The Bounty Hunter

June 20th, 2088

Veronica’s POV

My name is Veronica Fell and I am the daughter of the Prime Minister of the Darkmoon Queendom.  My mother was the younger sister of Queen Marielle Darkmoon and I am in fact 2nd in line to the throne behind my cousin Feneris.  Unfortunately, there has been a faction of nobles who are in favor of making me the crown princess instead of Feneris.  In terms of ability and talent, I am honestly superior to Feneris in every way imaginable.  Administration, leadership, intelligence, knowledge and even beauty I am better than Feneris.  It’s not that Feneris is bad, I am simply better. 

However, I have no interest in the throne and would be perfectly happy succeeding my father as Prime Minister to help Feneris when she becomes Queen.  Apparently this situation is similar to one that occurred when my mother and the current queen were younger.  But the potential civil war was averted when my mother married into the Fell household, willingly giving up her rights to succession.  My parents had a decent relationship, but my father was always busy with his work and thus it never developed into love.  When I was born, my mother doted on me while my father was indifferent to my presence since the Fells had a male line of succession. 

I had a pleasant although isolated childhood, showered with love by my mother, but then she passed away due to illness when I was only 100 years old.  Everything rapidly got worse after that.  My father remarried within the decade to the daughter of an Earl who had madly pursued him before he married my mother.  Naturally, she despised my existence which was a constant reminder of her early failure.  My father was as indifferent as ever, so Arinera made sure to make my life miserable.  However, she always behaved as though she loved me like her own so no one ever suspected her for the various misfortunes I had suffered. 

Around this time, the faction of nobles supporting me started to form.  This must have renewed the inferiority complex my aunt once had towards my mother and directed it at me.  Her hostility was obvious and my relationship with my cousin turned sour.  My friends abandoned me due to fear of getting involved.  I was alone.  There were those who tried to take advantage of my loneliness, they would wear a smile like a mask and pretend to be friendly with me.  Early on due to my loneliness I would naively trust them, and get betrayed for my troubles.  I became unable to trust anyone for fear of getting hurt due to betrayal.  I became cold and withdrawn, focusing on improving myself rather than living like a child should.  Emotions like happiness or sadness faded away, leaving me with nothing but a lonely emptiness.

70 years later and I found myself in the city of Malkith pursuing a thief who had somehow managed to steal Nightrage, the sword of the founder of our house.  This was an embarrassment of the highest order.  Servants and guards in a high-level noble’s house were usually all slaves who could not betray them, with the exception of the supervisors who oversee them.  Alfenox was one of these supervisors and if his betrayal was made public it would be a huge loss of prestige for us.  So I was sent alone in order to keep things quiet, although Father mentioned he may be sending backup. 

After a few days of fruitless searching, I was eating a meal at an inn while in disguise when someone sat across from me.  He was completely covered, with his face being obscured by a green bandana with a symbol of a white mountain piercing the clouds on it.  He immediately knew who I was without asking and simply informed me to stay out of his way.  His tone was cold, indifferent and irritating.  For the first time in years I could feel some kind of emotion: annoyance.  I decided to test this lackey sent by Father, so I lunged at him with my blade as he was about to leave. 

My blow was easily blocked and countered, much to my embarrassment.  We were face to face, allowing me to look into his dark green eyes behind his goggles.  And in those striking eyes, I saw something I never thought I would see:  understanding.  It was strange, but I felt a connection with him.  I felt he knew loss like I did and knew why it was so hard to open up to others.  Maybe, just maybe this person could be someone who become my friend.  With that faint hope inexplicably kindling within me, I told him that I wanted to team up.  When he responded I thought he was going to reject me, but to my surprise he accepted albeit in an awkward way.  It was actually pretty cute how he tried to act indifferent yet he still so easily agreed.  Apparently his name is Terra. 

We spent the afternoon searching for Alfenox.  We hardly spoke more than a couple dozen words to each other, yet we were growing much closer.  It was refreshing to be with someone who didn’t bombard me talking about pointless topics and didn’t expect me to reciprocate with exhausting banter.  I didn’t have to worry about hidden motives and could relax somewhat.  After we caught Alfenox, we were ambushed by a bounty hunter group.  

I didn’t expect Arinera to act so boldly by setting me up like this.  Much to my chagrin, I was caught off-guard and should have died.  Yet Terra saved me, getting riddled with injuries in the process.  Why, why did he do that?  He didn’t hesitate and immediately covered me with his own body to weather the bombardment.  We were as close as lovers and I could feel his warmth envelop me, giving me a sense of security I hadn’t felt in decades.  My face got hot at that thought, but when I saw all of Terra’s injuries I refocused. 

I wanted to know why he so easily risked his life, and ended up getting an indifferent response.  I pressed him and finally found out he saved me because he thought of me as “somewhat tolerable”.  I’ve been complimented in all kinds of flowery and poetic ways by many well-spoken nobles and knights, but being called “somewhat tolerable” by Terra felt like the most flattering thing I had ever heard. 

Furthermore, Terra’s embarrassment while answering was just too cute.  For the first time since my mother died, I smiled.  With this I’ve decided to try and trust someone one last time.  We easily smashed through the ambush and escaped, although I had wanted to stay and finish them off.  Now we were currently on the express carriage to Obsidia, which would arrive there at dawn.  It would be impossible to sleep on the bumpy carriage, so I’m looking forward to being able to pass the time with Terra.  Fufufu, after all I have to work hard to improve my evaluation past “somewhat tolerable”.