The Tidal Wave That Seized My Walls - Chapter 18

“You’re staring so passionately, it’s making me shy.”

He was a piece of work, through and through. I gritted my teeth with a grating sound. A stream of curses flew out, prince or no prince. I started to doubt if he was even a real prince. Wasn’t he just a specter wearing a prince’s mask?

First, I had to calm the searing rage boiling inside me. If I charged at him recklessly again, I’d just get thrown back like before. I couldn’t figure out how this was happening. The number of lights playing around my shoulders was significantly small, while around that bastard, they swarmed as if he’d smeared honey on himself.

“Jealous?”

“Don’t act familiar. It’s disgusting.”

The prince laughed, a sound designed to get on your nerves. It was an absurdly cheerful smile. He asked, playing the victim, ‘Are you going to hit me?’ I was too dumbfounded to even laugh.

“You crazy bastard.”

I had to find a way to get back at him. I was blind with revenge, clenching my fists, scraped raw from the dirt. He pressed his thumb against his lips and rubbed them, a thoughtful expression on his face. Was he a prince who’d been coddled and pampered his whole life? Or was he just plain insane? The level of his malicious prank had gone way too far. I’d rather declare myself the prince than believe he was one. I gathered the dirt swirling in my mouth and spat it onto the steps.

The prince softly removed his thumb from his lips. I bent one knee. My right hand gripped the sword’s hilt. I was in the mood to give something a thorough beating. I was willing to give my all if it meant I could just get close to that insolent prince.

I poured my rage into the sword’s hilt. Just then, the swarm of light that had betrayed me surged forward. They attached to my shoulder blades and pulled back as if trying to yank me backward. I’d learned a trick; I dragged my heels against the ground. The lights momentarily stopped pulling back. It was my chance. I swiftly dashed forward. But the moment I tried to grip the sword’s hilt, I was shoved backward. A cloud of coarse dust rose around me.

The night breeze did nothing to cool my head. Even if I died, I had to die getting to him. Gradually, the force with which I gripped the sword changed. It felt as if my rage was pooling into the blade. As if the sword was lapping up the blood gathered deep in my joints. Looking down, I saw the blade had transformed. The deathly pale sword was gradually taking on the verdant green of plants, the yellow of spring sunlight. I forgot my situation and my emotions for a moment. The sight of the sword being dyed with color was stuck fast in my mind.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

I stood up, holding the sword’s hilt. I lifted its weight effortlessly. Even though I had drawn the sword, he didn’t blow me away. He held no fear for what he had done. His eyes, like hollow, crashing waves, were filled with nothing but amusement, interest, and pleasure. I ascended the steps as if passing judgment.

“Why did you do that?”

I stood right before him. The moonlight shining from above was blocked by my back, casting his face in shadow. His expression remained utterly unchanged.

“You looked like you were struggling, so I helped. This is a poor reward.”

“Helped me?”

“This is how we do it in the royal family.”

Whether it was true or not, it was infuriating. Any sane person would have led with an apology. With my dirt-covered hand, I grabbed the collar of his shirt. Staining it with grime gave me a small measure of satisfaction. I let go of the sword. The fallen blade clattered clearly as it slid down the steps.

“Talk.”

“About what?”

“Did I ever ask for your help? Did I beg you to do this to me? Who do you think you are, stepping in and reducing me to this state?”

“Next time, I’ll be sure to ask first.”

“Ask what?”

“You’re even prettier when you’re angry.”

Ha! The absolute nerve of this lunatic.

“But don’t be too angry. I didn’t have any bad intentions.”

What I really wanted was to drive my clenched fist into him. But my idle hand, left to its own devices, began to rise of its own accord. It was the work of the light that obeyed his command. I tried to resist, shaking my body, but my strength drained away completely. My clenched fist touched his damnable cheek. It patted his cheek, gently, as if consoling him. I swear to the heavens it wasn’t my intention.

“I know. No need to thank me.”

The bastard pressed his cheek against my dust-covered fist. A shiver ran down my spine, and I yanked my hand back. As I shook my light-swarmed hand, he stood up as if his work was done. He even had the leisure to whistle as he descended the steps. I was just glaring death at his retreating back when, from the top of the staircase, he turned to look back at me. He gave me a wink, just like he had the first time we met.

The light only became docile after he had disappeared. I felt like I’d been harassed by a specter that had slipped out in the dead of night. But I knew perfectly well. It wasn’t a specter; it was the doing of a person with ten fingers. Furious, I kicked the steps.

It was infuriating—not that I’d kicked the innocent staircase, but that I hadn’t been able to bruise that bastard’s shins. On a night moon that had suffered an unexpected outrage, I was stuck there, unable to leave.

* * *

The rain had stopped, and a cool wind blew—mornings where your breath turned white. It was proof that winter had arrived here. I was newly astonished. When I first arrived, it had just been the spring rains, and now, suddenly, it was winter.

Around that time, I began hurriedly preparing to leave for Idriheim. I threw myself into training with my teacher, intensifying our sword drills. My teacher said it seemed I had a particularly strong affinity for handling light, offering what felt like the first real praise I’d received from her. She said, somewhat embarrassingly, that my learning speed was exceptional.

Every time she said that, I thought of him. Occasionally, if I happened to run into him during a walk, he would greet me as if nothing had happened or call out to Edryd to engage in a cheerful conversation. I could see even Edryd, who said “that’s just how the prince is,” growing closer to him. I was told this was just how men talked to each other, but it was a world I couldn’t understand.

The maids, my teacher, my mother, Sandora—whoever it was—brought up the prince at least once a day. Thanks to that, I collected information without even trying. The bastard, who occupied a luxurious private residence, was named Ellinger Morrone. He was the sole prince of the noble Morrone family, living well and eating well in the capital city of Sephesis. It was ironic that someone who seemed to have no reason to go mad was, in fact, mad.

I couldn’t drag him away and beat him, nor could I openly lose my temper in front of others. I pretended to greet him politely in public, then spat on the ground the moment I turned away. But the more I did that, the more affectionate he became, as if he’d noticed—Ellinger or whatever his name was.

Fine, let’s say, for argument’s sake, that he was trying to help me that day. So, did he apologize? Or did he even look sorry? Instead, he had the audacity to act like he’d done me a favor. No matter how I tried to see it from his perspective, it made no sense.

I tried to ignore him. I only had to endure a few more days. According to Edryd, we’d see each other at the academy anyway, and moreover, in a place like that, I could ignore him without worrying about anyone else’s opinions.

But for some reason, he’d gone quiet. The guy who used to show up at every moment of my training to drive me crazy was now holed up in his private residence and wouldn’t come out. I thought maybe he was restraining himself since my departure was near.

But that was my mistake. I was on my way back from the stables after picking up feed to give to the birds gathered at the fountain. The area near his residence made me want to hurry past, but then I heard screams from inside—sharp enough to make my eardrums ache. If it had been one or two, I might have passed by. But it sounded like at least five, one after another, without a moment’s rest. Before I knew it, I was running toward the sound.

The door stood wide open. The moment I stepped inside, a maid went hurtling past me, skidding from one end of the hallway to the other. Another followed in her wake, flailing for balance before landing hard on her backside. She was promptly shoved out the door in a tangled heap. I glanced down. The floor gleamed, slick as glass. Impossibly slippery.

“Whoa!”

The sound came from behind me. A large hand shoved my back. I reached out, trying not to drop the birdseed, but ended up lurching forward instead. My feet touched something slippery, and I immediately lost my balance.

“Yere Ha!”

A maid, bracing herself against a closet, screamed. I slid unsteadily all the way to the top of the staircase. I needed to drop the birdseed, but I couldn’t. I slid and slid until I was in danger of slamming my forehead against the stair railing. At the very least, my head would split in two. Thinking that, I squeezed my eyes shut.

Instead of the railing, my forehead met a soft palm. When I opened my eyes, I saw familiar fingers. I smacked it away without a second thought. I didn’t need to look up to know. It was that full-of-himself bastard. Rage surged through me. I reached out to grab his collar, but he quickly stepped back. Just a little more, and I would have him.

The floor was treacherous, but I’d walked on gleaming ice to catch fish before. This was nothing. I steadied myself, shifting my legs carefully, and reached again. Ellinger only retreated further, his steps smooth, mocking, his lips curved in a smirk.

“Can’t you stay still?”

“Would you stay still if you were me?”

Ellinger mimicked my tone as he slid his foot back. I refused to lose to something like this. I copied exactly what he did, moving forward. He fled backward without even looking, a natural at keeping his balance.

Ellinger went back, and back, and back until he reached the doorway. The moment he arrived, he shot straight backward. His feet left the smooth floor and touched the earth outside. He summoned light, lifting his body effortlessly into the air.