Suddenly, the door behind me closed.
"Prince Elysion!? Prince Elysion!?"
"Hahaha! What a fool!"
I could hear Prince Elysion's mocking laughter from the other side of the door. Yes, I finally realized it now.
Prince Elysion, the silver-haired boy, had deceived me. I couldn't understand why he would do such a thing.
"You fool! Listen carefully! I am Elysion! Elysion Silvercrest!"
After throwing scornful words at me and revealing his name once again, his mocking laughter and footsteps gradually faded away.
"Please! Open it! Open it!"
I screamed desperately, but no one answered. Looking around, I noticed the room was full of dust, indicating it hadn't been used for a long time.
"Please! Please, someone! Aaaah!"
Locked in a place like this, feeling anxious and regretting why I had explored on my own, I resented that boy, Elysion.
At the same time, the impression of the prince from the stories I had held onto faded away in an instant. The real prince, would do such a cruel thing to me.
"Ugh... Uuu..."
Driven by anxiety and impatience, I clenched my fist, shedding tears. And then...
"There? Over there..."
"!?"
A voice of that boy came from outside the window. I rushed to the window immediately.
But...
—Poof.
With onyx-like black hair fluttering, the boy tilted his head and distanced himself.
"Please! Wait!"
I desperately shouted from the window. However, being only six years old, I couldn't reach the lock, and I couldn't open the window. My voice couldn't reach the boy, and... eventually, he disappeared from my sight.
"A... Aaah..."
Hope shattered, I collapsed on my knees. Alone in this empty room where no one would come, I might die.
Such fear overwhelmed me, and my body trembled uncontrollably.
But...
"Hey... Is someone there?"
A voice from the boy beyond the door, as if to blow away my fear, reached my ears.
"Hey... Is someone there?"
As if to blow away my fear, the boy's voice came from beyond the door. I raised my face energetically and rushed toward the door, almost as if clinging to it.
"I Have been trapped?! Please! Help!"
Facing the boy on the other side of the door, I desperately shouted.
"Huh!? Okay! Just wait a moment!"
As the doorknob rattled, it quickly stopped. He must have realized it was locked.
And then...
—Clang!
With a tremendous metallic sound, the doorknob shook.
—Clang! Clang! Clang!
Repeated sounds of striking metal. The doorknob gradually bent in a strange direction, and then...
"Are you okay!?"
The door, forcefully swung open, and the black-haired boy I had seen outside the window jumped in. Behind him, a large sword meant for an adult lay on the floor.
"Uwaaaaah! It was scary... so scary!"
"W-What!?"
Overwhelmed by the joy of being saved and the recoil from the previous fear, I clung to the boy, crying out loud.
"I'm sorry? If I had noticed sooner and come to help..."
"Uwaaaaah!"
The boy hugged my trembling body, gently patting my back. His voice was so comforting, warm, and it swept away all the anxiety from earlier.
He comforted me until I stopped crying.
…
..
.
"Have you calmed down?"
"Sniff... Yeah."
After a while, I nodded to the boy who peered into my face, regaining composure. The boy's gray eyes were so radiant that I couldn't help but be drawn in.
Although his eyes were the same gray color, the boy who had done such terrible things earlier, Prince Elysion, was completely different from this one.
"Oh, look. Your face is all crumpled with tears."
"Hmm..."
The boy took out a handkerchief, gently wiping away my tears. It tickled a bit, but the warmth of his consideration and the scent of the handkerchief made my heart warm.
"So... can you tell me what happened?"
"..Yeah."
I explained the events leading up to this point with all my might.
Coming to the royal palace with my father to meet His Highness the Prince. Feeling uneasy after sneaking out on my own, the boy who appeared promising to take me back to my father, but instead led me here, deceived into thinking my father was in this room.
"...The boy said his name was Elysion, the Third Prince."
"Eeh..."
The moment the boy heard the name of that other boy, with Elysion's name, he seemed surprised or maybe subtly troubled.
"Do you know him...?"
"Well, um... not exactly, but..."
The boy made a troubled expression, then turned to me.
"My name is Elysion... Elysion Silvercrest, that is."
"Eeeeh!?"
I exclaimed in surprise at the apologetic introduction of the boy.
It was only natural for me to be surprised. After all, there were two boys claiming to be Elysion.
At that moment.
"There you are!"
Father suddenly burst into the room. His face was incredibly pale, and it seemed like he had been desperately searching for me.
More than anything, it was the first time I had seen my father with such wide-open eyes.
"Father...!"
"Haa... I was really worried. Are you okay?"
He hugged me, and my father sighed with relief. However, the boy who had been with me until a while ago, the one who called himself Elysion, was nowhere to be found.
On the floor, only the handkerchief with the dragon embroidery that wiped away my tears remained.
"Now, Their Majesties are waiting. Let's go quickly."
"Ah... W-Wait..."
Father carried me and quickly left the room. Though I managed to pick up the handkerchief, I wanted to thank the boy.
However, the room from earlier was getting farther and farther away.
The boy's figure was nowhere to be seen.
I clasped the handkerchief, bit my lip...
"I'll give you this handkerchief!"
The boy, showing just a little bit of himself from the shadows of the corridor, gave me a sunflower-like smile.
"Hmm? I heard a boy's voice just now..."
Father looked around, but the boy quickly hid, and he couldn't find him. Tilting his head, Father quickly headed towards the room where Prince awaited.
The first boy introduced himself as Prince Elysion, the Third Prince. In other words, the Prince I was about to meet might be that Elysion.
I didn't care which one was the real Prince Elysion.
I just... eagerly looked forward to meeting the second Elysion... and hugged the handkerchief with the dragon embroidery close to my chest.
'Black.'