Before they knew it, Liberl would once again enter a busy period of time, all thanks to the sudden declaration of Her Majesty the Queen. Princess Klaudia and Crown Prince Naoto are to be wed in the coming future, whether the rest of the nobles liked it or not. Presently, it is only written on paper, but at the time, Naoto did not know that his status had changed once again....
While it became busy in Liberl due to the festivities and its undercurrents, Erebonia could also be seen going through some changes. Various matters started to crop up one after another in the autonomous state to the far northwest of Erebonia. A small independent city-state. Jurai. Jurai is very similar to Crossbell State, but the size of it is much smaller. This place is the very same home of Crow Armbrust, another person who will attend Thors Military Academy in the next decade or so, and become the pilot of the one and only Divine Knight, Ordine.
Thanks to new policies issued by the Blood and Iron Chancellor himself, Jurai is now merging into Erebonia. Jurai had little say in the matter. All Giliath had to do was flaunt Erebonia's deadly and powerful railway cannons at the little city state. Jurai couldn't do anything to fight back against such a monstrosity. In simple terms, Giliath annexed them, and is now dealing with the aftermath. Erebonia's borders will only grow from here.
During this time, Giliath happened to stumble across a car accident, causing most of the family who was driving inside of it to perish. But there was a single survivor from the wreckage, who was drenched in the blood of her own family.
Claire Rieveldt. She had icy-blue hair, and appeared to be around fifteen years old.
This was the first time the two met each other. It happened by pure happenstance, just like with Lechter. Giliath, with his keen wit, quickly noticed Claire's talent. It was unlocked right then and there. She has very similar eyes to Naoto, but at the same time, it's different. It isn't clairvoyance or anything. Claire could see the bigger picture much easier than other people. Even if several pieces of the puzzle were still missing or undetermined yet, Claire could figure that out with ease, and get results much, much faster.
From that moment onward, with nowhere else to go, Giliath offered an olive branch.
Claire accepted it without a second thought. From S1195 onward, Claire had officially joined the Ironbloods as their third member.
From there, Claire could focus her attention and investigate the cause of her family's death. Not known to the public, it was part of a grand scheme initiated by the brother of Claire's father. Even with her added ability into the mix, it would still take a year or so of time to see her uncle get sentenced to death, likely by Giliath himself. That detail remained unknown. And with that, Claire officially had given up her right to the Rieveldt Company, a popular and renowned manufacturer of high-quality musical instruments. Violins that you'd see characters like Elliot Craig use during Cold Steel came from this very same company.
Once Claire's family matters were settled, she shifted her attention back to the Intelligence Division, becoming a cornerstone for it. Little did Lechter and Rufus know that they would be greeted by Claire once they returned to Erebonia...
And after Claire joined, the Intelligence Division would act as if it was wiped off the map, very similar to what Naoto wanted to do. But for the Intelligence Division, it would be a period of six years, where a certain white rabbit wakes up and formally be introduced to the Ironbloods as their fourth member. But that would be a story for another time...
Back toward the end of S1195, even Erebonia's Imperial Family was in a busy state. Most resided in Valflame Palace. On occasion, the Imperial Family would pay a visit to their vacation home located on the outskirts of Heimdallr, Karel Imperial Villa. It was a pavilion. The Imperial Family could reside here without having official duties follow them. A place where they could truly relax, or rest.
And right at this moment, some activity could be seen inside Karel Imperial Villa!
Several figures were presently scattered around, cleaning different parts of the villa. These were the villa maids and butlers, and they are separately-hired from Valflame Palace. They resided here throughout most of their shifts. Further inside Karel Imperial Villa were several bedrooms. Some were open to guests of importance, while others were blocked off, solely meant for the Imperial Family. Inside one such bedroom, a few figures could be seen, with an older figure watching over them.
"Hmm~Hmm~", A girls' voice happily hummed inside the bedroom she was currently in. She currently lifted her legs up and down as she rested on her belly while being on the floor. Her hand currently held onto a pencil with several different colored pencils lying on the ground nearby. It was clear she was drawing something on a blank piece of paper before her. After a couple moments passed like this, the few figures who watched her draw saw the image become clear. The girl then presented the picture to the figures beside her.
"What do you think, Lifthrasir?", The girl asked. The girl she asked seemed no older than six years old, the same year as the girl who presented that question to her. Who else could the girl be but Princess Alfin? The girl accompanying Princess Alfin sported platinum-blonde hair, and was the very same girl that His Highness Prince Albert introduced to Naoto back on the cruiser. Lifthrasir von Bartholomeus. It would seem she had gotten acquainted with Princess Alfin.
A mark of anger appeared on Lifthrasir's eyes hearing that question.
"How many times do I have to tell you, Your Highness? Close friends call me Lif. Please start calling me that.", Lif said, obviously annoyed. Hearing that, another girl beside Lif giggled.
"Teehee.", The girl replied, laughing beside Lif and Princess Alfin. This voice belonged to the youngest girl of the group. She had just recently turned five, making her a year younger than Princess Alfin. She had pretty and short olive-green hair. Amongst the girls around her, her eyes seemed to have the most intelligence in them. Later on during Cold Steel's story, this girl would often play 4D chess inside her head to play out several moves. "You always like to tease Lif like that, don't you, Your Highness?"
"I might, but so you do, don't you, Mildine?", Princess Alfin asked, dropping the girl's name. The girl frowned upon hearing that.
"Oh please. I have a pen name that my family and friends like to call me, Your Highness. Please, call me Musse. That goes for you too, Lif. We're all friends here.", The girl said, introducing herself as Musse.
That's right. This girl is Musse Egret. One of the future members of Thors Military Academy's Class VII. In particular, a member of its branch campus! This won't happen for another decade. Right now, she's just a little girl who also seemed to have gotten acquainted with Princess Alfin. It would still be a couple years before Musse attends St. Astraia. That won't happen for another three to four years.
"Hmph. It isn't my fault that my name is long. You can blame my family for that. But if you insist. I shall call you Musse.", Lif said, observing Musse beside her. Hearing that, Musse rested the palm of her hand against her chin.
"True. That is a common problem being born into nobility. Families often carry long names like yours. I'm in a similar position, and is even much more of a mouthful than yours is, Lif!. Mildine Juzelith de Cayenne. Most don't call me that, unless it's coming from someone like Uncle. Please, call me Musse.", Musse said, insisting the girls call her that. At the same time, her eyes were drawn toward the pieces of paper that Alfin was currently drawing on.
"At least we have a common viewpoint on this. Still, I can't help but wonder what it is that you're drawing, Your Highness. It seems to be a person?", Another voice called out. It was a long, black-haired girl who was in gray and lilac-colored dress. This girl was Elise Schwarzer. Rean's adoptive sister! After having that gathering in Ymir's Eight Leaves One Blade School, Elise wandered back toward Heimdallr. Unlike Lif and Musse here, Elise had already gotten acquainted with Princess Alfin for quite some time.
Hearing Elise ask that question, Princess Alfin smiled.
"Oh, you really want to know, Elise?", Princes Alfin responded with a playful smile.
"I am most curious too. I haven't seen this person before. It looks like a boy.", Lif asked, also curious.
"We used to play together around three years ago before Mother had to take us back to the capital. This happened before I met you three.", Princess Alfin said, explaining the situation to the three girls before her. "Both he and my older brother got along quite well. Even I am a tad jealous by how friendly those two were~", Princess Alfin continued, smiling at the three. St. Astraia mostly focused on middle school courses and above, but it allowed people of all ages to attend. The only limit was that it was an all girls' school. No boy could study there. That was how these four met. St. Astraia was the go-to school for all nobles alike.
"Oh really now? To think someone would jump the gun before us...", Musse said, also revealing a playful smile.
"Now what's that supposed to mean?", Princess Alfin asked, squinting her eyes at Musse.
"Oh, nothing. Please forgive me for my insolence, Your Highness.", Musse said, teasing Princess Alfin.
After that was said, the four girls giggled in response. Another moment of silence passed soon after.
"And that should be the finishing touch...", Princess Alfin said, doing a couple more motions of her hand. "Done."
With the last tap of her colored pencil, she put it down, and finished the drawing. On it depicted a small violet-haired boy who was dressed in a regal and fiery red robe. Quite the contrast to the boy's hair.
"So this is our person in question, huh? Somehow I have a feeling like I've seen him before...", Elise uttered.
"Hmm. Have you seen this boy before, Elise?", Musse asked, gaining interest.
"I am not sure. Honestly, I do not know why I am feeling like this.", Elise said, shaking her head to the side. It is clear she hasn't met Naoto before, but for some reason, she's getting a familiar look just observing the boy in the picture.
"Hehe, seeing a confused Elise is also cute.", Princess Alfin teased, giggling.
"H-Hey!", Elise retorted with a pout. But she didn't deny Princess Alfin. Hearing this earned a giggle from all of them.
"Anyway. You mentioned something about playing with this boy, Your Highness?", Lif questioned.
"Uh-huh. This is currently hush-hush, but he is Naoto von Auslese. A prince of Liberl's Royal Family. Something happened causing the two of us unable to play together anymore. It did sadden me for a period of time before the three of you entered the scene. It warms my heart knowing you three are my friends.", Princess Alfin said, smiling at them. Not a teasing smile, she was being genuine here.
"Your Highness...", Musse responded, smiling back at her.
"Naoto von Auslese...", Lif uttered to herself after Princess Alfin dropped that name. It took a moment for it to click. Before coming down to Heimdallr, she was with her family back up in Remiferia. Of course, news reached her ears from Prince Albert himself. She felt drops of nervous sweat drip down her back. 'Isn't that the boy Uncle mentioned to me a couple days ago!?', Lif exclaimed in her thoughts, silently keeping to herself. Yet it was written all over Lif's face. Musse was the first to notice.
"Did you remember something, Lif? Does this boy's name ring a bell, perhaps?", Musse asked, smiling at Lif.
"That...", Lif tried to say, not immediately denying her. "It's nothing."
"Oh? It's one thing for Musse to pick up on something. You're even making me curious now, Lif. How about you spill the beans on what you know?", Princess Alfin asked, also wondering what Lif was wondering about.
Unable to deny Princess Alfin or her friends, Lif succumbed to her fate. She recently came to learn what had happened these last couple of days before arriving here in Karel Imperial Villa. And it regarded said boy, Naoto von Auslese...
Just knowing Naoto was still fine and well out there, Princess Alfin became relieved.