Chapter 155: Not a Difficult Task (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 155: Not a Difficult Task (1)
Knock, knock.
Truth be told, she hesitated every time she knocked on this door. If the person inside were to ask, "Who is it?" she wouldn't be able to answer. Today, however, she knew no one was inside, so she had no such worry.
One might ask why she bothered knocking on an empty room, but to Hina, it was a matter of principle. One did not simply barge into a prince's chambers, occupied or not.
As expected, there was no response.
Hina quietly opened the door, stepped inside, and turned on the light.
Click!
A moment later, she scrambled back out, her face a picture of utter bewilderment. Looking around frantically, Hina let out a silent, panicked scream.
'Wait, is this the wrong room? No, it can't be!'
Today was her last day as a maid, and this was her final task: checking the sheets and tidying the room before Prince Calian returned for the night.
She had been told Calian wouldn't be there, so she had planned to take her time, resolving to be extra thorough since she would no longer be cleaning his room after today.
But…
'Why is he here?'
She was so shocked that she couldn't even manage a scream. Hina was utterly startled. She had bolted from the room in such a fluster that it took a moment to register the distinct, all-black interior she had just seen.
Her eyes wide, Hina scanned her surroundings again. She had gone between the third and fourth floors so many times that she had to wonder if she’d mixed them up.
"It's the third floor."
Hina flinched.
The answer to her unspoken question had come from inside the room.
She cautiously pushed the door open again and stepped inside. The dark curtains, the black carpet, the black sofa. Deeper inside, the black sheets and black furniture of the bedroom. The stark, monochromatic interior, which seemed so at odds with its owner, reconfirmed that this was, without a doubt, Calian's room.
But what on earth was Prince Franz doing here, sitting with his eyes closed between a white cat and the black sofa?
At the sound of Hina’s return, Franz—who had once again barged into Calian's room uninvited and lost himself in thought—opened his eyes. He needed to see her hands to understand what she was saying.
As soon as his gaze met hers, Hina’s hands began to move.
—I… made a mistake. I’m so…
She was clearly apologizing for fleeing in shock without so much as a proper greeting.
"Forget it," Franz cut her off. He was the one trespassing, after all. He had no right to an apology.
Offering no explanation for his presence, Franz watched as Hina’s hands moved again.
—I came… to clean. The kind prince… is not here. He went… to the forest.
Franz missed a few of her signs and stared at her blankly for a moment. By now, Hina knew this reaction meant he hadn't understood a word, so she pulled out her notebook, wrote 'forest,' and showed it to him.
Realizing Calian had gone somewhere unexpected, Franz’s brow furrowed slightly. But since he wasn't the type to pry, he simply nodded.
The cat on his lap—the one with a reputation for being 'Prince Calian's cat who likes Prince Franz more'—let out a soft meow. Franz stroked its chin and spoke.
"You can bring it. To Wilhelm Pavilion. There's no one here… to look after it."
The cat.
Although Wilhelm Pavilion felt like a gathering of all the lunatics in Kairis, it wasn't so terrible that a single cat couldn't live there.
Mouthing an "Oh," Hina’s hands moved busily.
—Thank you… good prince.
"Good prince" again.
She used a different sign whenever she referred to Calian. Franz had figured it out: since signing their full names was cumbersome, she used these titles to distinguish between them.
The title she gave him felt so utterly unfitting that Franz stared at her in silence for a moment before speaking.
"…Thanks for the strawberries. They were good."
Even if there were far too many, he thought.
Five days had passed since that overwhelming dinner. Hina had been busy preparing for her move to Wilhelm Pavilion, so they hadn't crossed paths until now. This was the first chance Franz had to say anything.
It was an expression of gratitude—likely the very first one he had uttered in his entire life.
Surprise flickered across Hina's face before she nodded with a silent, gentle smile.
—Next time… I will only… bring you ice cream.
Everyone here is so strange.
They tell me it's okay when I make a mistake. They understand everything.
"Sure."
And there's even a truly good prince who says thank you.
* * *
The wind, drenched in moonlight, was refreshing.
A deep, green scent wafted from the Royal Forest, which connected to the back gate of the Kairis Royal Palace. The cool sound of rushing water echoed from a stream too large to be a brook but too small to be a river. While Arpia Palace had a decent artificial stream in its back garden, it could hardly compare to the real thing.
Listening to the water flow toward the ever-silent Senyu River, Calian found himself pleasantly surprised. He never expected the forest to be so vast or so beautiful. This meant that neither Bern nor the original Calian had ever known of its existence.
Befitting the scale of the Kairis Royal Palace, the forest was beyond imagination. Calian had been told this was a relatively small forest, but now that he was here, he knew no one—unless they were Sispanian—could possibly consider it small. Just how grand was the Kairis sense of scale?
"I suppose His Majesty has never been here either."
The royal hunting competitions were held in a different forest. This one, like the palace itself, had been touched by Sispanian's grace, meaning there were no wild beasts. There was no reason for Lemain, who spent his days at a desk, to ever visit.
"If he had, he probably wouldn't have let me come here."
If Lemain had ever set foot in this forest and realized it was the perfect place to get hopelessly lost, he would never have given Calian permission to enter.
"Anyway, I'm counting on you."
Looking around at the darkening surroundings, Calian spoke quietly as he patted Raven's neck. Excited for his first outing in a while—especially a night ride through a lush forest—Raven let out a soft snort in response.
With Raven, there was no need to worry about the dark or how deep they ventured. Even if Calian fell asleep leaning against the horse's back, Raven could easily find his own way back to Chermil Palace.
"If I'd known it was like this, I would have come sooner."
The silence prompted him to talk to himself—a habit of his.
Clop, clop.
The light sound of Raven's hooves on the hard-packed dirt blended beautifully with the rushing water.
Soon, Raven came to a halt in a wide clearing bathed in pure moonlight. He had found the exact spot Calian wanted with uncanny precision.
Calian, who had been enjoying the breeze from horseback, leaped lightly to the ground. He stood still for a moment, gazing up at the sky.
"Do you see it, Raven?"
As if understanding, Raven tilted his head up slightly. Calian smiled, thinking the horse really did look like he was trying to see the sky.
"The stars are all blue. I don't know if you can see them, but I hope you can."
He spoke softly, his words hovering somewhere between a monologue and a comment to his companion.
In the sky between spring and summer, there were an exceptional number of blue stars. He had once heard that a star’s color represented its age, but there were far too many blue stars tonight for that to be the sole reason.
It was as if 'Serenti's Time,' which normally only visited Secritia, had been summoned into the heavens instead of upon the earth.
A time when the world looked as though it were covered in blue fireflies. Calian’s lips curved into a bitter smile as he recalled that special moment—the very hour Bern had been born. He realized then that he was likely the only one in this palace who knew how beautiful that hour truly was. Not that recalling it now meant anything.
"Go on, stay far away. Don't come back until I call. It's dangerous," Calian said to Raven.
Raven, perhaps the most precious of the things Calian had taken from Franz, snorted once more and trotted back the way they had come, ready to keep his distance until summoned.
Watching the horse's retreating figure, Calian settled himself neatly on a small boulder. He looked exactly like someone waiting for a guest.
For the past few days, Calian had been wrestling with documents left by Chase—detailed records outlining how the noble factions would shift after Randel ascended the throne of Tensil. It was incredibly thorough of Chase to not only remember it all but to write down such a vast amount of information by hand.
Calian had memorized the entire stack of papers, which was nearly two fingers thick. The moment he was certain he had committed it all to memory, he burned it to ash. It was information that could not be allowed to exist in this world. No matter how secure his safe was, one could never be too careful.
'I am leaving today, Prince.'
After a few such days, Arsen had departed from the royal palace. His mission was to meet with Margrave Gray Brissen and sound out his intentions. Conveniently, Euria, the President of the Mage Association, had business there regarding a new teleportation magic circle, so Calian had sent Arsen with her. Even traveling together for part of the way was better than going alone.
With Arsen sent off, it was time for Calian to make his own preparations. To do that, he needed to be far from any people or buildings. If anything were nearby, it would undoubtedly be destroyed.
That was why he had come to this forest, where there was nothing to break.
How much time passed?
Step, step.
As he sat quietly gazing at the sky, he heard light footsteps approaching.
"Have you been waiting long?"
The one person who would never be broken, no matter what happened here, approached and spoke. A delighted smile spread across Calian's face.
"Master."
It was Alan.
Calian bowed his head slightly to his master, who had gladly made the journey to help his beloved disciple with his 'preparations'. Then, without delay, Calian manifested a sword of transparent aura.
Whoosh!
A sharp, piercing sound sliced through the air as Calian unleashed a sword strike charged with mana and aura directly at Alan.
Unfazed by the relentless, blindingly fast attack, Alan simply extended his fingertips and conjured a crimson barrier.
In that same instant, Calian’s figure vanished as if melting into the shadows, and—
Boom!
A thunderous roar, like a massive explosion, shook the silent forest.