Lionel let out a hearty laugh that could be heard throughout the entire restaurant. Darius didn't respond to this, he simply kept looking at him with the same grim expression he had maintained throughout their entire conversation.
"Well, I've been waiting to hear you say that all day," he said still chuckling.
Darius however wasn't really in the mood to talk, the only thing left on his mind was to get all of this over and done with.
After some time Lionel was able to contain his happiness as his almost involuntary laughter began to subside, with the occasional chuckle here and there.
The prince himself was a very happy-go-lucky kind of guy. His life of wealth and privilege had made him cheerfully irresponsible and carefree, resulting in his constantly cheerful and sometimes brash demeanour.
Although he was just third in line which meant his chances of becoming Emperor were quite possible, he felt his two older brothers had it handled. So much so that Lionel didn't actually want to become the Emperor because of all the actual work and energy he would be forced to put in, meaning he would have to relinquish his life of carefree living which to him was not an option. He shuddered at the very thought.
Darius had decided he would just have to get used to Lionel's happy attitude, either way, he would soon have problems much bigger than that if the test was as dangerous as Lionel had said it would be.
An awkward silence filled the booth as the two men sat there quietly, or at least that was how Darius felt about it. Lionel was clearly lost somewhere in his own thoughts, yet still beaming eerily at Darius. Lionel never felt awkward, uncomfortable or out of place with the exception of a few instances whereby his father would ask for his input on matters of the kingdom. It would be clear that these were tests to take note of his capable leadership skills and each time Lionel would fail miserably.
It wasn't at all because Lionel was incompetent or at all a bad leader, although that's what everyone was beginning to think. In truth, Lionel was quite intelligent and capable, which was how he was able to find the loophole for the test in the first place. No, Lionel only failed those tests from his family because he simply wanted to look unfit to be Emperor. This way, no one would ever consider him for the role. Lionel could easily take the job and do it well, but he was just too lazy to do so.
'Who in their right minds would give up my life for a fancy title and a life filled with endless problems and responsibilities?' he had always thought to himself.
Unfortunately despite his best efforts the noble examination was one that even he couldn't avoid.
"So when do we get started?"
The sound of Darius' voice jolted him back to reality. Darius had been sitting quietly up until now, watching Lionel closely and contemplating his own thoughts.
"Well, now I need to give you my qualifications." Lionel extracted a card from the inner pocket of his blazer and handed it to Darius.
"What am I supposed to do with this?" Darius said as he examined the blank piece of paper Lionel had just handed him.
"You'll see," he replied as the card immediately lit up in Darius' hands. A capital letter 'n' appeared in gold on the card.
"Identification required." came a female voice produced by the card. Darius looked up at Lionel, not sure what he should do since it wasn't really his card.
"It's fine, just say your name," Lionel whispered as if trying not to be heard by it. His eyes never left Darius as he picked up a glass filled with purple liquid off the table and began drinking through a straw. A look of surprise appeared on his face as if whatever the drink was had been better than he had expected.
"Identification required." the card repeated. Darius looked back at it, took a deep breath and said, "Darius Omen."
"Age?"
"Eighteen."
"Nobility status?"
Darius looked back up at Lionel, who was drinking the purple liquid so intently he almost hadn't noticed Darius and was somewhat surprised to find his gaze fixed on him when he looked up to see how it was going.
"Oh yes, err, uhm....it's Royal Substitute or something like that," he whispered nonchalantly as he got back to his drink, this time keeping his eyes on Darius and giving him a thumbs up.
Darius raised an eyebrow before turning his attention back to the card.
"Royal substitute."
"Please hold the card in front of your eyes."
Darius held the card up as the golden 'n' was replaced by two circles, moving in sync with Darius' iris'. the card flashed green and then returned to white as the golden nobility icon returned.
"Identify royal member."
"Lionel Farline."
"Royal identification required."
"Give it to me," Lionel said as he gestured with his hand for Darius to hand him back the card.
"Lionel Farline," he said calmly, eager to return to his drink.
"Verification failed, please identify."
Lionel sighed in annoyance as he said, "Lionel, Farline."
"Verification failed, please identify."
Lionel was beginning to run out of patience now, "Lionel Farline!"
"Verification failed, please identify."
"It's me you idiot Lionel Farline!"
"Verification successful, please hold the card in front of your eyes."
Lionel snorted in severe annoyance as he held the card a few centimetres from his eyes. Once again the golden symbol disappeared leaving the two circles to take its place. The light flashed green and the circle returned.
"Retinal scan successful, good evening Prince Lionel."
Lionel completely ignored it as he thrust the card back into Darius' hands.
"Darius Omen, you will be temporarily granted the rank of Baron, royal substitute status. Your training will commence at ten a.m tomorrow. Good luck, and try to be the hunter, not the hunted." the card retorted just before going blank.
The look on Darius' face turned from being expressionless to pure terror as he looked up at Lionel.
"Lionel, what did it mean by 'hunted'?" A chill ran down Darius' spine at the very word. He could feel the fear creeping out from deep within him.
Lionel had heard Darius' question but pretended like he hadn't, deciding not to reply.
"Lionel, what did the card mean by 'try to be the hunter, not the hunted'?" Darius became uncharacteristically stern as he said this.
"You know, most people get exiled for simply using my first name." Lionel retorted, part of him genuinely annoyed with Darius' blatant lack of respect and the other part just trying to evade his question.
"I don't care if you exile me just tell me what I've gotten myself into."
Lionel sighed as he put his drink down on the table, "Well if you really must know, there have been rumours..."
"What rumours?" Darius asked as he leaned forward, intent to hear what Lionel would say.
"Look Darius, these rum ours are from some really shady sources you don't really wanna know-"
"Damnit Lionel just tell me!" Darius half shouted, staring Lionel in the eyes.
"So rude, it's as if he's actively trying to get me to kill him...although he's no use to me dead, and then all this would've been for nothing. Damn this stupid test!" Lionel thought to himself as he looked at Darius for a moment.
"The rumours are..." Lionel took a deep breath before saying as fast as he could, "That they're going to stuff you in an arena with a bunch of spirits."
"What?!?" Darius was immediately gripped with fear at the word 'spirit'.
"Don't worry about it, they're just rumours. It's probably not even true."
Lionel was lying through his teeth, and Darius could tell.
"Tell me the truth Lionel, is that what the test really is?" Darius was desperate for a straight answer.
Noticing this desperation Lionel decided to tell Darius the whole truth. "Yeah, that's what the test really is. My brother Erik told me."
"So last night when you said that even you didn't know what the test was?"
"I was being honest, I only found out today. My family have no idea I'm going to use a substitute so they all came in today to watch me take the test. Can't wait to see the look on Father's face when he finds out. You have no idea how lucky I was to find someone like you Aha." Lionel scoffed as he took another sip of the purple liquid.
"No, no, no, no, no." Darius kept muttering to himself. "I'm not going to do this, I can't do this! Lionel get me out of this!" he shouted out.
"Lionel, who couldn't care less about Darius' state of mind simply said, "It's already done, Darius. There's nothing I can do about it. And since there's nothing you can do about it either why don't you just calm down and have a drink instead?"