Chapter 2: The Captive Spellcaster

I felt as though I were floating through a pool of water—more like a clump of seaweed than a fish. Water flowed past me as I swayed to and fro, and I saw all sorts of things reflected in its depths.

I saw the mountains by the ocean I’d seen with my past-life family when I was in elementary school. Dad had always loved the mountains. He hadn’t been a good swimmer, though, so he’d refused to come out from under our beach umbrella like some kind of girl. I’d gotten Mom to play me with instead.

I missed them so much. Would I ever be able to see them again? Probably not. For every wave of sadness that washed over me, part of me hoped that when I opened my eyes, I’d wake back up in that other world.

If I could do it all over, I wouldn’t have made so much trouble for Mom. I would’ve told Dad I loved him more.

If you could do it all over. Suddenly, I felt a strange sense of déjà vu, like someone had said those words to me before. When was it?

What flitted across my mind, much like a fish darting past, was a pair of pale blue eyes staring into mine. A much larger hand clasping my own, fingers entwined. Hadn’t I found the warmth of his body almost frightening at first? I remembered him setting me down on his lap time after time, as if I were a wary kitten he was trying to placate.

From the way you’re hanging onto me, it’s clear how fond you are of me... yet you still refuse to tell me anything? he said as I clung to his neck, but I stubbornly kept my mouth shut.

No matter how much I wanted to help him, once I was forced into submission, I would have no means to resist. No matter how much I wanted him to help me, there was nothing he could do against a lifelong curse.

You don’t want me to worry, hm?

I nodded, and he smiled in understanding. No matter how much he sympathized with my plight, however, that alone wouldn’t be enough to get me out of this dead end. I imagine he was thinking the same thing.

That was probably why he said, If there’s no way out, perhaps we should both...

At that moment, I felt my body abruptly rising to the surface. Anxiety washed over me, like the roots I’d spread over the bottom of the ocean had been hacked away.

“If some mangy mutt can do it, so can I!” yelled a familiar voice.

“The wound closed up, at least,” remarked another man. This voice I didn’t recognize.

“Should we wake her up?” came a powerful rumble.

That sent someone else into a panic. “I just warned you not to be rough, you damned brute!”

“I know, I know! I’ll be gentle about it!”

“I’m not sure that’s the issue here... Oh, she’s still running a fever.”

Once I’d just barely broken the surface, I started to gradually sink down once more. If I reach the bottom, maybe I’ll fall into another sweet dream, I thought.

“Hey, Kiara. If you don’t wake up, I’m going to break this doll of yours.”

Was that meant to be a threat? The thought of it made my heart ache. I didn’t want him broken. But how was I supposed to get out of here? No matter how hard I tried to flail, I might as well have been seaweed. There was nothing I could do but sink.

“Or perhaps I’ll chase down that knight of yours and kill him.”

No, stop it! I screamed in my head. Yet it amounted to nothing; I couldn’t even speak.

Who was the knight he was talking about, anyway? Somehow I knew he was someone very important to me, but I couldn’t remember his name.

“Alright, then. I didn’t want to do this, but you leave me no choice.”

“Do you have some sort of plan in mind?”

“What princess wouldn’t want to be awakened by a prince’s kiss?” the man replied, brimming with confidence.

“Hello? You’re a king.”

“Must you get hung up on the details?” The impatient tone of his voice was a little daunting.

“You know, that’s actually not a bad idea,” interjected the croak of an old man. “You don’t need to bother with the kiss, though; touching her with your finger ought to do the trick.”

“Seriously?” came the dubious response, but soon I felt something gently tracing over my skin. An odd feeling settled over me, like I could finally recognize arms, legs, and a head as part of the seaweed I was.

But where had the ticklish sensation graced me? What flashed across my mind in that moment was the face of the person who had touched my lips, and how for a fleeting moment, our eyes had met, our faces nearly close enough for our lips to meet...

“Hngh... Hnnngh...”

I still couldn’t get my voice out, but my hands moved nonetheless. I stretched out my arms as hard as I could to shove him away, hitting something dead-on.

“Ack!” someone cried out. The sting of my hands brought my mind into focus.

“Goodness, she really hated that,” the boyish voice from before murmured in complete earnestness.

“Who would’ve guessed that would do the trick? Mmheehee!” The next voice I heard was Master Horace’s. He was laughing his irritating, bizarre cackle.

“You’re the one who suggested I do it! So, did it work? Is she awake?” The protest had come from... Isaac? Yes, it was Isaac and Master Horace who were talking.

“Her mana’s stabilized now. Let her rest for a bit and she’ll wake up eventually. Just don’t let that viscount near her.”

“I know that. Perhaps I have no room to talk here, but based on his reaction when I told him I’d captured Kiara, I could tell he had unspeakable plans for her. What in the world drove him to such obsession? He was practically panting as he told me to hand her over if she was still alive, his eyes flashing... What happened between her and the viscount, anyway?”

“My disciple here ran off when she was supposed to get married to him.”

“Eugh! I’d have run away, too!” Isaac responded with genuine disgust. Moments later, someone’s hand brushed against my forehead. “Hurry and wake up, Kiara.”

Despite his whispered urgings—perhaps because I knew now that Master Horace was safe enough to be casually chatting with Isaac—my consciousness faded once more, swept away with a wave of relief.

◇◇◇

I didn’t know how much time had passed after that. When I woke, I found myself chilled to the bone.

“It’s freezing!”

When I coiled the blankets tighter around me, I noticed something hard and cold pressed against my cheek. Whatever it is, it’s cold as ice! But wait... is it just me, or have my chills finally stopped? I opened my eyes, hoping to find out what was going on.

“I see you’re finally awake, my little disciple.”

I was looking straight into the face of a brown clay doll. That snapped me out of my trance in an instant.

“Master... Hrk!” Trying to talk had sent me into a coughing fit. My throat was dry as the Sahara.

“You’ve hardly had anything to eat or drink for three days, so it’s no wonder you’re thirsty. Don’t push yourself to talk just yet.”

Someone else spoke up from behind him. “Would you like some water? I hope you can sit up now.”

“Yes, please,” was all I managed to get out. As the boy helped me to sit up, I stared at him and blinked.

His golden hair looked familiar. Wasn’t this slightly baby-faced boy the same guy Isaac had called “Mikhail”? Dressed in his lord-in-waiting garb, he propped my limp body up and let me have some water.

I sipped from the cup he held up for me. If I could’ve, I would’ve drained it all in one gulp; seeing as Mikhail was assisting me, though, I had no choice but to adjust my pace to the angle he tilted the glass at, swallowing it down little by little. The water tasted so good, though. While it wasn’t particularly cool, the sensation of it passing down my throat and settling in my stomach was incredibly refreshing.

When he was done letting me drink, Mikhail had me lie down again. He continued to wait on me hand and foot, asking me if there was something I’d like to eat.

“Um... Who are you, exactly?” I asked. I knew he was a retainer of Isaac’s, but I had no idea what his actual station was.

“Did I forget to introduce myself? My apologies. I’m King Isaac’s lord-in-waiting, Mikhail. Now, if you’ll excuse me for just a moment,” he said, then left the room.

As I watched him go, I finally took the opportunity to glance around the room I was staying in. Perhaps they had commandeered a manor close to the battlefield. The cozy, white-walled room was rather large, and the door Mikhail had just used was firmly built; still, this clearly wasn’t the home of any nobleman.

I noticed the faint smell of smoke, too.

“Are we somewhere inside Liadna, Master Horace?”

“That’s right. It’s been three days now.”

I was surprised that I’d slept that long, but at the same time, amazed that a three-day coma was the worst consequence I’d suffered. Frankly, I’d been convinced I was going to die.

Now that I’d made it out alive, however, that left me in Salekhard’s hands. Considering Isaac had assigned his own lord-in-waiting to look after me, he clearly wasn’t planning to treat me badly... or at least, that was what I hoped.

“But if things stay like this...”

I’d told Isaac I would join his side. That meant fighting against Farzia.

Whether or not he’d picked up on my musings, Master Horace shared a few words of encouragement. “Just rest. You still aren’t doing too hot. If you’re planning to make a run for it, you better be sure you’re ready to run. Heeheehee! For now, push yourself through by imagining the dumb looks on their faces when they realize you gave them the slip.”

I nodded before giving a curious tilt of my head. “That’s some pretty practical advice.”

“I’m an expert escape artist, I’ll have you know. Prisons, mines, you name it—I’ve broken out of all sorts of places. If you’re really my disciple, you can pull it off, too.”

“Wait, prisons?”

Why was he locked up in the first place? I wondered, but Master Horace was quick to offer an explanation.

“This mentor of yours used to be a slave, you see.”

His sudden confession took me by surprise. Master Horace had never mentioned anything of the sort before. The obvious explanation was that he hadn’t wanted to talk about it, so why was he telling me now?

“From the moment I was born in a country northeast of Salekhard, I was already a slave. All I ever wanted was freedom. Time after time, I tried to escape; even after it nearly got me killed, I still ran. Right after I’d met a spellcaster who took me on as her disciple, someone who had every intention of dragging me back found me. That’s when I took my all-or-nothing gamble, begging her to turn me into a spellcaster right there and then... and I just so happened to draw a lucky straw.”

So that was how he’d become a spellcaster. I always had thought it strange: if Master Horace wanted to live badly enough to become a clay figurine to do it, why would he choose to become a spellcaster when that was so likely to kill him? Now it all made sense. Once he was a spellcaster, he wouldn’t have to remain a slave. Master Horace had put his life on the scales against his freedom.

“I wanted to live a life unfettered. I wanted to see the places I wanted to see and say whatever I wanted to say. Eventually, I packed up my things and moved, determined not to let a little back pain do me in... and before I knew it, I’d become a withered old man.”

He heaved a sigh.

“So you see... now that I’ve lived out an extra round of my life, I can die happy. I hadn’t seen much of Farzia before all this. Now that I’ve seen all sorts of sights and watched over my merry disciple’s crazy escapades, I no longer have any lingering attachments to this world. So the decision is entirely in your hands—whether this is where you want your last stand to be, that is.”

“Oh, Master Horace...”

If I died, Master Horace’s soul would automatically depart this plane of existence, meaning he would finally die for real. This was his way of telling me it was okay to make that choice. He’d even gone out of his way to tell me he’d have no regrets, so that I didn’t have to ask it of him myself.

“I really can’t get anything past you.”

“Oho! You’re just realizing that now? It’s not hard to imagine the thoughts going through a sixteen-year-old girl’s head. Now c’mon, if you’re back in action, hurry up and fix me!”

“AHHH! You’re broken!”

Now that he had turned the other way, I could see a crack running all the way down his back. Yikes, I think there’s even a tiny chunk of him missing!

“How did this happen?! Did Isaac drop you?!”

“No, see... Remember the time those mutts helped you out by sucking up some of your mana?”

I did recall that. By snuggling up to me, Lila had drained some of my magic away, stabilizing the mana that raged violently through my body.

“We’ve got a magical connection, you and me, so I thought I could try the same kind of thing... until I suddenly felt a draft around my back.”

“Don’t do that again! You’re going to break yourself before I even have the chance to die!”

Whew, that gave me a scare, I thought as I rushed to patch him up. Meanwhile, Master Horace just cackled like usual.

That was when Isaac stepped into the room without so much as a knock. “Oh? It’s good to see you doing so well.”

The sight of him stabbing Cain flashed across my mind, and I squared my shoulders. Considering he’d just kept me alive, I doubted he would kill me right away, but apprehension welled up inside of me nonetheless.

How are prisoners of war usually treated, again? He did make it sound like he was going to abuse me to keep me in line. As long as I behave, he won’t whip me or anything, will he?

The fact that I’d once considered him a friend made his about-face sting all the more. Frightened, I hugged Master Horace tighter to my chest.

“Relax. I made sure he wasn’t going to hurt you,” Master Horace whispered.

While I was puzzling out what he meant by that, Isaac briskly snatched the doll out of my hands. “You’re in charge of him, Mikhail.”

Isaac casually tossed Master Horace over to Mikhail, who had entered the room along with him. The boy scrambled to catch him.

“Tch! Treat your hostages a little more hospitably, will you?” the doll in question griped.

“There you have it, Kiara. To ensure you don’t go anywhere, I’ll be keeping that master of yours captive.”

“What?!”

Is that what Master Horace meant?!

“Try anything funny and I’ll destroy him on the spot. I suggest you behave.”

I gave a silent nod. Master Horace was no sturdier than a tough piece of pottery. If anyone took an axe to him, he’d easily break, and there was a good chance the soul trapped inside would fly off into the ether.

Whenever I find a chance, I need to reinforce Master Horace’s defenses, I quietly determined. Meanwhile, Isaac set a hand near my pillow and brought his face close to mine. His other hand grabbed my chin, causing me to flinch.

“You seem awfully scared, Kiara. Didn’t you tell me you were strong when we first met?”

He had been so kind to me back then. Yet now all he ever did was taunt me with that mocking look on his face. Was this the real Isaac all along?

Still, rather than intimidating me, his behavior was just ticking me off. There was no reason to menace me like this when I couldn’t fight back.

“With the condition I’m in, I can’t cast a single spell right now. But if you keep egging me on like this, I can fire off enough magic to bring myself down.”

“Oh? Well, judging by your reaction to seeing that knight stabbed in front of you, you do seem liable to drop dead if handled too roughly.”

The fingers gripping my chin slid away to brush my cheek.

“If you think you can outsmart me, however, I’ll have to think up a trick to put you in your place. There are plenty of ways to rob you of the will to resist. Do you want to hear one?”

“No,” I answered without hesitation. Any ideas Isaac would come up with while playing the part of the king weren’t going to be pleasant.

“Now, now. Don’t be like that.” Isaac looked even more amused. “Here’s something that should subdue you the moment you hear it: who do you think changed you into those clothes?”

“What?!”

I was currently dressed in a soft, hemp nightgown I’d never seen before. I assumed it had been borrowed from a townswoman’s wardrobe. A moment later, however, I finally noticed the missing piece of the puzzle, and I instinctively turned my head toward Mikhail—not that I would feel great about him doing it, either. However, he just shook his head with a pitying look.

What?! Does that mean Isaac saw me naked?! No way!

I opened and closed my mouth a few times, tears welling up in my eyes. Isaac burst out laughing, turning his head to the side.

Perhaps because he’d noticed I was about to cry, Isaac’s next words came out gentler, like he was trying to pacify me. “There, there. Get well soon. I spared your life under the condition that you’d aid Salekhard, so I expect you to head into battle at least once.”

“If you want to put me to work, make sure you keep Lord Credias away from me,” I demanded firmly, seeing as it was a matter of grave importance. The viscount’s presence was a threat to my life and livelihood. Whether I managed to escape or not, if Isaac couldn’t uphold that condition, I would be powerless.

Isaac nodded. “I’m doing what I can. For now, I’m keeping you somewhere far enough away from him that he shouldn’t be able to track you down.”

“That’s not good enough. Spellcasters can sense where their fellow mages are within a range of up to a hundred mers.”

“Gah! Are you serious?! That means there’s nowhere to hide!” Isaac looked genuinely shocked, which surprised me in turn. Since he was allied with Lord Credias, I’d assumed he would have known that.

Isaac scratched at his head, screwing his face into a frown. “I suppose there’s no choice but to keep you by my side, then. We should get you out of here as soon as possible. Mikhail, make arrangements to head out.”

“Yes, sire,” Mikhail responded.

With a grave look on his face, Isaac added, “If the worst should happen, listen to me, and do as I say whether you like it or not. Whatever it is, it’ll be to keep you out of Lord Bullfrog’s hands, so deal with it.”

I nodded. It was right then, however, that we caught wind of a commotion downstairs.

“Go see who it is, Mikhail. Give me the doll. I’ll keep him hidden just in case.”

“Here, catch.”

“Hey, quit throwing me around!”

As soon as Isaac gave him the order, Mikhail tossed Master Horace over to him. Without even checking to see if he’d caught the doll, he then opened the door to peek outside. “Stay quiet,” Isaac instructed before sliding Master Horace under the bed.

“It’s the very viscount in question, sire. He’s on his way up,” Mikhail announced, shutting the door once more.

I shrank in on myself. His timing gave me the creeps—it was like he’d waited for the very moment I woke up to make an appearance—and I hated the thought of seeing him when I didn’t have the strength to fight back. I wouldn’t be able to get away if he tried any funny business.

Before I knew it, Isaac had climbed onto the bed, wrapping me up in a blanket and settling down so that he held me in his arms. I froze—a knee-jerk reaction to being restrained by a man who had recently tried to kill me.

“It’s as I just told you: if you don’t want me to hand you over to him, be a good girl.”

Was he planning to protect me? Before I could ask him, someone opened the door.

“Who goes there?! You’re supposed to knock before entering!” Mikhail protested, putting on a convincing show of surprise.

A total of ten men had just barged into our room—Lord Credias and a bunch of Llewynian soldiers in black capes. There were a few Salekhardian soldiers who had followed them up here, as well.

Mikhail blocked Lord Credias at the doorway. The room was big enough that I was a fair distance away from him, yet I could still tell that the viscount’s eyes were bloodshot. Those froggish eyes were wide as saucers, locked right on me. A chill ran down my spine.

Isaac still had me in his arms, however, and he wasn’t letting go. I couldn’t tell whether he was shielding me or just keeping me from running away, which didn’t help my anxiety.

He regarded the intruder in an easygoing tone. “My, now this is a sudden visit, Lord Credias. Do you have some business with me?”

“That girl you have there was once intended to be my bride. I’m here to bring her back with me.”

The redhead sneered, turning to look at the viscount. “Oh? Is bigamy legal in Farzia? As I understood it, you’re already married.”

The viscount got married?! To whom? The poor lady. Wait, did he marry someone just to turn her into a spellcaster? Does that mean there’s a new spellcaster on the queen’s side?

“She’s the one I was betrothed to before my current wife—but she jilted me at the altar, you see. I’m going to have her make it up to me. That aside, her adoptive father asked that I bring her home to him if I were to find her,” Lord Credias responded matter-of-factly, without so much as cracking a smile. “Besides, a spellcaster can prove quite the nuisance. It’s better that she be placed under my control, seeing as I have my ways to handle her. You won’t be able to keep her in line, Your Majesty. The moment she recovers, she’ll strike back against you, waiting for the perfect opportunity to take your life.”

The viscount’s gaze remained fixed on me the entire time he was talking.

“No need to worry. She’s promised to obey me.”

“You can’t trust her word. It’ll be too late once you’re already hurt.”

“Have you so little faith in me? What must I do to prove it to you?”

Now Lord Credias was finally starting to grow impatient. His face twisted ever so slightly into a scowl. “I’ll believe it when I see her submit to you. But I doubt—”

Isaac cut the viscount off. “Just stand there and watch.” Then, after whispering to me to bear with it... he reached out to touch my clothes.

Wait, what’s he going to do?! I wanted to fight back, but considering I hadn’t gotten out of bed for several days, my body was sluggish. In the meantime, Isaac kept me restrained with one arm, undoing two or three of the buttons beneath the scoop neckline of my nightgown.

I finally got my arms to move. Just as I was about to slap Isaac on instinct, I caught a glimpse of my hand and realized: I was still wearing the ring Reggie had given me. Isaac hadn’t taken it from me.

Reggie had told me it was a talisman, I remembered.

If I hit Isaac now, I certainly wouldn’t come off as obedient. Lord Credias would take that as the perfect opportunity to cart me away and make me fight against Farzia like in the RPG, and in the end, perhaps I would die at Alan’s hands.

Reggie didn’t want me to die. If I were in his position, I wouldn’t want me to get killed that way; I’d want to see me survive no matter the cost. In which case, I would just have to let this slide.

I just had to hold out a little bit longer. As much as Isaac frightened me, I was better off with him than Lord Credias. Based on the way the viscount was looking at me, he wouldn’t settle for just an act. Besides, Isaac had said he would protect me. My only option was to believe him.

After some hesitation on my part, Isaac said, loud enough so everyone there could hear, “Behave. You promised, remember?”

He caught the hand I’d just raised by the wrist, flipping me around so my back was facing Lord Credias and my face was tucked against Isaac’s shoulder.

I wanted to struggle against him, but I knew I’d be better off if I didn’t. While I was trying to make up my mind, Isaac laid my shoulders bare. The realization that I was showing skin in front of a group of strangers made real tears start to spill from my eyes.

No! I screamed in my head, only to hear Isaac whisper, “Sorry.” Next thing I knew, he was biting down on my neck. I feared he was going to kill me, like a wolf tearing into me with his teeth. Although it only hurt a little, I was terrified enough to make a noise of protest. Isaac caressed my back all the while, and each stroke only further fueled my fear.

I didn’t know what to do. All I could do was cling to Isaac and wait for it to end.

“See? She didn’t put up a fight. If you tried to do the same thing, I wager she’d struggle ’til her dying breath.” Isaac taunted him with a chuckle. “Now that I have your understanding, I ask that you take your leave. I’d like to have some fun with her, and I’m not one for exhibitionism. Mikhail, show our guests the way out.”

I couldn’t see anything with my back turned to him, but Lord Credias failed to utter another word before he was ushered out of the room by Mikhail and the Salekhardian soldiers. I heard several footsteps fade into the distance, followed by the click of the door closing.

Isaac promptly straightened out my clothes, picking up the blanket that had fallen to the floor and wrapping it back around me until it covered me up to my neck.

“Come now, don’t cry. I am sorry. It was just to get him to walk away; I won’t be doing it again. He stormed out with a look of shock on his face, just as I’d predicted.”

Despite his apology, my tears wouldn’t stop falling. Isaac heaved a sigh, reaching out to wipe my eyes dry. I squeezed my eyes shut, frightened by the touch.

“Do you find me so abhorrent?”

“I’ve never thought you were... abhorrent.”

I’d never wanted to hate him. He was the same man who had helped me out in my moment of need, after all. But a line had been crossed. This was too much for me to take.

“But I hate when you act this cruelly. I hate that you tried to kill Sir Cain, and that you’re fighting against Évrard and Reggie.” Once I’d gotten started, I couldn’t put on the brakes, and my complaints came tumbling out one after another. “I hate that you lied to me. Why did you strike up a conversation with me if you were an enemy? Why were you so nice to me? You gave me sweets, you stood up for me... and now I have to fight you? You’re invading Farzia to protect your brother and your country? Why do you have to do that?! And why did you just...?”

Everything after that was lost in my sobs, and I ran out of words to use. Deep down in my heart, all I wanted was to punch Isaac in the face.

Even after listening to me scream that I hated him over and over, Isaac didn’t so much as wince.

“Let me tell you why I struck up a conversation with you: I’d had the good fortune to stumble upon the spellcaster, and it seemed like the perfect chance to abscond with you.” As soon as I was done with my rant, Isaac began responding to my protests one by one. “I wasn’t about to force a crying woman to come along with me, however. Besides, no matter how impressive your magic is, I figured there were ways to beat it, and someone just happened to come along to pick you up.”

During each pause in his explanation, he clapped me on the back. At first, it made me think back to what had just happened, and I tensed up. Gradually, however, the way he was comforting me like a child—combined with the blanket coiled tightly around me like a shield—helped me to calm down.

“Since you mentioned my brother, I assume you heard everything from Gina—why I’m aiding Llewyne’s invasion, that is. I want to protect my country. If I cared about my own salvation, I wouldn’t have resorted to these methods. Not that I thought this up in the first place, mind you. Mikhail came up with this plan, and I decided to get on board with it. Lastly,” Isaac added, “it was because I feel enough for you to want to help you when you’re crying, I suppose.”

When he said “feel,” did he mean it was friendship he felt? Sympathy? I couldn’t bring myself to ask. If he said yes, I’d start to wonder if I could consider him a friend again, even now that he’d betrayed me.

“Who is that ‘Cain’ to you, anyway? Your lover?”

“No, he’s like a brother to me.”

“Right, you did say something to that effect back then. Then ‘Reggie’ must be... Prince Reginald? Is he your sweetheart?”

“He’s my keeper, thank you,” I responded, wondering where all of this was coming from.

Isaac looked amused. “So you call him by a nickname, hm? He must be very special to you.”

For some reason, the word “special” brought a flush to my cheeks. Driven by an impulse I didn’t quite understand myself, I started slapping Isaac’s shoulder over and over. “Isaac, you jerk! Just shut up!”

“Ow, ow, ow! Hey, you just scratched me!”

In contrast to earlier, Isaac did nothing to stop me. He let me beat up on him until I’d gotten my petty counterattack out of my system, bursting into tears once more. Why was he just letting me hit him? If it was because he felt bad for me, that kindness of his was just infuriating.

Once my fit of rage was finally over, Isaac hugged me again, like he was soothing a tantrum-throwing child. “Despise me all you like. I care more about my country than I do about you. But at the very least, I’ll make sure that viscount doesn’t take you away. If it has to happen, I want you to be the one to bring about my end,” he said, brushing my bangs with his fingers.

What is he talking about? I wondered, but seeing as I’d only just woken up from a mana-fatigue-induced slumber, all that rampaging had me completely spent. My consciousness gradually started to fade, lured away by the caress of his hand.

Evidently, I fell asleep after that. When I next came to, I noticed that Isaac wasn’t there. It was Mikhail who had shaken me awake.

“Wake up!”

When I opened my eyes, there was Mikhail. The light in the room was getting dim—probably a sign that it was around dusk.

“We need to take you somewhere safer. It would be difficult to move you in your sleep, so I need you to get up if you can.”

I nodded, recalling our discussion about moving me elsewhere before Lord Credias could raid the place. No matter how much I detested Isaac, I was better off with him than the viscount, so I had no choice but to stick with him.

After three days stuck in bed, I hardly had any strength left in my body. Having foreseen that I might have trouble walking, Mikhail had brought along a well-built soldier, who wrapped me up in my blanket before scooping me up.

Knowing that he was a Salekhardian, it frightened me to have his hands on me. I shrunk in on myself, only for the soldier to tell me to grab hold of his neck. I didn’t want him to drop me, so I did as he’d instructed.

“Um, where’s Master Horace?” I asked, confused as to why he wasn’t coming with us.

“We already sent him over to the place we’ll be staying.”

He’d already been moved to the safehouse, apparently. Relief washed over me, and then we were on the move.

Once we’d left the room, I saw a short corridor and a wooden staircase. The stairs led to a small foyer. Following a cursory check of our surroundings, we headed outside.

It seemed the place we’d been staying was a private residence, a bit on the large side.

“His Majesty is waiting for us in the town mayor’s manor. Let’s go.”

Perhaps in hopes of keeping me hidden, we took zigzagging paths up until we emerged out onto a larger street. If our pursuers had been tracking us down through normal means, that probably would’ve been the best way to throw them.

Unfortunately, that backfired. Along the way, a band of soldiers showed up to block our path.

However, Mikhail had already read that far ahead. “There they are.”

At Mikhail’s command, the squad transporting me split up into two groups. One stayed to deal with the men standing before us, while the other took me and fled down a side street.

Before long we had emerged out onto a wider road, where a group of soldiers in the green capes of Salekhard was waiting for us. It was a back-up unit Mikhail had arranged just in case. When the lord-in-waiting gave a wave of his hand, the men came running over to us.

It was right then, however, that I saw a gale of green strike them from the side. Trees, grass, and flowers all grew toward the soldiers at dreadful speeds, mowing them down.

“He brought out defective spellcasters for this?!” With a click of his tongue, Mikhail pointed us down another street... only for us to find that vines had started growing through the alleyways.

“Capture that girl.”

A soldier with plants sprouting out of his limbs stepped forth as though summoned by that voice, manipulating the nearby greenery. He sent the soldiers who came slashing at him with their swords flying back. From the corner of my eye, I saw Mikhail collapsed on the ground, a vine coiled around him. The soldier carrying me likewise took a fall, unable to withstand the magical assault.

A vine twined around me, dragging me away from the soldier. Once I’d been pulled over to where the hulking defective spellcaster was, the last person I’d ever wanted to see gathered me up in his arms.

All I could do was gulp. Feeling his hands on my back and legs sickened me. The smell of camphor drifted from his clothes, driving home the fact that he was holding me close.

“Worry not; I won’t drop you. Heheh. There’s no telling what you’ll do if you touch the cobblestone, after all. You there! Take her away.”

Lord Credias flashed a twisted smile right up close to my face, then passed me off to another soldier. Leaving me wrapped up in my blanket, the man threw me over his shoulder like a piece of cargo and walked off.

Now that I was out of Lord Credias’ arms, the wheels in my head finally started to turn again. What was I to do? The viscount knew I was an earth spellcaster. The reason this soldier wasn’t wearing any armor was surely because he knew I could use metal in my spells. If he was being that cautious, there was a good chance he had removed anything I could use from wherever we were headed—and powerless as I was, magic was my one and only hope of escaping.

“Lady Kiara!” I heard someone call my name from afar.

Trapped in the soldier’s arms, I couldn’t look back to see who it was. Still, I recognized the voice as Mikhail’s.

If he could shout, that meant he was still alive, but there was no telling how badly he’d been hurt. Unfortunately, there was little I could do about that now. I was carried off into the distance, and with several soldiers flanking him, Lord Credias followed close behind.

Before long, we’d arrived at a shed in a cottage garden, the rush of a river audible in the distance. The surrounding area was made up of nothing but houses and their annexes, a cozy little community where military men were unlikely to be lurking. Thorn-laden vines crept over the ground outside the shed, obscuring half of the building in green.

I was taken inside. Immediately after setting me down on the floor, the soldier who had been carrying me left the shed... so that only Lord Credias and I remained.

“Oh, you truly are the spitting image of my darling Annamarie!” he said as he knelt down next to me, reaching out to strip me of my blanket. I resisted, clutching it as tightly as I could. “Hmph. I see you inherited her obstinacy. I’d expect no less from a relative of hers.”

“A what?”

Evidently, my resemblance to this “Annamarie” character Lord Credias was so hung up on was genetic. I’d been told I looked just like my mother before, so she was likely from that side of the family. Had that been the reason for this creep’s obsession with me all along?

“Now, I’d best discipline you before anyone can get in our way. You’ll lose the will to resist soon enough,” Lord Credias declared, lazily brushing a hand over my cheek. I felt sick to my stomach.

“Don’t touch me, you pedo!”

He was a pedophile alright, no question about it. I was taken in by Lord Patriciél when I was only ten years old, and it was around the same time that I’d first met the viscount. The thought that he’d been counting off the years until I was old enough to be married sent chills down my spine. Worse still, unlike with Isaac, this wasn’t an act. I was in serious trouble here.

I struggled against him with all my might. When I raised my leg to kick him, however, he bore his weight down upon me, pinning it underneath him. Next, I tried to punch him, only to have him grab me by the wrist. In spite of how much the taste of him disgusted me, I bit down on his hand.

“You refuse to behave, I see.”

He struck me right across the face. My head spun, and for a fleeting moment, I blacked out entirely. The next thing I knew, my mouth was filled with the taste of iron; perhaps one of my teeth had torn through the inside of my cheek.

While I lay there stunned, the viscount’s hands snaked over my body—stroking my arms, my shoulders, my neck—until they finally trailed down to my chest. It was revolting. And yet, the slap had left me too petrified to so much as scream.

“You should have just given in from the start. Ah, how long I’ve waited for this moment! As payback, why don’t I take my sweet time killing all those who snatched you away from me—the prince and his retainers alike—right before your very eyes? Heheh!”

That threat threw me into a rage.

“Every last spellcaster lives in the palm of my hand. It seems you have a few monsters on your side, but with help of my defective spellcasters, I—”

The moment he buried his face in the crook of my neck, I tried to knock him over with a hard slap.

“Still have that much willpower left, do you?”

It was enough to make him grimace, but too bad for him—that was just a feint!

I transformed the ring I wore on my other hand—the ring Reggie had given me—into a long, gigantic needle. After thrusting it forward with a mighty roar, I felt the impact as it pierced Lord Credias through the arm.

“AHHH!” the viscount shrieked, falling on his behind as he jerked away from me. Overtaken by rage, he fought to suppress my mana.

“What a shrew! The insolence of you!” Despite his grumblings, relief washed over him when I couldn’t manage anything more than collapsing on my back. A smile rose to his face once more.

Now that Reggie’s ring had dissolved into sand, I had no means left to resist. If this was what it was going to come to, I wanted to bring Lord Credias down with me, at the very least. Unfortunately, if I tried to pull that off in my current condition, I was bound to simply turn into sand and die.

I’m sorry, I thought. The apology was meant for all the people who had been so kind to me. For Cain, who had risked his life to protect me. For Master Horace, who had told me he’d be willing to die alongside me.

And for Reggie, too.

I wanted to see him one last time. I wanted him to hold me close, stroke my head, and tell me everything would be okay. I knew I had no right to think of him as family, so why did he remain so dear to me all the same?

Thinking back on all that would only cause my resolve to waver, so I shut off my feelings, focusing on casting a spell on Lord Credias. If I could heal people, it followed that I should be able to break them down, too.

It was then, however, that I sensed a shift in the atmosphere. A moment later, one of the walls of the shed was engulfed in flame. A blast of hot air swept through the room as the fire spread to the floor.

“What terrible timing! This is Ada’s doing, isn’t it?!”

Lord Credias was close enough to the wall that his clothes came close to catching fire, and he rushed out of the shed in a panic. When he flung the door open, he found Ada waiting on the other side.

The second he laid eyes on her, he screamed, “What do you think you’re doing, wench?!”

“It’s all her fault that the prince never looked my way! Why wouldn’t I hate her?! Stop dragging this out and just kill her already!”

“You imbecile!”

Ada shrieked. My heart ached as I watched her get kicked around by the viscount. Unfortunately, I no longer had the strength to stand up for her. All I could do was turn my head to the side, witnessing the scene with eyes wide open. As Ada bore the pain, the two of us made eye contact. She looked at me with a pleading gaze, tears spilling from her turquoise eyes.

I couldn’t find a trace of hatred there.

“Oh, Miss Ada,” I murmured as Lord Credias brought down his foot upon her once more.

“Hurry up and put out the fire! You’re going to kill my Annamarie!”

“I can’t... put out my own flames... You know that...”

“Dammit! Someone, anybody! Go fetch some water!”

Ada passed out soon after responding to his demand. However, that short exchange was all it took to convey that her words belied her true feelings.

“You endured all that just for me... I’m so sorry.”

It was all thanks to her that I had managed to escape Lord Credias’ clutches.

Before long, flames had overtaken the doorway, blocking her figure from view. It was all I could do not to cry out under the stifling heat in the air; still, if my death would send Lord Credias into despair, what more could I ask for? It was a shame that I hadn’t managed to take him down with me, but this was good enough—or so I was thinking, when the heat abruptly vanished.

What hazily came into view were flowers of pale pink and green. As gorgeous as they were, they weren’t quite extravagant enough to be roses... and they, too, had thorns. It seemed that, all of a sudden, I’d found myself encircled in a thorny bramble.

It was these vines that had protected me from the flames and heat. No sooner had I processed that than I felt something prick my fingertip.

“Ouch!” I cried out. I made a hasty attempt to pull my hand back, only for the vine to snake around my finger, refusing to let me go.

After a moment of panic, I noticed that it had become much easier to breathe. Filled with strength anew, I felt the rage of mana within me begin to subside. It felt very similar to the way Master Horace had helped me out when I first made my spellcaster’s contract.

What’s going on? was my first thought. However, after drawing a connection from my contract, the contract stone, and the thorn that had just pricked me, a certain person came to mind.

“The Thorn... Princess?”

The vine coiled around my finger withered away, as if feigning ignorance to my question. The single pale pink flower before me had no answer to give. Still, I could somehow sense that I was being closely watched.

Did the Thorn Princess really have power over the thorns in a place so far away? If so, perhaps the reason she had offered me a contract stone to use way back when was so she could help me out if anything were to happen.

Had the Thorn Princess consumed part of the same contract stone she gave to me, then? Otherwise, she wouldn’t have had any power over me. Perhaps she couldn’t form a contract as someone’s mentor for some reason, so she couldn’t be the one to make me into a spellcaster herself.

Couldn’t she have been a little more forthcoming about all this? Maybe she’s lived so long that explanations just seem tedious.

A wave of nostalgia swept over me as I thought back on the events, and tears welled up in my eyes.

Of course, that didn’t answer the question of why she cared about saving me at all. Besides, how had she known I was destined to become a spellcaster in the first place? Did she have the power to see the future? Did she possess a second kind of magic in addition to wielding her thorns?

It was then that I heard someone call out to me. “Hey! Get a hold of yourself!”

What reached my ears along with a rush of cool air was Isaac’s voice.

◇◇◇

“You’ve made it this far. I won’t let you die here,” the girl murmured, clutching a thorny bramble in one hand.

Her flesh tore, blood trickling out from the wound. A few drops fell into the spring, where the Thorn Princess had waded up to her knees, dissolving into the water. The rest was soaked up by the vine of thorns twined around a dark red boulder.

The Thorn Princess kept her eyes shut for some time. Eventually, she allowed herself to relax, hanging onto the rock beside her as she sat down in the pool. Her long, silver locks fanned out atop the water.

“Efia... This time, I’ll be sure to pull it off. Will you lend me just a little bit more of your strength?” the Thorn Princess whispered like a prayer, clinging to the giant red stone within the spring.

◇◇◇

Isaac had come running to save me. He’d managed to get there just before the shed went down in flames, and thanks to the barrier of thorns, I’d made it out without any burns. Paying no heed to Lord Credias’ protests, he took me and left.

As a result of the Thorn Princess’ interference, perhaps, I’d made an impressive physical recovery, but the exhaustion and malnutrition were taking their toll on me. Once my injuries were treated, I had something to eat and then laid down in bed.

Despite all the trauma I’d just been through, rather than feeling distressed, going head-to-head with Lord Credias had only left me thirsty for revenge. I didn’t quite understand it myself.

While I hadn’t been able to wield my magic at will, I’d discovered that as long as I had sufficient willpower and stamina, I could still put up something of a fight. The way I’d managed to get him to let his guard down and deliberately hold back was something I planned to exploit for all it was worth.

If I succeeded, it would mean murdering the viscount. Every time I’d killed someone in battle up until now, I’d always felt remorse. The guilt of it got to me; after all, I was killing people just so that my loved ones and I could live. Even after all that had happened between us, it pained me to imagine the deaths of Isaac or Mikhail.

And yet, when it came to the viscount, all I could think about was how much I wanted to take him down. Never had I imagined that I would hate someone so much that I wanted to wipe him off the face of the earth. There had been plenty of people in my life I didn’t care for, but I’d always just wished that they would go somewhere far away from me, or that they would pass over me like a storm.

As long as he was around, I would never be able to live in peace. Worse yet, I wouldn’t be able to protect my friends. Considering I still didn’t know whether Cain had made it out alright, the thought of losing Reggie on top of that terrified me. Lord Credias had threatened to take my most precious people away from me, and I absolutely loathed him for it.

Was this how Cain had felt after losing his family? He’d simply never known who was directly responsible for murdering them, and thus been forced to make the entire nation of Llewyne into the object of his grudge.

I’d never once asked him to let go of his hatred. Seeing him trapped by the past had only made me desperate to help him out somehow. Now that I finally understood how he felt, I was truly glad I’d never denied him his feelings.

There was Ada to consider, too. Seeing as she had hurt Felix and killed Lord Azure, perhaps I ought to have hated her. But she was someone we never would’ve had to fight if she hadn’t been dragged into all this. It was all Lord Credias’ fault that she had been turned into a spellcaster and forced to obey the queen. Watching her get beaten by the viscount, unable to defend herself, had felt almost like watching a version of myself who hadn’t run away, making it all the harder to bear.

In the “what if I’d never escaped” scenarios I often dreamed of, I’d always wished for someone to save me. Surely Ada wanted to run away, too.

Plus, she was the one who had called for Isaac, apparently.

“The girl came to me before Mikhail could. She informed me you’d been kidnapped and demanded I do something about it,” Isaac explained, sitting in a chair right beside my bed. “She told me where you were, tipped me off that Lord Bullfrog couldn’t do anything without his defective spellcasters, and bolted. It took me some time to gather enough manpower, but thanks to her tip, I made it before you ended up as a pile of ash.”

Just as Ada had said, there hadn’t been much Lord Credias could do for himself when faced with the knights and soldiers of Salekhard. Even his own subordinates had refused to lay a hand on a king.

“What happened to Miss Ada?”

“She’s the viscount’s wife, it seems. Sorry, but there was nothing I could do on that front.”

Oh, so that’s why, I thought as everything finally clicked into place. It explained why Ada had saved me. It explained why she was fighting on Llewyne’s side. It even made sense why she’d grown so attached to Reggie.

She’d wanted him to rescue her from her predicament. Then, when she saw that I was about to meet a similar fate, she’d taken pity on me. Of course, if she’d made it obvious that she was out to save me, she would’ve been putting herself in danger; thus, she’d lied and pretended it was about her grudge.

“I’ve lodged an official complaint with Llewyne’s Lord Erling, demanding he never let that bullfrog anywhere near Salekhard’s forces. Regardless, there’s no telling what could happen if we let our guard down.”

Then, there came a knock on the door.

“I’ve brought your meals.” Mikhail entered the room, a little unsteady on his feet. Yesterday, there had been cuts all over his face and hands from the defective spellcaster’s attack, but those seemed to have healed now. Only the bruises on his legs had yet to fade away.

My cheek still hurt where it had been struck. The swelling had gone down, but I had to place a cold, wet cloth on it from time to time. The medicine of this world made gashes quicker to heal than anything else, really.

Mikhail sat down in the chair, switching spots with Isaac, who left to go eat at a table across the room. Once I’d cleared my plate, Mikhail and Isaac traded places once more.

As soon as he’d taken a seat, a look of concern crossed over Isaac’s face.

“This is pretty serious,” he said, glancing down at the fingers curled in his shirt. Before he’d even had time to hold out a hand for me, I’d caught him by the sleeve.

“Erm... I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. I could hardly expect you to keep it all together after you were nearly deflowered.”

I’d felt pretty composed when Lord Credias was trying to force himself on me, but that had been a trick of the mind. I’d just been too focused on how much I hated him to think about anything else. Once I’d gotten away from the flames and had a moment to collect myself, I found myself terrified of being separated from Isaac, a familiar face, or Mikhail, who had been taking such good care of me. I knew they wouldn’t do anything awful to me, at least.

Despite my attempts to make myself get over it, I’d reached out to grab his sleeve before I could stop myself. Mikhail had let me hold on to him whenever he was sitting there, too. When it was Isaac’s turn, however, I couldn’t even wait long enough for him to offer a hand.

“I’m sure I bear some of the blame for this myself,” Isaac muttered, referring to how he’d stabbed Cain right before my eyes and kidnapped me to boot.

“There’s no need for you to be here all the time, Your Majesty. Lady Kiara isn’t going to burst into tears the second you leave her side, you know.”

Considering that had been my mental state not too long ago, I awkwardly averted my gaze. Now I was really glad I hadn’t raised a big fuss.

“I all but said she was my woman, remember? It would look suspicious if I didn’t stay with her.”

When he was lodging his complaint with the Llewynians, he’d claimed as much to justify keeping me to himself.

Mikhail heaved a deep sigh. After gazing at me for a few long moments, he said, “If our aim is to be cautious, I suppose it is for the best that she remains with you. But what are you planning to do if an emergency arises, Your Highness?”

“That’s ‘Your Majesty’ to you.”

“I know, I know. Your Majesty.”

Isaac rose to his feet. “We’d better help her get over it, then,” he said as he strode right up to me.

“Huh? What do you have in mind?” Mikhail asked, perplexed.

I sucked in a breath as Isaac got close, and that was all the time it took for him to scoop me up into his arms.

“Huh?”

“We’re going for a stroll up to the roof to help her digest. If we don’t run into any trouble along the way, that should be proof that she’s safe here. The only man she has to watch out for is Lord Credias himself. After that, she’ll be able to handle being away from us for a bit, don’t you think?”

Once he’d stepped out of the room, Isaac set me down and made me walk on my own two feet. He kept hold of my hand, but that didn’t stop me from feeling vulnerable each time we passed by another soldier. When he felt me squeeze his hand, Isaac whispered, “So long as you’re with the king, they’ll be as well behaved as a pack of sheepdogs. No need to be so nervous.”

“Sheepdogs?”

As much as I appreciated the reassurance, I wasn’t feeling scared so much as helpless. Besides, there wasn’t much I could do about a knee-jerk reaction.

After a bit of fretting, I tried imagining the blond, short-haired knight who had just struck up a conversation with Isaac as a dog. The man had a sharp gaze and an air of diligence about him. The shape of his face bore the strongest resemblance to a German shepherd.

That was when the man in question glanced over at me, scowling. Shoot, did he figure out I was imagining him as a dog? Look, I’m sorry, okay?!

I started freaking out, only for Isaac to say, “Don’t stare at her, Vasily; you know you have a naturally menacing look in your eyes. See, you’ve scared the poor thing.”

“Pardon me, but I don’t believe there’s anything wrong with my eyes. I heard you were stuck to her side like glue, so I was considering whether we ought to keep a woman with similar looks in our army—to serve as a leash to keep you from wandering off, that is.”

What does he mean, “wandering off”? Oh wait, that’s right. Isaac came to Cassia all alone for some reason. He was prowling around Fort Inion by himself, too. I’m sure that qualifies as “wandering off” to his poor men.

I felt sorry for this poor German shepherd named Vasily. Nonetheless, I had to clear up the misunderstanding here. “He’s taking me around with him for the same reason one might hold on extra tight to something they nearly had stolen, I’m pretty sure.”

Vasily grunted his acknowledgment. “I see. I’ll keep that in mind, Lady Spellcaster. For now, let’s just chalk it up to a matter of security,” he replied, then took his leave.

Now that there was no one else around, I posed a question to Isaac. “If you’re supposed to be the king, how come you always go out on your own? Couldn’t you send other people instead?”

Isaac didn’t look me in the eye. After a pause long enough for me to tell that he was struggling to come up with an answer, he finally opened his mouth and said, “I want to see those places for myself. That’s why.”

Why had he hesitated over such a simple reply?

“It’s not common practice for kings and princes to just wander off, is it? I would’ve figured you’d be swarming with escorts whenever you stepped outside.”

Come to think of it, he’d mentioned something along those lines when we first met. If he’d been a prince all along, it was no wonder he’d lived such a sheltered life.

“I’m the second prince, so I was afforded a bit more flexibility than my brother.”

“Reggie never does that. He’s always sure to bring a bodyguard when he goes out, and he never blows them off or anything.”

“That prince of yours sounds like a stuffy fellow. Far too straitlaced, I’d say.”

“Upstanding is what he is! He’s always careful not to make trouble for the people around him!”

“Quick to defend him, I see. What, do you have a thing for him?”

I clamped my mouth shut. If he’d just asked if we were together, it would’ve been easy to tell him no, just like I had when Emmeline and Lucille grilled me about it. But whether I had a thing for him was an entirely different question.

“He’s my good friend.” My best bet was to give as succinct an answer as I could.

“When a man and a woman are close, romance almost always comes into the picture somewhere down the line. Even supposing it’s one-sided.”

“He’s my keeper!”

“Yes, you did say that earlier.”

With that, Isaac headed up the stairs of the manor, stopping to talk to the knights and soldiers he met along the way. He offered little more than a simple greeting to most of the soldiers, but he had a strange conversation with one of his knights.

“Are you sure you should be walking around with the spellcaster, Your Majesty?”

“Yes, so don’t worry about it. I’ve decided to leave my fate in her hands, you see. In the meantime, I need you to reach out to Salekhard and have them send over a task force.”

“You’re going to bring your brother to tears again.”

“I think that was the one and only time we’ll see him quite that sentimental. Either way, it should make things easier on him going forward.”

Isaac saw the knight off with a smile and a “Good day,” but something about the exchange didn’t sit right with me. A strange sense of unease grew deep in my chest.

“What did you mean by ‘leaving your fate in my hands,’ Isaac?”

“A spellcaster makes for a powerful asset. What’s more, Farzia doesn’t have a replacement for you. It’s no surprise that I’d stake everything on your performance, is it?”

Yet here I was plotting to escape from the Salekhardian army as soon as I had the chance. Did he seriously think I was just going to obey him forever? Besides, if all he cared about was putting me to work as a spellcaster, there was no need for him to be so concerned over my mental health. Was this some form of atonement for nearly killing Cain, who I’d told him was like a brother to me? I found that hard to believe. Did he just feel sorry for me, then?

“Farzia still has the frostfoxes, though.”

“You’d compare yourself to a monster? Please. It would be much easier to slay those pups than to face a spellcaster. Then again, I suppose one of them did grow a few sizes. Will it prove more difficult to fight like that?”

Just like Master Horace, Isaac referred to the foxes as “dogs.” Did everyone from Salekhard see them that way? Also...

“What do you mean, it grew a few sizes?”

What is he talking about?

“I don’t know either, which is why I asked. It wasn’t your doing, I take it?”

I shook my head. I had zero recollection of that. “I didn’t even know monsters could make themselves bigger in the first place.”

“I saw a frostfox the size of a stallion with my own two eyes, so I have to assume that’s the case.”

I had no idea which frostfox he was talking about, but whichever one it was, it had apparently grown as big as a horse. What in the world had happened there?

Is everything okay, Gina? I wondered, which brought Isaac’s brother to mind again.

He was the man Gina had loved. The knight just now had mentioned that he might cry; was the implication that he would be driven to tears by all the trouble Isaac was making for him? Or was it that he would be worried about Isaac pushing himself too hard?

“You aren’t on bad terms with your brother, right?”

“No, but we pretend to be for appearance’s sake.”

Once we’d made it to the top of the stairs, Isaac opened the door and we went out onto the roof. One section of the stone building’s roof had been made into a balcony, while the rest of it was a typical triangular design. Since this was supposedly the mayor’s manor, this platform had likely been built as a watchtower to be used in an emergency.

Isaac strode over to the center of the empty balcony, then said, “Gina told you everything, didn’t she? That I have the blood of the Llewynian royal family flowing through my veins. And how much trouble that’s made for Salekhard.”

I hesitated. “Yeah.”

There was no one else around now, but Isaac still hadn’t let go of my hand. In hushed tones, he went on, “I’ve been something of a pest for a long time now. I always had to play the part of the useless second prince to keep Llewyne from meddling with our royal family, and my brother had to take on the role of the first prince who took me to task. I’d expected my father to work things out while we still had the wool pulled over everyone’s eyes... but that didn’t turn out as I’d hoped.”

He sighed. “If my brother took a Llewynian princess as his bride, assuming the war with Farzia dragged on long enough, Salekhard would eventually be forced to join the fray. Unfortunately, my father had long since grown tired of making an effort. Part of him had already given up. If that were the case, I decided, then I would take up the role of ringleader myself. Still, I couldn’t think of a good enough plan to protect our country.”

That was when Isaac had just happened to stumble upon Mikhail.

“Mikhail was my brother’s lord-in-waiting at the time; I caught him in the castle gardens, muttering something rather unsettling to himself. We couldn’t refuse the marriage proposal because of our debt to Llewyne, but if I forced my way onto the throne and imprisoned my brother, I could turn them down. As a trade-off, we would be forced to fight in the war, but we could just lose to Farzia on purpose somewhere along the way. Even if we were to be annexed by Farzia, your country has no history of turning the citizens of defeated nations into slaves. It would leave us better off than a Llewynian invasion, at least.”

That was pretty unsettling.

“I thought it was a fairly clever idea; thus, I recruited him and put the plan into action. And so, to tie up all the loose ends... I asked my father to die for the cause.”

The original king of Salekhard, in other words.

“Right. I heard you killed your father.”

“It was actually suicide. Insisting that he couldn’t put everything on me, he drank poison of his own accord. I’d taken issue with his shilly-shallying in the past... but in his very last moments, he was an upstanding father.”

Isaac explained it all very matter-of-factly. When I looked up at him, I didn’t see his profile twisted in anguish, either. I assumed he’d already worked past his pain.

“My brother saw it happen, too. He agreed to lock himself up; after all, that was what my father had suggested he do. However, that was the first time I saw him cry since he’d come of age. He hated that he was laying all the responsibility on me.”

The plan meant casting Isaac into disgrace. Perhaps the guilt of that had gotten to him.

“Salekhard needs at least one victory against Farzia. That’s why I had Mikhail craft a plan centered around defeating you for our last battle. If I could pluck you out of the viscount’s hands afterward, surely we’d be able to pull out a win against Farzia; not to mention that getting our hands on a spellcaster would put some pressure on Llewyne, too.”

“Wait, what? So taking me captive wasn’t just a stroke of luck?”

“It was no coincidence. My plan had been to capture the spellcaster Kiara from the start. I never intended to kill you; however, I couldn’t make my intentions apparent to those around me. There’s no telling if one of my men is in correspondence with Llewyne. Mikhail and I haven’t told our plan to anyone but a few of the people closest to us.” With a chuckle, he added, “I suppose you’re included in that category.”

His laugh sounded so carefree that it was hard to believe he was discussing something like murder. This was the same man who had tried to kill Cain for his goals, yet in spite of that, I felt my anger toward him withering away. Was it because everything he’d done had been to protect his home?

“Did you tell me all that because I already knew the gist of it from Gina?”

“More or less. If she trusted you enough to tell you, I figured there was no reason to keep secrets. Besides, I need a win against Farzia, and I plan to use you as leverage to improve Salekhard’s position once the war is over. I’m probably better off telling you what’s going on if I want to keep you from acting out.”

My eyes went wide as saucers. “You mean you’re planning to send me home?”

If he wanted to give Salekhard an advantage in negotiations, that meant he’d have to send me back to Farzia.

“What, you don’t want me to? Come now, I’m sure Gina must have told you that Salekhard plans to lose when the time is right.”

“She did, but still...”

“I intend to use you as a bargaining chip after we lose. If you’re a battered mess by then, however, that will only add to the reparations we owe. On that note, we need to be prepared for Lord Bullfrog’s next strike.”

I was relieved to hear that he had no plans to kill me. I finally understood why he’d had to hurt Cain, too. Considering he’d told me all this somewhere no one else could overhear, it was safe to say he wasn’t lying... or that’s what I was banking on, at least.

Still, I couldn’t just go along with Isaac’s plan. If I went on to clash with the Farzian army, there was no telling how much damage Reggie’s troops might suffer for it.

Fortunately, I’d learned more about Lord Credias’ powers thanks to Ada’s interference. But even if he couldn’t cast any offensive magic, he could still make defective spellcasters by the dozen. If I wasn’t around to stop him, he was going to cost us a huge amount of casualties. I really couldn’t wait until the war with Salekhard was over.

“Not good enough for you?” Isaac asked. He could probably tell from the face I was making. “You’re a strange one, you know that? You’d really risk your life for a mere friend? I could see it between fellow men, perhaps, but you’re a girl. Surely you know the reason why there are so few women on the battlefield. Who would want to risk being subjected to something worse than combat?”

“I’m a spellcaster, though.”

“You’re a stubborn one. Well then, why don’t I show you that you’re not as strong as you think you are?”

“What do you mean?”

Isaac finally let go of my hand, only to slide an arm around my back, pulling me into an embrace. Panicked, I tried to wrench myself out of his grip, but I couldn’t get my arms to budge—and he was holding me one-handed, too.

“See, look at that; you can’t even push me away. I’m not as defenseless as that viscount, I assume?”

It wasn’t long before he’d caught my chin with his free hand, forcing me to look up at him. As I stared into Isaac’s face, so close to mine, I narrowed my eyes and glared at him.

“Do you surrender?”

“No.”

If this was enough to make me back down, I would have stopped fighting in the war the moment I grew scared to kill.

“Interesting. You told me everyone around you was overprotective, but I’m starting to understand where they’re coming from. It takes more than the usual means of persuasion to make you give in.”

Wasn’t he trying to menace me here? What was he going on about now?

“None of my friends would ever try anything funny with me, so I don’t have to worry.”

“Oh?” Isaac’s eyes narrowed into slits. “That’s no fun. How about I put you back on your guard?”

He brought his face closer to mine. When I tried to take a step back, I was reminded that he still had my chin in his grip—and by the time I realized that, he had already placed a kiss on my cheek.

I internally breathed a sigh of relief, glad that he’d settled for my cheek. I was strangely unfazed; perhaps because I knew that was better than what the viscount would’ve done to me, or perhaps because I’d gotten used to that kind of thing a long time ago.

“Don’t mess with me, Isaac.”

“Oh, does it take more than a cheek kiss to make you bat an eye? You’re used to this, I see. Who usually does this to you? That knight of yours? Or is it that prince you’re so very familiar with?”

“So what if it is? They’re both like family to me.”

My answer sounded suspiciously like an excuse, and Isaac looked exasperated. “An imitation family isn’t going to last forever, you know. There’s a chance he’ll go on to make a real family with someone else, meaning he’ll have people who will always come before you. Once that happens, the fake family will get left behind.”

The fake family. I was overcome with loneliness at the words.

I already knew that. Everyone had family who mattered more to them than I did. I’d just pretended not to realize it for so long.

After that long speech, Isaac finally stopped talking. He let go of my chin, brushing his fingers across my cheek instead. At first I wondered why, but it wasn’t long before I learned the answer: the chill of the breeze against my cheeks made me realize I was crying.

I couldn’t make it stop, though. What he’d said had hit too close to home.

I wanted my family to stay with me. I wanted a place to go home to. Perhaps I felt that way because of the past-life memories I had; I knew the joy of having a family, so the thought of having nothing was terrifying, unnerving.

But in the end, our “family” was just an imitation. Reggie had brought me to that realization a long time ago.

When Reggie, who valued my freedom above all else, had refused my protection, I’d felt a dread of losing the person who was like family to me, the one who understood me best of all—as well as a fear that he’d turned his back on me. I’d started wondering what I’d have to do to stay by his side. Perhaps the reason I’d jumped to making myself useful through fighting was because the way my stepmother had treated me like a servant, plus the way my real father had never stood up for me, had stayed with me all this time. I figured that if I went to work, it would keep him from tossing me aside. If making myself useful might allow me to stay by his side, I was desperate to tag along.

Of course, I couldn’t say any of that out loud. I’m lonely. I’m scared. Say that you’ll always need me. What if he thought I was too clingy? If he didn’t even want me around as a friend anymore, I would lose my place at his side.

“It’s okay to despise me, you know,” said the very man who had brought me to tears, peering steadily into my face.

“Why?”

Why would he say something so cruel? I wished he’d just left it alone. If I’d stayed blissfully ignorant, I could have kept moving forward, no matter how anxious I was—at least until the war was finally over.

“You’re better off despising me. Otherwise, you’re just going to get hurt.”

“What do you mean, despising you?”

Isaac’s gray eyes seemed a touch gentler than usual. If he wanted me to hate him, why would he look at me like that? The moment after the thought had crossed my mind, however, he pulled me close and covered my mouth with his own. The rough texture of his lips made it feel all the more real.

After a few seconds, I snapped back to my senses. I tried to pull away, but he was holding both my head and my arms in place. Meanwhile, I felt something... off? I knew this was wrong somehow, but no matter how much I wanted Isaac to stop, he wouldn’t. My moans of protest were all swallowed up in the kiss.

When I realized I couldn’t get away, I panicked, flashing back to when the viscount had pinned me to the ground. I hated not being able to fight back. It was terrifying. Unable to get out of his grip, my mounting anger needed somewhere to go... and so I stomped down on Isaac’s foot as hard as I could.

“OW!”

It was too bad I was wearing slippers. I wished I could’ve done that in stilettos pointy enough to leave a hole in his foot.

When Isaac pulled back, his face was twisted in pain. As refreshing a sight as it was, I was more concerned with wiping my mouth at the moment.

“Let go! I hate you when you do this stuff!”

I fought to get out of his grasp, and he let me go, likely figuring I wasn’t about to do anything drastic. The first thing I did was put a hand on the stone floor.

“Nope, we can’t have that,” Isaac cut in, lifting me up into his arms. “You know, I don’t mind if you hate me, but you really ought to despise me.”

“What are you talking about?! I already do!”

He was the one who had tried to kill Cain. I still hadn’t forgiven him for that. It was just that he’d protected me from Lord Credias and nursed me back to health... so there was a part of me that had started thinking the war was the real thing to blame here.

But by now, it was obvious that he was trying to get me to hold a personal grudge.

Isaac laughed, amused. “Well, good.”

As I was carried off, eventually I ran out of strength to keep struggling. By the time I’d made it back to my room, I was completely tuckered out. When Mikhail saw me chewing on my lip in frustration, his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

“What?! Just what did you do to make her cry?!” Mikhail berated his king.

Isaac responded dispassionately, “Everything went according to plan. If I could just bring her along, I wouldn’t have to bother with any of this. I’ll talk to you about our next move later.”

The perplexed look dropped from Mikhail’s face. “I see. Very well.”

“Then I leave the rest to you.”

With that, Isaac briskly took his leave. After Mikhail had checked to be sure that I wasn’t afraid to be alone anymore, he likewise left to take care of some business.

I had no idea what was going on anymore. What was Isaac after, going so far just to make me despise him? What was the point of pissing me off? All it did was make my desire to escape that much stronger.

“What are you thinking?” I wondered aloud.

Frustrated, I punched the bed. With that out of my system, I collapsed onto my back.

Although my mana had stabilized, I was still low on stamina. No matter how angry I got, that was the one thing I couldn’t bounce back from.

My blood boiled as I rubbed the back of my hand against my mouth over and over. I could still feel his lips on mine. Each time I remembered that he’d kissed me, tears nearly welled up in my eyes. If I didn’t count the time with Reggie, that had been my first kiss—and that really pissed me off.

Yet for some reason, I still couldn’t bring myself to despise Isaac. Was it because—despite having hurt someone I cared about—he’d helped me out the first time we met? Was I just confused? Or was it because I felt like I understood his circumstances?

“I’ve had enough of this.”

I didn’t even understand what I was thinking anymore. All I wanted was to run off into the distance. The only reason I didn’t was because if I left Isaac’s side, I feared that I’d be caught by the viscount instead.

While I lay there seething over my powerlessness, Isaac truly didn’t seem bothered by what he’d done to me. Wary of any more surprises from the viscount, he came to see me one more time come nightfall.

After sneering at my blatant show of distrust, he conversed with a knight who had come to him with a report. The desperate plea that punctuated it caught my interest.

“Your lord-in-waiting has let a cursed doll loose in the corridors, and now none of us can come anywhere near this floor! Might you ask him to stop? Ominous rumors are spreading among the troops—apparently, if you lay eyes on the demonic doll in the middle of the night, you’ll be cursed to flounder on the battlefield.”

A cursed doll? Is he talking about Master Horace? What is he doing in the hallways?

I was happy to hear that Master Horace was apparently doing just fine, but I hadn’t the foggiest idea what he was up to.

Picking up on my curiosity, Isaac smugly prompted, “Want to know what he’s talking about? I believe he should be wandering this way any moment now. Head out into the corridor and take a look.”

As much as I hated to take orders from Isaac, I wanted to see how Master Horace was doing for myself, so I poked my head out into the hallway.

The long, narrow corridor was dim, lit only by a single candlestick right in the center, and what little orange light there was flickered unsteadily. There was something almost eerie about it... though really, the same could be said of almost all corridors in this world.

I spotted Mikhail crouching at the very end of the hall.

“Off you go!” he said. Master Horace left Mikhail’s hands, rattling and clacking as he tottered away.

I saw a soldier heading up the stairs at that exact moment, but the second he heard those noises, he turned tail and rushed back down the steps.

What ARE you up to, Master Horace?

Eventually, my mentor caught sight of my head sticking out from the doorway and raised his hand with a clack. “Hey there, little disciple!”

“What are you doing?”

“Oh, you know how it goes. If I don’t go for a little walk before bed, I won’t replenish enough mana to keep this ol’ body of mine moving. Eeeheehee!”

Since when did he operate like some kind of clockwork toy? I didn’t point out his lie, as I was sure Master Horace had his reasons for doing this—though I had no idea what they actually were.

It occurred to me that I could just ask him myself, but right as I stepped out into the corridor, a certain someone wrapped an arm around my waist, lifted me up, and shut the door in my face.

“What?! Stop that!”

Isaac dragged me all the way back into the room and dumped me on top of the bed.

“Remember, he is a hostage. I can’t have you getting too close to him.”

That explained why he had pulled me back, but it didn’t explain why he was keeping hold of my wrists as he towered over me. Having both hands restrained brought to mind what had happened that afternoon, and I found myself forgetting to breathe for a moment. I was afraid that if I so much as stirred, it would only provoke Isaac further.

After a long stretch of silence, Isaac said, “I suggest you do as I say. Don’t expect me to tolerate any insubordination; if you don’t behave, I’ll tie you up and lock you away so you can’t fight back. After that fiasco with the viscount, I could easily claim that you’re feeling too unwell to fight in the next battle and keep you holed up here instead. Of course, if you’d prefer to sit here gnashing your teeth until I bring you someone’s head, you’re free to do as you like.”

I couldn’t even manage a nod. Isaac must have interpreted my silence as acceptance, seeing as he released his grip on me and left the room.

The moment he determined that I wasn’t being cooperative enough, he was bound to follow through on his threats. Not being in a position to do anything while Farzia was under attack was the worst scenario I could imagine. Thus, I had no choice but to endure.

Five days passed as I waited patiently for the right moment, never once striking back against my captors. Finally, on the day the autumn breeze turned frigid, an attack was carried out on the Farzian troops’ current stronghold—Fort Liadna.