“……Haa.”
With a low sigh, Luce finally managed to raise his torso. His head throbbed like it was about to split open. He pressed his temples with a deep frown, but no amount of pressure could ease the pain inside his skull. It felt as though someone had reached into his head and was violently shaking everything around.
Mikhail called his name again. The voice came clearly from the corridor—it seemed he had woken up quite a while earlier. Luce, eyes still closed from the lingering pain, asked Mikhail a question.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“……No. What about you?”
Me? When Mikhail’s question reached him, Luce immediately lowered his head to check over his body. There didn’t seem to be any major injuries so far, considering he wasn’t in sharp pain. But since he hadn’t moved around much yet, there was still the possibility of broken bones or pulled muscles he hadn’t noticed.
He used his palms to press lightly over his arms, legs, and torso.
His whole body felt stiff, and his head continued to scream in protest, but there weren’t any wounds that required treatment.
“I think I’m okay.”
“That’s a relief.”
Mikhail let out a deep breath of relief, loud enough to be heard even from across the way.
Come to think of it, the place Luce was confined in looked like a dark storage room. It was structured across from where Mikhail was, with a long corridor separating them. The rooms were close enough to see each other, but thick iron bars set into the doors meant they couldn’t leave unless someone opened them from outside.
As soon as Luce finished checking his condition, he tilted his head with a puzzled expression and muttered to himself. We were kidnapped, but I’m this unharmed?
“That’s unexpected. I figured you might make it, but I thought I’d be killed on the spot.”
At those words, Luce heard the sharp sound of Mikhail sucking in a breath. Mikhail moved closer to the bars. Through the iron slats, he could see Luce. With a grave tone, Mikhail asked softly.
“……You thought you’d die, and yet you still acted that way?”
Even in the darkness, Mikhail’s crimson eyes burned brightly, like flickering flames. Luce responded with a light shrug and scratched idly near his chin.
“Well, I’m just some nobody now, with no status or title anywhere on the continent. Kidnapping someone like that and keeping them alive is more of a hassle than just getting rid of them.”
I’ve kidnapped people before for jobs, so I know how this goes.
Luce took a moment to recall his days in the mercenary corps. Putting himself in the kidnappers’ shoes, the fact that both he and Mikhail were still alive likely meant there was a specific purpose behind it. Mikhail, at the very least, looked like he was born into nobility, and anyone even slightly informed could probably guess he was of royal blood.
But… Luce glanced toward the room Mikhail was trapped in. The fact that they knew he was royalty and still tossed him into a filthy cell like that meant their captors were extremely confident. And the reason for locking them in a place like this was obvious—they planned to negotiate. Either with the client who commissioned them, or with a third party who’d pay more.
They needed to escape before any of that happened—hmm?
Lost in thought, Luce suddenly sensed a sharp gaze and snapped his head up.
“……What?”
Mikhail was glaring at him. At Luce’s irritated look, Mikhail tilted his head slightly and raised an eyebrow.
“It was a life-threatening situation.”
“……You think I don’t know that?”
Why is he bringing this up all of a sudden? Luce clicked his tongue in annoyance. Dragons had long outgrown the age of being considerate and sentimental about past events.
“You’re in a human body now, one that can’t even use a dragon’s power. You could’ve died—”
Mikhail had been nearly growling through clenched teeth, but suddenly stopped mid-sentence. He was just as frustrated. The reason for his anger wasn’t the situation itself—it was Luce’s attitude, treating his own life like it didn’t matter, that upset him so deeply.
Just a moment ago, Mikhail had been restlessly watching Luce lying motionless in the cell across the corridor. As someone from the royal family, he had undergone special resistance training against abduction and magical ambushes since childhood. Thanks to that, it hadn’t taken him long to recover after being brought here.
But after all that anxiety, the first thing he heard when Luce finally woke was that deadpan, “I thought I’d be killed.”
“If Ordinas had decided today was the day I’d die, then I would have.”
Ordinas again, Mikhail thought with a grimace at Luce’s matter-of-fact reply. That serene, almost boyish face—one he’d nearly never seen again—came into view, and Mikhail pursed his lips before speaking.
“Then I guess that means I saved your life today.”
“……”
“Am I wrong?”
He ‘saved’ my life? Luce hadn’t intended to be petty, but with Mikhail coming at him like that, he couldn’t help but have something to say. Honestly, there were a few issues with just accepting that Mikhail had saved him.
Brushing himself off, Luce stood and took a few steps toward the bars, looking down at Mikhail on the other side before speaking flatly.
“You don’t remember I almost died because you dropped the sword?”
“If I hadn’t, you would’ve been in danger.”
“And you really think dropping the sword was the best move in that situation?”
“……What?”
“I told you never to let go of it. And look at you now, acting like some idiot. What the hell is this mess?”
“……”
“Locked up in a cell, can’t even move an inch. If you were going to save my life, you could’ve at least done it properly, don’t you think?”
Luce leaned his forehead against the cold iron bars, trying to cool his rising heat. As if being stuck in a human body wasn’t bad enough—now he was kidnapped on top of it. Absolutely the worst-case scenario.
Maybe that’s why he’d gone a little too hard on Mikhail. Realizing that, Luce stayed leaning against the bars but glanced sideways through them. On the other side, Mikhail’s eyes burned with conviction, lit with fresh determination.
“Fine. Just trust me.”
“……Sure.”
It’s not like there was anyone else to trust anyway.
With a helpless smile, Luce gave a small nod. Honestly, better this fired-up version of Mikhail than one who sulked and wallowed.
“That language those bastards were using earlier—what country is it from?”
“It’s used in Sikariner, a new state near the Kingdom of Rustavaran.”
“Yeah? Never heard of it before. Why would a foreign group even bother…?”
Luce was about to dive deeper into figuring out the kidnappers’ intent when—
Ssk— The prince brought two fingers to his wrist and muttered something under his breath—a spell incantation. At the same time, a flash of bright light briefly chased away the shadows on Mikhail’s side of the cell before fading.
What he’d pulled out was a ceremonial dagger from the Rustavaran royal family. Luce remembered it—he’d seen that enchanted weapon before back in their academy days.
“Good thing they didn’t run a magical scan.”
Mikhail muttered to himself as he studied the dagger in his hand. Before the abduction, he had surrendered the blade he usually carried at his side—Fellen Deeps’ sword. Mikhail pressed his lips together with a bitter taste in his mouth, exhaling quietly.
It was a gift from Adrian… something that held his heart.
He stole a glance at Luce across the way. The one who had given him that gift didn’t seem to care in the slightest. That stung a bit. If their knights or attendants followed the trail up the mountain, they might find the sword eventually… Mikhail tried to force himself to think positively, but the gloom wouldn’t quite lift.
He was shaken from his thoughts by Luce’s impatient voice.
“What’re you standing there for? Use the dagger and start working on the lock already.”
At this point, that dagger was the only thing they could count on. Mikhail quickly rose to his feet and brought the blade to the lock outside his cell. Meanwhile, Luce turned toward the corridor, keeping an eye out to make sure no one stumbled upon them.
Clack, clack. The sound of the dagger’s sharp tip poking and twisting at the lock echoed down the hallway.
“……”
Luce watched him work for a while, but all he could hear was the clattering of metal on metal. Eventually, he couldn’t help but speak, blunt as ever.
“……Are you even gonna get it open today?”
“Could you please wait quietly?” Mikhail furrowed his brow in frustration. As the youngest prince of the royal family, there was no way he’d ever had to do anything like this. The closest he’d come was hearing knights and attendants joking about how thieves operated.
“Try using a sharper edge. Right now, you’re just scratching up the surface.”
“Your commentary isn’t helping me concentrate. I’ll let you know when it’s open, so kindly sit back and relax.”
“……Just throw the damn dagger over here.”
“No. I’m doing it.”
Tch! Once again, the blade didn’t quite hit the right spot in the lock, scraping against the metal with an irritating sound.
“This really the time to be stubborn?”
Bickering like this with a brat while locked up—what a joke. Luce gave a dry chuckle, utterly exasperated.
