"Son, have you heard anything about your mother and your sister?"
Axel turned to face his father, who had a worried look on his face, he is currently walking back to his room to shower, after a long day of training his swordsmanship skills
"I haven't Father, didn't they attend the Marchioness' tea party?" Axel responded to his father, as he wiped the sweat that is in his forehead,
"I know that, but Joanna usually arrived at this time when she went out to socialize" Edward was confused about his wife's unusual behavior,
"Maybe they're having fun talking, especially that Marchioness Asich is Ariana's godmother, they must've been catching up, Don't be worried Father, and besides, there are dozens of knights with them, they won't be harm" he assured his father, who only let out a heavy sigh, taking a huge deep breath not wanting to think the worse,
"I guess you're right, they couldn't be harmed especially since there are tons of skilled knights attending them right, I'm worrying for nothing!" He exclaimed he was assured by his son's words,
"Did Ariana, open up to you now?" Edward asks his son, as he then looks outside to see a reddish sky, it is nearing dark,
"She still hates me for cursing her favorite author, but she seems close with Allen, he regards her as the best brother when all he did was give her books written by the author" Axel grumbled, couldn't believe how childish his sister was,
"Right, Allen is so lucky to easily be close to her, and speaking of Allen, does he have plans of going home tonight?" Edward wondered about the absence of his 2nd son, remembering that he was catching up with his friends at the palace,
"He didn't tell me anything, there must've been something wrong in his business,"
Though that is the most possible answer they can get, he still worries for his family,
"Your grace, Sir Allen will arrive in 2 minutes, he's riding his horse," a maid informed the two, "Come, let's go and welcome your brother home," Edward told his son, who only nodded and the two then walk towards the door,
Just in time that Allen had arrived panting hard, he had a worried look plastered on his face, and the two noticed it,
"Is something wrong, Brother?" Axel asked the younger one, who was trying to catch his breath, "Mother and Sister are being kidnapped by someone!" He finally told them, as he continued to pant hard, sweat kept on dripping on his face,
As the two Florence men, heard this, they felt their world had shattered,
"What?!?!?"
As Allen tries to explain what happened, in a distant place where Ariana and her mother were being captive, in a shack by the mountain of Holland, approximately an hour away from the Main Florence Estate,
Ariana slowly opened her eyes, looked around and she noticed she was inside the prison cell, she then slowly sat down and noticed her hands were being tied, and her eyes widened looking at the state of her injured mother, who was sleeping right beside her and her hands are also tied,
'Good god! I wonder what the kidnappers want' she thought, as she then magically freed herself from the rope, untying itself, she could see that the rope had scarred her wrist,
She then stood up and dusted her dress that is now dirty, and looked at the window it was already dark,
"Spring" she called out, and in an instant Spring then teleported in front of her, wearing her pajamas, she must've been ready to hit the bed,
"Master, what are you doing here in the middle of the night?" Spring asked her master as she yawned loudly, not knowing the situation making Ariana face palm herself knowing how dumb Spring is right now out of all times,
"Well is it not obvious that I'm being kidnapped? Both I and mother are" she explained to her comrades who had her eyes widen, "oh my god! If Lily finds out about this she would've burned the whole mountain!" Spring exclaimed as she saw Ariana's injuries
"Now Spring, I want you to find out the identity of the mastermind, I want to know who had the guts to do this," she ordered her as Spring nodded at her orders
"I understand master, don't you want me to heal you?"
"If you'll heal me, others will question me, why I'm unharmed" She crossed her arms as Spring realized it and then nodded her head at her, as Ariana had already rolled her eyes at her comrade
'This is the reason why Lily won't allow her to work at the company' she thought shaking her head in disappointment
"Now go, before Mother wakes up and sees you"
"I'll report to you soon, Master" Those were Spring's last words before she went to investigate this matter,
Ariana sighed loudly turned around and walked towards her mother, She then untied the rope in her hands, noticing that it also had scarred,
'I wonder how long Father would notice that we're being kidnapped' she thought as she took a glance at her mother, who slowly opened her eyes and looked at her worriedly
"Ariana! Are you ok?!?" Joanna immediately hugged her, and she then glanced at the outside of her cell to see if someone was there,
"I'm alright mother, but where are we?" She asked her mother, acting like she was scared while glancing around for people who would potentially harm them, or worse kill them
"I do not know, but don't worry I'm here, I won't let them harm you"
She was touched by her mother's words, she never thought that she would ever hear her being worried about her, she then pulled her mother into a hug, Joanna at first was taken aback at her daughter's actions, but later then let out a small smile and hugged her back
"My, My, My! My prisoners are having a moment"
The two then slowly broke off from the hug as they heard a voice, and faced a rather middle-aged man, slowly revealing himself from the shadows
"It seems that the rumors are true, the young lady is indeed a beauty!" He exclaimed loudly, eyeing Ariana from head to toe,
"What do you want from us!" Joanna shouted at him, as she then covered her daughter, the Man could only smirk and walked around the cell with a dagger in his hands, playing with it,
Ariana eyed him, and noticed something, from the way he had dressed and his way of words, and how tense his posture was,
'He's not the mastermind, he's receiving orders from someone' she thought, seeing how guarded the person was, how careful he was in his actions,
"Chill, Your Grace, I only want your daughter's ruby eyes, isn't it beautiful? Ancient books say that her eyes would grant eternal life" he explained as Ariana's brows furrowed,
"Are you insane?! How would her eyes grant eternal life?!?" Joanna shouted back, couldn't believe what she had just heard, as she continued to protect her daughter,
"Really? But my experts told me that it will!" The Man retorted, "But don't worry your grace, I'll only need to take her eyes, I'll return her, your grace, of course, she'll be blind!" He added as he then started to laugh evilly,
"I would never allow it!"
"Oh really? Why would you care? Didn't you abandon her? Why are you all acting like you cared for her?" Hearing the man's words, Joanna was taken aback by it, she couldn't utter a word,
"She's my daughter, it's my duty to-"
"Duty? I hear that you just let her return because the King is eyeing her to be the next queen, if the King never wanted her to be the queen, should she continue to live in the countryside? Away from you? Away from everyone?" He continued to spit some truths,
"We did this to protect her to protect her from danger, and also, we won't allow her to be part of the Royal Family," Joanna retorts back, as the Man could only raise his brow at the Duchess
"You had a sharp tongue, your grace, I ought to—"
"Sir! The Tyrant Prince is here!"