Farewell to the hero! chapter 101

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The pond at the heart of the royal palace was one of its crowning features.

Though artificial and requiring monthly maintenance, its beauty justified the effort.

Even Kaindel, who despised the palace, appreciated the pond.

Its open expanse offered a fleeting sense of liberation.

“Finally.”

Loosening the suffocating buttons on his collar, he exhaled deeply.

With no one around to see him, he had no need to maintain appearances.

The spring breeze slipped through the gap in his shirt, cooling his skin.

The pond was deserted, likely because of the garden party.

Normally, he’d expect to see a few people here, but tonight, the crowd was elsewhere.

It suited him just fine.

Under the peaceful moonlit sky, the pond lay perfectly still, its surface smooth as glass.

It seemed as though the slightest touch could shatter it.

If only it would fall.

He gazed up at the round moon in the sky.

If that moon came crashing down onto the palace… if it crushed everything beneath its weight… if it even slightly bruised the king’s insufferable pride, it would be worth it.

The thought amused him, and he chuckled softly before closing his eyes.

By now, someone might have noticed his absence.

Perhaps the guests were whispering among themselves about the missing guest of honor.

Eventually, his mother would find out.

She’d tell his father, who’d rage about the disgrace he’d brought upon the family.

Still, even with those unpleasant possibilities swirling in his mind, he had no intention of returning to the banquet hall.

He just wanted to rest here a little longer.

Let them search all they want.

If he was to be punished for what happened today, so be it.

He wasn’t afraid enough to tremble over something like that.

It was his way of saying he had no intention of growing up as their obedient dog.

He might pretend to be, but never truly be one.

He didn’t care if he went days without food or was trapped in darkness.

He was used to it anyway.

As he muttered to himself and lay down on the ground, he suddenly heard the sound of someone swimming in the pond.

Until just moments ago, he had been the only one there, so such a sound shouldn’t have existed.

Was it a hallucination?

Kaindel frowned in confusion, raising his upper body.

Sitting in a half-reclined, awkward position, he looked toward the pond and spotted a man with silver hair.

To be precise, the man was standing in the pond.

Kaindel’s brow furrowed deeply.

Even though spring had arrived, the nights were still chilly.

It was not the kind of weather that would make someone want to swim, yet the man in the pond was soaking wet, as if he had been splashing around or diving.

It was suspicious, to say the least.

Did he not notice earlier because he was underwater?

Kaindel brushed his hair back, staring at the man who seemed strangely out of it.

There was no way someone who hadn’t been there earlier could have suddenly appeared, so it must have been an oversight when he checked the pond’s surroundings.

“Hey, you.”

“What…?”

“I’m talking to you.”

“…Me?”

The man responded only after being called repeatedly.

The man, who had been fumbling over himself in apparent confusion, finally turned his gaze toward Kaindel.

His transparent silver eyes soon captured the smaller figure of Kaindel entirely.

As the man stopped his restless movements, Kaindel could clearly see his features.

His silver hair matched his pale skin beautifully, and his delicate bone structure accentuated his slim face, where finely arranged features harmonized perfectly.

Simply put, the man was so strikingly handsome that even Kaindel, who was indifferent to beauty, was momentarily stunned.

Their height difference was enough that Kaindel couldn’t clearly see the man’s eyes without standing on tiptoe.

Only then could he face the split galaxy-like shimmer of the man’s gaze.

But one thing was clear, even at Kaindel’s eye level—the man’s lips were shockingly red.

“Kaindel?”

The sound of his name snapped Kaindel out of his daze.

As soon as he returned to reality, Kaindel chastised himself for being momentarily entranced by the man.

Stupid musings.

And for a man, of all things.

To find a man beautiful?

Ridiculous.

Annoying.

Suppressing a curse, Kaindel forced a smile.

A pleasant expression immediately took its place on his face.

There was no need to ask how the man knew his identity.

In this kingdom, no one was unaware of the name of the hero chosen by the gods.

Still, the overly familiar tone in which he said Kaindel’s name was irksome.

“Which noble family are you from?”

On the day of the patronage party, only nobles were allowed to enter the royal palace.

Thus, the man in front of him had to be a noble.

Though Kaindel had never heard of a noble with silver hair and silver eyes.

“Why is Kaindel shorter than me?”

Instead of answering Kaindel’s polite question, the man muttered to himself before covering his mouth.

Then, striding toward Kaindel, he murmured, “It can’t be. It just can’t.”

He sounded like a lunatic.

‘Why am I shorter than him?’

Isn’t it obvious?

Before Kaindel could retort irritably to the absurd question, the man’s well-formed hand grabbed his shoulder.

At some point, the man was standing so close that his flushed face was right in front of him.

“What’s today’s date?”

“…The first month of spring, early days. If you’re asking about the year, it’s 809.”

“809… 809…”

The man repeated the information Kaindel had given him, biting his lower lip.

His silver eyes swirled with turmoil, and his complexion quickly turned pale, betraying his shock.

“And it’s not even cold. My god… My god…”

For some reason, Kaindel found the sight unsettling.

Not knowing the day was one thing; it was easy to forget trivial dates.

But not knowing the year?

That was practically impossible unless one had been completely isolated from society.

And if he had been isolated, he wouldn’t have appeared in the middle of the royal palace.

Kaindel stared at the man, his suspicion unrelenting.

To think he had left the banquet hall to relax by the pond, only to encounter this bewildering man.

Today was truly not his lucky day.

“Right now…”

Just as Kaindel was contemplating whether to return to the banquet hall, the man’s eyes gleamed with a peculiar light.

“Kaindel, where are we?”

“In the royal palace.”

“The royal palace? The capital? Not Schudelgarten’s estate? Today, that is, there was supposed to be a banquet at the estate, to celebrate the hero’s birthday… Wait, Kaindel, the wound on your stomach—”

The man, who had been splashing in a pond owned by the royal family, claimed he didn’t even know he was in the palace?

It was nonsensical.

Kaindel nearly laughed in disbelief at the man’s rambling questions.

There was no way an outsider could bypass the palace’s tight security and wander in by accident.

And there were certainly no gaps for an outsider to crawl into this artificial pond.

Which meant the only way this man’s presence here made sense was if he were one of the nobles attending the patronage party.

But judging by his erratic behavior, it was impossible to think of him as a noble.

‘Should I call the guards?’

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