While I’d learned that the gatekeeper had lived, I still didn’t know why I’d been targeted, or why the princess had wanted me hurt in the first place. His Highness had stayed quiet when we stopped for a rest, and apparently he hadn’t answered when Miss Maria asked him in the carriage.
“Something’s up with Ed. He’s been too quiet, and his head is in the clouds.”
We’d gotten farther away from Fatna, and Miss Maria had decided to ride with Sir Gaius, since it was tense in the carriage.
While I watched her from behind, I pondered what His Highness must have been thinking. Remembering how he had said that the whole incident was his fault, and how he had looked away from me, troubled, I felt helpless. He must have still been thinking about Princess Bernardina. Though we were curious, no one could ask. That continued for a few days...
“Everyone, can we talk?”
We were all used to setting up camp by now, but after we finished, His Highness finally decided to discuss things with us. It was hot, even at night, so we’d all been sitting away from the fire, but we all gathered there at his request.
“Would you all hear me out?”
“What’s the matter?” Sir Gaius had his uniform top off, with the shirt underneath unbuttoned and his sleeves rolled up as he asked, wiping his sweat away.
“It’s about what happened in Fatna.”
We had thought that might be it, but we all just silently looked at each other. Since we’d all thought we shouldn’t bring up Princess Bernardina, we had been afraid to ask him.
His Highness looked at each of us in turn, as if he hadn’t seen us, or hadn’t thought of it. When he looked at me last, his eyes fell downward. “Let me apologize again. I’m sorry.”
“Your Highness!”
Sir Agliardi tried to stop him, but the prince drew a thin smile while looking at Miss Maria and I, muttering about how he kept troubling us, “I’m not apologizing as the crown prince. I’m apologizing as Edoardo, one of your companions. No one else is watching. Isn’t that alright, Fernando?”
“Ed...”
“You all know that Princess Bernardina was supposed to become my fiance, correct? Ah, I might not have mentioned it to Maria. Our betrothal was nearly set in stone. But...”
“Things changed when I was summoned?” Miss Maria finished his sentence for him, since he seemed to be having trouble.
“...Being the crown prince’s wife means being the next queen. It’s purely political. My father decided that the country would benefit more from having the Sacred Maiden who saved the world marry me than the first princess of Dal Canto, so it was called off.”
I thought back to His Highness’s face when he had told us on the way to Foristarn. He had said that being useful was the only thing that mattered.
“I knew her — Bernardina — from when I studied here at the Tower of Learning five years ago. Since Prince Ildebrando hadn’t been born yet, she was attending it as the crown princess. Since most of the students were men, and usually excelled in their studies, she stood out. So, she was usually with me, the exchange student.”
His emerald eyes thought back fondly on those days as he told us about Princess Bernardina.
“When King Herbert suggested we be engaged, I thought she would be a good crown princess. She was a hard worker, I knew her personality, and Dal Canto is a larger country than Aquilani or Galiena. I needed to marry someone from somewhere other than Vatis; things just continued from there, but...after Aquilani was attacked, it was decided that we’d summon the Sacred Maiden. And since Banfield would be the country where it was done, the idea of marrying Bernardina was dropped.”
Just like the last time we’d listened to His Highness, no one spoke. I dimly thought again how all we could hear was the sound of the bugs and the crackling campfire as I listened to his story.
“I hadn’t thought much about it when our planned betrothal was changed. I just accepted it, and the fact that having the Sacred Maiden as Queen would be more beneficial to Banfield. Yet...she thought otherwise...” His Highness faced downward, holding his face in his hands. After sighing in grief, he continued, “I was told that this was all my fault, because I didn’t choose her. Really, she had wanted to go after Maria or I. Lucia was just collateral damage. I’m so sorry. I... No — my country just keeps troubling you both.”
The prince wasn’t like his usual self, looking so powerless. Without his mask as “the crown prince of Banfield,” he just looked exhausted.
“Hey... Can I ask what happened to her and the other people involved?” Miss Maria hesitantly spoke up.
Since I was interested too, I sat up, waiting for him to respond.
“Bern... Princess Bernardina was sent to a convent in the province of Theotol, just as King Herbert said. It’s called a convent, but it’s really just somewhere to imprison princesses or noble women. That’s the reality of this. The others had multiple previous offenses, so they were sentenced to death. One of them was able to avoid that sentence, but he’ll be under house arrest, with his rank stripped away. The attendants were fired, and either sent back to their homes or disowned and sent to the convent.”
“That’s—” The words slipped out of my mouth when I heard how heavy their judgment was.
The prince laughed lightly, not even looking at me. “You think that’s a lot? But it could have been much worse. We weren’t just visitors. Having one of the royal family, who is supposed to protect their fearful citizens from the monsters, attack someone in the Sacred Maiden’s party, who is purifying the Cristallo Sacro, is inexcusable. I can’t imagine that she wouldn’t know that, but— I don’t know anything anymore. She must have hated me that much after I called off our engagement.”
His Highness shook his head and looked up. He was back to normal, and there was no trace of the weakness that had been there before.
“As an apology, Dal Canto is sending Banfield ten of their scholars from the Tower of Learning for ten years.”
“Their scholars? I’m shocked that they’d do that. They never leave their tower, just sit there day after day researching, don’t they?” Eric spoke up, surprised at the prince’s mention of the Tower of Learning.
They rarely went to different countries, just like the academy’s researchers — maybe even more so. Just as the academy was Banfield’s treasure, the Tower of Learning was the same to Dal Canto. So did that mean that the incident was grave enough that they’d share them for ten years as atonement?
“I wanted them to be dispatched so we could create a school in Banfield like the ones that Maria told me about from her world. You said you were a student, and that everyone went to school to learn things like how to read or do mathematics. Although it was more basic than the specialist topics at the Tower of Learning.”
“A school? Ah, that’s right, you said this world doesn’t have a school system.”
“Yes. But hearing about your world made me want to create one. I want to create a school, and get rid of the summoning of Sacred Maidens. Before I met you, I hadn’t thought much about anything other than ascending the throne and protecting my country, but after meeting you, I have things I want to do. If you would forgive me for saying something selfish, I’d like for you to stay with me, and show me the way— So, Maria.”
“Ed...”
“Do you want to return to your world? Or would you stay in ours?”