May Every Wound Be Fatal - vanish into fiction

“I think the world beyond the walls will suit you perfectly.”

And as Elizer left the royal palace while sobbing bitterly and clutching Noel’s hand, Cassian spoke as if it were a farewell.

“Someday, we will meet again. Yes. I will come find you before I am too late.”

***

‘Cassian lied to me.’

When he slipped out of the royal palace, the very first emotion the young Elizer felt was betrayal. And that was only natural, because the world beyond the walls was anything but to his liking.

“Sir Briere, is this the child?”

A massive man, covered in thick black hair and possessing ash gray eyes that gleamed sharply like a beast’s, bent down and peered curiously at Elizer, who was hiding behind Noel’s legs.

“Hk.”

Thinking that this must be exactly what the black wolves of the north Cassian had once told him about looked like, Elizer shuddered and buried his face against Noel’s leg.

“Hey, Sir Percy. You are scaring the child.”

Whether he cared or not, the man called Sir Percy did not withdraw his interest in Elizer.

“He looks nothing like King Bailion. He does not resemble Prince Cassian at all, either.”

At that moment, someone struck the back of his head firmly.

“Watch your mouth, Marius.”

He was Thomas Percy, a vassal of the House of Count Briere. Despite the gray strands mixed into his thick beard, he was still an active and capable knight who had not yet retired.

“Ow, Father!”

Marius, who had only just become a knight and was perpetually brimming with excitement, clearly felt different from Noel or Thomas.

Elizer was shocked when he learned that Marius was eighteen years old. Though Cassian was tall, he still looked like a boy, and it was hard to believe that there was only a two or three year age difference between them.

Elizer urgently clung to Noel.

But Noel, saying that it was Prince Cassian’s order, firmly pried the small hand away this time.

As Elizer parted from Noel and traveled to the territory of Count Briere, he cried thick, messy tears. Even so, the young knight Marius, who looked to be at least thirty even if one was being generous, chattered on without any sense.

“Are you really seven?”

“You are not actually mute, are you?”

“Are you close with Sir Briere? I want to get close too, but it is really hard.”

Young Elizer simply disliked Marius Percy, who lacked even a shred of delicacy.

And unlike the royal capital Elmaril, which was not particularly cold even in winter, he found himself disliking the northern lands where razor sharp winds howled even in spring.

When Elizer arrived at the Percy estate, he looked around with fear filled eyes, alternating between the stuffed heads of beasts mounted everywhere and the enormous people surrounding him.

Thomas’s blood was strong. All three of his sons were tall and massively built like him. Even their youngest daughter Maria, who was two years younger than Elizer, was no exception compared to her three older brothers.

“Wow. Are people from the royal capital all that pale and shiny?”

“He is shorter than Maria.”

“His eyes look just like jewels.”

“So what is his name?”

Despite Thomas’s stern warning, the four siblings did not disperse.

“Hey, why can’t you talk? Are you mute?”

In the end, young Elizer lowered his head deeply and began to sob.

At that, Helena, Thomas’s wife, who had been quietly watching the situation with a tense expression, stepped forward.

Wearing an elegant smile, she struck the backs of the four siblings in order of age, and shrill yelps burst out one after another.

Instinctively realizing that the true power of the Percy household lay with this woman, who alone possessed a small and slender frame in this family, Elizer sniffled and subtly avoided her gaze.

Helena knelt on one knee in front of Elizer and carefully extended her hand.

“Welcome, little one.”

Elizer hesitated before meeting her eyes. Seeing the blue eyes filled with teardrops, Helena paused briefly, then smiled brightly at him.

Watching her closely, the four Percy siblings grew noisy again as if they had been waiting for permission. The taciturn Thomas merely shook his head quietly, as though he had long since given up.

“……”

As Elizer glanced at them, the fear in his eyes faded slightly, replaced by curiosity. It was not that he was no longer miserable or sad.

“I think the world beyond the walls will suit you perfectly.”

This time as well, Elizer had a strong intuition that Cassian’s words would be right.