"Where do we go from here?" Sho asks resting his back on the wall.
Charles raises an eyebrow, "funny of you to assume we'll be taking you with us".
"I want him to come," Nolani says coldly causing Charles to look at her.
"It's not your place to make such a decision," he replies; frustration clear in his voice.
Nolani deviates her gaze to somewhere else, she is well aware of the trouble she has caused for him and Levianth. Not to mention that she dragged old man Sho into her mess. A frown forms on her face as she thinks about how she broke Charles' trust in her; the trust that she has tried to gain since they were children. A hand comes down and smacks her head hard causing her to fumble forwards. She whips around to see Sho smirking at her, "now that's the face of nightwalker! Not a blue but an angry scary one!"
"I swear one day your blood will be on my hands," she threatens in a low dark tone.
"Looking forward to it!" the old man replies; his smirk growing wider.
"You two are imbeciles," Charles mutters.
"Where did mister fancy pants go?" Sho directs his question at his newly found enemy.
"His Highness," Charles stresses on the title, "went back to Xeris in attempt to fix the disarray you and Nolani caused!"
Sho sighs turning his back to Charles and facing Nolani, "is he always so uptight?" he asks with the intent on angering the investigator. However his plan failed. Nolani remains quiet.
"Charles," Nolani looks at him guilt filling her eyes and lacing her voice.
"Save your breath. I don't want to hear it," he stands up and exits the inn.
"Son of a-" Sho stops midsentence when seeing the woman's face.
He pats her head, "it's not your fault this time kid so enough with the gloom-and-doom," he reassures.
"How exactly is this not my fault? I should have stayed still in that cursed apartment, but did I? Noooooooo… My stubborn ass wanted to break every rule imposed on me. Seriously I have no clue of why I have to do the opposite of what I'm told," her eyes catch Charles', "you should have put me in prison the moment you caught me". The determination behind Nolani's words made both men see her in a different light.
"You would have escaped," Charles finally speaks to her. She shrugs and old man Sho chuckles. A less uncomfortable silence befalls the trio.
"So…" Sho starts, "the two of you have known each other since childhood?"
"Yes, and what's it to you?" Charles snaps but soon regains his composure.
Nolani raises an eyebrow in question then turns to Sho. "Yeah. Though our first encounter isn't a happy memory," she squints after admitting that. Truth to be told, she had been wishing if things that day would have gone differently. Instead of her being late, she could have been on time; avoiding the harsh words from her parents. If she had been aware of her surroundings, she wouldn't have head-butted the prince and got another scolding from her parents later that night. If only she had been stronger, she wouldn't have been affected by her parents' verbal abuse from the beginning.
In the meantime, Levianth finds himself in a heated argument with his father, the king.
"Don't be childish Levianth!" the man seated on his throne spats out.
"I'm not the one acting like a child. YOU ARE! Why won't you take her feelings into considerations?" Levianth waves his arms around frustrated.
"Because I know you're lying son! You haven't told her about the ball yet," his majesty lies back in his seat, satisfied to have caught his son off guard.
"That's not-" Levianth attempts to argues back, but then his father stops him.
"True? You're my son. I know you like the back of my hand. You can't assume how she feels. It has been ten years. Ten years Levianth! Such a long duration has changed her, especially since she's been away from the capital and her home" he speaks slowly, not taking his shining golden eyes off his son, "Why are you intent on running away from the truth?" The king catches the slightest twitch in his son's muscles.
"Since when have you been so observant?" Levianth retorts, blood boiling in his veins.
"What do you mean?"
"Drop the act old geezer"
The king's expression turns dark; he stands up, chest forward and head high. "Show some respect to your father and ruler boy!" his voice echoes through the throne's room. Levianth, not shaken by the display of power, snickers and leaves the throne.
"If I were you, I'd watch my back. Specifically in the kingdom's critical situation. You never know who's an enemy and who's an ally," the prince says in a chilly tone and closes the doors behind him.
The king falls back, "they grow up so fast don't they?"
"They sure do," a gentle voice replies, "but you won't be allowing him to interfere with 'our' ambitions, will you?"
The king's shoulders tense and he feels hands clawing at the pumping muscle in his chest; he shakes his head in negation. The sensation disappears and is replaced by a cool breath on the left side of his neck; "good. You're so obedient for a king… Tsuyosa".