When Nouvel was eight years old, he decided he was going to be a knight in shining armor when he grew up after watching the victory parade led by Emperor Cedrick Leif Elaine at that time. So, he told his father, Duke Kellen, he needed a sword he could practice with. No matter how deeply he dug into his memories, he couldn’t recall his father as a warm individual, but when Nouvel said he wanted to be a knight, Duke Kellen smiled proudly at him and gave him a wooden sword he could play with. Nouvel hugged the sword to sleep every night.
‘A knight?’ Ellios scoffed when Nouvel came to visit Henyscira County that summer. ‘But you can’t even step on an ant’ He bent his red head confidingly.
They had known each other since they were still in diapers and couldn’t walk yet. Based on what Ellios knew about Nouvel, who had a calm nature, it made it harder for him to believe what Nouvel had just said to him. ‘Are you sure?’ He sounded full of concerns, unsure with Nouvel’s decision.
Feeling upset with his childhood’s reaction, Nouvel started to frown. That was what Ellios meant, Nouvel Kellen is a gullible fellow, then he continued: ‘Knights go to lots of wars.’ Ellios said, trying to scare him.
‘They get hurt a lot and it’s not uncommon for a knight to die in battlefield.’ He kept goes on, listing every possible worst-case scenario a knight could encounter to the point where it was hard to believe that it had come out of a ten-year old’s mouth, though at the same time it also sounded childish.
Ellios sometimes told jokes without smiling and not once or twice his jokes made Nouvel cry, instead it was almost like an everyday thing. Maybe this was one of those times. So, this time Nouvel tried not to take his words too seriously.
But Ellios’ eyes weren’t shiny with a held-in joke. They were serious. He had spoken as if he had seen the awful scenery of battlefield with his own eyes.
‘But when I told dad about this, he smiled at me.” Nouvel finally spoke in a brittle tone, “You know, I’ve never seen dad that happy.’
Almost all the time, Nouvel would address his father formally due to his frequent absence at home, it made them weren’t close to one another, well, after all his father is a busy man and often returned home late after everyone was already asleep. But whenever Nouvel started addressing his father in this way, it means he is showing his most vulnerable side and putting down all his tough act.
Ellios sighed as he lightly put his hand on Nouvel’s back, ‘I’m not saying this to scare you and make you give up on your dreams, I just don’t want you to get hurt.’ Hearing his words that full of warmth and affection, Nouvel smiled sillily.
Suddenly, Ellios reached out his little finger towards Nouvel, ‘Let’s be knights together.’ His sudden declaration made Nouvel dumbfounded, but his next words successfully made him smile more sillier than ever, ‘I will protect you.’
That way, they were bound together with the childish proclamation sealed from their two little fingers, in the form of a promise.
A few years passed by, both Ellios and Nouvel trained hard to make their dream come true, only for a boy who has no ambition or willingness to hold a sword let alone become a knight to be forcibly sent to the frontline on the battlefield. Though, they were soon reunited again and faced many wars together, it was also the beginning of their tragic story that full of unfulfilled promises and ironic deaths. Heartbreaks and permanent curse on ones’ heart.
‘Ple-please protect my little sister… in, in my place…’ Ellios stuttered as he was gasping for air. ‘She is a cry-baby, and some-sometimes…’ Ellios was really having a hard time breathing, but still forced himself with all his might to continue, ‘and sometimes… a little reckless.’
‘She surely will cry her eyes out when she heard the news of my death-’
The moment, Nouvel heard the word death came out of his mouth, he quickly cut him off, ‘Don’t say such things, I won’t,’ he cried, ‘I won’t let you die.’ and continued while shaking his head, ‘You can’t die.’
Because you promised to protect me.
Ellios closed his eyes, gathering the last strength he could squeeze out while shaking his head, and as a weak, thin smile bloomed, he delivered his dying wish to Nouvel. He knew that this was a cruel thing to do to his best friend he grew up with, but he had no other choice because in this case, Nouvel was the only one he could trust, rather than a maniac and a cold-blooded silver knight.
‘She can cry as much as she wants,’ He stopped for a while as tears slowly started to fall from the corners of his eyes, ‘but after that she must move on because a happy life awaits her in the future.’
His voice grew weaker with each word coming out of his mouth but filled with utmost sincerity, and that was the sole reason Nouvel continues to survive. It was because there was still something left, something he needed to fulfill, a request uttered by someone he couldn’t say no to, a promise made on blood.
However, when the truth is revealed at the end of this story, the two brother and sister heartlessly renounce everything in this world; the friendship they’ve built, lover, everything. In the end, Nouvel decided to protect the only thing left of the two Henyscira siblings, the last generation of Henyscira Household. Ellios’ niece as well as Jeremiah’s daughter, Keisha.
Although not in the right way, Nouvel protects Keisha in his own way even if in the beginning, it was only out of obligation due to the promise he made to Ellios with no other pure intention from him to the innocent baby.
From the first time when he saw Keisha lying on the corridor of the Iris palace in front of Kieran, he had helped Keisha continue to live through his own way. Even when a fateful encounter occurred sometime later that reunited the two father and daughter back, for the sake of the promise he made to Ellios, he was willing to risk his life to protect Keisha.
Just like that one time, when Nouvel looked at the man’s back as he followed his steps from the back as he recalled the small silhouette he could barely remember, sitting on the floor while looking up, full of curiosity to the two grown men in front of her.
Nouvel and Kieran had known each other for more than 20 years, but he still couldn’t guess what he was thinking.
‘Your Majesty, what were you thinking?’ Nouvel blatantly asked.
Even though he had heard the imperial order, Nouvel still followed him to his rest room. As soon as they entered, he stopped. Kieran, who was walking a few steps ahead, turned his head slightly.
‘What?’
A frosty look and cold eyes could be seen along with his usual dead voice. The look that would spare no one who got in his way due to the murderous intent he sent inconspicuously, except Nouvel no one dared to face him because even though he was a young emperor, who had only been on the throne not more than five years, behind his expressionless face and indifference, Emperor Kieran Eshe Elaine had no mercy, a demon hiding behind the title of war hero.
The moment he raises his finger he will surely destroy something—as a warning or someone—as his final words.
‘Why did you bring her here? You spared her life in Iris Palace back then.’
‘Do I have to report every single thing to you?’ Kieran retorted.
‘You tried to kill her before.’
‘Should I go kill her now?’
‘Your Majesty-’
‘Get out if you’re going to nag me.’
Nouvel sighed, he gave up.
‘Understood.’
He hesitantly took a step back, and immediately went to the Iris Palace to carry out the order given by his master, moving Keisha to the emperor’s palace.
Since then, Nouvel couldn’t take his eyes off Keisha’s figure. Though he clearly knew that he was protecting this child in the wrong way, he just refused to admit it all these times. Until he witnessed the child who had grown and developed quite a lot from the first time he met her, crying miserably in front of him and Estelle after hearing her nanny’s suggestion to return to the emperor’s chamber.
……………
[A/N]
A little revelation of Nouvel’s backstory. After learning his past, what do you think of him as a person?
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