MDL | Chapter 1.7

A cold, ominous wind blew fiercely from the depths of the forest they had left behind. The Prince’s long, lustrous black hair was tousled by the gust. With one hand, he swept his hair back and glared at the flag of the palace towering in the distance. Today, the flag was adorned with far more elaborate golden threads than usual to commemorate the Prince’s birthday, but in a world riddled with holes like moth-eaten fabric, it felt no more majestic than a child’s toy.

“I am the Prince you’re looking for,” the Prince declared.

“What?” the Princess asked, as if to say, What nonsense are you spouting?

“But you’re not asleep. The Prince I’m looking for is supposed to be asleep.”

“I was supposed to be,” the Prince replied, his voice laced with quiet anger and scorn.

“But I’m not.”

Who was this anger and scorn directed at? The evil wizard? Fate? This damnable situation? Or perhaps himself?

I’m not the Prince, so I can’t say for sure.

“What do you mean?” the Princess asked.

The Prince didn’t answer. Instead, he stared at her with his deep, swamp-like green eyes, observing her fiery red hair and lion-hearted gaze with a strange, unfamiliar intensity.

…Yes, that’s right.

The Prince remembers.

The Princess. In his past life, and the life before that, and the life before that, in all the countless lives he’s lived, the Princess who came to save him each time. Unafraid of the thorns that scratched her delicate skin, she woke him time and time again with a sweet kiss. The Prince slipped a ring embedded with the tear of a unicorn onto her slender finger and swore an oath of eternal love. Time and time again, they lived happily in love.

The Prince remembers all those kisses, all those vows of love, all that happiness, all those repetitions.

If he remembers, can’t he love her again even without the sweet kisses and vows of love? With only the memories of lives that are his but not his?

But the Prince’s gaze as he observed the Princess was cold and dry. Offended by his brazen stare, the Princess lifted her chin and glared back at him.

It was around this time, as they stood in tense confrontation, that someone called out to the Prince from below a small hill.

“Your Highness! Prince!”

A man came running, riding a horse with a sword drawn in one hand. He wore armor emblazoned with the Kingdom’s crest.

“Your Highness!”

Yes, dear readers. Do you remember the Captain of the Guards who appeared earlier? The brave Captain who stood his ground before the Prince and spoke his mind?

It was him.

The Captain slid off his horse and knelt before the Prince. Though he seemed to have aged fifty years in the short time since the disaster began, the knightly resolve in his eyes remained undimmed. He looked at the Prince with tears of emotion.

“You’ve truly escaped the curse! Thank the gods!”

…Well, given the current situation, thanking the gods might be premature.

“Your Highness! Good heavens! Gods above! Your Highness! Is it really you?”

Another knight came galloping up, shouting loudly. It was Knight Zig, the bumbling knight who had tried to stop the Prince from running away and ended up shooting an arrow at him. In his haste to stop his horse, Zig let out a yelp and tumbled off its back.

The embarrassment was solely the Captain’s burden… because Knight Zig, upon seeing the stunning beauty standing beside the Prince—a woman he had never seen before—forgot the pain in his backside and stared at her with wide eyes. He had no time to feel ashamed.

“W-w-w-w-who is this l-l-lady beside you, Your Highness?”

Oh dear, he even stuttered. The Captain pressed a hand to his forehead, his expression grim. Knight Zig didn’t notice.

“She’s a princess from a neighboring kingdom,” the Prince answered.

“Which neighboring kingdom?” the Captain asked.

“I don’t know,” the Prince said.

The Princess, annoyed, opened her mouth to explain which kingdom she was from. But then she frowned, confused. She had clearly come from a neighboring kingdom after hearing rumors of the cursed Prince… but even she couldn’t name this “neighboring kingdom.” Hmm, well, where exactly was this “neighboring kingdom”? What was its name?

Haha.

Have you figured it out?

Yes, dear readers. We don’t even know the name of this small, peaceful Kingdom. It’s just the “small, peaceful Kingdom.” The Prince is just the “Prince,” the Princess is just the “Princess,” and the Captain is just the “Captain.” The wizard is just the “wizard.” Only Knight Zig has a name. Well, that’s just the author’s whimsy.

Only what is written exists. By this pen.

So what about what isn’t written?

It doesn’t exist. And because it doesn’t exist, it’s only natural that the characters can’t figure it out no matter how hard they try.

The Prince, the Princess, the Captain, and Knight Zig were all enveloped in a strange, uncomfortable sensation.

“…Your Highness, for now,” the Captain broke the awkward silence, “let’s return to the palace. His Majesty desperately needs you. And right now, the palace is the safest place. Princess, you should come as well. Knight Zig and I will guard you both with our lives.”

As he spoke, the Captain glanced gloomily at the crumbling, disintegrating world around them.

“What do you say, Princess?” the Prince asked.

“If you’d rather not, you can go back into the forest and retrace your steps.”

But hadn’t the Princess already gotten lost in the forest and stumbled upon the Prince? She chewed her lower lip, deep in thought. Fortunately, she was quick to make decisions.

“Even if I go back now, I can’t guarantee I’ll return safely to my kingdom. I’ll stay in this land until things calm down a bit.”

Hearing her answer, the Prince nodded to the Captain. The Captain immediately mounted his horse and charged ahead with terrifying determination, boldly swinging his sword at the strange monsters creeping toward them one by one. Of course, as you’ve seen through the wizard’s eyes, these monsters devour even human weapons. But at this point, there were only about ten of them roaming around, and they themselves seemed unsure of what they could and couldn’t do. It’s not the most fitting analogy, but they were like newborn predators. So, cowed by the Captain’s ferocity, they merely circled around the group, hesitant to attack.

Thanks to the Captain leading the charge, the Prince and Princess were able to ride swiftly. Knight Zig guarded the rear. But their unimpeded advance didn’t last long.

A black hole suddenly opened up in front of the Captain’s galloping horse!

Without any warning, a hole large enough for several men to pass through appeared. The Captain yanked on the reins, but it was too late. The black void, as dark as the deepest night after the silver moon has set, spread out right before his eyes. Inside it was nothing. Literally, a void.

“…!”

If he hadn’t jumped off his horse in a burst of quick reflexes, the Captain would have plunged into it—just like his beloved steed.

 The horse, a companion who had weathered countless hardships with the Captain, was like a friend to him. The poor beast let out a terrified scream, but unable to overcome its own momentum, it galloped into the black hole—into the world of nothingness beyond. The Captain’s eyes reddened. His palms grew damp with cold sweat, and his face turned as pale as a corpse. The terror and grief of facing “nothingness” head-on overwhelmed him. But there was no time to linger.

From the seemingly empty void inside the hole, a black creature with two arms and two legs began to crawl out slowly.

It was enormous. As if unable to support its own weight, it first used its hands to pull one leg out of the hole, then repeated the process with the other leg.

It opened its maw wide.

Uuuuuuuuuu!

If I were to transcribe the sound it made, it would look something like that. Though I’m not sure if it can even be called a sound. It was less like the voice of a living creature and more like the vibration of air, an echo without an origin, a conceptual noise.

“Uuuuuugh!”

Was it fear that choked him? The Captain screamed as if reflecting the resonance of the monster’s sound. Then, with all his might, he plunged his sword into the creature’s torso, somewhere around the ribcage.

The monster slowly lowered its head.

It looked at the sword embedded in its body and at the Captain.

Huff, huff… The Captain’s heavy breathing echoed.

The monster tilted its head to one side, then fully turned its body toward the Captain.

“D-damn it…! Damn it all!”

The Captain tried to pull his sword out of the monster’s body. His hands, slick with sweat, made it difficult. But even if he had been perfectly calm, he wouldn’t have been able to pull it out.

As the monster drew closer to the Captain, the sword dug deeper into its flesh, but it didn’t seem to care. If the sword had fully pierced through, the sharp tip should have emerged from the other side of its torso, but nothing appeared. The Captain felt as if the blade was being sucked in somewhere. It was as if something inside the monster’s body was tugging at the sword, playing a game of tug-of-war.

Indeed, the Captain’s hands gripping the hilt were being pulled closer and closer to the monster’s torso. If he didn’t let go and run immediately, he would surely be absorbed! But the Captain couldn’t release the sword. He tried, but his body wouldn’t obey.

The monster opened its maw wide again.

Uuuuuuuuuu!

A beam of white light shot down like a blade into the monster’s gaping mouth. Startled, the Captain lost his grip on the sword. He tumbled backward and collapsed. A curtain of beautiful, raven-black hair spread before his eyes. A long cloak fluttered.

It was the Prince.

The Prince pulled out the sword he had thrust deep into the monster’s throat. The monster began to thrash violently, flailing its limbs and twisting its body in all directions. It seemed to be in pain, screaming a soundless scream. With each thrash, the Captain’s sword, still embedded in its torso, was slowly swallowed into its flesh. The Captain exhaled sharply. If he had held onto the sword any longer, he too would have been absorbed by the monster.

The writhing monster turned its head toward the Prince. It opened its maw wide enough to engulf the Prince’s entire face, ready to swallow him whole.

“…Your Highness!”

The Captain, finally regaining his senses, called out desperately to the Prince. He scrambled to his feet and reached for the sword at his waist, but alas—his sword was already inside the monster.

The Prince tilted his blade horizontally and held it before his forehead. The monster lunged at the Prince’s head, its maw wide open. The void beyond its throat was visible. The Captain couldn’t bear to look again and shut his eyes tightly. Inside the monster’s maw, beyond its throat, there was… nothing. Emptiness. The “nothingness” inside the monster was the same as the void that had suddenly appeared in the world.

The Prince saw it too.

The “nothingness” churning above him, ready to swallow him whole.

The Prince’s eyes blurred with confusion. Was his soul, like the Captain’s, being overwhelmed by this abyss? The Princess and Knight Zig could only watch in fearful silence.

But the Prince’s sword…

The blade glowed white.

It wasn’t as bright as the flash of light when it had pierced the monster’s maw earlier, but it was enough to draw the Prince’s attention away from the black “nothingness” at the edge of the void. The sharpness returned to the Prince’s eyes, which had been unfocused like a drunkard’s.

“Your Highness! Above you!”

Knight Zig shouted.

The monster was moments away from swallowing the Prince’s head. The Prince didn’t dodge. It was too late for that. Instead, he crouched low, as if preparing to leap into the monster’s maw, then pushed off the ground with his legs.

“Good heavens!”

The Princess gasped. It was unclear whether she was marveling at the Prince’s recklessness or simply dumbfounded.

The Prince thrust his upper body into the monster’s maw. Though the black void churned inside its throat, the Prince no longer felt confusion or fear. In his hand was a sword glowing white like frost at dawn. The Prince drove the blade into the soft flesh on the left side of the monster’s maw. Contrary to its appearance, the monster’s insides were incredibly tender and soft. The Prince swung the sword. The monster, in pain, thrashed wildly, still holding the Prince in its mouth. It gagged, trying to expel the foreign object lodged inside. But just before the Prince’s tunic was stained by the monster’s dark vomit, he managed to slice a long gash across its left cheek. It was as easy as cutting through pudding.

…Yes, the texture… haha, it was just like pudding.

Using what he assumed was the monster’s jaw as a foothold, the Prince pushed himself up with all his strength. He performed a graceful backflip in midair and landed safely on the ground.

“Your Highness! Are you all right, Your Highness…?”

The Captain rushed over, brushing himself off. But the Prince shoved him aside as if brushing off a nuisance, leveled his sword, and charged at the monster.

Thunk. The Prince’s sword pierced the monster’s torso. It was the same spot where the Captain had stabbed it earlier.

Something miraculous happened.

The monster’s body began to melt, losing its form like sticky tar.

The sword embedded in the monster’s torso glowed brighter and brighter, humming and vibrating on its own. The monster wasn’t just melting—it was being sucked in. Into the Prince’s sword… The creature that had devoured everything was now being devoured by the mystical blade.

The Prince…

……

……

But the Prince looked strangely troubled. Like the Captain earlier, it seemed he wanted to let go of the sword but couldn’t. His delicate face contorted faintly.

The sword consumed the melted black monster completely. Not a single drop remained—it was insatiable.

Clang!

The Prince dropped the sword. He staggered, then finally fell to his knees. The Captain, the Princess, and Knight Zig rushed to him. The Captain supported the Prince and asked, “Your Highness! Are you all right?”

“My back…”

“What?”

A few beads of cold sweat formed on the Prince’s temples. His back? A person’s back? What was the Prince trying to say? Everyone looked at him in confusion, waiting for him to continue. But the Prince shook his head and, refusing even the Captain’s support, stood up on his own.

“No, I’m fine.”

The Prince looked at the magic sword lying on the ground. Once it left his grasp, it stopped glowing, appearing as an ordinary greatsword. The Prince raised his gaze. He saw the growing cracks in the world and the black monsters pouring out of them. When there were only about ten of them wandering around, they hadn’t seemed like much of a threat, but the situation had changed. The monsters had learned what they were capable of—just as they had devoured the Captain’s sword. The Kingdom’s citizens had come out with pitchforks and sickles, trying to drive the monsters away, but it was no use. Everything, absolutely everything, was being consumed. Screams and wails filled the air.

As the Prince surveyed the scene, he bent down. He picked up the magic sword that had just devoured one of the black monsters. The moment his hand touched it, the sword began to emit a radiant light, bright as moonlight.

The Captain, unable to understand what the Prince was thinking, wore an uneasy expression. Come to think of it, the usually composed Prince had been acting strangely all day. Running away on the day of his birthday celebration was hardly normal behavior.

“You, escort the Princess into the palace.”

“And you, Your Highness?”

“I will stay outside the castle walls and help the citizens escape.”

The Captain’s uneasy premonition was coming true.

“That’s out of the question! Your Highness, you must show yourself safe and sound so His Majesty the King can regain his composure.”

There was a desperate edge to the Captain’s words. Though he couldn’t bring himself to say it in front of the foreign Princess, it seemed there was a pressing reason why the Prince needed to reassure the King.

“Didn’t you just experience it yourself? This sword is the only thing that can kill those monsters.”

“But you know how His Majesty is…”

Conscious of the Princess’s presence, the Captain clenched his teeth.

“His Majesty has fallen ill from the stress of the curse placed on you…”

“I’m well aware.”

The Prince cut him off, as if there was no need to hear more.

“Has His Majesty ever been in his right mind?”

The Captain bowed his head somberly. Knight Zig, not daring to intervene, busied himself counting the specks of dirt on the toes of his boots.

“…I have a question.”

But the Princess was different. She was, after all… a Princess.

“Will we really be safe inside the palace? This isn’t an invasion or a natural disaster. It’s something completely different from anything we’ve ever known. It’s like magic… yes, perhaps we should ask the wizards. What I’m trying to say is, are we really safe from this calamity just by being inside the palace? Look! The void is splitting open everywhere… Do you think the air inside the palace is any different from the air out here?”

“That’s… I’m sorry, Princess. I don’t know.”

The Captain, in fact, had no idea what the situation inside the palace was like. He had rushed out on horseback to find the Prince as soon as the anomaly occurred.

“Then the palace might be even more dangerous than out here. At least out here, there are many ways to escape since the area is wide open.”

“Then what do you suggest, Princess?”

The Captain asked in a deflated voice.

“I’ll help evacuate the people. First, gather everyone in one place. Then, your knights can lure the monsters away to buy time. Even if your weapons are useless, you’re still knights—you’re much faster on your feet than ordinary citizens. That way, the Prince won’t have as many obstacles when wielding that sword.”

After stating her opinion, the Princess looked at the Prince as if seeking his agreement. The Prince gave her a slight nod.

“Thank you for your cooperation. Then.”

With that curt remark, the Prince leaped onto his horse and galloped alone into the heart of the chaos.

“Come on, come on! Let’s move! Gather the people near the moat!”

The Princess began urging the dazed Captain to rally the citizens outside the castle walls.

……

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