The following day, Sun had arrived just as he stated. His hair returned to its messy state and was only fixed upon entering the room.

“Greetings Prince Aciel, Captain no, General Eden.”

“You may lift your head. Let us drop the formalities.”

“The late queen did talk about her son when she had a chance. While I did not expect us to meet this way, I apologise for my late greetings.”

“Do you know what has happened recently?” Eden cut to the chase.

“I have kept up with the coronation but may I ask for your side of the story?” Sun asked.

Eden gave a full recount with as little bias as possible but it was hard when the usuper was her former friend. Aciel bit his tongue and kept his head down. If he had any more strength, his hand would have started to bleed.

“Now I must ask for your assistance, I want justice for my father and for Zula to face justice.” Aciel spoke just as how he and Eden had spent the night preparing.

Sun pursed his lips before he spoke, “Your father was not someone I could see myself following. Your mother on the other side was someone I admired and promised new challenges that I could only experience if I followed her.”

The underlying message of Sun’s message to Aciel was simple, what do you offer? Realistically Aciel knew that he did not live up to his father’s legacy, let alone his mother’s. He was nothing but luckily Eden came up with an offer.

“A challenge.” Aciel said after a pause. Sun made a confused face that also asked for Aciel to continue. “I can offer a challenge, a chance to compete against one of the most capable people I know. Would that not be interesting?”

“I assume you are talking about Lady Zula?”

“She is the genius of our generation,” Eden complimented Zula. “What could be more interesting for a genius tactician than to compete against another genius?”

“As her former partner and I assume his current champion, do you believe in the outcome you are hoping for?” Sun asked.

“Until this ends I will bet everything, even my heart and soul.”

When he left the castle, Sun truly had no intention of returning. He had gone through a lot of effort in changing his appearance, notably with his hair colour and also his name.

“All I request is your assistance with Zula. Once that is finished, I will make sure you properly disappear if you wish so this time around. Please, I beg you.”

Sun held back a smile at Eden’s confidence and at the determined look on Aciel’s face. The scene was so similar to the one he had when he first met Queen Atian and Deputy Advisor Asari twelve years ago.

“A prince should not bow his head, especially to someone like me.”

“Ah.” Aciel straightened his posture.

“A competition against a genius and my freedom afterwards. I supposed this is interesting enough.” Aciel and Eden’s faces slowly changed from hopeful to joy after Sun said, “My name is Sun and it is my pleasure to serve you Prince Aciel.”

With a newfound motivation, Aciel slowly improved his sword fighting skills. Unlike his time at the palace, Aciel was able to hold his ground longer before he was knocked onto the ground. As Aciel continued to train, Sun continued to work at the shrine before they could continue with their following step, finding allies.

“Much better this time, but strengthen your wrists. After a rest, let’s go for a run to improve your stamina.”

The prince no longer looked as refined as he did back at the palace. Aciel returned to leaving his hair down to hide his identity as he could not keep a hood on during his training. His clothes were no longer made of fine materials. It was just the one casual outfit he had on the night of his escape and a second pair that was purchased recently. It was a miracle that they had consistent access to bathing.

Running was Aciel’s least favourite training session. His mind would always bring back memories of Zula’s betrayal. He was still processing that even if the nightmares had stopped. Aside from the mental struggle, running on the sloped terrain was physically challenging too. He would be five seconds into the run before his legs felt weighed down.

“For the last lap, take a sword. You’ve improved a lot, keep up the hard work.”

Eden’s compliments fueled Aciel. The prince managed to just catch the sword Eden tossed and headed down the hill.

“Last one, you can do it,” he chanted to himself.

Upon nearing the bottom of the hill, Aciel noticed two hooded figures sitting on a large rock. He figured them to be another set of merchants. When he changed his path to stray away from the two, one of them moved closer. Aciel tightened the grip on his sword and quickly sped down to the foot of the hill.

“I was told you were kidnapped but it seems like you are safe. Perhaps, instead of being kidnapped, you escaped instead?”

At first Aciel planned on ignoring the hooded figures, maybe even fight them if they continued to follow him. When the closer one moved a hand to their hood, Aciel’s hand was ready to draw his sword. But when the man revealed his face, Aciel almost tripped over his feet.

“Arthur?”

“So, why is the supposedly kidnapped prince running up and down my lands?” He offered a hand to help Aciel up.

The sound of an object cutting the air distracted the group before Aciel could answer. Arthur was unfazed by the sound but looked up anyway. His dark haired female companion jumped in front to deflect the thrown rocks with her sword.

“Step away from him Arthur.” Eden was behind the Lord of Au Inden with her sword by his neck. “Put the sword away Lyn.”

Arthur’s right hand, Lyn, sheathed her sword but continued to hold the grip.

“Slightly difficult with a sword against my neck Eden.”

“How did you find us?”

“My second in command notified me. Three men involved in a fight with local ruffians and a sword dance. It was a wild guess, but I felt lucky.”

Figuring out that the captivating sword style was from the Irie Family which meant it was Sun. Then leaping to the possibility of the supposedly kidnapped prince was the one who sought out Sun. The possibility that the correct conclusion was arrived at only made sense because it was Arthur who connected the dots.

“Now that it seems like you believe me,” Arthur casually broke out of Eden’s hold, “I believe we have a lot of catching up to do.”