Before long, Ghazeyh left behind the Receiving Hall. He crossed the garden of blue-blooms and passed a few halls, before coming to a halt in front of his private courtyard.
Releasing a disgruntled snort, he swept his robe, stepped over the threshold and headed directly to his bedchamber.
"What happened to the Healer? Why isn't she here yet?" He questioned the servants upon reclaiming his seat beside the bed. The dark crescents were creeping their way down her neck. They left snake-like threads in their wake, draining her vitality with every passing second.
She needed treatment. Now. And yet, Sanbiri had yet to return, making him displeased.
"That…" When the servant opened his mouth to reply, a flurry of hurried footsteps interrupted him from behind. With an oppressive pressure that chilled him to the bones, the Emperor strode into the room and glared at the Crown Prince.
"Ghazeyh, what is this I'm hearing? You brought an unknown girl into the palace?"
"Your Majesty…" Ghazeyh greeted, his gaze drifting to his unreliable assistant. "Sanbiri told you?" He asked and rose to his feet. Standing behind the Emperor, the right-hand man cringed at the mention of his name. He shuffled his feet and gave his Crown Prince an awkward smile.
"Your Highness…" He tried to explain.
But the Crown Prince seared him with a cold smile. "A servant who does the opposite of what his master orders him…I wonder if such a subordinate is worthy of trust."
"If he hadn't told me, you would've kept me in the dark, wouldn't you?" The Emperor retorted and pulled a chair. "Besides, before transferring him to you, I ordered Sanbiri to inform me of in any change in your behavior." His gaze swept to the bed, suspicion and wariness darkening the gray orbs. "Who is she, and how did you meet her?" He questioned, an interrogative note lacing his mild tone.
Ghazeyh heaved a helpless sigh. This was what he wanted to avoid. With the Emperor's presence, the girl's treatment could only be pushed back. The man was suspicious by nature. He wouldn't allow any random person to be treated in his palace without getting to the bottom of her background.
As Ghazeyh answered his endless flow of questions, the girl's face turned paler and paler. His irritation grew deeper, and with every passing second, his anger and chagrin grew in intensity.
Sanbiri couldn't be kept anymore.
He would accept an incapable subordinate. He could make do with an unskilled warrior. But he would never allow a servant that disregarded his orders and went behind his back to remain by his side.
He didn't have any use for such a disobedient servant.
By the time the Emperor stood in satisfaction, the girl's face looked no better than a ghost's.
"Travel safe, Your Majesty…" Ghazeyh clasped his hands and nodded his head, using the formal gesture unique to the heir of the throne to express his foul mood.
Emperor Asael Amarion was a tall man with a frightening presence. If anyone but the Crown Prince had been standing before him, they would've been covered in sweat from fear and trepidation.
But Ghazeyh wasn't any other person. He was the next Emperor of the Frost-Flame Empire, who inherited the legacy of the First Emperor. Let alone cower, there wasn't even a flicker of nervousness on his face.
"Yes, yes…dispense with the pretense. You can't wait to get rid of me, can you?" The Emperor sneered, ticked off by his attitude, yet helpless to do anything about it. His son's impatience gave him the urge to torment him and test his limit. But seeing his gaze wandering to his beloved with worry and concern again, his heart softened.
Turning to leave, he waved to the assistant staring into space with a troubled expression. "Sanbiri, get the Healer. Inform her, no matter what happens, she must save the girl."
"Thank you, father…" The faint whisper reached his ears and made his step falter. Asael Amarion blinked his eyes and turned his head.
His son was bent in a full bow, showing his gratitude with his action. For a second, the image before him superimposed with another, younger boy, standing beside a beautiful woman and waving at him with a bright smile.
'How long?' he wondered, 'how long has it been since I last heard the word 'father' from his mouth?'
Asael couldn't remember, and the thought saddened him. Suppressing the ache in his chest, he turned and left the Crown Palace.
With the Emperor's order, Sanbiri no longer dilly-dallied. The second he returned with the Emperor and saw the Crown Prince's frosty expression, he knew he'd messed up. He shouldn't have acted on his own accord.
If there was anything Crown Prince Ghazeyh hated more than failure, it was disobedience. And he allowed his emotions to get the better of him, doing exactly what his Master hated.
Anxious over the consequences of his action, Sanbiri raced out of the Crown Prince's Palace and returned with the Healer faster than a horse could gallop on an open field.
When the Healer requested the Crown Prince to give her space, he wiped off a nervous sweat and slunk to his side with an ingratiating smile.
"Your Hi…"
"Sanbiri, go to the Department of Appointments. From tomorrow onward, you don't need to come to the Crown Prince's Palace."
"Master! I…"
"I won't repeat myself. You are dismissed." Cold and emotionless, Ghazeyh flicked his sleeve and turned his back on him to hold vigil before the door.
"I don't need a servant with a mind of his own. What I need is an obedient slave who'll follow my every order."