“Oh, my precious little boy!” my mother cried on the day of our departure, “I can’t believe they’re forcing you to leave us like this!”

“Mother, please!” I groaned, “No one is forcing me. I already told you that I volunteered to go. I’ll be fine.”

My mother hadn’t taken the news of my permanent departure well. When I first told her I’d been chosen to serve as Falyn’s guard, she was ready to storm the Palace and give poor Elantro a tongue-lashing the likes of which he’d never experienced.

Thankfully, I’d managed to stop her. But between the fits of crying, guilt trips, and endless pleas for me to reconsider, my mother had been a nightmare to deal with over the past few days.

Falyn had woken up the day after I secured my position as his potential guard. As I had predicted, he accepted my service. According to Elantro, he accepted as soon as he learned it was me who would follow him. I was relieved beyond words that I hadn’t misjudged things.

I was looking forward to it. Not just the part where I would finally escape the inner city of Luz Dorada, but the part where I’d be going with Falyn. 

Before I met him, I’d expected him to be a typical noble: proper, rigid, and painfully boring. Of all the noble houses, only the Shelfort duchy was tolerable, and even they were still stiff and obsessed with decorum. But Falyn was none of those things.

He effortlessly fit in with the beastmen, free of the confines of things like etiquette and noble duty. He had fought monsters, traveled the Beastlands, and wrestled with lions for fun. But above all that, he loved who he wanted to love, freely, openly, and without shame. He was living the life I’d always dreamed of. I knew his freedom had come at a heavy price, one I would never willingly pay, but I envied his position nonetheless.

A fortnight before Falyn's return to Vrayna, Elantro had announced that a group of knights would be going to the Beastlands to train with the tigers. It took a bit effort, but I had pestered Elantro until he agreed to let me join them. 

Originally, I would have only been gone for a few moon cycles, so my mother hadn't troubled me too much over it. She hadn't liked it, but it was something she could accept. After all, I would have come right back.

But now, I was leaving her for good. Actually, I could still come back to visit fairly often, but in her eyes, I was abandoning her. However, since she still had my dad and all seven of my siblings, I had a hard time feeling too bad about it.

I hugged her tightly as she cried. She was my mother, after all, so of course I would miss her. I was going to miss all of my family, as well as a lot of others.

None of them could understand why I chose this, and there was no way for me to explain my reasons without exposing the parts of myself I'd worked so hard to hide. In the end, they were happy and couldn't comprehend that I wasn't. They saw the city walls as their protection, but I saw them as my cage. They wanted this life. I didn't.

I had often wondered why I was born so different, why I couldn’t just be happy like they were. Perhaps this was why I preferred the company of the other knights. Whatever their reasons, they had chosen a life of duty over an easy life in the inner city. Of course, they were far too stern and unyielding for me to truly open up to them, but at least they offered something different from the insipid lifestyle of the Royal kin.

But still, it wasn’t enough. 

And that was why I was leaving and my mother was crying.

"I just don't understand," she gasped between sobs, "Why would you volunteer for something like this? How can you leave us behind? Are you sure they aren't forcing you? They're forcing you, aren't they?"

"Mother," I sighed, "There is no 'they.' I personally requested this assignment. We've been through this already. I love you. I'll miss you. But this is something I need to do."

"But... I don't want to lose my little boy," she replied, sniffling softly, "Evan, you're my baby, and I don't know how to handle this. I didn't stand in the way of you going on your little adventure, but you've only given me three days' notice that you're never coming back."

Her voice, so lost and small, broke my heart a little.

"I promise I'll come back," I assured her, "The village isn't even all that far away. The lion lands are right next to the borderland, so I'll only be a few days' travel from Shelfort and I'll visit whenever I can. I know you still see me as your little boy, but I'm a grown man now. Please try to understand that I'm doing this for me and not because I want to leave you."

After a few more tearful hugs, she finally released me. I said my goodbyes to the rest of my family, and then it was finally time to depart. It would be my first time leaving the sanctum of the inner city, but I was excited rather than nervous about whatever lay beyond.

The outer city was almost like entering another world. I’d never seen so many people in one place before. It was crowded and chaotic—everything I’d ever imagined and more. And despite what I had been led to believe, the common people seemed no different from those of higher birth. Just people trying to live their lives in peace.

Merchants lined the sidewalks, selling everything from spices to horseshoes. There were cafés as well, nothing like the calm, sophisticated spaces I'd visited before. These were loud and lively, filled with people eating a variety of rough, handmade pastries, sharing tables indiscriminately or simply standing at the counter. There were no waiters, no menus, and no sense of order at all.

I regretted that I didn't have time to go inside and order something, just for the novelty of doing so. However, our procession moved forward without showing signs of stopping.

The crowds that filled the streets parted before us, many staring in awe at the sight of their Crown Prince, who, for some reason, had decided to escort us. Not that I minded. Rather, I was glad he was taking the opportunity to get out of the Palace.

His personal maid, Amelie, walked alongside him, smiling and chatting merrily. With the way he looked at her, it amazed me that no one else seemed to notice how close they were. Or maybe it just looked that way to me because I already knew. Either way, he was being far too obvious in such a public setting.

Our jovial mood quickly soured as we entered the outskirts of the city, the so-called slums. I’d heard about the horrors of poverty and understood it in theory, but seeing it first hand was something else entirely. Skeleton-like figures covered with threadbare clothes stared at us with undisguised contempt. Our wealth, so very obvious and out of place, didn't inspire awe or envy like it did in the merchant district. Here, it inspired hate.

I couldn’t fault them for their anger or their hate. How could I? 

All this time, barely a movement’s walk from my own home, was this really how people were living? I was angry too. I felt like I'd been decieved by my upbringing. Suddenly, my luxurious clothes felt stifling, and my full belly churned uncomfortably. Everything about this was so wrong.

The tiger general, Rastari, watched Elantro intently as he took it all in, as if he’d been waiting for this moment. I had a feeling that this might be the reason that Elantro had come along; because Rastari had wanted him to see this. If that was the case, I couldn’t help but feel grateful to the general. We all needed to see this.

Rastari stepped closer and said something to Elantro in a low voice. I couldn’t hear what he said, nor could I hear Elantro’s response, but I didn’t miss the dejected look in his eyes. Rastari patted him on the back, both sympathetic and smug. I got the impression that Elantro had just passed some kind of test.