章 17: New Plans

"What do we do now?" Lillian asked, still holding the frog in the mess of the castle. "And where are all the guards?"

"The King does not have many guards in the castle and the servants have already retired to their chambers, given that it is already midnight." The Duchess explained, waving her hand and repairing whatever had been damaged.

"That sounds ridiculous? There should be more guards protecting a King, especially one with no magic." Lillian waved her hands around, flinging the frog into the air, straight into the Duchess's hand.

"Hello, Roman." She smiled, holding him in one hand while the other she waved around like a conductor in an orchestra, putting everything back in place.

"It's called plot convenience, Lillian. Stop calling the author out on this, they can make your life miserable." Rose whisper shouted at Lillian while Jasmine tried to heal her up.

"Sure." Lillian rolled her eyes, "From their other works, you can tell that they are sadists. So, whether I annoy them or not, doesn't matter."

"Still be careful, you idiot." Rose smacked her across the head.

"Hey! I'm an injured person here." She hissed at her, rubbing her head.

"Then behave like it."

"Get as hurt as I got and then say that. Look, even the mark on my neck is not disappearing." She pointed to the deep bruises around her neck.

"This will have to heal on its own, Lillian. I don't have enough magic to take care of that and your broken bones. Sorry." Jasmine looked at her apologetically, the threads that came out of her fingers wrapped around her chest, arms and legs, emitting a soft glow and warmth on her skin.

"Don't worry about it, Jasmine. Thank you for trying your best."

"Yeah, Jasmine. You don't have to worry about her. If she was smarter or stronger this wouldn't have happened." Rose said snarkily, frowning at Lillian.

"Says the one that was the least helpful from the beginning."

"I saved you from getting crushed to death by that Duke."

"And I am very grateful for that. But Jasmine was the one that actually stopped me from dying."

Lillian smiled smugly at Rose who looked like she regretted even saving her in the first place.

"Lady Lillian~ pardon me, am I interrupting something?" Margaret skipped to them, stopping in her steps when she saw them intently glaring at each other while Jasmine continued to heal Lillian. The frog still in her hand.

"No Duchess, you aren't. Is there something you need?" Lillian turned from Rose and her facial expression became pleasant again.

"Yes. I am wondering, what if you try to turn his highness back?"

Jasmine, Rose and the frog whipped their head to her direction with a look of terror and disgust in their eyes, shaking their head feverishly, while a shadow passed over Lillian's face while a grin made it to her face.

"Oh, I don't mean you should kiss him, but that could try that as well." Margaret smiled triumphantly.

Lillian laughed as she said that, wiping a tear out of her eyes, "You are funny, Duchess. I can try to reverse the curse. What do you think R- What's with that look the three of you?! I'm not going to kiss a frog, even if it is the King."

The three visible relaxed when she said that, insulting Lillian's already injured pride further.

"Is this all there is to my life? To be the joke of everything?" She dramatically fell to the ground, a spotlight appearing out of nowhere on her as she started to soliloquize.

"Is she okay?" Margaret asked, moving closer to Jasmine and Rose as they watched Lillian, the strings from Jasmine still wrapped on parts of her body.

Rose buried her face in her hands as she continued to look at Lillian, the second-hand embarrassment burnt her to her very core.

"She is fine, Duchess. You need not worry." Jasmine reassured her, though she didn't believe a word she said.

"If someone doesn't kill her soon, I might accidentally do it," Rose mumbled, hand on her sword.

"What?" Margaret asked in alarm.

"Rose. No." Jasmine grabbed her wrist and smiled at her, sending shivers down her spine.

"I was kidding." She quickly replied, giving an awkward grin to her. Relaxing when Jasmine nodded at her.

"So, what are members of the Society of the Velvet Gate doing here?" Margaret asked, smiling at them. "I thought they never associated with common people?"

Both wore crests with a miniature crystalized phoenix on it with the symbol of the Society which is a shield and a sword with different waves of magic surrounding it. Jasmine's crest is emerald and Rose's one is Opal.

"We are here because of a call from the Old Sage," Jasmine answered the Duchess.

"It must be very serious for two of you to be called." Margaret gasped.

"Seems more like we are just here to be babysitters." Rose complained, staring at Lillian still talking to herself, "Isn't she done yet? All those years of training and this is what we get."

"Remember when she lost control? Even we weren't able to stop her without depleting our magic, which hasn't happened in years. We definitely were called for a reason." Jasmine reasoned with her. "Even if she is … like that."

The four of them stared at Lillian with a very confused look on their faces.

"How does someone get so close to death and recover this fast?"

Lillian stopped, the spotlight vanishing and turned to them, smiling, "Trauma my dear Rose. Trauma. Now, what are we talking about?"

"Lady Lillian, we have to find a way to turn the King back. Can you try your magic on him?" Margaret held the frog at her again, pleading with her eyes.

"I apologise, Duchess but I don't think that will work. Lillian is a Fairy Godmother and a powerful one at that. But she is only that powerful when she loses control or is to grant a wish. Otherwise, she is useless." Rose said, catching the vase Lillian threw at her.

"I can use magic." She huffed.

"Yes, Lillian. You have the magic level of a commoner when it's not related to the wishes you have to grant. I would not recommend it though, who knows what will happen if you tried to tap into that magic without a wish."

"OK, so why don't the King make a wish to be turned back?"

"That's … a good idea."

Everyone looked at her, impressed but this did nothing to reassure her.

"Why are you looking at me like this is the first time I gave a good suggestion? Damn, ya'll got me feeling down so fast. Hurry up and make the wish, your highness."

"I am so sorry, Lady Lillian. I did not mean for you to feel bad." Margaret put the frog down and patted her back with her mucus-covered hands from holding Roman.

Lillian squirmed when she heard the sound on her back and Jasmine looked ready to cry.

"No. It's alright, Duchess." She took her hands in her own, grinning. "Now, what's taking the wish so long?"

"You tell us, Lillian. Connect with the Old Sage. I think the King already made his wish."

"OK. OK." Lillian closed her eyes and searched with her mind the connection with the Old Sage, which was easiest to find as it is the only connection she made.

Grasping to the connection she was thrown back and slammed onto the floor.

"I hate everyone!" Lillian shouted, staring at the ceiling.

"What happened Lillian?" The four of them surrounded her vision, trying not to laugh as her sad excuse of a hair splayed all around the ground, in knots and clumps.

"The Old Sage doesn't want to grant the King's wish." She said, pushing her off the floor, "Can that be done? I thought all that came and made a wish to the Old Sage gets it granted."

"Not really. The Old Sage is a peculiar one, it grants only those it wants to. Once it granted the wish of a child who asked for candy and ignored the wishes of a parent dying from a sickness." Rose said, deep in thought.

"Well, it chose the Duchess's wish so, hopefully, it knows what it's doing." Lillian tried to reason out.

"Yeah, it chose you too with its knowledge of you. So you have a chance to prove your theory now." Rose smirked at her.

"I really am beginning to dislike you, Rose." She fumed and pulled herself off the floor. She walked to the corner of the room to try and calm down.

She doesn't mean anything by it, it's just a harmless joke. Don't react Lillian. They aren't like them. You're safe.

She released a deep breath, the rushing in her ears quietened.

"Ok. So what are we going to do then?" She asked them.

"We have to find a princess from another kingdom to kiss him."

"How will we do this? The other kingdoms aren't going to send their daughters just to kiss the King who got turned into a frog with the slim possibility that he might turn back."

"That means he has to go there and convince them somehow. But who will go with him and what about the kingdom?"

So far everyone you've met is attractive, if you go to other kingdoms, you might just find someone more than Roman.

"I'll go!" Lillian said a little too eagerly. The frog looked a little fearful when she said that with the wicked gleam in her eyes.

"Ok. But someone has to go with them."

The Duchess spoke up, "I will handle the Kingdom and it will be best if one of you went with her and the King."

"Can we involve though? We are also running out of magic." Rose asked.

"The royal treasury has a section of a wide range of refills. You can take as much as you like and all you will be doing is helping. It is no different than what you are doing now." She tried to convince them, pleading again with her eyes as she fidgeted with her sleeves.

"I'll go with Lillian." Jasmine said, making eye contact with Rose who was about to protest, "She has a knack for getting into trouble and injured. At the very least, I can heal her up. You stay with the Duchess, Rose, and help her."

"Are you sure this is a good idea? Will you be able to handle Lillian? Look at her."

They looked at Lillian drooling at the thought of the attractive people she might meet.

"I'll be fine. You should be worried about the duties you have to fulfil now, not me." She smiled at her.

"Looks like we are going to be stuck for a while, your highness." Lillian grinned, looking down at the frog who looked at her with fear.