A king who stood there high and tall,

Who’ll bring peace to us all;

Always hides behind these walls,

Oh, how the mighty falls…

- Alessio Amaryllis

After that glorious victory against Helio Vermillion’s Brutal Bear, General Haco, and even if we weren’t able to know the identity of the Masked General and his motives, it was enough for the people here, the men who fought, and the king, to be happy that they got their justice for our fallen messengers from before. As well as Garett who, after the battle, has a stupidly big grin on his face once we met up. But unfortunately… I wasn’t able to shut up his blabbering mouth. He kept on praising me- and even wouldn’t stop bragging about me to other men. But after escaping successfully from his sight, I sighed in relief and was very glad after being told that Lady Lucerne, and the others were able to leave the kingdom safely during our battle.

Luckily, it seems that everything that happened today goes well for all of us… I thought to myself before looking up at the beautiful night sky filled with stars. From the balcony from where I’m standing, I could see the bright stars and the grace of the white-golden full moon above, along with the gentle breeze that blows by. It was so calming, just like that night when I first met him, before the shocking truth hit me…

There were rumors running around in my village at that time, after the tragedy that happened in the nearby village where I used to visit, but I never believed them one bit. But I should have. I should have listened to them, I should have believed in them. But of course, it was already too late. I already took him to my step-father’s home, and took care of him in secrecy until he was fully recovered that night. I finally found out the shocking and painful truth that I wished I never knew… From there I learned that it was my biggest mistake… to have ever saved him.

"My name is Taro Naoko. I am currently the king of Ivory Moon." he said with a calming tone and smile, but hearing it from him- hearing the shocking truth, suddenly made me freeze in where I stood and in fear, and yet he continued on with saying, "I am very thankful for your kindness and hospitality for taking care of me these past few days, despite not knowing who I am or not knowing that I do not belong here."

"N-No… You can’t be… You can’t be the king of Ivory Moon!" I shouted at him.

But he stared at me in confusion. "How can I not be? Must I need to prove som—"

"Tell me, and I just want you to answer me honestly, or else you’re not coming out of this room alive!" I said threateningly as I gripped tightly on the handle of my sword that’s in my scabbard. He was stunned and kept himself quiet for now.

"Are you the one responsible for what happened in that village?" I asked him once more, trying to keep my composure as much as I was able to.

His eyes then shifted away from me as he responded with, "I-I don’t know what you’re talking about… I don’t remember anything of what happened that day. I don’t—"

As my blood boiled even more with this man, I interrupted him once again but this time I suddenly grabbed him by the collars of his long-sleeved clothing.

"Don’t give me this nonsense talk and just answer my question! Were you the one responsible for what happened in that village that day! The one who caused that horrible tragedy?!" I asked him one last time, and in a very demanding tone.

But he continued to not say anything while looking at me with fear and confusion in his eyes. As the painful silence went on, my hands began to tremble as tears began to stream down from my face, until I finally decided to put him down gently to the floor. He then just stood there as I slowly moved back, leaning against the wall and placed my hand on my face, sighing frustratedly.

What mess have I gotten myself into…

The painful silence continued on for a little while before he soon began to speak once again. In such a pitiful and stuttering tone he said, "I-I am truly sorry that I could not remember anything, but I would tell it to you as soon as I am able to remember it!"

"What’s the point?... You’ll just be telling it to a dead man." I said quietly as I slowly looked back at him. "I’m not entirely sure how your laws work in your kingdom, ‘Your Highness’, but in this kingdom, once they find out that you’ve gotten into any involvement with the enemy, whether it be people or business, they’ll either put you in exile or worse…" My red eyes glowed as I glared at him, and continued in a much grimmer tone as I said, "... They’ll kill you mercilessly right at where you stand."

"... W-What?" His eyes widened in fear after the last part, with his hands beginning to tremble and his legs began to walk backwards until they hit the bed behind him.

"What’s with that look? You should have thought about that before stepping into this bloody land of a kingdom." I said as I crossed my arms then looked away from him and sighed in an exhausted tone. "Why should I be wasting my time telling any of this to you? I should just leave while I still can, and pretend that I’ve never ever met you."

"I know… You're right… And I completely understand." he said quietly before soon hearing a loud thud which made a quick look at him, and from there, I couldn't believe what my two eyes were seeing at that moment, since he did what no nobleman would ever do in a million years or ever in their lives… The present king of Ivory Moon, Taro Naoko, was kneeling on the floor with his silver head bowed right before a low man, a stranger even, such as myself. And as he spoke once again, his voice wavered.

"I am truly sorry for not being able to remember anything, and for the terrible tragedy that I seemed to have caused in your village. I know that words alone would never be enough for what I had done, but I could not bear seeing your life become in ruins after you just saved mine. I don't know how else I could ever repay my debt to you except for this one offer I could give to you. And I'm begging you to please accept it…"

"What is it?" I asked demandingly, with my voice fraying at the edges. "What kind of offer is it that you could give me and I would just accept it so willingly?"

His head slowly raised up as he looked at me with agony. "Return with me. Return with me and live in the kingdom of Ivory Moon. I would give you the highest rank in my army, help me protect my people and perhaps we would be able to help you."

They would be able to help me? What does that mean? What does it entail? I thought as I suddenly became silent for a moment, and didn't know how or what to respond to that. But despite that silence was only for a little while, even if it was just only for a breath- it was calming, and was the most bittersweet silence to my ears. The atmosphere in the room that was once heavy became light, making me slowly remember the words she told me that I used to believe a very long time ago.

"Everyone deserves a second chance in life. And do not judge someone until you learn to know how to be in their shoes, until you know who they truly are… she told me that once." I said as I began to walk towards the end table beside the bed, and grabbed the picture frame on top of it. Looking at it, I continued, "I thought that I had already learned my lesson after that incident that day, and yet here you are, alive and well..."

I then gently put down the picture frame before slowly looking at him, and finally said, "... And it seems that I'll be making sure of that until my very last breath."

His eyes widened in surprise as he suddenly looked at me, "A-Are you serious?"

I began to walk away but stopped as I responded with, "Yes… unfortunately."

As I heard him start crying, I was about to turn around to look at him when suddenly I felt his arms around me, embracing me from behind, "Thank you… Thank you so much…" and soon his grip on me slowly became tighter, "... And I promise you, I will repay my debt to you one day. No matter the cost it would be, no matter the price."

Promises are always meant to be broken. And so I didn’t believe those words that he told me that night.

Thinking those words were only shallow, and didn’t truly mean anything. And yet, I wasn’t able to keep it off my mind, and still thought about it while resting that early morning, when I began to pack up my things, when we were about to leave home, and even when my step-father caught us at that time. It surprised us both when he seemed calm when he said, "There’s a carriage outside that will be traveling soon outside of this kingdom. If you want a safe way to escape, that is."

The two of us were silent for a moment before I asked, "How long did you know?"

"What kind of owner would I be if I don’t know who’s living in my own home?" he responded before approaching me as he continued with, "And now you’re going to ask me if I’m disappointed in you for your decision. Or why am I helping you and some stranger who doesn’t belong in this land, and a wanted criminal even at that."

I kept myself silent for a moment, not knowing what to say. But not for long when the king suddenly walked in front of me, but he was facing him instead and said, "I would like to thank you for your suggestion for us to escape the kingdom safely, but I fear that you would be found out to be involved in this and would be severely punished for this. Please, if there’s something that I could do to help or repay you for this…"

His eyes widened in surprise for a moment before soon nodding his head, then turned away to walk towards his big chest, opening it.

"Well, I never expected for such a wanted criminal or a king even, to be this polite and down-to-earth kind of person towards a stranger like myself… But if you truly would want to repay me, lad." he said as he grabbed something inside the big chest, then walked towards him and gave something to him. The king was confused as he looked at it before looking back at him.

"... You’ll understand once you see it for yourself. But not now." he said as he pats his shoulder a couple of times before gently pushing him to the side to look at me.

The two of us then stared at each other in silence for a solid of three seconds before I looked away and felt him wrapping his arms around me.

Giving me one last and very tight embrace as I soon slowly placed my right arm around him to embrace him back as well. "I suppose this is farewell for now, my boy. Please, take care of yourself." he said.

"Knowing me and the path I’ve chosen now, I cannot entirely assure you that, but I will try." I responded before quickly breaking the hug then opening the door. The king then put on his hood before walking out of the room, and as I followed and about to close the door behind me, I could have sworn I heard him say under his breath, "Good luck, Al… And my only wish is that you won’t come to regret your decisions in life…"

As we began our journey by riding along the carriage, I soon noticed the morning's sun slowly rising in the horizon, feeling its light land upon my face and almost blinding me a bit. It feels that it has been a while since I've been able to travel so peacefully like this. But even so, I was still cautious of my surroundings, let it be in villages or open areas such as this one. And especially, I had an important person with me at the moment that I needed to escort back to his kingdom safely. Speaking of that person…

"Ngh… Is it morning already?" I heard him ask as he slowly woke up.

"Yes. It already is, sleeping beauty." I said without looking at him.

"Sleeping beauty? Hmm?" he paused as he soon noticed that his head was still lying on my shoulder. He then quickly moved away and began apologizing a lot. "I'm terribly sorry for that! I didn't know that I had already fallen asleep at that time! I'm t—"

"It's alright." I said in a neutral tone. "And please, just keep your voice down. We may already be outside of the territory of the enemy kingdom, but that doesn't mean that open areas such as this one are safe enough for you to do whatever you want."

"Oh, right. Right. I'm sorry. I'll try not to be that much of a burden for you..."

Unfortunately, you already are. I thought, closing my eyes and leaned against the wooden wall of the carriage. "So, do you have any plans in mind once we get there?"

There was a few seconds of silence before I heard him answering my previous question with another question and in an unsure tone, "Hmm? A plan? For what exactly?" Then he soon realized what I meant, but his second response wasn’t any better at all. "Oh! Right- Well- Once we arrive at my kingdom, we can just walk up to the two nearest guardsmen we can find, and let me talk to them."

After hearing his full response, I already regretted having even asked him that question in the first place.

"Talk to them." I repeated it in a sarcastic tone as I slowly sat up and looked at him with a blank expression on my face. "That is not a plan."

"O-Of course it is! They would believe me if I say that everything is alright, so—"

"You’re as clueless as ever, aren’t you?" I said in a slightly serious tone this time as I suddenly interrupted him which made him look surprised. "After the news about the tragedy that happened in that village spread, people have been searching all over for you. Not only your men, but unfortunately so do the people from Helio Vermillion. If it were as easy as just talking things out, then we wouldn’t be hiding away like this…"

"I-I... You’re right. I’m sorry that I haven’t thought about it thoroughly..." he said as his gaze looked away from me, then curled up to where he sits like some sort of child that just got scolded for doing something wrong. And seeing him like that somehow made me feel a bit guilty, but also makes me wonder if this man is truly king.

"The coachmen are kind enough to let us hitchhike the ride despite what they know about us. They said that they won’t be taking us until to your kingdom’s territory, but they’ll be dropping us somewhere in a village at least. And from there, we'll travel by foot." I said as I pulled out my map and laid it down widely on the wooden floor. I then noticed that he slowly shifted his head to look at it.

"It’s quite far than I thought it’d be..." he said under his breath before he suddenly looked at me. "B-But I’m not complaining if we’ll be walking by foot! Honest!"

"We’ll be taking rest from time to time as well of course. Much preferably in a village, but if there is none when night falls, then we’ll be camping outside despite how it’s a very risky idea." I said before grabbing a piece of loaf bread from my pack, then handed it out to him. "Do you even know how to defend yourself?"

"No, unfortunately I don't." he responded as he shook his head before noticing the bread I'm handing out to him. He was hesitant to take it at first, but soon his shaking hands took it slowly and said with a slight smile on his face, "But thank you for this… And I know that I shouldn't rely on you for my protection, so I'll try to stay away from danger as much as I can." before he began to eat it slowly.

He doesn't seem to be a picky eater, That's good. But still… I thought before crossing my arms and said,

"I'm disappointed… And here I thought that you were true to your words. So, was making me your Head General was nothing more than a fraud?"

He suddenly choked a bit from hearing that. "W-What- No no no- Of course not!"

"Then why are you saying that you shouldn't rely on me for your protection? Is it because you're afraid that I'll get hurt? That I won't be able to make it out alive in the battle?" I kept on asking as he kept himself quiet with his gaze looking away from me.

And from that look alone, I soon realized the answers to my own questions. But I truly wished- and prayed to the goddess above that he would prove me wrong about it but unfortunately he didn't. He continued to be silent, avoiding eye contact with me.

"Ah, I see now." I said. "Though I must say, I do find it strange how attached you are to your men like they are some sort of your friends. When at the end of the day, you know it yourself that you'll just end up losing them to fight for your cause."

"I know. I am fully aware of that." he said, looking at me. "But you are different."

"No, I'm not." I responded to him quickly with a straight face. "We've only met seven hours ago, and you say that like you've known me for a long time already. Like you've already put your trust in a stranger like me just because I saved your life."

"Well, I was nothing more than a stranger to you as well when you found me that day, and yet you saved me," he said, looking at the horizon with a relieved smile. "You could have just left me there to die, but instead you took me back with you, and took care of me until I recovered. You could have just killed me right there, or run away last night when you found out the truth. But you didn't… And so, yes, I do truly trust you."

After hearing everything he had to say, I kept myself silent for quite some time, with my mind being filled with thoughts.

This man… is probably the most naïve person I’ve ever met throughout my life so far. To trust me that easily just because of saving his life once- just because of that one big mistake that I made- It all sounds so foolish and unbelievable, but he said it with sincere eyes and tone, meaning he meant it, unfortunately… But the possibility of him having some sort of involvement, or was the one who was truly responsible for what happened in that village still lingers in my mind as well… So I don’t—

"Hey…" I heard him say, which snapped me back to reality. "Are you alright?"

I shook my head and said, "I’m fine. I just drifted to my deep thoughts again…"

"A-Ah, I see... But wait- you don’t need to think much about it all right now! I understand if you don’t trust me at the moment, especially with what just happened last night…" he said as he looked away from me once more before he continued, "So, it’s fine. Take as much time as you need to process the things in your mind, alright?"

I stared at him for a few more seconds. "There’s truly nothing stopping you from saying things from your heart, is there?" I said before sighing in terrible defeat with my hand burying my face. "Alright. Fine… But don’t expect me to be that good to you. There are still going to be those times that I may still act rude and harsh towards you."

He quickly nodded. "I’ll keep that in mind— And oh! I almost forgot to ask you about your name! You haven’t told it to me yet, and I don’t want to call you with any—"

"It’s Alessio." I suddenly said, interrupting him. "My name is Alessio Amaryllis."

"Alessio Amaryllis. I like it." he smiled as he held out his hand to me. "I hope that we will be able to get to know each other more as we will be working side by side from now on. And perhaps I'll be able to earn your trust and friendship in the future as well?"

I looked at his hand before looking back at his face, and scoffed a little before I closed my eyes. "Hmph. I must warn you though that I’m a very stubborn man as well. So it might take you a very long time to earn my trust, or perhaps none of us would even be able to see that day come true. But I would still like to see you try…" I said as I opened my eyes to look at him and finally took his hand. "Your Highness…"