“Especially you, Luna. You don’t want to let everyone know that you have the mouth of a wolf.”
“You meanie! My mouth isn’t that big!”
They leaned closer and whispered to each other in the tranquil garden. A few days ago, his cheeks would’ve lit on fire, but he was already used to being close to her. Despite that, his heart still grew tight when he felt her warm breath caress his face.
Will I ever get used to this? That doesn’t matter, I have to tell her how I feel.
Al made up his mind to tell Luna the words he failed to tell his mother and brother. He had to say it to the girl who helped him climb back from the abyss.
“Luna!” To help squeeze the words out, he suddenly sat upright and turned toward her.
“Y-Yes?” She probably felt that something was happening, so she sat up too and faced Al, staring right into his eyes. He cleared his throat and started talking.
“Umm, well... Luna, I...” He stopped to clear his throat again.
“Oh, fancy finding you little lovebirds here.” Someone barged into the conversation from behind them before Al could finish his thought.
“Who’s there!?”
The moment he jumped up to cover Luna, he was faced with three figures wearing black mantles and masks to blend into the night. They clearly weren’t guards.
“Are you here to hurt Alnoa, the prince of Althos, and me, Luna of Distania?” Luna asked in a frigid voice, to which the three disguised men started cackling.
“What a lovely surprise... Now we don’t have to sneak through the whole castle to kill you,” the man in the middle whispered in a dull voice. He was built like any other person walking around the city, but an air of authority surrounded him. Al figured he was the leader of the group.
“Ohohoho! Would ya look at that! We’ve got a wannabe bodyguard here! You look real tough, lil’ boy... ’cept your legs’re trembling!” One of the lackeys, a tall and slender man, said with a wicked laugh. But he wasn’t wrong; Al’s legs were indeed trembling.
“Run for it if you want, kiddo. We’re only here for the girl,” a burly man added from the side.
“Whassat, Rukke? Don’tcha wanna see that brat struggle?”
In their eyes, Al was just some kid, not a member of the royal family.
“No. I don’t like meaningless massacre.”
“Bajil, listen to him. We don’t have a bounty on that brat.”
“Tch. Whatever, Dadan.”
The tall man called Bajil looked at them and signaled to Luna to come over, to which she shook her head. The next moment, Al started running as fast as he could.
“Gyahahaha! I’m so sorry for you, Your Majesty! That brave knight of yours was just a sheep all along!”
Luna stared at the cackling Bajil with stern eyes, but it didn’t accomplish anything.
“What a lame bluff. Well, we got rid of the nearby guards, but it’d be a pain if that brat called for reinforcements, so let’s get this—Gahhh!”
Bajil couldn’t finish his sentence. Al had only faked his escape, and while they were preoccupied with ridiculing him, he circled around them and rammed into the defenseless man’s back.
“Luna! Run!”
As Bajil collapsed on the ground, Al ran up to Luna and took her hand, but...
“Ah!”
He lost his footing and tumbled to the ground along with Luna.
“Don’t play the hero now, kiddy.”
A knife was sticking out of his leg.
“Dadan, we really should get rid of that brat, don’tcha think?”
Dadan nodded reluctantly.
“Nghhh... Luna, I’ll hold them off, so run when I give the signal!”
“But then you—”
“We don’t have time! Run!”
All he wanted to do was console the frightened, shaking girl, but they don’t have the time for that.
“I don’t want to just sit and watch as others give their lives for me!”
Al fought off his wobbliness and pulled the knife out of his leg.
“Aghhh!” Groaning in pain, he somehow overcame his desire to stay down and weep, and stood strong between the attackers and Luna.
“I’m begging you. Run and call for reinforcements! Go!”
Taking those words as the signal, Luna dashed off.
“Wait!” Bajil ran after her, but...
“You’re not going anywhere!”
He threw the knife at Rukke as a distraction and clung onto Bajil’s leg, then gathered all his strength into his jaw and bit down. Despite all his heroism, he was still just a ten-year-old boy fighting a full-grown adult.
“Ouch! That hurts, you bastard!”
After a brief moment of pain, Bajil’s face was overtaken by rage, and he launched Al into the distance with his other leg. After taking the kick to his gut and having all the air forced out of his lungs, Al landed on the ground without so much as a whimper. Even after he threw up everything he ate that day, the pain wouldn’t subside. Yet deep down, he was happy. He’d managed to buy some time for Luna.
“You’re sorely mistaken if you think a little kid can stop us.”
But even that flash of happiness was quickly extinguished. He was too naive. He raised his head, only to be faced with the darkest recesses of despair.
“L-Let me go!”
Luna was trapped in Dadan’s arms.
“Hah! How do you feel now, little hero of justice? Huh!?”
Al kept his eyes on Dadan, holding Luna, but he could see Bajil rotate the knife in his hands to the side. The dazzling moonlight twinkled on the blade, giving it the appearance of a venomous snake in search of prey.
“I’ll murder you and your entire family if you lay so much as a finger on Luna!” Blinded by rage, he taunted Dadan with words unfit for a prince. Of course, he didn’t think it’d do anything, but he couldn’t watch Luna get murdered in silence. His blood boiled as his anger overtook his whole being, slowly transforming into hatred.