Prisoner of War Chapter 1: Felix and Sean

 

A Day in the Life of the Former Prisoner of War and His Interrogator

by Matthia

Novel Status in Country of Origin: Complete, 5 Chapters

Translator: Addis

Editor: UA

~~~~Brought to you by ExR~~~~

Chapter 1: Felix and Sean

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: UA

Felix continuously had the same nightmare.

He was back in the interrogation room, his hands tied behind his back in heavy fetters, his feet chained to an iron chair, and his thin cloth robe drenched. In the damp prison, he was barefoot on the stone floor, shivering with cold. The wounds on his knees were sutured to stop the bleeding, but the pain penetrated into the bone. The marks on his thighs and back were so red and swollen that he had to stretch his shoulders and stand on tiptoe to minimize contact with the chair.

Someone was talking outside the door. He vaguely heard a string of numbers, which were the numbers he was given when he was thrown into the dungeon. Those people also said ‘peace talks,’ ‘agreements,’ ‘Temple group intervention,’ ‘counting prisoners’ and so on. Then, the door creaked open and a familiar figure came in, the face he was most afraid of——

King Capital’s Knight Sean Clayson. He was tall and cold, with long pale gold hair tied at the back of his head, and his facial features were as delicate as those of an elf portrayed by a court painter.

When Felix saw Sean from a distance on the battlefield, he was impressed by the handsome knight. At that time, he could never have imagined that he would observe his face this closely every day in the dungeon of the Acropolis prison. For Felix, Sean’s face meant it was time for interrogation. After regaining his freedom, Felix often dreamt of dungeons, and Sean was always in the shadow of his nightmares.

Felix woke up from the nightmare again. He was lying on the soft bed, in silk pajamas, with a touch of lavender in this smoky gauze around his bed. Now he is safe and healthy, and his old wounds have healed.

Felix is a battle mage. He is modest and kind, good at long-range spells and disturbing enemy magic, soldiers always trusted him. If the cavalry’s charge is a sword to kill the enemy, then his magic is an invisible shield and silent fire.

Two years ago, Lord Rand, to whom he was loyal to, secretly summoned troops to recruit mercenaries and planned to assassinate the Queen of the Empire and seize the throne. The assassination failed, but the Lord did not give up. The civil war lasted about half a year. In one battle, Felix fell off the chariot and hurt his right leg badly. His comrades in arms were too busy to save him. He was outnumbered and had no way to escape. Finally, he was captured alive by the King’s knights.

Later, Lord Rand was defeated and died under the fallen Acropolis wall. The Lord’s wife and children led the army and surrendered to the king. As the war subsided, the original captives were released one by one, including Felix, who was repeatedly interrogated for his close relationship with the Lord.

Felix was no longer a prisoner. He lived in the Duke’s house and is a guest of honor to the Queen, the Prince, and the Duke. The master of the house, the Duke, was the nobleman, Sean.

Sean is the chief Knight of the Royal Army, the son of the former King’s mistress, and the half brother of the present King. Although he has many false names, he is not an aristocratic bureaucrat. He has great achievements in the war and is well-known. In the beautiful talk of bards, Sean is called the Great Silver Duke.

Felix has personally experienced the ferocity of the Silver Duke on the battlefield. Sean led the cavalry to charge, tearing the enemy formation apart. Felix fell from the broken chariot in confusion before he could finish casting. After that, he was in the Acropolis prison dungeon with that horrible memory. Felix was always afraid. If the war had not ended at that time and had the peace talks between the two armies not been successful, he might have died in the dungeon and never woken up from the darkness.

In the morning, the sun was shining on the bed, Felix rubbed his eyes and walked out of the bedroom. Outside the suite, the servant had prepared hot water for him to wash up. His room is very large and there is a servant room at the corner of the hall. The bedroom is on the left and the study, on the right, is bigger than the bedroom. The servants of the Duke’s house knew that they were not allowed to enter the mage’s study without permission, which was especially emphasized by Duke Sean.

But ‘no one in the study’ didn’t mean that no one was allowed in the hall. Now, for example, Lord Duke, Chief Knight Sean, was sitting on a velvet high back chair by the window of the hall, with a smile on his face, and gestures to the chair next to him for Felix to come and sit down.

This smile always gave Felix chills. Sean laughed the same way when he was being interrogated.

“Lord Duke, why are you here again?” The mage, still in his pajamas, did not move.

Sean took a sip of black tea with a smile on his face. “I have a good clock. You wake up at about this time every day.”

“I… want to have breakfast alone…”

Sean said, “I’ve had breakfast with you every day for a year, except when you or I am away. I will continue to do so in the future. Do you know why? Because if I don’t, you won’t remember to have breakfast. Come on, sit down.”

Felix stayed at the Duke’s residence because of the Queen’s pardon. The royal family pardoned Felix and symbolically made Sean a ‘watchman,’ leaving the mage in the Duke’s residence as a nominal prisoner. Other than this, Felix is quite free. He can wander around the city and buy any books and magic materials he needs. 

For nearly a year, Sean was the first person in Felix’s line of sight every morning. He may be carrying a strawberry jam cake, or he would be making tea by himself, or he would be holding a new set of ready-made clothes and asking Felix if he wanted to try it on right away. 

At first, Felix said in strong spirit, “My Lord, I’m still a prisoner. You don’t need to do this.”

As soon as he said that, Sean would rush to him, hold his hands tightly, stare at him seriously and say, “You are under duress, and you have lost a lot of things in the war. Now you are my guest and friend, please don’t mention the word ‘prisoner.”

Sean was right. Felix fought for Lord Rand at the beginning. There were some factors where he had been under duress… That’s not all.

Felix had a mage friend who had been arrested on suspicion of endangering innocent people with necromancy and held in Rand territory. Felix had a friendship with the Lord and wanted to save his friend using this relationship. However, the Lord used the life of the mage as a threat and made Felix, who did not want to get involved in the struggle for power, go to the battlefield and become the Lord’s weapon.

Finally, the Lord died and the war was lost. The necromancer friend had already died of illness in prison. Felix didn’t want to talk about his past at all. There’s nothing good in those memories. However, even if he didn’t want to talk, he couldn’t help saying what he said after he was captured. Thanks to the interrogation records, Duke Sean can now recite Felix’s story in full.

Sean always wanted to talk to him, but Felix didn’t want to. First, he doesn’t want to talk about the past; second, Sean is too fond of physical contact. He shakes hands and touches his shoulders and occasionally gives him a hug. Third, and most importantly, Felix always sees Sean in his nightmares, so he doesn’t want to face him during the day too. But Sean doesn’t know this. The more Felix avoids him, the more active he gets.

Sean’s various attitudes are summarized by Felix as ‘The hospitality of King’s capital.’

The King’s knight does not know magic and is not as firm as the knights in the temple. However, they have excellent weapons and are extremely powerful when fighting in groups. In daily life, they generally have a kind of arrogant desire to control and are alike to “I’m the Royal aristocrat”, which sounds seemingly elegant, to cover up the sense of arrogance. This current situation is called “the way to treat guests with the characteristics of a knight of King’s Capital.’

Felix was thinking, and Sean reached over and snapped his fingers in front of his face.

“Wake up, what’s the matter? Your eyes are out of focus. Are you uncomfortable?”

“No, I’m fine.” With his thoughts pulled back, Felix notices that Sean has stood up and walked to him. There was little distance between them, and Sean was reaching for his forehead. He doesn’t move. In fact, he freezes every time Sean approaches.

Felix didn’t have a fever. Sean nodded with satisfaction, gently took the mage’s shoulder, and brought him to the table, “Mn, come and eat something. Today, Ms. Holler made walnut cake. She is the best cook in my residence.”

Sean gently pressed the mage’s shoulder and sat him in the chair, leaving his palm on his shoulder for a long time. Sean does this on purpose as he hopes that his palm can provide warmth and support to the restrained mage. However, for Felix, Sean’s touch is like a smouldering iron. Even if it is gentle, it always brings burning pain that cannot be ignored.

Felix stiffly picks up the fork and slowly puts a bite of cake into his mouth. He was fond of sweets, and the cook, Holler, was really good at it, but he was still tense and had no idea what he was eating. As soon as he gets close to Sean, his brain will either empty or he will start daydreaming.

“After eating, go back to the bedroom and change clothes, okay?” Sean said, “Remember, we have to go to Acropolis in a carriage today, and when you’re ready, we’ll leave.”

It was a bit of a thrill for Felix to hear this. That’s where he used to be stationed.

Sean went on, “There’s a meeting there today, where a number of nobles and new Lords from your hometown will attend. The war left a lot of things to be discussed. Originally, we should have attended that meeting, but I helped you get out of it. We’ll only attend the banquet in the evening.”

“Lord Rand’s family…. Will they be there?” Felix asked.

“Some of them will. The innocent ones, of course. Do you want to see them?”

“No, I don’t want to.” Felix slowly stands up, carefully leaves Sean, and moves toward the bedroom. After being able to create a certain distance, he felt much better, and even his words were much clearer, “Do I have to go? They certainly don’t want to see me. After all, I am a… We were the losers. I’m your prisoner. To the people in my hometown, I am a traitor, which is extremely hateful…”

Sean chuckled, “You are my friend and one of the Queen’s envoys. If someone is against you… No, it would be disrespectful to me, even to Her Majesty. Don’t be afraid, no matter who it is, I will make him or her accept the punishment within a reasonable range.”

‘Punishment within a reasonable range’ was another sentence. When these words were combined, Felix was once again nailed to the ground by invisible forces. Sean told him that sentence in the interrogation room. Sean had counted the marks on his back and said, ‘It hurts, I know. This is reasonable punishment.’

The Duke put down his cutlery and straightened his clothes. “I’ll have you called in a moment. I’ll see you at the front door.”

Felix silently thanked the gods, and Sean went to the door with no more words.