“...Hah.”
Claudio’s face wrenched as if suffocating and he thrashed his head about like a beast.
“Prince Claudio?!”
“Your Highness!”
Alto had come to their side sometime in the interim and helped pry Rosemarie from Claudio, who was gripped to the girl so hard he was likely to crush her shoulders.
The person she’d run into as she fled the castle guards was Alto. By now, though, she was starting to feel terrible about how many times he’d had to bail her out.
Claudio shivered dramatically once again, but soon took a deep breath and slowly lifted his head. Without even wiping the sweat from his brow, those blue eyes stared at Rosemarie full of confusion.
—Just then, the clamor turned into an uproar.
“His Highness’s face...”
“It no longer... looks like the sacred beast?”
“Prince Claudio’s face is human again!”
As several people shouted and their cries echoed through the hall, Rosemarie looked up at Alto, who was holding her up.
“Is his face really back to normal?”
“Yes, milady. It most certainly is!” Alto replied, beaming with a proud smile as his voice trembled in joy. Rosemarie looked at Claudio, touching his own face, and she was moved to tears.
With his face still tense as if he had seen something unbelievable, Claudio swept his hand across the air.
The candles on the candelabra in the middle of the hall were lit all at once. The candles that were arranged on the wall also lit up, one by one, with a blue mana-fueled flame. Claudio waved his hand once more, but, this time, the flames changed in color to a dark red.
(His mana... it’s back?)
Rosemarie was so comforted by this that she sank to the floor, weak in the knees.
“Are you okay?” Claudio quickly extended his arm and took her into his embrace.
“T-Thank goodness...” As she wrapped her arms around his neck, the tears welled in her eyes fell down her cheeks. The worry she had was far greater than the temporary sense of shame she felt—worried about the possibility of nothing happening because of her kiss, or it causing his condition to degrade more.
“I’m not very sure how, but it looks like my mana is back. —Thank you,” he whispered to her, choking her up. However, he let go of her faster than she could bask in the sentiment and nod her head. With a fearless smile, Claudio turned around.
“Now, then. As you can plainly see, I have my mana. More importantly, I am trying to piece together exactly why the princess, who should still be detained, has shown up here looking as disheveled as she is. Any clues, Kastner?” Claudio’s interjection drew Rosemarie’s eyes over to the other side and she gasped.
(It’s not back to normal? But, why...?)
Kastner’s face was still in the same demonic state of being half melting lizard and half human. If Claudio’s mana returned to him, then she should not have been able to see that.
“Yes, ‘why’ is the question that I would like to be asking here.” A smirk crossed his demonic face. Those reptilian and human eyes both glared straight at her, causing Rosemarie to cringe in fear, but she opened her mouth, regardless.
“T-The Archbishop abandoned me in the Forbidden Forest as I was being detained. He said it would be a problem should I bear a child...”
“—Your Highness, whatever are you saying? If you were abandoned in the Forbidden Forest, there would be no way you could have returned. I would appreciate it if you would not falsely accuse me for an escape that you made on your own.”
“It is not false! Last night, I was—”
“Rosemarie.” Claudio’s consoling voice hushed her up. She looked at him, dissatisfied, as if asking why he wouldn’t let her explain herself, but Claudio gave a sweet smile as his only reply. He then turned back to face Kastner.
“The princess has not uttered a single falsehood. These people have testified to that being fact. Fritz.”
“Yes, Your Royal Highness Claudio.” Fritz bowed respectfully, and from behind him came the knights clad in the gold-embroidered uniforms who had shoved Rosemarie into the wine barrel as she was still being detained in the prison.
“These gentlemen were unable to bear the torment of conscience and came to me for penance. Archbishop, as a man of the church, I cannot simply overlook you involving paladins for your own agenda. Oh, perhaps I should bring forth these, too, while I’m at it.” Fritz pulled out several notes from his breast pocket.
“I took the liberty of doing some investigating per Prince Claudio’s instructions... And what turned up was: suspected embezzlement of state church contributions, bribes to bureaucratic personnel, violence and bodily harm toward the maid staff. —And the list goes on, but would you care to share your side of the story?” Fritz said with a complacent smile. Kastner gritted his molars in frustration.
“Fritz, how dare you...”
The uproar of the crowd composed of looks and cries of disapproval rained down on Kastner.
Even though Rosemarie knew the various beastly glares that only she could see weren’t directed at her, they still sent a shiver down her spine and made her feel sick. Claudio stroked that same shivering back softly and gently with one hand.
“Kastner, what were you planning to do after I was deemed mana-less? You cannot become the king of this nation without mana. In order to receive the right to be heir to the throne, you must have both the lineage and the mana. Can the candidate you hoped to back claim both?”
The human side of Kastner’s face was bathed in hatred, and scores of scales on the melted lizard portion fell off as he opened his mouth wide. A forked tongue popped out from the inside of his red mouth. He grabbed the nearby candelabra and tried to swing the blunt object at Claudio, but before the knights had a chance to try to stop him, Claudio quickly and easily stopped him instead.
“Mana this, mana that! Shut your impudent mouth about mana, brat! That mere shell of a contrived law was made during this nation’s inception just so that sorcerers would preserve their bloodlines. A king can be perfectly suitable even without your blasted mana.” Kastner growled in reply. Claudio cast his eyes in pity at the man as he murmured:
“I figured as much. You really don’t know the reason why mana is necessary for acceding to the throne.”
While it was unlikely he would try to attack Claudio again, Kastner’s arm tensed up. His muddled, dark eyes were tinged slightly with confusion.
“This castle was constructed in order to keep the Forbidden Forest in check. The castle’s mana is pivotal. Should the king be mana-less, the forest will spread further and further. The capital would be completely engulfed and eventually fall to ruin.”
“That cannot be...”
“You’re qualified to say it’s impossible? You, the person who doesn’t know a thing about the mystic arts? You can say that for certain?” Claudio pressed for answers, but Kastner did nothing but clam up in frustration. Claudio smiled triumphantly, unhanding Kastner’s arm. After being abruptly tossed aside, Kastner staggered a bit before regaining his footing. He continued to glare with hatred at Claudio nevertheless.