Chapter 108 · The Words Left Unsaid

When he cautiously opened the door, moonlight was pouring into the silent room.

Paeon tried not to make a sound as he approached the bed.

Anastasia seemed to be having a nightmare again.

Cold sweat was beaded on her small, round forehead, and the blanket had long since been kicked aside, rolling on the floor together with the fox doll.

He often came by in the deep hours of the night to check whether she was sleeping well.

Anastasia frequently had nightmares.

At first he had wondered if it was because of the two powers, but since they continued as time passed, that could not be the only reason.

What worry could such a small child have that she suffered from bad dreams?

‘Perhaps it is because she has been through so many painful things…’

Paeon’s face darkened with guilt.

He neatly folded the blanket and placed the white fox doll back beside Anastasia.

Even so, she kept flinching as if still tormented by the nightmare.

He wanted to send divine power to help her sleep peacefully.

Among prana, there are kinds that can calm a person’s mind and body.

Paeon endured the pain and carefully placed his hand on Anastasia’s forehead.

But perhaps because she had been dozing lightly, her eyes faintly opened the moment his hand touched her.

“!”

He flinched and pulled his hand back.

Anastasia, not fully awake, stared blankly at him with her eyes half open.

“I-I apologize… Please go back to sleep.”

Paeon turned his head, his face burning red as if he had been caught stealing.

Then her small rose-colored lips moved.

“There’s something I’m curious about…”

It was a mumbled voice that might have been a question or sleep talk.

“…What is it?”

“Today… how did you find me…?”

Was she talking about what happened in the forest?

He could not answer and furrowed his brow.

It was difficult for him to explain as well.

He simply knew.

That she would be there.

That was why he had not ordered a search even when she was not in sight.

“I just… thought you would be there.”

“Then… what about when I was kidnapped before…?”

The day Anastasia disappeared from the plaza.

He traced back the memory of that day.

Even then, because of some intuition, he had run without thinking, and fortunately he had been able to find her.

“…Even then, I simply knew.”

She gazed at him quietly.

Her transparent, shining emerald eyes were full of resentment.

“Strange… You didn’t know before…”

Before?

When was she talking about?

Was she speaking of when the princess had been left at the cabin?

Her words, whose meaning he could not understand, confused him.

“I hate you so much… so much, and yet…”

Anastasia closed her eyes and murmured.

“Papa… do you love me…?”

Paeon gasped and then froze in place for a long while.

“…”

His heart pounded violently, and his mind went white, leaving him unable to do anything.

After a moment, even breathing spread through the room.

She seemed to have fallen asleep without waiting for an answer.

“P-Princess.”

He called softly, but there was no movement.

Only then could Paeon barely breathe.

The short time felt as long as an eternity.

‘Why did you say such a thing…’

It was something he had never imagined hearing even once.

Because he had never done anything for her that could be called love.

He had only provided the protection required of an escort knight.

He had been more heartless than an ordinary guard.

And yet had something shown somehow?

Had it been a problem that he shamelessly begged to be allowed to stay by her side?

‘…She must find it loathsome.’

Perhaps he was the one in her nightmares.

That was only natural.

After committing an unforgivable sin, he dared to speak of love without shame.

Paternal love ought to be noble, but his love was ugly and cowardly.

That was why, knowing she could not hear him, he could not bring himself to say the words that he loved her.

He could only gaze at her endlessly.

◇ ◆ ◇

Meanwhile, at that hour, Icarus Palace.

Basileo had been unable to focus on anything all day.

The letter he had longed for so much was inside his clothes, but because the knights watched him so thoroughly, he could not easily take it out.

Only in the middle of the night, after calming his heart that felt ready to burst, did he check the movements outside and secretly take out the letter under the blanket.

The letter he unfolded with trembling hands had nothing written on it.

He was startled for a moment, but soon realized that a powerful barrier spell had been cast on the letter.

It was a formula only direct descendants could undo.

“Revélo.”

When he quietly whispered the activation word, a faint light poured from the blue cloth.

Tiny letters appeared.

“…!”

It was unmistakably his father’s handwriting.

The moment the writing appeared, Basileo’s eyes reddened.

It was not a long message, but nearly half of it was worry about him.

His father’s apology, anguish, and longing were so piercingly conveyed that his own heart ached as well.

I can guess by what condition the King of Santra granted you even a little freedom.

To think my son would suffer such humiliation—as a father, it pains me deeply.

He had not written a single word in the official letter, but his father understood everything.

His eyes grew hot, and holding back tears was difficult.

It is a difficult request, but I wish for you to grasp Santra’s political situation.

Since you have happened to begin learning the sword, I would like you to observe how their military strength compares with before.

I am sorry to give such a heavy task to my young son, but your help is desperately needed.

Basileo read on seriously, then paused at the next sentence.

Especially Santra’s holy knight commander—the fate of this war depends on how quickly that man is brought down.

In the end, it was him.

He was fated to stand against that man.

Naturally, a certain girl who cherished that man came to Basileo’s mind.

It is fortunate for us that the princess of Santra treats you with goodwill.

See to it that you make good use of that child.

The words that seemed to regard Anastasia as nothing more than something to use made one corner of his heart heavy.

His father did not know her well, and he had not written about Anastasia in detail in the official letter either, so it was only natural.

But why… why did it ache?

‘War…’

If it had been his old self, his blood would have boiled.

Thinking of his mother who had died so cruelly, of the knights who had died, and of the people who had suffered.

But now, among those thoughts, Anastasia was mixed in.

From observing Anastasia at the academy over the past few days, he could tell she liked her friends far more than she had told him.

Most of them were older than Anastasia, but they cherished her dearly, and her attitude toward them was dripping with affection.

If war broke out again, everyone she cherished would suffer…

Thinking of something as grave as war made what happened during the day feel distant.

He had clamored about taking responsibility for Anastasia.

He had been upset seeing the pink-haired boy named Melvian hovering around Anastasia.

Still, he had not impulsively said such things without any plan.

If she had shown even a little response, he had intended to persuade her step by step.

But Anastasia had been far too firm.

Far from responding, she had looked utterly baffled.

In this situation, bringing up going to Kalisa would be absurd.

“Igniárĭus.”

After committing the letter to his eyes and mind a few more times, Basileo burned it and plopped down on the bed.

But with all sorts of conflicts, his head felt like it would burst, and sleep would not come.

He suddenly missed Nine.

After learning that divine beasts could share vision with their master, he had not slept together with it for a long time.

‘If I had known this would happen, I should have pretended not to know to the end.’

Leaving the tower had improved his sleeping place a little, but it had not made him have fewer nightmares.

Basileo tossed and turned for a long while before finally falling asleep.

The nightmare he had this time was especially vivid.

It was a dream in which a small white fox ran about in the Santran royal palace that had become a sea of fire.

He embraced the fox to save it, but the fox struggled, leaped from his arms, and ran into the sea of fire to save its family and comrades.

‘No, don’t go! If you go, you’ll die!’

The fox seemed not to be afraid at all.

Despite its small size, it was a truly valiant fox.

In the end, he had to wander through the sea of fire for a long time following that fox.

◇ ◆ ◇

The next day.

‘It seems like Paeon came to my room last night…’

I could not tell whether it had been a dream or reality.

If it had been real, I wondered why he would do something he never did.

They say people change when their time to die approaches…

I watched him throughout breakfast in the great dining hall just in case, but there was nothing unusual about him.

‘Why does his complexion look so bad?’

Paeon had grown noticeably thinner over the past few days.

Even thin, he was still beautiful, but the kind of beauty was different.

According to what Mila had told me before, it was something like decadent… that was the word.

‘Does he have that much work?’

He was a man who had been fine even when he had stayed by my side all day when I was four, barely sleeping while caring for me.

It seemed my earlier thought that he might be ill had not been a mistake.

I felt I should ask if he was all right, but it was a little awkward with people around.

If he really were ill, Veritas would be in an uproar.

I stirred my soup, thinking I should carefully probe later.

‘Look at me worrying after deciding to detach my feelings. Haa… I really am hopeless.’

But a while later, Leo, whom I met at the academy’s main gate, also looked unwell.

His eyes had dark circles under them.

He had finally received a message from his homeland, which he had longed for so much—so why did he look like that?

Had there been something troubling in it?

I was terribly curious about the letter, but I could not pry.

“Weo, couldn’t sweep again?”

I spoke lightly to him, who looked gloomy.

“Should I send Nine tonight?”

Leo’s face reddened slightly.

Knowing how much he adored Nine, I teased him.

“Nine has thwee tails now~ Don’t you want to see? Huh?”

“It has three tails?”

Leo lifted his head sharply.

His suddenly sparkling eyes were quite cute.

I was about to smile and explain how much fluffier Nine’s tails had become when—

“Good morning, Prince Basileo. And our cute niece.”

“…?”

Stella appeared with a swagger.

I doubted my ears.

Cute niece?

It had to be mockery, but she was not the kind of person to use such a word even when mocking.

Seeing Stella wearing a rotten smile across her face, an ominous feeling rose.

“I heard truly astonishing news yesterday.”

When she shouted loudly, everyone’s attention focused on us.

“The news that the prince has actively decided to help Kalisa become a vassal state of Santra.”

◇ ◆ ◇

“You’re persisting disgustingly long.”

Alter muttered, watching Paeon from one side of the training grounds as he helped the knights train.

“Whether it’s because of pride or something else…”

He curled one corner of his lip into a sinister smile.

“Well, the more you do that, the closer you get to God, step by step.”

He whispered into the communication stone in his palm.

“All preparations are complete, my princess.”