When Lucy learned of her father's arrangement, she was far from pleased. She had no intention of meeting this so-called prince of the Verdenshav Kingdom. Nor did she care about courtship, alliances, or any of the duties expected of a princess. Since meeting Natsu, her thoughts had been fixated on only one thing—finding him again and making sure he was alright. The palace guards had not arrested him, but she knew how "rough" they could be when dealing with commoners. It would not have been the first time they dragged someone into an alley under the excuse of discipline, only to deliver a warning that left bruises behind. She couldn't shake the fear that Natsu had been on the receiving end of something like that.

She had begged her father to let her find the young man and properly make amends for what happened, but the sultan had refused outright.

"Absolutely not!" he had declared. "After what you've done, you're lucky I'm even letting you out of your chambers! How could you leave the palace like that? And then wander the city alone? You could have been killed!"

"Nothing happened," Lucy insisted.

"But something could have! Something dangerous. This city is full of unsavory characters who would gladly do you harm given the chance. Do you want to end up like your mother—brutally murdered in the street by bandits?"

"Just because Mother was killed doesn't mean the outside world is nothing but danger!" Lucy shot back. "She wouldn't want us to live in fear like this!"

"She would have wanted me to do what is best for you!"

"Well I think you're only doing what is best for you!"

"Enough!" he snapped. "How dare you use that tone with me? You are my only child! My entire life is devoted to you—every decision I've made has been for you! Since the day you were born, I have not once thought of myself!"

"Then why can't you let me make my own choices?"

"Because you don't yet understand the world as it is," he said sharply. "You are eager to join it, but you are naive to its wickedness. The world will destroy you if you cannot understand it."

"Then make me understand," Lucy said, her voice tightening. "Talk to me, Father. Instead of shielding me from everything, help me understand it."

"I am teaching you. You're simply impatient."

"I can't learn everything from books and scrolls," she said. "I need to see the world. I need to meet people. I need to live."

"And so you shall," he replied. "After you are married."

"I can't be confined here until my wedding day."

"You won't be. I've already arranged it—you will spend the summer in the Magnolia Nation. A new land. New culture. New people. Everything you've always wanted."

"But there are strings attached," Lucy said bitterly. "I'm going there to marry a prince."

"Not to marry him," he corrected. "To get to know him. You've said you wish to fall in love before marriage. Very well—I am giving you that chance."

"You can't arrange love, Father," she said quietly. "It has to happen naturally."

"Nonsense. You're being stubborn."

His voice hardened again, leaving no room for argument.

"I hate to do this to you, Lucy. Truly I do. But you've forced my hand. You have two choices: accept the prime minister's invitation and make an honest attempt to know the prince... or I will command you to wed the next suitor who arrives at this palace, regardless of your feelings."

"Father, please—"

"No more words. You have until tomorrow to decide."

Though it hardly felt like a choice to Lucy in the end, she agreed to meet the Prince of the Verdenshav Kingdom. At the very least, there was a chance—however small—that it could lead to something real. And even if it didn't, she would finally see the world beyond the palace walls.

The days leading up to her departure were a blur of preparation. Her father spared no expense. New robes and travel garments were commissioned, along with finely crafted shoes, jeweled accessories, and every ornament a princess might be expected to wear. A dowry was prepared as well—an imposing chest filled with gold coins and precious gems, more than enough to announce her status to any court she visited.

"He says he's giving me an opportunity to fall in love," Lucy murmured as her handmaids helped dress her for the journey. "But what if I don't fall for this prince? What then? Will Father still force me to marry him?"

"We cannot say, my lady," Aries replied gently. "We can only pray that all goes well."

"I wish you two could come with me," Lucy admitted softly. "I don't know how I'll face this alone."

"You'll be fine," Aquarius said with quiet certainty. "You're stronger than you think you are."

"You really think so?" Lucy asked.

"I know so," Aquarius replied. "Have courage, and walk with your head held high. Let everyone in that nation know you are not going to be anyone's trophy wife."

Lucy gave a small, grateful smile. "Thank you, Aquarius."

But her expression soon dimmed again. "It's not just meeting this prince that makes me uneasy. Father is insisting that awful Zash accompany us. I can't stand him."

"What woman can?" Aquarius muttered under her breath.

Lucy let out a frustrated breath. "I swear, whenever he's near I feel like I'm standing in front of a cobra waiting to strike. I don't understand how my father can trust him."

"How did he even become royal vizier anyway?" Aries asked.

"One of life's great mysteries," Lucy said bitterly. "All I know is he started as the royal magician, and before I knew it, Father was calling him a miracle worker who 'has all the answers.' With how cautious and paranoid my father is, you'd think he'd never allow someone like that so close to him."

"I've heard he's a cruel man, your highness," Aries said hesitantly. "Only rumors, of course... but some say he's arrested and sentenced prisoners without even consulting the sultan."

"He wouldn't dare," Lucy said firmly. "That kind of action is forbidden. Punishable by death."

"As I said, they're only rumors," Aries replied quickly. "I've seen no proof."

"But I wouldn't ignore them," Aquarius added. "I've heard whispers that he practices dark magic and that he disappears at night to do things he shouldn't."

Lucy fell silent for a moment, her unease deepening.

"If I were you," Aquarius continued, "I'd tell your father the moment you have him alone."

"I'll keep that in mind," Lucy said at last. Her gaze sharpened slightly. "If what you're saying is true then at least something good may come of this marriage arrangement."

She straightened her posture, resolve hardening in her voice.

"Because once I'm Sultana,  I will have the power to get rid of him."

But unbeknownst to the princess, Nebaru had been listening the entire time in his parrot form.
The moment Lucy's conversation ended, he slipped away through an open window, wings beating fast as he sped across the palace grounds. He didn't stop until he reached his master. When Zash heard the report, his expression twisted with barely contained fury.

"If only I had gotten that lamp!" he snarled.

Nebaru landed nearby, shaking out his feathers. "Looks like Selene is our only hope now. Otherwise we'll just have to keep kissing up to that chump Jude and his chump daughter."

Zash's eyes narrowed. "No Nebaru just until she finds a chump husband. And once she learns the truth about me, she'll have us banished..."

His hand drifted slowly to his throat.

"Or beheaded."

"Eugh!" Nebaru shuddered dramatically. Then, after a brief pause, his expression shifted. An idea sparked in his eyes. "Wait... Zash. What if you were the chump husband?"

"What?"

Nebaru hovered closer, lowering his voice. "What I mean is, you marry the princess. You become sultan, then you execute your new bride and your father-in-law, put Selene in place as Sultana and with her power combined with the trident—if she gets it—you'll rule not just Lazan City, but the entire world."

For a moment, silence hung between them. Then Zash slowly smiled.

"Hm..." he mused. "The idea does have merit."

His eyes glinted as the thought took shape. "And with me accompanying them to the Magnolia Nation, I can personally sabotage this little courtship between prince and princess."

Nebaru grinned. "Exactly! Of course, you'll have to make it clear to Selene that you're only marrying the princess as a means to an end. That she's your true partner. Right?"

Zash's smile widened. "Yes... yes, of course," he said smoothly. "I'm sure she'll be perfectly reasonable about that."

But when Zash contacted the sea witch through a magical image transmission and told her his plan, she was not at all pleased.

"How dare you even consider marrying another woman!" she screeched. "I thought we were in this together!"

"We are," Zash replied smoothly. "I'll only be married to her in name. Once I become sultan, I'll dispose of her and marry you instead."

"Oh really?" Selene narrowed her eyes. "Do you think I'm stupid? I've seen the way you look at her and the way you look at any young, pretty human thing. The lechery couldn't be more obvious. You make me sick."

Zash lifted a hand in mock innocence. "So I have a wandering eye once in a while. You know I've always been loyal to you."

"Somehow, I still doubt that," she muttered.

"Selene," he said, lowering his voice. "Without the lamp, I have no other way to become sultan. The trident alone isn't enough to take the world. And isn't that what we've always wanted?"

Selene's expression shifted slightly, her anger giving way to reluctant consideration.

"I suppose..." she admitted slowly.

Then her eyes sharpened again.

"But there's a problem. I'm relying on this arranged marriage between the Princess of Lazan and the Prince of Verdenshav. If they marry, Juvia's soul becomes mine—and it's my only bargaining chip for the trident. If you interfere and the prince falls in love with her instead... everything falls apart."

Zash's smile returned, calculated and reassuring. "Then I will ensure that doesn't happen. Everything will proceed exactly as planned. I'll gain control of Lazan City, you'll gain control of Verdenshav Kingdom—and with both of our powers combined, we'll take the remaining realms. The world will be ours."

He placed a hand over his chest. "You have my word, my sweet."

Selene studied him for a long moment.

Finally, she exhaled. "Very well."

Her voice dropped into something far more dangerous.

"But I warn you, Zash... if I even suspect you're betraying me, I will make you a permanent addition to my garden. Is that clear?"

Zash and Nebaru both gulped nervously.

"Clear as bell," Zash said at last.

"Good," Selene replied. "And remember... I'll be watching."

...

On the day Lucy and her father departed, they were carried in a shaded litter across miles of desert—over rolling dunes and through winds that cut like sandblades. For nearly two days, they pressed onward until they reached the border of their realm. From there, they were transferred onto Lazan's trade route, where the endless desert finally began to give way to something unfamiliar. Eventually, the horizon shifted.

At first, Lucy thought it was a mirage. But then they arrived. The ocean. She had never seen anything like it. An endless expanse of shimmering blue stretched farther than her eyes could comprehend, moving and breathing like a living thing beneath the sky. They boarded a magnificent ship—grand, polished, and impossibly vast—floating atop the water as though it defied nature itself. To Lucy, it felt like magic made real. She found herself pressed to the rail, longing to lean over and reach into the waves. To feel them. To know if they were as cool and alive as they looked.

She remained within the confines of her designated quarters alongside her father, the sea only a distant, teasing presence beyond the walls. A day and a half later, the ship reached the harbors of the Magnolia Nation. There, they disembarked into waiting carriages that would carry them to the Summer Palace.

Unlike the sealed litter from before, this carriage had open windows—an invitation Lucy did not hesitate to accept. She leaned toward the breeze as the world outside unfolded in breathtaking detail. Everything was different. Magnolia was a vast realm of interwoven ecosystems—stretching from subtropical hammocks and rocky scrublands to wide, open prairies, sandy hills, floodplain forests, and dense woodlands. It was a living mosaic of landscapes she had only ever read about in scrolls.

Color replaced the dry monotony she had known all her life. Green—endless green. Grass swaying in the wind. Towering maple and oak trees. Wild shrubs tangled with apple trees heavy with fruit. Blackberry thickets, strawberry groves, and cherry blossoms scattered like painted fire across the land. And life—so much life. White-tailed deer moving gracefully through the trees. Raccoons darting along riverbanks. Black bears roaming in the distance. Alligators slipping silently through dark waters. River otters playing in the currents. Swans, ducks, storks drifting across lakes like living poetry. Rabbits. Squirrels. Birds of every color and sound. There were too many wonders to name.

"What do you think?" Jude asked her.

"It's amazing," she admitted, unable to keep the awe from her voice.

"I thought it would please you," he chuckled softly.

Lucy's gaze lingered out the carriage window as the scenery blurred past—green horizons, distant forests, and winding rivers that seemed to lead into another world entirely.

"But must we go straight to the palace, Father?" she asked, almost reluctantly. "Can't we stop the carriage for just a moment? To explore?"

"Patience, my child," Jude replied. "You will have all summer to do that—and more. But now we must get settled. And we must express our gratitude to the prince and the prime minister for inviting us."

Lucy hesitated, then gave a small nod.

"Yes, Father."

She leaned back slightly, though her eyes still followed the passing world outside. For the first time in a long while, her thoughts weren't heavy with frustration or defiance.

Maybe... she thought quietly... this journey wouldn't be as unbearable as she had expected. Maybe she would even come to enjoy it. Only time would tell.