Inside the carriage, Dan sat in silence. Rafinya sat in silence. Everything was silent—there wasn’t even the sound of the horses’ whinny.
Only the clopping of hooves and moonlight leaking through the carriage windows.
However—
When Rafinya opened her eyes from a nap—head tilted against a cushion—the sight she saw was Dan Burn… staring out the carriage window.
He wasn’t watching the scenery.
He was watching the sky.
In his hand was that pocket notebook he always carried… and he was sketching.
“What are you doing?”
“Stargazing.”
“You… stargaze?”
“I’m interested.”
Dan flipped a page and kept drawing.
Cut to yesterday’s “Natural Studies” class.
Flip.
“Professor Selena.”
Princess Nora, sitting beside him, made a face like, “here we go…”
Because the student raising his hand—again—was Prince Fury, and she knew exactly what kind of person he was.
“No, no—go back and explain the previous board again. What do you mean waxing and waning come from the moon orbiting the earth?”
Back in the carriage.
“Why bother with trivial nonsense like that?”
“What’s trivial to some people isn’t to others.”
He looked at his finished sketch—Dan had drawn the moon in his notebook.
“I’ve been looking up my whole life. Only recently did I realize how much we truly know about the sky.”
“You’d be better off pouring your rare talent into what you do best.”
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Rafinya propped her chin in her hand, gazing into the dark roadside.
“Betraying your own honor and dignity just to learn numbers that calculate the motion of things that serve no use—that’s all it is.”
“And I’m going to study it.”
“Come again… did you not hear a single word I said?”
“Lady Casca is sponsoring me. I’m free to study whatever I want.”
Dan turned to a fresh page and kept writing.
“And I’m choosing Natural Studies.”
“Don’t be ridiculous!!!”
Rafinya banged on the carriage wall.
“Your level of ability—something everyone is fighting to recruit—and you’re going to spend it on that?! I refuse to accept it!”
“Miss Rafinya, you’re pretty narrow-minded.”
“Don’t talk like some jaded old man! Have you ever been on a battlefield?! Do you know how important an army is?!”
Then she froze… because she saw the corner of Dan’s mouth curve up.
He was still looking at his notebook, but that little smile—he was aiming it at her. He was amused at her childlike, “you don’t know anything” worldview.
“I won’t argue. What would I use to argue with a family that serves the crown?”
“Then what are you smiling at, Dan?!”
She knew from the time he knocked her off the stage that he was stronger. And treating her like a child only made it worse—infuriating, like he was belittling her.
“You’re overlooking something. The meaning of life matters too, I think.”
“I don’t get what you’re saying.”
“Fight through a thousand battles and you’ll understand.”
“Like you’ve done that—stop treating me like a kid!”
Dan closed his notebook. Rafinya turned.
“Almost…”
Cut—
“Uh? What are you doing to me?”
A black burlap hood went over Dan’s head.
“No one can know you came here.”
“Wouldn’t a hat be enough?”
“We can’t let you know where we live.”
“Tell me nicely and I’ll keep my eyes closed.”
“Just do it.”
…Great.
Cut again—he felt Rafinya’s soft hand guiding him through some place—what seemed like quarters prepared in advance.
When the hood slid off—
He found himself in a plain room. No windows. No idea if it was aboveground, below, left, right, or under something.
“News outside can’t find out you came.”
“You’re making it sound like a sports transfer.”
“It’s that important.”
Rafinya took the knob and opened the door.
“I’ll go change and come back. All you need to do is come with me and do what you came to do…”
With that, the door shut. Rafinya left Dan alone.
Or rather—she thought she’d left Dan “alone,” because…
“Their family gatherings are no small affair, Your Highness.”
From the “empty” air, the shadow of a demon beast slowly formed behind Dan.
We don’t see the full body yet. The shot frames Dan with a black, wolf-like silhouette behind him… before the shadow compresses with a crackle of blue lightning, summoned by a whistled tune.
A young man with ash-white hair tied in a topknot appeared.
ROMA.
“Tell me I’m not being played.”
“No, Your Highness. She brought you in through the manor’s secret way.”
You think after agreeing to go with Rafinya, Dan would risk coming alone?
No way.
Not happening.
He’d considered the odds beforehand. Rafinya might try some trick, given the family’s twisted thinking (Casca had warned him). So he took precautions—trusted his wife’s advice.
Roma came along. Which meant Rafinya hadn’t brought one—but two—into her den.
Invisibility would be useful here.
“If it were Casca’s invisibility, they’d have caught us at the gate. I’m lucky you were free.”
“If Your Highness calls, I come—even if I’m down to one arm.”
Roma could vanish naturally.
No trail. No tells.
“I know the shortest way out, if you need it.”
“No. As long as there’s no funny business, I’ll assume they’re just preventing leaks.”
Dan said, “Get outside and be ready.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Totti bowed, and the frame stayed on Dan adjusting his collar in the mirror. The background blurred, but we saw Totti shift into a Diablo beast… and then vanish out the door.
Not long after, while Dan was reading a book by Darwin C., a knock came.
He closed the book and slipped it into his satchel. The door opened.
Rafinya appeared—in a look he’d never seen. The tomboy was wearing a black corset, set off by the fiery red streak in her asymmetrically long hair.
Just a touch of makeup—most of it was the natural beauty that was Rafinya…
It made Prince Fury stare longer than was proper.
If Nora’s beauty was “held back” by her stoic face, then Rafinya’s was framed by a permanent scowl.
He shook his head and refocused.
“You’re ready?”
“Let’s go.”