SITTING ON THE interior windowsill of his bedroom, Prince Chalcedony had himself thrown between the pages of a book. He had been reading romance novels with the purpose of making himself a better man as a husband and a better person in bed. And also, to distract him from his own thoughts about Prince Kyanite.
Fachnan knocked on the door. "What is it?" Prince Chalcedony asked without bothering to let the subordinate in first.
"Her Highness Princess Guirec is waiting for you downstairs, Your Highness."
The prince closed the book he was reading and hopped down the windowsill. "We agreed to meet two days after the pavilion; why is she here this early?"
He opened the door of his bedroom and Fachnan immediately bowed his head to show respect. "With all due respect, Your Highness, it has been two days!" he answered.
A slightly taller man came into view, pushing Fachnan behind. He had the same features as Prince Chalcedony, except for the manly haircut, less plump lips, and somehow smaller nose. "Yow, Ten! Zeeno's been bothering me. He kept on asking where his Master was."
The man held up his hand in front of his eyes, smiling as he carefully examined his newly manicured nails. He is Prince Adventurine, the ninth child and twin brother of Princess Aquamarine, the eighth child. The reason for his short hair was so that he won't look too similar to his twin sister. The aforementioned 'Ten' referred to Prince Chalcedony.
"Why are you telling me this?" asked the Tenth Prince in his usual chilling, deep voice; quite the opposite of the Ninth Prince’s high-pitched voice that may sometimes be accompanied with a jolly tone.
"To whom else am I supposed to go when the matter's about that Human Prince of White Rose?" replied Prince Adventurine with another question. “If only you didn’t have Her Highness Princess Guirec as a fiancée, I would have assumed that you and His Highness Prince Kyanite would be husbands in the far future.”
Prince Chalcedony rolled his eyes, his face showing utter disgust. "Shut your mouth, Nine. Do not let me hear such ridiculous things again. And tell Zeeno his Prince is not yet dead." He then pushed his older brother aside and walked out of his room to meet his fiancée. Fachnan followed him and the Ninth Prince with a wide grin was left behind.
-
AS HIS SENSES returned, Prince Kyanite pulled his hand back in surprise as his skin felt the soft mattress below his sitting figure.
“Ah,” Howin chuckled as he noticed the other’s actions; “for you, Your Highness, this mattress had been prepared by His Highness Prince Chalcedony.”
A gentle knock clanged the metal door of the cellar. Howin opened it, revealing Princess Aquamarine.
"Your Highness!" he gasped, bowing his head down.
She tucked her hair behind her ear. Her voice was silvery as she declared, "Howin, Zeeno has sneaked into my brother and I's room just to ask about his Prince. He has been bothering us since yesterday!"
"Excuse me," Prince Kyanite's voice emerged from behind. He bowed his head in front of the Eighth Princess before asking, "Who is this Zeeno? Is he gonna get me out?"
The Princess stared at him blankly. "You… do not know Zeeno?"
Prince Kyanite shook his head no, and so Howin gave him a reply.
Turns out, Zeeno was Prince Kyanite’s most loyal subordinate. He had been with him since his childhood, and the subordinate was only two years older. Prince Kyanite had two subordinates before, but only one stayed, which is why Howin referred to Zeeno as ‘most loyal.’
"The other one was a traitor," added Princess Aquamarine.
"A traitor?" asked Prince Kyanite with furrowed brows.
“So, it is true then!” the Princess cheered out of the blue.
“What?” asked Prince Kyanite once more, completely confused by the sudden change of mood.
“That you remember nothing at all.”
Prince Kyanite, "Huh? I thought, only His Highness Prince Chalcedony knows?"
Princess Aquamarine laughed. "You even forgot that? Nothing can be hidden from us, Your Highness. We can hear it all."
Ah, right. Vampires have extensive hearing abilities. Princess Aquamarine quickly followed an “Anyway” in her sentence and told Prince Kyanite that the traitor was Fachnan. Howin kindly proposed that Fachnan be called ‘disloyal’ as the word ‘traitor’ sounded so evil, to which the Eighth Princess forthrightly declined by continuing to call Fachnan a traitor.
Prince Kyanite turned to Howin as soon as the name registered to sound familiar in his mind. "Isn't he the one with you that day I was locked in here?"
Howin confirmed with a yes. “That was also the reason I was tasked with looking after Your Highness instead of him. Did Your Highness not notice his actions towards you?”
Looking back, Fachnan was obviously keeping his distance from Prince Kyanite. But, when the latter had a painful headache from the OOC Alert, the former showed his worry for his previous master.
'Your Highness, what if His Highness really had forgotten about everything? That might explain why he miraculously survived.' Prince Kyanite recalled Fachnan’s words.
I had not a single idea about him that day! That must be how my 'amnesic' character was established.
Princess Aquamarine snapped her fingers in front of his eyes. "Hey!"
"Huh?"
"I said: I'll get you out of here. My brother and I had carefully planned this escape. He went to distract Ten while I came in here. You should be able to meet Zeeno hiding in the Four Seasons Forest."
"Really? Thank you, bestie!" Prince Kyanite wrapped his arms around the Princess. Howin watched the scene in extreme horror.
"B-Bestie?" Her voice stuttered; her grayish-blue eyes shook.
Oh, dear Lord. That was—a hundred percent—not a princely attitude! We’re not even close and I just called her the way I call my friends! Ah, Ivory, Hazel… It must be because I miss you two!
The red System popped up with loud beeping noises that gave painful headaches to Prince Kyanite.
【OOC Alert! OOC Alert! Deduction of 50 points from Player No. 8 (Lazuli)'s total accumulated score.】
"Fifty?!" he exclaimed before losing consciousness.
"Your Highness!" called Howin, catching the body of the Human Prince.
Princess Aquamarine's hand flew to her mouth; her eyes widened in shock. "What do we do? Zeeno is waiting for his arrival!"
"I apologize in advance, Your Highness, but I have a suggestion."
"I somehow have a sense of what your suggestion is about, but okay, tell."
"Your special ability is teleportation," Howin stated in a matter-of-fact.
Princess Aquamarine stared at him in disbelief. "Are you telling me to carry this human and teleport him out?!"
Howin lowered his head and apologized once more. She rolled her eyes and sighed. "I should have chosen the 'distract Ten' role instead of the 'help Prince Kyanite escape.'"
Howin, still with his head low, apologized for the third time. The Eighth Princess sighed and told him to stop. "We both did not expect he would faint at this very moment," she pointed out.