June 10th, X524 ( 9:35 AM)
City Guards building, Magnolia

"Wait," a cautious voice belonged to a young city guard, he stretched his right hand in front of an elegant blond girl who was about to enter into the City Guards Building, "Miss, please tell me your identity."

"Seriously, you don't know who I am?" the girl said in annoyance. Based on the appearance of the silk dress she wore, even strangers could tell at one glance that she was a lady from an aristocratic family. People who knew her would greet her in respect.

       Her voice was loud enough to attract two other guards nearby. They rushed to her side quickly, and all of them bowed to her, "Princess Consort."

"Back off," the blonde demanded, as she took a step. Again, she was interrupted by the guards.

"Please wait a moment, Your Highness. We've to inform your arrival to our superiors."

"Just let me in," the girl raised her voice.

      The guards apologized again, as one of them departed into the building to inform the scarlet-haired leader.

"How annoying," the blonde whispered, as a bright yellowish light shone beside her. A bi-colored black and gray small cannon-liked creature appeared from the light, before a single ray of the blast was shot from the weapon, directed at the guard who was walking away.

       As the blast hit his right arm, the guard screamed loudly. The nearby guards became panicked, "Princess consort, why are you attacking us?" They could feel her aggressive aura and her sly smirk.

     There was no reply from the girl. The trio saw the magic weapon disappear out of the blue, and the so-called princess consort retreated her steps, til she was out of their sight.

"I'll report it to Erza-san," one of the two unharmed guards said, "Take him to the infirmary." The third guard nodded, as he supported his friend to stand up, and they started walking slowly in the direction of the city guard's infirmary.

• • • • •

"No way," The blond-haired prince in his usual attire frowned at his younger brother and the red-haired maiden. "The reason you guys contacted me to come here is... to tell me this nonsense story?" After hearing what the red-haired knight said, he was frustrated.

     They were currently in the office room in the city guards' building. Erza, who was the first one to be informed about the accident, asked Jellal for advice via the magic lacrima. They sent a small note to Laxus, which was delivered by Carla, telling him to come to Erza's office for an emergency case.

"I don't think the guards are telling an untruth. There is no reason for them to accuse Luelia," the crown prince sighed.

"We don't believe that Lucelia-sama will harm our guards. However, it did happen."

"Titania, I thought you are Lucelia's friend."

"Yes, I'm. I'll never doubt Lucelia-sama," she answered quickly, "I'm just stating what I've heard from the guards. The guards said that they could feel a hostile aura from the princess. We can't exclude the possibility of strong transformation magic. Anyone who has enough magic power can temporarily impersonate Lucelia-sama. The problem is... I haven't heard of someone capable of using both celestial spirit magic and transformation magic."

"We're missing one point," the blue-haired prince said as he looked at his brother, "Brother, is my sister-in-law at home the whole morning?"

        To that question, Laxus didn't reply. He sat up, "I'll tell Freed and Ever to help you solve this case. Report me everything necessary." He opened the door before exiting the room.

"Did he just ignore us because he thought it was unnecessary to answer?" Erza asked, looking at the retreating figure with a frown.

"No, he just... doesn't know what to answer," Jellal shook his head, "Apparently, he had been in Gramps's manor the whole morning. I guess he is avoiding Lucelia each other for the past few days. The big guy doesn't know how to appreciate someone."

"So, our crown prince is acting as a matchmaker for Prince Laxus and Princess Consort Lucelia... I see... I see.."

"Correct... They will resolve their problems once they meet face-to-face. Meanwhile, we have to come up with a perfect plan to catch whoever impersonates the princess consort. I'm sure there will be a second time this person will harm the city guards. Is my plan perfect, Erza?"

     Erza slapped her forehead, "Jellal-kun, why do I feel that you're hopeless in romance? You do know your brother's temper. Even I, who wasn't familiar with him, do know the fact that he will ask Lucelia-sama directly instead of thinking about this and that. What will Lucelia-sama feel if her husband is suspicious of her for something she doesn't commit ."

The blue-haired prince was in a daze for a moment, "I made a mistake... didn't I?"

       Erza nodded helplessly.

• • • • •

     Laxus didn't know how to answer Jellal's question. One thing was sure, he didn't want to hurt his ego in front of youngsters by telling them that he didn't know where Lucy was because he wasn't paying attention to her these days. He rarely met her. He didn't know exactly how she spent her time... or if she was still sad. He kept avoiding her because he didn't want to disrupt her. All he knew was that she had been training the whole time.

      Passing through the yard, he saw Lucy, in a blue midi dress, coming out of her room happily. She was holding her pet in her arms. She was too occupied by the pet that she didn't notice him.

• • • • •

1:30 PM
Prince Laxus's Manor

"Where are you this morning?" A familiar voice, somewhat demanding, caused her to look in the direction where the voice. Lucy saw the blond-haired prince looking at her with an angry expression on his face.

"I've been my room since morning. Is there something wrong, Your Highness?"

"The junior city guards saw you in front of the city guard building, and you attacked one of them. Was that you?"

      Her heart became heavy suddenly. What she felt now was sad and sour... Up to this time, she was incapable of gaining his trust, let alone his support. The barrier between trust and suspicion was too thin that he couldn't even see her loyalty, even in the slightest moment.

      She smiled, "That means, Your Highness, you are angry at me because of this." It wasn't a question... it was a simple statement.

"I'm asking you because this is my duty," he said, "How many silver keys do you have?"

"I see. If one of my celestial spirits is the same as what they saw, I'm the criminal who attacks the city guards. Even if my spirits don't match, you will think I'm hiding another key, and I'm still the criminal." Despite she was calm, her words were... Lucy didn't care if she sounded like a crazy person.

"Enough, Lucy. You're too much."

"I'm willing to give a helping hand to solve this case," she replied, "I think it's better to go to the city guard building and meet Erza-san to prove my innocence. I haven't done anything wrong." She retreated three steps, as she directed to her room to change her clothes.

"Stop, Lucy," Laxus raised his voice, he was angry at himself, and also angry at her. Her behavior toward him was like 'talking to him was useless. She would rather talk to Titania and ask her to help her. She was treating him as an unimportant person. Why didn't she try to rely on him?

"Better not to step out of the manor, Lucy. You're grounded for a week."

      Hearing his words, Lucy turned around with a bit of irritation, "Your Highness, do you want to stop me from clearing my name?"

"Think as you like. Just don't cause more trouble. If you step out of this manor, I can't guarantee what I will do to you."

      Her face dimpled into a sad smile, "May I let you know, Your Highness, your warning is too late. Because, if I want to run away, you won't be able to stop me." Then she walked away.

      His dragon slayer's hearing was freaking annoying him when he heard her humming a song. Laxus watched her retreating figure for a few seconds, before letting out a sigh, 'Why did things turn out like this?' Though he didn't want to admit it, today's conflict was entirely his fault.

• • • • •

June 12th, X524 (9 AM)
City guards' building

"These are what the commoners talk about," Mest, in his senior city guard attire, handed four papers to the blue-haired crown prince, "The rumors are spreading so fast. We noted down all of these."

       Erza approached her boyfriend and stood beside him. Jellal frowned his eyebrows after reading the main highlight of the first paper.

"Her Highness went to the downtown and had a fight with four commoners, and injured them," Erza read it loud.

"Her Highness Lucelia went out at night. She punched and kicked three drunkards on the street. Who in the world is telling this nonsense?"

"Princess Lucelia is making out with a guy in an alley beside Red Falcon pub." Erza punched the table hurt, "I'll kill them."

"I also heard that the commoners planned to gather and protest in front of Prince Laxus's manor," the senior city guard paused for a moment, "to ask him to divorce Lucelia-sama."

      Jellal shook his head, "Lucelia has been grounded since a day ago. How can she escape under his watch and wandered in Magnolia? Do we locate the imposter?"

"Seeing Mest only returned with the report, means she is too cunning that we still can't catch her. One-third of city guards are on their missions. The remaining two-thirds are not enough to cover the whole Magnolia. We have to narrow down the possible places where the culprit might appear. Fortunately, Gray's team will arrive Magnolia this evening."

"Mest, here's my order. Arrange more people to reinforce the guards on duty. Stay alert," the Crown Prince said, "we all will catch the culprit tonight... We have to."

"Roger, sir," Mest replied, before excusing himself.

• • • • •

      Walking into the dark narrow alley beside the city guard building, the black-haired senior city guard's facial expression darkened as he smirked. A moment later, a bright light emitted around him.

"Piri Piri," two floating small creatures were seen in the spot of the young man. Both had blue-colored bodies, one wore orange shorts, and another in black one. "Hehe," they laughed as they disappeared from the spot.

^_^