Kaon sank into a chair, setting down a glass of lemonade. He’d grabbed the tray himself from the maid, a nervous tick to calm his jitters. It was ridiculous. Just a flimsy curtain separating him, yet the thought of stepping through it filled him with dread.
He settled in, and Alessia, who had been admiring the condensation clinging to the glass, took a tentative sip.
“Wow, this is amazing! It’s so sweet and refreshing!” Her eyes lit up, her earlier caution forgotten as she guzzled down the entire drink.
Kaon wondered if she’d ever had lemonade before, given her enthusiasm about the whole thing. But then again, the way she devoured it was a bit… concerning. Maybe she just had a bottomless stomach?
Pushing that thought aside, he had bigger things to address. “Alessia,” he started with a polite nod, “I want to apologize for Yvonne’s rudeness earlier.”
“Honestly, Kaon, I told Sir Duval the same thing. It’s no problem,” she dismissed his concerns with a breezy wave and her usual cheerful smile.
Her easy forgiveness only amplified his guilt, but dwelling on it wouldn’t help. He needed to get to the point. “There’s a reason Yvonne isn’t exactly fond of mages.”
Two years ago, a mage was sent to the Ferdinand estate, who kept claiming exhaustion as an excuse to skip inspections. The guy’s flaky behavior had already gotten him in hot waters, and with this last straw, the Tower planned to recall him. This meant the knights would be heading into the forest without a mage to support them.
“That night, several knights from Yvonne’s squad were injured, some even killed.”
The lack of consequences for the mage’s negligence was due to a lull in monster activity for weeks prior. It was pure rotten luck that a pack of hungry monsters decided to break through the borders then.
“One of those killed… he was Yvonne’s best friend, someone she grew up with.”
He never saw Yvonne cry, but Kaon vividly remembered that day. Seeing the usually stoic knight finally break down into tears like a heartbroken child was a sight he would never forget.
“She clung to his coffin, sobbing until she was spent. Grief-stricken, Yvonne stormed towards the mage’s quarters. Obviously, they stopped her – attacking a Tower mage would only create more problems. She never even got close.”
Yvonne couldn’t even lay a finger on the mage. Her fellow knights, unsure of the repercussions of assaulting a mage, intervened.
“The mage, however, threw a fit over the whole thing and ended up getting her suspended for three months. Since then, she’s been hyper-vigilant and downright hostile towards mages.”
Alessia’s face hardened. “Honestly, I can’t blame her. I’d probably be the same.”
Kaon winced. Sharing this story with a mage wasn’t ideal, but it felt better than leaving her completely in the dark about Yvonne’s animosity.
“Niels is right, though. She stays professional during inspections. But if she starts making you feel truly uncomfortable, I’ll step in.”
While he sympathized with Yvonne, her behavior couldn’t keep going unchecked. It wasn’t about Alessia; it was about maintaining discipline among the knights.
“No, Kaon, you don’t need to do that,” Alessia insisted.
“But Alessia…”
She shook her head firmly, her resolve surprising for her petite frame. Then, a mischievous grin spread across her face. “I’ll let you know if I need help. And when I do, I expect you to come running.”
“Of course,” he promised.
Yet, a deep-seated feeling told him Alessia wouldn’t be running to anyone for help anytime soon.
***
Stretched out in bed, Kaon stared at the dark passage leading to the sitting area. The thick velvet curtains, a recent replacement for the fussy lace ones, blocked out every sliver of moonlight.
“Looks like Lady Alessia beat us to it,” Joseph’s words echoed in his head. “She has already volunteered to join the monster forest inspections right away.”
Kaon had been blindsided. He had expected such a request to come from his sister first.
‘Why?’ he thought, turning the question over and over in his mind without finding an answer. Most mages dreaded venturing into the monster forest, even if it meant valuable research opportunities. Did Alessia have any idea of the dangers involved?
Mumbling under his breath, Kaon muttered, “Just why in the world?”
“Did you say something?”
Kaon squeezed his eyes shut. Sleep deprivation and worry were messing with him, conjuring up hallucinations now.
“Kaon?”
“Alessia?” He’d never heard a hallucination hold a decent conversation before. Startled, he shot up in bed.
“What were you saying? I thought I heard my name.”
“Did you hear what I said just now?”
“Uh, a bit of it?” The spacious suite shouldn’t have allowed sound to carry that far, but it was a quiet night after all.
Cautiously, he spoke. “I… I think I heard you tell Leo that you wanted to join the forest inspections first.”
“Yes, that’s right,” Alessia confirmed, her voice softer than usual. “Over lunch, she asked if there was anything I needed,” the quietness continued, a stark contrast to her usual bubbly self. “I said no, but that I had a request.”
The request being to join the inspections.
Kaon’s confusion deepened. Even Leonidas must have been surprised.
“Isn’t that a bit early? The mage is scheduled to stay until the end of the year, and knights have to be at least seventeen to participate.”
No matter how he looked at it, it seemed like a bad idea. Even the most skilled of mages would crumble before the sheer terror of the monsters. It was not due to cowardice — but due to the simple fact that monsters were simply terrifying to face.
Even new recruits were given enough time to get used to the encounters during the first few inspections.
“Thanks for worrying, Kaon,” she said, cutting him off. “It’s okay. I’ll have to face them eventually, right?”
‘Sure,’ he thought, ‘but not necessarily this soon.’
He desperately wanted her to reconsider.
“I think I’ll learn better by experiencing it firsthand,” Alessia said with surprising maturity. “Though, the idea of seeing a real monster is…” Her voice trailed off. “Scary. I don’t know if I can handle it.”
Maybe it was the late hour, or maybe it was just his imagination, but she sounded different – a shadow of her usual cheerful self.
“But I will,” she continued, her optimism returning as quickly as it had vanished. “It’s my duty, and I want to do a good job. Then everyone will see how valuable I am, right?”
“Absolutely,” he reassured her.
“Thanks.”
Kaon lay there, wondering what kind of expression she had under the new, dark velvet curtains.
🍉🍉🍉
