The Nightingale
Chapter 17: Once upon a time...
Winter/January 5 - Year x492.
Once upon a time there was a little orange haired prince whose only mistake was being born after a bastard.
That should not be a problem, since ancient times there were bastards who were children of the crown prince or the king, they were born from some adventure or from some Inamorata who had been too lucky to have become pregnant with the Crown Prince.
The bastards were never recognized by the king and, at best, they were Army Generals by showing that they were really good at what they did.
The Bastards were free, they led a comfortable life because the king gave them a monthly allowance throughout their lives, they lived as they wanted and died as soldiers; but the bastard who was born before our little prince wasn't just any bastard.
Kaien was the son of a foreign woman, Prince Isshin rescued her on a hunting party, she was incredibly beautiful, with black eyes and hair even blacker than night, so long that it reached her hips and so straight that it seemed a curtain.
The prince, despite the fact that he had formalized his engagement with the princess of Vayalat, fell prey to the charm of that foreign woman; so enthralled was he with that woman that he was about to break the engagement with the princess of Vayalat but the wise king prevented him.
— First you come to me saying that you are really in love with the princess of Vayalat, you insisted so much on marrying her that we formalized the union, and now you tell me that you are deeply in love with that woman. No. I will not consent to the breaking of that commitment, the word of a man is law and you have given your word.
The king had been adamant and the marriage took place in the summer of that year; it was a great feast, worthy of the king's only living son.
But the mistress did not leave the castle and when she became pregnant with Prince Isshin's first child it was really obvious that the woman would stay there permanently. Prince Isshin asked that his son be recognized as his but the king did not allow the child to be legitimized, he allowed him to stay in the palace but he would not be part of the family, he would be just another bastard.
The princess was deeply offended and the encounters between her and the prince's lover were so tense that it seemed that each of them was waiting for the moment to kill the other; the rumor that the princess was sterile spread very quickly as she did not become pregnant in the first year of marriage.
Until one day Prince Isshin's mistress turned up dead. The reason was too obvious: she had fallen off the cliff and was killed by the blow to the head; she was found on the stones and, although she had been Prince Isshin's mistress, he did not mourn her death. It was as if all the charm Prince Isshin had felt for the foreign woman had vanished along with her life.
On the night of that woman's funeral, the little prince was conceived.
All rumors of the princess's sterility were silenced when her pregnancy was known and even though the prince was happy with his new son when he was born, he felt more affection for the little bastard who had been orphaned. The princess did not care about that detail, she knew that her son would be the heir to the throne and future king; the bastard was no problem.
Our little prince grew old enough to run around the castle alone, his grandparents adored him and he was charming; the little prince was spoiled and the bastard, who was older than him, began to notice the abysmal differences between them and Kaien's jealousy began to grow with each passing day.
The first time Ichigo witnessed death was when he found his grandfather dead in the king's private office; he was still a little prince but he was scared to see the king lying on the floor with his blood coming out of his mouth. It was a sad death, the king was ill and that illness was what killed him.
After the funeral of the old king and the period of mourning, Isshin was crowned as the new king and his first decree was to legitimize his bastard son so that he would lack nothing, all under the promise of making him the Second Prince when he finished his education. It was something that had never happened, the first time a king did that and, although it should be an insult to the new queen, it was not; the queen was pregnant again and she hoped to give him a male child so that the bastard could not be the Second Prince.
But it didn't happen, Ichigo's twin sisters were born and that only made Kaien's future more and more clear. The queen raised Kaien and although he was not her son she treated him as well as she could, all so that the jealousy that Kaien might feel for her son would not make him be able to betray him when Ichigo came to the throne.
The second time Ichigo witnessed death, it was not a physical death and there was no corpse to mourn; that death was emotional and happened so slowly that it was extremely painful; that death took everything it touched.
That day Kaien had suggested to Ichigo that they should visit his father, go see him at the Dome to ask him to eat with them but when they arrived he was not there, the room was empty but there were many scrolls and maps on the table. Ichigo stared spellbound at the scrolls on the table, he understood that they were a representation of the lands they had and that the small figures that were spread out on those maps represented the soldiers.
Ichigo was concentrating looking at the maps, trying not to touch anything that when Kaien took one of the maps and tore it in two in front of Ichigo, the little prince walked away from the table completely scared.
— Ichigo! What have you done? — Kaien asked with the torn map in his hands before handing it to the little prince. — Father is going to scold you.
Ichigo couldn't say something because at that moment his father was entering the Dome. Kaien immediately started saying what had happened, that he had tried to stop him from entering the Dome and that Ichigo had broken the map by holding it wrong. The little prince tried to defend himself but his father was not listening to him.
— Enough Ichigo! Stop telling lies and trying to blame your older brother for your mistakes. — He yelled at him but Ichigo kept trying to defend himself from Kaien's lies. — Enough!
The blow of the king's hand on Ichigo's cheek sounded in the room, it had been so loud that the little prince fell to the floor. His cheek reddened, his father's hand was marked on his skin and the taste of blood was felt inside his mouth.
— Get up and apologize to your brother. You are a prince and you must know how to recognize your mistakes so ask your older brother for forgiveness. — The king ordered and Ichigo got up from the floor.
His gaze was lowered, hiding the tears that gathered in his eyes and that he refused to shed; his cheek ached and he felt it throb with pain.
— Forgive me, big brother. Forgive me, your Majesty. — His voice sounded cracked and he had to make a greater effort to bow to the king before leaving.
He didn't go to his mother's room, he didn't go to his classes, and he didn't do anything he used to do in the afternoons; after leaving the Dome he had gone to his room and locked himself there, without leaving and thinking about what had happened in the Dome and the way Kaien had tricked him and made him look like a guilty.
His mother went to see him, worried that she had not seen him all day and when she found him, he was in a corner, curled up and asleep. Seeing his face, seeing the blow and the blood coming out of his mouth, along with the fever he had at the time, she immediately took him to the doctor. What was happening to him was obvious, he had been hit so hard that even one of his teeth had moved loose.
That was too much for the queen, whoever had dared to beat her son in that way had to be beheaded, it was an attack on the crown, but when she went to speak to the king, what he said left her speechless; when she could react, it was as if the fury of a hurricane had been unleashed in that room.
— You doubted your son! — She yelled at him, pointing an accusing finger at him. — You believed a bastard!
— He's not a bastard! He is my son too! — The queen's anger provoked the king's anger and he raised his hand in reflex to hit her.
— Do it! Hit me! Hit me like you hit my son because of that bastard! — The queen showed no fear and the king moved away from her so as not to hit her.
— Kuvar is attacking one of the borders; that map was important and Ichigo tore it up.
— Important enough to hit your kid? I don't believe you. — The queen took the war crown and threw it at the king, the crown fell to the floor and various gems were scattered on the floor. — If war worries you, I'll give you reason to fear it.
— Think carefully what you are going to say, Masaki. — The king warned seeing the queen's fury.
— I don't need to think it. — She responded defiantly. — I'm going to Vayalat and I'm taking my children with me. If your beloved bastard is so important to you, we have nothing to do here and don't you dare stop me, you know perfectly well who I am and what I am capable of.
— Don't you dare leave the castle, if you go I won't go for you, Masaki. — He threatened her by grabbing her arm. Masaki released herself from his grasp.
— I don't want you to go get me, I want a divorce. I loved you, Isshin, but you have trampled me so hard that you have left nothing to rescue; you hit our son and that was the last I could bear. I want a divorce and I want my due for having been the queen and for having given a prince and two princesses, if I don't have it, then I will take it by force.
Masaki left the castle that night along with her children and her personal guards but Isshin did not follow her. The little prince had a fever throughout the trip and Masaki feared that Ichigo would die before reaching the kingdom of his father but the Deities took care of him; Ichigo survived the trip and upon reaching Vayalat one of the king's doctors checked him.
He was in bed for several days until he recovered, he lost his tooth but the doctors had assured that a new tooth would grow and the blow on his face had remained only as a purple spot that was removed every day a little more. His mother was always talking to his grandfather, and when he was finally able to get out of bed and walk around the castle, he spied on one of the talks his mother had with his grandfather. He didn't understand anything he heard but he knew who could explain it to him.
— Uncle, what is divorce? — He had asked his uncle while they were walking on the beach. His uncle was always with him in the afternoons.
— That's a dangerous word, where did you hear it? — His uncle had put down his fan to pay attention to what the little prince was saying; that was a gesture that Ichigo would always cherish from that day on.
— The other day I heard behind my grandfather's door and my mother said that she wanted a divorce. Is it a meal? — He asked with that innocence of a child. His uncle smiled and took his hand as they walked together in the sand.
— It's not okay for you to listen behind doors. — He chided him gently. — But no, it's not a meal, little prince. You see, "divorce" is the breakdown of a marriage. When a couple no longer loves each other or feels that their paths do not lead to the same place and they feel that they can no longer fix their problems, then a divorce is requested. The couple separates and each one lives their life separately.
Ichigo was still holding his uncle's hand as they walked and tightened his grip a bit before saying something that came to mind.
— Does my mom no longer want to be with my dad? — He asked a little confused because he did not yet fully understand that new concept.
— I have no way of knowing, maybe she's just upset about something your dad did. I think before she thinks of those things, she should talk to your father. Do you want us to go back to the castle? Your little sisters must have already woken up from their afternoon nap.
Ichigo didn't fully understand that talk until a few years later, when his mind was no longer so childish but at that moment he was confused and a bit overwhelmed; he talked to his uncle whenever he could and his uncle always looked for ways to entertain him but Ichigo got bored in the castle, he wanted to go home and be in his bed, he had no friends there and he didn't go to school.
One day he saw that a lot of boys and girls came to the castle, some were very dirty and with old and torn clothes; he was curious about them and came down to see them up close with that curiosity of a child. A guard was sorting them into various groups and then sending each of them to a different location; all this was so new to him that he became more and more curious until one day he saw one of the groups of children training like soldiers did and wanted to do the same.
His uncle gave him permission to train with the orphan children and by the time his father arrived in Vayalat, Ichigo could already endure a full day of training without passing out from the pain. That day Ichigo took a bath and changed his clothes to be in front of his father; his father hugged him and gave him a kiss on the head, that made him feel happy but when he asked her if he believed that he had not broken the war map, his father's answer surprised him.
— Don't insult your older brother by calling him a liar. — That broke Ichigo's little heart.
— Sorry father, it was my fault. — He said at the end, apologizing for something he hadn't done. He only resisted until his father went to talk to his grandfather to run away from there.
He did not notice his path, he was so sad that tears blurred his vision and he collided with someone. The voice of his uncle only made him hug him tightly and cry like the little boy he still was.
— Come on little prince, cry all you have to cry. Your Uncle Kisuke is here for you. — He told him as he carried him and let him hold him and cry on his shoulder.
That was the second time Ichigo witnessed a death, the death of a part of him, it was also the last time Ichigo cried. He did not cry when his mother returned to Avanta with her little sisters, he did not cry when his father said goodbye to him and he didn't cry when he saw his friends die one by one in the training they had joined.
He had felt despair but never at the level of crying again and he had learned to lie, to make his face not reflect his true emotions so as not to be discovered. Of that innocent and charming child who had come to Vayalat, only the memory remained.
Ichigo was still charming when he wanted to be, he had a smile that he rarely showed and enviable manners but he was also a killer. He had trained for that and had shown his skills when required, he knew how to fight hand to hand and knew how to use various types of weapons; however he could not kill his brother without being convicted of fratricide.
— In the kitchens is Hanataro, I told him to prepare food for ten people. — Ichigo said that as he left the training weapons in the weapons room with his friends.
He was training them despite it being winter, his friends were rookies and he had chosen them as his personal guard. He did not trust the castle soldiers because he knew perfectly well that the soldiers were still Kaien's, their loyalty remained with his brother.
If he thought about it assertively, Kaien had done him a favor by breaking that war map, it had allowed him to learn things that were only learned where he had been unlike Kaien who had never left the castle beyond the campaigns to which he had accompanied his father.
— Excellent because I feel like I could eat an elephant. — Renji said with a smile.
— You have never seen an elephant. — Uryu pointed a finger at him for that lie.
— I have never seen an elephant but I know it is huge. — Renji spread his arms to simulate immensity. — And that's how great my hunger is.
— Elephants are so large that the ground rumbles when they walk and can carry two people on their backs. They are so big that one of their legs could crush your head like an orange. — Ichigo explained as they entered the kitchen.
— I'm not even going to ask how you know that. You must have one as a pet at Vayalat Palace. — Renji looked at him with narrowed eyes.
— Nope, mercenaries use them as weapons, put gigantic armor on them and ride on them to destroy enemies' siege weapons.
— The more you tell us about the mercenaries, the more I want to join them. — Renji was too interested in that.
— I fear for the day when you join the mercenaries and eat their elephants. — Uryu scoffed. Renji was about to hit him but Ichigo's voice stopped them.
— If you want to join them, I could send a letter to the leader of the mercenaries, he may try to kill you when he might see you but if you survive he will let you to join them. — Ichigo assured sitting down to eat what Hanataro served them.
— Did you survive his attempted murder? — Renji asked with a chicken leg in hand.
— No, I beat him.
Thank you for reading.