Following introductions, Kee flutters her wings and flies out of Victor’s hands. I’m a little envious that she can fly on her own.
“Dive down,” she says, jumping into the water at full force.
“What now?” Victor sighs.
“We’re diving in.”
I fill my lungs with air, then sink into the water. Still not understanding what’s going on, Victor follows suit. Kee lights the water around us.
Oooh, how mystical. If I were an artist, I would absolutely paint this.
“Follow me.”
Even underwater, I can understand her reedy voice. I swim in the direction she’s going.
Swimming sure is a big calorie burner, isn’t it? After we get home, I want to stuff my face with macarons. I hope Laval has macarons…
With that in mind, I swim after Kee with all my might, determined not to lose her. Along the way, I take the previously removed blindfold from my pocket and grip it tightly in my hand. Assuming we make it out alive, I can’t let anyone see me with my eye uncovered.
The fairy dives on the other side of the waterfall, and we follow. There’s a tiny opening nestled with boulders on both sides.
This is probably the exit… Kee might be able to go through that, but no amount of muscling could get Victor or me through.
I look back at Victor. Realizing in an instant what needs to be done, he approaches the boulders. Then he begins to smash them with all his might. As the water pressure crushes him, he desperately grasps on to the boulders, yanking them away.
“Oh, you’ve opened it!!”
The moment Victor crushes one of the biggest boulders, a path opens. We swim into it for dear life. I’m running out of air.
“This way! Hurry!”
Kee’s urgent voice helps me muster the last of my energy to get me through. I have a feeling today’s excursion alone got me down two kilos.
I could market this: Wanna shed a few kilos? Mortwood has your back!
Kee zips upward, and we follow in hot pursuit.
“We’re almost there.”
No sooner do I hear her voice than the top of my head pops above water, and I gasp for air. We pant heavily, heading for the boulders.
I don’t have an ounce of energy left. Will I even make it back to land?
“This is the first place we landed after we dove in the lake,” Victor says in between breaths, looking at our surroundings.
Where does all your energy come from, dude? I do wish you wouldn’t grasp our current situation so quickly. You make me feel like a failure as a human.
Kee eyes us widely in surprise. “Gee, just how strong are your cardiopulmonary functions? I’m impressed…”
Well, pardon me if I don’t jump for joy over a smug-faced fairy praising my cardiopulmonary functions…
I climb up the pile of boulders and wrap the soaking-wet cloth around my eyes.
“I’m surprised you’ve even thought to cover up your eye after all that.”
“It’s not like I want to.”
“Yeah, you wouldn’t want Albert finding out.”
“Don’t say a word to him.”
“Why would I go out of my way to tell him? That’s annoying.”
……I’m shocked. I was sure Victor would jump on the juicy opportunity.
Is he…keeping quiet for my sake? No, no, he’s not that nice.
“Well, if you ever want to learn more about Albert, you can always go to the tower.”
“The tower?”
“The unclimbable tower. A spell is cast on it, right? That’s Albert’s place of rest… Even I can’t go there, but I’m sure you probably can.”
Why do I get the feeling Victor knows all my secrets now?
“Well, I won’t go there. I’d rather not throw a bomb on myself.”
“……No, you’ll go there.”
I hate the idea of Victor being right. But at the same time, I’d also hate to let the opportunity to learn more about my grandfather slip through my fingers…
I’ll just let the tides of time tell me when to act!
“Somebody’s coming.”
While I’m busy with my internal soliloquy, voices sound from the path we just came from.
I believe that’s Captain Marius and Jurd… They got to come back the way they came. Lucky bastards.
“Aaah…”
That was quiet, but it was definitely a scream.
“Looks like they took the wrong path.”
“They what?”
“I’d run if I were you.”
“You what?!”
Victor gives me a look, pleading for a translation of Kee’s words.
“She said we have to run.”
“And why?”
“I’m not sure, but I heard Captain Marius and Jurd screaming, so we’re probably in mortal peril.”
“Then you could at least sound scared! And I couldn’t hear any screaming.”
“…aaaaaaAAAHHHHH! STAY AWAAAAY!”
What impeccable timing. Victor was sure to hear them loud and clear that time.
“What is going on with this lake…?” Victor grumbles.
“It’s under a spell, so nothing is out of the ordinary down here,” I answer.
“How can you be so calm? I’m surrounded by lunatics.”
How rude. I’m as sane as they come.
“Your Hiiighness! Run for your liiife!” Jurd cries, running out of the opening with incredible speed. Captain Marius follows a second behind him.
Wow, look at Captain Marius the tank go. For all the crap I give him, our captain is a powerful man.
“What is that?”
I glance over to where Victor is looking.
……What. Is. That? Is that a giant skull-tumbleweed rolling toward us?!
Why did we suddenly change genres to horror-comedy? And how did they stash so many skulls under this lake anyway?
I look at Kee. She slaps a hand behind her head and sticks her tongue out playfully.
“Full speed out of here.”
Victor grabs my arm, and we dive straight into the poisoned lake.
Kee’s thin, transparent wings shrink into her back, and she swims with beautiful form. Jurd and Captain Marius are swimming in a manner that cannot even charitably be called beautiful, as they fiercely flap their limbs. Holding our breath and swimming after all that running is torture. Talk about adding insult to injury.
There’s a strain on Victor’s face, but he almost looks confident.
“We’re almost there.”
My stamina has already run mostly dry from my last underwater dive, so I’m starting to reach my limit. I wonder what that fairy’s definition of almost is.
And I used quite a bit of magic energy, too. Anybody in my position would be—
Before I can finish that thought, I feel a sharp impact to my head.
Wh-what’s this? Feels like somebody whacked me upside the head.
My vision blurs. I feel sick, and I barely manage to keep myself from vomiting. My body suddenly grows heavy. I can’t swim.
Victor is the first to notice. He has a furrowed brow and Oh, shit written in his eyes.
We have spent very little time together, but I know the kind of man he is. He views his soldiers as expendable.
As far as he’s concerned, I’m merely a pawn to help him be crowned king.
Oh…is this how it ends for me?
…………Even though I haven’t become a villainess yet?
Well, that’s not funny!
I can’t die in a godforsaken place like this.
Just as I begin to fade, I force my eye open. Then Victor suddenly lunges at me and holds me tight.
Huh? What’s going on here?
He holds me in his arms as he swims toward the fairy.
…Am I dreaming? No…I’m not. This is real. Victor is risking his life to save mine.
I can’t believe it. Where did he even find the strength to do this?
I can tell we’re almost at the water’s surface. Faint beams of sunlight are reaching through the dark, dirty water. Everyone musters the last of their strength and moves their body up to the surface.
With a splash, I come up from the water, and my lungs fill with air.
Lieutenant Neal and Ceres nervously run over to us with towels in hand. Victor carries me up to the ground and roughly flops onto his side. Everyone falls to the ground with a loud thud, hungrily lapping up oxygen.
“We…made it out…alive…,” Captain Marius whispers between gasps for breath.
Seriously, what a heinous training session that was. I feel like I’m on the verge of death.
“Why…did you…save me…?” I demand, gasping sporadically as I lie on my side. “You only care…about your…selfish goals… Why would you…rescue me…?”
My head is so hot that it feels like my brain is melting. I’m glad to be on land again, but it’s vexing that breathing up here feels no different than down there.
“The lake poison got you. Are you okay?”
“No way…”
When did I drink the lake water? And not to toot my own horn, but I thought I had pretty good poison resistance.
Victor’s hand is cool. It feels nice.
“To answer your question…I thought you could help me attain my selfish goals.”
Oh my…so he saved me for selfish reasons. Well, that’s definitely more on brand.
“……If only that were true.” He sighs, suddenly changing his tone and sitting beside me.
Everyone is a little taken aback by his unusual behavior. Did he drink some of the poison, and it changed his personality?
Unable to tolerate the rising sickness from deep in my chest, I vomit on the spot. Though my stomach is empty, so really only water comes up.
Victor gently pats my back as I heave. I feel his warmth through my back and marvel over what a difficult position a prince is put in.