Chapter 19

 

 

 

Chapter 19

 

PASCH announced his full name at Yuki’s request, and his expression immediately soured. Telling her his real name destroyed his attempt at keeping his status as prince a secret. Aridol royalty commonly had their country name as their last name. Just like how Luca’s last name was Adolunde.

But Yuki knew he was Padimate’s younger brother from the time he visited her in Cele Tower. Lack of surprise or any reaction from her roused Pasch’s suspicion.

She laughed to smooth things over, “I-I already knew! I forget how I know, but I think I saw you at a festival one time!” She slipped a lie in, hoping a simple excuse would be harder to doubt. If she told him the truth, she’d be in for the inquisition, which scared her to death.

“You did…?” Just as Yuki thought she could relax, he turned a piercing glare on her. “Don’t tell the brats about me.” She laughed at his serious plea. “Who knows what will happen if they find out I’m a prince…”

“Ahaha. Good point. You’d better watch out. The girls might want to marry you.”

“…You’re a strange woman.”

“You think so?”

“You’re acting the same even though you know I’m a prince.”

“Would you prefer me to act formally?” she asked, dropping into a halfhearted curtsy.

“Nah, stay the way you are.”

Yuki stifled a laugh behind her hand as she imagined what would happen if Pasch’s identity was exposed to the children. The girls would definitely quarrel over who gets to marry him. And the boys would blanch over all the tricks they had pulled on him.

“Your carelessness…or rather being scatterbrained seems to run in the family, huh?”

Padimate always spilled the soup he brought to her and Pasch thoughtlessly told her his full name.

“You…know my family? My older brother?”

“Um, in a manner of speaking,” she answered. Displeasure instantly flashed in Pasch’s eyes. “Are you on bad terms with Padi?”

“Padi…is it?”

“Aah, sorry. I mean your older brother. His name was too long for me to remember. He told me to call him that.”

“You even got his permission?” Pasch drawled, exasperation coating his voice. “In a sense, you’re amazing for forgetting a royal’s name and calling them by a nickname instead. Are you stupid?”

“How could I remember? He only told me once…and Padi speaks quietly.”

Yuki thought it was the fact she called Padimate by a nickname that upset Pasch, but just bringing up his older brother got an embittered reaction out of him.

“Padimate doesn’t even try to do anything. He just lets the war, our old man, Mother, and Auntie go on as they please without stopping them. He lives in an empty bubble, never taking action. He’s running away from his duties,” Pasch snorted with disdain. “I don’t know what that Witch said to him, but ever since he’s become like a doll.”

“Witch?” Yuki repeated, getting a surprised reaction out of Pasch.

“Don’t tell me you don’t know about the Witch?”

“I know more than I would like to about Witches,” she grumbled.

“There’s a pretty famous rumor going around about a Witch cursing him.”

“What? He was cursed?!”

Come to think of it, Vivi mentioned something about Witches enjoying cursing people. Depending on how I look at it, her altering my appearance could be a curse too…

“What kind of curse is it?”

“He doesn’t really know what it entails, but one day he just completely lost the ability to express himself.”

He can’t express himself? Yuki’s thoughts instantly went to the glass-like quality of his light-blue eyes. His vacant expression hindered any attempts at trying to figure out what he was thinking. I have to admit I never really saw more than one or two expressions from him. Actually, thinking back on it, his eyes and lips moved ever so slightly, but never did they shift into a smile or waver with emotion. Even when I tried to jump from the balcony…he was unfazed. I thought that was just his personality, not a Witch’s curse…

“…Tell me, are you some provincial noble?” Pasch asked, assessing her looks and mannerisms.

“Excuse me? Like I told you before, I’m no noble,” Yuki croaked several pitches higher than she meant to. The question reminded her of how he was convinced she was a noble in the tower.

“It’s one thing for you to have seen me somewhere at some point, but my older brother hasn’t stepped into the public eye for several years now. You not only know him, but are intimate enough to call him by his nickname. Let’s not forget how little common sense you have too. Someone who’s ignorant and knows a prince has to be a noble,” Pasch deduced.

I’m on the hook here!

“Aha…hahaha. I just happened to be in his care for a period of time in the past! Plus, I’m no noblewoman. I was shocked to learn he was a prince after the fact,” Yuki explained, mixing lies with the truth. Not like she was going to tell Pasch she was in Padi’s care after he watched her get burned alive by Orga and kept her locked in a prison tower.

“Aaah. Well, he does have a terrible habit of aimlessly wandering around…. He seriously needs to stay still and protect his land. Geez, I want to hit him sometimes. The idiot is the governor of Cele! He needs to act like it!” Pasch prattled on, not the least suspicious of how Yuki encountered Padimate.

Padimate possessed the clearest blue eyes Yuki had ever seen. They were bewitchingly beautiful. The last place she saw him was the execution platform. The vacant look in those eyes as he stoically asked her if she had any final words before they burned her alive were as vivid in her memories as the flames licking at her feet. Surprise had him blinking several times when she asked if everyone would become happy when they killed her.

Did the Witch’s curse strip him of all emotion? Even though the ghost of an expression touched his blank face at times? Wasn’t that a sign he still felt something?

“…Anybody home?” Pasch asked, waving his hand in front of her face. Her sudden depression confused him.

“I said some terrible things to Padi when we parted,” she admitted.

Regardless of whether he felt things the same way other people did, Yuki didn’t want to hurt him. Just remembering the look on his face twisted her stomach with guilt. What did he think after being ripped into by the girl he sent to be burned alive?

“I want to apologize, but I doubt I’ll ever run across him again. He’s Cele’s governor, right? I can’t speak for what will happen with his wandering habits, but it seems unlikely to happen again. I wanted to apologize to him one last time,” she muttered.

A large hand plopped on her head and ruffled her hair in an awkward attempt at comforting her. “In that case, I’ll set it up so you can meet him.”

“Why?” His hand blocked her view of him, but the side of his face she could see around the corner was a little red.

“I said some terrible things to you too. I’ll do it as an apology and as thanks,” Pasch said, flashing a bashful smile. He adjusted the blanket that had slipped down her shoulders when she hugged him.

“As thanks for what? I didn’t do anything—”

“It’s fine. I won’t be satisfied unless I make it up to you. Well, I can’t do anything for anyone unless I can return to Maruk.”

“…I’m sorry.”

War and disease blocked his passage home. This was a situation between him and his country, and not one Yuki had any business prying into.

“Sorry for scaring you.”

“Don’t be. I should also, uh, apologize for suddenly hugging you. Sorry.” Yuki glanced up at him to gauge how troubled he was by her sudden outburst.

“N-No need. Your hug was on the same level as the kids’.”

“Oh, I guess it was,” Yuki giggled.

“Weird woman,” he sighed, not even realizing his heart raced faster with her than when the children hugged him. “Anyway, where are you going from here?”

“Hm? When we leave, we’ll travel around Rvydom with medicine and make our final stop in Adolunde.”

“You’re going to Adolunde?” The corner of Pasch’s eye twitched and he furrowed his brow.

“Yeah?”

Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned our destination.

They were currently in Rvydom, but Pasch’s kingdom was at war with Adolunde.

“Don’t worry, I don’t mind,” Pasch reassured, sensing her concern. “The thing is, Adolunde is in bad shape right now. If you’re a noble, don’t get in too deep. The danger lies beyond bad parts of town.”

“How many times must I insist I’m not a noble before you believe me? What’s all the fuss in Adolunde over?”

“You haven’t figured it out? One of Adolunde’s princes died of the Ten Day Fever.”

“I know.”

“Do you know how he contracted the illness? The royal castle should be the safest place in the kingdom. All the servants would keep themselves clean and stay away from illness, and the royal doctors have to be the best in the land.”

That makes sense. But mistakes happen, right?

“There’s a very high chance someone intentionally infected him. Not much anyone can do if a prince dies of an illness other than lament the death.”

Yuki’s eyes rounded at the truth she never considered. “Are you implying someone didn’t think highly of the third prince so they infected him?”

“Doesn’t it sound more plausible than only one person in the entire castle contracting the Ten Day Fever and dying? If it was inside the castle naturally, others should be sick too. There is no solid evidence of course, but the rumor is there.”

…If true, things are taking a preposterous turn. Yuki found herself both in awe and dread of the young man who spoke casually about political subterfuge. Why is everything such a mess in this world? I have no idea what facts are true. I guess this is why Rifae and other information brokers exist.

Had even Pasch found his life in danger because of who he was?

I’m sure he has. He’s a prince. Even Luca’s life has been a target.

Yuki thought back to the countries in her world and the history of royalty fighting brutally for the right to ascend the throne. Once again, she was amazed by the burdens Pasch and Luca carried with them at their age.

“…It’s complicated, huh?” she offered.

“It is. I’d be happy living like I am here—playing with children, tilling the fields to obtain the day’s food, and working for a living,” Pasch confessed, his hair swaying in the strong breeze.

“I see. So that’s why you keep coming back here.”

“…I guess so. You’d better be careful too. Adolunde has the worst reports of the Ten Day Fever.”

“Yeah. But are you okay, Pasch? Chiruka has it bad. Should you even be in the same building as her?”

“…Does Chiruka have it that bad?”

“Vigo said tonight is the final battle.”

“Did he?”

They stopped talking. The silence between them was filled in by the sound of the wind and trees. How long had they been outside chatting for? The chilly air had swept the heat from her skin. The pale gibbous moon illuminated the black clouds floating by it. Stars intermittently shone in gaps between the clouds.

“There’s a theory in my land that you become a star,” Yuki muttered, breaking the silence.

“…A star?”

“The answer to your first question about where people go when they die.”

“Aah.”

“It’s said they become stars and watch over their loved ones,” she explained, looking up at the night sky. Pasch followed suit.

“…A lot of people are watching out for us then.”

“Doesn’t it make it harder to do something bad?”

“You’ve got a point there.”

They shared a smile that quickly faded when a shout pierced the still night. “Don’t go!”

The shout came from the orphanage’s second-story where Chiruka slept. Where could she go in her condition, but death?

“…!”

Pasch bolted for the orphanage.

“Ah! Wait! Don’t go there!”

He can’t go in there!

Pasch hadn’t seen Chiruka once since he came to the orphanage.

He’ll get infected!

Yuki raced after him. The blanket fell behind her and fluttered to the ground.