Do carriages truly shake this badly…?!
Only a few hours after leaving the royal castle that morning, Soichiro was thoroughly motion-sick.
For someone accustomed to modern automobiles, a fantasy-world carriage was a punishing means of transportation. That remained true even when he inhabited the body of a man in his early twenties rather than one nearing fifty.
The journey had been tolerable within the royal capital, but loose stones littered the road beyond it, making the carriage pitch and jolt violently. The magnificent vehicle had softly upholstered seats, yet that did nothing to spare his inner ear.
Unfortunately, Prince Zephal was supposed to be a cold and merciless villain.
Soichiro might be incapable of playing the part exactly as written, but as a devoted fan, he could not bear to damage the character’s image.
“……”
Consequently, he sat in pale-faced, sullen silence. Raficel and the Royal Guard knight sharing the carriage with them looked increasingly uncomfortable.
“Um…Lord Zephal, might we stop the carriage for a short change of pace?”
“……”
Raficel offered the suggestion timidly.
Soichiro desperately suppressed the urge to seize upon it and pressed his lips into a firm line.
Would that be in character for Zephal or not? I cannot even think clearly enough to decide…
“Your Highness, Lord Raficel appears weary from traveling in an unfamiliar carriage. Perhaps we might stop here and rest?”
“Oh, yes! Forgive me. I am tired!”
As expected of a member of the Royal Guard: he had made an excellent proposal without wounding his master’s pride. Raficel immediately played along with wholehearted enthusiasm. What an honest, considerate boy.
Grateful for the assistance, the tormented Soichiro nodded his pale head.
* * *
That morning, Raficel’s voice had awakened Soichiro.
It must have been the boy’s first time serving as a personal attendant, yet he handled Soichiro’s morning preparations with such efficiency that Soichiro nearly reached out to praise him and pat his head. He restrained himself with great difficulty.
They shared breakfast in Soichiro’s chambers once more, then left after informing the castle servants that they would be taking a brief trip.
Zephal governed as the king’s deputy but had not yet inherited the throne. In practice, the civil officials performed nearly all the work.
He had been placed at the top of the hierarchy, but he was, in truth, idle.
Or rather, no one allowed him to work.
This position must have been painful for Zephal in its own way.
They summoned him only when a major decision had to be made, explained the matter, and expected him to nod. If he interfered with a decision later, he merely created additional work and earned their displeasure.
That day, when he announced that he was going out, no one attempted to stop him. Instead, those around him brightened at once. They clearly regarded him as a nuisance.
For the moment, however, the freedom to move as he pleased was extremely helpful.
Soichiro had to rescue the original story’s Saintess before she could be “abandoned.”
“How much farther is the grand cathedral in the Holy District?”
“The district gates should soon come into view.”
“There will still be some distance to the cathedral after we pass through them.”
“I see.”
This was their final opportunity for a brief rest.
Soichiro stepped from the carriage in relief, though the ground continued to sway beneath his feet as if he were still riding inside it.
It felt as though he had been trapped on an amusement-park ride for three uninterrupted hours instead of the few minutes such an attraction was supposed to last. He sighed inwardly and assured himself that he could endure the short distance remaining.
“Your Highness, your hand.”
The Royal Guard knight remained unfailingly courteous. Soichiro accepted his assistance and descended.
“……”
“Is something the matter?”
“N-No.”
The knight released Zephal’s hand at once, bowed, and hurried toward the other guards.
I truly am disliked.
Soichiro smiled wryly.
That knight was Lude, a member of the Royal Guard who favored Raficel in the original novel. He had joined the expedition because he was worried for the boy’s safety.
When they set out, Raficel had quietly assured him that everything was fine, but Lude had looked deeply skeptical. While the other guards rode outside on horseback, he alone had remained inside the carriage—a clear indication of just how vigilant he was.
What, exactly, did he think might happen inside?
Well, I can hardly blame him. Zephal’s outrageous behavior may be entertaining to a reader, but it must be intolerable for the people around him.
Soichiro left Raficel in the carriage and announced that he would stretch his legs nearby. Once he was alone, he held both hands open before his chest and summoned the original novel.
As he turned its pages, he passed one of Zephal’s misdeeds, followed by another—and decided he had seen quite enough of those.
“The future Saintess, Melia… At this point in the story, she is five.”
The heroine was not even old enough for elementary school.
Melia would eventually become a splendid Saintess, support Raficel, and return with him to the church and the royal capital several years later to exact their revenge.
At present, however, she was suffering through the typical ordeal of a mistreated heroine.
She was the illegitimate child of a priestess and had been raised in secret confinement with barely enough food to survive. Around this time, driven beyond endurance by hunger, she escaped her room and began sustaining herself on nuts and berries from the forest beyond the Holy District.
The forest yielded unusually abundant produce, which the people attributed to the Goddess’s blessing.
“Hm?”
As Soichiro turned another page, the book opened to the section labeled The Present. The cursor began moving of its own accord, and vermilion letters spread across the page.
Driven by hunger, Melia slipped out of the Holy District. She found bayberries and raspberries in the forest and was happily stuffing them into her mouth when she noticed a large carriage stopped along the road.
A large carriage… Does it mean ours?
Soichiro looked back while holding the book.
Since it conveyed a member of the royal family, the carriage was suitably grand. They had deliberately chosen an imposing one so the church would not underestimate them.
Melia hurried into the undergrowth and held her breath. A man dressed in black descended from the carriage and began walking toward her—
Could that be…?
Soichiro closed the book.
Perhaps because of his role as the villain prince, Zephal was famous for both his black hair and his black clothing.
Soichiro checked his position in relation to the carriage, then turned his gaze toward the forest beside the road.
“……Hello, Melia.”
The bushes rustled violently.
The reaction all but shouted, I am right here.
Suppressing a laugh, Soichiro pressed one fist to his mouth.
“I heard that Melia was in trouble, so I came to help.”
“……”
“Are you hungry? I brought food.”
“Give.”
The bushes parted, and a beautiful little girl with a flat, suspicious stare poked her head through.
Her black hair had been cut into a bob, and her eyes were equally dark. With features like a Japanese doll, hers was a face that felt intimately familiar to Soichiro.
Not wishing to frighten her, he crouched where he stood.
About two meters separated them—the proper distance from which to approach a stray cat.
“This is a sweet called nougat. Please, have some.”
“Strange…”
Melia emerged from the bushes in a plain garment resembling a cloak. Red berry juice stained the front, and a closer look revealed that her lips were bright crimson as well.
Soichiro placed a piece of brown nougat in her hand, produced a handkerchief, and gently cleaned her mouth.
“There.”
“Mm… Sweet!”
Her thin little body was so small that she hardly looked five years old.
Words such as child abuse and neglect passed through Soichiro’s mind, making his head ache.
Even so, I am glad I managed to rescue her earlier than in the novel.
Her speech was still halting because she had grown up in confinement with no adult willing to speak to her.
In the original story, Melia would remain in that state for another five years. On her tenth birthday, she would awaken as the Saintess, only to be framed by jealous rival candidates and thrown into a river.
As she was swept downstream, Raficel—then laboring in the mines—would happen to find her. That was how the two protagonists first met.
Her life changed dramatically for the better afterward, but that could never restore all she had already lost.
“Nougat gone.”
“Food disappears when you eat it.”
“No…”
“There is more at the carriage.”
“Give.”
“All right. Then, Melia, will you come with me?”
This is very much like feeding a stray.
With a wry smile, Soichiro tilted his head invitingly.
Zephal also had black hair, but his eyes were vermilion. Whether he intended it or not, that coloring made him intimidating.
And yet—
“Mm.”
Melia placed her tiny hand in Soichiro’s gloved one.
“I’ll go with Uncle.”
“—U-Uncle?!”
The Royal Guard knights behind him spoiled the touching moment with their astonished cries.
