Chapter 14: The Crown and Her Shadow

“Brother… Kael, Kael… Wake up.” Milian shook Kael, who had fallen unconscious on the ground, his small body covered in sand leaking from above.

“Um…” Kael blinked as the blurry image of Milian’s worried face came into focus. He sat up, placing his hand on his head as he looked around.

They were surrounded by a large empty space inside a cave illuminated by a greenish light. The air smelled of stagnant water, and the sound of dripping water echoed from above.

“Where are we?” he asked, confused.

“I don’t know. I was following you, and as far as I remember, I sank into the ground and found myself here,” she replied.

“I see. That’s why I wasn't able to find you.”

“Hm.” She nodded quietly and added, “Sorry, but I think we are stuck in a bigger problem now.”

“Yeah, I know, but now is not the time for that. We first need to get out of here.” He stood up and dusted himself off. “Let’s go.”

“But where? We don’t even know where we are, and if we wander around like this, we might get completely lost in this cave.”

“Well, we are already lost, so we don't need to fear that anymore. Plus, if you focus, you can feel a breeze. There might be a way out, so maybe we should follow the air flow.”

“I see. Okay then, let’s go,” she replied, following behind him.

As they walked, Kael asked, “Do you feel anything else? I mean, what about the source of this corrupted mana or whatever it is?”

“I… I can’t. This area has so much corruption that if I use my power and absorb too much mana, there is a high probability that I will turn out like in your vision,” she replied.

“Then you should avoid it. I also wanted to ask: if the mana surrounding us is this corrupted, is there any reason I’m not being influenced by it?” he asked, curious.

“Well…” She looked at him. Kael’s own cursed mana was so dense that it was eliminating the corrupted mana with ease, acting like a protective barrier around him.

“Hmm?” He tilted his head in confusion.

“Nothing. It’s like you're somehow immune to it,” she lied to him, hiding the truth about his cursed mana.

“Immune? Well, this is kind of a new thing for me to learn,” he commented as they followed the path.

After walking for around half an hour, they soon faced a dead end.

“Another one? How many dead ends are we going to see?” she complained. Panting from exhaustion, she wiped away her sweat.

“Hmm…” He touched the end wall and found traces of dirt on his fingers. He turned and replied, “I think searching for a path to escape is a waste of time. I noticed earlier, and seeing dirt on this wall confirms it: the cave is changing its interior every time we reach a certain point.”

“Changing interior?” She looked at him, confused, waiting for an answer.

“Well, the dirt is moisturized, and the wall should be solid rock, but this one seems like a wall of dirt blocking the way. So I suggest we wait here for a few minutes to see whether it will disappear or not.”

“I don’t understand, but fine. Actually, I wanted to rest anyway.” She sat down, pulled a water bottle hanging from her waist, and took a drink.

Kael walked over and sat beside her. She handed over the bottle, from which he drank before returning it to her.

“Sorry if I’m asking too much, but Brother Kael, I don’t think you and Lady Cassandra are getting along. Are you two in a fight?”

“Well, it’s more than a fight. You could say she’s forcefully making me her shadow thing.”

“Huh? Forcefully? But I don’t think Lady Cassandra could do something like that. I mean, she was so kind before. She always treated everyone with kindness.”

“Are you sure you aren't referring to someone else? No matter how I look at her, I feel a chill—as if I make her angry, she’ll cut my head off.”

“Hehe…” Milian giggled. Bending her knees, she rested her chest against them and leaned on her palms. “Well, she changed after Big Sister Coco died.”

“Coco?” He asked, confused, hearing the name for the first time.

“I don’t think she told you, but Coco was the first shadow she chose. They were childhood friends, so when Cassandra was chosen for the position of Crown, she picked her friend as her shadow.”

“I see. So how did she die? Well, I don’t mean to sound harsh, but being a knight, it’s quite normal for people to die while—” he was saying when Milian interrupted him.

“Actually, Cassandra killed her herself.”

“Wait, what?! Why? If they were childhood friends, then…”

“I don’t know either. I met her, but we never spent much time together. I was just sharing my first impression of her.”

“Well, that’s a rough story, but…” He stood up and dusted himself off, pointing at the dead end, which was now opening up. “…I’m not very interested in knowing anything about a kingdom dog’s story.”

As he started walking, Milian stood up and ran to follow him.

At the Campsite

The room was filled with a cold breeze entering through a small, open window. The moonlight fell upon Cassandra’s face as she tossed disturbed in her dreams, hearing screams and whispers echoing in her ears.

“Because of you, I died…”

“Haa…” Cassandra, dressed in her blue pajamas, bolted upright. She held a hand out in front of her, sweat dripping down her face. Her eyes were wide as she panted, trying to calm herself down.

“That dream again…”

She remained quiet, lying back down to stare at the ceiling in deep thought. Failing to fall back asleep, she stood up and walked out to the balcony for fresh air.

As she lost herself gazing at the starry sky, she heard noise coming from the ground below. Looking down, she saw Rudoff looking anxious as he shouted orders to two knights.

“Hey, Rudoff! Is something the matter?”

“Ahh… you’re awake! That’s good. We have a problem—Kael and Milian might have entered the cave.”

“What?”