Chapter 180: My People (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 180: My People (2)
It was quiet.
A profound silence always followed the end of a battle. The stillness was so complete it was hard to believe lightning had been striking and pillars of water had been surging just moments ago.
Standing in the midst of that silence, Alan looked around before his gaze settled on Euria. He had just finished listening to her explanation of what had transpired.
Under his silent, lingering gaze, Euria lowered her head slightly. She seemed to understand what he was about to say.
Alan stared for a moment at the tips of her purple hair, fluttering in the wind, before speaking in a low, heavy voice.
“It was deceit.”
Alan had warned her of the danger and told her to stay out of it.
Euria had disobeyed him.
Even if Zeon's subordinates had been tailing the spies rather than Euria, and even if she had acted purely for Calian's sake, those were merely details. They helped explain the situation, but they could neither justify her mistake nor undo the bloodshed.
“It was arrogance, negligence, and conceit.”
As he spoke, Alan's eyes narrowed. He was just as angry as Calian, though for a slightly different reason. While Calian was furious over Arsen's injuries, Alan was reprimanding Euria for her short-sighted judgment.
“When you make a mistake, you are not the one who dies. You must understand that. The ones who die when you forget this are the subordinates who trust you with their lives.”
At his words, Euria’s eyes trembled violently. Her gaze pleaded to know what had happened to Arsen.
Having no intention of tormenting her, Alan shook his head.
“He seems to be out of danger. But do not consider yourself lucky that we arrived in time. If we had been even a moment later, he would have died. Because of you.”
Euria offered no excuses, simply bowing her head. Alan’s words were entirely correct.
Watching her, Alan turned toward the direction where Calian would be. He could feel Arsen's energy, now atop Raven, moving away toward the teleportation magic circle. That meant only two living souls remained where Calian was.
“I am not unaware that you did this out of concern for the Prince, but…”
There was no sign of a fight between the two. Calian would not be having a peaceful conversation with an enemy.
Alan wasn't concerned with what Calian was doing, but with the state of mind he must be in to do it. The thought saddened him. He quietly concluded his reprimand.
“Please, do not do this again.”
Not long after, one of the two energies vanished.
In that vast expanse, only one living person remained.
* * *
It felt desolate.
The weather was warm enough that one no longer had to shiver in the night air, yet to Franz, it felt like nothing but a wasteland.
The solitary magic lamp piercing the darkness, the sound of the carriage rushing forward guided by that single light, and his own mind, deliberately focused on that sound—all of it felt utterly desolate.
Clop, clop.
The mages of Valkan were not in the royal palace. And in his current state, Kyrie was about as trustworthy as a smiling Calian. Aside from them, the only ones permitted to enter the area with Calian's teleportation magic circle were Hina, Yan, and Franz.
But he couldn't very well ask Yan to escort Hina, nor could he send Hina alone.
As a result, Franz became the second prince to sneak out of the palace without permission that night.
In truth, he should have asked Lemain for proper leave when they met, but between the innocent Lavender and their harmless conversation, he had completely forgotten. It was highly uncharacteristic of him, but his desire to escape that place had been so overwhelming that he couldn't help it.
Perhaps he should consider it a stroke of luck that the guards at the main gate belonged to Knight Order Karen—which he had brought under his influence—and thus obediently followed his orders.
Lost in thought, he stared at the dreary scenery passing outside the carriage window. When he turned his head back, Hina, sitting opposite him, raised her hands.
—Are you worried? You don’t look well.
Franz wasn’t frowning, but Hina asked anyway. He looked at her and replied quietly.
“No. It just feels desolate.”
“What,” “No,” “Forget it,” “I’m not doing it.”
Franz, who normally would have brushed her off with such short retorts, had given a relatively long answer. Whether it was a gesture of gratitude for the strawberries, consideration for Hina, or simply a meaningless whim, Hina smiled, pleased regardless. She began to take off her white robe and offered it to him.
Franz was about to ask, “Why?” but reached out his arm instead. He needed his hands free to understand her explanation. Taking the robe, Franz listened as Hina signed.
—Warming magic. It’s warm.
Hina was still staying in her original quarters at Chermil Palace. Worried she might catch a cold traveling between there and Wilhelm Hall, Calian had asked Alan to cast a warming spell on her robe. Since Alan had already enchanted the carriage for the coming-of-age ceremony, a robe seemed a simple enough task.
But then Calian had worried that “our Hina” might overheat in the coming summer. Unlike Chermil Palace, Wilhelm Hall had no temperature-control magic. So, he had asked Alan for that as well.
Thanks to these accumulating requests, Hina’s robe, unlike the plain ones worn by other Valkan members, was enchanted with temperature control, weight reduction, basic magic resistance to all attributes, a shield that automatically triggered up to three times, and various other spells that grew in proportion to Calian's worries. Recently, even a ‘Clean’ spell had been added.
—Please cover yourself with it.
And yet, simply because Franz said it felt desolate, she was handing over this priceless, one-of-a-kind robe.
Unaware that his life had been spared only because Calian was not in Kairisis to witness this, Franz spoke.
“Forget it.”
He hadn’t said it because he was cold, anyway.
He simply felt desolate.
Seeing him refuse and return the robe, Hina moved her hands again.
—When you’re warm, your heart feels fluffy. It’s nice.
Franz didn't recognize Hina's sign for “fluffy,” but he understood. He could tell what she meant just by looking at her expression.
“……What do you know?”
So Franz replied.
What did she know, offering comfort when she knew nothing? The words could have easily sounded sharp. It wasn't misplaced anger, but a defense mechanism against an unfamiliar kindness.
Hina stared at him for a moment, then smiled silently. She stood, took the robe from his hands, unfolded it, and draped it over his knees herself.
—There are things I can do precisely because I don’t know.
How bold.
Had she forgotten she was dealing with a prince? Was that why she was so willful?
Franz, about to ask this, simply shut his mouth and looked out the window. Then he turned his head back to the front. He closed his eyes out of habit, then opened them again.
He couldn’t look away or close his eyes, because then Hina wouldn’t be able to speak.
His gaze drifted downward. The purple emblem embroidered on the robe caught his eye. As a healer, Hina was the only one in Valkan with a purple emblem. It was designed so she would stand out wherever she was, so they could find her quickly if she was hurt and get her treatment without delay.
As Franz stared at the purple emblem, he noticed another pattern embroidered inside the circular crest. A tiny, star-like shape.
“Another flower,” Franz muttered without realizing it. Embroidered with white thread on the white robe, it was barely visible, but it was definitely a flower.
He was already sick of flowers, and here was another one. He lifted the robe to return it, but Hina’s signs caught his eye.
—It’s a Laricium. A scentless flower. That’s why I like it.
Laricium.
Hina said she liked that flower.
—The flower has no scent, and I cannot speak. So I put it there instead of my name.
She liked it because its lack of scent reminded her of her own silence. She had embroidered it as a signature.
Franz let go of the robe. Then, in a casual, low voice, he murmured, “So what?”
The existence of a scentless flower was a relief to Franz. It was like a hall pass, freeing him from having to perceive every scent in the world as Renieri. Even if every other scent smelled of Renieri, this flower, at least, absolutely would not.
So what if it had no scent? So what if she couldn't speak?
At his words, Hina’s eyes widened, and she moved her hands again.
—I know. I just said it because it resembles me.
Hearing this, Franz smiled faintly and leaned back against the seat.
To him, the scentless flower, shaped like a tiny star, felt like a solitary star on a moonless night.
He had gained one purple flower he disliked and learned of one white flower he didn't mind. He leaned back, thinking that if he added and subtracted them, the feeling might eventually cancel out to nothing. That one day, he might be able to feel that way.
He leaned back because the robe covering his knees in Lucy's stead was just as warm as Lucy had been.
* * *
It was silent.
Standing alone in the midst of it, Calian said nothing. He just stood there, his gaze fixed on the ground as if rooted to the spot.
Step.
A single footstep sounded from a short distance away.
Calian remained motionless. He didn't look toward the sound, nor did he acknowledge it or raise his guard.
He knew whose step it was—a sound he would never have to guard against for the rest of his life—so he simply stood still.
Step, step.
Unhurried footsteps drew closer, stopping quietly beside him.
It was Alan. He had accompanied Calian here without a single question, despite the prince's urgency, and had gone to help Euria on Calian's command.
After confirming no enemies remained, Alan had sent Euria back to the cave with the Secritian spies. Only then did he return to Calian and ask, “Are you hurt?”
His gentle voice echoed in Calian's ears.
Even though Alan knew how much Calian had grown and that the people here were no match for him, he still asked. Knowing the question was not a mere formality, Calian answered to reassure him.
“I’m not hurt.”
There were no bodies around Calian. It didn’t matter to Alan whether Calian had already disposed of them or simply moved away.
“I’m glad.”
Calian nodded at the warm words. Then, looking around for a moment, he spoke in a flat voice.
“It seems the purpose of those who came today was different from the group that first attacked Dame Seiren. They claimed to know nothing about the first attackers. Considering the difference in their strength, and the fact that the first group targeted Dame Seiren while this one was tailing the spies, it doesn’t seem to be a lie.”
As he said, the intruders today were Zeon’s Warriors of the Great Desert, whereas the first attackers, though also from Zeon, were ordinary men, not the Wolves of the Great Desert.
Soon, Calian took something from his pocket and showed it to Alan. Recognizing it, Alan asked with a grim expression, “Did they have the same thing?”
They were two pebbles, and they were not the ones Calian originally possessed. They were instantly recognizable by their distinctly different colors. Aside from their colors—one dark gray and the other a slightly lighter gray—the two pebbles were identical in shape to the one Calian had.
“One was destroyed. The heart it was in was ruined,” he said, as if it were merely a shame. But the meaning behind his words was heavy: the other two had been inside intact hearts. “They say these can’t be used again once a life has ended, so there's no need to disturb the other corpses.”
Alan let out a short sigh.
As if he hadn't heard it, Calian continued, “They said they knew nothing else…”
Hearing this, Alan walked over to Calian. Then, he pulled the prince—who was still growing and thus still shorter than him—tightly into his arms.
“You’ve been through a lot.”
He patted Calian’s back as he spoke.
It sounded so much like someone comforting a real fifteen-year-old boy that Calian, buried deep in Alan's embrace, let out a small laugh.
“……Yes, Master.”
The hand on his back, the embrace—it was all so incredibly warm.