A captive prince. A knight who never speaks. Two years of silence—until one night, everything begins to change.
Eighteen-year-old Lion Cardina, the first prince of the fallen Kingdom of Cardina, has spent two years imprisoned in the Iron Crown Palace of the Grandveld Empire. Stripped of his kingdom, his family, and his freedom, he clings to his mother's final words—*"Live"*—and watches the moon through iron bars, believing himself utterly alone.
Kai Wolfhardt, his silent watcher, arrives each
The Fallen Prince and the Silent Knight - On a Rainy Night, a Hand Beyond Orders
Rain wrapped itself around the Iron Crown Palace.
Beyond the window came the ceaseless sound of falling water. The rain had begun during the day and grown heavier as night fell, until now it struck the entire stone palace with a deep, resonant weight.
Lion Cardina stirred on his bed.
He had layered several thin blankets over himself, yet the cold seeped up from his core. His fingertips, his toes—icy. And yet his forehead alone burned with an unnatural heat.
(Ah... I must have caught a cold again.)
So he thought.
Over the past few years, in this guest wing on the third tier of the Iron Crown Palace—a prison in all but name—Lion had fallen ill more times than he could count. Rainy days were the worst. The stone walls drank in the moisture, and the entire room turned freezing.
Lion clutched the silver pendant at his chest.
A small ornament inherited from his mother, engraved with the crest of the spirits. The cold touch of metal spread across his fingertips.
(Mother...)
He murmured it in his heart.
His body was hot.
And yet, cold.
A strange sensation—as though a fire burned inside him while ice clamped down from without.
Lion closed his eyes.
Behind his lids, the heat made everything hazily bright.
—That was when it came.
Footsteps, from down the corridor.
The sound of leather soles striking wet stone. Steady, unhurried, unwavering in rhythm.
(Kai...)
Lion thought it vaguely.
Footsteps he had heard every day for two years. Rain or wind or snow. Those footsteps had never once faltered.
They stopped before Lion's door.
The heavy turn of a key. The low creak of a bolt being drawn from outside. And then the door swung slowly open.
The corridor's lamplight spilled into the room in a long, narrow strip.
Within that light, silver hair surfaced.
Kai Wolfhardt.
A lower-ranking knight of the Grandveld Iron Crown Knights, and Lion's watcher. His short-cropped silver hair looked slightly damp from the rain outside. His blue-gray eyes swept the room in a quick, practiced scan.
He carried a tray.
Dinner.
On the tray: steaming soup, freshly baked bread, and a small ceramic cup of herbal tea. The same simple fare as always.
Kai set the tray on the desk.
Then, as always, he traced a finger along the iron bars of the window and cast his gaze into every corner of the room.
Lion watched him from the bed, bleary-eyed.
His body wouldn't move.
No—he couldn't summon the will to move it.
Kai turned toward him.
Those blue-gray eyes fixed on Lion's face.
"...Lion."
The low voice resonated through the room.
Lion tried to answer.
But his throat stuck fast. Only a rasping breath escaped.
Kai's brow shifted, just slightly.
On that expressionless face, something flickered for the briefest instant.
He walked to Lion's bedside without hesitation.
Then reached out and touched Lion's forehead.
A cool, broad palm.
It settled gently against Lion's burning brow.
"...You have a fever."
Kai's voice was low, sharp.
"You're burning up."
Lion found the coolness of Kai's hand pleasant.
(That feels good...)
His fever-fogged mind drifted to the thought.
Kai withdrew his hand and quickly scanned the room.
Then he picked up the water pitcher from the desk and soaked a cloth.
The sound of wringing mingled with the rain.
Kai laid the wet cloth gently on Lion's forehead.
Cold.
The cool fabric met his burning skin.
Lion let out a small breath without meaning to.
"...Thank you."
His voice came out hoarse.
Kai said nothing.
He only held the cloth gently against Lion's forehead.
For a while, only the rain filled the room.
At last, Kai spoke.
"...I'll call a physician."
His voice was low.
But Lion shook his head.
"No... don't..."
He didn't know why he'd said it.
He only knew he didn't want Kai to leave.
He didn't want to be alone.
"Please... stay here..."
Lion's voice trembled.
From the fever, or from something else entirely.
Kai was silent for a while.
His blue-gray eyes looked down at Lion.
"...Understood."
He said it briefly, then drew the chair from beside the bed.
And sat.
Relief washed through Lion.
The tension drained from his body.
(Kai is here.)
Just that, and his heart felt a little lighter.
From time to time, Kai re-soaked the cloth and laid it gently back on Lion's forehead.
He said nothing.
But that silence was not cold.
The rain filled the room.
From far away, the faint rumble of thunder.
Lion drifted between open and closed eyes, gazing vaguely at Kai's profile.
Silver hair glimmered faintly in the dark room.
Those blue-gray eyes watched Lion's face with grave intensity.
(This is the first time anyone has looked at me from so close.)
Lion thought so.
Usually, even when Kai came to his room, Lion stood against the wall.
There was always a fixed distance between them.
Now it was this close.
Close enough to reach out and touch.
"...Kai."
Lion called out in a hoarse voice.
"Yeah."
Kai answered briefly.
"...Am I dreaming right now, I wonder."
At Lion's words, Kai's brow moved slightly.
"...Why."
"Because... you're this close to me..."
Lion blinked slowly.
His eyelids were heavy.
"...You're not dreaming."
Kai's voice was low, but clear.
"I'm here."
Hearing those words, Lion smiled faintly.
"...Yeah."
The fever scattered his thoughts.
But Kai's words alone reached his heart clearly.
"...Thank you."
Lion murmured it once more.
Then slowly closed his eyes.
—
How much time had passed?
Lion had sunk into a shallow, fitful sleep.
The rain sounded distant.
The cloth on his forehead was changed now and then, cool against his skin.
Each time, the chill seeped into his fevered body.
(That feels good...)
Lion felt it through the haze of dreams.
—That was when.
"...Mother..."
The words slipped from his own lips.
"...Father..."
Lion was crying.
In his sleep, tears traced down his temples.
"No... don't go..."
It was delirium.
His fevered mind had pulled him back to that night two years ago.
Flames. Screams. The collapsing royal palace.
His mother's last words.
*Live. You alone must live.*
"Mother... Father... take me with you..."
A sob escaped Lion's lips.
His body shook.
Not from the fever.
The terror of that night two years ago enveloped him whole.
—Then.
Something touched his hand.
Warm.
A large, hard, yet warm hand.
It was Kai's.
Kai was holding Lion's hand gently.
"...It's all right."
The low voice resonated through the rain.
"It's all right now."
Kai's voice was flat and expressionless as always.
But his palm was unmistakably warm.
In his half-dreaming state, Lion clung to that warmth.
He gripped Kai's hand back with both of his.
"...Kai..."
Kai's name slipped from Lion's lips.
Kai said nothing.
He only gripped back.
Firmly, yet with the gentleness of one handling something fragile.
Within that warmth, Lion slowly sank into a deep sleep.
—
The rain was still falling.
Kai Wolfhardt sat in the chair, holding Lion's hand.
He had not slept at all.
He changed the cloth on Lion's forehead, checked the water in the pitcher, and now and then confirmed Lion's breathing.
Beyond that, he held Lion's hand the entire time.
(What am I doing?)
Kai asked himself.
This was not part of a watcher knight's duties.
The proper procedure was to report to a superior and call a physician.
Just because Lion had said "don't call a physician" did not obligate him to comply.
If anything, he was concealing a ward's medical condition.
This was a clear dereliction of duty.
(I know.)
Kai told himself.
(This isn't an order.)
No one had commanded it.
Not a superior's instruction.
He was here by his own will.
(Why?)
Kai gazed at Lion's sleeping face.
Black hair clung to his forehead with sweat.
His pale skin was flushed red from the fever.
Long lashes trembled faintly now and then.
(Why am I—)
Kai tightened his grip on Lion's hand, just slightly.
In his sleep, Lion gripped back.
That small pressure squeezed strangely at something deep in Kai's chest.
—
Kai Wolfhardt had entered the Iron Crown Knights' training academy at twelve.
Born the third son of a minor noble house, Kai had no right to inherit the household, nor any right to inherit its wealth.
The only path left to a third son was to become a knight.
At the academy, he was thoroughly drilled in killing his emotions.
Do not cry. Do not laugh. Do not rage.
A knight is a tool that obeys orders.
So he was taught.
Kai had lived by that teaching.
Obeying orders.
That alone was Kai's worth.
Carrying out orders.
That alone was Kai's reason to exist.
(And yet.)
Kai gazed at Lion's sleeping face.
(Why am I here?)
No answer came.
—
"...Kai."
Lion's lips moved again.
Delirium.
"...Don't go..."
Lion's hand gripped Kai's tighter.
Kai gripped back.
"...I'm not going anywhere."
The words slipped from Kai's mouth.
They were not an order, nor a duty.
They were Kai's own will.
(I want to protect him.)
For the first time in his life, Kai thought so.
Not by command, not by obligation.
He simply thought so.
The rain filled the room.
Still holding Lion's hand, Kai waited for dawn.
—
The rain finally weakened toward daybreak.
Outside the window, the world began to pale.
Kai touched Lion's forehead.
The fever had gone down.
A faint relief.
He tried to gently release Lion's hand.
—But.
Lion's fingers would not let go.
In his sleep, Lion was clutching Kai's hand.
(...)
Kai could not move for a while.
He gazed at Lion's sleeping face.
The pained expression was gone.
A peaceful sleeping face.
(...Just a little longer.)
Kai thought so.
Still holding Lion's hand, he quietly closed his eyes.
—
Lion awoke some time after that.
Morning light streamed through the iron bars.
The rain had stopped.
Lion opened his eyes slowly.
His vision was blurry.
(...Huh?)
His body felt far lighter than the day before.
The fever had broken.
He noticed something warm touching his hand.
He looked down at his own hand.
—Kai's hand was holding his.
Lion felt his heart give a heavy thud.
He raised his face fearfully.
Kai sat in the chair, asleep.
Silver hair caught the morning light, glittering.
Even in sleep, that expressionless face was filled with tension.
But his hand was unmistakably holding Lion's.
(Kai... all night...)
Warmth spread slowly through Lion's chest.
(For me...)
Lion gently gripped Kai's hand back.
In that instant.
Kai's eyes opened.
Blue-gray eyes caught Lion.
Their gazes crossed.
"...You're awake."
Kai's voice was slightly hoarse.
Lion nodded.
"...Yes. But you should sleep, Kai—"
"I'm fine."
Kai said it and reached for Lion's forehead.
His cool palm touched Lion's brow.
"...The fever's down."
A hint of relief colored Kai's voice.
Lion could tell.
"...Kai."
Lion wrapped Kai's hand in both of his.
Kai's hand twitched.
"Why do you go this far for me?"
Lion's voice trembled.
"You're my watcher, and I'm a prisoner... so why did you hold my hand all night?"
Kai was silent.
His blue-gray eyes gazed at Lion.
The silence stretched long.
In the quiet room after the rain, only their breathing sounded.
At last, Kai slowly opened his mouth.
"...I don't know."
Kai's voice was low and honest.
"I don't understand it either. But..."
He stopped.
Then gently gripped Lion's hand back.
"I'm aware I'm doing more than my orders require."
Something pulsed violently deep in Lion's chest.
(Kai... in his own words...)
Lion gripped Kai's hand tighter.
"...Thank you."
Tears spilled from Lion's eyes.
Not from the fever.
"Thank you, Kai. Truly, thank you."
Kai said nothing.
He only held Lion's hand.
That hand was warm.
—
After a while, Kai released his hand reluctantly.
"...I'll bring food."
Kai rose from the chair.
"Rest a little."
Lion nodded.
Kai headed for the door.
He stood before it and looked back at Lion.
"...Eat it all."
With that, he left the room.
The heavy door closed with a sound.
The bolt sliding from outside.
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