Chapter 4: I Crushed the Source
WHEN she exited the palace, four horses were out front, with three already bearing riders who looked like knights. Sitting astride a white horse sporting a beautifully groomed mane, Linus was every inch a prince from a storybook. Just as Fiona admired the fact that a beautiful person remained beautiful no matter what they did, she noticed the sword hanging from his waist. Despite the three knights accompanying them, she wondered if he needed to carry a weapon as well.
“For caution’s sake.”
Linus told her with a smile, noticing where her gaze rested. Fair enough. No harm in being careful, even though they were traveling in broad daylight.
He beckoned for her to come closer, and she obeyed, stepping on the footstool below the white horse. She tried to mount the horse in one go, but the distance to the horse’s back was unexpectedly far, and she struggled to climb up. She felt embarrassed, considering how gallantly Linus had straddled the animal.
Just as Fiona was about to make another attempt, he reached down, lifted her, and sat her in front of him. When she jerked her head up in surprise, her eyes met his, and he smiled at her.
“Th-Thank you very much.”
“You’re very welcome.”
His physical strength wasn’t a surprise since swordsmanship required it. She simply hadn’t expected him to swing her up like she weighed nothing. Moreover, she’d never been held like this before, which probably explained why his arms enveloping her as he held the reins felt strange.
“And we’re off. Do exactly as I instruct on the road and at our destination. Don’t drop your guard.”
“Yes, sir!”
The knights responded in unison to Linus’ sharp, commanding voice. Fiona thought this level of security was a bit much for a simple investigation of the abnormality at the lake. Then again, perhaps this was normal. Though they’d gone by coach last time, it was possible she just hadn’t seen the knights then.
Once the horse started walking, she swayed more than she anticipated. She sat firmly in the saddle and held on tightly to it, but even then, she had a difficult time holding her posture straight. When the horse picked up its speed to a trot, she leaned dramatically to one side and would have fallen off if not for a hand reaching up to grab her shoulder and support her.
“Are you all right? It’s tough if you’re not used to it, hm? Fair warning: I’m going to spur the horse to go faster now. Hold on to me.”
So saying, Linus wrapped an arm around Fiona’s waist and pulled her snugly into the cradle of his body. Now that she essentially had a backrest in the form of, well, him, the rocking subsided, and sitting astride became markedly easier.
“Thank you very much, Your Highness.”
“If you get scared or tired, tell me. Don’t keep it in.”
“I will. But don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”
If anyone was having a rough go of things, it was Linus because he had to deal with the baggage that was her. She was determined to try her best to remain upright in the saddle under her own power. Focusing, she straightened her spine.
“…Good girl.”
Fiona didn’t even have time to wonder if he was laughing behind her before something pressed against her crown. She suspected he had kissed her hair as usual. Even though they were outside with his knights. More proof of his passionate obsession with black hair.
When she snuck a glance at their escorts, confusion filled their eyes. That told her Linus, the gentleman, was behaving most ungentlemanly. Though she disapproved because he was the crown prince, she decided to let sleeping dogs lie as their top priority right now was reaching the lake.
Just like he’d warned her, the horse broke into a gallop, which shook Fiona in the saddle. In the beginning, she had endured it to the best of her ability through muscle strength, but now her energy was flagging from bracing herself using an unfamiliar method. Whenever she bumped into Linus, he would help her regain her posture with his hand supporting her shoulder. They repeated that several times before she heard a small sigh above her head.
“It’s dangerous for both of us if you keep squirming like this, so hold on to my arm.”
“But—”
But wasn’t it more dangerous if she clung to his arm holding the reins, restricting his freedom of movement? Having said that, at this rate, in the not-too-distant future, she would definitely fall off, which would cause even more trouble for him.
While she dithered, Linus curled his left arm around her waist and pulled her tightly against him.
“I’m worried about you, so let me hold you like this.”
When he murmured directly into her ear from behind, his breath tickled, making her shoulders twitch involuntarily.
“But won’t this tire you out, Your Highness?”
The ride was easy for Fiona, with her backrest using his arm as a safety belt. Not so for Linus, however. He held onto the reins with one hand even as he supported her with his other arm.
“I’m fine. Being with you isn’t tiring at all. In fact, it’s quite fun. So much so I’d love to stay like this forever.”
“Ah, I see now. It’s because you love riding, hm, Your Highness?”
Why wasn’t she surprised to learn he enjoyed long rides, even troublesome ones like this? It made sense in hindsight, considering how seldom he had the chance to leave the royal palace because he was busy as the crown prince. She felt sorry for the knights forced to accompany them on this occasion, but she hoped they would forgive the two of them.
Their escorts’ eyes were so narrowed that they looked almost closed. Fiona wondered if that was because their attention was focused on the road ahead. Impressed, she realized trained knights truly were a different breed.
“Captain, uh, about…”
“Don’t look, don’t listen. Pretend they’re an illusion. One wrong slip of the tongue, and we’ll all lose our heads.”
She saw them discussing something, though she couldn’t hear them properly because of the hoofbeats as the horses raced through. They were likely having a meeting of some sort about their duties.
Thanks to the Linus safety belt, her ride on the horse became quite stable, and before long, the lake came into view. The sunlight sparkled blindingly off the water’s surface, making it hard to believe something was wrong. At the very least, it seemed like the problem hadn’t turned into a big one, which was a small blessing.
“Fiona, wait a moment.”
Once they arrived, Linus swiftly dismounted, then, smiling, reached out to Fiona with both hands as she remained seated atop the horse.
“Um, I think I should be fine getting down.”
She was a bit high off the ground, but all she had to do was get down. Besides, it was one thing for him to lend a hand, but the way he held both arms out silently demanded she leap into them. Or was that her imagination?
“This was your first horse ride, and it was a long one. I’m almost positive your body will be feeling the effects already.”
“Is that how it works?”
Fiona gave in and took his hands. She jumped down, but her knees buckled the moment she landed as if she had lost all her strength. However, Linus’ hands scooped her up faster than she could tumble to the ground, then held her securely in the circle of his arms.
“See, I told you so. Using muscles you normally don’t will exhaust you much more than you think.”
“Th-That gave me a fright. I apologize, Your Highness.”
If he hadn’t pulled her close to him, she would have fallen unceremoniously on the ground. Contrary to his appearance, both his help getting her down and lifting her up earlier attested to his physical strength.
“Um, right then. I’m fine now, so you can let me go.”
“Hmmm? Just a little longer like this.”
His words put her in a bind since she was already standing upright, and they needed to investigate the lake. Yet Linus kept his arms wound around Fiona. Troubled, she looked up only to find him grinning down cheerfully at her.
“I can’t conduct an investigation like this!”
She pleaded desperately with him, but his smile didn’t waver.
“Captain…please, this is the perfect chance for a joke.”
“Don’t look, don’t listen. Pretend they’re an illusion. One wrong slip of the tongue, and we’ll all lose our heads.”
She distantly heard the knights saying something but couldn’t make out the words from within Linus’ embrace. At almost the same time she broke free of his grip, the village headman appeared and immediately led them to the lakeshore.
From there, she saw the clear, beautiful water had turned stagnant and black. It wasn’t the transparency of dropping paint into the water but the murkiness of mixing viscous oil instead. The color alone looked sickening, making it impossible to believe it was harmless.
“It happened yesterday without warning. We asked a local priest to purify it, but the attempt didn’t go well.”
Then, a man dressed in priest’s attire standing near the edge of the water noticed them and rushed over to them.
“Secretary Everett! No, wait, you’re a saint now, aren’t you? Thank you so much for going through all the trouble to come here.”
“You were in the Central Temple before, yes? Brother Miller, was it?”
“Yes, I was. I’m honored you remember me.”
Fiona worked in the Central Temple as an aide to the pontiff, so her remembering his name and face meant Miller was an excellent priest. Which made the fact that he’d been unable to deal with the problem all the more concerning.