Chapter Text
My chest was pounding. My breath was fast and heavy. No, I wouldn't give up, and I definitely wouldn't surrender so easily. I didn't want to return to the palace, at least while Dad's decision to marry me to a prince I had never met still couldn't be canceled.
I kept running away from the palace in the darkness of the night, going deeper into the forest. You could say I ran away, and I didn't care about the royal soldiers chasing me because they were still behind me. They were riding horses, while I was running only with my two legs.
They had simply underestimated my agility. All this time they thought that since childhood I had been nothing more than the crown prince who spent his days studying endless royal theories. What they didn't know was that I often sneaked off to train with one of Dad's trusted senior soldiers—the man who usually trained the troops—and asked him to teach me how to fight. He even taught me how to escape in ways that would be hard for horse riders to catch, all without Dad knowing.
Behind the image of an innocent crown prince, I would not hesitate to raise my sword at anyone who blocked my path.
Some soldiers behind me had fallen behind, but I was careless enough not to realize that several soldiers were already waiting ahead with their horses. They were the border guards of this forest.
“Lower your sword, Your Highness. Let's talk this through peacefully, without any weapons,” one soldier said after getting down from his horse and trying to approach me.
I raised my sword higher.
“Stay where you are or I'll cut off your head with this sword!” I shouted.
“His Majesty the King is waiting for you. Please, Your Highness, come back to the palace. It is not safe here.”
“Step back yourself, or this sword will make you step back!” I wasn't afraid of anyone, not even Dad's orders. These soldiers were nothing compared to my courage.
“My apologies, Your Highness. We were ordered to guard you and bring you back to Barakastappia Palace. We don't want anything bad to happen to you. Before something unfortunate happens, please come back to the palace with us.”
Another soldier stepped down from his horse, and I pointed my sword at his neck.
They didn't know this was only a toy sword.
“See your friend here? Anyone who dares block my path, I won't hesitate to draw this sword!” I glared at the remaining five soldiers in front of me. I could see a flicker of fear in their eyes.
“Move aside! You're blocking my way!” I shouted, telling them to give me a path.
But once again, someone dared to speak.
“My apologies, Your Highness, we—”
Annoyed, I threw the toy sword away and pulled out my real sword from its sheath as a warning. But he had already noticed my movement, so he raised his sword too. The sound of clashing swords broke the silence of the night.
I attacked another soldier who had already prepared his sword. The loud noise again defeated the quiet sounds of the forest insects, this time even louder. Besides using my sword, I also used the fighting skills I had learned. My punch landed hard on one soldier's jaw, making him lose balance before he finally lost consciousness.
When two soldiers attacked me, I looked for an empty gap to dodge, and their swords only struck the air. I managed to knock down another soldier with a kick when he tried to attack me. I had just started to feel a little victorious because only three opponents were left and I believed I could defeat them, when the soldiers who had been chasing me from behind finally arrived.
I held my breath.
There were many of them, far more than the ones blocking my path before. Still, I kept resisting. I didn't care even if I had to die. I would rather die than obey Dad's decision. But I knew they wouldn't kill me. They would only make me unable to fight and bring me back to the palace.
Just when I was about to lose because I was surrounded, someone suddenly stepped into the middle and stood in front of me, facing away from me. I didn't know who it was, but I knew he wanted to help me from the words he whispered.
“Follow my strategy. We'll trick them by pretending to attack. We move to the north. When they attack, find an open gap, then run. Don't let them realize it too quickly. By the time they notice, we should already be gone. Understand?”
He told me his plan. I quickly nodded. We both braced ourselves.
“Surrender, Your Highness. We will not attack you. Let's return to the palace without any more bloodshed.”
“1... 2… attack!” the young man beside me gave the signal.
We both pretended to attack, just like he said, moving toward the north. As soon as they stepped forward, I slipped into the empty gap I had found and ran together with the young man as fast as possible.
“Can you climb?” he asked while still running.
I nodded. He signaled toward a nearby tree, and I quickly climbed it.
Soon after, I heard shouting getting closer. I saw the young man on the tree across from me signaling me to stay quiet. I nodded slightly.
“They're not here!” someone shouted below.
“They must have escaped! Spread out and search in every direction!” That was probably the commander's voice. After he gave the order, they all scattered and left the forest area where I was hiding.
‘Should we come down now?’ I silently mouthed to the young man.
He nodded. I slowly climbed down, trying not to make any sound at all, just in case there were still other soldiers nearby.
“Where are you going?” he asked as he approached me. “You looked like you were in danger. One whole squad against one person. That's quite funny.”
“Where are you going yourself?” I asked back instead of answering.
He shrugged and pointed in the direction we had run earlier. “The palace, it's not far from here. And you still haven't answered my question.”
I sighed, suddenly irritated at the mere mention of the palace.
“I actually want to go far away from the palace. My dad wants to arrange a marriage for me with a prince I've never even met before. Yu something, I don't even want to know his name.”
“Tomiyasu Yu,” he said with a laugh and held out his hand.
“That's the name! The person they're forcing me to marry—wait, what is this supposed to mean?” I stared at him, confused and half-shocked.
“My name is Tomiyasu Yu. I know you must be Prince Haru. Nice to meet you. I didn't expect we would meet this soon, in a dark forest like this. And I must say I'm proud to have such an impressive future husband like you!”
He grinned widely.
After that, I lost consciousness. The only thing I heard was his faint voice before everything went silent.
“Hey, don't die! We're getting married tomorrow!”