It wasn't really a surprise that I got the next day off.
What surprised me, however, was the fact that I could still stand normally.
My whole body felt sore and I had a sinking feeling that my back would break with any movement. It was only thanks to my good stamina that I even managed to walk out of Cain's room, as if nothing happened.
However, my comrades probably knew what happened last night. They were giving me those weird looks again.
Of course they didn't talk about it. Our Commander had ordered that more than clearly. Still, it was a strange feeling in the common room. So I preferred to retire to my own room instead.
…
I was in the middle of a good book when suddenly there was a soft knock on my door.
I raised my eyebrows questioningly and stood up.
Jon or Amadeus would have burst into my room without knocking. So it couldn't be them.
Prince Cain would have sent for me and not gone to our barracks personally.
And Armon is so busy with his duties that he rarely shows up at our group of friends. So it was very unlikely that it was him.
But who else could it be?
I slowly opened the door and was surprised to see a halfway familiar face.
It was the palace guard who should have replaced me in front of Cain's room back then to stand watch. The one who always looked at me so askance afterwards.
"Hey, uh...can I come in for a second?" I heard his warm voice.
"S-sure..." I said a little awkwardly and let him into my room.
The guard took a good look around my room.
However, apart from bare walls, a cot and a small chest of drawers, there was hardly anything to see. A dim light flooded through the small window, occasionally illuminating small dust motes.
It wasn't a special room. Just the room of a palace guard. I was sure that the rooms of my colleagues hardly differed from this one.
That's why I was even more puzzled that this palace guard seemed to be looking for something in particular.
"May... may I help you?" I asked somewhat awkwardly and seemed to have torn the other guard out of his thoughts.
"Did he give you anything?" He just asked while eyeing me more closely.
"What? Who?" I was a little confused.
"The prince. Did he give you a present?"
"What? N-no."
His gaze suddenly fell on the book in my bed.
"You're the one who can read?" He then concluded. I was a bit surprised when he changed the subject so abruptly.
"Y-yeah." I nodded.
"So you're smart. That's good. Then you can certainly understand what I'm about to tell you." He suddenly said in a very serious tone. I swallowed hard.
The situation began to worry me.
"You can usually ask for something after you've met the prince...well, you know... in a certain way." the guard said after clearing his throat.
"Ask for something? What do you mean?"
"Well... you can ask for a gift because you've contaminated your body with that... sodomy... You can ask for money, reputation, or even power. The prince will grant you almost anything you wish. You just have to ask him for something next time. Then the whole nightmare will be over. Because he will leave you in peace afterwards." Said the guard cautiously.
It was as if he was careful with his choice of words. He probably didn't like talking about such subjects.
"So that means if I want something in return..."
"...Then the prince won't touch you anymore, that's right. That's how you can get away from it all... I thought I'd tell you so you can get away from him." He completed.
"T-thanks for telling me that..." I just said that because I couldn't think of anything better to say. I was still kind of at a loss for words.
It was a strange situation.
"The... the others didn't really want to tell you because the untouched fear of becoming the next victim... I thought that was pretty mean though..." The guard explained to me and looked at me again somewhat pityingly.
"Oh ... well ... I … I can't really blame them. At first I was pretty scared of the prince too so..." I said awkwardly, avoiding eye contact with the guard.
"Well...then...I just wanted to tell you that…" Mumbled the guard and turned to leave again.
"W-wait! What's your name?"
"Oh... I'm George." He just murmured hoarsely to himself.
"Thank you, George. It's really kind of you to tell me that." I thanked him with a rosy smile.
I could see how George blushed a little and then quickly disappeared from my room, without another word.
"He is nice." I said to myself with a smile and went back to my book.
However, I could hardly concentrate on the story.
My thoughts kept circling over George's words:
What was it about these 'gifts' that you could demand from the prince? Why did Cain leave you alone after that? What was that all about?
Cain was a mystery to himself anyway. The more I saw him, the more questions raised in my head. I felt like I never really made sense of him. I was confused. Confused and curious.
I quickly put my book down. I couldn't concentrate on that now anyway.
Without further ado I decided to make my way to Prince Cain. I had some questions for him.