The Crown Prince In Hiding

Evening

Rafinya felt pleased to have earned the trust of Prince Fury.

She returned to the dorm with an unusual amount of enthusiasm, enough for her roommate to notice the change in her behavior, though she said nothing.

”Rafinya, you’re already getting your things packed, aren’t you?”

She nodded.

”I see.”

Just as her roommate turned away, Rafinya took the trash from the room downstairs to throw it away for the last time... before she encountered a young man with emerald-green eyes wearing the academy uniform.

Sauce Gardner

”Rafinya~”

He waved at her with a bright, cheerful expression.

.

.

.

Artheris City Night Market

She had to admit, it had already been a full semester since she first took the new recruits under her wing. Since that day, she and Sauce had barely interacted at all within the academy.

She would not interfere with his work, and he would not meddle with her or the prince.

But there was no rule saying they couldn’t talk when they happened to run into each other once in a while.

Sauce blended into a group of humans his age so seamlessly that it was almost impossible to tell the difference... perhaps too seamlessly. He had an odd kind of charisma with his classmates, especially the girls.

”Are you going to tell me how you knew my roommate’s name?”

”Things like that have to be trained from a young age.”

”Who trained you?”

”Princess Fiorentina trained us.”

”By ’us,’ you mean those guys, right?”

With that, Rafinya pulled out a sheet of paper.

”No human keeps pieces of paper in the back pocket of their pants.”

”You steal my stuff? Give it back.”

Rafinya unfolded the note.

Christian Gonzalez

Sauce Gardner

Derek Stingley

Patt Surtain

”Please give it back.”

He pulled the paper away from her, despite the considerable resistance she put up.

”This is top-secret information.”

”Which you keep in your pants pocket?”

”The most dangerous place is the safest place.”

Rafinya couldn’t believe his way of thinking. It was just...

”So what was this thing that was so important you had to come back for?”

”Gathering information for Mr.Fury.”

”About evolution?”

”I heard they recently discovered the remains of a Diablo or something.”

”Actually, we just received orders about that on our side too.”

Rafinya’s expression silently asked what they were.

”All of us have to be interviewed by the prince’s human team.”

”Senior Thomasin’s group?”

”Apparently it’s for data collection. Very detailed data collection.”

One hundred Diablos meant one hundred different biological profiles. The only way to collect the data was to examine each individual... in detail.

”I’m lucky enough to be near the end of the queue because I’m intelligence. The ones over there are already being called in one by one. Princess Fiorentina initially refused, but I don’t know how they convinced her. In the end, she approved it.”

Just then, Sauce’s classmates happened to walk past. They greeted each other.

>

The young man turned around and waved back with a bright smile. They bowed to Senior Rafinya before continuing on their way.

Sauce glanced at Rafinya, only to find her staring at him as though she were looking at some strange creature.

”Why are you making that face...?”

The group of girls who had just walked past were basically Freya-types and a whole squad of angelic girls.

You could tell from Saturn that they were interested in Sauce, and Sauce himself probably had some thoughts about having a little fun with them too.

To Rafinya... both sides were equally disgusting.

”That’s just how intelligence work is.”

Sauce spoke as though he had read her mind.

”The Diablo way?”

”A way copied from you humans.”

”Not me. I have no interest in the sly way of hiding and stabbing someone in the back like a coward.”

A way completely opposite to her own core values.

”That’s why warriors like you are respected.”

But it’s not like that for us.

”We’re pretty cowardly. Kind of like those people from Tampa you saw before.”

”How much do you know?”

”I know a lot more about you than you think.”

He leaned closer to her.

”I even know you had three caretakers when you were little.”

”If you know that much, why don’t you come see my house too?”

”Can I?”

”No.”

”You’re all way too cold.”

”What do you want from me? You’re annoying.”

”You’re fun when you’re angry.”

”When was I angry?”

”In three... two...”

Draws sword.

Sauce sprang backward and ran away.

”Go home. First-years.”

Dawn

”Are you sure, Miss Rafinya? Would you like me to send word to Lord Shearer in advance?”

”No. He already expected it.”

Rafinya stepped into her family’s carriage and slid the door shut.

The coachman snapped the reins, and the two brown horses pulled the carriage away from Artheris Academy.

They left the city behind and entered a road surrounded by open grasslands. Rafinya opened the window, watching the Allianz Dome grow smaller and smaller until it was swallowed by the enormous city walls.

The journey lasted a little over two hours without stopping.

After crossing a massive stone bridge spanning a river, she arrived at Luminus’s northern frontier city, where a gleaming golden gate bearing a carved magpie marked the entrance to the northern district.

Newcastle

Rafinya’s eyes opened instinctively. The guards stationed at the gate inspected the coachman before stepping aside and allowing her carriage into the city.

The city was dazzlingly white and clean, almost like a Greek sculpture from the height of its classical artistic age. White pigeons flew across the sky, while sunlight glinted against the spires of CIS churches.

The townspeople dressed in clean-colored clothing. The patrolling soldiers wore silver armor contrasted with blue cloth—the standard soldiers, the ones without rank stripes.

For soldiers who had begun earning stripes, the cloth gradually shifted in color, while their specialties became increasingly specific.

She still felt guilty about the time when she hadn’t known Dan was Fury. She had once put a bag over his head so he wouldn’t see the sight of this beautiful city.

Still, Newcastle wasn’t exactly an exciting place. For Rafinya, it was rather boring, if anything. To her, it was basically just the countryside.

”Let me off here. I’ll walk from here.”

”Yes, Miss Rafinya.”

The coachman stopped the carriage and allowed the young lady to step down. The guards who knew her well as the daughter of Newcastle’s governor tapped their armor in greeting before returning to their duties.

Newcastle was a quiet frontier city. Agriculture was possible for roughly half the year because it sat near the equatorial zone. The weather grew cold toward the end of the year, though it never snowed like it did in Artheris, and the rainy season had only recently ended.

She looked toward the fields in the agricultural district. The people had begun clearing weeds in preparation for winter, and at the end of the year, Thanksgiving would arrive—a national holiday when all of Luminus would cease its normal activities for a grand celebration.

When Rafinya turned around, however, she was met with a sight that left her completely stunned.

The body of a young man rolled out from beneath the carriage as it began moving. He tumbled twice before getting back to his feet and dusting off his clothes.

Yildiz

She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. For a moment, she thought her eyes were deceiving her.

He hadn’t merely secretly hitched a ride on the carriage.

He was also wearing white-toned clothing like a native of Luminus.

”....”

The young man dusted himself off, pulled out a pair of black sunglasses, put them on, and flashed a single dimpled smile.

”You invited me, didn’t you?”

”I said no.”

”Oh. I thought you were being sarcastic.”

”Are you pretending to be stupid, or are you actually stupid???”

”Uhhh.”

”Maybe I should ask patrol knights.”

”I’m only staying for a day or two~”

Yildiz clasped his hands together, giving her a pleading look.

”I’ve been undercover in Artheris for months. I want to go out and have some fun too.”

”Is that how a Diablo spy thinks?”

”Nobody will notice if I’m gone for a few days.”

Yildiz started walking around, swinging his arms as he looked around, but Rafinya grabbed him by the collar like an anchor line holding a ship in place.

”You do realize you’re trespassing, right?”

Choke.

”And what about the general’s daughter? Can’t she help me!?”

”Help a spy like you?”

”A friend.”

Her grip around his neck loosened for a moment. Yildiz opened one eye.

”We’re friends, aren’t we? My human comrade.”

”Who said I wanted to be friends with you?”

With that, Rafinya released him and let him tumble onto the ground. She walked past him, visibly irritated.

”Don’t do anything stupid.”

”Yes ma’am~”