“You really are strong…”
With Soichiro in his arms, Lude leaped from the second-floor terrace. He landed perfectly and immediately broke into a full sprint.
The scenery rushed past in a blur.
The burly knight did not stop until he reached the far end of the vast garden, where a pond large enough for boating and a gazebo stood in a quiet corner.
Soichiro had no idea how long they had been running.
Even Lude was breathing hard when he carefully lowered the prince onto a bench inside the gazebo.
“Forgive my discourtesy.”
“No…thank you for rescuing me?”
*I believe this is the point at which I should express my gratitude. He did rescue me, after all.*
Still, Soichiro could not understand why Lude, who should have been loyal to Raficel’s faction, had taken such action.
He remained seated and looked down at the enormous knight kneeling before him.
“No, I…”
Lude faltered, his gaze wandering.
Perhaps he had merely fulfilled his duty.
The Royal Guard existed exclusively to serve the royal family. Its knights’ work was to risk their lives protecting those of royal blood.
*Even if Zephal is rotten to the core, he remains a prince. Perhaps Lude could not ignore that.*
Four knight orders served the kingdom, each bearing the emblem of a sacred beast devoted to the Goddess.
The Royal Guard’s emblem was the Silver Wolf. It appeared upon Lude’s black-and-silver uniform.
—The royal family’s loyal hounds.
That was the Royal Guard’s sobriquet. The nobles often treated the knights’ blind devotion as the very definition of inflexibility.
Soichiro, however, expected no such loyalty. From the moment he reincarnated as the villain prince Zephal, he had known that, in the end, even the Royal Guard would abandon him.
Besides, the idea of “loyalty worth dying for” was foreign to a modern Japanese man.
It sounded more like the exploitation practiced by an abusive corporation.
But Lude seemed to reach a decision. He lifted his face and looked directly at Soichiro.
*Ah. This has the atmosphere of something rather troublesome.*
Without noticing the strain in Soichiro’s smile, Lude began.
“With all due respect, there was once a time when I failed to save Her Majesty the Queen, Your Highness’s mother.”
“My mother?”
“Yes. The previous Duke Forlvain frequently visited Her Majesty at Verdant Spring Palace and spoke with her without permitting any attendants to enter. On the day Lord Raficel was born, the duke’s carriage appeared without warning before those of us guarding the palace…”
Sensing that he would not enjoy what came next, Soichiro studied Lude’s short hair from his seat upon the bench.
Ash blond was a common color in this kingdom. Soichiro also possessed the very Japanese tendency to see any foreigner with deeply sculpted features and think, *Is he a Hollywood star?*
He allowed his mind to drift toward the thought that a handsome, rugged man like Lude was probably popular with women.
Soichiro knew that listening to a heavy story with an equally heavy expression only made the atmosphere more oppressive.
“Duke Forlvain sprang from the carriage and struck Her Majesty with the cane in his hand.”
“—!”
“Once she married into the royal family, the queen became royalty. Even her own father had no right to commit such an outrage. We should have arrested and punished the duke immediately. But Her Majesty stopped us.”
*Ah. So both the previous Duke Forlvain and the current one are deeply disturbed men. Is that what he is telling me?*
Soichiro knew the future through the source novel. But that also meant he knew only what had been written there.
The novel centered upon Saintess Melia and Raficel. It revealed almost nothing of the circumstances surrounding Zephal, their enemy.
Yet the story now unfolding before Soichiro could be rewritten.
The vermilion text marked the changed history, but no one had warned Soichiro that he must never cross that red line.
*The Goddess may complain later. Still, if she failed to anticipate what would happen when she left matters to me, that is her responsibility. Yes, precisely.*
“That was probably not the first time,” Lude continued. “We are the shield of the royal family and the sword wielded on its behalf. Even against Her Majesty’s wishes, we should have condemned the duke then. And so I—”
“It is not too late to begin now.”
“……Pardon?”
Hm?
Lude and Soichiro stared at one another. Both fell still.
Soichiro casually removed one black glove, exposing the scars across his hand and farther up his arm. Lude’s amber eyes widened.
Zephal’s uncle had inflicted those wounds before Soichiro awakened within the prince’s body.
Anyone could recognize the marks of a whip.
Fury flooded Lude’s eyes, and his teeth clenched.
That same righteous anger had been described in the source novel. Soichiro had assumed it was hatred directed at Zephal. Only now did he realize that Lude had been glaring at Duke Forlvain, who stood beside the prince.
“Do you regret failing to save my mother, Lude?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
The knight bowed his head.
“Were there other members of the Royal Guard who witnessed it?”
“More than I can count upon one hand.”
*I dislike exploiting the knights’ guilt, but I must make use of whatever is available.*
Soichiro addressed Lude in a soothing voice to make it clear that he did not blame him.
“I will not condemn what is already past. At the time, you made the decision you believed best. Had the matter grown into a scandal, my mother’s position would have suffered. You did nothing wrong.”
“Your Highness…”
“But from this day forward, you will remain on my side no matter what happens. Is that right, Lude?”
Soichiro narrowed his eyes and smiled.
Lude placed one hand over his heart and bowed deeply.
“I swear that I will protect you.”
“Then I will trust that you, at least, shall never betray me.”
Lude reverently took Soichiro’s scarred hand and pressed a kiss to it.
*I see. What a very knightly gesture.*
Soichiro regarded the matter almost as an uninvolved observer—until a scene from the source novel suddenly came to mind.
*Wait. Could this be the scene in which Raficel forms a contract with his most faithful knight?*
By the time Soichiro realized what he had done, the pledge known as the Silver Wolf’s Oath had already been sealed between him and the Royal Guard.
* * *
“Lord Zephal, make the hurts go away?”
Melia had climbed into Zephal’s bed as though it were part of her nightly routine. Her voice was already heavy with sleep.
『Yaaawn. Sleepy.』
The white cat Lulu marched across the bedclothes and burrowed beneath them.
It was an ordinary night.
Earlier that day, not long after Lude and Soichiro reached the gazebo, Sera had flown to them and announced, “The intruder has left.”
Raficel had apparently performed his duties as personal attendant with distinction. No matter what Richard said, he simply repeated that Zephal was away until the duke finally departed.
Soichiro was deeply impressed by his courage. Richard must have been a formidable opponent for Raficel as well.
When Soichiro praised him, stroked his head, and thanked him repeatedly, Raficel’s cheeks relaxed until his expression became helplessly soft.
“Please leave it to me next time as well!”
The boy burned with a renewed sense of purpose.
He might be only fifteen, but he was extraordinarily reliable.
Meanwhile, Melia had calmed the sacred beasts, who were bristling with murderous intent at the thought that someone might be Soichiro’s enemy. Their gathering around Zephal would create complications if outsiders learned of it, so her efforts were greatly appreciated.
“Make the hurts—”
“Thank you, but not tonight.”
Whenever Melia slept in Zephal’s chambers, she poured healing power into the old wounds upon his body.
Unfortunately, those scars would now be needed as evidence.
Soichiro smiled and held her little hand.
“I would like you to do that for someone else instead. Can you?”
“Okay. Who?”
Melia was already on the verge of sleep. Soichiro held her securely, patted her back, and answered in a whisper.
“My father—Rafi’s father as well. He is said to be bedridden, but it seems his condition may not be an ordinary illness.”
From the moment Soichiro decided to launch his counterattack, his plan for a grand and happy ending had included no deaths whatsoever.
*Next, I must force my way into His Majesty’s chambers. There is so much to do.*
With a small yawn, Soichiro gathered the little girl and the white cat into his arms and closed his eyes.
