It was no secret that a brutal war for succession was taking place in the kingdom of Lativia. The king, by no means, was dead. One day, out of boredom from his monotonous routine, he decided that out of his sons, the most capable one, shall receive the throne. That was all it took to turn the whole palace upside down.
Not that he became any better as he turned older, but the king in his younger days was quite frivolous. He kept many of concubines, their numbers even he was not sure of. But it would not be a reach to say there were at least a few hundreds. From princesses of foreign kingdoms to maids that once worked in the palace, once they entered the palace gates, they were the property of the king. And needless to say, his majesty had many sons as a result, who now had a chance to succeed the throne as per the king's announcement. They were countless in numbers. They were expendable. Thus, a storm blew across the kingdom of Lativia, laden with an uncouth desire for the throne.
This war was not just between the princes, but also the nobles and ministers of the court. Everyone who had a little influence in Lativia, dreamed of becoming the 'king maker'. The nobles from neighboring countries were not aloof to this as well, but the ones in Estonia were more proactive in this cause than the others. The nobles and aristocrats in Estonia were being led by Count Bentinck, who supported the third prince of Lativia behind the scenes.
Derek Wintern, too, set out from the capital for Lativia. It was a covert operation, of course, ordered by the crown prince. Once there, he would meet Eugene Rayleigh and discern if investing in him was even worth anything.
There was not much known about Eugene Rayleigh, except that his mother was a barbarian princess and that he inherited his looks from her. He had never done anything remarkable for the other princes to even consider him a threat, and the king probably doesn't even remember having a son like him. From his actions, he appeared to be faint-hearted and a coward, who never stepped out of his room, but Derek knew there was more to him that meets the eye.
"Sigh…" Derek sighed as his horse galloped past the trees and houses. It was way past midnight and streets were devoid of any wandering soul. A few more hours on the horse and he would reach the border by the time the sun comes up.
The news had first come in the morning. The excursion team that went to the south was going to return to the Wintern estate within a week. But Derek's excitement was for naught because the crown prince's messenger arrived right after with orders for him to go to Latvia immediately.
"Damn it!" Derek cried out in frustration. With how everything was going, he was sure it would take a few months at least to sort everything out. One of the basic personalities of Derek was impatience. Waiting for Hansel all these months was already the epitome of his patience. It took so much of his willpower to not ride to the south whenever he missed Hansel. But now…devil knows how long this task would take to complete.
Somewhere in his mind, Derek greedily wished for Eugene Rayleigh to be an actual meek person. That way, he wouldn't have to wait there to carry out all the schemes. And in reality, he couldn't care less about what the crown prince's plans were. He just wanted to go back home early.
Well, Derek still had the same sentiments as he was sitting in front of Eugene Rayleigh. He had reached Lativia almost two days ago but only got to meet him now; the reason being that he could not be caught trying to sneak into the royal palace of Lativia. So, he secretly invited Eugene for a private discussion outside of the palace.
"Well, to what do I owe an honour for your sudden visit to Lativia…dear, uh, lord?" Eugene Rayleigh spoke first with a grin plastered on his face. They were sitting in the tiny room of an inn Derek was staying in. His brown hair which fell on his forehead made his overall appearance gentle. But on the contrary, his golden eyes weren't smiling at all. Rather, they were keenly observing Derek, who was sitting opposite to him.
Derek wasn't aloof to this as well. The room became silent again as both men stared at each other, trying to gauge the other one's intentions. Though there was no noticeable difference between their frames when sitting, the brown-haired and golden-eyed prince of Lativia was definitely taller than Derek. Saying the difference between them was just a few inches would be a lie.
'Just like a barbarian' was what Derek thought when he first met him face to face. Though this part of the report he received turned out to be correct, he couldn't find a trace of that 'meek and cowardly prince' that it mentioned, anywhere in him. If he were anything, it would be a leopard in hiding, waiting to pounce on its prey. Derek had finished deliberating over the situation, there was no need to wait anymore.
"I'm not in the mood for wasting any time here. Let's cut to the chase." Derek said, letting out a sigh. He just wanted to get over with this. "We will help you to seize the throne for yourself. We just want two things in return after you succeed. One, the proof of embezzlement and other acts of treason committed by Estonian nobles and second, a peace treaty for at least next 50 years. Do you agree?"
"Fine." the prince replied in a dangerously low voice as he slicked back the brown hair falling on his forehead. Now he looked more like himself- a tanned face devoid of any expression, eyes so sharp monitoring every move of the opponent and a calm aura that reeked of threat…. a true barbarian indeed. "But I want two things from you as well."
"Go on." Derek chuckled as he watched Eugene drop all the facades. He knew he was right on point about this man. However, now his workload had increased more than he wished for.
"First, I want your help to slaughter the king," the prince seethed.
"Alright…and the second one?" Derek agreed at once. They were going to do it anyway, even without Eugene asking for it. He was more curious about what the second request would be about.
"After everything is over, I want William Bentinck."
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You can read The count saved me from Bandits!
If you haven't read it yet, now is the time to. This is a story about the first meeting of Prince Eugene Rayleigh and Count Bentinck's eldest son, William. You will have to search for this story in the search bar as it is not yet displayed on my Profile. Might as well add it to your library because after this series I will cover their story as well and it will be updated in the same title. One thing I can promise you....It will be steamy as hell!