The carriage ride was one of the most uncomfortable rides of Shuu's life…not that he had taken many.
But the tense silence in the carriage made him unable to relax.
Prince Kaiden kept his arm around Shuu's middle and pressed him into his side without saying much. He was too busy looking over paperwork. Liam looked interested, but Shuu did not allow his gaze to linger on him for much longer. As for Reina…
She stared directly at him with a fascinated expression but did not say a thing to him.
A few hours passed like this until they reached the capital city and the carriage finally stopped.
"Crown Prince Kaiden, we are here. Would you like us to head straight away—?"
Liam asked, but the crown prince had opened the carriage door even before he had finished speaking.
Shuu gave the crown prince a glance, wanting to ask him where he was going. But the lack of warmth in the crown prince's eyes told him that it would not be a good question to ask.
"I need to make a small trip before we leave. For now, take Shuu to the registration office and get his imperial ID approved. We will head out in an hour."
The crown prince did not look back as he left the carriage, and Liam sighed.
He immediately turned toward the startled Shuu and gave him a small smile.
"Ah, don't mind Prince Kaiden too much. He looks like he's in a bad mood, but he's not. Ah, we should get your ID approved. I will go and do that."
Liam made a quick escape as well, leaving Shuu alone with Reina.
He kept an eye on Reina, but she just scoffed while looking at him. Shuu was not sure if she would say anything or not, so he kept waiting.
Finally, Reina did speak up. But it almost felt like she was mocking Shuu.
"Hey, don't you go on thinking that you are someone special to that bastard crown prince. I don't know what he told you or what he promised you, but I can assure you that you will never be more important to him compared to his goal."
Reina almost sounded bitter, and Shuu felt his words die in his throat. Luckily, she continued to speak even more.
"That man sees us all as disposable pawns. Ah, about being his partner, that will also likely be temporary. Liam once told me that Prince Kaiden already had someone he has given his heart to a long time ago. So I would advise you not to get too attached."
Shuu felt the color drain from his face, but he somehow managed to keep a smile on his face.
He already knew that the crown prince was just playing with him. But knowing and hearing this from someone else were entirely different things.
"Hmm, from the look on your face, it seems you were aware of this. Then, I won't say much more about this. I'm sure you will stay in your lane from here on."
Reina told him that just before Liam came back. He held a golden ID in his hand and gave Shuu a happy smile.
"Here, this is your new ID. I have updated it to make sure you won't be denied entry anywhere. So let me know if there is anything else you want me to do for you…is something wrong? What's with the mood in here?"
Liam told Shuu before he noticed the weird mood in the carriage.
Shuu just shook his head in a way that told Liam that he did not want to talk about it, and Reina pretended to have fallen asleep.
The tense atmosphere remained like this until Prince Kaiden came back. He had a dark air around him that made people flinch, and even Shuu felt scared.
But then the door of the carriage opened, and the crown prince's stress melted away and his mood changed.
He immediately crawled inside and went to Shuu's side before he wrapped his arms around Shuu.
"Shuu, I feel so exhausted. You are the only one who can help me relax. I should take you with me everywhere, honey."
Reina made a disgusted face while Liam just smiled tiredly at the display in front of him. Shuu felt speechless as well, but he did not break the hold the crown prince had on him.
After all, even though he knew that this was all fake, he could not help but hold on to it. This was all he was left with…
"We should leave now. From here on, our journey is officially starting."
Crown Prince Kaiden announced before the carriage took off.
Shuu felt too tired to keep his eyes open for long, so he closed them and quickly fell asleep.
__________
"Run…get away…"
The darkness was closing in around him once more. The world was burning before it was engulfed in flames.
It was…the same dream Shuu always had—the end of this world. It was a time where the gods of this world had already been swallowed by the darkness, and the humans were next.
"Hey, we don't have time to waste here. We need to run."
Someone grabbed Shuu's hand, and he looked up, expecting to see the nameless priest he always saw.
But the person holding onto him looked familiar.
'Reina…?'
He wanted to question her, but he had no time to do that. Before he knew it, he was following after her to try and get out of this mess.
"Liam is trying to buy us some time while Nero is…ugh, anyway, you need to get out and survive at all costs. Just go—!"
She yelled rudely, but it was warranted, given the situation.
What surprised Shuu was the fact that she was willing to even speak to him and help him out. He had not expected this of her.
"I—"
"Tsk, he caught up to us. This is bad. You need to run away now. Just keep going and do not look back. You need to keep this lie going or else…just go—"
Reina shoved Shuu, and he walked unsteadily before he looked back at her.
The darkness was starting to swallow her as well, and he wanted to go and help her out. But his feet had a mind of their own, and they kept moving him forward.
"Just…go…survive…"
Her words echoed in his mind, and he had never heard anything this clearly in the dream before.
The darkness was catching up, and there was nowhere else to go. It would swallow him as well, and—
'This is the end. I…will not be able to survive and get away…'
Shuu was swallowed by that darkness as well. The last thing he saw was the darkness taking form and someone's eyes looking down at him.