A/N: I own nothing. Enjoy!

"Your skin is practically glowing today, Annabeth. You must have had a very good night."

Annabeth choked on her tea as the implications of Piper's words sunk in. Piper gave her a knowing look as she passed over a handkerchief to Annabeth.

The two were in Piper's cozy chambers in the Cuora Royal Palace after visiting the orphanage. It had been getting more difficult for Piper to leave the palace since the winter storms were getting harsher, although Annabeth had a sneaking suspicion that a certain prince had frowned upon trips outside the palace ever since the attack on their carriage.

"How can you tell?" Annabeth questioned as she dabbed her mouth.

Piper shrugged. "Intimacy with one's lover or lovers is a constant part of our lives in Cytheran culture. Perhaps in countries like Cuora, it is not considered normal to discuss intimacy in one's everyday life."

"Oh. Well, we didn't go as far as you might have thought we have," Annabeth answered. She waved her fan in front of her face. The room had somehow gotten hot despite it being winter.

Piper grinned. "That's all good. Small and slow steps. Who says you have to jump right into the physical aspect of relationship?"

"That's true. There's no definite timeline that I have to follow."

Annabeth thought back to when she had been married to Luke. Hearing Piper's words now, Annabeth realized how much of a farce her previous marriage had been. Even in the beginning of their marriage, Luke had been pressuring Annabeth to take further steps in their relationship, steps that Annabeth had never felt fully comfortable with. And that discomfort had persisted into their marriage, resulting in the one night a month rule that was only for the sole purpose of producing an heir.

But now she realized she was fully comfortable with venturing into the physical intimacy of a relationship with Percy. And it wasn't just that she felt secure, she enjoyed that new aspect of the relationship a lot.

There was a knock on the door, and a maid came in bearing bouquets of white flowers. There were so many flowers that the maid's face was hardly seen over the white petals.

"Your Highness, Princess Piper, these are for you."

"Oh? Thank you."

The maid started arranging the flowers neatly in vases. Annabeth noted a slight flush in Piper's cheeks.

"Piper? Something you want to tell me?" Annabeth teased.

Piper didn't hide her smile this time. "Prince Jason sends flowers twice a week."

"Oh, does he now?"

Piper tapped her fingers on the armchair. "I'm pretty sure every princess candidate receives them," she added hastily. "Although this is the first time he's sent them off schedule. He usually sends them every Monday and Thursday, and today's a Friday."

Annabeth's eyes landed on the nearest bouquet of white flowers. She wasn't familiar with flowers other than the common variety known to people. Perhaps the white flowers were gardenias? She was more partial to the blue roses the Jacksons grew, but she found it sweet that Prince Jason sent flowers, especially as flowers were a rare commodity in the winter.

She leaned over and gently sniffed the white flowers. It didn't smell exactly like gardenias, but the smell was sweet, almost too sugary-sweet unlike the light and refreshing scent she expected. Annabeth pulled her nose away and sneezed. Well, Annabeth was no perfume connoisseur, anyways. She waved her hand in front of her nose, trying to clear out the dizzying floral scent.

Sir Leo, who usually stood silently guarding in the corner of the room, muttered something under his breath that Annabeth was able to catch. "Doubt the other princesses get their flowers personally chosen by the prince from the royal greenhouse."

Annabeth grinned as Piper hid her embarrassment behind her teacup. It seemed that while she and Percy had taken the next step into their future marriage, so had Piper and Jason.

"Have a bouquet," Piper offered. "I have too many flowers anyways, and one of my lady-in-waiting is allergic to pollen. She's almost convinced that the prince is out to get her because I keep receiving so many flowers and I put them in my rooms."

"How could I receive something that's personally given by the royal prince?" Annabeth protested. "Percy already tells me Prince Jason is annoyed that I take you out to the orphanage."

"Then I'm afraid we'll have to annoy the Cuoran prince a little more," the Cytheran princess declared. "I don't plan on being locked up in the palace like a bird in its cage."

"Great, and I have to get the blunt end of the prince's complaints as a result," Sir Leo complained.

In the end, Annabeth left with an armful of the pretty white gardenias.

In the beginning, Percy had decided that Count Castellan was not worth his time when he found out that Annabeth had not a single inkling of wanting to be involved with her former intended fiance. But after receiving reports from his secret knights that Luke was the one who had grabbed Annabeth's arm, Percy decided that ignoring the Count where Annabeth was concerned was no longer an option.

He stood quietly in the back, watching Crown Princess Thalia rip into the head of the White Knights Order. As discussed prior with Jason, Count Castellan had no choice but to use a scapegoat under the pressure of the royal family and the investigators headed by Percy, with poor Count Ethan Nakamura taking the fall.

Both Percy and Jason watched with impassive expressions as Count Nakamura was stripped of his title. His whole family was demoted to commoners.

The Nakamuras could be considered both fortunate and unfortunate at the same time. Unfortunately, because Ethan ended up taking the blame from the real culprit, and fortunate, because the punishment for the crime of abandoning knight duties with harm resulting to a noble was death.

As he was dragged out of the palace, many witnessed the hatred in the glare the former Count Nakamura sent to Count Castellan, who didn't spare his former second-in-command another glance.

Percy wondered what kind of woman Lady Kelli Chase was, to have such a hold on Count Castellan that he would not give up his lover, even when it costed him his reputation and a good second-in-command. How utterly bewildering and frightening. He felt sorry for Nakamura, but that was the consequence of supporting the wrong faction.

"Any movement on the Colchis princess?" Jason asked quietly.

"Laying quiet for now, but I'm sure she's sent her lady-in-waiting on some tasks. We're tailing all of them very closely."

Jason pursed his lips. "A princess used to manipulating others to do her bidding without them realizing what they were actually doing. She would be a terror if she ever were to be Queen."

"Perhaps that's why her own country wanted to send her off to Cuora to wreck havoc here."

The cousins stayed silent for a few more minutes.

Percy patted Jason on his back. "Well, I'm off to pick up my beautiful fiancee. Have fun dealing with the useless count over there."

Jason scowled. "Stop rubbing your damn relationship in front of my face, Jackson. We know it's going well, we get it."

"That's why both my father and I didn't choose to be princes. We wouldn't do well with all the restraints of royal life. Which reminds me, good luck with playing your part as the aristcratic faction's hope and glory."

Jason waited until everyone had cleared out of the throne room until it was just Luke and him.

"You were very fortunate this time," Jason said, coldly.

Count Castellan kept his head bowed.

"I've done what I can to let you maintain the position of the head of the White Knights Order" Jason lied smoothly. "Another mistake from you..." he let the rest of his threat remain silent in the air.

"I will not disappoint, Your Highness," Count Castellan said, stiffly.

"You better not."

"Wouldn't it be better if Your Highness were to follow the plan?" Another male voice entered the room.

Jason nodded curtly to the newcomer. Marquis Ares had never been high on Jason's list of favorite nobles. Marquis Ares was handsome, as all relatives of the royal family tended to be. However, the scars and the gruel glint in the marquis' eyes marred the good looks of the noble.

"Haven't you heard of the fiasco at the tea party?" Jason shot back. "Princess Medea's reputation has tanked drastically since her lady-in-waiting and a maid was connected to her in the suspected poisoning of another candidate. If you're thinking of her as the bride and future Queen, then you are highly mistaken."

"Then pray tell me, Your Highness, who is the better choice? The Inferis Princess? The Cytheran Princess?" Marquis Ares let the tone of his voice harden at the mention of the last princess.

Jason forced himself to not clench his hands into fists. "The Inferis Princess offers much wealth to be brought into Cuora that benefits our economy, while the Cytheran princess has been capturing the hearts of the Cuora citizens. But what does the Colchis princess bring? You'll have to give me a better answer than that, Marquis."

But he didn't bother listening to the Marquis' reply as Jason strode out of the room.

Annabeth wasn't expecting Percy to be waiting outside the carriage, especially since it was snowing and cold.

"Did you come to pick me up?" She asked, laughing. His nose was beginning to turn red from the bite of weather.

"No, I'm standing outside because I like to have frostbitten fingers," Percy sarcastically answered. His arms emerged from underneath his cloak and swept her into his arms.

She leaned into his embrace, secretly pleased that he had picked her up. No one had ever done that outside of her family. "You're quite warm for someone complaining about being frostbitten."

"Didn't realize my lady was a thief. Stealing my warmth," Percy teased.

There was a crinkling sound. Both looked down at the crushed flowers between them.

"Oh, what a pity," Annabeth lamented.

The gardenias Piper had given her were all crumpled with the limp petals barely hanging on.

"Who gave you the flowers?" Percy asked.

Annabeth grinned. "A secret admirer."

Percy's eyes flashed. How cute, Annabeth giggled.

"Oh, don't be jealous. Princess Piper gave them to be. Apparently Prince Jason has been giving her flowers he personally picked."

Percy studied her face. "Do you want me to do that?"

Annabeth laughed. "There's no need. It's a shame about these flowers though."

She held up the flowers with the broken stems and petals. The sweet smell of the flowers were much stronger in the chilly air. Annabeth sneezed again, but it wasn't due to the winter weather. Just as she had thought the smell from the gardenias made her head a little woozy, the smell was beginning to make her head reel.

"Annabeth? Are you all right? Your face has gone pale." Two Percys were asking.

Hold on. Two Percys? Annabeth blinked her eyes, but she could already feel her mind going blank. The last thing she saw was Percy's anxious green eyes.

The room was beginning to reek of flowers. Piper's nose scrunched up. While she appreciated the flowers, especially in winter, the white flowers were a little too much. There were more bouquets than usual, too. Twice a week was the perfect schedule for flowers, but this was beginning to be too much.

"Maria, could you open the window, please?" Piper asked.

"Yes, Your Highness." Maria, too, was relieved as she quickly opened the windows.

Cold air rushed in, dropping the temperature of the room a few degrees, but it was a welcome change. The floral smell from the room began to dissipate.

Now that the room was slowly clearing, Piper thought about how to allocate the flowers elsewhere. They were really starting to overtake the room.

Bang! Startled, Piper turned in time to see Jason and five soldiers walk in.

"Pardon our intrusion." Jason said. "Are you all right?"

Piper had never seen such a grim expression on his face. He began inspecting her up and down as if checking for injuries.

The men began gathering all the white flowers in the room. Confused, Piper looked towards the Cuoran prince.

"What? What's going on? Why are you removing the flowers?"

He didn't answer her right away.

"Are you feeling dizzy? Hot?"

Jason placed the back of his hand over her forehead.

"No, not at all."

"Princess, do you know who gave you the white flowers?" His face was thunderous, with a hard edge to his voice.

"I-I thought it was you." Her mind whirled quickly.

"They were not from me." Prince Jason quickly ordered his men to find out who went in and out of her chambers.

She had thought it was weird that flowers would arrive so out of schedule. Now that she thought about it, Piper had never seen the maid before. The maid's face had been covered by all the flowers.

"I apologize, Your Highness." Sir Leo quickly bowed. "I was not quick enough to notice something was odd."

"We'll discuss this later, Sir Leo."

"Wait, what's wrong with the gardenias?"

Prince Jason had maids come in to investigate every corner of Piper's room before rushing Piper out of her chambers.

"They weren't gardenias. You gave some of those flowers to Lady Chase, did you not?"

Piper nodded. Had something happened to Annabeth? Her heart sank.

"Please, is Annabeth alright?" She pleaded.

"The physicians are checking up on her, but she is out of immediate danger. But as for further symptoms will have to remain to be seen." Jason took a deep breath, as if trying to calm himself. "I apologize for worrying you, Princess. It's just as you probably suspect. Someone was trying to poison you through these flowers."

A/N: Hi loves, if you're wondering why I haven't updated for so long, it's because I've died and you're all experiencing a shared delusion that this is an actual update. Mwahahah. Just kidding!

I'm sure some of you were disappointed in not seeing an update from me sooner. I was hit with 30+ school applications where basically all my free time has been spent writing essays. After writing these essays, the last thing I wanted to do was do more writing, such as fanfiction. Words have been coming out of my mouth, my nose, my rear end... Ugh. You all understand my feelings, right? T.T

I think I would have gone crazy if I had to update weekly while working on those bajillion essays. I prewrote apps but schools decided to change word counts and essay topics from last year because of the pandemic so that threw me for a huge loop. AND I'M STILL NOT EVEN HALFWAY DONE. So yeah...ya girl's gonna go right back to app writing as soon as this update goes up.

I wanted to post this author's note sooner, but I realized if I just put the note up without an actual chapter, people might get their hopes up and be sad. I wrote this chapter pretty quickly, so its quality probably isn't as great as it should be.

Also speaking from a future healthcare professional's perspective: Please wear your masks! If healthcare workers can wear heavy PPE that are so much more restrictive when they're trying to save people's lives, you can wear that mask for less than an hour! Can't stand the mask? Then don't go outside more than necessary or get a face shield!

Thanks for being so patient with me during this very busy time. Expected updates during the rest of July to Sept: very slow. Should I be so lucky to have interviews, updates can be slow in the later fall season but should be faster than it's going now. If I don't get any interviews or acceptances, I will be sad that my hard work is all for naught :( and a sad author does not want to write fanfiction. Thank you also for being great readers who don't rudely demand that I update my stories or cuss at me. That never works, and it just makes me not want to update anything.

As always, see you next chapter!