Chapter 17:
People After
AFTER HE WAS HANDED OVER to Liam, Calvin had been exiled to one of House Banfield’s pioneer planets—a place that definitely didn’t offer the luxuries a crown prince would be accustomed to. Calvin wasn’t allowed to leave that planet without permission, and other aspects of his life were controlled as well. His employment on the planet consisted of manual labor.
“Let’s call it quits here today, Calvin.”
“Is it that time already?”
“You’ve been working too hard, man.”
Getting down from a piece of heavy equipment, Calvin checked his watch and found that it was after 5:00 p.m. There was nothing around except the construction equipment his crew was using to develop the planet, and everyone else seemed to have finished their work for the day already.
A younger man asked Calvin what his plans for the rest of the day were. “Going straight home again today?”
Calvin nodded awkwardly, wiping away his sweat. His long hair had been cut short and his facial hair shaved off. He’d begun acquiring a tan lately, too, so he looked like a completely different person from before.
“My kids are always bugging me to play with them,” he explained. “I’ve got to take them to an amusement park on my day off tomorrow, so I need to get to bed early tonight, or I won’t last.”
“You really care about your family, huh?”
“I guess it’s my way of apologizing…or atoning. I neglected them up until recently.”
“You? Wife-Guy Calvin?”
“I had a lot going on.”
When House Banfield took custody of Calvin, most of the women he’d surrounded himself with had left him. None had wanted the hard life awaiting them in House Banfield’s domain. For all they knew, if they went along with him, they might even be killed. They’d had no idea what sort of punishment would await them, and Calvin didn’t want to involve them either.
Only one woman had come along with him, bringing their children as well. Calvin had initiated their courtship when the woman was a simple commoner. She alone had stuck with him.
At first Calvin hadn’t wanted her to come, since he didn’t know what retribution he would face from House Banfield. However, the woman had insisted on staying with him no matter where he went or how low his position became, and that had been that. She’d said that, if he had to leave, it would be better for him to go with his family. He’d wept from happiness that he wouldn’t have to be alone, despite how pathetic he felt for those tears.
Because of all that, Calvin’s family was now his top priority.
“Calvin’s not drinking with us tonight either?”
“I wish he’d come. He’s got great stories.”
“Yeah. He’s kind of, like, intellectual. And he’s got all kinds of skills. Rumor is he’s some noble from somewhere.”
“Yeah, right. What would a noble be doing on a pioneer planet like this?”
“Hey, it’s not impossible. Maybe he got tired of it all and made himself scarce. Lots of nobles end up on the run, you know.”
“Really? We’re working with a fancy noble, huh?”
“Well, it’s just a rumor.”
These ordinary citizens of House Banfield had no idea that they worked alongside the former crown prince of the Empire.
✦ ✦ ✦
On his way home from work, Calvin bought his family a treat.
Compared to the palace, his new home was incredibly small—it was a single building smaller than his former bedroom. Living there felt a bit cramped to him, but it wasn’t too bad.
When he arrived home, he rang the doorbell, and his wife stepped from the kitchen to greet him. “Welcome back. Dinner’s ready.”
The woman wore casual clothes and an apron. She was officially married to Calvin now, and they were living as husband and wife. When he picked up the delicious scents coming from the kitchen, Calvin remembered how hungry he was.
“That smells great.”
He stepped inside, and his children leaped at him.
“Papa, what’d you buy us?!”
“Hey, I’m all dirty from work, so don’t hug me right now. I bought donuts.”
“Yay!”
He watched his children dash off into the living room with the box of donuts.
“You haven’t had dinner yet, so don’t eat them! They can be dessert.”
“Okaaay!”
The children were more active here than they had been while living in the palace. They were quicker to adapt to their new surroundings than Calvin, and they seemed to be enjoying themselves. In the palace, they’d lived lavishly, but the circumstances had meant that their lives were more restricted too. They seemed happier to be free from those restrictions.
When he watched the children having so much fun, Calvin felt guilty. I wonder how the other women and children are doing back on the Capital Planet.
Concerned for the family members who weren’t there, he asked his wife, “How were things today?”
She guessed what he was asking with this vague question and replied, “Investigators from House Banfield came, and we talked, but that was it.”
“Did they say anything about their plans from here on out?”
“No, not really.”
Here in House Banfield’s domain, Calvin and his family were living at the level of ordinary citizens. Having received an extensive education, Calvin could choose from all manner of work, and his family was given a fair amount of freedom. Although they couldn’t live extravagantly, this was actually something of an ideal life for them.
In the palace, they’d needed permission to do anything, and they’d always had to be concerned about the reactions of people around them. They’d had wealth, but no freedom. There was nothing to tie them down here, though.
Calvin honestly preferred this degree of freedom to the wealth he’d had before. After all, he could’ve died if he’d made one wrong move on the Capital Planet, crown prince or not. In the palace, worry had always accompanied him.
Freed from all that, he was happily living a tranquil life here. Still, that in itself also made him nervous.
“Hmm… I feel like I expected something a lot harsher,” he admitted.
“Duke Banfield probably sees it as enough of a punishment that the former crown prince is living like a commoner, don’t you think?”
Calvin had the feeling that his wife was probably right. He and Liam had been enemies; still, he felt that his opponent had a sense of integrity. Ironically, Calvin had sort of expected that Liam wouldn’t treat him all that badly. Even when he’d been handed over to House Banfield, he’d suspected that he wouldn’t face anything too gruesome. Still, he hadn’t been envisioning this.
“I thought I’d have to work a lot harder. Parts of this life definitely are hard, but to be honest, I’m a lot more comfortable here than I was on the Capital Planet.”
“Are you?”
“I don’t have to worry about the succession conflict or any of that stuff anymore, after all. If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve given up a lot sooner.”
Ultimately, Calvin was grateful that he didn’t have to shoulder the weight of the whole Empire. He enjoyed living a normal life with his family under House Banfield’s watchful eye.
The kids were being noisy, and Calvin’s wife returned to the kitchen, leaving him alone. Heading to the bathroom to wash his hands, Calvin considered the weight of what he’d lost and his current happiness.
“I wouldn’t have made so many unnecessary sacrifices if I’d known this would happen. I feel bad for all the people who had to accompany me all that time.”
With a dark expression that he couldn’t have shown to his wife, Calvin prayed alone in front of the bathroom mirror. He prayed for the people who’d died for him. He knew it was only for his own satisfaction, but he couldn’t bear not to.