Early in the morning, inside the inn in a border town, a female voice rang out, furious and loud.
"I knew it! I bloody knew it! Those two sneak out behind our backs once we go to sleep! I told you, didn't I? That it was suspicious how he suddenly got a cold?"
Eleen waved her fist in the air, threatening to punch whoever she saw. Sitting beside her, Doris calmly blew on her messy hair.
"Don't be so worked up. They're not kids, they won't get lost or get hurt."
"I'm not worried about them getting hurt. It's just, you know, frustrating. Like, what are they hiding from us? Huh? Why in the middle of the night?"
In a friend group, the most annoying thing was some members acting out on their own without telling the others.
"Hmm... Yeah, I get that... Maybe we can deliver them a punch once they return... Though unlike us, that swordsman was actually worried about 'His lord's' life and went to fetch them..."
Eleen also plopped down onto a chair, "Yeah... He too has gone mad I guess..."
. . . . . . . . . . .
Dashing out of the city gates, Kieran traversed the plain while spreading out his Aura in search of any person nearby.
'I shouldn't have let him take the other room.'
He should've watched over him closer, he thought. They had to rent three rooms, each for two people, and ended up grouping with the same person they shared a horse with. Kieran shouldn't have let his lord spend time with that noble. He noticed something was off, but after keeping watch for a few hours until the dead of the night and noticing no suspicious activities from them, he gave up and went to sleep. Who'd thought they'd sneak out early in the morning?
'I told him someone was following us, why is he so reckless?'
Despite noticing that someone was following them, Kieran didn't manage to uncover the person's location. This showed how powerful that individual was. They could be a skilled assassin, a spy, or a kidnapper. There were all kinds of dangers outside, yet his prince decided to wander around without anyone to protect him.
And as if that wasn't enough, the other dude was gone as well.
'Actually, let him be gone forever.'
The noble bastard who's enslaved his prince for years better never return.
'Didn't he leave the city? Then where?'
He wasn't inside the town either.
Once Kieran found his prince, he'd make sure not to let him out of his sight ever again. He could put up with him keeping secrets and getting involved in any kind of trouble, but not him doing anything that might put his life in danger. Kieran was a knight. He must keep his lord safe.
Just as his thoughts reached this point, his dashing figure suddenly halted.
Then he heard a familiar voice.
"Oh, Raven~"
Not Kieran but Raven.
'There is someone else here...'
The swordsman narrowed his eyes. He couldn't sense any presence around.
"...What are you doing here?"
"Me?" The prince shrugged his shoulders with a chuckle. "I woke up early and came out to practice my Aether. You know, Alaric mentioned last night that some saints were sent to the nearby town to investigate, so I thought it would be best not to activate my holy power inside the town."
The swordsman's gaze peered on him, face unchanging, disbelief clear all over his expression.
"What were you doing?"
"I told you."
"And that nobleman."
"Who? I don't know what you're talking about... Rather than that, take a look at this."
The prince denied everything with a little effort like he didn't even care if Kieran believed him or not. He then hurriedly changed the subject.
"Can you see this?"
Pulling away the front of his cloak, Ian unwrapped his loosely folded arms, revealing something in his embrace.
"Wha- That-"
A wild beast.
The prince was holding a wild animal.
The swordsman's hands moved faster than the wind. The hilt of his sword was grabbed before the blade got unleashed. The trajectory of the sword was predetermined before it was even unleashed, aimed right at the center of the danger, at the head of the wild beast.
However...
BAMM!
Before he could completely pull the sword out, SHAP, a spark flashed in front of his face. The golden light spattered like a pit of sand. It crashed into his sword directly and burned his hand. In a second, the whole land was died bright yellow.
Kieran didn't understand what happened. And there was a huge impact. Before he could comprehend the situation, he found his body floating in the air, gliding backward; speed immeasurable.
Kieran gasped. Something just clashed with his sword before he could pull it out and the aftermath sent him flying.
Kieran was quick to shift his posture in the air. He somersaulted and used his sword to swiftly land on the ground, saving himself from a humiliating outcome not befitting to a swordsman. Yet ever after that, his body slid backward a bit more, leaving clear marks in the ground.
"What was that f-"
But his words couldn't leave his mouth.
"Gasp!"
A sudden pressure bore down on him; immense, so much that his breath got stuck in his throat. A goosebump-arousing aura targeted his body and soul, rendering him incapable of breathing, let alone pulling out his sword. As if hit paralyzed, his body went numb. Knees gave out. He fell to the ground with a Bump.
'What in the world-'
In front of him stood his prince, the same prince he'd known since a child, and the same person of a few seconds ago... However he appeared like a whole new person. Another person. Alien. Someone he didn't know.
Unconcealed bloodthirst bled out of him. As if a predator, ready to bite down on his prey. As if he wouldn't hesitate for an instant to slit his opponent's throat.
"Who did you just draw your sword against?"
"I- Huu..."
Kieran couldn't respond.
He couldn't breathe.
The man's tone was calm as ever, yet every word was wrapped in thorns and needles, tearing his mind apart. The face, the gaze... The eyes that bore down on him not the sapphire-like pupils of before. Filled with killing intent, emotionless, like the surface of ice. Ice cold, he was. As cold as the surface of a blood-drenched blade. He was soaked in crimson, heat to the toe.
Kieran's body trembled for the first time in years.
Frightening.
"I-I-"
He couldn't answer. Horror surged up his body, interrupting his thoughts; paralyzing his actions.
'Why is he being like that?'
The swordsman was unable to understand the situation. Why was he being targeted by his lord, how could this weak prince exert such a force, why was he so powerless against a normal saint... How was he covered in such a tick stench of blood?
His prince, his feeble prince who needed to be protected all the time.
Why did it feel like he'd seen more deaths than the knight?
"M-My- My lord-"
He couldn't speak more.
His dilated pupils moved to the creature being held by the prince, to the wolf hidden inside his embrace. The two of them locked eyes for a second. The tiny wolf seemed as scared as Kieran. Then the animal moved. It jolted up and clawed on the prince's face with its front paw, not once but several times.
"...."
Ice-cold eyes moved down to the wolf pup at the touch. Not even a scratch was left behind. After a few seconds of seemingly silent staring, the prince let out a gasp.
"...My bad."
Like a balloon hit by a needle, the pressure surrounding him vanished in an instant. It all faded and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
"Huuuuu..."
Finally free from the deathly pressure, Kieran curled his body to gasp and cough, taking a breath and trying to comprehend the situation. The hand grasping his sword trembled violently. His instincts urged him to get rid of the danger.
But what danger? Who?
"...Are you alright there?"
Then the prince knelt down in front of him. Kieran moved a tad backward. It wasn't deliberate but subconsciously performed by his mind.
Chuckling, Ian stretched his cheek with an awkward face.
"Sorry about that, it wasn't intentional."
Unintentional? And he almost suffocated to death out of fear?
"Aether is good at playing with emotions, so... Um..."
The prince reached out his hand. Before Kieran could decide either to stand still, draw backward, or maybe pull out his sword, Ian tapped Kieran's forehead with a gentle touch. There was a brief flash of light and in the next instant, the soaring fear in his heart subsided down like a lie.
"...."
The alarms in his mind died down. Terror and confusion vanished. Kieran stared at Ian with a blank face, wondering if the last few seconds were all him hallucinating and not real at all.
Seeing his baffled face, the prince let out a helpless sigh.
"I didn't mean to, really. Forget it, okay? Anyhow, blame yourself for attempting to attack this child."
As he said, Ian carefully grabbed the wolf, who was dangling from his neck, and pulled it closer to Kieran. The wolf pup wiggled for a bit before calming down and staring at the swordsman in the eyes, just like himself, as if understanding his intense gaze.
Without saying anything, Kieran looked back at his prince. The man was smiling.
"You can see it, right? Every part of it, you see it?"
Despite him smiling, his face didn't appear happy at all. There was a glint of worry and visible remorse.
Kieran had a ton of questions, and his mind was beyond confused, but he held them back. He just nodded his head at Ian.
"His name is Lior."
As if understanding their words, the little wolf waved its paw at him as soon as its name was mentioned.
"...."
Kieran only watched the scene in silence, not knowing what to do or say. Fortunately, Ian continued to explain, clearing his puzzlement.
"I'll tell the others he's a pup I found in the wild, but let me be a bit honest with you, okay? He's been with me for a long, long time. More than you can imagine. More than what you can think of. So don't ever draw your blade against him again. Don't. Ever. If you are my knight, then be his as well. Protect him. Even if a situation arises where everyone's life is in danger, even if I'm there among the crowd losing my life, take this child and run, okay? Him, above all, alright?"
"....."
What was this man talking about? Such a serious face... and that sorrow in his tone... Even the child appeared taken aback. Can a wolf really understand his words?
A creature more precious than his prince's life?
"Keep this a secret for me, alright? Hmm, a secret between us... four."
Ian pulled the wolf back to his embrace, smiling at Kieran. Finally having regained some clarity of mind, the knight stated one question.
"Four? Who's the fourth one?"
At those words, Ian moved his body aside a bit. Looking behind him, Kieran's brows knitted to a frown.
"Him?"
He could see a young man, the nobleman, in the distance, his body leaning against the tree, eyes closed, unmoving.
"...I know of some ways to dispose of the body."
The prince put the child inside his shirt, chuckling.
"Onfurtunetly, he's just passed out."