"We got the news from the palace."
The two who were playing the cards raised their heads when their friend came inside the house in a good mood. Their friend, who is always covering the lower half of the face, approached them with a giddy step.
"What makes you this happy? Is he dead?" Asked Visilon.
Uda shook his head from side to side.
"No~pe."
"So that brat is still alive."
The scarred man punched the table, making a loud thumping sound and sending the cards scattered everywhere.
"Hey, I almost won!"
"Shut up!"
"Woah, woah, don't fight now. And yes, to your question, Grole, the crown prince is alive and kicking."
The scarred man, Grole, growled at the news. He thumped his feet on the floor.
"That's unfortunate; it looked like you failed to kill him."
Visilon, who was twirling with his hair, smirked and received a glare from Grole. Grole thumped his fist on the table again, but this time the table was broken into two.
"Shut up, or I'll kill you, Visilon."
Visilon raised his hands in a surrendering manner.
Grole frowned and thought back to how the literal kid managed to survive all the attacks. He had made sure to stab the kid in his vital spots and even slit that throat, but he somehow managed to survive.
"Yes, unfortunate or not, it looked like you got a second chance."
Grole looked at Uda.
"I heard that the crown prince will participate in the next troupe to look for the princess. Maybe at that time, you would finally kill him as instructed?"
Grole let out a manic laugh that made Visilon flinch slightly.
"That would be good. I'll crush that tiny skull and burn him alive."
Just thinking about that makes him excited. Grole licked his lips in anticipation. Visilon cringed at the sight.
"So, let's send them our letter."
Visilon smiled and took out a letter that was perfectly folded in an envelope from his inner coat pocket. They have prepared for this; whatever news they receive from the palace, they will start their plan right away.
"Here it is."
Uda picked up the letter from Visilon and smiled innocently.
"Great. Now, should we cut a finger or two?"
The two friends looked at their standing friend.
"You are joking."
Visilon nervously said. Even Grole was speechless. They were paid to kidnap the princess and make sure she was alive until they got what they wanted, and they also needed to kill the crown prince to create a distraction.
They knew inflicting an injury was fine as long as the princess was still alive. However, they wouldn't go that far until they reached the point of cutting her limbs. Uda always managed to make them speechless. They are not someone who used to torture, unlike Uda, but Uda never did it to a young girl before.
"Hm?" Uda opened his eyes a little, making the two flinch.
"Never in years."
×××××
Michaelis ran his fingers through his white hair. He grabbed his white hair when everything in the letter was announced to them. His eyes are bloodshot.
"That's the only thing that was written, Your Majesty."
Asteric snatched the letter from Raihan's hand and read the content itself. He punched the table after he finished reading it.
"Should we inform the others?"
"No."
Raihan and Asteric looked at Michaelis.
"Not yet."
Asteric nodded.
"Yes, we should keep this a secret for now. This letter arrived after Michaelis woke up and was something strange we needed to be aware of."
Michaelis let out a breath when Asteric said what had lingered in his mind. It was weird when the letter arrived exactly the day after he woke up from a week-long coma. It should not happen because no one outside their family or the nobles in the meeting room knew about his current condition. He had asked the others to keep his condition a secret.
He had confirmed his suspicion that someone in the palace might have sent the information to the perpetrator. Some sell the information inside the palace; more likely, that person is the accomplice or the mastermind.
That was obvious when the sudden light problem occurred that night. Then the incident happened without anyone knowing. They had assumed that there was a sound barrier around him and Nasharis at that time. That is why the two kidnappers managed to attack him and kidnap Nasharis without a problem.
Moreover, the kidnappers made their move when Asteric and Raihan were not in the grand hall. They have been observing and planning for this to happen.
Michaelis blamed himself for not noticing the strangeness from the start.
"Can I take a look?"
Asteric gave him the letter, and he looked at the content, which was to follow everything they asked for if they wanted Nasharis to return safely. The kidnappers would also send another letter after three days.
Michaelis checked the letter up and down to look for something that might give them a clue, but he found nothing except the terrible handwriting on the paper.
It was just a moment, but he sensed a jolt like an attraction from the paper he held. His heart felt strange when he kept holding the paper. It felt as if some sort of connection had been formed. He also saw something that he had never seen before. It played in his mind like a broken film before Asteric's voice jolted him back to reality.
"Keep this letter a secret between us for now. We will do what they want from now on. Call that old man to come here stealthily."
Asteric gave the order. If this news spread, the citizens would be in an uproar. This incident was already creating a crisis among the citizens of the empire. Asteric is sure that this news will take time to spread to other kingdoms and empires. It was too late to prevent this from happening because there were too many eyewitnesses when the incident happened.
Moreover, the nobles in the grand hall were almost all young ladies around Helenis' age. There are also children around Michaelis and Nasharis' age. That was something he had taken care of at this moment.
Raihan must also be concerned about his two children, who witnessed the incident right in front of their eyes. Besides, their two children are friends with each other.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Raihan was about to walk outside, but he stopped when Michaelis called for him.
"You are hiding something."
Raihan looked at Michaelis with a serious face.
"I did not, Your Highness."
"You dare to lie to me, Sir Nuribenstin? Pull out what you have been hiding."
"Raihan."
Raihan looked at Michaelis and then at Asteric with a conflicted gaze.
"I think it is better for both of you to not see."
"They are not just giving this letter, aren't they?"
Asteric asked with a stern voice. Raihan took a deep breath before he took out a tiny box from his pocket. He put the box in front of Asteric.
Michaelis and Asteric had a bad feeling when they saw the box being taken out. They are sure that they are not ready to see whatever is in the tiny box, but they still need to see it to look for any clue.
Asteric picked up the box and slowly opened the lid. His movement was slow, but then he stopped after he finally saw what transpired in the box. He quickly closed the box again without letting Michael see what was inside.
"Dad?"
Michaelis didn't like the way Asteric reacted.
"What is inside the box?"
Asteric didn't look at him and held the box tightly until the vein on his hand was visible.
"Your Majesty!"
"You don't need to know, Michaelis!"
Michaelis gritted his teeth.
"That belonged to Nasharis, right? What is it? Tell me."
What have they done to her? Nothing serious, right? She is fine, right? She needed to be fine. If not.. if not...
He quickly tried to snatch the box from Asteric even with the protest, or more like, Asteric didn't manage to prevent the stubbornness of his son. His soul almost left his body after he saw the contents of the box; he didn't want his son to see that too.
Asteric stood up, using his height as an advantage. Michaelis glared at him.
"Nasharis is my sister. I have the right to know what is inside the box."
He said between his teeth that he did not want to lash out at Asteric.
"Something both of us don't want to know. Something that we hoped was not true."
Asteric looked straight at his son.
"Something cruel people could do."
Asteric left his office and Michaelis behind while carrying the box with him. He can't let anyone from his family see this. Raihan followed behind, but Riri came inside afterwards.
"Your Highness."
Michaelis stood there while looking straight at nothing.
"Something cruel people could do."
Michaelis let out an empty laugh. He knew what was inside without needing to see it. There are just two things that might fit into the box.
"Something cruel."
He suspected that, but he didn't want to believe it.
"I'm sorry."
He fell to his knees, but Riri quickly caught him. He clung to the older woman.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
His tears were nothing compared to what had been cut or gouged out of Nasharis' body.
'I promise, I will kill them for you.'