Interlude: What Can I Do for You?

At that moment, Cain knew they were going to need Kiara’s help.

What Kiara had found by relying on her past-life memories were two small trinkets. Seeing as they belonged to that witch in a child’s form, it hadn’t struck him as particularly odd that the mystery items had turned out to be accessories; however, the ring in particular presented a few complications.

When Kiara handed it over to him, his eyes had gone wide. It was the crest engraved on the back of the ring that set off alarms in his head. The moment he saw that, he thought back to his first meeting with Reginald.

Even as a child, Reginald had never been one to show his emotions on his face. Slowly but surely, he had learned how to horse around with Alan and Cain, and ever since Lady Évrard had begun to look after him, he had loosened up little by little. Something had felt off about it—almost like the prince was just pretending to enjoy himself. Still, Cain had written it off as his first impression coloring his perspective.

One day, however, Lady Évrard had said to him, “He’s gotten awfully good at pushing down his emotions and putting on a brave face. I’m sure that will make his life as a prince easier, but still...”

The moment he heard that, Cain realized what had felt wrong to him about Reginald. The boy wasn’t truly happy. He was just faking it—for Alan, who naively considered him a friend, and for Lord and Lady Évrard, who had gone to great lengths to help the orphaned prince.

The next time Cain had accompanied Alan to the royal palace confirmed it for him. There, Reginald would always weigh his options with a smile that wasn’t the least bit childlike. He opened up around his attendant, Mabel, but he otherwise spent his days hiding his true feelings, giving those he wanted to keep away from him the cold shoulder.

Whenever he was around his grandfather—who always pushed his own ideals onto the child—or his uncle—who hated him—he would play the part of an obedient child, all while regarding them with ice in his eyes.

When Cain had seen that, he’d just known: Prince Reginald had given up on ever finding someone he could truly rely on.

The fact that he had given up meant he must have had something like that once upon a time. Most likely, that would have been his father, or perhaps his mother—whom he had never seen much of, but had always put him first in her life. She was Linesse, the former queen who had been left no choice but to leave her son in his grandfather’s hands.

Cain had heard Reginald talk about her before. He’d mentioned that she was kind. That she worried about him a great deal. And that she bore the crest of the queen, too.

The knight also knew about the mysterious circumstances surrounding the queen’s disappearance. Lord and Lady Évrard had wanted to go looking for her, but circumstances hadn’t permitted it, and days upon days had gone by without anyone taking action. By the time they had actually begun the search, there were no leads to be found.

But of course there wouldn’t have been any clues. Now that he knew royalty had long been offered as sacrifices to spellcasters in exchange for their services, he could assume that it was the former king himself who had swept Queen Linesse’s disappearance under the rug. If someone had attempted to turn her into a mage, she must have turned to sand and left no corpse behind.

Cain had rushed to inform Reginald, dragging along Kiara, who was still oblivious to the truth. He had to tell him that the queen had never abandoned him.

There was a good chance that was why Reginald had shuttered himself so; even his most tender memories couldn’t be trusted. Thus, someone had to go tell him he’d had it all wrong. As someone who had gone astray for so long in search of a replacement for the family he lost, only to finally wake up to what he still had in his hands, Cain knew how important this was.

When Reginald saw the ring, he looked even more shocked than Cain had anticipated. If nothing else, he wanted to give the prince, who hardly had so much as a fond memory to his name, somewhere he could cry. He knew neither he nor Alan would be able to do that.

Hence, when Groul had urged Reginald to get some rest and Felix had encouraged Kiara to tag along, he hadn’t raised any objections. After all, Kiara was the one and only person Reginald could truly be vulnerable around.

Of course, he’d had his misgivings about letting the two of them be alone together, too. Given how upset Reginald was, he’d known there was a chance the prince might abandon all restraint. Still, Kiara wasn’t just any ordinary girl. She may not have known how to hold a sword, but she had power. Besides, if Kiara made a genuine attempt to rebuff his advances, he’d be too afraid of earning her ire to step over the line.

Cain was right on those points, and Kiara managed to calm Reginald down without any issue. She soon came back to pick up Horace.

After that, Kiara and Reginald both conducted themselves as normal... for the most part.

◇◇◇

“Kiara seems different.”

It was not long after they’d caught up to the town where the army was staying and reunited with Alan’s Farzian troops. Now that they’d made it to safety, Cain had left Kiara’s side for a time. It was Girsch who had made the passing comment.

“She seems calmer somehow,” the mercenary maintained, gazing over where Kiara was talking to Gina.

In some ways, she seemed the same as ever, and in others, she seemed different. Girsch was right; she did seem a touch more composed.

“She seems a little more grown-up, yes,” Cain agreed.

The look on her face was somehow alluring... and so, the first thought Cain had was that something had happened with Reginald. It was enough to make him regret that he’d let her go the other night.

He’d known how she felt. From the very beginning, the two of them had always been looking each other’s way. The reason Kiara had been so unstable for so long was because of her and Reginald’s inability to communicate their feelings.

Most likely, they’d both been afraid. Neither wanted to fall out of the other’s favor, but they still insisted on protecting each other whether the recipient liked it or not. Then, whenever they acted on that desire, they assumed they’d upset the other and beat themselves up over it.

What had finally stopped the cycle was Kiara waking up to her own feelings, as well as Reginald gaining a power that he could only wield by her side.

As Cain was reflecting on all that, Girsch gave a small giggle.

“Is something funny?”

“No, not at all. I just didn’t expect you to hit the nail on the head like that. But you know, when a girl knows someone loves her, she truly starts to glow, whether she’s happy or sad. Gina was like that, too,” Girsch reflected, then looked over at Cain. “I must say, I’m surprised you let her go.”

The remark was blunt enough to draw a wry smile from the knight. “Even if we can’t have that sort of relationship, she won’t run from me. I realize that now.”

This second war may have dredged up his regrets and grudges over his late family, but Kiara was the one who had managed to wipe that all away. He knew that she would come running whenever he wished for it—even in a life-threatening situation.

Rather, if he hadn’t been in such a life-threatening situation, he never would have been able to believe Kiara’s promises. He knew full well how fickle the human heart could be.

“Thank goodness you fell for a teenage girl who doesn’t know how to lie; I bet that’s why you’re so calm right now. Hehehe.”

Girsch was probably right. If she had been his own age, it was likely Cain still wouldn’t have trusted her. Telling white lies could be considered another form of kindness, sure, but obscuring her true feelings would only have fed into his paranoia.

“So are you going to keep up the ‘big brother’ act for now?” Girsch asked.

Cain blinked in response. “What are you talking about? I’ll always be her older brother.”

That was the one thing he refused to give up. If he ever saw reason to, he would speak out against Reginald. Should the prince ever abandon Kiara, he would just bring her back to his side. If that many cracks ever formed in their relationship, there was little doubt that she would drift Cain’s way.

He just had to wait until then.

“Until that day comes, I plan to remain her nosy older brother.”

At that, Girsch cracked up laughing.