The Reason for the Blue Eyes
The carriage carrying Allen and his companions pulled away from the station, leaving only Raiden, Ariel, and Rachel behind at the stop.
“......”
Once the commotion had died down, only a heavy silence remained. Raiden stood motionless, staring in the direction the carriage had disappeared.
Seeing her brother so lost in thought, Ariel fidgeted before finally calling out to him.
“Um… Brother…”
“Hm?”
Raiden turned at the small voice. A faint, gentle smile curved his lips—the same one he always wore when looking at her. Yet Ariel couldn’t bring herself to smile back. Despite the smile, his face looked endlessly sad. Those eyes, dark as the night sky, were flooded with a heavy, sticky sorrow.
Ariel bit her lip without thinking. Then, in a voice as quiet as an ant crawling across the floor, she murmured, “I’m sorry… for suddenly stepping forward like that…”
Raiden watched her bowed head for a moment, then let out a soft chuckle and reached out to stroke her hair.
“What’s this all of a sudden~? Weren’t you so cool earlier, protecting your big brother?”
He teased her playfully, ruffling the red strands. The soft texture of her hair lingered warmly against his fingertips.
“Thank you, Ariel. For standing up for me.”
“......”
Ariel opened and closed her mouth a few times before pressing her lips together and nodding quietly. Raiden found it adorable and stroked her head a few more times.
“Still, no cursing.”
He pinched her slightly puffed-out cheek as he spoke. Ariel’s soft skin stretched comically long under his fingers.
“Bweeeee…”
“You have to use nice words only. If you say bad things again, you’re getting scolded, okay?”
“Uuu… Yesssss……”
With her cheek still pinched, Ariel’s words came out slurred. Raiden, clearly entertained, stretched it even further.
“Uuuu… Stop it…”
“Just a little more.”
“Uwaaa……”
While Raiden was busy playing with Ariel’s plump cheeks, a few students began peering around the station. The loud scream Bitan had unleashed earlier had drawn their attention.
“What was that? Wasn’t it around here?”
“Yeah, I thought I heard something weird earlier.”
“Did something happen again like yesterday…?”
The students murmured among themselves as they searched for the source. Their wandering gazes eventually landed on the boy standing at the carriage stop.
A boy with hair and eyes as black as pitch. The same boy who had put on that shocking performance during the terrorist attack at the banquet hall yesterday.
“Hup…!”
“Hik…!”
“Hey, hey—hurry! Let’s go, quickly!”
“Don’t make eye contact…!”
The moment their eyes met his, the students recoiled in fear and hurried away. Raiden stopped tormenting Ariel and watched their retreating backs, frozen in place. The glances they threw over their shoulders as they fled somehow reminded him of the blue eyes that had stared at him from the carriage just moments ago.
“......”
Inside the moving carriage, Lucy quietly gazed out the window. Even with the constant rattling, she maintained a perfectly poised posture, every line of her body radiating the dignity of an imperial princess.
“So, Sister, what happened was……”
“Ah, yes……”
She responded to Neria’s voice, but her eyes never left the passing scenery. It was unfortunate for her excited little sister, but right now, nothing was truly reaching Lucy’s ears. Her mind was completely consumed by thoughts of a single boy.
……Raiden.
Lucy steadied her aching heart and tried to sort through her tangled thoughts. But the shattered fragments refused to connect, like puzzle pieces that didn’t fit. As her mind and heart grew more chaotic, a scene from yesterday flashed before her eyes.
It was a moment from the attack.
—Don’t worry, Your Highness.
—Your knight is right here.
The calm voice. The hand that tried to comfort her even while covered in blood. The back that stood between her and the assailants, wearing a bitter smile.
The boy’s image, which somehow made her chest feel tight, forced Lucy to bite down hard on her lip.
He had saved her. He had taken the arrows meant for her. He had fought the attackers to protect a terrified girl. So fiercely that his whole body ended up drenched in blood, reduced to rags.
Just… why…?
Lucy was confused. She couldn’t understand his intentions. Why had Raiden gone that far? Their relationship should have been irreparably broken by now……
“......”
The girl closed her eyes and let the past wash over her—the hateful memory of the incident that had torn her and her dear friend apart.
It was the day of the First Princess’s seventeenth birthday banquet, hosted by the imperial family.
Lucy, the guest of honor, had sent invitations to many people—including Raiden.
—A promise? Ah, you mean that childish joke from when we were little.
—I forgot about it a long time ago.
—How foolish.
Even after hearing those barbed words, Lucy had believed. She believed the vow they had made as friends still remained. It was a foolish, lingering hope. Because she treasured their bond so deeply, she had never been able to erase those old memories from her heart.
“Ah! You really came, Raiden…! You were so late I thought you weren’t going to show up……”
And the girl paid the price for failing to resolve their broken relationship.
Slap!
The sharp sound of flesh striking flesh cut coldly through the air. For a moment, Lucy couldn’t process what had happened. Her vision spun sideways. Her right cheek burned. Black eyes glared down at her with icy contempt.
The girl, frozen in shock, soon began to cry. It wasn’t the pain—the sting was far milder than the sound suggested. What she couldn’t endure was the cruel reality that the person who had struck her was Raiden.
Why…?
She mouthed the question toward him, but no answer came. Only an endless, dark gaze filled with disdain.
“What do you think you’re doing?!”
The banquet descended into chaos. As a result, Raiden was stripped of his position as the young master of his house and thrown into the underground prison. The emperor, who had always been lenient with Raiden’s misbehavior, could not overlook an act of violence against his own cherished blood.
“Your Majesty… Father, please! Forgive him! Raiden is reflecting, I’m sure of it…!”
“There will be no forgiveness, Lucy. That child must pay the price.”
“Then I’ll die too…! If Raiden dies, then I…!!”
As Lucy clung to the emperor, sobbing, and Duke Lisite offered an incomprehensible plea on behalf of his family’s past sacrifices for the empire, Raiden was finally released. It was an unusually light punishment for laying a hand on imperial blood.
Though she had barely managed to save him, Lucy never visited Raiden again. She finally understood. Their relationship was damaged beyond repair.
“This is the last time, Raiden.”
“......”
“I… hic… won’t come looking for you again.”
After saying goodbye, the girl severed the most precious connection in her life. She would spend the rest of her days missing the empty space he left behind—a space no one else could ever fill.
And so, time passed.
After that incident, Lucy tried her hardest to erase Raiden from her life. She wanted to forget him. No—she wanted to hate him. Only then, she thought, would she stop crying.
Raiden and Lucy. The two of them thoroughly ignored each other. They despised one another. They hated one another. Their relationship had fallen into something worse than that of strangers.
Yes, it should have stayed that way……
Then why did he save me?
Lucy recalled the awkward smile Raiden had given her from behind his blood-splattered mask. That gentle smile complicated her heart, weighing it down with a dull ache. She whispered to herself in the quiet of her mind.
Raiden…
Why did you protect me? Our precious promise was torn to shreds. And the one who tore it apart was you.
—A promise? I forgot about it a long time ago.
—How foolish.
You mocked me. You laughed at me. And yet—
—Don’t worry, Your Highness.
—Your knight is right here.
Why did you come to save me like it was the most natural thing in the world?
Raiden… hic… I miss you…
It’s so cold here… Everyone just wants to use me…
When I was trembling in loneliness, calling your name alone in my room. When I needed you so desperately. Even after you said those things and did those things to me, I still couldn’t erase you. Even when I cried under the blankets. You, who had vanished without a trace, who never even cast a shadow in front of me—why did you appear at the exact moment I had wished for you the most?
……I don’t understand.
The girl could not understand the boy. He had always been difficult to read, but now it felt even more impossible. After repeating the same meaningless questions over and over, Lucy lowered her head. Her chest ached.
What if—just what if—Raiden had truly come to keep the promise from their past? If he had returned like a loyal knight from a fairy tale?
What expression should she wear? What should she say? The girl still had no answer. That was why, when their eyes had met as she boarded the carriage earlier, she had simply looked away.
Lucy fidgeted with her fingers, replaying that moment.
Still… maybe I should have at least thanked him right then…
She pressed down on the frustration rising in her chest and turned her gaze back to the window.
After traveling by carriage for a while, Raiden and his group stopped in front of a large indigo building.
Clatter. Creak…
“We’ve arrived at the male dormitory.”
The coachman stepped down and opened the passenger door. Raiden, who had been wearing a dazed expression until then, slowly rose to his feet.
“Ah, yes… I mean, understood…”
He straightened his clothes and turned to his sister.
“I’ll head in first, Ariel.”
“Okay, Brother… See you tomorrow.”
As he stepped out, Rachel, who had been sitting beside Ariel, stood up as well.
“Then I’ll see you next time, Miss.”
“Wait… Rachel.”
Ariel gently caught the hem of Rachel’s sleeve as she tried to follow Raiden out. She hesitated, lips moving as if she wanted to say something.
The quick-witted maid smiled softly and nodded before Ariel could speak.
“Don’t worry about the Young Master. I’m here, aren’t I?”
“……Thank you.”
It seemed Ariel had been worried about Raiden ever since the earlier incident—his expression had been far from good. Rachel stroked the girl’s head with an affectionate, proud look.
“You’ve grown into such a lovely young lady, Miss.”
“What… We’re only two years apart…”
Ariel grumbled but still accepted the touch.
“The Young Master will be just fine.”
Rachel gave Ariel’s shoulder a gentle pat and stepped out of the carriage.
Creak. Thud!
Once the door closed, the carriage began moving again. Inside the rattling compartment, Ariel thought of her brother.
Brother… Will you really be okay?
The face he had worn after encountering Allen and Her Highness the First Princess. The expression he’d had on the way back to the dormitory. It had definitely been……
……the face of someone hurt.
Ariel quietly turned to look at the male dormitory growing smaller in the distance. Worry crept up inside her, but she tried her best to push it down.
Because Rachel is with him.
Repeating that thought to herself, Ariel prayed that Rachel would be able to soothe her brother’s heart.