|| Preparations (Part 2) ||
|| Chapter 3.5: Preparations ||
'It's nice to see that you're smiling again,' Saide mentally noted, staring at the ravenette's curled lips. Slowly, the teen closed his eyes with relaxation as he listened to the quill scribbling against the papers. He started recalling how he met Erix five years ago. Saide had only turned ten years old that summer while the ravenette had turned nineteen years old in the previous winter. The nineteen-year-old Erix had only recently returned from his participation in the two-year religious and territorial war that broke out on the outskirts of the Malefic Grand Duchy's Borders.
According to Albert, the ravenette was like a completely different person after he returned from the war. Saide could still recall how he got introduced to the nineteen-year-old war hero. The teen was muscular and tall, his hands and arms were covered with fresh and old scars from the war. He was dressed in his military uniform that was provided by the Aeonian Imperial Palace Knight squads. His raven-coloured hair was draped over his eyes, almost covering them before he pushed his bangs to the side.
His sunset-coloured irises were filled with emptiness and exhaustion was seen under his eyes. Regardless, the young war hero was dangerously handsome. That day, Erix was appointed to be the ten-year-old prince's escort knight. Needless to say, the prince threw a massive tantrum in front of his father, screaming about how he didn't want a pathetic-looking person to be his knight. The ravenette wasn't affected by his childish tantrum while the Emperor tried to reassure his son that Erix wasn't pathetic at all.
Thus, for several months, the relationship between Saide and Erix was an interesting situation. The young prince would purposely send him on errands to keep him away from him, which the teen didn't mind since he found it funny that a brat like Saide was desperately trying to get rid of him. On one particular day, Saide was heading to meet his mother and on the way there, he accidentally witnessed a horrible scene.
The young prince watched how his older half-brother - Kaiden - and his friends openly insulted the ravenette in the empty hallway, degrading him for anything that they could think of. However, the situation got out of hand when Kaiden accidentally mentioned the ravenette's sibling and degraded that sibling. That day, hundreds of knights had to stop the ravenette from killing the Third Prince, but his friends weren't that fortunate. Blood spilled on the floors as the ravenette delivered punch after punch at the Third Prince with a bloodthirsty yet crazed gleam in his eyes.
"That's enough, Lord Malefic!" The imperial knights yelled at him with horrified faces as they tried to peel him off the barely alive prince. However, their words fell on deaf ears. "Hic..." Suddenly, the sound of a soft sob made him freeze on the spot and he slowly turned to look in the direction it came from. The moment he made eye contact with the young prince, he lost his composure as he watched the boy's eyes grow glossy with thick tears streaming down his red cheeks. Saide was trembling, his gaze locked on his beaten older half-brother lying beneath the ravenette.
Noticing that the ravenette was distracted, the knights took that as an opportunity to drag him off the prince and detain him. Kaiden and his injured friends were rushed to the infirmary to receive emergency treatment while Erix was taken to the underground cells. Several days later, the ravenette still hadn't returned to Saide's side, which the young prince didn't mind because he was petrified of the teen.
Then, two weeks later, Saide asked his father where the ravenette was and what was his punishment. "I sent him to the Western Border alone to subjugate the Demonic Beasts two weeks ago," Ascian told his youngest son with a stoic face, ignoring the shocked look on his face. "But there's been a blizzard happening at the Western Border for the last month!" One of Saide's older half-siblings revealed with horrified eyes, her fingers trembled around her utensils.
"He almost committed treason against the royal family," Ascian sneered at his daughter with cold eyes. That caused a heated argument between the Emperor and some of his kin. During all this, Saide could only mutter with disbelief, his voice drowning in with the loud voices around him, "Sent... to the... Western Border...?" By the time winter arrived in the Empire, there was no word about the ravenette from the Western Border. The relationship between the Aeonian Empire and the Malefic Grand Duchy was slowly severing, which made the public grow worried at the high tension between the two nations.
On one snowy night, a messenger alerted the Emperor that Erix had returned from the subjugation, causing the palace to go into an uproar. It's been almost five months ever since Erix was sent for the subjugation. Alas, that didn't mean that there was good news. As the ravenette dismounted from his horse, he clutched his heavily injured side and limped towards the palace's entrance. Blood seeped out of the large gashes in his sides, legs, and chest.
He couldn't open one of his eyes and he could feel blood dripping from his head, causing his entire body to feel as if it was on fire. As his vision grew blurry, he could only hear his sharp panting and thundering heartbeat as he slowly ascended the staircase, swaying a bit as he tried to balance himself. However, before he could reach the top, his feet gave in beneath his weight, making him collapse on the stairs. Fresh blood dripped down the stairs as he tried to stay awake, shivering from the heavy snowfall that landed on him.
As the front doors opened to greet him, horrified and panicked gasps were heard from every direction when they spotted his barely conscious body on the staircase. With half-lidded eyes, he watched how knights and servants rushed to him, calling out, but he couldn't hear their voices anymore. From the sidelines, Saide watched in horror and disbelief as the heavily injured teen was rushed to the Aeonian Temple to receive treatment from the priests. At dawn, news about the ravenette returning on the verge of death reached the public's ears.
The public's opinion ridiculed the Aeonian Royal Family for sending the young heir of the Melfic Grand Duchy to subjugate the demonic beasts on his own at the snow-covered borders. The other Grand Duchies were furious at this discovery and threatened to completely sever their ties with the Aeonian Empire. As the conflict continued, Saide visited the ravenette at the temple daily. Erix was surprised to see the young prince visit him with a few maids and knights.
The ravenette had thick layers of bandages wrapped around his torso, sides, legs, arms, and neck. There were faint black shadowy markings on his exposed skin but they were barely noticeable. "...My deepest apologies for my recklessness, Your Highness," The ravenette awkwardly apologized, bowing his bandaged head to the young prince. He held back a hiss when he felt his body strain in pain from his actions. An uncomfortable silence met him, making him feel fidgety.
"...Y-Your Highness?" He called out to the young prince, slowly raising his head with a confused expression. He flinched when he saw large tears streaming down the boy's face as he sniffled with red puffy cheeks. Taken aback, everyone panicked and tried to calm him down. "You're an idiot!" Saide yelled at the speechless ravenette, who flinched again, "Idiot! Idiot!" Confused about what to do or so, the ravenette awkwardly waved his hands around to calm the crying prince.
"You can't leave me like that, you idiot! I won't allow that to happen!" Saide screamed, jumping off his chair and leaping towards the ravenette. Instinctively, he caught the boy and hugged him. Saide immediately wrapped his arms around his bandaged body, clinging to him as he cried loudly, "You're not allowed to leave and die! Never ever! Wahhhh!" Stunned, the ravenette continued hugging the sobbing prince while glancing at the maids, silently asking for assistance.
It took several days for the conflict between the Empire and the Grand Duchies to settle, as well as the public's opinion. The ravenette had a slow but smooth recovery before returning to the imperial palace as Saide's guard. From that day onwards, Saide clung to the ravenette's side and grew protective of him. The boy insisted on referring to Erix as 'Uncle' and was extremely stubborn when he was told that it was against etiquette. But that didn't stop the prince from rebelling against his father and kept calling Erix that nickname.
This entire incident was one of the main reasons why Saide despised his father. Just thinking of his father made the teen cringe with annoyance. Silently, he glanced at the smiling ravenette, who was more mature-looking than five years ago. For a split second, that stoic face from five years ago overlapped his current face, causing Saide to tense up. Quickly, he shook his head and sighed, glancing at the ravenette's face that seemed healthier than ever.
"Don't even think about escaping me, Uncle," Saide unexpectedly declared to the ravenette with a stern gaze, his brows furrowed and his lips were in a thin line, "I told you that I won't allow you to leave my side." Surprised, the ravenette paused his writing and looked at the teen with a baffled expression. His gaze flickered over the teen's serious face before chuckling with an amused smile.
"Does that mean I'll be your knight until I take my last breath, Your Highness?" The ravenette mused as he got up from his chair, causing it to creak slightly before he pushed it in. "Until we both take our last breath, you idiot," Saide corrected him with a huff, watching how he approached him and kneeled down on one knee in front of him. The teen's eyes widened as the ravenette lowered his head to him before peering up at him with a charming smile.
"Then I'll gladly be your knight and protect you with my might until we both take our last breath on this planet," He pledged with his gloved hand over his chest and bowed his head to him, "I will never abandon your side as a knight, Your Highness." A small scoff escaped the teen's mouth before grabbing a book next to him and gently tapping it against the top of the ravenette's head. "You better keep that promise," The teen teased him with a wide smile, "Uncle!"