In the study room of the soon to be crown prince of Antares, Sherin was chilling on the sofa while Niro stood beside Caliber, who was drowning in paperworks on his desk. "This one too, sire." Niro pointed at another pile of files.
"Yes, I know. Can you not see that I am still not done here?"
"Apologies, Your Highness."
Caliber put down all the papers that he was reading and rested his elbows on the table with his hands on his head. He let out a heavy sigh and massaged his temples. The stress of work and the issue he has with the girl are getting mixed up, putting a toll on Caliber.
"It seems to me that the King wants to tire me to death." he muttered and glanced at his workload.
Niro chuckled, but Caliber gave him a glare for laughing at him at the position he is currently in, "I think His Majesty is doing this to train you. He must have high expectations of you in the Crown Prince election."
Caliber nodded and sighed, "That may be the case, but do you not think that the amount is twice the normal workload?" he said.
He is right, even though the king and the crown prince are known to have a vast amount of paperworks to sign and check, the amount that the king gave him was insane. "Did I do something that made Leonidas upset?" he whispered.
Sherin does not care about what was happening to her master and was eating her cake nonchalantly.
"I am not sure what other reason made His Majesty do this, maybe his mood changed and decided to make you suffer, haha--right, I will shut up." he said and his laugh was cut off when Caliber glared at him for the second time.
He let out one last sigh and grabbed the papers again with his head tilted to the side, resting on his other hand that was on the desk, "I do not care whatever reason it is, for now do not disturb me, I need to finish all of these."
He was about to return to working when Sherin put down the fork she was holding. She wiped her mouth with a napkin and turned her head to the prince, "When are you going to visit His Highness, Charles?" she asked, which made Caliber's hand froze.
Niro was trying to communicate with Sherin using his eyes. 'How could you ask that suddenly?'
Sherin rolled his eyes and stared at him blankly, 'It has been a week, I had to ask.'
Niro snorted, 'Heh, you are really awesome. I have been wanting to ask it for days.'
'Thank you for the praise, you flatter me.' Sherin smiled.
'I am being sarcastic.'
'So am I.'
Images of Chance flashed through Caliber's mind, but he remembered what happened on that night. If only he knew how much he made Chance uncomfortable with his actions, he would have stopped much earlier.
Now he distanced himself from Chance for now and he finds it hard, especially when he wants to see him every minute.
The female aide noticed the glum expression on his face. She tilted her head while she thought, then looked at Caliber, "Should I go and find time in your schedule to go visit His Highness?" she suggested.
Caliber looked at her immediately and liked the idea, but he hesitated. He returned his gaze to the papers and shook his head, "You do not have to. Work is more important, do not trouble yourself." he said.
Sherin gave him a 'what-a-pity' look with a shrug and went back to eating. She grabbed her spoon and was about to get from her cake when they all turned as the doors flung open.
"Your Highness!"
Niro held the sword that was hanging on his side, "How dare you barge in His Highness's room so rudely!" he said to the servant.
The servant knelt and bowed, "Forgive me for my impudence, Your Highness. The head knight of Antares sent me here to inform you of some news."
Caliber raised his hand in front of Niro to make him let go of his sword, to prevent him from drawing it out. He put his gaze down to the servant that was bowing on the ground, "Rise."
The servant stood up slowly and faced the Canopus prince, "Continue." Caliber commanded.
"Something occurred in a place near the Venus wing of the palace." the servant stated.
The three of them looked at each other, "Near the wing of Venus?" Niro muttered with a furrowed brow.
"The place where His Highness, Louis often at." Sherin chimed in.
Caliber immediately thought of Chance and his brother and it worried him, "What happened?" he asked.
"Someone attempted to poison His Highness, Louis and his servant."
Sherin and Caliber rose from their seats after hearing what the servant reported. Their expressions turned dark and Caliber was silent yet obviously flaming up from anger. "Who would dare?" Niro said with emphasis.
"I believe they said it was a maid from Venus wing." the servant responded.
The aides and the servant looked at Caliber who left and grabbed his coat and sword, but Sherin and Niro blocked his way from going out of the room. "What do you think you are doing?"
"What else? We are stopping you." Sherin answered with sarcasm.
If she was not a close aide of the prince, being sarcastic would have made her be beheaded any moment.
"You have to stay here and do your work, Your Highness." Niro stated and pointed at the papers that the king of Canopus, Leonidas, gave him.
The Canopus prince gave him a glare for telling him to stay despite the news, "You want me to prioritize my work over my brother and my lover?" he said. He flinched when he realized what he said at the end.
Chance was never his lover to begin with.
Sherin wanted to roll her eyes. She looked at the prince, "Did you not say before that 'work is more important'?" she said.
Caliber went silent because of his own words, "Well, uh, that depends on the situation..." he reasoned.
"I will go there if you just order me. Niro will stay here to assist you with work."
Even though Caliber would like to go there personally and behead whoever maid tried to kill two of the people who is important to him, he knows the aides would not let him. He needs to finish his work so he could rush to Chance.
With a sigh, Caliber looked at his female aide. He could trust Sherin on it. "Go to the site and do what you think is right, judging from the current situation. Capture the maid and make sure she gets the punishment that she will never forget." he commanded.
"It is an order." Caliber added and sat down on his seat with a grim expression, very displeased.
"At once, Your Highness." Sherin said with a bow and twisted her heel to go towards the door.
The servant walked ahead to guide her to the place. They walked in a fast pace until Sherin could not help but to run, leaving the servant in surprise when he saw her dashed away.
She rode the horse and galloped at the fastest speed to reach the secret place of Prince Louis.
When she spotted the hidden place that was covered with trees, she unmounted from the horse and ran inside.
The whole place was in a mess while the maids were in a cluster at the corner, scared of what was happening. There was a lot of dead bodies on the ground that they were almost turning into a pile. Alec Valorian was still fighting and the number of enemies still did not go down and a new one kept appearing.
'Just where in the world did these people come from?' Sherin asked inside her mind. It was impossible to break through the security of the palace, unless..."Fuck." first time in a while that a curse left Sherin's mouth.
She gripped her sword in anger when a possibility came to her mind of how the enemies got in, "I will punish them personally after this ends." she whispered.
Louis Cole Stein spotted Sherin from the distance, but he could not approach her because Alec told him not to go anywhere to avoid danger. There were a lot of enemies, so it is best for him to stay at his spot.
He took a deep breath, inhaled, then tried to steal Sherin's attention, "SHERIN!"
Sherin heard the loud yell coming near the house inside and she turned. To her surprise, it was the little prince who shouted. "Your Highness, are you all right?" she shouted in return.
"Never mind me, you need to find Chance!" he yelled.
'His Highness, Charles?' she thought.
She looked around, but Chance was nowhere to be seen. Nothing bad can happen to Chance or else Caliber will order everyone to die.
"Where is he, Your Highness?" Sherin asked.
"Chance has been kidnapped!"