Chapter 24

“…Your Highness, the Prince.”

Günter only used formal address when he was about to unleash a tremendous scolding. For Leopold, a lowly soldier guilty of nothing more than seeking his brother’s tent in the middle of the night, unable to sleep in a tent filled with the smell of unwashed soldiers, it was simply unfair. Leopold let out a preemptive groan.

“Ah, what is it now… What did I do…”

“What did you see in the forest?”

Leopold flinched, then awkwardly rolled his eyes.

“…I can’t say. I promised my brother.”

“It seems your Highness’s brother has been going to the forest every day since then, today included.”

Leopold snapped his head around to look at Günter. A flash of betrayal crossed his blue eyes, identical to Johannes’s.

“…What? After telling me not to go because there might be enemy soldiers hiding there?”

Günter felt a pull at the back of his head and asked again in a calm voice.

“…Say that again. What, is hiding in the forest?”

💎

“This way.”

Johannes led Daphne down a sloping path tangled with vines.

From behind Johannes, Daphne carefully watched him draw his dagger and cut through the vines. In truth, she could see almost nothing because of the darkness created by the tangled mass of vines. She only followed with her eyes the sharp glint of the blade as it occasionally reflected a sliver of moonlight with each light swing of his dagger.

It was when they emerged from the narrow path and were once again walking side-by-side. Daphne said casually.

“You called my dagger a toy before.”

Johannes, recalling his own foolish remark, was silent for a moment. In that time, Daphne asked in a slightly hesitant voice.

“Can I really not… kill someone with it?”

It was a bit impulsive.

Johannes’s steps gradually came to a halt. Daphne reflexively stopped with him and turned her head.

For a long moment, Johannes just stared at her without saying a word.

The longer his silence stretched, the more regret washed over Daphne. But this was a very important issue for her. And no matter how much she thought about it, there was no one else she could ask such a thing. Wouldn’t crossing the mountain range without a proper weapon be a suicidal act?

It was then. He closed the distance in a single step. Just then, the clouds moved away, and the moonlight illuminated his face. His eyes, met at such a close distance, were like the bright blue sky, bathed in moonlight.

“People die very easily, but surprisingly… human skin is tough.”

While Daphne’s gaze was captivated by his eyes, his gaze was directed slightly downward.

“Especially with those ridiculously thin arms of yours, you’d barely be able to pierce it even with a proper sword.”

Ah. An exclamation close to realization escaped from between her lips, which had been unconsciously parted for some time.

Daphne’s gaze dropped without thinking. While she was vaguely thinking about whether she should steal something suitable from somewhere, Johannes passed by her and whispered, quite playfully.

“Why. Have you lost interest in finding what you lost? Then let’s go back.”

Daphne, who had snapped her gaze up, replied quite urgently to the back of his head, which had already grown distant.

“Of course not. I have to find it.”

But Johannes, cruelly, only moved further away without any reply. Feeling rushed, Daphne hurried after him.

Much later, Johannes said in a low voice, “I know.” Daphne realized a moment later that it was the answer to her earlier question and was secretly relieved.

The place where Johannes stopped was in front of a high tree branch on a gentle hill overlooking the lake.

Naturally, Daphne couldn’t get up there on her own. Johannes lifted her up and placed her on the branch.

When his large hands grasped her waist, Daphne stiffened. Her mouth, which had been chattering nonstop, clamped shut as if glued. She held her breath without realizing it. She tried hard to look nonchalant, but there was nothing she could do about her flushed cheeks.

It might have seemed like she was recklessly throwing herself at him, but whenever he actually got close or touched her even slightly, she was like this every time.

Johannes gave a scoffing laugh, finding it absurd. At times like this, he felt like he had regained about half of the initiative he had lost. His heart felt strangely buoyant.

At the same time, he faintly furrowed his brow. Whenever she was so noticeably conscious of him, he felt troubled on the other hand.

What if I push her a little further?

A playful impulse and a sadistic urge kept rearing their heads. It was a troublesome impulse.

Daphne, unaware of what he was thinking, felt something akin to dizziness and tried to pull herself together.

A good while later, having finally managed her pounding heart, Daphne spoke to him as usual, “Want to guess what I’m thinking?” Johannes didn’t bother guessing. Because if he waited just a little, she would spill the answer herself.

Complaints about her impertinent handmaiden.

Bragging about how kind and pretty her younger sister was.

Yesterday’s dinner, yesterday’s mood.

Sure enough, before long, Daphne began to talk about every trivial thing. Johannes blinked his eyes slowly as he listened to her voice, and Daphne, who had been chattering away to her heart’s content, frowned as if she were disappointed by his appearance.

“Don’t tell me my stories are making you sleepy?”

Johannes let out a small laugh and slowly shook his head, as if to say that wasn’t it. But Daphne didn’t believe him. Because he soon closed his eyes and leaned his head against the tree branch.

Green oak leaves wrapped around his head like a crown. Just as Daphne, forgetting her disappointment, was imagining stroking his hair.

He suddenly opened his eyes, lifted his chin, and looked up at the night sky. She, who had been having improper thoughts, flinched in surprise. Paying her no mind, he stretched out his arm, pointed to a spot with his fingertip, and said.

“Do you remember when I said you could find your way by looking at the stars?”

“Ah, I remember.”

“It’s that star. There, the brightest shining star.”

Daphne’s gaze followed his fingertip. In the clear, cloudless night sky, there was one star that shone with unusual brightness. Daphne, letting out a small sigh of admiration, suddenly asked.

“But what if I get it mixed up with another star? There’s a star that shines just as brightly over there, on the opposite side of the sky.”

“Do you see the small, twinkling stars next to that star?”

“Yes.”

“What shape do they look like?”

“A circle?”

“That’s right. You just have to find the brightest star between the two circles.”

“Ah, I see.”

Daphne smiled brightly and turned to look at Johannes. Their eyes met immediately. She didn’t know since when, but he was looking at her too. The two of them paused like that for a moment. Soon, Johannes looked back at the sky and continued his explanation.

“…Itium is at the eastern end of the Inacos Peninsula. And that star always points east.”

“Always east?”

“If you walk following that star, you can eventually return home.”

Daphne found his voice, as he talked about the star, as pleasant to listen to as a lullaby. Daphne, smiling unknowingly, gazed at the star as if in wonder, saying, “I see.”

Johannes’s gaze naturally fell on her eyes. Her violet eyes, which held hundreds, thousands of twinkling stars, shone like jewels.

He had thought her hair was the most radiant thing about Daphne, but it was her eyes. It seemed that was the reason he had started to gaze into her eyes out of habit at some point.

And Johannes realized one more thing.

He had thought she resembled a lake reflecting the night sky, but now he saw that Daphne was the vast night sea. At first glance, she seemed to be still and quiet, but she was ceaselessly surging, constantly flowing towards a wider place. As if nothing could hold her down.

Watching her, who, after he had given a few small taps to help her struggle to break the egg, had managed to break the shell and was now preparing to fly away…

For a moment, Johannes felt something akin to a faint thrill.

‘Is this why I keep wanting to help her?’

The thought suddenly occurred to him. A soft laugh escaped him without him realizing it. For some reason, his mood was endlessly improving.

Daphne looked back at Johannes, seeming a little puzzled. Johannes, conscious of the corners of his mouth that had lifted on their own, continued speaking slowly.

“In Itium, that’s why we call that star ‘Home.’ If you walk with your back to home, you’ll be heading west. Remember that.”

And at that moment, Daphne was swept up by a question she had briefly forgotten.