The next morning Enki woke up feeling refreshed. He couldn't remember the last time he had slept so soundly. After relaxedly stretching and lying down on the bed for a short while, Enki finally got up and got dressed.
Enki had maids that would help him with these sorts of mundane things, but after years of living on his own in the academy, he didn't feel comfortable with it.
Exiting his room, what greeted him in the palace hallway was complete chaos. Guards were rushing everywhere while interrogating the maids and aides.
"What's going on?", Enki asked while grabbing hold of a passing guard.
"What the hell do you think you are do-...", the guard started to angrily shout while turning his head to look at Enki before trailing off once he recognized the person before him.
"Uh, I mean... Good morning, your highness.", the guard uttered with an awkward face.
"Just answer my question.", Enki demanded while holding onto the guard's arm.
"Yes, your highness. The captain of the Empress' personal guards was killed last night and several other members of her guard are missing. The entire palace is being turned upside down in an effort to catch the culprit and find the missing guards.", the man replied while starting to describe the events of last night in detail.
Enki simply nodded and let go of the guard, while trying to digest the news. Who was behind this? This was clearly a warning directed at the Empress. If the culprit had truly wished to kill her, it would have been easy. The Empress had no mana well or cultivation; she was simply a regular human. All of her power came from her status as Empress and the house Lapius.
'But what was the motive?' Enki wondered. While Enki was immersed in his thoughts, an aide came running down the hall and told him that the Emperor had summoned him to the throne room.
Enki made his way over to the throne room.
'I have visited this place more frequently during these past few days than during the eight long years while growing up here.' Enki thought with a sneer on his face before entering the hall.
Upon entering the room he saw that numerous officials, the members of the Imperial Council and the captain of the palace guards were already there.
'This will most likely be about last night.' Enki thought while taking a seat close to the empty thrones of the Emperor and Empress.
A few minutes passed by and finally, his father and the Empress arrived. The Empress looked pale and distraught, last night had obviously managed to get to her.
Upon seeing him, the Empress showed unveiled hostility, which shocked Enki. Usually when in public, while she didn't hide her dislike of him, she was never so open about it.
'Does she think I have something to do with this?' Enki thought with a confused expression. If he had such an expert under his command, he wouldn't bother to avoid the Empress so much, hell he would seek her out voluntarily to provoke her and rub it in her face.
To infiltrate the Empress' chambers and escape unnoticed, one had to be at least a silver core warrior or a mage of Sage rank with an affinity to an element that excelled in sneaking around. All the people that fit these requirements were renowned through the Empire, they were either high-ranking Imperial Court mages, Commanders in the Imperial Armies, Cardinals and Saintesses of the Holy Church, or heads of noble houses or their own forces.
'But it's highly unlikely that any of them would be so childish as to infiltrate the Empress' chamber just to scare the sh*t out of her.' Enki pondered while trying to suppress the smile that the mental image he conjured caused.
"Alright, everyone is here. I have an announcement to make.", the Emperor declared after sitting upon his throne.
"Earlier today, during the night, someone managed to sneak into the Empress' chambers after murdering her guard captain Gideon, and left his head hanging above her bed. This act will be seen as an open provocation against the entire Imperial family and the capital will be under lockdown until further notice. I hope you all will lend us your strength in catching the culprit.", the Emperor continued.
"Do we have any leads?", asked Duke Lapius, the father of the Empress and a member of the Imperial Council. The house of Lapius had the largest territory within the Empire. They and their vassal houses ruled over most of the Empire's lucrative southern lands and were also the ones that had given the most support towards the southern campaign.
"None, I'm afraid. It's as if the culprit just appeared out of nowhere, left the head, and simply disappeared. There are no traces of anyone being in the room. The same can be said about the guard captain's room. There were no traces of anyone being there, just the headless corpse and a pool of blood, with no footprints or other evidence to be seen." the Emperor stated.
"We are most likely dealing with an experienced assassin.", mused Marquis Qaveron. He was the brother of First Queen Tessia and the uncle of prince Gaius. He was in his late thirties and had succeeded his father, the previous Marquis, as the head of the house a few years prior due to his poor health. He also was a member of the Imperial Council. House Qaveron's territory was the third biggest within the Empire and was located close to the Empire's western border, and they were in charge of the security there.
Marquis Qaveron was pretty happy that the Empress' had suffered an immense blow. This would shake her standing and image of being someone untouchable and out of reach. While the Empress was shocked right now, Marquis Qaveron knew she was a strong-willed woman and would recover soon so he had to advise his sister to act quickly and try to pull some of the Empress' supporters over to their side.
"Was there any mana residue or disturbance in the mana within the room?", asked Marquis Haden. Marquis Haden was the High Commander of the Imperial Army Geminus.
The house of Haden had the smallest territory out of the six major houses, their territory was located in the central area of the Empire close to the capital Valopolis. Their family was a military family like the Barcas, although a newer one. The founder of the house Haden had been a Commander serving under the Barca's and had been awarded a noble title for his meritorious service. Up to this day, the house Barca and house Haden had close ties. The current Marquis Haden was Mago's godfather.
While Marquis Haden also had a good impression of Enki and the two had gotten acquainted during Enki's stay in the Supreme Commander's mansion, was the Marquis not ready to get himself involved in the succession war, opting to stay neutral.
"No, no signs indicating the use of mana were found within the room, but the Head of the Imperial Court Mages is still investigating and we are waiting for the final results. But if he still can't find any signs of mana being used outwardly, it means the culprit was most likely not a mage but a highly skilled Warrior.", the Emperor replied to Marquis Haden's query.
"As a silver ranked Warrior I find this hard to believe. I have no confidence in pulling the stunt off myself and there aren't many within the Empire that can match my prowess.", Marquis Haden frowned.
"Could one of the powerhouses from the neighboring countries have made a move?", one official suggested.
"Don't be stupid. I mean no offense when I say this your Imperial Majesties, but if a foreign powerhouse would infiltrate the Imperial palace, they surely wouldn't leave without at least killing the Empress or some other members of the Imperial family.", someone else snorted.
"He is right. The person who did this is definitely from the Empire. We just need to figure out what motive the culprit had to issue a warning of this kind to the Empress.", Duke Lapius remarked.
After hearing the words "motive" and "warning" the Empress automatically thought about the order she had given yesterday about killing the brat's personal aide and directed a burning glare at Enki.
The aide was still alive this morning, so she was convinced that Enki had something to do with this.
But sadly she couldn't just go and blurt out "I ordered my men to kill the crown prince's aide and after that, the men disappeared and this all transpired so it must be him!". What made her even more furious was that she did not know who was the powerhouse that secretly protected Enki. No one had ever caught a glimpse of such a person.
'He must be a master in disguises and hidden extremely well.' the Empress concluded.
Gnashing her teeth, Anastasia was trying to quell the rage burning inside of her. She hated seeing the brat just sit there and act as if he had nothing to do with this.
Feeling her burning gaze, Enki was once again confused.
'Why the hell is this crazy woman so hostile today? Does she bear this deep of a grudge because of the dispute we had yesterday? Shouldn't catching the culprit take priority?' Enki wondered, completely baffled.
The meeting went on for another hour or so, and finally, the Imperial Head mage's report arrived. He couldn't find any signs of mana being used, so the culprit was most likely a warrior or such a skilled mage that they could easily erase all presence of themselves.
The search continued and a city-wide lockdown was announced. No one was allowed to leave the city.