Read story Love Against All Odds - Chapter 6 : The Truth

Chapter 6 : The Truth

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Little did they know, a small green owl had been sitting on a branch of one of the trees in the forest and observing a certain blonde since the beginning.
•••••

March 19th, X524 (2:45 PM)
Prince Laxus Dreyar's Manor, Magnolia

Through the magic lacrima connected to the vision of an owl, two young men in the Prince's Manor could able to see what was happening in the forest. They were Prince Laxus Dreyar and his loyal bodyguard Freed Justin.

22-year-old blond Prince was sitting on a chair while watching the lacrima which was on the table in front of him. His hair was sliced back, and his outfit consisted of a black shirt, red pants, black shoes and a long black furry coat. Freed who was a year younger than Laxus, stood at the opposite of Laxus. His waist-length green hair was gathered and tied at the end. The bodyguard's outfit was a white shirt, a pair of light brown pants, a dark red knee-length coat with a red belt, and dark blue knee-height boots.

"Lord Conbolt is right. Sabertooth sent a fake princess," Freed said after they had watched the princess's battle. "What's your plan, Laxus-sama?" Laxus stared at the blonde who was hugging the scariest girl in Magnolia. "Just hide her true identity and keep an eye on her," Laxus ordered, "If that man (he meant his father) finds out that she is a fake, wars will start again. A fake girl as a war hostage, sabertooth people are indeed cunning. However, Macao is always one step ahead." He smirked.

• • • • •

March 16th, X524 (11 AM)
Crocus, Sabertooth

Fairy Tail's envoy Macao Conbolt was walking alone in the streets of Crocus, he was in disguise, wearing cheap clothes. He entered one of the restaurants in the downtown area. He ordered some food and checked the surroundings while waiting. Three men were sitting near his table, based on their uniform, they seemed like they were staff from a department. They were engaged in an important conversation.

"I heard that Fairy Tail Kingdom's envoys arrive Crocus today," a tall man said, "I'm glad that two kingdoms are in peace."

"I feel sad for our princess. What if they treated her badly?" a thin man, asked worriedly.

"Empress was crying and angry at your majesty. I also heard that His Royal Highnessalso tried to escape with Her Highness. I heard this news from a servant girl in the palace." The third man spoke.

"What if your majesty didn't send her to Fairy Tail?" The tall man asked.

"Impossible. There's no gain without a sacrifice after all," the third man commented and the other two sighed.

• • • • •

1 PM

Macao was spying downtown but he hadn't got any special news about marriage and politics. He heard some shouts nearby, so he walked in the direction of the shout. He saw a pink-haired boy and a blonde girl was surrounded by the fifteen guards led by a masked man, in front of a magic shop. A middle-aged man, who seemed like he was a shopkeeper, tried to convince the guards not to fight in front of his shop. It was lucky for him to observe the fight freely because there was also a small crowd watching the fight curiously.

"Do you know who am I? My father is your master's sworn brother and my best friend is your young master. How dare you want to fight me?" The boy shouted, his hands were ignited with flames.

"Go Natsu, go. Beat them," a blue flying cat shouted, he extended his small fist in front of him. "Natsu, calm down," the blonde tried to stop the fight.

The blue-haired man could guess that the boy might be from a high-rank family. 'He's a fire dragon slayer,' he thought. 'Dragon slayer magic was rare magic and every user had flying cats. In Fairy Tail, only Prince Laxus and young Princess possessed dragon slayer magic.'

Soon, Natsu started fighting alone against the guards. He was in the upper hand until the masked man joined the fight and he was thrown into a cart nearby. Macao frowned at the scene, the winner was determined because motion sickness was every dragon slayer's weakness. The boy became dizzy and soon he passed out. Both the girl and the cat were caught in a sleeping spell.

Macao was about to leave, not wanting to be suspicious, but he heard a question that stopped his steps. "I'm sorry, but the key.." the shopkeeper pointed to the silver key which was in the girl's hand. The masked man grabbed the key and gave it to the shopkeeper. The guards took three victims and left quickly.

The envoy heard the shopkeeper's disappointed voice, "Lucy was very happy to buy a new key." He approached him, "What happened? Men bullying a boy in daytime. Do you know them?"

"Are you new here?" the man asked Macao. "Yeah, I'm from Violet Town, I'm in Crocus to meet my relatives."

They walked into the shop. The shopkeeper shook his head, "That kid is the young master of Dragneel Clan. The girl is his assistant. She bought a silver key earlier but, before she canpay the bill, they are caught by the guards of Lord Metalicana as you see. These two families were very close. I don't know what happened."

"Key.. Do you mean the keys of celestial spirit magic, don't you?"

"Yes, are you interested that magic?"

"Of course, I like every rare magic."

"There are only two golden key holders in Crocus," the shopkeeper explained, "one holder is Her Highness Lucelia and another is Lucy Heart. I don't know which keys the princess had. But I'm close to Lucy, she has four golden keys and three silver keys. Since she was young, she always came to my shop and asked if there was a new key. She's a kind celestial mage."

Macao Conbolt remained silent, feeling something was wrong. His discovery about a girl whose magic ability was on par with Princess Lucelia, the said girl was captured by the guards despite her high-status friend, and that impossible question he heard earlier, "What if King Eucliffe didn't send the Princess to Fairy Tail?"

• • • • •

March 18th, X524

Everything was fine in these two days. Sabertooth Royal Guards were with their Princess Lucelia and Fairy Tail's envoy group to escort them to the border. Macao was relieved because his suspense was wrong... until the group stopped to take a rest in the Greenland Field.. and he saw two figures landing from the sky. One of them was very familiar to him; the same pink-haired dragon slayer he had seen three days ago. It was when he found himself very shocked. This princess might be a substitute.

The black-haired leader, the blue-haired girl and the newcomer young man didn't pay attention to Princess Lucelia as they discussed something nearby. People might think it was the heartbreaking story of a royal princess and her childhood sweetheart who were separated because of the political marriage.

However, the envoy had known their secret, so the meaning was completely different for him. He waited for a suitable time to go back to Magnolia. When Erza, Lyon and Gray were guarding the princess in Twilight city. He left the Twilight City, with an simple lie "I got a letter from my wife that she got a severe flu this afternoon". He went back to Magnolia alone at night and reported hus newly discovered information to His Highness Laxus Dreyar.

• • • • •

March 19th, X524 (2:45 PM)
RiverCloud Forest

"Erza-san, Gray, Lyon, are you alright?" A young man around 25, wearing a light green long jacket, with a belt, dark blue pants and black boots, asked worriedly. His black hair was short and spiky, and there was an X scar below his left eye. He was Mest Gryder, Crown Prince Jellal's trusted fellow. Ten guards wearing the same outfits followed behind Mest.

"We are all fine, Gryder-san" Gray answered quickly, "You know, you are late. What if our beloved crown prince find out that you came late to protect Erza? I mean Princess Lucelia."

"I apologize. Our horses ran with their fastest speed," Mest answered before bowing to Lucy. "It's okay," Lucy smiled back.

"We'll arrive Magnolia in thirty minutes," Gray commented, "I think it's better to go in two groups. We have no clue if there would be other groups."

"Gray and I'll return to Magnolia with our guards and Garou Knights," Lyon said.

"Our mission is to protect Princess Lucelia, not to check the criminals," Erza replied, "Mest, stay behind with the guards. Princess, Gray, Lyon, Meredy, Juvia-san and I'll go to Magnolia first."

"Roger!" Lyon and Gray said in unison. "I've already given the assassins the sleeping potion," Meredy spoke with a sweet smile. The group walked to the place where the horses of Mest's group were resting.

"Lucelia-sama, can you ride a horse?" Erza asked and received a no from Lucy. "I'll ride with you," Erza replied with a smile. She whistled, loud enough that three horses that had run away during the battle, went near their owner. Erza patted her house's head before offering her hand to Lucy, "Princess," she helped the blonde up and mounted herself in front of her.

Lyon flipped his short hair and offered his hand in front of the bluenette and pinkette who were standing near him. "Girls, may I help you?" Gray sweatdropped at his bestie's imitation of Erza.

"Juvia can ride a horse," the water mage replied quickly as she walked to one of the horses and mounted the horse.

"This horse is so cute," Meredy caressed gently the soft fur of a beautiful white horse. She climbed on the horse and held the reins, as the horse started moving. "Hey, it's my horse," Lyon shouted, based on what he saw, the pinkette looked like she would ride his horse alone. "I'll borrow your horse, Lyon-sama," Meredy replied with a smile before leaving Lyon behind.

"She stole my horse," Lyon whispered himself with disappointment. "Yes, she did, hahaha. Don't forget that you offered your help first," the black-haired ice mage replied before mounting his horse. In the end, Lyon unwilllingly chose one of the horses for his journey back to Magnolia. Did he have another option when that pinkette just robbed his horse?

^_^

Laxus Dreyar