Grimace was in far worse of a position than he could have ever hoped for.

  The boy had finished his temporary trip to Lune, and he ended the trip with more information but even less answers. Especially that girl he came across in the woods, Joyce. The girl that occupied so much of his mind ever since he met her.

  He would have to be dense if he didn’t realize this. “Joyce” was a front, and he had just met up with the princess of the entire country. The one that had been missing for who-knows-how long now. Princess Grace Luminis was outside of the capital walls, making this entire lockdown pointless.

  The shadows of the walls of the capital stood under the moonlit sky, a heavy weight crushing Grimace’s shoulders. He could not tell anyone about his encounter, even if it could completely end this entire lockdown. Even if her return could restore stability to this country. He just simply could not.

  He didn’t know what exactly inflicted the princess, but he had a few guesses, and none of them were good. The worst case scenario was vampirism, especially considering her newly red eyes. But Grimace didn’t want to think about that. He had to not think about it, to remain sane.

  If he thought about it more as he headed into the capital, he would most certainly break. The boy had too much on his plate already, and he didn’t want to think about what the fallout of a vampiric princess would be. The most holy person in the entire country, thieving their power from the moon. He shook his head. He could only hope that “Joyce” would find a cure to her ailment soon, lest this lockdown continue much longer.

  The doors to the capital opened to let Grimace back inside. A place where he wasn’t gone for long, but it felt like an eternity. Within his carriage, a device suddenly activated, and PASCAL formed in front of him.

  “Welcome back to Oscur, Grimace,” she said in her usual polite tone. “I’ve organized your schedule for the next few days of your return. Please, make yourself at home again.”

  “What’s on the list?” Grimace asked.

  “You have a meeting with Rebecca later today, meeting with Jaelin soon, and a discussion with Yuzu about the swap just as you leave the carriage,” PASCAL explained. “You can call on me any time for the exact calendar.”

  “Right. I suppose that would all make sense,” Grimace said. The grand gates into Oscur closed behind him, closing them off from the rest of Lunasa once again. The judge looked outside, as the carriage was eventually brought to a stop. In the crowd, he saw a familiar glowing light in the distance.

  Rumia.

  He would have to go back to watching over her all the time as well. How joyful. Another thing that was worsened by the whole princess situation. The longer that the princess took to reappear, then the longer he would have to bar Rumia from leaving. Grimace’s frown worsened, as he prepared to step out of the vehicle.

  Once he took a step outside, he was immediately bombarded with an unfamiliar sensation. Rumia’s arms wrapped around him in a hug, which was a feeling that he was not used to at all.

  “What in the—?”

  “Thank GOD you’re back!”

  Rumia said, squeezing the judge tighter. Grimace had to politely and gently push her off because he was just a little bit touch-averse. “I’m surprised you missed me.”

  “I’m celebrating the fact that I can sleep again,” Rumia responded.

  “What?”

  Yuzu came from the crowd, robotic expression as usual. “This girl is a handful, I agree. But you never told me her roommate would be one too.”

  “Anise? I suppose that’s true to an extent,” Grimace said. “I presume I will be taking over her once again for my duties?”

  “Yes. For now. I will still be around though, especially to monitor Rumia during her job,” Yuzu responded. Rumia seemed to shake as Yuzu said that, but Grimace didn’t really know what to make of it.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “She got the job, then?” Grimace asked. “Congratulations, Rumia.”

  “Mhm. I’m Rebecca’s personal secretary now…” Rumia said, though she didn’t sound too happy about it. “It’s a lot.”

  “Do you still keep up with your experiments?” Grimace asked.

  “Yes… and in general I’ve been spending more time with Anise lately, though it’s a bit hard sometimes because…” Rumia subtly hinted at Yuzu. It seemed like the glowing girl didn’t like the executioner very much. “I had an experiment lined up for… right now, actually.”

  “Really now? Better not waste any time then. Thank you for looking after her for me, Yuzu,” Grimace said. “Let's get to work.”

  “Nngh—”

  Rumia was less shout-y than Grimace remembered. Though, she still looked to be in intense pain as Anise’s machine tried to read her data. Grimace felt a little bit bad, especially with the princess situation still weighing on his mind.

  “Have you really not found a way to lessen the shock?” Grimace asked Anise, who was manning the controls.

  “I’ve tried, but when the Governor wants more detailed energy readings, then it’s a little bit difficult,” Anise said. “Because the shocks from before should be fine for her now, but they want some more detailed ones.”

  “I see. She also complained about sleep to me earlier, do you know what that was about?” Grimace continued to question.

  “Yuzu used to go into our room to watch us sleep. It was kind of weird,” Anise said. “And even when we got her out of the room, she would still stay outside the door all the time.”

  “Oh.”

  Grimace didn’t like the sound of that. Did Yuzu really not have anything else to do? Not that he didn’t watch over Rumia all the time either, but that seemed a little bit excessive.

  “Your test is done, Rumia!” Anise called, as she freed the glowing girl from her shackles. “Are you doing alright?”

  “Y-Yeah… I’m fine…” Rumia took a deep breath. “It gets… better the more you use it, so don’t worry about me.”

  Rumia stumbled over and collapsed onto a nearby chair, resting herself as Anise went over to her machine to run the data. “Your energy readings are stable, and your internals seem to be developing resistance. The issue is, we’re still struggling to figure out a way to apply your energy. I feel like it’s a shame you never learned magic, because you could be really strong.”

  “I… I’m not good at it,” Rumia said. “Sorry. I know I have this energy but it’s not like it can come to me like that.”

  “It’d be really cool if you could utilize it though. I’d love to have a magic friend,” Anise added, innocently. “I’d love to try and help you.”

  “Thanks. I’ll think about it,” Rumia said, just focusing on resting for now.

  Grimace took a step forward and coughed, taking out a piece of paper before stepping in front of Rumia. “I have a message for you as well, when I was in Lune.”

  “A message? What does Lune want with me?” Rumia asked.

  “It’s not from Lune. It’s from Adelyn. She had something to say to you, because I ran into her.”

  “Wait, wait. Really?” Rumia immediately stood up. “Tell me then. What did she say?”

  Grimace took a deep breath, and looked at his paper. With one last rehearsal, he began to speak Adelyn’s words.

  “Rumia, I know this has been taking longer than we’d both like, but… I know you, and you know me. We both know that we’re doing our best to meet each other again. It’s hard for me, and I really miss you, but to see your light again… it’s what keeps me going. It’s been forever since both of us have seen the sun, yet I know it’ll happen again. I just need you to be strong for me, and I’ll just try to be strong for you. That way, you can be the light at the end of my tunnel, and I’ll be yours. Even far apart, we’re still together. And soon, when we get home, we’ll get to see the sun rise again.”

  “Pfff—”

  As Grimace finished speaking, he could hear Rumia crack up. Like she was trying to hold in a little bit of laughter that she had in her. Anise seemed to be clapping.

  “S-Sorry, it was just really funny hearing you try and emulate Adelyn’s tone. She has a very specific cheerfulness that fits her… but when you say it, it sounds kind of dorky—” Rumia said.

  “Hey, I thought it was a good performance!” Anise said. “Good job, Grimace. I think you have a future in acting!”

  Grimace’s face flushed a bit red as he stuffed the paper away and crossed his arms. “T-That’s her message to you. I hope you understood it.”

  Rumia quelled her laughter and gave a small, but genuine smile. “If you see her again, tell her that I know she’s strong too, and I believe in her journey. Thanks for… bringing her words all the way here. You didn’t have to do that.”

  That small smile washed away Grimace’s embarrassment at least. It made him feel just a bit less guilty about everything around him. A small light of happiness from the girl who was the center of everyone’s attention. He hoped the princess could come back soon, so maybe all of this could be over.

  But until then, he’ll have to keep on waiting.