festival, and includes stories that paint Lumen in a good light.
Briony, daughter of Corisandre, writes to Elodie. She is in search of adventure and despite almost being a legal adult, feels constrained by her mother and family members. She feels like she doesn’t have the freedom of a spare, nor the power of an heir. She is also thankful for how Elodie managed their legal problems in week 13.
Week 16: The festival of Nova’s main goddess, the Good Lady, finally comes. Elodie leads a parade and makes a speech, and addresses the peasantry at large for the first time. Evrard, who attends, is visibly proud. Elodie doesn’t participate in the competitions, as she thinks the rest of the nobles will let her win or harm her claim. She gives her favor to the winner of the tilts, and sings with the winner of the singing competition, but that’s the most of her involvement. The festival lasts days and Elodie doesn’t miss a single event, even when it means there are days she sleeps two hours at most, and on the two last days of the week, doesn’t sleep at all.
Two attemps on her life happen, one by a man lounging at her with a sword, the other by arrows. Elodie avoids both, and chooses not to make them public.
Week 17: Elodie wakes up after not sleeping for two days. She attends her first royal ball, where again, she is seen but not heard of much. Banion makes a toast that is secretly insulting to her rule. Elodie, composed, forgoes dancing with either him nor any of his allies the entire night. As some of these allies were secret, Elodie exposes knowing more than she lets on. Elodie dances with women as well as men. Legally, people of the same sex can marry, though as heiress to the crown with no siblings, the pressure for children is high. She avoids scorn by dancing with older women, or those already wed, including Duchess Arisse, the eldest woman in attendance: It is obvious to the court that these are not marriage options. Nonetheless, her opposition makes her sound frivolous and wanton.
When greeting the Earl of Fabian, an aging man and Adair’s father, Elodie will understand some of her ill omens are about him. She asks about his heir, a boy of eight, Adair. He wants his sister, Arisse, to care for him. He worries for his safety and wonders if it can legally happen, as it would leave too much influence in Arisse’s hands. Elodie promises that it shall be done in full view of the court, so nobody may undo it behind her back. Adair is allowed to leave the castle with Arisse.
Banion tries to announce a false engagement to Elodie, but Elodie realizes and interrupts him making him look like a fool.
Her cousin, Charlotte, doesn’t attend, but her mother does. Having unlocked her Lumen power, Elodie can recognize her aunt as fellow Lumen, and understand why some attempts on her life were made: Lucille wanted Fidelia’s crystal for Charlotte. Understanding that some of it is out of fear of Lumen being persecuted, Elodie names Charlotte as heir publicly, but names Lucille as the first Lumen minister in 200 years, which makes the rest of the court shun her out of fear at the ball. Elodie, as crown princess, is safe from scorn, and does a public showing of her magical power to end the night.
The rest of her week is spent organizing deals and vows with the visiting nobles. Elodie notices taxing is vastly mismanaged, and some of her reputation as being bad with the economy begins to fade.
Week 18: Elodie spots her father with a noble woman. She “approves” of her pursuit of her father, though she reproaches him marrying too quickly in private. Regardless, she wants happiness for him.
Joslyn, who is pressured to extend the regency (As it is his legal right, he can extend it for up to four years) instead changes the subject and chides Elodie for not being aware of her surroundings enough. Because she interpreted her omens correctly, she can answer everything Joslyn asked of her, impressing him. He allows her to dispense a single thread, and she chooses foreign affairs near the border. Elodie says she is worried Talarist and Ixion are striking now because of coordinated intel.
Week 19: It is the yearly readjustment of taxes. Elodie manages to lower them, gaining both commoner and some noble approval.
Talarist demands compensation in exchange for giving up his claims within Nova. Elodie pays it as personal expenditure. A small price for young Adair’s safety.
Week 20: A man who claimed to be possessed is on trial for killing his wife. Elodie manages to identify him as a Lumen, which makes him attack her. Elodie manages to kill him, though she has a minor wound, which Lucille heals with her own Lumen magic. Public opinion for Lumen comes to worse, despite it all.
Elodie must invest in food for Elath bypassing Talarist and his imports as he has been raising the tarifs too much since he no longer has a claim, however.
Week 21: Charlotte is offered the crystal but it doesn’t choose her. Elodie decides it makes sense: They just killed its former owner, and his personality and style of magic weren’t like Charlotte’s at all. The girl is reassured. Elodie gives the crystal to Selene to purify and keep. For once, all of her relatives are in a united front. Even his father sheds his anti-Lumen sentiment, albeit secretly.
Elodie learns Joslyn almost extended her regency. She, however, forgives him.
A poem showing Elodie as lustful and wanton reaches her ears: As it is quite silly, she decides it is funny, though a minority believes it.
Week 22: Earl Fabian dies. Elodie makes Adele, his stepsister, his regent. Arisse and Adair are both appeassed. Talarist, who has received his bounty, doesn’t push the border.
Week 23: A bard, Sabine, asks Elodie for patronage. Speaking to her in code, Elodie understands that her true talent is spying, specifically coding and ciphering, and hires her. She also finds her expensive tutors and teachers for her to improve her craft. For the first time, Joslyn is impressed: He promises to give her the crown happily the very second midnight passes and she is a legal adult.
Week 24: Sabine is quickly dispatched with secret orders from Elodie. She quickly unthreads a plot to kill her during a traveling route.
Briony writes about Gwenelle’s upcoming party, her family problems, and her desire for adventure. She also opens up about a lot of the internal abuse within her family. Though the perpetrators are death, trauma lingers, and as heir, faces a lot of the brunt of it.
Week 25: The attacks from Ixion and Sedna finally find their common thread: Shanjia, the biggest naval power. The Shanjian nobility had secretly told them of invasion attacks.
Shanjia has much greater naval power than Nova, and Nova is quite vulnerable at sea. Elodie authorizes the building of massive warships and begins conscription. She later in the week spends even more money in the latter, as she sees the worst omen for war, a falling star. The food situation, besides all the massive tariffs, is very hard on Nova, but Elodie refuses to reverse her taxing policies.
Week 26: Week 26 is spent from morning to night worrying about internal shipping routes (Nova, while not isolating, is going to self-sustain knowing the Shanjia invasion is coming). Because Elodie refused to change her taxing policies, she asks for fealty out of the nobility: Food, men, swords. For the higher nobility this is more expensive than being taxed alone, and some start to resent her. Invitations are sent to the youngest members of noble families to arrive to the crown palace as guests for safety. Brin, now pregnant, arrives without her Ixionite husband. She is quickly given a fake name and glamour to pass her off as a lower noble, as said husband is furious. Brin directs her anger at Elodie.
Week 27: Lady Gwenelle, Heiress to Sudbury, and Elodie’s best friend at school invites Elodie to her fifteenth birthday party. As her father died recently, she will most likely become a Duchess, as her formal regency will end. Elodie attends despite the danger. Sabine’s investigation meant Elodie took a much longer and less traveled route, however.
Elodie keeps herself informed about foreign attacks. It is not easy on the heart. Shanjia keeps advancing and, as they intend to not take minor kingdoms in their way to Nova, they are able to march peacefully. Sometimes they even pay fealty to Shanjia with gold, money, men or even magic.
Evrard shows up and gives Elodie blueberry cookies. Elodie offers him a job in the royal kitchens, but he refuses. However, he asks for apprenticeship for older relatives of his, who gave him the cookie recipe. Elodie gives it to them.
Week 28: Nothing outside of the Shanjian preparations happens. Elodie is scorned publicly by her advisors as tensions rise, and Elodie is advised to go to Gwenelle’s birthday to have an excuse to leave the capital. Sabine is quickly put in charge of music in the breaks for all those meetings while Elodie is gone.
The princess uses her printing press to send propaganda of the wonders of the army, so the commons are better prepared to defend Nova. She also makes the healer work faster for her hospital, and prints out instructions from her so smaller cities can have healing tents set up in case of battle. Elodie leaves for Sudbury.
Week 29: After arriving, Elodie witnessess her and her mother Lieke fighting, but manages to appease them both: Gwenelle wishes to be taken seriously as an adult and a duchess, wanting to take over her responsibilities as soon as possible, which puts her at odds with her mother Lieke, who thinks she’s still too young for the burden with war with Shanjia soon to come.
Elodie’s compromise is for Gwenelle to take charge after four months, where she will pray for her father’s soul to the gods, and let Lieke rule during conscription months, the thing she worried for the most. If war comes, Gwenelle is also much safer as inheriting ceremonies would be postponed.
Briony, who was also a guest at the party, approaches Elodie, with intent of going to the old forest. Elodie, who continues to see it in dreams, agrees to aid her in her search of adventure, but discourages her going somewhere so dangerous. However, knowing how deep her family problems are, she allows her to go with her as a guest of the royal family in secret.
Briony, Charlotte, and Elodie are meant to go from Sudbury to the Crown Castle, but only Charlotte shows up. Elodie and Briony made a detour at the Old Forest, as close to the Old Capital as possible. Elodie and Briony explore, and Elodie meditates and finds out there are more Lumen artifacts than previously thought. However, they also have to avoid monsters, and they don’t have the men or the power to do an investigation by themselves. They leave.
They arrive to the crown palace just before week 30. Briony’s parents are furious, as is Earl Kevan, who quickly send a messenger expressing their distaste and demnad explanations. Joslyn also yells at them both, though they agree it’s born of out worry. Lucille manages to calmhim down, lying that the girls stayed on a path that was magically cleared, and even chides them for not taking Charlotte.
It is, of course, a farse, but both Joslyn and Briony’s family will end up believing believe it (Lucille is extremely protective of her children, if Charlotte could hav gone, surely Elodie and Briony were free from danger). However, Lucille and Charlotte are both upset at them both: It was reckless and stupid. However they keep the secret.
Information of the hunt for treasure perks her aunt up: Lucille wants a crystal for Charlotte, and Elodie promises it to her before she can ask. The talk of Lumen crystals makes Elodie realize something: Briony felt the call of the old forest: She is quickly presented the Lumen crystal previously presented to Charlotte, which bonds with her.
Lillah sends Elodie a gift promising fealty for how she handled the Adair situaition: Not only is the boy safe, but her regent choice avoided power surges from within factions in his family.
Week 30: Corisandre and Ignatius, Briony’s parents, arrive to get their daughter. They are presented with the fact that she is now a public Lumen, and Julianna, her aunt, makes her heiress to Ursul: Only Lumen can inherit Ursul, the true reason Briony’s father Ignatius was passed over.
Corisandre is unhappy to have two children inherit, she worries about anti-Lumen scorn, but Ignatius and Julianna begin to make amends. Ignatius is quickly given a royal allowance from Elodie so he can support his daughter from internal strife. Having a formal heir also means Julianna and Selene may be able to wed. Elodie promises them a public blessing when the war is over. Briony is happy for the freedom this got her, but is not ready for the scorn she faces at court as a magic user. In the end she leaves with her mother, but Julianna makes it very clear she will expect her heir when war ends, and sends Selene with them. As Elodie backs her, they cannot refuse.
Week 31: Elodie has more premonitions about the war soon to come. She dispatches footmen to strange points, several of her generals argue with her. Preparations to fight against Shanjia continue.
Week 32: Elodie decides to host a tournament for her army: Prizes are money, honor and awards, better positions in the military. Elodie wakes up to find her flower vases are entirely filled with wilted leaves, a bad omen, but quickly rearranges it to her satisfaction. Her decoration skills have skyrocketed during the year. Elodie also briefly ups the rations in the capital for the business’ there to make one last coin before total war.
Either out of worry or tiredness (Truly, it’s that Joslyn finally confirmed formally that he won’t extend her regency) her generals begin listening to her more.
Week 33: The week of the tournament! The mood changes for the better in the capital. Elodie surprises the competitors for her knowledge in falconry, a sport she only picked the prior year. She also wins the music competition, but gives the four runner ups her awards, to everyone’s content. Sabine practices with her later on, where she learns to be a better musician and Elodie learns ciphering.
Because Elodie must carry a formal sword, despite it not being a combat sword, she is challenged to a duel by Earl Kevan of Io. Elodie accepts it, and despite him being a vicious challenger, Elodie manages to win. She pins his sword down and convinces him to surrender, using the knowledge of Briony’s letters to sway him. Kevan is shamed knowing the princess knows he has been abused as a child and how, but mostly cries. Later on, when alone, Kevan will say all he wants is the best for Briony, who may be his own daughter with his sister. The affair was forced by his father, though now over, Kevan and Corisandre both have terrible feelings of it they cannot understand. Elodie points out she is a Lumen, and that came from Ignatius’ line, not his. She lets Kevan leave without penalties whatsoever, making sure Selene does her best to heal his heart. Briony is finally acknowledged by her mother’s line as heiress to Ursul and as a legal adult.
Week 34: Shanjian ships finally approach Novan sea. Elodie, having done all she can to boost men, morale, and resources, leads her fleet. At the last second, Selene, Julianna, and Lucille approach Elodie: They will do a ritual to sing the enemy fleet with magic. Elodie takes her Lumens with her, and is told by scouts the Shanjian fleet is much larger than previously thought: Everyone is afraid.
Week 35: The ritual is are very succesful: The tides reverse. What little remains of the Shanjian fleet, is now overstepped by Nova’s numbers, which were small in comparison before the ritual.
Elodie takes the enemy ships and ransoms all survivors. There are almost no Novan losses and very few injuries. The few Shanjian ships still standing are taken to Elodie’s shipmakers to reverse-engineering their technology.
Week 36: The ritual woke a sea monster from the depths. The Novan army manages to clear the area and flee, though there are losses. Still, many consider it a much better alternative than the monstrously huge fleet that the ritual stopped the week prior. Heeding the Lumen’s advice, the losses remain minimal. Julianna and Selene use energy to contain it from the sea, Elodie and Lucille from two different points in the coast. It tires the women severely, but there is no cost of life.
Unknown to the army, the Shanjian leader arrives hidden by the commotion. Killing Elodie’s small retinue, their leader presents himself to the princess: Togami, the dark Prince-Consort of Shanjia. He is a Lumen, and he wants her crystal. He is also the one who killed Fidelia using a similar maneuver: Forcing her to tire herself out holding a monster at bay, then dueling her. Fidelia chose to teleport herself home, which took the last of her energy and her life.
Elodie, however, had enough allies that she is still standing. She is challenged to a duel she cannot back from, as he can control her with magic.
To everyone’s surprise, Joslyn shows up: He has been tracking Elodie’s steps to stop the duel from his vision. He reveals Caloris has a Lumen crystal, and has bonded with it. He expects that taking Elodie’s place will stop her murder. Togami easily wounds Joslyn almost to death, and says he wants the crystal for his children, but he has two: What Joslyn has don was in vain. He will simply kill them both.
Elodie, however, with Togami momentarily distracted, moves into action. She manages to resist his control long enough to summon a sword of light from her crystal, and begins to fight him. A wall of light happens between them both, stopping the fight. Elodie’s sword turns into a lyre and she manages to move him with her singing and magic, expressing that he can teach his two daughters magic without the crystals, and that his wife, the actual Regnant Queen, is more troubled than flattered by his invasion. Togami leaves, but Joslyn remains hurt. Elodie manages to get medical attention for him, but he is comatose and delicate. He wakes up the last day of the week, but doesn’t speak.
Week 37: Togami sends a letter of formal refusal. He takes his injuried and leaves for Shanjia. He gives Joslyn his regards, which despite being magical in nature, don’t improve his condition. Elodie spends her week honoring the death.
Lucille, Laurent, Charlotte, and the rest of the Mervan household formally move to the Crown Castle, as they are now de-facto regents for Elodie. Despite her only being weeks from being crowned, she is injuried from her encounter from Togami. Charlotte reveals almost all of her powers have to do with healing, and manages to make Joslyn conscious enough to recognize his surroundings. He smiles at Elodie.
With his last breath, he achnowledges a bastard boy he had with a servant as Duke of Caloris. Elodie accepts his claim. He is older than her, and named Eoin. Elodie quickly finds him a regent in Joslyn’s younger brother, moves him to the Crown Palace, and sends his younger siblings to school.
Preparations for Elodie’s coronation feast begin. Elodie, who was planning to wear her mother’s own dressage, and to be more involved in her coronation, chooses to allow her female relatives to do the final preparations. She is tired and in pain, and doesn’t want the arguments. In the end she will admit that it was tastefully done.
Week 38: Joslyn’s funeral. With Joslyn’s passing, his crystal goes to Charlotte, who bonds with it. Caloris always resented the crystal, and it happily goes to Merva.
Week 39: Elodie spends her last week as princess playing with the children who went there as refugees. It is her last week as a child. Togami sends a statue to honor Elodie’s good reigning, signed by his two daughters.
Week 40: Elodie is crowned at first light. Long live the queen!
