He remembered that, when they’d first met, he’d been drawn to the myriad of colors intricately intertwined with the green of his eyes.
The young man had laughed as he claimed that he’d rarely ventured from the depths of the Gaelius Mountains, but his comportment was neither provincial nor servile.
He had possessed dignity and fine manners, both of which had apparently come from his past life, but he hadn’t tried to curry favor with Wald. Instead, he had treated Wald with an unaffected friendliness. He’d been like a distant elder kinsman, or perhaps even a sage invited from another kingdom.
His warm gaze and subtle acts of kindness had brought him endless comfort. While Wald’s heart had ached terribly to have seen his own flesh and blood off to the battlefield, this young man had been his solace.
And, were an emergency to arise, they were supposed to have escaped together with his Jump.
Perhaps that was the reason that, before Wald had even noticed it, the man had become someone irreplaceable in his heart. This man was someone he could trust with his very life.
Not only was he handsome, but he was also broad-minded and magnanimous. He had always accepted requests from both the ladies-in-waiting and soldiers without a hint of distaste or refusal. And, although he was older and responsible, there were times when Wald had found him adorable.
But Wald and the young man hadn’t been particularly close. Both of them had been well aware of their social statuses.
Whenever the man passed him by, he brought with him a not at all displeasing scent of grass.
And whenever Wald looked up and their gazes happened to meet, the young man’s eyes would gently crinkle. They’d twinkle warmly, and the slightest slip of a smile would play across his lips.
He had always accompanied Wald, following after his charge from behind.
But now, his green eyes were closed.
His typical grassy scent had been drowned out by that of blood. The stench of the bright-red liquid pouring from his body choked the air.
When Wald blinked again, he found that they were no longer within Tachyrinn Citadel.
Instead, he was still clinging to the young man inside in a small room filled with a uniform white light.
It was a peculiar kind of lighting that didn’t require a source—it was characteristic of buildings that had been constructed using a transmigrator’s abilities. Given the size of the room, Wald estimated that it was one of many small-scale establishments scattered about the Central Nations that housed teleportation portals.
They had traveled here, to this small array fixed at the center of a compact building, by way of the basic portal in Tachyrinn.
Crimson liquid slowly spread out over the circular portal, consuming it. Wald drew the young man’s unmoving body close to his chest in a tight embrace.
“Kariya,” he whispered. “Open your eyes...”
Kariya’s long, black hair that had once been tied with a white ribbon stuck to his cheeks, wet with blood and thrown wild.
Wald freed his arms from around the young man. The palms of his hands and Kariya’s black hair that fell between his fingers were all stained in a vivid red.
He grasped the scimitar and tore it from where it’d been run through the man’s torso.
More blood began to gush out of him. Wald grabbed the end of the cape he wore about his shoulders and pressed it against the open wound.
“Wake up, Kariya! Please!”
Despite his desperate pleading, the young man’s eyes remained closed. Slowly, his shallow, lingering breaths eventually ceased.
Not a soul was around to hear the young prince’s sorrowful, heart-rending wail.