Guardians of the Prince

What I saw when I next opened my eyes was a pale brown stucco ceiling.

I gasped and sat up, and found I was in a room I’d never seen before. There was a charming polished wooden floor, a chest out of a rattan type of material, and high-quality scrollwork-patterned curtains. It was a room with a feminine sort of design.

The idea that there were still places around here I didn’t know about, despite how many times I’d looked around, made my heart start thumping with uneasiness, but just then, the door handle, which glittered against the heavy wooden dark grey door, moved.

“Kohme, you’re awake.”

It was Lemonina who came in.

Thank god, it seemed I hadn’t been thrown into the other world quite yet… This was Gaduelyon, the prince’s world.

I was so relieved, from the bottom of my heart. “I was sleeping?”

“You were indeed. It’s been almost an entire day. I’m glad, I was starting to worry.”

Lemonina sat down on a stool beside the bed, and touched my forehead, the back of my neck, my arms, all with an expression that was both sad and joyful.

“You seem alright. You disappeared so suddenly from the Garden of Stars, I figured you must have earned your name and been expelled, so we went back to the cliffs and found you collapsed. You were enveloped in a faint light, it was very odd.”

“Oh… I think somehow I went back to Japan with Kahzapka for a peek.”

I explained briefly about meeting my little sister.

“Oh wow! That’s great!”

Lemonina was overjoyed, and continued her explanation. “Other than the fact that you were glowing, it looked like you were just sleeping, so we thought we’d at least get you here. This is my room in the research city. Since now you can come in too.”

As she said it, I gasped and looked at the finger of my left hand. When I slipped off my ring, there was a Shin, proof that Gaduos had accepted me.

This was my name… It felt more beautiful than any gemstone.

“So, Kohme…”

When I lifted my head at Lemonina’s voice, I noticed that her expression, which hadn’t changed since she’d come in the room, was now draped in gloom.

“Yes…?” My chest was suddenly wrapped tight with uneasiness too.

Now that I thought about it, I didn’t hear the prince. And what about Mr Kahzam and Mr Lahzt? And shouldn’t Mr Fatido be rushing in here at a time like this?

“Lemonina, where’s the prince?” I asked, struck with a rush of bad feeling.

“He’s gone on ahead… to the castle.”

What?

I opened my mouth, but couldn’t get my voice to come out. My prince, my precious little prince, wasn’t by my side anymore…?

“Let me tell you what happened while you were out,” Lemonina began, her expression still stiff. “You met the Crown Prince’s ministers, right? I believe they’re called Idine and Endie. They told their story to the Crown Prince… What they know of it, anyway. That prince might be adopted by Lady Solamire, that we were headed to the Shiinium. Given all that, the Crown Prince said that when he was ready to head back to the royal castle, he’d take prince back with him.”

“Wha- Why?”

“The child’s going to be joining the royal family, and he said it wouldn’t do to let him go unaccompanied at a time like this. If the next step for him is to meet Lady Solamire face to face, then he’d be safest if he travels with the Crown Prince and his retinue, so maybe he should go with them. That was the idea anyway.”

Ah. I bit my lip.

The prince did have a bodyguard in Mr Kahzam, but since he had to be in animal form, he couldn’t make his true identity clear. Looking at it from the Crown Prince’s point of view, it would have been hard to believe that the prince had sufficient protection. Mr Lahzt and Mr Fatido were there, but of course they weren’t professional bodyguards. I didn’t really know what kind of person the Crown Prince was, but if I had been in his position, I would have thought the same.

Lemonina had more difficult news. “You’ve heard about the person who was selected during Lady Solamire’s pregnancy to be nursemaid to the child who was going to be born?”

“Yes. She was nursemaid to Princess Haluria, right, Tellner…”

“Exactly. The Crown Prince seems to think it only natural that she care for prince.”

So that too, huh… It was true though. Anyone would normally think like that.

“But it’s alright, Kohme. It would’ve been awkward if you fell asleep for months, but you woke up right away. When we told the Crown Prince that there was a woman who’d been taking care of prince thus far, he said he’d let you have a proper interview at the castle.”

“Lemonina… But I… I mean, me? Instead of that wetnurse?”

My desire to rush back to the prince’s side as quickly as I could conflicted with my lack of self-confidence, and I had no clue which way to turn.

Lemonina took my hand gently. “Kohme, you have a little sister, don’t you, one you’re very proud of?”

I looked up with a gasp.

“Wouldn’t you like to raise prince first-hand, the way you raised Nanao to be such a good kid? That other nurse will be just fine, so you should think only of yourself and prince.”

That was true. Why was it I kept getting distracted?

The important thing was the prince’s heart.

I immediately swung my feet out of the bed. I was a little wobbly, but my shoes were right there, so I put them on, and made an announcement.

“I’m going after him. The prince will be nervous being in a different environment so suddenly. I might not be able to do it like a professional, but the prince is precious to me, I won’t lose on that front. Besides…” I distracted myself from the stinging sensation in my nose with a deep breath, and looked at Lemonina. “I came to this world all alone, and the prince gave me hope. We’re connected, we’re bound together, and I believe that I should be the one to look after him as he grows up.”

My sisters and I had been separated into two different worlds, but that didn’t mean we weren’t sisters anymore. Koaya and Nanao lived within me now, and they would surely support me from now on.

And now the prince and I were building that kind of relationship.

“Good. You seem resolved, Kohme. I wonder if that’s because you went back to the other world.”

Lemonina flashed a smile, and stood up, still gripping my hand. “Alright, Kohme will be prince’s nurse, and we’re going to go make that happen. Lahzt and Lord Fatido went with prince. Kahzam’s situation is a little different, but he should be able to re-assume his duties and lend a hand. We’ll go after him too!”

Miss Lemonina first wrote a letter to the person in charge of palace personnel recommending me as wetnurse. Then Mr Lahzt wrote a letter too, confirming that I wasn’t a threat, and both letters were sent separately by postey.

After that, we “borrowed” a car from the Shiinium, and were rather… Well, we made a mad dash to the royal capital, Rizontia, thanks to some heroic driving.

The car didn’t go fast by the standards of my world, but even so, we left before lunch, and were able to make it to Rizontia in a few hours.

We passed between two huge towers with slowly turning windmills on them, and when we got onto the main road, three- and four-storey buildings were lined up on either side of the street. The only tall building in the city seemed to be the castle. They must have been worried about the view.

There were footpaths too, paved with some kind of tile, with big crowds coming and going, and they looked well taken care of, like someone was cleaning them properly, and regularly. The streetlamps and postey-filled trees were also properly maintained, and the whole city felt a lot like Tau Lato.

The castle’s soft grey outer walls towered above the street, shining in the rays of the sun, which had just begun to sink.

We parked the car in the corner of the plaza outside the castle’s entry gate, and crossed a footbridge that spanned a moat. The main gate, which was visible on the other side, was made of stone and about three times my height, and I was left utterly speechless. The castle itself was still far in the distance.

This was the royal castle – the world the prince belonged in.

I’d already earned my Shin name, so if I stepped forward, I would be able to enter, even into a place as grand as this, but if I wasn’t with Lemonina, I probably would have been too nervous and out of place to think about it. But I went in, walking forward, aiming for the open double doors visible beyond the footbridge.

Suddenly, Lemonina stopped me. “Something about this isn’t right.”

I looked around, and when I glanced back at Lemonina, she pointed to the sky.

“Look. That’s an unusually high number of posteys.”

Beyond the castle walls, I could see a fair amount of birds coming and going between the spires of the castle.

Normally, they’d be flying at top speed toward their letter’s intended recipient, but at the moment they seemed troubled, perching temporarily or just flying in circles.

“There’s too many of them, and they seem out of sorts. Must be a big crowd of people all trying to communicate with one another at the same time. Something is afoot. Kohme?”

“Yes.”

“The letters Lahzt and I sent to the personnel director might not have arrived. I’ll go and ask them directly, so would you mind waiting in the car? If something has happened at the castle, and we suddenly show up with you in tow…”

“Oh, yes of course. I understand.”

I nodded.

I looked like a foreigner in this country. And it was my first time here, too.

Even if everybody knew Lemonina’s face, she couldn’t just go waltzing into the castle with someone like me on her arm when something was going on in there.

I stood tall so no one would find me suspicious, and headed back down the road we’d come. I went back towards the plaza from the drawbridge and turned around, and could see Lemonina going in through the main gates, only one door of which was open now.

I made it back to the corner of the plaza, where several cars were parked, and then realized something with a start.

Cars weren’t a very popular method of conveyance in this world, so there were only a very few types. What’s more, the car we’d borrowed (stolen?) from the Shiinium was an official black color. And because of where we were, several other cars there were an official black too.

Long story short, I had absolutely no clue which car was ours.

I didn’t have any choice but to wait someplace where I could see the plaza until Lemonina came back. But if I just stood here I’d definitely be suspicious… Okay, how about if I make a circuit of the castle, like a country bumpkin come to see the capital? I readjusted my shoulder bag, which still had all the prince’s stuff in it, and sauntered off so I didn’t look too dodgy.

I’d been walking around for about fifteen minutes when it happened.

“I haven’t even made a half circuit yet, huh… At this rate, maybe I should just head back to the car?”

I paused to take a look at the stone outer wall, which seemed to go on forever, and the moat that stretched out in front of it, and then the scenery that lay beyond that.

There were a few places you could see into the castle through the iron fence, but what I could see seemed to be a section attached to their back lawn. The place where the royal family actually lived was protected by a stout wall, so you couldn’t see in there at all.

The outer wall had Shin carved into it every so often, but they seemed to have deliberately used characters with one stroke missing, and they didn’t transmit any meaning. I hazarded a guess that it must have something to do with castle security.

The prince… He must be somewhere around here, right? Was he crying?

I looked up at the castle, and then turned on my heel, biting my lip.

I started back along the road I’d come, thinking about the prince, and after a minute I realized I could hear hooves approaching behind me.

When I turned, a giant anpy was cutting in around me, kicking up a cloud of dust.

“What are you doing here?”

Looking down at me from the saddle with a severe glint in his eye was Endie, the Crown Prince’s guard, whom I’d met in the Shiinium.

His clothes were the same, black, top and bottom. He held the reins in his left hand, along with some kind of long spear.

Endie jumped down from the anpy in a single motion, and suddenly grabbed my left arm and yanked me close. I was too surprised even to let out a yelp, and he pried open my fingers and slipped my ring off.

“Ow…”

“Huh. So it did say Kohme,” Endie muttered, double checking my seal but not letting go of my arm. “Did you lure that kid out to you?”

“What?”

I forgot about the pain and looked up at Endie.

Lure the prince out? When? Just now!?

“The prince? Are you serious, the prince is gone!?”

All those posteys flying above the castle… People were sending each other notes back and forth, searching for the prince?

My stomach sank so hard I started to feel a bit ill, and the back of my head went cold. I reflexively grabbed Endie’s sleeve and asked again.

“Tell me, please, is he missing? I thought he went with you because you were going to protect him? What happened?”

“You realize you’re the prime suspect at the moment. If you’re working for the East, you could be stirring up trouble by making off with that kid and pinning the crime on us.”

“What? I mean…”

“After all, the Crown Prince’s faction is the one most likely to cause harm to any child of the second queen,” Endie said, flashing a bit of a sarcastic smile.

The East… Was he saying they were trying to instigate a conflict between the Crown Prince’s faction and Solamire’s faction for their own benefit? I forgot their name, but…

I was still confused, but Endie pressed me further.

“Essentially, you thought you’d come here with Dr Lemonina and Lahzt, and we’d believe you were Lord Fatido’s woman? You’ve gotten close to all of them, one after the other, what are you planning? Let’s go, I’m taking you in for questioning.”

“I’m not– Wait–!”

Terrified, I couldn’t put up much resistance, and I let myself be dragged over to the anpy. He got on first, and then started to forcibly hoist me up into the saddle.

Just then, I heard more hooves. Endie looked up – what was I going to do, someone had come to help him?

I was starting to panic when a sharp voice reached my ears.

“Kohme!”

Suddenly I was lifted off my feet, and I lost all sense of balance. I stifled a scream, clinging to whatever was in reach. A sturdy chest, clad in black, and strong arms to support me.

“Are you alright?”

“Mr. Kahzam?”

I was on top of an anpy, Mr Kahzam’s arms around me. Endie and Mr Kahzam were dressed the same, a black military uniform with a black hat – it must be a guards uniform – and he was carrying a long spear himself along with the reins in his left hand. The spear didn’t have any blade or point at the tip, just glittering silver ornaments on both ends of the stick, but I guessed it was still a weapon.

Suddenly Endie shouted a short command to his anpy, and turned towards us. He closed the distance in an instant.

Mr Kahzam’s body tensed under his uniform.

Just as I was anticipating the shock of their lances colliding and how it would reverberate through my body, Mr Kahzam fixed one end of his spear under his arm and swept Endie’s lance aside, knocking the tip of it into the ground.

Endie immediately spun his anpy around by the neck, facing Mr Kahzam from a different direction.

“I’m going to put Kohme down!”

Mr Kahzam got down from the anpy, still carrying me in his arms.

“I’m putting her down! Endie, wait!” he said, standing protectively with his back to me, and immediately set up his lance.

He’d barely gotten himself in place when Endie let out a roar from above us and attacked with his lance. Mr Kahzam moved his own lance to the side and used it to take the hit, keeping it tight up under his arm. Deliberately riding the momentum from his attack, Endie hopped down from his anpy and came back for his next attack without even taking a breath.

Mr Kahzam tried to keep himself between me and Endie at all times– wait, was I dead weight in this fight? What was I supposed to do? I was so anxious I couldn’t do anything but watch.

“Listen to me! This woman is a candidate to be the boy’s nanny,” Mr Kahzam called out to Endie, holding his spear out in a straight line. Endie shot a ferocious look at me. He positioned himself opposite Mr Kahzam, pointing his lance directly at us.

“So what?”

Another blow. Mr Kahzam dodged it, and swept his spear in a big, low arch, sweeping at Endie’s feet. Endie jumped back, and a small gap opened up between the two of them.

“That’s not enough of a reason to clear her of suspicion.”

Their spears met again, two, three times, cutting through the wind with great roars.

Mr Kahzam dragged Endie’s spear down with his own, pinning it to the ground, and called out to him again, even as Endie struggled to get his spear loose.

“We need her if we’re going to find him. Stand down.”

In the battle of weapons, and of words too, Mr Kahzam didn’t back down even one step, he protected me the whole time.

And just at that moment…

“That’s right! And she’s my daughter!”

Another voice, and the sound of more hooves. Lemonina came up to us on an anpy.

Wow, she looked cool riding that thing… Not that this was the time to be staring.

When I looked back at Endie, he’d clicked his tongue and was jumping back up into the saddle. He pointed his spear at Mr Kahzam again, but I couldn’t feel the same edge as before.

“Lemonina, where’s the prince?”

I rushed over, and Lemonina nodded, pulling on her reins and bringing her anpy to a stop. “I haven’t heard all the details myself yet. We’ll have Lahzt explain. Endie, wasn’t it? If you really want to know if Kohme’s the culprit, you can come along too.”

With those words, Mr Kahzam slowly lowered his spear.

A moment later, Endie silently followed suit.