Crusch Karsten/Synopsis

## Re:Kingdom

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The dream the Lion King saw=
One day, while Fourier was running from his teacher in the castle, he spotted Crusch in the castle's garden. Feeling a strange feeling inside him, which he didn't understand was love, he thought he had gotten sick. He spent the next couple of days going to the same location, to check whether she was there, and on the tenth day he accidentally fell from the second floor walkway down into a bush, drawing her attention. Thinking he was an intruder, she threatened him with the short sword she had received from her father, only to apologize moments later when Fourier revealed who he was.

As punishment, he decided to have her talk with him, soon coming to the topic of the Lion King, at which point she began talking about the history of the name, which went all the way back to the time before the pledge with the dragon. During that time, the king of Lugnica used to be referred to as the Lion King, but because of the pledge with the dragon, the royal house no longer used the symbol of the lion, and it was subsequently given to the Karsten House as their emblem. She questioned if she was worthy of representing it after knowing its past, prompting him to cheer her up bytelling her that no one knew what the future had in store, and visited the unbloomed flower within the garden with her every day until it bloomed.

Around five years later, Fourier visited the Karsten mansion to see both Crusch and Ferris, informing them of the supposedly terrible news that he was being forced to attend a meeting for a potential arranged marriage. The three of them decided to have Crusch pose as his fiancé, though as Jet Lugnica and Meckart had expected this, she was busy that day, forcing them to have Ferris pose as the fiancé instead. They explained their plan to the viscount whose mansion the meeting was being held at, who readily agreed to support them. The woman they were meeting with, Sira Vollachia, agreed to cancel the marriage plans, marveling that the Fourier was in a relationship with a Demi Human even with all of the prejudice following the Demi Human War. Later on, the viscount revealed that Ferris was male as Tiriena had taken offense to how he referred to him, causing Ferris to prove it by revealing his chest and lifting his skirt, and not knowing what to say, a shocked Fourier mentioned that he was fine with him being male, resulting in rumors of Fourier being homosexual spreading around for quite a while.

Three years later, after coming back from riding on horses with Crusch, Ferris was called by Meckart, who asked him to ask Crusch to wear a dress for her seventeenth birthday celebration. Not knowing how to explain the situation to her, he began to tell her about Meckart's request when he was interrupted by Fourier's arrival, who had mistakenly come two weeks early to her birthday celebration. Recalling that he had never won against Crusch in a duel, he challenged her again, telling her that she was going to wear a dress if he won. Although he ended up losing their duel, she still agreed to wear a dress like he requested.

Following a dance with Fourier, the two arrived at her room to find the steward tied up on the floor, with Crusch herself dressed in her normal clothes, ready to head out to help her father. Both of them were surprised that she knew about the incident, which she explained she figured out by piecing together information she had heard, nonetheless Fourier allowed her to leave as she was doing her part as Crusch Karsten, but added that the party was also a part she needed to do, and as such told her to hurry back once she was finished. Returning a few hours later with Ferris, Crusch apologized to the gathered guests, then temporarily left to change into a black dress. Once she returned, Fourier asked her to dance with him, mentioning that she should dance with him first as he was the one who made her into a woman, not realizing that his words would cause misunderstandings with people, nevertheless she didn't bother to correct him.

Two years after that, Ferris joined the Royal Guard on several recommendations, including Fourier's own, in order to gain prestige as Crusch's knight, and quickly became friends with both Reinhard and Julius to watch over him, though Ferris suspected that he just lumped the problem children together. A little over a week after joining, Ferris was accompanied by Julius to Fourier's room, who questioned Julius to see if he was really Ferris' friend, then informed them that the Argyle House had been suspicious as of late. He had heard the news from Crusch when he visited her and she had informed him that the head of the Argyle House, Biehn Argyle, was apparently associating himself with a slave trader. Immediately after his meeting with Fourier, the three visited the Karsten Mansion, where Ferris demanded to know why they let Crusch head to the Argyle mansion on her own. As they discussed a plan to deal with the situation, a messenger arrived, informing everyone present that the force stationed around the Argyle mansion had begun fighting with what appeared to be animated corpses.

Meanwhile, Crusch visited the Argyle House after hearing that the slaver trader had come by again, and was shown to the living room, where she met the house maid and a man named Gramdart Holstoy. He explained that he was an antiques dealer, apologizing for any misunderstandings he may have caused, at which point the maid brought in tea that she served to everyone. Crusch didn't attempt to drink it, thinking it might be laced with something, however to her surprised she began to lose consciousness. Seeing this, both Biehn and Miles dropped their friendly demeanor, with Biehn telling her that he needed her to take back Ferris. She awoke a short while later to find herself handcuffed to a pole in Ferris' basement room.

By the time the three arrived at the Argyle mansion, the fight was still going on, though the animated corpses allowed Ferris to enter the mansion. Coming face to face with his father in the living room, he demanded for Crusch to be released, nevertheless Biehn treated his outburst as a child's tantrum, then went on to explain that he wanted him to use the Immortal King's Sacramanet in order to resurrect his wife, bringing him to the bedroom where his supposed wife's body was. Checking the body over with his Water Magic, he noted that the body had multiple stab wounds, asking his father about who killed her, prompting Biehn to spill that he killed her because he thought she was blaming him for everything. Nonetheless, Ferris still used the Immortal King's Sacramanet to reanimate the body, which proceeded to strangle Biehn to death. Once that was done, the maid asked him if that was what he wanted, but Ferris simply told her that the magic was incomplete. As he left the room, the maid called him "her lovely Felix" before locking the door and setting the room on fire, which started to spread across the mansion.

At the same time, Miles visited Crusch in the basement, revealing his plan to take both her and Ferris back to Vollachia with him. However, to his surprise, Crusch stood up after he threatened to torture Ferris if she refused to cooperate, informing him that she wasn't handcuffed in the first place. He tried to use a group of animated corpses to force her to cooperate, though she quickly defeated them with her Hundred Man Sword Strike, seemingly killing Miles in the process. At that moment Julius appeared, informing her that the mansion was on fire, and on their way out they encountered Ferris who they took with them. Unbeknownst to them, Miles, who had survived Crusch's attack, tried to make his getaway on his Flying Dragon, however he was promptly killed by Reinhard a short while later after he refused to comply with his orders to stop. Later on, as they were discussing the recent events while watching the mansion burn down, Fourier collapsed and lost consciousness when he tried to get out of the Dragon Carriage.

The group took Fourier back to the castle, where they learned that the rest of the royal family was also struck by some unknown sickness. Several months passed, during which seven members of the royal family died, causing Ferris to curse his own powerlessness. He contemplated using the Immortal King's Sacrament on Fourier, though he rejected his idea, stating that his life would end when he died. One day, Fourier told Crusch that he wanted to head outside for a while, and the two visited the same garden they met at when they were children. While there he revealed his dreams to her, recalling that back when they were children he used to gaze at her in the garden, adding that he had planned to make her his wife with Ferris as their knight. Eventually he tried to say something else, managing to say "I wanted to" before he died, prompting her to mention that she would've liked to see the future he dreamed of. Despite his death along with those of the rest of the royal family, the members of the Sage Council and the nobles didn't pay much attention to it, instead worrying about their connection with the dragon Volcanica. At that point Leip spoke up, revealing to everyone present that the dragon had proclaimed that the five insignias should be used to locate the five candidates, who would then renew the pledge. Each person present tried to see if they were a candidate, with each person failing every time, but when the insignia came to Crusch, it shone in her hand, proving to everyone that she was qualified.

Later that day, Ferris found Crusch in the castle garden, where he informed that he had heard of the insignia glowing in her hand, but because of this he didn't know what to do. Hearing this, she declared that she wanted to become the next king, with Fourier's life and existence playing a large part in her resolve, and vowed to correct the country from its dependence on the dragon if she became king. Telling him that she, him, and Fourier would create a new future, she knighted him as her knight, then left the garden with him to begin their quest for the throne.