The Knight King and the Third Prince (2)
‘This move……’
It was part of the empire’s ornate sword dance, one that lacked any trace of practicality in real combat. And it wasn’t the role Edwin had been assigned—the black dragon—but rather the movements of the first emperor.
Yet it wasn’t exactly the same.
‘He’s stripped away every unnecessary motion and kept only the core.’
All the flourishes meant to look beautiful had been removed, leaving only a sharp, lethal strike aimed at the armpit and the nape of the neck.
‘Not bad.’
For a brat, anyway.
Kaiden gave a small laugh. He made no move to block or dodge the prince’s final strike.
“Ah……”
Edwin, having poured every ounce of strength into the attack, stared blankly at him. A thin, faint line had appeared on Kaiden’s cheek—the cheek of Adamant’s king.
When a drop of blood finally welled along that line, the young prince’s face went deathly pale.
“I-I’m sorry!”
Edwin looked ready to faint from panic. Kaiden, on the other hand, casually brushed the scratch on his cheek with his fingers, his expression utterly calm.
“Th-that wasn’t on purpose……”
“Of course it wasn’t.”
“I’m sorry, truly sorry……”
“There’s no need to apologize.”
Kaiden spoke as if it were nothing at all.
“It’s hardly even worth calling a wound.”
This was the man who had survived monster fangs and claws tearing through his flesh and even a hole punched through his stomach. Something as trivial as this scratch didn’t deserve the name “injury.”
“But……”
Edwin’s face crumpled. Just as Kaiden said, the cut was so light that it would go unnoticed without close inspection. Even that vanished after a single swipe of his finger, leaving only the faintest raised line on the skin.
‘What do I do?’
Light though it was, the location was the problem. In the empire, any wound on the face—large or small—was considered deeply shameful and disrespectful for royalty and nobility alike.
‘If word gets out that I wounded the king’s face……’
Edwin bit his lip hard. Adamant’s king might not care, but as the empire’s third prince, his position could become precarious. It might earn him the emperor’s displeasure, and if anyone pressed him on how he’d managed to injure the king, the fact that he’d been secretly training in swordsmanship would inevitably come to light.
“Your Highness Edwin.”
A polite voice drifted down from above. Kaiden was gazing steadily at him.
“As promised, I will grant whatever you desire.”
“Pardon?”
Edwin blinked his large, tear-filled eyes.
“I gave my word, didn’t I?”
Kaiden’s eyes curved into crescent moons.
“If you landed even a single strike on me, I would grant you one request—anything you asked.”
He tapped the faint scratch on his cheek with a finger.
“You succeeded, so I must keep my promise.”
“Ah……”
Edwin looked up blankly at the much larger man. Those golden eyes, which had once reminded him of a beast or a monster, now seemed to hold a strangely warm light.
He couldn’t say why.
“Speak, then.”
Kaiden planted the scabbard he held against the ground.
“Whatever you ask, I will grant it.”
He gave the young prince an odd look.
“If you demand the Adamant mines, I could even give you those.”
“What?”
The Adamant mines? The suggestion was so absurd that Edwin froze stiff, eyes wide as if he might faint on the spot. Kaiden burst into laughter, clearly amused.
“My, I suppose that was too heavy a proposal for a young prince.”
“D-don’t tease me.”
“I wasn’t teasing.”
Kaiden’s mouth stretched into a long line.
“I’m not the sort of person who enjoys jokes.”
Did that mean he would actually hand over the Adamant mines if asked? Was this man in his right mind?
“Of course, if you made such a request, I couldn’t be held responsible for what happened afterward.”
A chill ran down Edwin’s spine. He could only open and close his mouth, unsure how to respond. Realizing that the man before him was waiting for an answer, he quickly composed himself.
“I……”
He had known from the start what he wanted to ask Adamant’s king. That was why he had thrown himself so earnestly into their sparring match.
At last, Edwin’s lips parted with difficulty.
* * *
“Your Highness Edwin?”
I frowned. Edwin was sitting there with a deeply troubled expression, sighing as though the ground might swallow him whole. The boy, now changed into his nightclothes, let out another heavy sigh the moment our eyes met.
Sighing at the sight of someone’s face—how oddly unpleasant.
“What’s the matter?”
“You know……”
Edwin looked at me with furrowed brows.
“What kind of woman do you think the king of Adamant would like?”
“……Pardon?”
Why on earth was he suddenly curious about something so pointless? I stared at the prince with suspicious eyes.
“Actually, today……”
Edwin’s eyebrows drooped as he muttered in a small voice.
“I ran into the king of Adamant in the garden. He caught me practicing swordsmanship, of all things……”
He trailed off and glanced at me nervously. After all, I was the one who had repeatedly warned him never to let anyone find out he was learning the sword.
“And then?”
When I asked without much reaction, Edwin let out a sigh of relief and continued.
“He suddenly suggested we spar.”
“……A sparring match?”
That man made the offer first? I had only asked him not to ignore Edwin. ‘I never said he should take an interest.’
I recalled my conversation with Kaiden and let my mouth curve into a long line.
“Yeah. He said if I managed to land even one attack, he’d grant me any one condition I asked for.”
“I hope you didn’t make some outrageous request.”
“What do you mean?”
When I put on a serious face, Edwin frowned.
“Shouldn’t you be asking whether I actually succeeded in landing a hit first?”
“Of course you did.”
“Huh?”
Edwin’s eyes widened at my confident reply.
“How can you be so sure?”
“I know Your Highness’s skill, after all.”
Kaiden clearly hadn’t been serious. If he had, Edwin wouldn’t have returned without a single scratch.
‘Besides, you can tell just from watching him perform the sword dance.’
When it came to talent alone, Edwin surpassed even the second prince, Lloyd, who was called a swordsmanship genius. If Edwin hadn’t been a complete beginner, he might have overwhelmed Lloyd during the sword dance.
‘So landing a single hit on Kaiden wouldn’t have been that difficult.’
Provided, of course, that Kaiden had held back and Edwin had gone all out.
I stepped closer to Edwin and looked down at him.
“If it’s Your Highness, you would have landed that strike. Am I wrong?”
“N-no, you’re not, but……”
Edwin’s eyes darted around at my words. Then he muttered in a tiny voice.
“It feels really strange when I listen to you.”
“Strange? What does?”
“How do I put it……”
Edwin scrunched his nose and went on.
“It’s like you believe in me more than I believe in myself.”
He mumbled as if he wanted to burrow into the ground right then and there.
“I still don’t trust myself……”
“I only believe in the effort Your Highness has shown me so far.”
A boy who had started with no fundamentals had endured grueling knight training through sheer willpower and even mastered swordsmanship in a short time. How could I not trust the skill of someone who had achieved everything through effort alone?
“So please don’t doubt yourself.”
Before I knew it, Edwin was staring up at me with wide eyes.
“And when you feel you can’t trust yourself, believe in the words of those who know you best.”
“Those who know me best?”
“Yes. People like me or Catherine.”
At my answer, his clear blue eyes sparkled. Edwin stared at me intently, then slowly nodded.
“……So.”
We still hadn’t gotten to the important part. I steered the conversation back.
“What exactly did you mean earlier?”
“Huh?”
“Didn’t you ask what kind of woman the king of Adamant would like?”
Edwin let out an “Ah” at my words.
“Right. At first, after I landed the hit, he told me to say whatever I wanted. He even said he could hand over the Adamant mines if I asked.”
The Adamant mines? Was he insane?
‘What was he trying to pull with a child?’
If Edwin had asked for the mines, Kaiden could have used it as an excuse to start a war. He could promise them, then change his mind and take them back whenever he pleased. I couldn’t know if that had been Kaiden’s true intention, but the possibility was certainly there.
‘He did say we were allies, but people’s hearts can change at any time.’
There were plenty of people who smiled and promised help to your face while planning to stab you in the back. Especially among those in power, such petty schemes were all too common.
“But I made a different request. There was something I wanted to find out.”