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‘Have you heard of the legend?’
The purple haired knight stared at the pink haired one in confusion. He did not understand the need to initiate a conversation out of the blue, a strange one at that.
‘You have to be more precise if you wish for a proper answer, Akiyama.’
The other knight giggled. She drew her sword and motioned to the other to do the same. He was glad to know they’d at least train properly; it was the reason why he carefully snuck out of his house after all. It would be a waste to talk about some petty fairytale instead.
‘It’s a tale I have heard while on a mission far away from there. Ever heard of the Yoisaki Kingdom?’
‘Yes.’
It’s a name that his mother brought up quite a lot. Though, it was mostly in a negative way.
‘Well, people say that the kingdom’s prince holds a special kind of power. Assassins would often infiltrate the castle with the goal to kill him - which is impressive considering its defense - and yet, none of them actually did. Instead, when they came back to their villages, they’d go on about how the prince had magically healed them of all their worries! All of them stopped being killers after meeting him, and went on to live a better life. Isn’t that awesome?’
‘It would be, if it were real.’
The purple haired boy sighed. Akiyama Mizuki was a girl with many contacts. God knows where she met all these people, but the fact remained that she knew at least one person from each kingdom on this earth, and that was honestly an impressive feat, he could at least give her that. Though, this meant that she had a new story or legend brought by one of her acquaintances, and her new underling - or friend, whatever she calls him - was always the one she shared them with. This meant that instead of practicing for hours, Asahina Mafuyu had to listen to her gossip instead.
‘But it is! I heard that from An, who was told by Akito-kun, that knows someone who has actually met one of the assassins that were healed! And knowing how skeptical that little knight is, then you can be sure that the story is true!’
‘If you say so…’
Mafuyu put his sword away, and bowed to Mizuki.
‘I must apologize, I have to head back home, it’s getting late.’
‘Aw, but you’ve been here for barely an hour! Oh well, hope I can see you tomorrow!’
After a small nod, Mafuyu parted ways with Mizuki.
-
The castle’s defenses were not as strong as Mizuki had implied them to be.
Mafuyu cursed at himself for actually going there. He should have been home for hours now, and his absence will not go unnoticed. This could get him in some serious trouble, and yet he still decided to venture to the Yoisaki Kingdom. He did not understand why he’d go so far over something so petty. Over a tale Mizuki’s friends, people he did not even know other than by name, probably told her as a way to keep the conversation going. A fake story, most likely.
He was hiding behind a stone statue, carefully listening to the steps of the guards. At least sneaking out of his own house taught him some useful techniques. And yet, his heart was beating way faster than it usually did. When he snuck out of his house, the worst that could happen would be getting locked in his bedroom. Here, the worst that could happen would be losing his head. And for what? For a legend he did not even believe?
Well maybe he did. Or maybe he wanted to believe. Maybe the promise of healing was so tempting, Mafuyu could simply not resist. A slight bit of hope could not harm anyone after all. And if it’s all fake? Then there would be no reason to go back home anyways. If there’s no hope of recovery, he’d rather get buried as far away from his mother as possible.
And if he learns this whole legend was a way for prince Yoisaki to get more attraction to his kingdom, he’s killing them as well.
Though, he did not know how to find the prince in the first place. This castle was huge, even bigger than his kingdom’s. It would take him days to go check every room, and that would certainly be very dangerous. He felt so stupid for not even thinking about this once before breaking in. What was he supposed to do now? Wait behind this statue in hopes that the prince might miraculously walk by it? For that to happen, the prince must also yell “I am prince Yoisaki”, since Mafuyu could not exactly see the faces of the people walking by. And even if he did, he actually had no idea of the appearance of the heir of this kingdom.
It was so foolish. This whole adventure was useless from the start. He should probably just give up.
He shook his head. No, he refuses to give up. The reason he came here in the first place is to find a reason to keep going. And he won’t give up until he finds that damned prince and gets the official confirmation that he should just end it all if he wants everything to end.
Being lost in his thoughts, Mafuyu was suddenly startled by a loud noise that, taken how loud it was, probably happened in an area close to his current position. And from what he heard, he assumes that the noise was caused by an explosion.
‘What was that!?’ yelled one of the two guards, ‘Did something happen!? Minori, get in position!’
‘Uh, Airi-chan, I don’t think we’re being attacked… Honami-chan is teaching Kanade-sama today, remember?’
Even from back there, Mafuyu could still hear the exhausted sigh of the guard who was apparently called Airi.
‘We should have expected this… seriously, his highness should not be allowed near a kitchen.’
‘Should we go check on them?’
‘Nah, Honami-chan was probably prepared for this, knowing our prince. She probably has everything under control. I think that we should go around and see if anyone is scared by the noise. Instead, we don’t need people to panic over His Majesty’s terrible cooking skills. Come on Minori, let’s get going.’
‘Y- Yes!’
And with that, the two guards left the area.
Well, that definitely narrows down the location of the prince. All that is left for Mafuyu to do is find the kitchen, which will probably not be hard. Carefully leaving his hiding place, he made his way towards the location of the sound.
He eventually found the kitchen, as it was the only room where he could hear something going on inside. Now that he found it though, he didn’t really know what to do. Open up the door aggressively and demand for the prince to heal his worries? Lightly knock on the door? Wait outside until the prince gets out?
The answer was quickly found when he realized that the door to the kitchen was slightly open. Mafuyu prayed for the door not to crack while he silently snuck in through this opening. He was sure that no one heard him though, as the two individuals were too focused elsewhere to even glance at the door.
Looking around, Mafuyu immediately understood what made the noise he had heard earlier. A dozen metal utensils seemed to have fallen on the ground, and a young man was carefully picking them up with the help of the other person in the room.
‘Sorry Mochizuki-san…’
‘Now now, don’t apologize Yoisaki-san, it was a mistake after all. It’s not like you burned down the whole kitchen. It only made some noises but it’s all good!’
Mafuyu inspected the person he now knew was the prince he was looking for carefully. He had short silver hair with matching blue eyes. His garment was of a similar color scheme, being mainly blue and white, with some golden ornaments. This made it so that, even in the barely lit kitchen, he seemed to shine slightly. They were beautiful, or at least Mafuyu thought they were.
‘Should we resume where we left?’, a woman who Mafuyu assumed was the so-called Honami the two guards were talking about broke the silence of the room. She opened the drawers and took a pack of sugar.
‘Yes. Please teach me, Mochizuki-san.’
Mafuyu remained hidden as he watched Honami teach the prince. From what he saw, she was showing him how to bake some sweets.
‘This will be perfect for tomorrow’s tea… thank you so much for doing this for me, Mochizuki-san.’
‘Heh, it’s nothing! You can ask me to teach you any time. I know your schedule is very busy, but you can always come at night as you did today!’
‘Will do. I’ll be going now. Good night.’
And with that, the prince left the kitchen.
While he made sure that Mochizuki wasn’t watching, Mafuyu exited the room as well, discreetly following the prince to what he assumed was their room. He still had no idea how to introduce himself to him. After all, in the legend, the people searching for him were mostly here to kill him and were healed after he probably promised to do so to protect himself. But Mafuyu came here specifically for the said healing, and he will be seen as an utter fool if the legend turns out to be false.
‘Hum…’
Mafuyu stopped walking, to avoid making any noise.
‘Could you please stop following me?’
His heart skipped a beat. He was sure of it.
Mafuyu’s whole face was a crimson red when the prince turned around to face him. He didn’t seem particularly scared or disgusted - actually, Mafuyu could barely figure out what he was feeling at the moment. But what he was sure of was that he noticed Mafuyu, probably from the very start, and that the young boy was caught in the act. If he didn’t see how gentle the prince was in the kitchen, he’d be sure that he was going to get thrown in the dungeons right here and now.
‘Hm, let me guess, you’re here because of the rumors, right?’
Mafuyu didn’t dare answer. Not because he was still too ashamed, but because it would be too embarrassing to admit he did all of that for some rumor. Well, at least calling it a rumor makes it a bit more believable than calling it a legend.
‘Well, if you are, I’m afraid that you may have been misled. I don’t have any kind of power - magic doesn’t exist in this world.’
Mafuyu wanted to take out his sword right here and now and stab himself with it so he could at least not live through this embarrassment.
‘Ah, don’t get me wrong, the story is true. Just not the magic part.’
Mafuyu finally dared to look directly into the prince’s eyes. His heartbeat finally calmed down, and he looked more appeased. Even though it was foolish to ever think magic did actually exist, he was so glad to hear that the prince’s abilities were actually true stories. Maybe it wasn’t due to superpowers, but he might actually be able to help Mafuyu. To heal him from his worries.
‘You look exhausted… We can talk about this tomorrow, alright? You can rest here for today. I’ll get you a room, if that’s okay with you.’
Mafuyu should have probably refused. He was already going too far. Who was he to escape from his house, infiltrate a castle, and on top of all of this get a free night's rest in said castle? He didn’t deserve this. And yet, the prince spoke with such kindness that he couldn’t help but nod in agreement.
The room the prince gave him was a big one, and the bed was very comfortable. In this kind of situation, Mafuyu would have probably not been able to close his eyes at all. And yet, the weirdness of the situation made it so he fell asleep the moment his head dropped on the pillow.
The next morning, he was invited to drink tea with the prince in the royal garden.
He didn’t really know what to expect. He was stressed by the idea of having to admit that he wanted, no, needed help and that this rumor was the only solution he had found so far. For that to happen, he would have to tell the prince what he felt. And god knows that’s something Mafuyu was not good at.
The prince made sure that Mafuyu would be as comfortable as he could be. The garden was a perfect spot for this tea party, as it was completely silent, and the scenery was really nice. The table was dressed, and dozens of pastries were presented on it, probably the ones that were made yesterday. The tea smelled delicious, and even if he couldn’t figure out what the taste was, Mafuyu was excited to take a sip.
The prince sat graciously in front of him. And even under such stress, Mafuyu couldn’t stop thinking about how pretty they were. If he was still under the belief that the prince actually possessed some sort of magic, he’d have believed that they cast a spell on him to make him focus exclusively on him. But for now, Mafuyu could only blame his inexplicable attraction to the prince on himself.
‘Well, first things first, let’s introduce ourselves, alright? You probably already know this, but I’m Yoisaki Kanade, and I’m the heir of this kingdom.’
‘Right… I’m Asahina Mafuyu. I want to apologize for intruding.’
‘Asahina Mafuyu? You mean you’re the princess of the-’
Noticing Mafuyu’s shift in behavior - how he lowered his face and fidgeted with his hands, Kanade coughed and started again.
‘My apologies. Heir of the Asahina Kingdom?’
‘That… That is right.’
‘It’s nice to meet you then. What are you here for?’
‘Well…’, Mafuyu didn’t really know where to start, ‘I heard about your story from my friend, while we were practicing sword fighting. I… I need your help. I don’t know who I can turn to anymore and I thought that following this legend might be my only solution. So I tried my luck and well, here I am.’
Kanade nodded and gestured to Mafuyu to eat something before continuing. He really wanted him to feel alright.
‘I should be home. I actually shouldn’t have been sword fighting in the first place, but my friend promised to train me to become a knight, and I really wanted to learn, so I started to do some… “daily escapades”.’
‘You want to be a knight?’
Mafuyu’s expression softened slightly.
‘I have always wanted to be. Since I was a child, I would go watch the royal knights train, which usually got me some reprimanding… but it was worth it. I loved every second of it. I wouldn’t want to live in a world where I couldn’t at least be able to watch knights fight.’
‘And so… you want to become a knight but you can’t? Is that your problem?’
‘Not only… It's complicated. I have to become the heir of the kingdom, become the- the queen… but it’s not what I wish for. And yet- I still have to. But- If I truly had the choice-’
‘I see… you’re puzzled between becoming what you were meant to be and becoming what you want to be, is that right?’
‘That is… a way to put it, yes. I don’t want people in town thinking of me as their “princess”. I wish I could be seen as a knight instead. Or a prince, at the very least…’
‘Ah… I understand…’
A few minutes of silence passed after that. Mafuyu takes a sip of the tea and, living up to the promise of the smell, enjoys the taste very much. Meanwhile, Kanade’s cup remains in their hand, while he seems lost in thoughts.
‘You know…’, the prince breaks the silence, ‘What I did with those assassins wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. But anyone ready to take another person’s life would have to have great worries weighing on them. And so I figured that by helping them resolve their problems, everyone in the situation would be happy. Notably… one of them wanted to kill me because he was promised money for doing so. He wanted to use this money to help pay for the medicines needed for his younger sibling. By providing him with the money himself as well as some food so they could live comfortably, he didn’t feel the need to continue killing people for money anymore. And so, he stopped.
I… I really like helping people. Anyone I can. I work all day and all night just to be sure that my people are living happily in my kingdom. I like helping strangers, no matter if their intentions towards me are good or bad. And so, Mafuyu, I really want to help you.’
‘But… how?’
‘You ran away from home, right? You’d probably get into a lot of trouble if you go back… so there’s no point in doing so. A royal disappearing overnight is not unheard of. You should… I think you should stay here.’
‘But- I can’t-’
‘You can’t go back either, can you? I won’t force you, of course, it’s your choice. I know it’s not an easy solution to take but… if you stay here, you can become a knight. My personal knight, if you’d like. How does that sound?’
The offer was too good to be true. Mafuyu was lost. He wanted to say yes, but he also couldn’t agree knowing what it implied. Starting a new life… while it didn’t sound bad, it scared him somehow. He should have just stayed home, abandoned his dream and remained in the castle.
‘I have to add, though, that integrating the knights requires cutting your hair. But I’m sure you wouldn’t mind that, right?’
Mafuyu’s eyes sparkled slightly.
‘Do you mean that…’
‘You don’t have to be who you’re forced to be here, Mafuyu. If you want to follow your dream of being a knight, then do it by being yourself. How does that sound?’
Mafuyu thought for a minute.
‘Can I give you my answer tomorrow…?’
‘Of course. Please take your time.’
The prince gave him a sweet, tender smile. And it was probably at this moment that Mafuyu knew what choice he should make.
-
‘My prince…’, the knight kneeled in front of the young man, ‘the mission went well. We were able to find the child and get them back to their parents.’
‘I’m glad to hear that, thank you for your effort.’
The knight reached for the prince’s hand and approached it to his lips, kissing it gently.
‘Anything for you…’
The prince kneeled too, to be at the same level as the knight, and cupped his cheek with his other hand.
‘Thank you still, my dear Yuki.’