The deputy beside him heard his words, turned, and seized him by the collar, demanding:
"What did you say? Sir Brian! His Highness has returned?!"
Brian wiped the blood from the arrow graze on his cheek, pulled the deputy's hand away from his collar, and said with certainty:
"It was definitely His Highness. There is no way I could mistake his face."
Disbelief filled the deputy's face as he protested:
"No! Impossible! If that really is His Highness, why is he standing against His Majesty?!"
Yes.
His Highness was the sole heir to the throne.
But now...
Why was His Highness standing against His Majesty?
Why had His Highness become His Majesty's enemy?
"...Father is no longer a wise ruler."
Brian suddenly remembered nineteen years ago.
Those were the words the young prince, only seven years old, had spoken before leaping off the cliff.
He could not help remembering the king of old.
He had fought alongside his soldiers and laughed alongside his people.
But...
What of His Majesty now?
Ah, so that was it, Your Highness Sovell.
Brian watched the silver-white figure receding into the distance and gave a self-mocking smile.
He had once believed that the king had brought in the Saxons to enlist their aid in unifying Britain.
Even if that meant sacrificing many of his people.
It was not as though he had never seen that blood-soaked valley nineteen years ago.
Quite the opposite. Standing at the very top, he had seen the horrific state of the dead with perfect clarity.
Back then, he had still believed that all of it was done to unify Britain-
A necessary sacrifice.
Yet after all those countless sacrifices, His Highness Sovell had chosen to flee.
His Highness, cleverer than other children, could not possibly