Piecing together

He somehow escaped the venue, but the problem was far from over. He needed a place to hide, somewhere he could heal and then plan for the future. For Hiroto, there seemed to be nothing he could do to prove his innocence. No one would believe him, an incompetent second son. He gritted his teeth in frustration.

Why am I suffering such a fate? First, coming into this damn body, and then this. 

Hiroto was furious at the person who did this. He wanted to beat that person up. 

Only if I knew who did this to me.

He was also seething at Carl and Emma. How dare they speak such open lies? What did he ever do to deserve this? He was now very far from the venue. He could see the lights coming from the nearby city.

He thought maybe he could go to the Adventurer's Guild and ask Gram for help. But he didn't know if he would help some unknown person. There was another problem too: his white hair would give away his identity as the second son of the Rodrick family. The Rodrick family would quickly know his whereabouts.

He sat on the side of the road. The bleeding had somewhat stopped. Hiroto felt that he shouldn't move his arms, or the bleeding would start again. He wondered what he should have done back there. Should he have just ignored them, or should he have called the guards earlier? But it was an impulsive action; he moved before he knew it. He wondered when he had become so brave and willing to step before a sword.

He let out a sigh and lay on the ground. He watched the stars in the sky. He thought there were more stars than he could see on Earth, perhaps due to light pollution. He closed his eyes, thinking he should rest for now.

Then, a voice came out of nowhere. 

"What are you doing here?"

Hiroto stood up immediately and took a defensive stance. He thought the guards had caught up to him. Come to think of it, it was foolish of him to lie down on the roadside. But the next moment, he was dumbfounded.

There stood a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes as clear as crystal. Countless shining orbs danced around her, making the surroundings glow. Yep, she was the girl that Hiroto met during the banquet.

"Why are you here?" Hiroto asked.

The girl raised her eyebrows, looking at Hiroto. She observed that he was injured. She hummed thoughtfully, then spoke to someone else, not Hiroto. 

"Bring him in the carriage and attend to his wounds."

Hiroto then realized she wasn't alone. Behind her stood a squad of army guards watching his every move. There was also a carriage. The carriage had a symbol on it, but because it was night, it took a little time for him to see the symbol clearly. He thought he had seen this symbol somewhere. He scanned his memory, and then it clicked: the royal family. That was the crest of the royal family. The royal family was yet to arrive at the marriage. So, this was the ride for the royal family.

Wait, does that mean...? 

His eyes widened in realization. He looked at the girl, who looked at him with a complicated expression. Someone guided Hiroto to the carriage. His wounds were attended to. The person said the medicine would heal it despite the deep wounds. His arms were bandaged, and the person left.

Hiroto thought someone else would be in the carriage, but he was wrong. It was only the girl. He understood what it meant. She was the Princess.

Sofia and Hiroto were alone in the carriage, and Hiroto didn't know how to start the conversation. Sofia broke the silence. 

"So, what happened to you?"

Hiroto had a complicated expression. He wondered if he could tell her everything. Maybe she could help him escape. But what if she took him back to the estate? He worried about that too. It wasn't like they were close; they only briefly talked once.

"Don't make that face. I won't force you to tell," she said with a hint of regret. 

'Here I wanted to help you,' she mumbled.

"What?" Hiroto didn't understand what she said.

"Nothing... you just rest. We are moving towards Rodrick's estate. We can take you there."

Hiroto panicked. 

"I can't go there!" he blurted out.

She looked at Hiroto with a suspicious gaze. "Why?"

"That's because—" 

Hiroto let out a sigh. After contemplating for a while, he decided to tell her everything. She listened silently. After Hiroto stopped speaking, the carriage was once again engulfed in silence.

Sofia stood and opened the carriage door. 

"We will camp here tonight."

The guards were still on high alert. A man came forward; he was probably the commander of the troops. "Your Highness, we are near our destination. We will be there soon if we move for a little while."

But Sofia shook her head. 

"We will camp here and leave tomorrow."

The commander wanted to say something but didn't. She closed the door and sat down once again. Hiroto saw all that and was sure she was the Princess, Sofia Galur. He didn't know how to act before her now that he knew.

Seeing Hiroto's hesitant face, Sofia asked, "What is it?"

"Um... How did you know I was there?" Hiroto asked. He had been lying on the sidelines. No matter how good your eyesight is, you can't recognize someone in the dark. If he wasn't wrong, she had been in the carriage where she couldn't tell what was happening outside.

Sofia just smiled at his question. 

"Spirits told me that you were nearby. But still, I didn't think I would find you in such a state."

Hiroto didn't know what to say about it.

Instead, Sofia continued, "So, what will you do now?"

After a pause, Hiroto said, "I was thinking of leaving this place. Somewhere, they would have a hard time finding me."

Sofia nodded. "As you said, you did nothing wrong, so why are you running away?" She eyed him with suspicion.

"What else can I do? No one will believe me anyway." Hiroto just shrugged.

"Why don't I go with you? No one will look down on you, and they will listen to your side of the story."

Hiroto just shook his head. "No, it will undermine your name and... Why would you even do that? I admit we are not strangers, but we're not close enough to help each other... or are we? The odd part is, why do you believe me? There's a possibility that I might be lying."

Sofia's smile faded, and she fell into deep thought. "To be honest, I know that you are telling the truth. But is it the complete truth? I don't know that. And about helping you... I don't know about that either. It feels like fate has brought us together. Otherwise, who knows what would have happened to you? Right?"

Hiroto just looked at her silently.

"Why don't we do this? Let me speak to Emma and Carl first. After talking to them, we can decide what to do."

Hiroto was still hesitant. But Sofia pressed, "And how long do you think you can run away? Every day would be a horror for you, a fear that you will get caught, and one day, you will eventually get caught. So, it's better to deal with it right now."

Hiroto frowned. He knew what she was saying was correct, but it felt impractical. Maybe they would believe him in front of the princess, but after she left, they would show their true colors. Hiroto was afraid of that.

It was then that he came up with the idea to reveal everything that had happened using the camera and projector. He told Sofia his plan, and she was amazed by Hiroto's words.

"If you had such an artifact, why were you running away?" Sofia asked, her eyes wide.

"It just skipped my mind, and it's not like I can just go and retrieve them personally now. But you can do it in my place."

That's how they came up with the plan to reveal everything. Sofia's mood brightened. Hiroto felt like he was looking at a child who was about to pull a prank. He told her how to operate the artifact.

The next day, everything went according to their plan.