Christina wasn't quite sure if she was angry, upset, depressed, or some combination of the three, but she knew she wasn't happy. Going over the whole incident again and again, she still couldn't understand where exactly she had gone wrong.
Having calmed down somewhat, Christina was now willing to admit she had acted a bit uncouth. She had embarrassed herself, and although she still felt Lucas was at fault for much of what happened, she also had to accept the fact that she wasn't blameless in all this.
As for how that lead to her having a fight with a boy 5 years younger than herself, Christina was now somewhat at a loss.
What's more, she had actually lost that fight!
Even after everything Lucas had said to her, Christina still felt that the match was unfair. Her Aunt Celestina had been vague with her words, not stating explicitly that the fight had already started.
Also, Lucas winning by launching a sneak attack left Christina feeling bitter.
When the cold, hard, facts were laid out in front of her, however, Christina had no way of arguing back. No matter the circumstances, the truth was that she had lost to a brat who was much weaker than her; that wasn't the kind of thing that could simply be explained away.
She was the genius of the Rockwell Family, a real princess with never-before-seen talent in the kingdom, yet she had lost to a peasant child in some backwater town she had never heard of before today.
Christina understood that Lucas was no ordinary child, but that was cold comfort to her. Just thinking about how she had been taken by surprise, strangled, and rendered unconscious, Christina wasn't sure she would ever be able to live down this terrible defeat.
With great difficult, Christina tried to accept the fact that she had lost and look towards the future, but that only caused her more grief, What am I supposed to do now? How will I face Aunt Celestina in the future?
She had been sent to Redwood Town by her Royal Mother and Father to seek shelter with Marquess Balfour as she was the most loyal and steadfast noble there was. No one questioned whether Celestina Balfour would act in what she believed was the best interest of the Rockwell Kingdom, which was why the King and his Queens all implicitly trusted her.
The fact that the current and former Kings, and the current First Queen, were all former students of Celestina might have had something to do with it as well.
Even Christina's mother, Third Queen Cynthia Morgan, had great respect for Marquess Celestina Balfour as her two closest friends, Allina Crest and Vanessa Clark, were both nurtured by the crimson-haired General.
In the King and Third Queen's opinions, Celestina would be able to shelter their most precious treasure and keep her safe from the greedy hands of not only the Empire, but also other local nobles who might have ill intentions towards Christina.
Now, however, Christina had thoroughly shamed and disgraced herself in front of Celestina, greatly disappointing the latter. How was she supposed to now beg for help and safety from the Balfour Marquess?
Just as Christina was caught in a negative swirl of emotions, a gentle voice called out to her, "Um… are you okay?"
Naturally, Christina recognized her new Sworn Sister's voice, but at this moment, she was too distressed to even offer a proper response; so, with her head hung low, the princess merely nodded, before shaking her head.
Seeing this, Eris was quite confused.
Was her new friend okay?
Was she not?
How was she supposed to tell?
All Eris was certain of was that Tina was upset.
Looking at Tina just standing there, with her shoulders slumped, staring at her feet, Eris suddenly felt a sense of comradery with her; after all, hadn't she been in a similar state not too long ago?
Thinking hard, Eris tried to remember what it was that allowed her to escape her own depression after she had awoken from that terrible nightmare.
Recalling what happened back then, Eris frowned deeply as she doubted she could replicate what her new Master had done for her.
In fact, Eris was certain she couldn't.
Her Master had used her immense authority and phenomenal strength to pressure her into picking herself back up. Eris had neither of those things though, so she couldn't use a similar method to help Tina out.
What's more, Eris wasn't even sure if using such a method would be helpful in this situation.
Now, both the young girls were fretting to themselves, one over her own worries, and the other over how to alleviate the worries of the other.
Eventually, Eris gave up trying to think of a clever solution to this problem.
Planning 10 steps ahead and guiding others without them even noticing was how Lucas handled things, but Eris wasn't him. She had her own way of doing things, so she simply stepped closer to Tina, patted her encouragingly, and tried to sound as soothing as possible, "There there, it'll all be alright."
When Christina heard Eris' words and felt her hand on her head, something broke inside her. It was as if she was being coddled, like she was some immature toddler crying over a broken toy.
Is she pitying me? Me? A princess? Being pitied and looked down on by a mere rural Baron's daughter?!
Having just suffered the greatest blow to her pride in her life, and with her emotions all riled up, Christina exploded. Abruptly lifting her head, she shoved Eris away as she shouted, "What do you know!? How is it going to be alright!?"
Christina was far stronger than Eris, so when she pushed her, there was no way for the younger girl to resist. As a result, Eris stumbled back a few steps before falling on her butt.
Of course, even in her agitated state, Christina retained some of her senses and didn't use her full strength. Such a minor shove shouldn't have resulted in Eris falling if the latter had been able to properly balance herself, but...
With eyes that were wet and bloodshot, Christina glared fiercely at Eris and was about to yell at her again, when she suddenly caught sight of the stump where the younger girl's right arm used to be.
In an instant, Christina's boiling anger, which was mid-eruption, was doused with a bucket of cold water.
Staring at the half-crippled girl she had just shoved, an immense sense of shame filled Christina's heart.
Despite obviously growing up quite spoiled, Christina was fortunate to have good parents who instilled proper values in her, so she was still a good girl at heart, that was why, unlike with her fight with Lucas, she knew she was completely in the wrong right now.
Her new friend, her new Sworn Sister, had only been trying to comfort her, yet she lashed out at Eris and even acted violently.
Worse still, she had accused Eris of not understanding her suffering, when it was more than obvious the latter knew far, far more of pain and suffering than Christina could imagine.
Eris had lost her arm defending her loved ones, and couldn't even balance herself properly, yet she was still here trying to make her feel better.
Christina felt disgusted with herself at that moment and suddenly realized, No wonder Aunty Celestina looked so disappointed in me, I'm terrible!
Biting her lip hard, Christina hurriedly ran over to Eris and reached out her hand, squeezed her eyes shut, and sincerely bowed, "I'm sorry, Eris!"
As a Direct Descendant of the Royal Family, Christina had been taught since birth that she should not lower her head to others, especially those of lower status. She was supposed to always maintain an air of dignity, but right now, none of that mattered to the young princess.
Right now, Christina knew that if she couldn't even apologize sincerely to Eris, she would become someone truly worthless.
With her eyes closed and hand outstretched, a new, unfamiliar emotion began overwhelming Christina.
Fear.
Her heart racing, Christina was absolutely terrified of what would happen next, What if Eris can't forgive me? What if she slaps my hand away? What if she hates me now? What if she looks at me with disgust? What if she abandons me? What should I do then? What should I do?!
Christina had never been so worried about anything before, and it was those worries that made time seem to stretch out infinitely.
From a purely logical perspective, whether the daughter of a Baron forgave a Royal Princess for slighting her was completely irrelevant, but right now, there was nothing in the world Christina wanted more than Eris' forgiveness.
Fortunately for the young princess, she didn't have to wait long for an answer.
Reaching up, Eris grabbed the outstretched hand without any hesitation and said in a cheerful tone, "En, it's okay!"
Only now daring to open her eyes, Christina met Eris' innocent gaze which was filled with nothing but happiness.
Why Eris was happy? Christina had no idea, but the mere sight of her smiling up at her while holding her hand destroyed the last remnants of her self-control.
Tears streaming down her face, Christina collapsed to her knees and began crying loudly, her voice filling the clearing and echoing off the nearby buildings.
Faced with this completely unexpected development, Eris went into a full-blown panic as she had no idea what was going on.
One moment, Tina was depressed, then she was angry, now she was sobbing inconsolably. It was too much for the young girl to figure out, so all she could think of was to fall back on her own experiences.
When Eris was crying, the only thing that made her feel better was her mother and father coming and hugging her, so she scrambled over and wrapped her arm around Tina, patting her back as she whispered repeatedly, "There there, it's okay… it's okay."