"I am sorry that you lost." Leron wiped the sweat off Vladstin with a towel.
"It's alright. I had so much fun! I can't wait for next year!" Vladstin raised his fist to the air. "And look, I now have six sashes to show off to father! That's not too bad!"
"You always see the good in every situation." Leron smiled amusingly. "I'm glad you had fun but.....How are you going to explain your injuries to Lady Wilhengard now? And how will you heal them before Queen Vanesda comes back?"
"Er....." Vladstin scratched his head. "I don't?"
"You're not afraid to get reprimanded?" Leron put the towel aside on his small wicker basket.
"What's to worry about getting reprimanded? I can easily block out the sound all the time and make them move from one ear to the next." Vladstin took a flask of water from the bag and sprayed it all over his face. "Besides, the deed is already over. There's nothing they could do about it. If you didn't get caught when you first attempted it, then it's all good! They have no choice but to just let me do what I want because they know I'll do it again anyway."
Vladstin giggled as he shook off the cold water from his hair, then chugged all the remaining water from the flask. Leron could not help but stare in awe at how laidback and easy this prince's life was.
If he ever disobeyed his father like this, he would have been hanged upside down on the tallest window of the Ilvedian Palace until he begs to be forgiven and wholeheartedly be traumatized to never do it again. He wasn't even allowed to run on the palace halls, much less join festivals and savagery like this. Leron felt that he haven't been given this mission and he stayed in Ilvedia for the rest of his childhood, he would grow as a quiet and miserable man who had never known about joy and happiness in his life.
Vladstin noticed that Leron has been staring at him for a while, and his cheeks went red. "What are you looking at?"
Leron mindlessly wiped the dripping water off Vladstin's chest, and said. "Vladstin, you're so lucky."
Vladstin thought he was talking about his body composition being good at such a young age, so he replied. "Well, if you exercise as much as me, you'll have a body like this in no time! I'm even starting to have well-contoured abdominal muscles. Mother calls them six-potato stomach."
"What?" Leron blinked, because that wasn't really what he was saying. "Oh... Ah, that is impressive. I did see you getting more and more active lately and doing physical training."
"I want to be as buff as Falcon Eyes when I grow up!" Vladstin grinned. "Maybe I would be even able to lift you up with one arm!"
"Umm... I don't think that will happen, Your Highness." Leron smiled wryly. "We're of the same mass and I'm not really neglecting my physical training too. I'm also a little taller than you, so..."
"But you're not planning to be a wrestler, are you?" Vladstin insisted
"I'm still practicing swordfight, and swords are quite heavy too."
Vladstin shrugged. "Then, in that case, I don't mind being carried by you if you become stronger than me."
Leron remembered being carried by his father once, and that was when he accidentally muddied the carpet. His father offered to carry him, then threw him to a muddy puddle. The King of Ilvedia smirked and said, "It was an accident."
"What if I.... accidentally made you fall off?" Leron asked.
"That's alright! I know you'll make it up to me somehow anyway." Vladstin pinched his cheek.
Leron doesn't know how to respond. He could literally throw Vladstin off a cliff and he's sure Vladstin wouldn't suspect a thing. He really was so lucky to live in such an environment where he doesn't have to fear his safety.
Vladstin looked at the sky and exclaimed, "Hey, it's getting late! You better pass my clothes before Lady Wilhengard uses the festival horn to call for us!"
Leron handed Vladstin his clothes and sighed. "You really are a lucky child, Your Highness."
---------------
On the seventh day of the festival, the spontaneous energy of the people had started to calm down. The Festival of the Crimson Wolf was coming to a close. The last major activity that the Crescentian's usually do is to make wishes and tie them to red flying lanterns, launching them into the sky with their loved ones.
"You know, they say that the red lanterns are more magical than you think." Vladstin said while he and Leron made one along with the children of the Royal Orphanage. "Especially when it's a wish out of love and friendship. There was a story behind it, something about a lady getting captured by a dragon or something and the Crimson Wolf being involved."
"The lady WAS the dragon." Suzhi corrected, making her own lantern with pearls and colorful scraps that she bartered with other orphans. "She used to be an evil person in her past life. She was reborn with a curse by the Crimson Wolf and Rouge to be a dragon at night and a lady by day. The only thing that can save her was a true act of kindness while she was a dragon or the blood of 5,000 men. Her parents did not believe that it was possible for someone to be kind to a dragon. So her family made up a story to make men far and wide try to save her when she was in dragon form, fooling their daughter to kill all these knights and princes."
"That's so harsh and cruel." Leron said.
Suzhi shrugged. "Eh. It's our bedtime story when we were like toddlers. The ones for late childhood are way worse than this."
Suzhi continued the tale. "Anyway, a young lantern maker came across the tower one sunny morning. She saw the princess going down from it, and greeted her. They became friends but the princess always leave before sunset, warning the lantern maker never to go past the boundary line or a ferocious dragon will eat her up."
"The lantern maker wondered why the princess would stay on the tower with such a terrifying beast. She figured that the dragon may not be that bad if it never harms the princess. So she sent messages through lanterns to make requests to the dragon. She sent messages like 'Please take care of my friend.' or 'Use my light so it won't be too dark at the tower'. The Crimson Wolf saw this and convinced Rouge to lift the curse, for this count as a true act of kindness."
"And now we have this stupid tradition today." Suzhi brought the story to a conclusion. "We set off the lanterns with wishes for the good fortune of our friends and loved ones. In case our friend had done or may do evil in their lives, we wish for them to be forgiven by the Crimson Wolf so they may not be cursed in the next life. We Crescentians are weirdos, huh?"
"That is a very strange story indeed. But I don't think I would consider you as 'weirdos' just for that. It's your culture after all." Leron said, tying the sides of the lantern together with Vladstin. "But what happened to the princess and the lantern maker after the curse was lifted."
"Dunno. It's not really an important part of the story, or so my father says." Suzhi finished her intricately designed lantern and observed it from side to side. "I'd like to think that they ran off together and lived on some lovely cottage until they grew old and died. Then they reincarnated together in all their next lives."
"That's nice to imagine." Leron admitted. "I'm not used to the idea of reincarnation, but I think I do prefer if that is what really happens to the soul when we die."
At least, that would give him another chance to live a life where he was no longer a prince, just an average person that doesn't have to hurt anyone.
"I think I know what I'm going to wish on the lantern!" Vladstin said, and picked up a plume and a piece of paper, scribbling enthusiastically with his tongue out.
Leron peered over at him. "What is it?"
"No peeking! It's against the rules, the wish might not come true!" Vladstin hurriedly hid the paper to his chest with his cheeks tinted pink.
"There's no such rule like that." Suzhi called him out.
"There is! At least, that's what I believe anyway...." He moved further from Leron and turned his back at him so he can't peek. "I'll tell it to you after we launch the lantern."
"Ok....." Leron just shrugged and wrote a wish of his own.
What should we wish for? It's not like he believes in this tradition anyway, but he would still follow it as a sign of respect for the Crescentian culture. Not thinking much about it he just wrote:
'I wish for a prosperous year for me and the Royal Family.'
He checked on Vladstin and saw that he was still writing busily with his eyebrows creased. He seems to be writing an entire paragraph. Leron found it adorable how the little Crescentian Prince really took this seriously.
At dusk, the people held their flying lanterns with messages to the Crimson Wolf over the pier, and releaser them one by one. They floated over the sea like twinkling lights, making the starry sky even brighter. The people sang a song in a foreign language, most likely the ancient language of Crescentia that existed even in the time of Rouge and Azul.
Vladstin and Leron sat by the docks for a moment, their feet swinging over the edge, not quite touching the water. They basked in the view by themselves for a while, separated from the rest of the group. They talked about their thoughts on their experience at the festival, joked here and there, but there's still a serene and peaceful atmosphere between them.
"Do you think His Majesty and Her Majesty will be able to see the lanterns from their ship?" Leron asked, staring at their reflection on the dimly lit waters.
"They had probably waited by the bower to see them." Vladstin said. "They may even have released their own lantern. I already know what those two will wish for. They wish for the same thing every year and hold hands like this."
Vladstin demonstrated how his father would make a vow to his mother, holding both of Leron's hands:
"Oh, dearly beloved Vanesda. I wish for a lifetime of happiness with you, our child, and our kingdom. May we stay together even if the highest mountains may flatten and the deepest seas become dried."
Then, he copied his mother this time, doing her high-pitched scratchy voice:
"Oh, you hopeless Lazar. I wish for a lifetime of blessings and purpose to all of us too. May we stay together even when the loudest winds lost their voice and the brightest night skies lost all its stars."
"Blegh!" Vladstin pretended to puke, turning to the side. "They're so embarrassing, aren't they?"
"I think they're really sweet." Leron said.
"You never said anything bad about any of us." Vladstin sighed. "You're too kind, Leron."
'More like too fake', the young Leron thought. But he really did appreciate the vows of the King and Queen of Crescentia.
"I wish someone would make a vow as intense as that to me someday." Leron said, looking up at the sky to watch the lanterns in that dotted the sky. "What did you wish for in your lantern, by the way?"
Vladstin stammered and looked away. "Uh... um.... On second thought, just forget about it. It's nothing special."
"Oh, come on. You promised to tell me after we released the lantern." Leron chuckled and punched his shoulder lightly. "I thought Crescentian's doesn't like to break their promises."
"Er....It's as embarrassing as my parents' vows." Vladstin fiddled with his shirt.
"Now I'm really curious about it." Leron turned to him and shook his shoulders. "Come on, tell me! I'm sure it's not that bad."
"I.... I wished...." Vladstin gulped. "I wish for the people to have more happy memories with all their loved ones. I wished that they would never be apart from each other. I wished for the happiness of the orphans, you and I..... and...."
"That seems pretty normal so far." Leron said. "Go ahead, what is it?"
Vladstin gulped, his ears turning red. He then stared directly at Leron's sapphire blue eyes with his own golden ones seeming to glow brighter than the lanterns above. He said with all sincerity:
"I wished to be with you through life and death and no matter what comes afterward."
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