Something touched his lips. It was a slightly soft and round something, and it smelled of herbs. Cassis was fairly certain he knew what it was the girl was feeding him. It was likely a medicinal pellet made from a concentration of various nutrients. They enabled whoever ate them to survive for up to three days without eating. He had taken a similar supplement before leaving to inspect his clan’s border.

The girl then examined the bowl on the floor. It was likely that since they had no intention of killing him yet, his jailers would stick a tray into his cell once a day. But the stinking, formless mush they seemed to presume could pass for food made him want to gag. Of course, that was beside the point since he would never willingly touch anything an Agrece offered him. Not even if it was manna from heaven.

“Why should I eat what you’re offering me?”

There was still plenty of wariness left in him; even toward the girl. He couldn’t afford to blindly trust anyone, not even her. It was true that her actions had been kind, if not mystifying, and that she seemed to genuinely wish to keep him alive...

But he wasn’t anywhere close to trusting her enough to swallow whatever she was offering. For one thing, he didn’t even know her name yet!

After a moment of silence, the girl said, “Well, if that’s how you feel, then you leave me no choice.”

Cassis caught something in the girl’s tone and began to stutter.

“J-J-Just a mom—”

Pow!

He was a second too late.

“Urgh!”

Once again, Cassis felt the same excruciating pain in his gut that he suffered the first time he met her. However, this time he did not collapse on impact. He supposed it may be due to his body finally being free of the toxins and therefore slightly stronger.

The girl seemed at a loss.

“Hmm... Maybe I didn’t punch you hard enough.”

“Is that supposed to be some sort of joke?!”

“Sorry, but I’ll need to hit you just one more time.”

Almost immediately he felt a searing pain pierce right through his midriff.

Why you rotten...

This time he did lose consciousness.

* * *

“Just what are you playing at?”

Cassis couldn’t help but be short with the girl during their next encounter. He was angry at her for knocking him out cold so casually, and felt the entire thing was rather absurd. She had done it not once, but twice! Or three times if the actual punches were being tallied.

“You left me no choice. You refused to eat what I brought you.”

Her voice was calm, almost like that of a school teacher lecturing an unruly child. But then Cassis realized that the tone in her voice was regretful even though her actual words were not.

“So you decided to knock me unconscious?”

“You did have the option of simply doing as I said.”

Cassis’s menacing gaze didn’t seem effective in making her cower even a bit.

“Well, truthfully, I think it’s wise to exercise caution. Even being suspicious of a kind stranger is a good call. Honestly, if anyone else offers you food here, you absolutely should refuse. I only say that because there’s no one else here you can trust harbors good intentions toward you.”

Just what is she? My punisher, or my nurse?

Trying to understand this girl seemed impossible to Cassis. Her voice still retained a girlish lilt, and her silhouette was on the smaller side, so he supposed she must be around his age or slightly younger. But both the way she spoke and behaved was far from what he would expect of someone so young. She had knocked him out cold twice, and even force-fed him something that proved to be helpful.

While he wasn’t willing to admit this to her, if he were to be truthful, he was feeling quite a lot better than he had before. Even at that very moment she was being exceptionally attentive in looking after him. Unlike when she punched him, her touch was as soft as velvet when she would check his injuries. All in all, she was an enigma.

Cassis clamped his mouth shut and stared hard in her direction. Not that he could make anything out clearly by doing so. Still, he supposed he might be able to sense the other person’s aura, or even their intentions, so he continued to gaze at her in silence. She seemed prepared to wait for Cassis to decide whether he could trust her or not. Then he finally opened his mouth slowly.

“Just tell me what you fed me this time. I can still taste some sort of medicine in my mouth.”

“It was a capsule containing pain relievers and antiviral medicine. I can’t treat your external wounds because the others might notice. This won’t go on for much longer. I’ll try my best to make you more comfortable soon.”

“And may I ask how you plan to go about doing that?”

The girl hadn’t hesitated to answer his question earlier, but she seemed uncertain now. Cassis was dying to know who she was, but had correctly surmised that she was unlikely to ever tell him, so he attempted a different approach.

“So you... think I may leave this dungeon alive, is that it?”

Even as he asked, he knew the hopelessness of his situation.

“Lante Agrece didn’t bring me all the way here just to spare my life, you know.”

Unless one were a complete buffoon, it would be impossible not to know the head Agrece’s true intention in abducting the Blue Heir. It was either a political maneuver to agitate the rival Pedelian clan, or a blind act of revenge for all the bad blood that flowed between them. Or perhaps it was both.

No matter the reason, Agrece was unlikely to let Cassis leave in one piece. Most likely because his return would almost certainly ignite an actual war. First of all, the Pedelians would never forgive the Agreces for an unprovoked attack. Nor could Cassis overlook the humiliation he had endured while imprisoned.

“Who told you that?”

The girl’s dissatisfaction was plain in her voice as she asked. She seemed to want to refute Cassis’s claim.

“Lante Agrece himself.”

“...”

His sarcasm was meant to rouse her from her naïveté. But she instead became quiet suddenly, so he couldn’t even hazard to guess what she was thinking. Just then Cassis found himself wondering what her expression might be. After a short while, he could hear a quiet, thin voice wavering as it said, “You are not going to die here. Because I—”

But the voice abruptly stopped speaking. The dungeon fell under a blanket of silence once again save for the sound of the two of them breathing. A sound could be heard in the distance, reverberating as if there was some sort of trouble outside. Cassis was certain the girl must have heard it as well for he felt a rapid movement, like someone turning their head quickly. Before he organize his thoughts, the girl was upon him.

“Here, eat this,” she said.

The texture against his lips suggested it was more medicine. Cassis did his best to concentrate on the face that was now so much closer to his own. His sight had improved some since the previous day, so he managed to make out the hazy outline of the girl’s figure. Perhaps it was only his imagination, but for a moment he thought they had locked eyes.

Cassis slowly opened his mouth. For the first time, he accepted what she gave him without any resistance. The medicine dissolved immediately, so he didn’t even need water. After he took the medicine, the girl remained in his cell. He had expected her to flee as soon as had swallowed it, but no. Could it be because of the noise outside?

Cassis concentrated all of his senses to the maximum, then asked, “Name.”

“Huh?”

“What... is your name?”

He couldn’t make out her identity, but he thought just maybe she might reveal her name. But still no answer. He was just about ready to give up, so chuckled as he said, “So it’s like that, huh?”

But then she whispered, “Roxana.”

“Roxana.”

Cassis repeated her name to himself silently until it was etched into his brain.

Roxana...

To him, her name was the dawn that lifted the curtain of perpetual darkness.