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 - The Song of the Forest and Mother's Pendant —The Resolve to Stand Up—
The cave was cool and still.
From the rocky ceiling, water dripped now and then—a single, soft plink. That sound alone echoed through the quiet cavern, steady and rhythmic.
Lion Cardina lay wrapped in a blanket, staring at a single point on the wall.
(...Kai.)
He murmured it in his mind.
Again and again and again.
The last words Kai had left him that night.
—So live.
That was all. And it echoed inside Lion's chest, on and on, without end.
From deep within the cave came the faint sound of running water. The hidden refuge of the Spirit Circle—the Cave of Singing. Buried deep in the Sylvaria Forest, concealed behind a waterfall, it was the base of the Cardina remnants.
Three days had passed since they'd fled here.
Lion had barely moved.
He didn't touch the porridge they brought him. He only stared at that one point on the wall, his lips stirring now and then.
"...So live."
His voice was hoarse.
The words he'd repeated so many times had lost their meaning, reduced to mere sound.
And yet, Lion couldn't let that sound go.
Because if he let it go, it felt like the last thread connecting him to Kai would vanish entirely.
Footsteps approached from the cave entrance.
Light steps—but tinged with something like irritation.
Lion pulled the blanket back over himself.
"Lion, you haven't eaten again, have you?"
Her voice came.
Sylvia Lumen. Her long emerald hair swayed down to her waist, and her clear golden eyes were clouded as she knelt beside him. The crescent-moon earring on her left ear caught the cave's pale light and glinted.
"...Sorry. I just don't have an appetite."
Lion looked at her through the gap in the blanket.
In her hands was a wooden bowl. Inside, cold porridge.
"Even if you don't, eat. You'll waste away like this."
Her voice was sharp, scolding. But those golden eyes trembled, on the verge of tears.
Lion understood.
That Sylvia was genuinely worried about him.
For three days, she had stayed by his side. Bringing food, changing his water, tucking the blanket back around him—and saying nothing, just being there.
"...Hey, Sylvia."
Lion slowly opened his mouth.
"Kai—at the end, he said something to me. 'So live.'"
Sylvia said nothing.
She only listened, quietly, to his words.
"I know I have to live. I know it, but... my body won't move."
Lion gripped the blanket tight.
"Kai became the decoy for me. He sacrificed himself so I could escape. And yet here I am, just—sitting here like this."
His voice trembled.
"Pathetic, isn't it? I'm a prince. A weak, useless nothing who can't do a single—"
Smack.
The dry sound cracked through the cave.
For an instant, Lion couldn't comprehend what had happened.
His left cheek burned, stinging hot.
In front of him stood Sylvia.
Her right hand was still frozen in its downward swing.
"...Huh?"
"Enough already, you idiot Lion!"
Sylvia's voice rang through the cavern.
"You can't face Kai like this! That knight told you to live, didn't he?! Do you think he'd be happy, seeing you living like you're already dead?!"
Tears spilled from Sylvia's eyes.
"I... I want you to live, Lion. I want you to smile like you used to. So please. Eat. Just a little."
Lion looked straight at her face.
Anger, sorrow, and deep affection—all mingled together in her expression.
She truly feared for him.
That hadn't changed since they were children.
Her fierce sense of duty to protect him.
(Sylvia cares about me this much...)
Deep in Lion's chest, something began, slowly, to stir.
"...Sylvia."
Lion slowly sat up.
"Sorry. For worrying you."
Sylvia wiped her tears and thrust the bowl at him, almost roughly.
"Just eat!"
Lion took the bowl and brought a spoonful of porridge to his mouth.
Cold, tasteless porridge.
But it went down.
"...It's good."
It was a lie.
But Lion said it anyway.
Sylvia's face twisted into something between a sob and a smile, and she ruffled his hair roughly.
"...That's better."
Her hand was warm.
It smelled of the forest wind.
"Thank you, Sylvia."
Lion took another bite of porridge.
—
That was when it happened.
From the depths of the cave, a quiet but carrying voice reached them.
"So at last, food passes your lips. Prince."
Lion and Sylvia turned toward the voice at the same time.
From the back of the cave, near the altar, an old woman walked slowly toward them.
Her white hair was tied back in a single bundle, her face deeply lined. Her back was so straight it belied her years.
Elda—leader of the Spirit Circle.
The spiritual pillar of the Cardina remnants.
"Lady Elda..."
Lion set down the bowl and tried to straighten his posture.
"Stay as you are. Prince—no. Lion. Be at ease."
Elda slowly lowered herself to sit across from him.
"Watching you these three days, I became certain. You have not yet given up on living. Then the time has come to speak."
Her deep blue eyes fixed on Lion, straight and unwavering.
"Lion. That silver pendant your mother, Queen Lyumiela, left behind—do you know what it means?"
Lion's hand went to the pendant at his chest.
A small silver ornament, engraved with the spirit crest, passed down from his mother.
"No. Mother never told me anything... only that I should treasure it."
Elda nodded quietly.
"Just so. The Queen did not wish to lay everything upon your shoulders."
Elda rose and walked to the altar.
Several ancient scrolls rested upon it.
"Lion. Come here."
Supported by Sylvia, Lion stood and walked to the altar.
Elda gently unrolled one of the scrolls.
It was densely covered with old script and spirit patterns.
"This is a record of the Great Spirit War, three hundred years past. The tale of how Cardina's spirit wielders made peace with the spirits and founded this nation—its very beginning."
Elda traced the scroll with her finger and began to speak.
"After the Great Spirit War, Cardina's first Spirit Pact King forged a crown to control the power of the spirit veins flowing through the land. That is the Spirit Crown. The proof of kingship, passed down through the Cardina royal line for generations."
The Spirit Crown.
Lion had heard the name since childhood.
The symbol of the Spirit Pact King, heritage of the Cardina royal family.
"The Spirit Crown is no mere crown. It is a powerful device for controlling the spirit veins. Whoever holds it can converse with the spirits of the earth and borrow their power. That is why Cardina's kings were called Spirit Pact Kings through the ages."
Elda's gaze fell on Lion's pendant.
"And on the night of the Fall. Your father the King, fearing the Spirit Crown would fall into Grandveld's hands, entrusted it to the one he trusted most. That was your mother, Queen Lyumiela."
Lion's heart pounded hard.
"Mother... had the Spirit Crown..."
"Indeed. And the Queen left you the key that reveals where the Spirit Crown lies."
Elda's eyes settled on the pendant.
"That silver pendant. It is the key that shows the way to the Spirit Crown."
Lion gripped the pendant tight.
The cold feel of silver.
His mother's warmth.
(Mother...)
His mother's final words rose in his mind.
—Live.
As the castle burned, she had said that to him.
And then she had placed this pendant around his neck.
(Mother wanted me to live, and to protect this pendant.)
(And someday, the Spirit Crown...)
Deep in Lion's chest, something blazed hot.
"Lion. When you grip that pendant, your mother's feelings will flow into you. That will be the first step toward awakening the blood of the Spirit Pact King."
Elda's words seeped deep into Lion's heart.
"...I have the power of the Spirit Pact King?"
"You are Cardina's first prince. The rightful heir to the blood of the Spirit Pact King. That power surely sleeps within you."
At her words, Lion looked down at his own hands.
He felt no power.
But his mother's pendant was here, undeniably.
Her feelings were here, too.
—
Just then, from the cave entrance, another set of footsteps came hurrying toward them.
"Lady Elda! Lion!"
Sylvia came running in, out of breath.
In her hand was a small piece of wood.
"What is it, Sylvia?"
Sylvia held out the wood to Elda.
"A message from the forest runners. Word from Granzel. Kai Wolfhardt is alive—chained in the dungeons beneath the Iron Crown Palace."
Lion's heart leaped.
"Kai is... alive?"
He pressed close to Sylvia.
"Yes. But it's only a matter of time."
Her expression was grim.
"Albert means to use Kai as bait to lure you out, Lion. He's waiting for you to come rescue him."
Lion clenched his fist.
Albert Grandveld.
The man with those cold purple eyes.
Keeping Kai alive, down in the dungeons.
It was a challenge, directed at Lion.
"Kai lives. But he is nothing more than bait to trap you. If you go, both you and the Spirit Circle will be wiped out in one sweep."
Elda stated the facts quietly.
Lion bowed his head.
He wanted to save Kai.
But it was Albert's trap.
If he went, Sylvia, Elda, and all the comrades of the Spirit Circle would be put in danger.
(What should I do...)
Lion's heart wavered violently.
—Live.
He thought he heard Kai's voice.
—I chose this. I wanted to protect you.
Kai's words echoed in his chest.
(Kai sacrificed himself to protect me.)
(Now it's my turn to protect him.)
Lion raised his head.
In those emerald eyes, for the first time in three days, a strong light kindled.
"Lady Elda. Sylvia."
Lion looked straight at them both.
"I want to go save Kai. Now it's my turn to protect him."
His voice did not tremble.
It was resolve.
Elda gazed at him quietly.
"That resolve—I have certainly received it. But Lion. You still lack power. You, who cannot even hear the voices of the spirits—how do you intend to rescue Kai from the dungeons of the Iron Crown Palace?"
Her words were sharp.
Lion gripped the pendant.
"...Lady Elda. What must I do to hear the spirits' voices?"
Elda narrowed her eyes, just slightly.
"Communion with the spirits. It is not a skill. It is the heart. If your heart is not open to the spirits, their voices will never reach you."
Elda looked up at the cave ceiling.
"This Cave of Singing lies upon a spirit vein. A place where spirit power fills the air most strongly. Here, if you calm your heart and speak to the spirits, perhaps you may hear them."
Lion looked around the cave.
The rock walls seemed to glow faintly, pale blue.
The power of the spirit vein.
"I'll try."
Lion said it.
Sylvia started to speak.
"Lion, I'll—"
But she swallowed her words.
And then, with a slightly lonely smile, she said:
"...I'm coming too. Remember the promise we made as children?"
Lion looked at her.
"I remember. That when we grew up, you'd protect me."
Sylvia smiled.
But those golden eyes wavered, somewhere, with something complicated.
"That's right. So I'm coming too."
—
That night.
Sylvia stood alone at the edge of the cave.
The forest spirit Sylph danced around her as wind.
"...Lion's heart already belongs to that knight, doesn't it."
Sylvia murmured.
The wind stirred her emerald hair gently.
"I've loved Lion since we were small. But ever since he met that knight, he's changed. He makes faces I've never seen before."
Sylvia pressed a hand to her chest.
"This feeling of mine—it was never just friendship. I want to protect Lion. I want to be by his side. So that's what it was. I was in love with him."
For the first time, she had realized the true nature of her feelings.
And also, that those feelings would never reach him.
"But that knight protected Lion. At the risk of his own life. An enemy knight, and yet. On the very night I couldn't protect him."
Tears spilled from Sylvia's eyes.
"I'm grateful to that knight. For saving Lion. But at the same time, I hate him. Because he took all of Lion's heart."
The wind blew hard.
Sylph stroked her hair as if to comfort her.
"...Even so, I'll go with Lion. I want to be his strength. If Lion says he wants to save that knight, then I'll save him too."
Sylvi
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