/
Located in the north of Kyris, Kyrisis had a short summer and a long winter. Therefore, as soon as September began, a cool morning wind began to blow with it.
Even so, it was not so cold that the windows needed to be closed, and so the windows in the Chermill palace too, were open as the two princes had their meals.
A cool wind blew threw the open window and brushed against the petals of the flowers that sat in the vase, decorating the table. The eyes of the two princes fell on the flowers at the same time.
Eventually, the eyes, which had not met for many days, turned to each other.
Randell looked at the second prince who was sat before him instead of the youngest prince, who had always tried to say something to him every morning.
“I heard that after Calian left, you’ve stopped drinking alcohol,”
At first glance, it was a compliment, it could have been said that Randell was saying he did well.
Since he used to drink so much alcohol at such a young age, it could be considered something of a relief that he had changed this habit now.
If they were normal brothers, that certainly would have been the right interpretation of his words.
However, Franz, who knew that this wasn’t Randell’s intent, replied,
“Are you disappointed?”
Randell looked into Franz’s eyes for a moment, without answering. It was the kind of gaze that often made Calian feel as though Randell was looking straight through him. But when he couldn’t see whatever it was that he was looking for, Randell turned his gaze back to his plate.
And then he spoke in a conversational tone, as though talking about that mornings weather,
“Today, there were reniscita leaves laid out in the square,”
Reniscita leaves were similar in appearance to tree leaves so everyone did call them leaves, but in fact, they were the broad thrones of a cactus named Reniscita, it had the property of sucking the moisture out from the surrounding area.
Occasionally, the royal family of Kyris would put reniscita  leaves on the ground of Hatsuara square to prevent blood from staining the white grounds of the square and then installed a guillotine atop the leaves.
Therefore, the topic Randell had raised was of the ones who had attacked Calian and had been sentenced to be executed. It wasn’t a pleasant topic to bring up at breakfast.
The corners of Franz’s mouth twisted upwards when he heard this, he had noticed why the normally silent Randell had broached this topic of conversation first.
“Your misunderstanding seems to be deep.”
Franz answered like that to Randell who was asking him if Silica had tried to touch Calian again.
Truth be told, Randell had also somewhat anticipated that Silica would be unrelated to this incident to some extent. It’s not like he didn’t know what Silica was doing right now, therefore, Randell nodded without questioning Franz’s answer.
“Then lets remain quietly for now,”
They were words that kept the end of their relationship in mind. It meant that although one day, the may point their daggers at each others throats, it was not yet time for that.
Once he had finished saying everything he wanted to say, Randell got up and left. Franz remained seated for a while longer.
Franz was trying to gouge who would remain standing at the end. Whether it would be Calian or Randell.
But he soon quit. Instead, he recalled the last thing he sad seen back at the banquet hall – what Calian had hidden.
Franz looked at Randell’s empty chair and muttered,
“How do I get any quieter?”
—
Calian frowned with his eyes narrowed,
“This is all because of the rain,”
It was purely because of the rain that this situation was happening right now. When departing from Latran, Calian had done so with the determination to take Sia to the vicinity of the Hiriska forest and leave him there.
However, because of the unusually heavy rain that had fallen recently, a lot of soil had flown down from the mountain and blocked the royal road which was the only way through the mountain.
The situation wasn’t something that could be resolved with Arsene or Calian’s magic, so their group was forced to turn back and return on the path they had come. They went back to Hamptish’s mansion, from where they had departed that morning, and ended up staying another day.
The rain that had caused Calian a lot of emotional pain was now making his body suffer too.
“When I get back to Kyrisis, I’ll need to make a teleportation device,”
Calian’s words were very much well received by Yan but Arsene pretended not to hear them.
Since it was Calian, he would most likely find the right person to take over the project and then just supervise them and right now, Arsene was the only mage who was both competent and free – so the only thing he could do was pretend he hadn’t heard him.
Either way, teleportation was a concept they couldn’t even dream to make real right now, so Calian’s party had no choice but to take a different path.
They went down a new road and arrived directly at the entrance of the Hiriska forest, and as they tried to say goodbye to Sia, they realised they couldn’t find a decent place to spend the night, since this was a path outside of their schedule and plans.
“Go to the village with me. Luca is there. The elder is there. Leader, sleep there and go tomorrow.”
But just in time, Sia’s suggestion saved them.
Out of everything Sia had said so far, it was the smartest sounds he’d made. Of course Calian replied that he would take Sia up on the offer.
It wasn’t just that he didn’t want to sleep out in the open, but also he was curious about the elven village. And it seemed his party was just as curious, because they seemed extremely happy at Calian’s answer.