They stopped near a big tree and the duke casually entered through the curtain-like vines with leaves, and flowers attached to them. What makes it more confusing is that almost every tree in this field has the same feature. John followed the Duke through the cave and realized that the moment someone enters, a wooden gate drops at the entrance where they entered completely shutting the cave up as the torches on the sides starts to light up. John was stunned for a moment but what is more important now is to meet the king. While he was in a daze following the duke, the duke spoke
"Don't let the moon spot your hair." He nodded.
John tried to recall his lessons but he was never told that royals need to hide their hair and avoid outsiders seeing it. The tunnel was getting deeper and deeper and as the way started to get narrow they got down their horses and decide to just walk with their horses. Just when John started to feel uneasy, Duke Clarkson instantly held his right arm and steadied him.
"I feel a bit dizzy but I can handle it," John said
"It's almost time, we need to hurry" The Duke replied worryingly.
He clearly remembered the first time he laid his eyes on the child eleven years ago. The Crown Prince during those times was in a crisis due to the late King's request of him to take on a wife. He clearly remembered the conversation between the late King and the crown prince back then;
"Son, You need to find a wife soon. You can't keep on covering the issue telling everyone that your son will appear in sixteen years. I'm old and soon you need to take on the throne. A King needs a Queen", the late king Frederick told the Crown Prince with a worried look on his face.
"Father, My son, your grandson will appear in eleven years. He is five years old now. Please, Father, I don't want my son's status to be the next Crown Prince to be questioned. Thus, I won't take on a Queen unless she is his mother", the Crown Prince firmly answered.
The Late King looked at Duke Clarkson Smith with a slightly controlling intent and spoke,
"Clarkson, do you believe in the words of your Prince?"
For a moment, he was stunned and answered,
"Yes Your Majesty, My King. "
"Good. No one can question my son but me."
Just like that the King and Crown Prince laughed while he felt chills down his spine.
The next thing he knew was, he was the child that may be the lost Prince. As much as he wanted to doubt it, he have always considered the possibility and never dared to make the child's life miserable. He has told Academician Rosenwald about the child and told him he was adopted but the sly old fox knows better.
When John and Duke Clarkson reached the end of the tunnel, Duke Clarkson pulled out a crest and placed it on the carved symbol attached to the side of the door. The door opened and revealed a greenhouse. They walked straight past the greenhouse and into the hall of the kingdom were a lot of people in their cloaks gathered. After a moment, the King arrived.
"As I have said sixteen years ago, your crown prince will stand in the crowd and you will all bow down to him for he will be the most powerful and most royal among royals. Everyone reveal yourselves and let your Prince be known." the King confidently spoke. He looks young and domineering with blonde gold hair and eyes that changed their color from deep blue into a fiery phoenix-like glow. He has always been confident that his successor, the Prince will be back on his sixteenth birthday because that will be the only way he can survive. All the royal blood needs royal blood to control the power of the phoenix that will envelop their body when they hit the right age. This is the secret that is only made known to that of the royal family. But as for John Crue that has grown in a soldier's household, this is an unknown threat to him. Luckily, the Duke who has taken care of and trained the Crown Prince before he came in the right age has accidentally learned of this secret. He made sure to send the Lost Prince before it was too late.
At this very moment, everyone present revealed their faces except for John. They dare not walk in front of the crowd. Everyone else has dropped to their knees while Clarkson stood in front of John and only bowed his head to the King. John did the same. The attention of the King was focused on the young man behind Clarkson. With that, he faintly sighed and looked at the mentor that has brought the Prince along with him. He felt a surge of familiarity to both his mentor and the young lad. He has recalled that he secretly visited the training camp of the Smiths to look for a future soldier to stand by his son. During his visit, he eyed a black-haired strong candidate whose skills were more or less that of the Duke, himself. He did not dare to offend the Duke by directly appointing his most priced future general to be that of his Prince's guard. He felt like a fool not being able to recognize his son. He felt a little down for a moment but instantly gained back his composure and stare straight at the young lad.
" Raise your head and reveal yourself"
John felt a surge of adrenaline rushing to his upper body and instantly raise his head to look at the King, his father. In his eyes is the symbol of a Phoenix. If someone will try to look at it directly, they can be deemed to lose consciousness. He recalled the words Academician Rosenwald has taught him, "Only those of the royal blood can resist the Phoenix." A lot of thoughts run into his mind but he quickly cleared his mind and greeted the King. But before he could say a word, his mind went blank and all he felt was the heat that is gushing through his body. The heat has caused him a flesh-peeling pain and he can feel his whole body enveloped with an invisible fire but he feels no burns. He has recalled the phoenix in the King's eyes and seemed to see it as a whole. While he was experiencing this, his whole body was just standing straight facing the King. His cloak has dropped and his hair was revealed. The King then said,
"Behold my son, The Crown Prince of Alistair Kingdom, Prince John Crue Ezekiel Alistair"
"May heaven blesses his highness the Crown Prince," Everyone said in unison.
No one dared to look at the Prince in the eyes but when they turn their heads they can feel their life forces being sucked with just a glance to the eyes of the Prince that resembled that of the King. The King walked straight to the Prince and held his head. In an instant, the Prince has bent his knees and everyone was ordered to go outside for once. Duke Clarkson was amongst the crowd that was ordered to move out but his gut feeling tells him to stay. So he rushed back inside and saw a scene that almost made him fall back. The secret of the royals. When everyone thinks that coming of age is the strongest stage of a royal, it was exactly the opposite. The King have fallen whilst the Prince's body was emitting a surge of flares and electricity while his whole body was burning. Clarkson ran to the King and supported his weakened body. When the King saw that Clarkson went up, he heaved a sigh of relief. Someone needs to stand guard to make sure that no one can interfere with the Prince's meditation. When he was about to tell Clarkson to pull his body to the side, The King has spat a mouthful of blood. Clarkson can not dare to move him in this state. So he instead stood in front of the King and accepted the impact from the Prince's body. The King wanted to pull him but he insisted. After half a minute, Clarkson started to feel the immense pain that he needed to endure. Blood started gushing out from his back and mouth but he wiped it before it comes out. The King felt worried. When he was in this stage, his father almost died and now he knows the reason why. He felt real troubled seeing how his closest friend, protector, and mentor were being attacked by the beast inside his son. After a minute, the Prince dropped and Clarkson dropped just a second after he did. The King called out a guard and ordered him to call on the Imperial doctor to treat the Duke.