"I will gladly accept your help, then," Liam agreed. They say a half loaf of bread is better than none. It was better if he gets help from the man although he did not trust him much than match into the palace without a single knowledge about the prince.
"You could ask me anything, I will tell you. I will also tell you anything you should. As for the enemies of magic, I think it is necessary you know all you should know about it because it is important and you could anger the king if you speak of it casually."
Liam nodded attentively like the good student he has to be to take note of all the man would say. His curiosity only heightened with the few seconds of silence.
"A war was fought fifty years ago and it brought the enemies of magic to an end. The emperor closed off that part of the world and it has been this way for all this while.
"It is only right that magic rules because magic has fewer repercussions than its enemies. They slowly destroyed the world with their crazy inventions. When this world was at its end, it released the magic and the late emperor seized it and saved this world."
"Oh," Liam said nodding energetically. He did not understand anything the man was saying but he chose to nod like he understood than get called a fool again.
"Anyone who wants to use any of the things they made, will be put to death. The magic that flows in the royal family is what is keeping this world from getting destroyed that is why we all desire for you to have magic or . . ."
Liam shook his head and looked away as he could easily guess what the man was holding back from escaping his lips. If he did not have magic as the king's son, then they will need to find another son to sit on the throne.
He shook his head. So, a lot of people trusted this prince to save the world from its ruins and preserve it with magic but the prince did not have magic even after two of his sisters were sacrificed to give him magic.
He would dislike the prince if he was one of their citizens once a ruler is useless, he will be the end of his people. There was a lot he could not understand from what the knight had said.
"What do you mean by enemies? They will have a name, right? What is their name?" Liam finally asked.
"That is something I will never use my mouth to say, your highness. No one might be here but if I say it, I must be killed for saying the taboo world. We have all made an oath not to say it or we would die," the knight replied shaking his head.
The horror Liam saw in his eyes forced him to believe and hold back his curiosity despite how much it was eating him from the inside. People are always more curious to know forbidden things.
"It is okay for you to know that anything you see is the work of nature or magic," the knight left these words with him before galloping off on his horse like staying a second more with Liam will be the end of him.
Liam was displeased with the message he left for him. He shook his head in confusion but followed him. "We will learn it all slowly. Take your time," he soliloquized to ease the fear that was brewing in his mind.
******
Liam was welcomed by the governor of the town they stopped. The man was middle-aged. The man smiled warmly and he later heard from the knight that the man was his mother's sister.
He understood why the man was so nice and familiar with him. He felt displeased as he did not know what to say to the man and when the man began asking him questions and making references to the childhood he never experienced in this world, he got so confused.
His knight was nice enough . . . you could not call it being nice but he came to his rescue with the same thing he told Liam to keep secret.
When the man heard he had lost his memory, he wanted to cry just like the knight and Liam was short of words but he no longer hated the knight for telling the man.
He has always eaten alone before but this time, the man insisted that they eat together despite how hard Liam tried to avoid that.
The man drank enough wine and Liam was impressed by the taste of the wine. It moved smoothly in the cup. He sipped and sipped until he had to get his cups refilled more times than he was aware enough to take note of.
The man-made a few jokes and Liam laughed. The meal came to an end when the man slumped on his table and did not raise his head again.
Liam looked at the knight keeping watch. "You are keeping watch," Liam slurred looking at the man as his eyelids dropped and rose tiredly seeking to close finally to rest.
"Yes, your highness," the knight replied straightening his already straight figure perhaps to look better.
"You have never kept watch," Liam accused him with his finger pointed at the knight shakingly. "You always leave so that I will get killed," Liam brawled.
He blinked to focus well on the man as it seemed like the man was dancing in slow movements but he was not the only person dancing, the wall was dancing too.
"I will take you back to your room, you are drunk," the knight told him. He walked to him and tried to lift him from the chair.
Liam obeyed the man and followed him down the hallway to a room. "I hear footsteps. Are you going to keep watch at the door tonight?" Liam asked with his eyes closed sleepily. "Something bad happens every night. If you are scared, you can leave."
He looked at his luggage and the swords he got from the assassin on the table. He felt the hairs on his body rise even in his tipsy state and sleepily signed it off.
His eyes followed the man until he walked out of the room and closed the door. He sat down on his bed almost immediately and had to hold his head as that swift movement almost made him pass out.
His heart raced, nearly exploding as he listened and looked around but he could not make out any figure in the dimly lit room.