Chapter Text
Calian feels strange. His vision is swaying and the colours are all wrong.
Is it because of the box Silike sent him? The one covered in engravings and diamonds and that seemed harmless. He thought he looked at it properly. It was strange that he didn’t find anything that'd hurt him but he brushed it off as a mistake from Silike ’s side. It seems he was too fast to judge. Damn.
Will it kill him? He hopes not but hope alone won’t save him. He contacts the wizard hurriedly. There’s no one else to trust with this.
He gets the message through but feels his hearing stop working properly and it’s suddenly black before his eyes before he gets wizard ’s answer. He recognises the signs of fainting and curses.
If he lives through this, Silike will pay a heavy price for it.
***
Calian is missing, the whole castle is being turned upside down and the guards question everyone. Lemain e gives orders to search even Franz’s and Randel’s rooms but the soldiers discover nothing. All they find are Calian ’s clothes lying on the floor in his room and that’s all. Nothing else, not even blood.
Everyone knows who is behind this unexplainable disappearance but without evidence, there’s nothing they can do about Silike. And she looks disgustingly pleased with herself. Doesn’t even bother to hide that this development is pleasurable to her.
And Lemaine may curse her for it and grieve his missing son but life goes on. The only thing that changes is the atmosphere in the castle. The air is so thick of tension it’s almost possible to cut it into pieces with a knife. Everyone is on the edge and ready to defend themselves if anyone decides to attack.
No one trusts anyone, not even the servants.
And then just as suddenly as he went missing, Calian turns up once again, claiming he couldn’t remember what happened at the night and where he was.
Silike isn’t pleased about it and the king rejoices, only to learn that his dear son has disappeared once again the very next night. And it keeps happening. People are confused and even scared because no one knows where the prince goes at nights, not even the person of interest himself
The only one who acts like he doesn’t care about anything at all is Franz . If anything, his behaviour worsens and he doesn’t leave his room as often as he used to. But no one says anything about it because they’re so busy protecting themselves against all possible evil forces and if he stays indoors then they have less problems to solve.
So from their point of view, it’s better if he behaves like this. Who wouldn’t like an easier life if given a chance. And so Franz is left all alone.
***
There’s a cat in the castle.
Franz knows it for sure since the said cat is following him through the castle as he’s making his way back to his bedroom. It has blue eyes and its fur is almost completely white except for the front paws which are black. Franz has no idea whose cat it is or where it came from.
He just heard some noise and a few pathetic meows (or at least attempts of them), when he went to look if there’s anything good left in the royal winery. He doesn’t want to be sober even thought it would be better. He spent so much time pretending to be drunk but what’s the use of it now? Calian has been disappearing and will be unfit to rule despite all his tries.
I t’s not like they can hide all the alcohol the royal family has anyway . He could smuggle some in from the outside if that ever happens. Silike also hasn’t taken away his key yet, and even if she did, Franz would have a copy. Or he would learn how to pick locks. Whatever to disobey her and make sure he won’t get crowned.
The cat had wandered around near the kitchen, probably following the smells. Whoever its owner is they should be glad Franz doesn’t know it’s them. The servants aren’t allowed to have pets while working in the castle and Franz knows that neither Silike or Lemaine would have a cat. He isn’t sure about Calian or Randel , but he assumes it’s not theirs since he hasn’t heard any rumours of them raising one.
Rumours spread with a worrying speed around this place. There isn’t anyone who wouldn’t already know that he has lost his mind. Only this time for real. All his hope was taken away by some stupid disappearance acts that Calian is pulling.
“Kshh, go away! Don’t follow me.”
He tries to keep the cat from following him but it doesn’t even acknowledge that Franz said something at first and only meows in response when he tries again. He finally manages to shake it off when he quickens his pace and almost runs back.
Or so he thought as he can hear the cat making noise behind his bedroom door, asking to be let in by scratching the door . It works in the end and Franz lets it in so he wouldn’t go crazy, especially since his head already throbs.
Fuck, he must have started sobering up already. He can’t even stay drunk for long because of the damn blessing, hangovers come too quickly. But at least they don’t last long. One morning is all it takes for him to completely sober up after drinking until blacking out the night before.
The cat keeps walking between his legs and headbutting him as if in an attempt to trip him over.
“Keep some distance from me. I don’t want to be friends with you.”
He crouches down and tries to make the cat listen to him by expressing himself with one hand gesturing the cat to move away from his legs. He feels stupid talking to a cat and even more stupid after the cat ignores what he said once again and headbutts his hand this time instead. To make it worse, it even starts purring and sits down once Franz falls down after the unexpected action throws him off balance.
He keeps staring at the cat who seems unbothered by his shocked face and decides to save the wine for some other day. He has a cat to deal with. Or is it a kitten? Franz has no idea since it seems small and he doesn’t have any other cats to compare with.
He doesn’t think there have been any in the castle for the last twenty something years.
“Why do you like me? I even shouted at you," he asks the cat but only gets a meow as a reply and the happy cat keeps nudging at his hand, asking for some petting and scratches.
He gives in and pets the small animal for a while. The cat would probably like to get more scratches after he has finished, but his hand is tired and he feels like shit so he ignores it once again and goes to bed. The cat follows him.
He falls asleep with a cat near his legs. The cat wakes him after what only feels like a moment and asks to be let out, not that Franz remembers waking up in the middle of the night. He tries to search for the cat the next morning but can’t find it anywhere.
The evening is normal by all means considering that Calian disappeared once again and hasn’t been found yet . The king orders another search and Franz tolerates it as soldiers raid his room once again. His own father doesn’t trust him but it doesn’t bother him. He’d be much happier if they actually found Calian from there, then this intrusion into his private space would at least have some meaning to it.
But Calian is still missing and so he’s feeling quite down. It would be better if he didn’t disappear. Franz would’ve liked to see him on the throne. He hasn’t been sleeping well and thus begins to think of the night’s events as a strange dream since he can’t find the cat anywhere.
Not that he was looking for it. He’s a prince, why should he be worried about a cat which would surely get executed if it was found by anyone else other than him?
Ridiculous. He tells himself he only did it to make sure he doesn’t have to smell blood once again.
But then he can hear it meow behind his bedroom door again when the night comes. He was already ready to go to sleep and forget that he ever met a cat in the castle. That plan is now ruined and he has to admit, it’s relieving to see the cat fine . It’s still as happy to be let in as it was the first time.
“Hey, you’re here again. I thought you were caught and thrown out or the knights fed you to the dogs.”
He has heard that the knights have some cruel ways of entertainment which involve small animals, other than hunting. He considered going to see if the cat had been caught by them, but eventually decided against it since he can’t stand the smell of blood and he wouldn’t like to see the mutilated corpse of his small visitor. He doesn’t want to call him a friend. A prince doesn’t have any friends, only allies.
“How did you find the right door?” Franz asks, still pleasantly surprised to see the cat again.
“Forget I even asked. You’re a cat you wouldn’t be able to understand or answer me anyway.”
The cat only purrs happily as it makes biscuits and sets itself to sleep on his lap. The sound and the slow breathing are calming and Franz feels himself get sleepy again after a while. He sets the cat to sleep on the bed, close to his legs and gives it a few last pets and scratches before going to sleep.
“I should probably search up some books about cats in the library. I don’t know how to take care of you or what to do. Maybe I’ll also try to get you something to eat from the kitchen since you’re so small.”
He turns to the cat and promises: “Hey, I know that you’re probably going to leave again in the morning to do your own stuff and I won’t be able to find you, but I promise to prepare something nice for you if you come to visit me again. Some toy or something. You would probably like that.”
The cat wakes him up after a few hours and Franz lets it out after asking (more like begging) it to come again tomorrow. He noticed that if the cat is near, it’s easier for him to fall asleep. Even with Calian missing once again.
Just like promised, Franz goes and reads about cats in the library because he thinks the small creature will come to visit him once again. He finds himself eagerly waiting for it’s arrival and starts spending more and more time awake at nights and sleeps during the day instead.
It’s better to just sleep and talk with the cat because other inhabitants of the castle are still behaving as foolishly as ever. And it’s not like he can have a conversation with Calian either, the boy still keeps disappearing.
He brushes the cat’s fur and listens to it purr. This might be the only creature in this whole castle who’d be sad if he suddenly died. This realisation pain Franz a little but he’s happy he has the cat at all.
He still hasn’t heard anything about its owner so he has decided to call it his.
“You’ll be careful right?” he asks the cat who continues to purr, unbothered by his words.
“I can’t give you a name tag so people wouldn’t dare to hurt you. My mom would kill you then. I’m sorry, I can’t keep you safe.”
The cat looks at him with curious eyes and meows softly, as Franz buries his head in its fur, crying. When he finally lifts it, eyes itching a bit, the cat headbutts his head and Franz laughs.
It’s still trying to act cute.
“You’re hungry right?” he asks and finds the food he prepared. The cat may not be able to talk with him but Franz has already started to recognise the signals it’s sending and that’s almost as good as talking.
He watches as the cat fills its stomach and realises that usually the animal would’ve already left by this time.
It seems that the time they spend together has increased.
“You’re staying here more, aren’t you?” he asks the cat and scratches it’s neck when it finishes eating, preparing to fall asleep on his chest.
“Are you planning to live with me really?”
The cat doesn’t answer and gives no signals. Franz waits a short moment heart bounding but then sighs and calms his heart. What did he expect?
The cat did act like it could understand him well and behaved a little like a human at first but it has stopped doing this recently. It’s more and more like any other cat in the city, the only difference between them being that this one sleeps in the prince’s rooms and the other ones suffer in the streets.
But this cat is his and no one else’s. He doesn’t care who its previous owner was, now it his. Everything else is already unbearable and the situation with Calian so messy that he wants to cling to this other pure creature other than Calian that he has found in this disgusting castle.