Cain Elgrandark, the eldest son of the dukedom, was an early riser.
He always got up two hours before breakfast and went jogging along the outer wall of the estate.
He had started doing this when he was five years old, and at first, he couldn't even make it halfway around the premises, but by the time he was six, he was doing ten laps every day.
For the record, one lap around was about one kilometer. The estates were, indeed, ridiculously spacious.
At first, he was sighted by knights patrolling the premises, and they tried to stop him, but he ignored them and continued running. Somehow, they ended up joining him for his morning runs.
He became friendly with the knights, and they taught him things like self-defense, footwork during a fight, and how to dodge attacks. Cain got to a point where if he was given the chance, he could take down an adult many times his size and pin him down.
Since he was still a child and didn't have the muscle strength yet, he wasn't taught how to use any weapons.
However, Cain Elgrandark's was blessed with excellent genetics, and he had an excellent body.
It's no wonder, as he was designed to be a Potential Suitor for an Otome game. As he studied, Cain could actually feel his way of thinking becoming clearer, and his breadth of knowledge growing.
He was sure to review past lessons before tests, but he really didn't need to. Whenever he learned something, he was able to commit it to memory immediately and permanently.
In the same way, whenever he exercised, he could feel his body accumulating physical strength, and he easily grasped all of the judo moves that the knights taught him.
Cain found it very enjoyable to see direct results for anything he did. It would be a lie to say he didn't sometimes wish he had a brain like this in his old existence, during college entrance exams, but since that was all in the past, he drove away those thoughts from his mind.
Today, too, he did his preparatory stretches and began his morning run. His father was leaving the castle early in the morning, and so the knights that Cain was friendly with were busy with the opening and closing of the castle gates. Therefore, Cain was running alone.
It was a quiet morning, and all that he could hear was his own panting breath and the twitter of birds.
He was running beside the wall on the rear side of the premises, at the furthest point from the main gate. Then, he heard something behind him, like something heavy had dropped and hit the ground.
He thought that a cat could have fallen from the top of the wall, or maybe somebody was tossing some garbage into the castle grounds.
Cain then thought that it could be the old gardener falling over, so he stopped running, and turned around.
There, he saw a boy dressed in all black with a cloth covering his face, fallen over on the ground.
Cain walked over to him while still panting and trying to slow his breathing. The boy staggered to his feet, and putting a hand to the wall to steady himself, began trying to walk forward.
Cain closed the distance between them with a few brisk steps, and then swept the boy's feet out from underneath him, straddled him, and ripped off his face covering.
"…Ilvalino…"
As soon as Cain had muttered the name, the boy's shoulders began to shake and tremble, and he glared at Cain with reddened eyes.
Ilvalino was one of the Potential Suitors, and he was an assassin.[Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the "Novel Multiverse dot com" website @ novelmultiverse.com]
The Assassin Route was the most tragic scenario possible, and in it, not only would Diana die (obviously), but all of the Potential Suitors besides Ilvalino would be killed, as well.
Cain let his eyes stray upward and to the left, as he tried to remember the details of the Assassin Route. He tried to sort out his memory of it as he remained straddling Ilvalino.
If I'm remembering right, the Protagonist and Ilvalino met when they were little kids. Ilvalino had botched an assassination, and as he was fleeing while on the verge of death, the Protagonist found him and applied first aid to him, I think… Ilvalino relied on this childhood memory of her kindness as a small comfort to help him survive in a harsh world, and when he met her again at the Magic Academy, his feelings of love for her were stirred up all over again. Yeah, I remember, now…
"Are you injured?" asked Cain.
"…"
Ilvalino wasn't answering any of Cain's questions. He kept his eyes locked on to Cain's as if he would be admitting defeat if he looked away.
Ah… If I didn't find him here and now, would he have dragged himself over to somewhere near the Protagonist's house? Is that what's happening, here?
If Cain let him go at this point, the scene in which the Protagonist nurses Ilvalino back to health would play out, and he would form the childhood memory that sparks his love for her.
Since this was the worst scenario possible, Cain thought that he should do anything he can to prevent the Assassin Route from progressing.
"Hey, you hungry?" asked Cain.
"…"
Ilvalino didn't answer, as expected. Cain sighed, and stood up and stepped aside, away from Ilvalino.
Now that his body could move about freely, Ilvalino leaped at Cain, but as Cain had been training with knights, he was able to dodge Ilvalino with ease, grab his arm, and throw him to the ground.
"Gyah!" yelped Ilvalino. He didn't even have time to brace himself before his back hit the ground. As he was cowering in pain, Cain pulled up his arm, put his knee on Ilvalino's shoulder, and dropped down his full weight on to it.
"Agahhh!!" Ilvalino screamed.
"Oops, my bad. Don't worry, I just dislocated it, and I'll pop it back in for you later," said Cain.
Cain raised Ilvalino's other, non-dislocated arm, and slung it over his shoulders. He dragged Ilvalino home, to the estate, just like that.
There weren't many servants walking around, due to his father's departure. Cain took advantage of this and snuck Ilvalino up to his room. He removed Ilvalino's clothes that practically screamed "Look, I'm an assassin!", and made him change into the simplest clothes he could find.
Due to the injuries he came with, as well as the dislocated shoulder Cain gave him, Ilvalino was drenched in a cold sweat. Cain laid him down on his sofa and rang a bell to call a servant.
Cain explained to the servant that while he was out running, he found an injured boy outside the back gate, and so he had brought him in to give him medical attention. It was the duty of nobles to help people in need, after all.
News spread from the servant to a handmaiden, and from the handmaiden to a steward, and finally from the steward to Cain's mother, who finally, called for a doctor.
Ilvalino had a broken leg, multiple small cuts, a dislocated shoulder, and bruising on his back. The doctor recommended he rest for a while, left him some medicine, and went home.
"Why did you help me?…" asked Ilvalino, while glaring at Cain. In the game, he had a low, sexy voice, but right now, his voice was still that of a little boy's. Cain stopped himself from bursting out laughing while thinking that it made sense, after all.
"Because helping people in need is a nobleman's duty," said Cain.
Ilvalino was resting in Cain's bed. Mother had told Cain that they would wait for Father to return so that they could discuss what should become of Ilvalino.
The game never mentioned who Ilvalino had failed to assassinate on this occasion. However, the game did explain that ever since he could remember, Ilvalino had been raised as an assassin, and he had no qualms about killing. That is, until he experienced the kindness that the Protagonist showed him. After that, he continued to kill people, but with a tortured, conflicted heart.
"Have you ever heard the phrase 'Compassion is not a gift for others'? It means that any kindness you show others will be returned to you by people showing you kindness, one day," said Cain, sitting on the edge of the bed and peering down at Ilvalino.
"I helped you so that it would come back around to me one day, and it'll end up helping me," said Cain.
"I don't get it…" said Ilvalino
"It's okay if you don't get it. Just get some rest, for now. When you wake up, we can have something to eat, together," said Cain, covering Ilvalino's eyes with his hand.
Ilvalino couldn't help shutting his eyes when a hand was covering them, and he immediately fell into a deep sleep.