Moonlight Assurance
The headmaster asked back with a dazed expression.
“A fellow…… student, you say?”
“I’m referring to the students who cowardly ganged up on that child. I saw them coming out of there with my own eyes.”
Kayena smiled, her face still fully visible since she hadn’t lowered her veil.
“I even remember their faces. Shall I help you find them?”
The headmaster turned pale and hurriedly waved his hands.
“That won’t be necessary, Your Highness! I will find them without fail!”
She added calmly, her smile relaxed.
“I hope you handle this according to the academy rules.”
“Of course. I will…… follow the rules to the letter.”
At the mention of the rules, the headmaster’s face went completely ashen.
‘If we follow the rules, it would be suspension? Or expulsion?’
It was obvious that the students involved came from influential families. That was why they had dared to lay hands on the Emperor’s illegitimate child, relying on their family’s backing. If the rules were applied to them, the headmaster would have difficulty keeping his position. But that was none of her concern.
Kayena asked with a sly expression.
“Then I suppose I should tend to my younger brother’s handsome face. Where is the infirmary?”
“……This way, please.”
The headmaster paid close attention to what Kayena had said. She had clearly referred to Idel as “my younger brother.”
“Shall we go?”
Kayena held out her hand to Idel.
“……”
Idel looked down at his gloved hand, a trace of blood on his thumb. He knew that Kayena had protected him.
‘Why?’
It was a natural question. They had lived like strangers, never once meeting face to face until now. Did it make sense for her to suddenly start looking after him as her younger brother? Was there something she wanted from him?
Just then, Kayena spoke.
“When you lack power, you sometimes have to make use of those who have it.”
At those words, Idel lifted his head sharply. Kayena still looked perfectly at ease.
“Knowing when to take the hand offered to you is also a way to survive.”
Wasn’t that the same as telling him to use her? Idel hesitated, then took her hand. As if to say he had done well, Kayena smiled brightly.
“Let’s go.”
Their clasped hands fit together snugly, and a warm, affectionate heat passed between them. Idel walked along, matching her stride as though he were being reluctantly dragged.
“……”
For some reason, his heart felt unsettled.
They soon arrived at the infirmary. However, the school physician was nowhere to be found. The headmaster panicked and began to fuss.
“If you would wait just a moment, I will fetch the physician right away!”
“It’s fine. You may leave now.”
“P-pardon?”
“I’ll take care of it myself. Finding the students who attacked him will probably take some time, so I’m giving you the chance to go.”
“……Then I shall take my leave.”
Kayena sat Idel down and began rummaging through the infirmary. Idel watched her with suspicion.
“How do you know where everything is?”
She picked up a medicine bottle and gave it a light shake.
“Labels aren’t put on things for no reason.”
After preparing disinfectant, cotton, and ointment, Kayena even removed her silk gloves, intending to treat him herself.
“I can do it, Your Highness.”
Olivia, who had been standing nearby, offered, but Kayena shook her head.
“It’s all right.”
She personally tended to Idel’s wounds. Whenever he frowned from the sting, she even blew gently on the injury.
Unable to bear the embarrassment any longer, Idel asked,
“……Why are you doing this for me?”
Kayena replied as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
“It’s only natural for an adult to protect a child. Besides, you’re my younger brother.”
Idel bit his lip, then muttered in a voice tinged with sorrow.
“But I’m only an illegitimate child.”
By comparison, Kayena was the undisputed legitimate heir—the Emperor’s only child born to the late Empress.
“I don’t think that’s a reason you shouldn’t be protected.”
Kayena could tell that Idel had softened considerably compared to earlier. Still, she couldn’t be sure what he truly felt inside, so she withdrew her hand from applying the ointment and asked,
“Does my behavior make you uncomfortable?”
Idel instinctively grabbed Kayena’s hand as it moved away. The urgency of his grip startled even her. Startled by his own action, he quickly let go. Glancing away, Idel spoke in a small voice.
“……It doesn’t.”
Kayena smiled gently and resumed applying the ointment.
“I’m glad.”
This was the first time an adult other than his mother had cared for him like this. The gentle concern and protection Kayena showed him felt sweet. Idel fidgeted with his hands.
“I hope it doesn’t leave a scar.”
After finishing with the ointment on his face, Kayena also tidied his disheveled hair. His uniform was in such a mess that it would need to be replaced.
“Olivia, would you fetch a change of clothes for Idel?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
She called for the knight who had been newly assigned as her guard today.
“Ansel.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Tell the headmaster to adjust Idel’s class schedule so he can start from the afternoon classes.”
“Would it not be dangerous for you to be alone?”
At the knight’s concern, Kayena shook her head.
“We have a knight here who single-handedly took down five people. I’ll be fine.”
At those words, Idel’s face flushed bright red.
“Understood.”
After the princess’s attendants left to carry out their tasks, only Idel and Kayena remained.
Idel thought that whatever Kayena asked for was granted without fail. He realized that this was what people called power. She accomplished everything he had believed impossible with effortless ease. Even the headmaster, who had treated Idel like an insect, had not dared to argue when she invoked the academy rules. It was the first time he had seen the man so flustered—except when dealing with the heir of the Kidrey ducal house.
‘Someone like that helped me.’
Idel had no other siblings. The people he had once considered friends had all left when the Emperor fell ill. The only person he could rely on was his mother.
But even maintaining the status quo was difficult for her. Every time his mother struggled to raise him as a proper noble, Idel felt guilty. It was because of his birth that she had to suffer.
He had no desire to become crown prince. He simply wished for a small measure of peace within his household. He wanted to place flowers his mother liked on the dinner table, light candles, keep a puppy, and live an ordinary life where he could spend time with friends at the academy.
Now everything had collapsed into chaos. Little by little, he had been slowly losing his light. Until he met Kayena today.
She was not as bright as the blazing sun. But neither was she as precarious as a candle flame. She was more like the gentle moonlight—providing just the right amount of light when needed, yet always there with a quiet certainty.
While Idel was experiencing this shift in his feelings, Kayena was lost in different thoughts.
‘If Regef fails to come to his senses and becomes a tyrant, this child will eventually become emperor.’
The thought brought an unavoidable bitterness. She was taking measures to prevent a situation where everything became so broken that it could no longer function. Yet she also knew well that not everything could be resolved by one person’s will alone.
Knock, knock.
A knock sounded, and Olivia entered with the clothes. Kayena handed them to Idel.
“Would you like to take your clothes off?”
“W-what do you mean!”
At his outburst, Kayena’s eyes widened.
“There might be wounds elsewhere on your body. I need to apply ointment.”
‘No matter how young I am, and even if he is…… my younger brother, this is……’
Idel’s face turned crimson all the way to his neck.
“I’ll take care of it myself, so it’s fine!”
“Well…… if you insist.”
Kayena thought calmly, ‘Has this child already reached puberty?’
Watching from the side, Olivia felt a laugh bubbling up and turned her head slightly. Kayena sometimes acted as boldly as a noblewoman in her thirties rather than a nineteen-year-old. She herself seemed unaware of it.
Just then, the knight returned.
“I’ve received confirmation that the class schedule will be adjusted as requested. Also, I saw the Kidrey ducal carriage arriving.”
“Already?”
It was earlier than the promised time. Of course, Kayena had also arrived earlier than arranged.
“Olivia, would you go greet him first?”
“Understood.”
Idel listened quietly to the conversation, clutching the uniform in his hands. It seemed Kayena was about to leave soon to meet her appointment. He stood up abruptly and went behind the partition. Feeling strangely irritated, he threw his ruined clothes onto the floor.
Kayena called from beyond the partition.
“Can you manage on your own? Shall I help?”
Idel shouted back.
“I’m thirteen years old! I can dress myself!”
‘Is thirteen really the start of puberty……?’
Kayena shook her head. She already had her hands full with a younger brother destined to become a tyrant—now she had a pubescent youngest brother as well. She let out a small sigh where no one could see.