Chapter 1: What the Thorn Princess Once Sought

In dire need of a respite after our victory at the Battle of Eirlain, we returned to Delphion Castle for a time. It was directly south of our current position, so the journey only took three days.

As soon as we arrived at the baron’s castle, we dove right into a discussion of our strategy moving forward. The generals, Reggie’s royal guard, and my own personal advisor—Cain—all gathered in the castle’s council room.

“Immediately following the Battle of Eirlain, I spread the word to the rest of Farzia that Salekhard has joined under our banner, and the results have been everything we hoped for and more. We’ll have all the reinforcements we could possibly need. Several of the noble houses that had previously been sitting on the fence have offered to send us more troops,” said Reggie, flashing a small slip of paper that had been delivered to us by bird.

“Thus, my plan is to have the reinforcements waiting by the Delphion border march west and capture Kilrea. Is our other batch of soldiers ready to row out into the lake?” he asked, turning to Groul.

His knight nodded. “Yes. By now, they ought to have set out in the ship Llewyne left behind in Eirlain.”

“Excellent. While we’re waiting to hear from them, we should likewise set sail and head straight for the royal domain.”

“You certainly aren’t breaking them in gently,” remarked Jerome, the middle-aged commander of the Limerick troops, a hint of pity in his eyes.

“Well, that was the basis of the Lady Spellcaster’s proposal.” Reggie glanced over at me.

Fair. I did say we should work them to the bone to reduce their postwar reparations.

“Besides, if we hope to placate the nobility over the events in Trisphede, we’re better off foisting the more unpleasant work onto them.”

Of course, the “them” we were referring to was Isaac’s Salekhardian troops. We had arranged for them to make their way from Eirlain to the royal domain by boat. Their task was to wipe out the Llewynian forces stationed there ahead of our arrival. That way, we would be able to breeze straight through the royal domain and on to Sestina.

Though I was the one who had originally proposed driving them like cattle, I’d assumed we would be crossing the lake together. The Salekhardians clearly hadn’t expected to be thrown into enemy territory all on their lonesome either, since I recalled them boggling at the orders.

You’re merciless, Reggie.

“Once we’ve arrived in the royal domain, we’ll march west from the border with Kilrea to join up with our reinforcements. After that, we head out for Sestina.”

The elderly Lord Enister voiced his concerns, stroking his white beard. “Do you think it’s okay to leave our reinforcements with the Salekhardians?”

Our backup saw the Salekhardians as little more than enemy invaders. He was probably worried that they would be unwilling to work alongside their former foes.

“That won’t be a problem. I’ve asked a former Farzian princess, Lady Évrard, to come lead the reinforcements.”

“Lady Évrard? Really?” I blurted out, surprised.

Reggie smiled. “From the sound of it, the margrave has finally recovered from his injuries. Regardless, I was worried about sending him on such a long journey, and I heard that my aunt had been placed in charge of their new recruits, besides. Thus, I chose to hand command of the reinforcements over to her. The best woman for the job, don’t you agree?”

“Considering her lineage and the status she used to have, the rest of the nobility will be in no position to defy her orders,” asserted Alan, son of the woman in question.

Oh, I see, I thought.

Beside me, the daughter of Lord Delphion, Emmeline, had sparkles in her eyes. “Lady Évrard, you say?!”

Come to think of it, Emmeline had mentioned that Lady Évrard was something of an idol to her. No doubt she was dying to meet her.

After that, we were briefed on the current situation in the royal domain and Sestina. The information had come from the man leading a force of 2,000 soldiers from Tarinahaea, the home of one of Reggie’s knight-guards. Evidently, the queen had not ordered the entirety of her forces to keep the royal capital surrounded; instead, she had split her army in two and dispatched about half of the men to Sestina. The soldiers were waiting there to ambush us, knowing we would have to pass through the province eventually.

It sounded like Reggie preferred to leave the royal domain for Salekhard to deal with and head straight through to Sestina.

While I listened in on the discussion, I thought back to the section of the RPG that took place in the royal domain—or more specifically, the mission to find the item needed to recruit the Thorn Princess.

What’s Reggie planning to do about that? I wondered. Even with Lord Credias gone, there was no telling what the future had in store for us. Having the Thorn Princess in our party would definitely give us a little extra peace of mind.

Whatever the answer, a week later, we would be setting sail from a port not far from the baron’s castle.

◇◇◇

This was my first time ever setting foot on a ship in this world. Evidently, it was going to take a total of five days to reach the royal domain by boat. It wasn’t all that far, but the lack of a tidal current meant the journey would span multiple days regardless. Our soldiers were split up between the Delphion ships and the ship carrying the Tarinahaea reinforcements Reggie had called upon.

Shortly after our departure, Alan got seasick.

“Wow. You’re such a wild child that I never imagined you’d have trouble with boats,” I commented.

“Who are you calling a wild—urp!” Alan gripped the railing and leaned over the side of the deck, deathly pale as he stared down at the surface of the water.

“I just always got the sense that you were most in your element outdoors. It’s easy to imagine you tearing up the town, like, climbing trees or picking fights with stray dogs.”

“When did I ever tear—hurp!”

“I was mostly kidding about that part. Still, I always see you riding off somewhere on a horse, and rumor has it that you even mounted Lila after she’d grown a few sizes. I was sure you’d do fine on a boat, no matter how hard it shakes.”

I’d figured his inner ear would have been trained for this sort of thing, so I was pretty surprised.

“How come it isn’t getting to you?” Alan asked, shooting a baleful glance my way.

Now that he mentioned it, I had to wonder the same thing. “Good question. Why isn’t it?”

“It’s all that time you’ve spent riding your golem. It rocks back and forth even more violently than a ship. Now that you’ve grown used to that, you can handle just about anything,” posited Cain, who had come over looking for me. “So this is where you were hiding, Miss Kiara.”

“I figured I might as well take advantage of the cruise and go get a look at the scenery.”

“That’s all well and good, but let’s give Lord Alan some space. From the look of it, it’s taking everything he has just to keep this conversation going.” Cain gave him a sympathetic glance.

Alan threw his hands over his mouth, looking the most ashen he had yet.

“Let’s, ah, allow him to retch in peace,” his knight urged. Alan seemed to agree with that suggestion, waving his free hand at us in a shooing motion.

He did, indeed, appear to be at his limit. Scolding myself for being such a busybody, I started walking off. “I thought talking might make for a good distraction, that’s all.”

“I believe medicine would do the job better.”

Chester walked over to Alan with something in his hand. Either a canteen or medicine, I figured. If that did the trick, he’d hopefully be feeling better in no time.

Still, I thought, the way Cain interrupted my well-intentioned pestering and dragged me away really had an “older brother” vibe to it. I burst out giggling.

“What is it?”

“I was just thinking about what a good big brother you are to Alan.”

A surprised look passed over his face, which quickly shifted into a wry smile. “I suppose so. I’ve had my hands full with a certain little sister as of late, but Lord Alan will always be that younger brother I have to keep a close eye on.” He then gave me a couple of light pats on the head. “In any case, sister of mine... I came looking for you because we received news I knew you’d want to hear.”

“Huh? What news?”

“It’s from the Salekhardian army.”

It seemed we’d finally received word from Isaac following his infiltration of the royal domain.

“They sent us a message by bird. It seems they’ve landed in the royal domain safely.”

Not only had they “borrowed” the armor from a slew of Llewynian soldiers, but they had taken Llewyne’s ship the long way around and pretended to be coming from the direction of the royal capital. The soldiers stationed in the royal domain had welcomed Isaac’s men into the port, swallowing their lies about having been sent in preparation for the Farzian army’s arrival. With their enemy’s guard successfully lowered, the Salekhardians had swiftly retaken the fort on the shore.

I was relieved to hear that catching Llewyne off guard meant they had made it through with only minimal casualties.

“The survivors will be sure to spread the word before long, so it’s a trick that only works once. Still, not many would have what it takes to pull off the first time. I must say I’m impressed.” Cain praised the effort, much to my surprise.

When the lords or nobles they served were away, knights would sometimes take up command of their armies. It was a very different role from your ordinary soldier. Alan and Reggie would occasionally leave their troops in the hands of their knights, too.

Cain was one of those potential candidates. That meant he knew just how difficult it was to mobilize an army and win a battle. And here he was, complimenting the man who had come within spitting distance of killing him once.

“Is something the matter?”

“I was just surprised. I think it’s pretty big of you to speak so highly of someone you hate,” I answered honestly.

Cain flashed me a rueful smile. “I have no problem speaking well of those who pull their weight. This war against Llewyne isn’t one we can afford to lose.”

I see. Basically, even if he hurts himself on a tool, as long as it does the job, that won’t stop him from either using it or singing its praises.

“I’m more surprised to see how little you seem to resent him, considering he took you captive amid that mess,” he shot back.

I debated how to answer that one. “It’s a little rough to think back on how many Farzians he hurt, or how he almost killed you. Still, it’s just as true that he’s bailed me out time after time.”

I couldn’t write him off over one transgression.

“When I heard what you said, I realized that it would benefit us more to work with him, and so I was better off putting all that behind me.”

“Benefit us how?”

“Thanks to all of Isaac’s hard work, you won’t have to throw yourself into danger quite as often. That’s a big win for us, don’t you think?”

Cain blinked. “Does my safety... seem like a ‘big win’ to you, Miss Kiara?”

I was taken aback by his question. “What? Of course! It means Alan and Reggie will be less likely to slip up, and most importantly of all, there isn’t anyone else out there who would be so good at predicting my next move and looking after me. Besides... if something happened to you, I might not be able to fight on, either.”

Back when I was in Isaac’s custody, worried though I had been, I still had hope that Cain had made it out okay. That was all that had kept me going. If I’d been told that he really had died back there, I wouldn’t have had the strength to push myself so hard. Even with the Thorn Princess’s aid, even with Ada’s help, I would have written off the situation as hopeless.

Cain gave a small laugh.

“Besides, I was pretty mad, so I gave him a few kicks for good measure. If you had died back then, I would have done a lot worse to him than that.”

“You kicked the king of Salekhard?”

I nodded. “Uhh... how many times was it, again? I got one last hit in when Reggie showed up to rescue me, too.”

I’d kicked him a bunch, and I recalled stomping on his foot, too.

Ugh, now I’m thinking about the time he kissed me. Still, I decided to let him off the hook for that, since I knew it was just a ploy to make me realize my true feelings. Though, uh... hold on a second. Why is Isaac always so quick to throw himself under the bus and play the villain, anyway?

We spent the entire voyage in that relatively laidback manner. Eventually, Alan got over his seasickness, and the rest of the trip went smoothly enough.

Three days later, we docked at the port of the royal domain.

◇◇◇

Isaac was waiting for us on the shore. He greeted Alan and Reggie first, then called out to me when he spotted me standing behind them. “Ho there, Kiara!”

The ease of his greeting took me back to our encounters in Cassia and Fort Inion, and I found myself falling back into our old dynamic. “I’m glad to see you alive and kicking. You didn’t get hurt, did you?”

“Oho, were you worried about me? Come now, I was the one doing the ambushing, so there was no chance I was going to lose.”

“Still, there’s always the risk you could get hit by a stray arrow.”

“I’m the king, lest you forget. My men take the utmost care to prevent that from happening.”

Seeing Isaac laugh off the possibility so nonchalantly was enough to convince me. Reggie was always tightly guarded himself, so what he was saying checked out.

Reggie clapped a hand on the king’s shoulder just as he was about to go on talking. “Care to explain the current state of affairs, Lord Isaac? I’d appreciate it if you would give us a tour of the fort, while you’re at it.” Technically he was smiling, but there was an ominous gleam in his eyes.

“What’s the matter?” came Isaac’s smooth reply, a grin on his face. “Trying to keep me away from Kiara?”

“Given your previous offenses, can you blame me?”

His retort made my heart leap in my chest. I’d been doing my best not to think too hard about our history, treating it as water under the bridge... but hearing Reggie bring it up filled me with guilt.

“Nobody likes a petty man.”

“Then perhaps you should endeavor not to bring out the spite in me. Come here, Kiara.”

Seeing as it was Reggie calling for me, I trotted over obediently. He immediately grabbed hold of my hand.

“Huh?”

Wait just a second! I didn’t expect him to pull that in front of such a big crowd!

Groul didn’t seem to mind it, however, and the rest of the knights hardly batted an eye. Even Alan had ignored us to go talk to a Salekhardian general, so the only ones sneaking glances our way were the rank-and-file soldiers off in the distance.

I was too scared to look behind us and see what sort of face Cain was making.

Reggie, meanwhile, wasn’t bothered in the slightest. “Given my role as her keeper, it’s only natural that I’d have a say in who gets close to her. Now, why don’t you show us inside?”

With a roll of his eyes, Isaac began leading the way.

Reggie refused to let go of my hand throughout the whole walk to the fort. There were Salekhardian soldiers lined up near the entrance and in the courtyard, so I had to wonder what they thought when they saw me trailing a step behind him.

This is SO embarrassing.

Even so, I never attempted to free myself from his grasp. I wanted to hold on to him for as long as I could.

Reggie finally let go of my hand once we had entered the fort. The moment he did, he leaned over to whisper into my ear, “Of course, if I really had my way, I wouldn’t be letting you go.”

Perhaps that was what kept me from feeling too sad when he pulled away. It was at times like this that I could have sworn he could read my mind.

The one whose reaction I’d been most concerned about—Cain—simply said, “It was an effective security measure. Best not to let it get to you.” Apparently that was how he’d chosen to interpret the gesture. Good.

Once we were inside the fort, we jumped into a briefing on the current situation, followed by a discussion of our next move.

Immediately upon his capture of the fort, Isaac had sent scouts out into the royal domain—still clad in Llewynian uniforms, of course. According to the reports of the ones who had come back, the former magistrate had been assassinated by an underling of Lord Patriciél prior to the invasion. The majority of soldiers who had been stationed there had been pulled to the west in preparation for the showdown in Sestina.

The royal domain’s other fort—the one that wasn’t anywhere near the lake—had supposedly been occupied by a mix of Lord Patriciél’s personal army and Llewynian troops.

“There’s one other area of interest,” Isaac reported, looking a little lost at his own account. “There’s a manor surrounded by a rampart, which Lord Patriciél’s soldiers have been spotted coming in and out of. With considerable frequency, might I add... well, until just recently. Oh, and that spellcaster you two slew? He dropped by for a visit once, too.”

“Lord Credias, too?” I murmured.

“It’s right here.” Isaac pointed to a spot on the map the Farzians had given him.

I recognized the location immediately. It was where you found the item required to recruit the Thorn Princess in the RPG.

Lord Credias had been spotted wandering in and out of there. Lord Patriciél’s soldiers, too. What could it all mean? I knew that the royal family had some sort of secret pact with the viscount. What I didn’t understand was where Lord Patriciél came into the picture.

To be fair, I didn’t know the particulars of how the viscount had joined the queen’s side, either. Even amid all those dreams of the life where I was destined to die, I’d never heard an explanation for that one.

Perhaps we could make some sort of breakthrough if we looked into it. It seemed highly likely that the queen and her lackeys were hiding something there, too.

“There’s nobody left there now, so we haven’t bothered with it yet.”

“I see,” Reggie muttered, then glanced over at me. Considering Lord Credias was involved, he must have deemed this a decision for the spellcaster.

“Um, I’d like to go there and investigate. There are too many things we don’t know about the queen and her accomplices’ dabblings in magic. We might be able to find a hint to unravel the mystery there.”

Reggie nodded. “Alright. Permission granted.”

◇◇◇

We set out the very next day. In hopes of making it to the royal villa and back as quickly as possible, we were accompanied only by a small, elite squad. It was the same group we had brought with us to go see Ernest in Delphion. There were about fifty men in addition to Reggie and Cain, plus a Salekhardian guide, and that was it.

Alan’s troops began marching south alongside the Salekhardian army. The plan was to join up with them once we’d finished our business at the manor.

It took us a full day’s horseback ride to reach our destination. We slept outside the first night, then arrived the following day.

Cain stood watch over me while we were camping, as was his custom. Of course, he took shifts with other soldiers, so he didn’t have to stay awake for that long; besides, I was well aware that the sooner I got up, the easier it would be on the people guarding me, so I was always careful to keep early hours.

For some reason, I woke up much earlier than usual on that particular day. I couldn’t get back to sleep afterward, so I decided to go for a walk around the camp in the creeping light of daybreak.

Cain had an even better idea. On his recommendation, I erected an earthen tower even taller than the surrounding trees, and together we climbed up to the very top of it. The sun wasn’t out just yet, but the sky was already turning a faint blue. Below the horizon, I could see the hills gently rolling toward the lake, and trees dotting the landscape around it.

While I was gazing off into the distance, Cain said, “Once you’re done here, we can let the others use this as a lookout tower. Best to leave it up for a while.”

“Oh, alright.”

“Just remember to take it down before we head out.”

Moments later, he exhaled a soft breath.

“What’s wrong? Are you not feeling well?” I asked, sensing something was off about him.

Cain was nothing if not resilient. If he was sighing over nothing in particular, I had to assume he was either just that exhausted, or else feeling under the weather.

“No, it’s not that.” He placed a hand atop my head, much like he would a child’s. “When I look out into the distance from so high up, it feels like the whole world is laid out before me—and my own troubles start to feel trivial in comparison. Then again, I never would have thought that way in the past.”

Is he worried about something?

While I was debating whether or not it was a good idea to ask, he went on, “I’m just a greedy man, I’m afraid. I don’t want to lose anything. It’s like how when a plate is chipped, it’s hard not to look at it and wish it was whole. When I lost my family, I couldn’t even think about moving forward again. It was the time I spent with you that made me realize how I’d been acting.”

“I think that’s a natural reaction to getting hurt, though. There’s nothing wrong with it.”

Anyone would be sad after losing their family. It was only after they had time to heal and chances to meet new people that the pain would slowly but surely begin to fade.

“Yes, I agree with you now. I’m sure the old me would have seen it as a failing, however.” Cain glanced over his shoulder at me, smiling. “Still, there are things to be gained from rushing blindly ahead. It’s precisely because I never questioned myself that I could strive wholeheartedly toward refining my combat skills. And so... if there’s something you feel you must do for someone else’s sake, Miss Kiara, I think you should act on those instincts—regardless of how anyone else might feel about it, or what the consequences could be.”

“Sir Cain...?”

“You’ve managed to sprint this far ahead because you knew what the future held in store. Yet you haven’t done much to follow your own heart.”

“You don’t think so?”

I’d always seen myself as the type to do whatever she pleased, so I had to tilt my head at that assessment. Cain only replied, “If you don’t understand what I’m getting at, that’s alright. Apologies for bringing that up out of nowhere. Every now and then, watching you and His Highness dance around each other makes me want to give you a little brotherly advice.”

“What’s more,” he continued, “if you’ve decided who you need beside you to move forward, I won’t protest no matter whom you choose. Either way, it will always be my duty to protect you. I only ask that you don’t forget that.”

He bid me a short farewell, then headed back down to the ground without me.

“Huh...? What was that all about?”

Did he say all that because he figured out how I feel?

I hadn’t talked to anyone about it. I was pretty sure Reggie had figured it out for himself, but it wasn’t as if I’d been snuggling up to him in plain sight.

Cue Master Horace, who had been keeping quiet like a good little figurine. “Bet he knows you’ve got the hots for that prince. You’re terrible at keeping your feelings under wraps. Heeheehee!”

“I am?”

“Oh, I can tell you’re trying to be subtle about it. But if you really think about it, the hints are still there—like you two sleeping together and whatnot.”

“C’mon, I wasn’t even awake for that.”

I’d only learned after the fact, courtesy of Gina, that he had climbed into bed with me every now and then just to mess with me. I’d been so shocked by the news that I thought I was going to have a heart attack.

Gina, on the other hand, hadn’t seemed the least bit perturbed, and I couldn’t comprehend why she was just taking this in stride. When I’d asked her, she had simply grinned and replied, “Well, I’m confident His Highness wouldn’t take things too far.”

While I was thinking back on the events, Master Horace saw his opportunity to poke some fun at me. “Well, it all started ’cause you kept grabbing hold of the prince’s hand. Or sometimes his sleeve. Your knight must have caught a glimpse of that, too. Ohohoho!”

“Ugh...”

Considering how often Cain stayed by my side, it was only natural he would have seen it happen. That explained that, then.

Master Horace was clearly thinking along the same lines as I was, given what he said next. “If you ask me, seems like that knight of yours has come to terms with his feelings—with the pain of losing his family, that is. And since he views you as a sister, it’s probably given him some peace where you’re concerned, too.”

I hoped he was right. If nothing else, I wanted Cain to find some closure where his family was concerned. Anything so he wouldn’t have to agonize over them forevermore.

◇◇◇

At last, we arrived at our destination. The manor itself was three stories tall, which was about the scale you would expect from a royal villa. There were bound to be around fifty rooms, give or take.

The U-shaped building was surrounded by the same sort of impregnable walls that were built to defend cities from monster attacks. Given that it had a lookout tower, too, this place had likely been a fort once upon a time.

Reggie agreed with my theory, adding, “This place was once a fort owned by the House of Patriciél, no doubt.”

In the past, the House of Patriciél had ruled over what was now considered its territory, as well as a chunk of the royal domain to the north. Given how deep their ties were to the Kingdom of Llewyne, however, they had committed an act close to treason in a previous war. Half of their territory had been confiscated as a result.

I see. So they built the royal residence in one of those forts.

To get the ball rolling, we started by taking a look in the tower. There were signs that Lord Credias and his men had used it recently.

“There don’t seem to be any monsters around. Were they hiding something valuable enough to stand watch over, then?” I mumbled to myself.

“The first thing that comes to my mind is an experiment,” Master Horace replied.

“Experiment? What kind of experiment?”

“Just think about it; it’d have to be research unfit for the public eye, and Lord Credias is a spellcaster. I’m sure you can put two and two together. Mmheehee!”

That comment got the gears turning in my head. If he’d been working to manufacture defective spellcasters in this mansion, that would be plenty of reason to stand guard and make sure no one got too close.

“But according to Isaac’s intel, there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary here.”

“If it was some of his Salekhardian knights that he sent, I doubt they were looking around for traces of a magical experiment. It would be much easier for those of us in the know to find the evidence they didn’t manage to hide,” Reggie suggested from beside me.

Ah, that makes sense. This is where the item the Thorn Princess asked for was hidden.

I had no idea what connection she had to this place, but perhaps there was leftover evidence of Credias’s defective spellcaster experiments in the same hiding spot.

“Let’s check inside, then.”

“Where should we focus our efforts?” Reggie asked, hoping to use my memories as a reference for our search.

“The item is in a room on the second floor... over in the right wing, if memory serves.”

“What’s in there? A hidden door, or something else of the sort?”

I shook my head. “No. It’s buried in one of the walls.”

“Really now?”

I couldn’t blame him for looking so perplexed, but those were the facts. “The room doesn’t particularly stand out from the rest. Most of it is a little bit burnt or ruined, but that’s all I’ve got.”

When we stepped inside the manor, I saw that the building was in about the same shape it had been in the game. There was a big hole in the wall of the entrance hall. A chandelier had fallen from the ceiling, leaving broken glass and candles scattered all over the floor.

“It looks like all hell broke loose when they vacated the premises,” commented Felix, who had come along with us.

Reggie nodded. “Given the extent of the damage, I’m guessing there were defective spellcasters involved. Brick walls don’t break so easily.”

“Let’s stay on our guard. Though they let those Salekhardians grunts be, there’s always a chance they laid some sort of trap for you, Your Highness.”

While Groul ordered his soldiers to tighten the perimeter as much as possible, we headed to the second floor.

The state of the rooms hadn’t been shown in much detail in the RPG; it appeared they had been wrecked in much the same way as the entrance hall, however, which matched up with their brief description in the game text. We split up to scour the rooms, but we were having trouble finding anything of note.

We took a short break, then resumed our search.

“It’s somewhere in a corner... A corner...” I conducted my search, mumbling the information I’d already shared with Reggie and his knights to myself all the while.

I checked all four corners of the room I was in, but failed to find anything there. As I stood there scratching my head, my eyes were suddenly drawn to a part of the wall near the large, wooden bed.

The walls of the room were plastered, but all manner of stains and scrapes had been left in the wake of the destruction, making it difficult to tell which parts had been painted over. This one section, however, was completely untouched—perhaps because the bed had taken the damage in its stead. To me, it seemed less likely that something would be hidden in a part of the wall too easily broken and laid bare.

“If it’s plaster, my earth magic should work on it.”

I peeled away the plaster by transforming it into sand. As soon as I had, a small trinket plopped down atop the pile of white dust. Whatever it was, it had been stowed away into the wall and painted over.

“You think this is it?”

“Must be,” Master Horace said.

Cain came over as soon as he heard our exchange. “Did you find it?”

“I think so. It has to be these.”

There were two items I held out to show to him. One was a cameo, a crest engraved upon it and an old, red ribbon tied around it. The other was a blackened silver ring with no gemstone.

That was all I’d found there, but this cameo was indeed the item Alan had found and given to the Thorn Princess in the RPG. I’d always assumed it was some keepsake of hers.

“This crest, though...” Even in my daze, I recognized the symbol.

Cain must have been even more familiar with the crest than I was; he knew what it was immediately. “That’s the crest of the House of Patriciél. And this...” He picked up the ring and checked it over, his brow furrowing. “Let’s show these to His Highness straightaway.”

He and I asked the soldiers who were with us to run off and report back to Reggie, then headed back down to our meeting place in the entrance hall.

The first person to come down the stairs was Groul, who had been conducting his own search. He was holding two thin notebooks in his hand, a dour look on his face. Clearly he had found something of interest, but I somehow doubted there was anything pleasant written in there.

Reggie showed up not long after. We gathered our party’s VIPs in a banquet hall on the first floor, one of the relatively more unblemished rooms.

“Well then, why don’t we have everyone report on what they found? You first, Kiara.”

I mentioned what I’d found, and Cain handed both the ribbon-adorned cameo and ring over to Reggie.

“The crest of the House of Patriciél, I see. I have no idea how old this is, but I suppose this means one of the count’s own relatives was used as a sacrifice.”

That was what I’d figured, too. The only person I could imagine owning a trinket with that crest would be someone from the House of Patriciél.

Reggie, his knights, and Cain must have already suspected that part; none of them looked particularly surprised by the revelation.

When Reggie took a look at the ring, however, the look on his face changed. “Good God!”

Despite his apparent shock, Reggie didn’t say anything more on the matter.

That was when Groul passed along the two notebooks he’d found. One of them had been opened to a certain page.

“I believe... this is a list of the victims of Lord Credias’s experiments.”

“They left that here?”

“It was left inside one of the rooms that was burned down. Perhaps they were confident it had been destroyed in the flames and didn’t bother to check. For whatever reason, the desk in which this notebook was stored survived the fire. Please take a look at the page I turned to, Your Highness.”

Groul pointed to a certain line. When Reggie’s eyes passed over it, for a fleeting moment, a deep frown overtook his face—though he reverted back to his normal demeanor almost instantly.

“Quite a few of these names sound like they belong to royalty. There are a couple entries with no names at all... Children who were never properly christened, perhaps. Their ages are written next to them.”

“These few pages seem to be a compilation of old records. He doesn’t seem to have killed dozens of women in a terribly short span of time, at least. The more recent records of the women he kidnapped, presumably, are kept in the other notebook. I must warn you, most of it is chicken scratch,” Groul explained, shutting the book Reggie was reading and passing it over to one of the other knights.

“From what I can tell, all those names belonged to close descendants of either the royal family or the House of Credias. It was about twelve years ago that the House of Patriciél came into the picture. Efia Patriciél... I have to assume she was a relative of the count, as well as the owner of that cameo.”

“Considering the trinket the Lady Spellcaster found, it seems Lord Patriciél had some sort of connection to the both of them,” Groul posited.

Reggie nodded.

It was then that one of the notebooks got passed around to Cain. When he looked it over, a troubled groan escaped his lips. Had he seen the name of someone he knew?

“What’s wrong, Sir Cain?” I asked in a whisper.

He handed the notebook over to me. That probably meant one look would be enough to tell me the issue.

While I was flipping through it, Reggie said to Groul, “After the last war with Llewyne, no matter how close the House of Patriciél was to the Llewynian nobility, I always had thought it strange that the negotiations were left in their hands. The count from only a generation prior had fallen out of the king’s favor due to his collusion with Llewyne. And yet, once my grandfather’s generation rolled around, he was suddenly welcomed with open arms. Now, I believe I finally understand the reason behind it.”

“What do you mean?”

“The count of Patriciél lost his wife. She was a relative of the duke’s and a descendant of the royal family. She also wasn’t in the best of health, so she supposedly passed away about twelve years ago. Yes... I see what happened here.”

Reggie seemed to have put some pieces of the puzzle together. I had Cain keep turning the pages for me, and we finally arrived at the passage in question. There was the name “Efia Patriciél,” along with her age: twelve years old.

“Efia...”

Her mother was a member of the royal family. She was twelve. And most tellingly, she knew where the cameo had been hidden.

“Then the Thorn Princess might be this girl named Efia,” I murmured aloud.

“Yes; there’s no doubt about it,” Reggie agreed.

Silver hair was a mark of royalty, but the trait became less common in second-generation branch families. In the third generation Efia had been born in, however, it seemed the probability of inheritance was much higher.

“That explains her hair color, at least. But if the Thorn Princess has a personal attachment to an item hidden in this building, and it wasn’t even something that old... it seems likely that she is not, in fact, a witch who has lived for hundreds and hundreds of years, but a mere child who was made into a spellcaster.”

“But she doesn’t look like she’s aged a day since she was twelve. Is that sort of thing really possible?” I asked, looking down at where Master Horace sat in my lap.

“She is a spellcaster. There’s no telling what kind of power she has, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she could manage it somehow. Besides, she’s never stepped out of her forest, has she?”

“Supposedly.”

“It’s possible that she sequestered herself away in that forest to hide from Lord Credias, the man who turned her into a spellcaster, then spread her own rumors about how she’s lived there for hundreds of years.”

Reggie nodded in agreement. “Then I suppose she really is a child by the name of Efia.”

That would make her like something of a stepsister to me, considering who my adoptive father was. Was that why she was always so kind to me?

While I pondered that over, my gaze wandered back down to the book. This time, my eyes were drawn to the name written under Efia’s, and I blinked in surprise.

I had the feeling I’d heard that name somewhere before.

There was nothing but a woman’s first name written there: “Linesse.” Her age was twenty-four. Something seemed strange about it, considering most of the other names belonged to either aristocrats or members of the House of Credias.

The one most likely to raise a fuss over Efia being turned into a spellcaster would have been her mother. If her mother had died twelve years ago, it was likely sometime after that that she had been made into a mage.

Twelve years ago. Reggie had been five years old at the time, so there was a chance he knew a thing or two about the state of the royal family back then.

That was when I recalled both Reggie’s brief look of shock, as well as the loved one he had coincidentally lost at the same age. Her name was...

I couldn’t help glancing over at Reggie.

“In any case, we’ve found what we were looking for. Let’s assume it’s Lord Credias’s fault that the Thorn Princess has been slow to act and liable to vanish just as soon as she makes an appearance; if we inform her of his death and offer this trinket to her, she may be willing to work with us. Let’s send out a messenger once we’ve joined back up with Alan.”

Reggie ended the conversation there and rose to his feet.

“We’re better off staying here for the night,” Groul said, a look of concern on his face. “Some of the rooms are in better shape than others. Let’s use those and get some proper rest. Better to have a roof over our heads than to set up camp outdoors.”

“You have a point. Very well, then.” Reggie nodded.

Felix immediately followed up by suggesting to me, “Perhaps because there wasn’t anything of value inside, the servant’s room on the third floor was left largely untouched. I have other matters to attend to, so would you mind waiting there with His Highness until dinnertime?”

Cain seemed to think that was a good idea as well. He and Groul entrusted me with the notebook, then ushered me and Reggie up to the third floor.

I knew exactly why everyone was doing this: they were worried about Reggie. Of course, he couldn’t show his true feelings before his own subordinates, so they had left him in my hands instead.

“Nothing to do but seclude ourselves out of everyone’s way, I suppose.”

Given the strained smile on his face, it seemed Reggie had picked up on that himself. As soon as we made it up to the third floor, he pulled me by the hand and dragged me into the first room he could find.

Perhaps because it was the servants’ quarters, it was a simple room with nothing but a bed. There was no desk to be found, and it was even smaller than my chambers in Évrard.

Reggie sat down on the bed beside me. Upon setting down the notebook I’d been carrying under my arm, I realized I’d left Master Horace behind on the desk. That went to show just how disoriented I’d been by everything.

“I take it you figured it out, Kiara.”

“Yeah. That was your mother, wasn’t it?”

Linesse was the name of Reggie’s mother, whom he had told me about so many times.

“I’d always thought it strange that she was supposedly kidnapped by bandits, yet we never received any ransom demands. If she simply turned into ash and disappeared... Well, that explains that. No wonder we never managed to find the body.”

Reggie gave my hand a light squeeze.

“I bet my grandfather was the one who handed her over to Lord Credias. Twelve years ago, he went to war with Salekhard; he must have sacrificed my mother to the House of Credias to enlist the help of a spellcaster. Then he covered it up with the story of a bandit kidnapping.”

I couldn’t refute the possibility. I knew full well that there were people out there who would do that sort of thing to their own family.

“Did he hate your mother that much?”

“This was right after my father had passed away, so he’d found her more of an affront to him than ever, no doubt. The only issue was that my mother wasn’t of royal blood. Thus, in place of a direct descendant of the royal family, he offered up the silver-haired daughter of Lord Patriciél as well. Yes, now I see... That certainly explains why Lord Patriciél was suddenly afforded such trust.”

After voicing his theory, Reggie hung his head with a groan. He covered his face with one hand, something I’d never seen him do before. “I’ve caused my knights quite a bit of concern, haven’t I?”

“They all reacted that way because they knew that was your mother’s name. I think Sir Cain figured it out the moment he saw the ring, too. The look on his face changed, and he insisted we go find you right away.”

“Even Wentworth was fussing over me, hm? Still, I’m glad to finally know what happened to her,” he said, his eyes still cast downward. “Before this... I’d always considered the possibility that my mother had used her connections to put on a charade, all so she could leave behind the bed of nails the royal palace had been to her.”

“But it’s not like the two of you were on bad terms, right?”

Despite how little affection Reggie held for his own flesh and blood, I’d never once heard him speak ill of his parents. I could hardly believe he’d suspected his own mother of abandoning him the whole time.

“As far back as I can remember, I’d been separated from my mother and raised under my grandfather’s supervision. That was back when my father was still alive, even. I have to assume it was to keep my mother from being needlessly attacked by my grandfather, and to keep me from earning his ire and suffering for it.”

He clammed up there. I had a feeling I knew what he was struggling to say.

Whether it had been for his sake or not, Reggie hadn’t been happy with that decision. He’d wanted to spend more time with his mom and dad. Still, he had known that was the best choice in light of his own safety, so he couldn’t argue against it.

After a long stretch of his silence, he heaved a sigh, dropped his hand, and lifted his head. “And that’s all there is to it; nothing for you to worry about, Kiara. You should go get some rest yourself. We ought to be focusing our thoughts on the Thorn Princess, at any rate.”

He told me not to worry, but he didn’t tell me he was alright.

“I’m going to stay here a little while longer.”

“Kiara...”

“I won’t leave you here all by yourself. Being alone when you’re feeling down just makes everything worse.”

If I left now, no doubt he would spiral into more and more depressing thoughts. He was probably disgusted with himself for assuming his mother had abandoned him all this time, when she’d really been murdered. The fact that it was his own relative who had done the deed had to make it hurt all the more.

And yet, no matter how horrible a crime his grandfather had committed, he was still the same man who had protected Reggie from his uncle—the king—until the day he died. Reggie’s feelings toward him must have been mixed, to say the least.

Crouching in a corner of the room and bearing those burdens all by his lonesome would only bring him more suffering.

“It’s okay to rely on me in times like this, Reggie. We’re practically family, aren’t we?”

Reggie seemed taken aback by that remark. After a few moments of thought, however, he smiled and opened his arms. “Can I ask for a hug, then?”

“Uh... wha?”

He wants me to initiate it?!

I was thrown completely off guard. Whenever I’d hugged him before, it had always been in the heat of the moment, or because he was facing imminent danger. Attempting it when we were all alone and sitting face-to-face was almost too embarrassing to consider.

Reggie looked saddened by my reaction. “You don’t want to?”

“I-It’s not... Okay, okay, fine!”

All he wanted was some comfort, and I was the one who had insisted on staying by his side. I threw my arms around Reggie’s neck with all my might. He proceeded to lift me up and sit me atop his lap.

“Huh?!”

He wrapped his arms around me, cutting off my escape route. The pose we were in made me think back to the time he’d rescued me in Liadna.

More precisely, the time he’d confessed his love for me and kissed me.

Reggie stroked my hair with a fond expression, letting his hand slide down my neck. It was so discomfiting that I squirmed a little in his hold, but I didn’t raise any objections. With the both of us so close, staring right into each other’s eyes, I couldn’t bring myself to tear my gaze away.

He cupped my cheek, and after a brief moment, drew me close to press his lips to mine. This was the second time now he’d given me a peck of a kiss. I hadn’t had nearly enough time to get used to this sort of thing, yet something about it still managed to put me at ease.

The way I couldn’t bring myself to rebuff him felt like I might as well be admitting my feelings for him. How embarrassing.

We indulged in that moment of happiness for a bit, but Reggie didn’t seem interested in pulling away any time soon. I tried to move my head, but he just slid the hand at my cheek behind my ear and kissed me even harder.

He bit down gently on my lip, sending a shiver down my spine. I was starting to get scared now, but when I cracked open the eyes I’d squeezed shut at some point or another, I saw that Reggie was staring at me with an oddly watchful gaze.

Is he waiting for me to panic and run?

The thought made me defiant enough to dig my heels in and refuse to go anywhere. Reggie chuckled, his eyes half-lidded, and deepened the kiss.

It was getting so hard to breathe that my mind was in a haze. The chills running straight up my spine and into my head were making me dizzy. When I jerked my head back all of a sudden, Reggie finally backed off.

Reggie brushed his lips over my cheek as I caught my breath. “Was that too much? Forgive me, Kiara.”

The kiss must have built up my tolerance, seeing as the peck on the cheek hardly fazed me; in fact, it just left me wanting for more. My own desires were leaving me so perplexed that I was seconds away from tearing up.

“You’re so sweet I want to eat you right up. Believe it or not, I’m actually reining myself in quite a bit. If I ever end up leaving you all alone... I wouldn’t want you to cry, you see.”

“All alone? Are you planning to leave me behind?”

My mind was in too much of a fog for me to think straight, but I could tell that Reggie was feeling lonely again.

As soon as I’d asked my question, he looked back at me with a bewitching smile the likes of which I’d never seen. “Never. I just don’t want to fall out of your favor.”

“How many times do I have to tell you not to worry about that?”

Back in Liadna, I couldn’t bring myself to tell Reggie I loved him. Not only had I promised Cain that I wouldn’t choose one person above anyone else, but all the memories jumbled around in my head had given me cold feet. Still, since I’d already told him I wasn’t disinterested in him, I’d assumed he knew how I felt.

“If you want me to believe you, will you indulge me just a little bit more?” he asked, tightening his arms around me.

Would holding me help fill the void in his heart? I hugged him back, hoping to stave off some of his solitude.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I asserted, but Reggie still had his doubts.

“Then prove to me that I’ve truly made you mine, Kiara.”

His lips trailed from right below my ear all the way down to the nape of my neck, and the ticklish sensation made me jolt. He wasn’t nibbling on me just yet, but I could tell he was hungering.

I was the one who had driven him to desperation by making him wait too long. I’d been too scared to give my loved one words of assurance, yet I never turned down the kindness he offered me.

Though he had done a good job of hiding it, he was probably overwhelmed with loneliness and despondency over his mother. I didn’t want him to keep feeling that way. Convinced I had to tell him now, I finally put my own feelings into words.

“I love you, Reggie,” I said, my voice small and cracking.

My words clearly reached his ears nonetheless. He lifted his face from my neck, exhaled a deep breath, and embraced me once more.

I could tell how relieved he was, and I likewise felt reassured in his arms.

“Kiara.”

“What is it?”

“If that’s really true,” he whispered into my ear, “can I ask you to indulge me like this every now and then?”

It was embarrassing to be asked the same question even more directly. But I nodded.

“Sure.”

“It’s a promise, then.”

◇◇◇

When I woke up the next morning, I immediately flashed back to the happenings of the previous night, covered my face with my hands, and started whimpering. Now I was really in it. I’d gotten swept up in the mood and admitted my feelings for him.

I rolled around atop the bed I was sleeping in. It wouldn’t do anything to take back what I’d said, of course, but flailing around until I wore myself out took some of the edge off the embarrassment.

Once I’d gotten that out of my system, I let out a sigh and sprawled out over the bed, only for Master Horace to laugh at me. “Careful, these walls are pretty thin. Make too much noise and that prince might hear it! Mmheehee!”

“Ugh...”

I’d already told Master Horace about my little love confession. Or to be more precise, he’d sensed something was up the minute he saw me. When I finally left Reggie to go pick my mentor up, he’d made a note of how red I was.

“Given the blush on your face, I’m guessing you ran away from that prince of yours in a hurry,” he’d said.

“No way! Is my face really that red?! Oh, this is all Reggie’s fault!”

I’d smooshed my cheeks together in shame, and Master Horace had another good laugh. “Let me guess: the prince tried something funny, and you ended up telling him your feelings? Ohohoho! What, did he beg you to say you loved him?”

“He didn’t beg. Just...”

Considering he’d been feeling vulnerable enough to ask me to indulge him, I’d wanted to do something for him.

“You felt bad for him because he’d just learned how his mother died?”

“Uh. Yeah.”

Apparently, after Reggie and I had left the banquet hall, the rest of the knights there had traded notes on how the prince’s mother had been turned into a defective spellcaster and killed. Master Horace had been there, too, so he had heard the whole story.

“You were trying to comfort him and got swept up in the mood?”

“Uh...”

“Looks like I was right on the money.”

Before I knew it, Master Horace had worked out the entire story.

“How did you know?”

“There’s only one thing a lady-killer would do in a situation like that,” he’d answered, his tone almost soft despite the scoff that accompanied it. “But if you ask me, this is better than the ambiguous relationship status you had before. Put it off too long and you’d just be leaving him in limbo. I’m surprised he waited as long as he did.”

“It wasn’t a good idea to make him wait, huh? I had the feeling I might be asking too much of him, but I just took his word for it when he said he didn’t mind.”

I’d deflated a bit, and Master Horace had chuckled. “Eh, he could stand to learn a lesson in restraint. Otherwise, he might run a little too wild. Heeheehee!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

I had thought back to what he’d just done. Yeah, that probably counted as “running wild.”

One too many trips down memory lane sent me rolling all over the bed again.

Some time later, Cain came to call me to breakfast. I was flustered when I heard his voice, and coming face-to-face with Reggie at the table not long after sent me over the edge into full panic mode. Master Horace had a good laugh at my expense. I eventually managed to get a grip on myself, but I still couldn’t bring myself to look Reggie in the eye. Reggie seemed amused by my behavior, so I was hopeful that he hadn’t misinterpreted my reaction.

We set out the same day, ready to meet up with Alan’s troops now that we had finished our search. I spent the journey with Cain, so there weren’t too many more heart-pounding surprises.

That said, now that Reggie wasn’t paying much attention to me, I was starting to wonder if the events of the previous night had been some dream or hallucination of mine. I couldn’t help staring over at Reggie during one of our breaks.

Our eyes met.

Reggie smiled, his gaze softening, then came to join me where I was sitting in the shade of a tree.

“Have you been lonely? I apologize, Kiara,” he said, kneeling down in front of me and looking me straight in the eyes.

“Um, I wouldn’t say that. It just doesn’t feel real yet, maybe.”

I did confess my love to him, right? So, like... does that make us a real couple now?

Of course, we were in the middle of a war here—about as far as you could get from the sort of romantic scenarios I’d associate with that. Besides, most of the stuff that popped to mind were things you’d do with a classmate at school, or manga about falling in love with an older guy in your club. Thus, I wasn’t really sure what to consider us now.

Reggie seemed to guess what I was thinking. With a chuckle, he whispered, “You reciprocated my feelings, you know. That means you’re mine now.”

He’d said it quietly enough that no one else could hear, but I certainly did, loud and clear. My face began to heat up.

“As much as I’d love to spread the word, this is your first relationship, isn’t it? I was informed that you didn’t court anyone while you were living in Évrard.”

“Uh... yeah.”

As embarrassing as it was to admit, he was right. When I nodded in response, Reggie looked pleased, the corners of his mouth quirking up.

For a fleeting second, I was entranced by that smile. But hold on just a second here! Didn’t he say something weird just now? What does he mean, “informed”?

I had a few questions about that remark, but Reggie just kept on talking like it was nothing. “You aren’t used to public displays of affection yet, are you? I don’t want to scare you off, so I’d like to get you accustomed to it little by little. For now, let’s keep it to this.”

“For now?”

“Eventually, I’ll be keeping you so busy you won’t have a spare moment to feel nervous.”

Reggie patted me on the head, and with that, he walked back to his own horse. I watched him go in a daze. It was only after a long delay that I finally remembered what I’d been wondering about.

“Why was he informed?”

Master Horace heaved a sigh. “He must have ordered someone to keep an eye on you while he was away. If you started crushing on someone else, he just might have stepped in to interfere. He’s a possessive one, that prince.”

“Possessive, huh?”

Master Horace sounded unimpressed, and I realized that what he was suggesting was actually a little terrifying, but somehow I was a little pleased to hear it.

When I said as much to Master Horace, he muttered, “You two deserve each other.”

◇◇◇

The return trip took us a little longer than the journey there. Two days later, we finally caught up to Alan’s troops, which were traveling south of the royal domain.

Not long after, Lady Évrard and her men passed through Kilrea. We were soon informed that Lord Patriciél’s troops had moved into Sestina.