some memory

It had been a continuous succession of peaceful days.

It had already been nearly five years since they left the Araceli Empire and wandered the world. By now, everyone had long forgotten their existence.

Late at night. After putting their lovely two children to bed, Rondimio and Louise sat on a mat under the piercingly white moonlight.

During the bright days, they spent time with their daughter, sharp as someone they knew, and their son, whose mere toddling around was endearing—but late at night was reserved for just the two of them.

“Rondimio. What did you think when you first met me?”

“Suddenly?”

“I just became curious.”

Rondimio, lying down with his head on Louise’s lap as was his habit, looked up at her. Louise wore an unreadable smile.

The two had been speaking informally to each other for some time now. Come to think of it, they were old friends before being lovers who loved each other.

“Hmm, isn’t this a bit of an unfair question? When we first met, I was locked in an underground prison.”

“So, you’re saying your first impression of me was naturally hatred because I was the daughter of the enemy who imprisoned you?”

“Well, that’s not exactly it……”

Rondimio gave an awkward smile. If he had harbored hateful feelings toward Louise from the day he first saw her, he wouldn’t have thrown everything away and even turned back time for her.

But since he had never properly talked about his first impression of Louise, Rondimio pondered how to explain it.

When he showed no sign of answering easily, Louise first brought up what she had wanted to say. In fact, she had asked Rondimio about his first impression because she wanted to say this.

“But you know what? I didn’t see you for the first time in prison. A few years before you came to the prison, I heard that a prince from a neighboring country about my age had come to the imperial palace, so I went to see him secretly without the maids knowing.”

“Was there such an incident? Well, I was treated as a prince from an adjacent country until the war broke out between the Araceli Empire and the Kingdom of Robisa. It was only for a few days, so I had forgotten about it too.”

“Yes. I saw you very briefly when I was young, so I forgot about it quickly too. But it was definitely you.”

Rondimio, listening to Louise’s words, raised himself from where he had been lying with his head on her lap.

Both of them tended not to talk much about the past since they began wandering the world, but this topic was quite interesting.

“So what was Your Highness’s first impression of the prisoner prince?”

“What do you think it was?”

“Did you fall in love at first sight?”

Rondimio, sitting right next to Louise, gently brushed her platinum blonde hair back and whispered teasingly in her ear. He seemed to have become more playful since becoming the father of two children.

Louise, who burst into laughter at Rondimio’s joke, finally opened her mouth.

“I didn’t think that at first. I was just surprised that there was a child prettier than me in the world. It was also my first time meeting a prince from a neighboring country, and, well, I wanted to be friends.”

“Friends?”

“When I was young, I coveted everything pretty, and what I coveted most was a pretty-looking friend.”

Louise recalled the moment she first saw Rondimio, tracing through memories that had already become distant.

The splendid prince from the neighboring country. His silver hair that sparkled in the sunlight and his red eyes that looked like rubies embedded in them were truly beautiful.

The boy wearing a jacket embroidered over a shirt trimmed with white lace was enough to catch the curious Louise’s attention.

“As you know, I didn’t have friends my age. I thought, could a prince from a neighboring country become my friend? That’s what I thought at first.”

Louise smiled sadly as she reminisced about the past. Even young Louise vaguely knew. Her father and mother would not allow her to be close to anyone who was not what they called her “match.”

So perhaps she could have been friends with the splendid prince from the neighboring country. But Louise was not introduced to Rondimio even after several days since his arrival in the Araceli Empire.

“Not long after I arrived, war broke out and I was locked up in a cold underground prison. So we couldn’t have been friends.”

Rondimio continued Louise’s halted words. As Louise said, perhaps the two could have become friends, but that became impossible when war broke out between the two countries.

Rondimio was originally a gift from the king of Robisa to the emperor of Araceli. Although he was an illegitimate child, he still carried the king’s blood, making him suitable as a hostage.

A gift washed clean and wrapped in pretty wrapping paper. The emperor of Araceli initially pitied him, but that lasted only a few days.

As soon as war broke out, the emperor locked Rondimio in an underground prison and began harsh *buse.

“If war hadn’t broken out then, our future would have been very different.”

Louise’s face became deeply gloomy. This was why they didn’t often bring up stories from the past. Louise slightly regretted bringing it up.

But Rondimio didn’t mind and asked Louise more about what he was curious about.

“Then what did you think when we met again later?”

It was a question about their real first meeting, which they both remembered clearly.

Louise, recalling those memories after a very long time, flopped down on the mat. It was because she felt very sorry for Rondimio beside her whenever she thought about that time.

“I pitied you. I thought you were a poor child. I couldn’t say that truthfully at the time……”

Anyone would have felt the same if they saw a child who had been so pretty and splendid, albeit briefly seen a few years ago, now locked in a cold underground prison covered in wounds.

And Louise wanted to do more than just pity him; she wanted to get him out of there. She didn’t know that she would be able to fulfill that wish, which seemed utterly impossible at the time, albeit belatedly.

Rondimio smiled as if satisfied with Louise’s words.

“Pity is also a form of interest and affection. I’m grateful that I received your pity back then, Louise.”

Rondimio, who had been fiddling with Louise’s platinum hair as she lay on the mat, also lay down beside her.

* * *

Louise formally met Rondimio for the first time on her fifteenth birthday.

Louise, the lovely princess of Araceli, received birthday congratulations from numerous people as always, and late at night, the emperor took her somewhere, saying he had prepared a surprise gift for her.

She can’t express how excited and happy she was at the words that her indifferent father had prepared a gift for her.

Not imagining that the surprise gift would be the gloomy secret of the imperial family.

‘It hurts so much…. Please save me.’

‘Why, why is it like this. Who on earth did this….’

What appeared before Louise, who had spent the happiest day of all today, was a boy who looked more unfortunate than anyone.

Although his body was covered in blood marks and wounds, upon closer inspection, he looked strangely familiar.

It was the prince from the neighboring country who had visited the Araceli Empire a few years ago. He had been such a pretty child then, but what on earth had happened in the meantime?

Louise, not knowing who had brought her here, reached out through the prison bars and firmly held the wounded boy’s hand.

She felt sorry and guilty that she couldn’t help him before he ended up like this.

‘Louise. Surely you’re not pitying that filthy thing?’

‘But Father…!’

But her father, the emperor of the empire, disapproved of Louise’s actions.

Louise, who had fallen onto the dirty underground prison floor from her father’s strong hand, looked back and forth in confusion between her father and the boy locked in the underground prison.

‘He’s an illegitimate prince offered by the Kingdom of Robisa. He’s called a hostage, but that’s just a name; in reality, he’s an existence no one looks for, so use him as you please. Don’t show pity.’

‘F-Father, that… is a person. Th-this is wrong!’

‘Louise, would you like to punish our toy now? Hurry.’

‘N-no! I don’t want to do that. Please release that boy!’

Louise strongly opposed her father’s will, even ruining her beautifully dressed gown and bonnet.

But the emperor was adamant.

He seemed determined not to let Louise out of the prison unless she abused the boy locked inside. No matter how much she pleaded that she wouldn’t do it, that please release the boy, his heart didn’t change.

Why did the neighboring country’s prince, who had been so pretty and splendid that even she, a princess, envied him, have to go through this?

But the boy seemed accustomed to t*rture.

The pretty boy with shining red eyes and silver hair had transformed into a boy with chillingly cold eyes and hair caked with blackened blood.

‘Noble Princess…. Just whip me and leave the prison quickly. I’m fine.’

But there was one thing that hadn’t changed. Despite being covered in wounds from long-term *buse, the boy still looked lovely in Louise’s eyes.

Louise wished for the boy to suffer less pain. So after reassuring him that she would whip him herself, she sent her father away.

‘Hello. My name is Louise. What’s your name?’

Once the prison door was firmly closed, Louise cautiously reached out to the boy.

Louise’s hand slowly touched the boy’s cheek.

Every exposed part of his body was covered in wounds, but his face seemed untouched, still having the white and soft cheeks from her memory.

The boy didn’t avoid Louise’s touch. Despite knowing she was the daughter of the one who imprisoned him here, he just stared intently at Louise.

‘…Rondimio.’

As if falling in love at first sight, he who couldn’t take his eyes off her belatedly told her his name.

At that, Louise smiled slightly. Rondimio. What a pretty name.

‘I will never hurt you…. But were my father and family the ones who imprisoned you here and abused you all this time?’

To meet the eyes of the boy who was hanging limply while chained in shackles, Louise sat down on the cold floor. She felt so guilty that she wanted to do more for him.