Robbed of his family and having lost his compatriots... Even as he found himself completely isolated, the count never abandoned the fight. Herscherik had lost his family from his previous life. Even now, he nearly came to tears every time he remembered them. How were his father, mother, and sisters doing back in Japan? He thought Ruseria must have felt much like he did now, and Herscherik could no longer contain his tears. He missed Japan. He wanted to go home, to see his old family. The emotions that he’d kept locked down for his own protection now came flooding out.
I was lying to myself all this time.
Even subconsciously, Herscherik must have known that it was the only way to protect himself from the pain. Ruseria took a different path, though. He had accepted all the rage and vengeance, and fought against the hand he was dealt. That was his truth. Herscherik was sure of it.
“...You believe me? What if I’m trying to trick you by telling you lies that make me look good?”
“No one trying to trick someone would ever suggest that,” Herscherik declared and stood up. “I’ll tell Father to have you released right away. With the rest of the evidence you have, we should be able to topple the minister’s scheme. Wait for me!” Herscherik ran off without waiting for a reply.
I can’t let him be executed... We can’t lose him!
Herscherik returned the way he came, avoiding all the patrolling eyes along the way. It was almost time for the castle staff to begin getting up. With a few close calls, he made it back to the royal quarters and headed to his father’s chamber.
While his father had told him of its location before, this was his first time actually visiting it. Herscherik wondered if his father was in someone else’s room, but light illuminated from under the door to the king’s chamber. Without even knocking, Herscherik opened it.
“Father!”
“...Hersch?”
His father was sitting alone on the couch in front of the fireplace. Although the fire was nearly out, the lamp nearby was casting a warm glow over the room.
“What are you doing up so early? I thought you hated mornings. And look at your clothes...”
Herscherik looked down at his own clothes to find that his coat, pants, and shoes were all covered in dirt, with a few leaves sticking to them. It was painfully obvious that he had been outside. But Herscherik paid it no mind and approached his father, who had stood up from the couch, and tugged on his father’s clothes with his dirtied little hands.
“Father, please listen to me!” Herscherik demanded with the intensity unbecoming of a three-year-old. He had been acting his age most of the time up until this point, but he couldn’t afford to keep up the ruse right now. A man’s life was on the line—perhaps even more than one. With that in mind, Herscherik couldn’t be bothered with acting like a proper three-year-old.
“Count Ruseria is not a traitor! He’s not... the bad... guy. He... was... set up...!”
Herscherik would not have understood himself with his words being squeezed out from his lips in between sobs. As he looked up at his father with a desperate expression, his flooded tears blurred the handsome face of his father. Frustration, heartache, sorrow... All sorts of emotions were whirling inside Herscherik. For the first time since his rebirth, these feelings flooded him before pouring out of him in the form of tears and sobs.
“You...can’t...kill him...”
Herscherik knew that he had to explain things from beginning to end, logically. Still, all he could muster were monosyllabic words. While he kept himself up by holding onto his father’s clothes, his eyes had dropped from looking up at his father to down at the carpet.
“...Herscherik.”
His father gently stroked his head then picked him up. Today, the prince seemed heavier to Solye than he had all the other times he’d picked him up before. More because of his increased presence than any gain in physical weight, Solye thought.
The king glanced at his butler, who had appeared without a sound. “I’m going out. I’ll be back by breakfast.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The king acknowledged his butler’s curt response and turned to Herscherik. His youngest prince had shown more emotion than ever before, turning his cheeks bright red as well as his eyes.
“Let’s go for a little walk.”
With that, King Solye walked out of his room with his son in his arms. In the royal quarters, workers were already bustling to prepare for the day. Their mornings were especially early because they kept the house of the most important people in the country. Anyone who worked here couldn’t afford anything less than perfection at any given moment.
With those hard-working people in the corner of his eye, the king carried on. No one stopped him, of course. The only one who could ever stop the king in the royal quarters had been his most beloved late wife, Herscherik’s mother. “Oh? Does my dear husband dare ignore his wife?” she used to say with a smile. It was well known in the royal quarters that this was how she convinced the king, who overworked himself day in and day out, to take a break. What at first appeared to be the queen begging for attention happened exclusively when the king looked particularly restless. As a result, no one dared to intervene. In fact, the workers in the royal quarters had often praised the queen in secret. Remembering this, Solye let out a chuckle.
What a funny thing to remember... Maybe because I’m walking down these halls with Hersch.
Solye looked at his son in his arms, who still had his face buried in his father’s shoulder, holding back sobs. As he petted the prince’s tiny head to calm him down, Solye hastened his step and headed straight to the stable out of the royal quarters.
When he arrived there, a stable hand was already standing by a saddled walnut-colored mare. The king’s experienced butler must have made arrangements ahead of them. As usual, Solye was impressed by his butler’s thoroughness. Putting his son, who had finally stopped crying, onto the saddle first, Solye leapt onto his horse with a flourish and took the reins.
“Hersch. Hold on tight so you don’t fall off.”
Seeing that Herscherik had nodded and placed his hands on the saddle, Solye wrapped one arm around his son, holding up the reins with the other.