--Vincenzo POV--
"No, I don't like it," I glared at the colour of cloth he held in his hand as if it were poison.
"Why not? I love it," My twin sister said as she felt the material.
"It's unpleasing to look at," I scoffed before turning to look at all the colours spread out on the table and caught a silky golden colour.
"That one," I pointed and the man immediately got it out.
It reminded me of Nora.
"We'll use this one," I mumbled, taking one of my gloves off to feel the material then nodded in approval and the man almost fell to his knees in glee.
"Well that's unusual," My sister said and I turned to look at her.
"What is?" I raised a brow.
"You normally go for a plain white but this year you chose the colour of the sun, why?" I shrugged, slipping my black glove back on then gestured with two fingers for my palace steward to step forward and he did so immediately.
"Make the arrangements to have the napkins this colour. I want the theme this year to be this coloured theme," I told him.
"Understood, I'll begin making the arrangements," Then I turned and left the room with my sister running to catch up to me.
"I heard there'll be a guest of honour at the festival this year, who is it?" She initiated an unwanted conversation and I quickened my strides towards my private garden where my mage was supposed to be.
"Eleanora," I answered.
"Hm. Is she your lover?" I came to a sudden halt then processed Charlotte's words in my head before scoffing. Yeah right.
"No. She's my mage," Then I began walking once more.
"Your what?" She said, baffled and I smirked.
"My mage," I answered. "The one that you wanted to go discover but it so happens that I somehow beat you to it and now I have a contract with her," With a fake chuckle, I walked through the open doors to the garden, leaving a shocked sister behind.
Then, I was met with the image of Nora standing at the centre of a circle she had drawn on the ground with unknown symbols inside, it was glowing and she had her eyes closed in a concentrated manner with her arms raised beside her head, level with her ears.
She was whispering inaudible words but she looked beautiful nonetheless and like me, my second-in-command and best friend, Don must have agreed since he was unable to tear his gaze away from her.
"You're here," He said, standing up from his chair and I nodded, going to sit in the chair beside his while keeping my gaze locked on the concentrating mage.
Not a moment later, Charlotte ran through the doors with an enraged look on her face.
"Have you gone mad!? What in the world are you talking about-" She cut herself off when she saw Nora and like everyone's else's, her jaw fell to the ground.
"What the actual fudge," She whispered out, hands by her sides while she stared at Nora. I decided not to say anything and only smirked at my sister, crossing my legs and resting my chin on my knuckles, satisfied.
"This can't be real?" Char rubbed her eyes as she came to sit on the vacant seat beside me without taking her gaze off the mage, still in a shocked trance.
"It is," I replied.
"H-How?" She stuttered and I shrugged.
"What's she doing?" Char asked.
"Searching," I vaguely answered.
"Searching? For what?"
"You mean who?" Don corrected her.
"Searching for who?" My twin rephrased.
"Grandfather," I emotionlessly said with narrowed eyes and a frown. I couldn't help it, the mere thought of that disgusting man left me in a horrid mood. I was still correcting all the wrongdoings he did while he was King but I didn't even have it as hard as my father when he was King.
"Oh yeah, I heard he got away," She mumbled.
"How long has she be been doing this for? Doesn't she get tired?"
"Don't you run out of questions to ask?" I shot back, tilting my head to glare at my sister and she only stuck her tongue out at me in reply. How immature.
"Nearly an hour, we have to find Alpheus as soon as possible before he has the chance to create even more problems and no- her endurance is far superior to that of the average human's but even then we've asked her to rest but she didn't listen,"
My frown deepened at Donatello's words, why is she so stubborn? I get that she's a mage who's really strong and doesn't get tired but she should still rest. She's finally out of the sword after so long so she should sit back and relax at least a little bit.
I cut my thought process off before it could go further. What am I thinking? If she works hard then that means I can find Alpheus quicker and put an end to all my problems quicker too, why would I care what she does to herself? That's right, I don't care.
Not at all.
I groaned, leaning down to massage my temples.
"I found him," Then I shot up to look at her.
It was as if she had never been standing at the centre of a glowing circle, both the circle and the ruins in them were long gone, leaving only her and her unnatural beauty.
"Really?" Don asked before I could.
"I don't have the exact details but he's five days journey north-east of here and he's with a short man with a long beard. He's disguised as a traveller, wearing a long cape and he's hiding out in a small inn,"
"Are you sure this is the man we're looking for?"
"Yes, grey hair and grey eyes, 5 ft 9 but used to be 6 ft 1 and he's old," That didn't really help but when she clicked her fingers and a picture of Alpheus was on it, it was certain.
"You're quite good at this," I nodded, taking the picture from her then throwing it away and out of my sight.
"Should we go catch him?" She suggested.
"No. We don't have time since the festival is in 2 days time. We won't be able to go and make it back in time," I grumbled. What horrid timing.
"What if he gets away?" Charlotte asked.
"I'll have a group of men go undercover and keep an eye on him but if they lose him, I can have Nora locate him again, right?" She nodded and I smirked at her, raising my hand to ruffle her hair to which she smiled at me.
"Until then, Don, find the rat who's dared to go against me," My hand fell off Nora's head and slung to my side as I turned to look at Don and he nodded.
"I've already started," He said before leaving.
"Is that all?" Nora asked.
"No," I replied, confusing her.
"You're the guest of honour. I can't have you going to the festival looking like a mess... So, I've hired someone who'll bring you up to date- learn as much as you can in these 2 days," She nodded and I heard a yelp behind me.
"What?" I glared at my sister.
"Leave it to me, I'll leave her looking as stunning as a jewel," She volunteered and I rolled my eyes, clearly annoyed but she ignored it.
"I just said that I hired someone to teach her, are you having issues with your hearing, dear sister?" Char glared at me before jumping forward and linking her arm with Nora's.
"I'm a really big fan of yours and I can tell that we'll be the best of friends," Nora chuckled, not seeming against the idea and that caused me to have second thoughts.
"Relax, brother. You just focus on capturing your grandfather and finishing all the preparations for the festival, alright? I'll look after Ellie,"
"Her name's Eleanora," I glared at my sister.
"You call her Nora," She shot back.
"I'm her wielder, you're just a random girl," I defended and this time it was her who rolled her eyes. This annoying brat. She acted nothing like a married lady, if it weren't for the ring on her finger then I would think that I imagined everything to be a dream.
"Whatever, we'll get going now, brother. Have fun with your King duties," She twiddled her fingers at me before leading Nora away and I stared after them with a frown which disappeared when Nora turned her head to smile at me.
I've never once regretted my decision to become King.
Until now, that is.
Damn it. I think I was coming down with something.
I felt my face for a fever but I was fine then I checked my heart rate to see that it was going faster than normal. I should get a checkup just in case. I might have caught a disease or something, that's not good at all.
...