Emperor Charles was permitted to go inside then the Female Blood with her bond appeared in front of them. She was hesitant to say anything but the emperor gently smiled at them as he encouraged them to come inside. He asked her what he can do for her but to their surprise, she knelt as she cried and begged.
"Please I beg of you, Your Highness! Spare my teacher! It's not his fault! I-I asked him to return me to the mansion. I s-shouldn't have hesitated and hidden myself. I-I was just so scared and confused about what to do. So, I asked him to get us back to the hunter's clan. Please! I beg of you! Spare them, Your Highness!"
She kept begging and begging as she cried her eyes out because of the regret from putting his teacher and the whole hunter clan in danger.
"And?" was the only thing she heard of from the emperor.
She raised her head as the two royals together with the general glowered at her coldly. The stare she had seen in their eyes made her shiver in fear along with his bond. She couldn't say anything as if her conscience tried to stop her, but for her, Hans was so important. So, she continued to beg them for forgiveness and mercy.
The whole time, the three Princes listened to them from the outside. Prince Nikolai didn't like how the whole situation turned out. He was about to go inside but Prince William held his wrist whereas Prince Alexander shook his head. However, Prince Nikolai didn't listen to them.
He knocked on the door then Emperor Charles welcomed him while Grand Duke Arthur stared at him and the general bowed to him in respect. Prince Nikolai saw the Female Blood with her bond in a drastic condition while Prince William and Prince Alexander waited outside.
"Father? Can I request you something?" Prince Nikolai asked in hesitation
Emperor Charles beamed with glee to know that his youngest son who rarely asked for anything, already has something to request from him.
"What is it, my son?" he asked back.
"Please spare him."
Upon hearing his request, the beaming Emperor's face turned serious.
It made him ask, "May I ask why, my child?"
However, Prince Nikolai couldn't utter a word, especially from what he saw.
"I need something from him." he reasoned out.
Although, it wasn't a total lie since he indeed needed something from Hans.
"What do you need from him, Prince Nikolai?"
His uncle asked him but Prince Nikolai refused to answer his question.
"How will we accept your request if you won't tell us?"
Grand Duke Arthur reasoned out to him.
But his nephew vaguely replied, "I-I can't tell you now. I'll tell you if I'm so sure about it."
Even though he wasn't able to give them the answer they wanted, they still trusted him and granted his request. Grand Duke Arthur couldn't help but get curious and was about to ask again. The moment he opened his mouth, he was interrupted. It appears that the two older Princes couldn't stop their curiosity and went inside.
Prince Alexander was confused with the whole situation so he asked, "What? Did we miss something?"
Throughout the entire dinner, Prince Nikolai was silent and deep in his thoughts. He hasn't touched his meal nor drank the blood that came from an animal. Empress Jasmine noticed that he wasn't paying attention to his food.
"Is the food not to your liking, Prince Nikolai?"
When the empress asked him, his shoulders jolted in surprise as he went back to reality. He became flustered as he struggled catching his spoon from falling and responded.
"N-no! E-everything tastes good."
It somehow made Empress Jasmine chuckled while looking at her son getting flustered.
"Easy. Did you lose your appetite?"
She asked again, this time her son droops in disappointment.
"Sort of. May I go back to my room now?" he asked for permission.
Emperor Charles didn't stop him and permitted him to leave. Prince Nikolai excused himself and went out of the room while Prince Alexander watched his brother leave the room.
"Someone looks depressed," he commented.
Prince William quickly silenced his brother, Prince Alexander.
"Stop it, Alex. No one asked you to tell us."
With that, he also excused himself to go back to his room.
"What? Did I say something wrong?"
Prince Alexander asked his parents and uncle.
However, the empress just smiled at him and said, "Finish your food then go back to your room and rest. You had a long day."
Prince Alexander didn't say anything back but smiled at her. He quickly finished his food and walked out of the room. The adults were silent as they continued finishing their meal, until Grand Duke Arthur opened up.
"In the end, we weren't able to obtain anything from him."
The emperor knew he was referring to Prince Nikolai so he remarked without looking at him.
"I know. But what caused him to go through such lengths?"
"As far as I know, he was desperate to talk to him. It's as if he knew something that he can't tell us about."
He explained to him which his brother decided to entrust with the task.
"Brother, you look into what you can find about that human tracker."
He immediately responded, "Yes, You Highness."
The emperor pouted a little with how his brother responded.
"It's brother," he slightly demanded.
The Grand Duke sighed and abided by his childish demand, "Yes, brother."
The Empress cuts in to also ask a request to her brother-in-law and looks at him with a bright smile.
"Why don't you try talking to Nikolai, Arthur?"
"Why me?"
Grand Duke Arthur dumbfoundedly and confusedly asked the empress. Empress Jasmine smiled widely as she reasoned out.
"Well, both of you are close enough to open up to each other. You're his master, after all."
The Grand Duke stares at his glass with blood in it and responds, "I'll try."
After their meal, Grand Duke Arthur started to contemplate what he'll say to his nephew while walking his way into Prince Nikolai's room. When arrived, he reached the door of his nephew's room and said to himself,
"Well, here goes nothing."
He knocked on the door then slowly went inside the room. He found Prince Nikolai sitting on the sofa beside the window with a book his mom gave him. Prince Nikolai saw him and stared at him.
"I see, your mind is elsewhere." The Grand Duke pronounced it to his nephew.
"What do you mean?" Prince Nikolai asked his uncle in bewilderment.
His uncle stared at the book which made him realize that the book was upside down. He hurriedly placed the book aside as he brushed off his embarrassment. Grand Duke Arthur silently chuckled while looking at the sight of his nephew and started to ask him.
"You really love that book, don't you?"
Prince Nikolai nodded in response.
"It's my mother's diary." He added as he put it in his lap and gently caressed it.
"Will you share it with me?" he questioned him, hoping he would.
And Prince Nikolai started to tell him, "Mother's diary should be kept to herself, but for some reason, she handed it over to me. And when I read inside it… it was all about her journey about meeting you and… her family."
Grand Duke Arthur's eyes widened as he felt nostalgic upon hearing his nephew's statement.
Prince Nikolai continued, "Uncle…"
When he saw Grand Duke's face filled with anxiety, guilt, and agitation, he couldn't encourage himself to continue. Prince Nikolai kept calling out his name and finally he snapped out of it.
His uncle changed the topic, "Uhmm… Will you tell me why you wanted to save that human?"
Prince Nikolai couldn't tell him what he saw but could only ask him, "Uncle… Mother said your bond died from an accident. If she was alive, what would you do?"
Grand Duke Arthur was dumbfounded and bewildered; he then gulped before he could reply, "I-I don't know. The clan told me she died after she turned five but I feel that she's alive. I've been searching for her for years now. Still, no sign of her."
His voice slightly trembled but he remained composed, "Our clan said to give up on her since she's good as dead. But if she was dead, why did I not go berserk? Is it because we didn't have a strong enough connection to make me lose my rationality? Or is it because she's still alive? If she's alive, I hope to find her soon."
Prince Nikolai looked back again at the diary; he gave himself some thoughts before he could finally make his decision.
"Uncle!" The Grand Duke jolted in surprise by his nephew's sudden exclamation. Prince Nikolai looked at him with determination in his eyes and said, "Please help me master my ability! Let's go look for your bond together!"
His uncle didn't know whether he was just saying those words out of pity or meant it. However, seeing the determination in his eyes gave him hope. He chuckled and rubbed his nephew's hair.
"Let's do that." He said and gave him a fist bump as their sign of promise.
When Grand Duke Arthur went out of his room, he sighed for failing to obtain the information he needed. Even so, the good side to it was, he's given another hope and motivation to look for her. Whereas Prince Nikolai laid in bed as he clenched his fist with perseverance to search for her auntie with the help of his uncle.
The night ended with a bliss of the moon radiating the hallway through the window as it flickers the light of hope and determination in the eyes of the two royal vampires.
...