Left behind while Raven and his party ventured into the forest, Regalia couldn’t believe her luck. She was tired of watching over the army, and that too with someone as annoying as Mercedes by her side. There was always something for her to complain about, something for her to say, and at this point, even Mono’s twin was tired of her, but there was nothing that could be done, as Mercedes was in charge of inventory.
"I could be back at Elenaris selling cargo to the locals, but here I am hauling ass for free because of some minor mistake in the past."
"Minor mistake?" Squinting her eyes, Regalia couldn’t believe the merchant’s audacity. "You were trying to start a war against the humans and rebels of Lululalia, knowing full well that the humans would win and not to mention you were selling weapons to one side while also playing the other side by giving them intel that would absolutely slaughter the demis and beastmen!"
"What the fuck?" Blinking in disbelief, the Twin stared at the merchant while frozen in place. "You never told me that!"
"Oh, please, as if you’re the one to talk," Mercedes shot back, and what little memory that the twin had about what she’d done, instantly made her recoil, since she was in no position to criticize anyone else.
"Speaking of trade..." Having overheard the conversation from the worker’s caravan, Mono climbed out and landed right next to the merchant. Aradin’s group and Shamisha stared at her from the inside as she walked out. "I wanted to talk to you about shorting my merchants and nobility of cargo even though they’ve been paying in full."
"Ekk..." Biting her tongue, Mercedes quickly looked away from the queen. "Her majesty...I–uh, I didn’t know you were here. I thought you went into the forest with Raven."
"Well, I didn’t, and I would like to have a talk with you, so look at me," standing firm, Mono stomped her feet on the ground to get Mercedes’ attention, "You might think I have no clue what happens in the underground city of my kingdom but let me remind you that I’ve lived there longer than you’ve been in this world so don’t try that again or you’ll be paying with your heart being stuffed in an automaton that would haul cargo for the rest of its life without questioning anything."
"And I thought Raven’s orders were tough," despite being caught red-handed, Mercedes couldn’t help herself from complaining, "But...fine, I won’t do it again."
"She’s scarier than I expected my duplicate to be," the twin mumbled to herself.
But easily picking up on it, Mono shifted her attention to her.
"Just be glad that the hero and everything that happened convinced me to spare your life, because if there’s anyone who deserves to die, it’s you first and then anyone else."
"What did I do now?!"
"You didn’t just say that!"
"MONO! Cut it out!" Quickly climbing out of the caravan, Shamisha pulled her master away from the clone. But given her fully metallic body, the bunny girl struggled to move the queen back into the safety of the carriage, and that’s when Aradin and Tris climbed out and decided to help her as well.
Making room for everyone inside once again, June and Hannah simply accepted the queen inside like some sort of cargo. She was struggling, but not actively; her body had just tensed from her rage; however, thankfully, she didn’t do anything to hurt anyone.
Once stuffed inside, Shamisha climbed in and closed the door again. As soon as the queen was out of sight, Mercedes turned to Regalia to continue with her complaints.
"You should’ve warned me that we’re standing next to her carriage." Looking into the distance, however, Regalia seemed distracted. Raising an eyebrow at the strange behavior, Mercedes followed her gaze and found Felix and Astra both helping with the skinning of a beast that Choux had just hunted and brought to be processed into a meal.
"I thought they had gone with Raven, same as Mono..." Mercedes said.
"I did too, but I’m sure I saw Mono coming back, but not them," Regalia whispered back.
"Hmm?" Looking in the same direction as the other two, the clone "Them? No, I’m sure I saw them with the rest of the mess officers. What are you two talking about?"
"What?" Said the other two in unison.
Suddenly, a lot of tension landed on the twin. She could feel them staring right at her, and it quickly heightened her anxiety. Even so, keeping up her facade as an arrogant and confident leader, she forced an awkward smile on her face and brushed their attention off.
"What? You guys didn’t notice that? They’ve been for a while, I guess only I’m keeping watch of who’s where and whatnot," folding her hands, she tried to appear confident, yet the awkwardness of her demeanor gave her true self away.
"You’re a terrible actor," Mercedes told her.
"Shut up, at least I had the balls to face the queen when I first met her. She was sweating bullets facing me, unlike someone here..." With a scrunched nose, she stared at the merchant.
And while another time Regalia would’ve let the two fight, there was a much bigger fish to fry at the moment, and so she asked with a hand on top of the twins’ shoulders.
"Tell me everything that you saw," holding her with both hands, Regalia stared right into her crimson eyes. Shaking her body a little, she even snapped her out of her anger and instead made her focus on the task at hand. "Don’t leave anything because the lives of our soldiers might depend on it, alright?"
Although she had no clue what the demi girl was talking about, the twin took a deep gulp and gave her a hesitant nod. Then, without wasting another second, she told her how both Felix and Astra had been with the mess officers ever since the general took the small group of people into the brambles.
’Something’s not right...I clearly saw them with Raven, Hilma was there too, but she’s not here now, but they are.’ At the end of her explanation, Regalia turned to the duo that used to be a couple of sorts. ’That means, these two, they are...damn it, why didn’t I realize it sooner!’
Her discovery happened just in time; however, since she couldn’t report to Raven when he was inside that cursed forest, it fell on her to decide what happens to them next.
"FELIX! ASTRA! COME WITH ME TO ME FOR A SECOND!" Calling them out, the demi-wolf wanted to test her doubt and test them; she will. In the same way, she did back when any mutinous soldiers came forward in her time as the sole general to the king of Elenaris.