The Prince (2)
Sien walked calmly through the garden, listening to the larks chirping with cheerful abandon. It was a May afternoon bathed in warm sunlight. Tiny flowers that had just bloomed swayed gently on the lush grass, as if slowly drinking in the spring day. In one corner, purple roses bloomed with regal grace; beside them, violets proudly displayed their vivid hues. A little farther on, daisies and lilies grew with endearing determination. At the garden’s heart lay a pond. Goldfish glided elegantly beneath the clear, transparent water, while small stones and exotic lotus blossoms around its edge lent the entire scene a deeper touch of romance.
“...So this is spring.”
Sien murmured the words under her breath. A faint but unmistakable spark of life kindled in her amethyst eyes.
She had believed she would feel nothing. That no thoughts would surface, no emotions would stir. She had been wrong.
“...It’s beautiful.”
Her heart pounded. The rhythm was so fierce she pressed a hand to her chest, as if to keep it from bursting free. Eyes sparkling like sunlight on water, she looked around in wonder. After enduring so much pain and sorrow, she was finally drinking in the spring she had longed to see with her own eyes.
It felt as though she were floating. The moment was so dearly wished for that she closed her eyes and shook her head, half-convinced it couldn’t possibly be real.
When she opened them again, the sight remained: charming yet brilliant flowers that seemed to greet her, verdant trees, adorable birds, and a pond whose surface was not locked in ice. She still didn’t fully understand what warmth was, but the realization that she stood at last in the world she had yearned for her entire life made her heart tremble violently. The emotions she had tried to erase were slowly, stubbornly returning.
The world from the fairy tales truly existed. The world she had wished for had not been a lie. She was breathing, living, right here.
A smile so faint that even Sien herself remained unaware of it brushed across her lips.
...Could she touch it?
She clasped her hands together, gaze drifting toward the purple rose. Purple blossoms were rare enough, but for reasons beyond rarity the flower itself looked exquisitely beautiful to her.
She glanced around quickly, checking for watchful eyes. Then, steeling herself, she slowly reached out.
“Hi?”
A young man in front of her waved his hand vigorously and greeted her with a bright smile. Behind him stood two couples. Their uniforms made it instantly clear they were fellow students from the knight division, yet…
Strangers…
What was the correct thing to do in a situation like this? There was no one to teach her. No one had ever taught her anything. Having long since abandoned her own humanity, Sien had reached the point where even simple social cues were beyond her.
“You’re Sien Alencia, right?”
“......”
“You don’t have to answer. We already know who you are—that’s why we came.”
“Wow, no wonder she’s an Alencia. She’s insanely pretty.”
“Hey! Are you seriously checking out another girl right now?”
“You have eyes, don’t you? She’s fucking gorgeous.”
“Honestly, even I have to admit she’s stunning…”
The group chatted among themselves, ignoring her completely. At first glance it might have seemed like idle compliments and envy, but to Sien—who had survived by reading every subtle cue—it was painfully obvious.
The crossed arms, the casual weight shifted onto one leg. The sinister glint that treated her like a toy. The mocking twist of their lips, the warped smiles, and beneath it all, an inexplicable undercurrent of excitement.
No matter how they tried to disguise it with pretty words, Sien could read them. She had learned to decipher the emotions of northerners who rarely showed feeling at all. A few seconds were all she needed to understand peers who had never endured the north.
That was why her body instinctively shrank.
…The same look my older brother and sisters used to give me.
These people had come to hurt her.
“Oh dear, what’s the matter with our little lady~?”
The moment she stepped back on instinct, a blond boy who had circled behind her grabbed her shoulder, cutting off her escape.
They were undoubtedly talented enough to enter the Academy. Yet Sien was a northerner carrying Alencia blood. She could have shaken them off with ease. She could have killed every last one of them without breaking a sweat.
But a tiger cub raised in chains does not suddenly run free the moment it grows strong enough to break them. The brutal training, the near-brainwashing persecution, the environment that treated abnormality as normal—these things had shattered her completely.
Sien Alencia was an emotionless doll that existed only to carry out orders.
And the only order she had received regarding the Academy was to take first place without fail.
She had never been told to resist violence.
“Want to come with us for a bit?”
Sien’s body trembled as though she had been thrown into the northern frost.
“Pfft—! Isn’t this too easy?”
“Fuck, when else am I gonna get to beat an Alencia?!”
“Aaaah… Ruining a girl this pretty feels amazing. I might awaken to something weird at this rate…”
“Ugh. Who’s the pervert, huh?”
“Go die.”
The pain stopped.
The instant she realized it, Sien’s mind—long resigned to emptiness—snapped back to awareness.
…It hurts.
The first sensation that greeted her was the burning throb in her cheek. They had struck only there, over and over, with obsessive focus. Thanks to the Alencia family’s exceptional regenerative ability, the skin was merely flushed. But that did nothing to lessen the pain. Sien squeezed her eyes shut and bore it.
———How had it come to this?
Only moments ago, seeing the spring from the fairy-tale book with her own eyes had filled her with something like joy. The beautiful flowers had seemed to whisper that she, too, could live happily. Her heart had fluttered. Simply feeling the season had been a comfort.
Why would the world not even allow her that?
Whywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhy.
............Just why.
Why couldn’t she wish for an ordinary life?
In a world as beautiful and brilliant as a fairy tale, why did only she have to suffer like this?
I hate it.
The light in Sien’s eyes slowly died.
How much longer would she have to endure? How much longer would she have to go mad? How much more would she have to break?
Just how much more…
“Aah…”
The sigh was so soft no one around her could hear it. It was not a groan born of pain. It was not a lament for her own circumstances.
———I hope the world hurts as much as I do.
The darkest darkness she had deliberately turned away from, the one she had buried deep inside. It was the fate the world had chosen for Sien. After fifteen long years, that darkness was finally beginning to stir and rise—
“...Huh?”
At the unfamiliar voice, Sien’s ears pricked up on reflex.
“...Who are you?”
“Someone who came to wash his hands?”
“You don’t understand the situation?”
“Aren’t five people beating up one girl?”
“W-well, yeah, but…”
“Nothing good will come from it, so let her go. You’ll regret it later.”
The young man spoke as if the matter were trivial and continued washing his hands.
“Ooh, that’s refreshing.”
He let out a satisfied laugh. Only then did Sien sense that his gaze had turned toward her.
“It’s that guy.”
“Rain. The only commoner who entered the Academy this year.”
Commoners almost never entered the Academy. When it happened at all, it was once every three years at best.
…He shouldn’t be here.
The Academy was composed entirely of nobles. How long could a commoner possibly last against their wealth and power? Entering as a commoner meant possessing outstanding talent, of course, but nothing could compare to the innate superiority granted by bloodline. That was why graduating was said to be far harder than enrolling.
“Somehow it smelled really foul.”
“And their behavior is pathetic.”
Ah. It was over.
Sien closed her eyes and bit her lip.
No matter how he resisted, there was nothing he could do. Even if he miraculously fought them off, the community they belonged to would band together to torment him later.
Just as they had done to her.
Idiot. Why did you come here?
Sien could neither tell him to run nor urge him to fight back. This was a painful, hypocritical world. Even though spring existed here, there was no prince who would rescue a wounded princess and love her.
So it was inevitable that he would be ruled by violence.
She had believed that without doubt.
“Hit this bastard…!!”
“But it hurts when you hit me~.”
Until she saw him facing their violence and threats with such effortless calm.
“Aren’t you tired of this?”
“I’m sick of it, but I still need to mess up that face of yours.”
“Did I do something wrong?”
“Your face, you bastard…!!”
She didn’t need to look up. She could tell anyway.
The boy was handling all three men with ease. In close-quarters combat between knights and mages, knights held an overwhelming advantage—ninety-nine times out of a hundred. The remaining one percent occurred only when the mage was a specialized war magician or the knight made a catastrophic mistake.
…Aside from that, the boy’s magic circles were terribly weak. Respectable for a commoner, perhaps, but nothing more. Facing three opponents at once without them even using mana should have been impossible.
“—Kuhk!”
Yet the impossible happened. After five minutes of ceaseless exchanges, the boy had seized the momentum.
…This can’t be real.
She thought it was incredible. At the same time, she thought it was meaningless. No matter how outstanding he was, he was alone. They were nobles with powerful backers. He had to know that lowering his head and kneeling was the only path to survival. So why was he fighting his fate?
And why was he even trying to save her—a girl abandoned by the world?
“I’m sorry.”
The boy she didn’t know gently supported her.
In that instant, countless sensations flooded her mind.
It was warm. Incredibly comforting. He smelled good. His voice was kinder than any she had ever heard. She could feel the careful way he held her, as though afraid she might break.
......Just like a prince.
“That bastard?!”
“Stop him!”
“This is self-defense, you know?”
The boy subdued the others with practiced skill and took Sien’s hand.
Rain.
Sien repeated the name silently, over and over, as she accepted the warmth he offered her.