“Surely you know the answer, Your Majesty?” I stare hard. He frowns, oblivious. “You think trash should go in the trash can. Did you not even once notice how the trash can was overflowing?”
“Gill, that’s enough. My father was obeying Grandmother’s orders,” Duke whispers in my ear.
“Grandmother? You mean—”
I stop myself just as I’m about to finish with “the concubine?” Liz and the others don’t know about her.
“Let’s get back on topic. I don’t want war. But there’s no telling what’s out there. It’s only natural for a kingdom to be fully prepared to defend itself, should the need arise. And a kingdom relying on the magic inherited in noble houses while its armies grow weaker and weaker—don’t you think that’s twisted?”
Duke addresses the question to everyone in the room. Their expressions change.
He’s getting through to them.
Can this prince be the one to break Liz Cather’s spell?
“War is bad, but it brings progress. And I will bring progress to this kingdom.”
His eyes aren’t those of a lazy king who spends his reign sitting on the throne, but rather of a unifier who sees the future of his kingdom.
“Your ambition will bring about war and destruction,” Liz Cather protests.
“If that’s your concern, then put your efforts toward diplomacy.” Duke glares sharply at her. She shivers.
……Will Liz Cather keep loving Duke after this treatment?
Why does she even love him in the first place?
Duke says, “Your Majesty, one single decree from you can bring both death and salvation to many… Don’t make any mistakes in using that authority from now on.”
“When did I make a mistake?”
You could cut the tension in the room with a knife.
“You discarded the most talented people this kingdom had to offer.”
The king looks visibly surprised. He must have had his reasons when he exiled the scholars of his kingdom. Ridding your nation of its most brilliant minds—surely there’s a dark reason behind it. It concerns me that, aside from the king, none of the heads of the Great Five houses have said anything yet.
“Gill.” The king gently calls my name. “Tell me who Alicia gave her eye to.”
Duke and I exchange glances. When he nods at me, I answer, “Will Seeker.”
“Will…Seeker?”
The king’s deep blue eyes seem unfocused. He’s rattled. Naturally, he isn’t alone. Every last one of the heads of the Great Five noble houses are frozen in astonishment.
Aha… So they do know about Gramps. Though it doesn’t look like they knew he was exiled to Roana Village.
The king jumps to his feet, his voice on edge. “Will…my brother… He’s alive?!”
Everyone looks at him in surprise. No one has seen him like this before.
……I did not see this coming. I never imagined he would be this distraught.
“Yes, he’s alive,” I answer. “In the village you exiled him to.”
“In that village…?” Gale’s father, with his light gray hair, furrows his brows and speaks for the first time.
Why haven’t any of these parents said anything about their children’s foolish behavior all this time? Perhaps they can’t?
This kingdom is shrouded in mystery.
“The story was that he suddenly went missing,” I acknowledge. “You can hardly blame anyone for assuming he was dead.”
“Luke, what is the meaning behind this boy’s words?” Joan looks sternly at the king.
“You don’t think…my father is there, too, do you?” The room shakes from the shock and anger in Arnold’s voice. Duke’s conflicted expression remains.
I did not see this coming…
There’s no man resembling Arnold in Roana Village. Which means…he may be one of the three who were exiled from the kingdom.
I’m sure Alicia’s met him, then. She does have a certain magnetism about her. I really wish I put my foot down and forced her to take me along.
“Gill—is my brother still alive?” the king asks.
“Thanks to Alicia, he’s not only alive, but he’s also aging in reverse.”
“I see…so my brother is alive. I see. That’s good…” The king whispers the words over and over, reveling in the news. The relief in his eyes is coming from a man truly concerned about his family.
If he cares so much about his brother, why treat him so horribly before? Sure, it was technically his mother who decreed it, but he could have stopped her. Then again, that technicality means nothing to Arnold and the others. They’ll blame the king.
That’s a tough job. It would be easy to dismiss it all and say he brought it on himself.
After gazing at the king for a few beats, Duke leaves the room without saying anything more. I follow.
“That was surprising.” A little while after we left, I finally speak up.
Duke gives me a curious look. “What was?”
“I didn’t think the king was really that worried about Gramps.”
“Well, my father did respect my uncle a lot.”
“……Then he should have saved him.”
“I’m sure he was being manipulated.”
Duke’s voice is too soft for me to make out. He’ll probably brush me off if I ask him to repeat himself. I press him no further and change the subject.
“How was it that the king was so ignorant about the conditions in Roana? The walls of mist locking down that village are made with water magic—the Seeker house’s magic, right?”
“That’s still a mystery, even to me. My father was supposedly searching for a way to release the barrier spell on Roana, but he didn’t know anything about my uncle.”
Duke pauses there, conflict in his eyes. Knowing there are some things even Duke isn’t privy to somehow reassures me.
“So what’s our next move?”
“We’ll use her.”
“Will she be useful?”
Liz Cather, that is.
“Well…she’s not a bad seed.”
……Can’t refute that.
She’s the type I have trouble dealing with, but she isn’t evil. And that only annoys me more.
“Finally, it’s time for the saint to demonstrate her powers,” I say.
“Well, it would be a shame for her not to.”
“Though I can see her feeling hesitant to use her magic…”
“Then we’ll make her use it.”
When I see the thin smirk on Duke’s lips, a shiver runs down my spine.
What in the world is he scheming…?
The sun is finally starting to peek above the horizon.
First thing in the morning, Duke, Henri, and I assemble in the garden at the Williams family estate. Today, we’re finally going to get Gramps out of that cursed village.
My joy and excitement are accompanied by a little bit of fear. If the king tries to do something, I don’t have the power to protect Gramps.
“Duke…promise me you’ll protect Gramps,” I plead, looking straight into his eyes.
Duke nods. Truthfully, Duke wanted to go into Roana Village with me, but I nipped that in the bud. Conditions are still far too precarious. Many people in Roana detest the nobility.
Though Alicia is also of noble blood, she’s an exception. There’s a great deal of difference between Alicia, who helped rebuild Roana, and a prince who has never set foot there. Duke understands.
“Good luck out there.”
I nod firmly at Duke, then exchange a look with Henri before I depart for the village.
“Gramps!”
As soon as I arrive in Roana, I run over to Gramps. Everyone is out of their homes early to send him off. They’re all reluctant to see the hero of the village go.
It’s necessary, though. One day, we’ll be able to free everyone else from this village, too.
Gramps takes a deep breath, then answers me: “Let’s go.”
“Okay, Gramps, drink this.”
Gramps takes the bottle—the Avel—from my hand and gulps it down, leaving a faint film of pink at the bottom.
At last, Gramps is going to be free. He’s going to escape this open-air prison.
My heart beats loudly in my chest. I’m so excited for Gramps’s release.
And I’m dying of anticipation to see how he’ll change this kingdom.
“I’m a little nervous to see him…,” Gramps says as he steps toward the wall of mist.
The king, most likely. Gramps hasn’t seen the outside world in years. Unlike me, he knows what the outside world was like before he came to Roana. As I look back now, it’s a wonder that he’s been able to withstand this dreadful life after living like royalty for years.
I meditate on this as I watch his broad, strong shoulders from behind. I can feel everyone’s gaze on our backs as they bid us farewell. There’s a hint of envy in their voices, but they seem happy for us.
Though conditions are improving, the air is still polluted and dark and fills your nose with a stench wherever you go. Once somebody leaves, they will never return voluntarily.
Gramps, for the first time in decades, is finally going to return to the world where the sun shines.