RGS Volume 1 Part 25

As soon as Abel arrived, Ashler noticed something strange about the soldiers who had just arrived. They were not the ones guarding the prince’s palace, yet they were standing there, holding swords as if ready to open the door and enter. It was as if they were waiting for something.

“Who summoned you?”

When Ashler asked, one of the soldiers lowered his voice, looking embarrassed as he glanced behind him. Behind the entrance of the corridor, the administrators and record keepers he had been observing were no longer there.

“We were summoned by Marquis Norhox’s command.”

“For what reason?”

“That… um…”

“Answer.”

As Ashler commanded in a low voice, the soldier raised his stern gaze.

“There is a traitor threatening the Queen’s safety, so we were ordered to capture him.”

Traitor?

Ashler barely held back his laughter and stared at the empty end of the corridor. Suddenly, he understood why Abel had appeared. It was clearly a scheme to completely separate Abel from the incident in the forest during the day. Flipping the reason for a laughable treason.

“But why don’t you go in and catch the traitor?”

When he asked in a gritted teeth, the soldier frowned as if he didn’t like it either.

“Well… I received an order to go in after some time has passed. They said we need to confirm for sure that the traitor is harming the Queen.”

His eyes were fixed on the inside of the slightly open door where Abel entered. Ah, so the group of record keepers who were watching must have gone to take a break. As soon as Ashler understood the situation, he clenched his fist tightly. They must have thought that Abel would protect the prince even if he had to confront the violence of the Queen, but they were mistaken.

Abel would never lay a hand on the Queen under any circumstances, even if it meant his own death. That’s why the sound of the Queen’s laughter and curses would continue to flow through the slightly open door.

“Step back.”

Ashler spoke to the soldiers and entered inside. He heard the surprised voices of the soldiers calling out to him from behind, but Ashler had to properly assess the situation. There was a high possibility that the foolish Abel was being subjected to the violence of the Queen while protecting the prince.

Of course, it’s not like he would die just because he was hit by a woman…

As he was thinking up to this point, a gruesome sight entered his eyes. A piece of wood was stuck in the back of someone lying on the ground. The Queen, not satisfied with that, pulled out the piece of wood and stabbed the same spot again.

“Ugh, ugh, die! You devil, die!!”

When she was about to stab the same spot again with her hand, someone grabbed her wrist tightly. With a gasp, the Queen turned her head to see who was blocking her.

“How dare you lay a hand on me so audaciously?”

She exerted force and pulled her wrist out of Ashler’s hand. And then, she raised the piece of wood stained with blood towards him. At that moment, the words that came out of Ashler’s mouth made her stop.

“You should probably escape.”

Ashler stared at the Queen and recalled a story he had heard before. The Queen had once mentioned that she was terribly afraid of someone.

“His Majesty is here.”

Indeed, it had an effect. The Queen’s complexion turned pale in an instant, as if she had never smiled.

“Oh!”

Without saying a word, she gasped for breath and started trembling all over.

“I, I…… Uh, say there’s nothing. I, I……

“Yes. But before that, let me guide you to the Queen’s Palace.”

Ashler pointed to the door with his hand, and the Queen dropped the piece of wood in her hand and started running frantically. Ashler slowly followed behind her and ordered the two soldiers in front of the door.

“What are you doing without properly serving the Queen?”

“Yes? Well, but…”

“I heard the Queen is returning to the palace. Hurry!”

The surroundings became quiet. Abel heard Ashler’s voice faintly, but he didn’t know exactly what he said. Abel raised his head quietly. The prince he had been holding was now half asleep with his mouth slightly open. Even in the midst of such noise, he managed to fall asleep. Indeed, a child is a child.

Abel looked at the prince and faintly smiled, then suddenly noticed something on the nearby floor. It was a small bottle filled with black liquid. Abel reached out and carefully hid the bottle dropped by the Queen in his arms.

When Ashler came up to the royal capital at a young age and started living as a royal knight, he had a goal. To achieve great success and become the chief of the best knight order. That was the highest success he could dream of as the son of a poor local lord.

If he could miraculously gain the king’s trust and receive a new territory and a noble title, it would be even better. However, seeing the situation in the royal palace, he gave up on this dream. It was an impossible task unless he caught the eye of the king’s trusted side.

There was a time when an opportunity came and he tried to transfer to the king’s trusted private knight order. If he were the past him, he might not have understood his current self. Now he was trying to give up his advantageous position on his own.

“Ashler, did I misunderstand you?”

The question from the Captain of the Royal Guardss caught him off guard. Ashler just lowered his gaze and stood in front of him.

“Do you know how big of a sin it is to meddle in the affairs of the Royal family? Even if it’s the mad Queen, you shouldn’t have intervened back then!”

In the end, the Captain of the Royal Guards shouted loudly. He was in an uncomfortable state after dealing with yesterday’s incident and handling the aftermath.

“If you were going to act so recklessly, why did you ask me you want to become the prince’s swordsmanship teacher? If the king’s trusted side knew about what you did in that room yesterday, do you think they would let you stay by the prince’s side?”

“…”

Ashler still stood there, keeping his mouth shut like a statue. The Captain of the Royal Guards sighed softly and lowered his raised voice.

“Fortunately, I prevented the soldier who witnessed that incident from speaking.”

“…”

“Ashler.”

When the Captain of the Royal Guards called, Ashler finally raised his eyes and answered.

“Yes.”

“Promise me that this won’t happen again. This is an order.”

“I promise.”

The Captain of the Royal Guards stared at him silently and added in a calm voice.

“If you want to succeed, you must not give your heart to the prince and his Regas. Once the Regas disappears, you will have a good opportunity to gain the prince’s trust as his swordsmanship teacher. Don’t miss it.”

“What do you mean by saying that the Regas will soon disappear?”

Ashler asked in surprise, but the Captain of the Royal Guards explained nonchalantly.

“It’s true. He was imprisoned as a punishment for meddling in the Queen’s affairs. But as someone who is out of favor with the king, he will soon disappear.”

The Captain of the Royal Guards looked up and casually added.

“He will be removed from the King’s Heart within a few days, probably.”

⊹˚. ♡.𖥔 ݁ ˖

“The prince is doing well. The queen… I heard she’s been lying in bed for the past couple of days, nursing the wounds from what happened. But today, it seems she got up and even walked around. Well, she’s still silent and seems to be avoiding people as usual.”

Melmond reluctantly looked at Abel, who could barely open his eyes, and whispered the news.

“Are you okay? I heard your back wounds were severe.”

“Mr. Melmond.”

Abel smiled faintly and asked Melmond.

“”Have you happened to look into what I asked for?”

Melmond did not answer, but it was because he found the answer today, after coming back for the first time since the day he came to treat the wounds. However, he couldn’t understand why Abel suddenly took an interest in it. Nevertheless, he found the information as Abel requested.

In fact, Melmond was afraid. The more he learned the truth, the more he felt like he was stepping into a place he shouldn’t. Abel was pitiful, and the prince was also unfortunate, but Melmond was just a powerless librarian. It was important for him to live day by day, so how could he get involved in such a big matter?

These practical reasons now felt like excuses, and he couldn’t help but feel pathetic. There’s nothing he can do. Repeating this thought several times, Melmond cautiously revealed the only safe result from the investigation he could do.

“The only special thing about the Spring of Prayer was the king’s story that I told you before. Do you remember? The king who wanted to go to his beloved Regas after he died. But he died while praying at the spring. Apart from that, there was really nothing else. The origin of the spring, it seems to be connected to the forest…”

In the middle of his sentence, he suddenly heard a voice calling him from outside the door.

“Mr. Melmond! You have to leave now. You’ll get caught.”

It was Nanny’s voice, who had been watching over from outside the door. Although he was confined, there was no fear of Abel escaping because his wounds were so severe, so he ended up being locked in his own room. Of course, there were soldiers guarding outside the door.

Fortunately, Nanny, who is sociable, knew the soldiers well, so Melmond was able to sneak in like this. However, the time he could stay was only for a moment. Melmond quickly took out a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Abel.

“I barely found a mention of the location of the Spring of Prayer in a very old book, so I roughly drew it as a picture. I don’t know even if I look at it, but since you went into the forest, maybe you can figure it out.”

Thank you. Abel muttered in a small voice and accepted the paper.

Nanny’s urging was heard again from outside the door, and Melmond had no choice but to get up from his seat. However, he couldn’t easily take his eyes off Abel’s face.

He told Abel that he didn’t believe in his dreams, but he couldn’t erase the feeling of uneasiness. His master and the elders also had a certain time when they had dreams. It was right before they died. So he didn’t know if Abel would die soon. The guilt that Melmond had pushed away came back to him again, but he just turned his body around.

He put on his hood deeply to avoid being noticed by others and opened the door.

There’s nothing I can do. This is all I can do.

Melmond closed the door and went out.

Abel checked the paper. To his surprise, the Spring of Prayer was close to the field where Abel and the prince often went.

At the edge of the long lake, there is a particularly large oak tree among the others, and behind it, there is said to be a spring. The Spring of Prayer. He still don’t quite understand why the king mentioned it to him. Perhaps the king is more romantic than he appears?

So maybe he advised him to believe in the legend-like story that if you pray earnestly, you can go to the person you want to be with. But even if he thought about it himself, this was a hypothesis that made him laugh. In the king’s eyes that Abel saw, there was no light at all. His lifeless eyes told him that he was mentally dead.

So, there was a strong possibility that his intention in showing the spring of prayer to one who had given up everything was actually mockery. Because he regarded Abel, who said he would be fine even though he knew he would die soon, with disdain. But still, he had to go and see.

The dream changed on the night he met the king. The dream he had on the first day was exactly the same as what the master explained, but the dream on the night he met the king was different. The city was still burning, and in the palace, those who drank the black potion laughed and burned to death, but it wasn’t a dragon that was burning the country.

It was a person.

Although only a black figure like a shadow could be seen, it was a prince in the form of a human. In fact, before meeting the king, Abel had thought about running away with the prince. However, after meeting the king and having a dream that changed that day, he instinctively realized that he had to stay here.

And somehow, as he endured each day, little by little, changes began to happen in his dreams. The range of the burning Royal Palace was getting smaller.

Why? What caused the future to change?

It was frustrating because there was no way to guess, but this was clearly a good sign. Abel absentmindedly looked at the empty space and scratched his head with his hand.

“Everything will be fine.”

If his master had heard, he might have grabbed him by the back of his neck, saying, “What nonsense is this?” But his positive nature did not disappear even in this situation. He felt that everything would really turn out well. Even if he himself would die soon and the prince would face a long period of hardship alone.

And there was another definite feeling. The key to changing the future seemed to be his own death.

Rustle, rustle.

Suddenly, a small sound came from near the floor.

Abel turned his head and saw a small mouse coming towards the bed along the edge. He reached out his hand and tore off a piece of bread as his share of lunch, placing it on his palm.

Then, strangely enough, the mouse seemed to understand his intention and climbed up onto his hand. Watching the mouse eat the bread, Abel closed his eyes again. Now that he knew the location of the Spring of Prayer, he hoped that this would be a turning point for a change in his dreams.