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AT the end of their two-day journey, they arrived at the royal capital, but the bearded commander of the advance party informed them that the massive gate of the city had been closed.
“The front gate is only ever closed in extreme circumstances…,” said Sara.
They stood atop a small hill that overlooked the royal capital. Richard had set up a makeshift encampment there and was peering down at the city.
“The advance party have already gone to demand a bloodless surrender, correct?” asked Richard.
The commander nodded with a grim expression. “That’s right. And I sent a soldier with a flying ability, so even if they reject our call for surrender, our troops should be able to get out safely… Oh!”
As soon as the words left his mouth, a thin pillar of smoke shot high into the air from the direction of the castle, followed by a petite young man supporting two fellow soldiers under each arm, flying—literally flying.
I-I do remember reading a book that mentioned a flying ability… He’s really flying…!
Sara, never having seen this ability before, watched with wide eyes. The young man flew all the way to their hill, then safely and lightly landed in front of Richard. The two large men he carried touched down alongside him.
“Reporting back. You can probably already guess what happened, but the prime minister delivered Prince Richard’s letter to King Saleilles and…he tore it to shreds. He even tried to have us arrested, so we escaped.”
“Good work, soldier,” said Richard. “I’m glad you made it back in one piece. I did foresee this happening as soon as I saw that the gates were closed, but…they’ve made it clear they’re not going to accept our demands.”
He shrugged and looked at the castle, his bright green eyes narrowed.
In the letter, Richard had written in the politest terms possible, We desire a bloodless surrender. We request that an environment is prepared in which King Saleilles and Prince Richard may talk to one another. The diplomatic attempt, however, had been unsuccessful.
Richard told me before that if the king accepted his demands, he would only pull him off the throne and rough him up a bit, but now…
Now it seemed that Richard’s last attempt at mercy would go to waste.
Sara sighed. Richard looked at her, his eyebrows furrowing slightly.
“You overheard that soldier just now, I believe… Now that King Saleilles has rejected our offer, we have no choice but to force our way through to him. Will you be okay with that?”
“…Of course,” she said resolutely.
In fact, it had been nothing short of a miracle that Sara had been able to persuade Richard to shift his initial conviction that “the king must die” to a more lenient position of “if he doesn’t agree to our demands, then the king must die.”
King Saleilles had ruined that miracle all by himself, so Richard wouldn’t be giving him any further concessions. Even Edouard had told him, “If King Saleilles is disrespectful, just kick his ass.”
Richard heaved a troubled sigh and looked back at the soldiers gathered on the hilltop.
“This is what it boils down to… Our troops will move to overtake the royal castle. But remember that the one who tore my letter to shreds and tried to detain our men was the king. Our goal is to reach the throne room, but avoid harming those simply following their king’s orders as much as we can.”
“What about the shock troops, Your Highness?” asked the bearded commander.
Richard looked away in thought for some time before glancing at Sara.
“Sara… We will be storming the capital. That soldier can fly to the castle with his ability, but he can only carry two people at once. Not only would that place a huge burden on him, but if we send in so few soldiers at a time, they’ll be overwhelmed by the sheer number of enemy forces. It would also open up the possibility of being pincered from behind, so we have to launch our siege from inside the capital city. And so…I will join the battle.”
“…As you wish, Your Highness,” she said, giving him her blessing.
“Sara…”
“Just…please don’t forget your promise, okay?”
Sara’s response probably sounded like she was all too happy to leave everything to him—like she had no will of her own.
Richard’s eyebrows were pressed sharply together, and his arms were folded. Sara smiled at him and lightly touched his sleeve.
“Your promise that you and I will return to Ferrier together. I’m not going back by myself, and I’m not going back with you in pieces.”
A small wave of relief washed over Richard’s solemn grimace.
“Yeah… Right.”
With that, Sara and Richard were surrounded by their own bubble of peace, and it became clear to everyone that an invisible thread bound them to each other.