Meanwhile...
That bitch... She won’t get away with it once I’m out of here. Arcrayne berated Truteliese in his mind using the full extent of his vocabulary. The stream of insults he directed at his political enemy included the kinds of indecent language he’d never use normally.
Being locked in a pure white cell, he saw this as the only way he could maintain his sanity.
Arcrayne had shackles on his hands and feet preventing the release of mana. And on top of being tied down in such a way, he was locked in a white cell.
This was a jail for Awoken located under the palace. Its walls, floors, and ceilings were all painted white.
The shackles already made it impossible for him to use his power, but they’d been “kind” enough to put him in such a cell on top of that. They must’ve been just that wary of him, as Royal Awoken wielded monstrous power.
Either way, it took a warped mind to build a jail like this. Not only were the cells white, but also the clothes Arcrayne had received, his shackles, and everything else in view.
Also, the thick walls and door of this cell prevented sounds from getting in. This was a form of psychological torture through sensory deprivation. It was said that people thoroughly deprived of color and sound lost their sanity little by little.
Even the food was white. All they gave him was rice pudding, porridge, and similar foods, colorless and tasteless. Arcrayne felt like he’d become livestock.
Though I suppose I should consider it good treatment to get food at all, given my situation... Arcrayne sighed deeply.
When he closed his eyes, Estelle’s face appeared at the back of his mind. What if she was being treated the same way? The mere thought of it was heartrending.
Arcrayne had allowed himself to be arrested because they’d come for Estelle first. Had they only taken in his people from the Libra Palace, he would’ve fought back and escaped.
He’d discussed this with his aides in advance. They were to scatter in all directions the moment they sensed danger. If they failed to do so in time, they were to exercise their wits to the fullest and do their best to escape. And if they lost their lives as a result, they weren’t to resent Arcrayne, nor he them. That had been the agreement.
However, Estelle’s appearance had disrupted that plan. Arcrayne couldn’t disobey if she was involved.
I’d never meant to make anyone special to me, he thought to himself.
People who were special to you became your weak point, which was why he’d meant to protect the one person who was special to him to the best of his ability. He lamented his foolishness for thinking she’d be safe if he locked her up in the birdcage called the Libra Palace.
I should’ve at least had her come with me, he thought, before shaking off the idea. Even if they’d already been married, he couldn’t bring her with him every time he had to go out for his public duties. His unstable position frustrated him and made him feel pathetic.
He’d never imagined the queen would resort to targeting Sachis. Especially when Arcrayne’s duties had taken him out of the palace.
That day, he’d had to attend an army ceremony, and it was known that he wouldn’t be in. After the ceremony, when he’d parted with his aide Claus and was about to head back to the palace, the Sovereign’s Guard had surrounded him.
Arcrayne had doubted his ears when he’d heard Sachis had been poisoned. He had expected the queen to do something in the near future, and he’d been wary of her, but her political power came from his father’s love for her. So Arcrayne had never expected her to harm him.
If Sachis became indisposed before the order of succession were changed, that would be a problem for the queen—Arcrayne was disgusted with himself for having been naive enough to think that way.
The fact that Estelle had been awarded a medal for slaying a dragon and the advantage her newfound reputation brought to Arcrayne must’ve been what had driven the second prince’s faction to the wall.
Looking back on things, the timing with which they’d come for Sachis and for him showed signs of meticulous planning.
Arcrayne was more worried about Estelle than his own future. He’d once again failed to protect the ones dearest to him. The frustration and the feeling of worthlessness made him bite his lip.
He wondered what had become of his attendants. Had they been captured like him and Estelle?
He brought unhappiness to those around him simply by existing. He was like an angel of death.
I wish I had never been born, he thought to himself. Had he not existed, there would’ve been no political strife. He’d never have gotten Estelle and his aides caught up in all of this.
While he wished that at least Estelle was safe, imagining her happy in a world without him made him feel sick. If he couldn’t even wish for the happiness of someone special to him, how base and despicable was he?
Arcrayne heaved a deep sigh, caught up in his dark thoughts. But then he thought he heard something and looked up. Had he finally started hallucinating, having been deprived of color and sound? As he drooped his shoulders and smiled in a self-deprecating way, his ears picked up some sound once more.
The sound was heavy. He also heard what seemed like people shouting, which caused him to widen his eyes.
He wondered if someone had come to his rescue before deciding not to get his hopes up just yet, lest they be crushed.
As Arcrayne wrestled with this, the door of the white room opened.
“Your Highness! Are you all right?!”
Barging into the room were soldiers in blue uniforms, their color vivid to the prince’s eyes. The sight of brawny men clad in the uniform of the same Sovereign’s Guard that had thrown him in here confused the prince.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Lord Arc!”
Estelle came running out from behind the soldiers. Arcrayne was dumbfounded, unable to process what was going on. But since she was running, she at least seemed to be in good health, which brought the prince relief.
As she clung to him, her softness and sweet scent made him dizzy, but at the same time, he remembered he hadn’t taken a bath since being arrested, which made the situation difficult to bear. All the same, he couldn’t resist her warmth.
“Sorry to interrupt your lovers’ reunion, but Lady Estelle, would you mind letting me talk to Arcrayne for a moment?”
The one separating them was Sachis, which served to surprise the prince once again.
“Father? Weren’t you poisoned...?”
“I pretended to consume it but threw it out. I’ll explain later. Give me your hands—I’ll take off your shackles.”
Estelle moved away, maybe because of what Sachis said. Reluctant to part with her warmth, Arcrayne couldn’t help looking at his father with resentment in his eye.
Shrugging lightly, Sachis drew the sword from his hip. Its appearance took the prince by surprise.
“That looks like Caledfwlch,” said Arcrayne.
“Of course it does. That’s because it is,” the king replied casually, surprising Estelle too.
Caledfwlch—also known as the Holy Sword—was one of the regalia, and an artifact. It was an extremely powerful mana blade said to be capable of splitting oceans and earth alike.
“Why did you bring out something like that?” asked the prince.
“I’ll need it later.”
With that short reply, Sachis used Caledfwlch to cut off the shackles binding Arcrayne’s hands and feet. The tough metal chains split like butter, making the prince feel light in an instant.
Arcrayne released some of his mana as a test to see if he could move the chains that had been binding him. His telekinesis worked as intended, causing the chain to float in the air. The room itself was supposed to block the use of mana, but apparently everyone’s presence had disabled this feature.
“You can handle the rest yourself. I wouldn’t want to cut your hands off by accident.”
Estelle couldn’t laugh at the king’s joke.
Taking a light breath, Arcrayne used his telekinesis to break the joints of the shackles on his hands and feet.
✦ ✦ ✦
Sachis explained the situation to Arcrayne, leaving out the matter of his own condition. Estelle couldn’t keep from frowning. Perhaps having noticed that, the king looked her way.
It felt like he was telling her not to say anything uncalled for.
After they got out of the jail, the group split into two.
In order to restrict the use of mana throughout the palace, the king needed to head to the deepest level of the palace’s underground and personally use the Key on an Ancient La Tène structure.
Arcrayne and the Sovereign’s Guard unit, meanwhile, would join forces with soldiers loyal to the king. Once Sachis activated the mana restriction, the prince would lead the soldiers and quickly take Duke Marwick and the queen into custody.
Everyone unanimously advised Estelle to go with Sachis. They must’ve not wanted her to see bloodshed.
Estelle felt conflicted about them trying to distance her from danger, but she’d never shot anyone, and neither was she prepared to do it. Even if she went to the surface with Arcrayne and the soldiers, she’d only be getting in the way.
She was also worried about Sachis’s condition, so she decided to do as she was told.
“Arc, take this with you.” Sachis handed Arcrayne the holy sword Caledfwlch.