"To express what I feel about the cause of death for the man you have brought along. He must be a victim of the same accident you mentioned." Chiron answered smoothly.
"As clever as ever." Asterion replied with a smile, patting his shoulder.
"It's late, your wife must be waiting for you." Asterion said, knowing he must have woken up Chiron in the middle of sleep.
Thankfully the royal physicians were allotted a place somewhere near the palace for easy access.
The previous royal physician, who was also Chiron's master, had died a few days ago due to old age and Chiron was still new to his duty as a physician.
Fortunately he was good friends with Asterion, who helped him understand the palace better. They would drop down formalities when only two of them were present, but in front of others, they would resume to their prince and physician status.
"You should start some basic training for the princess. I guess it might help her condition." He said before bidding his goodbye and leaving with a guard.
Asterion stayed on his spot, pondering over Chiron's last statement.
"We are done with the preparations." Hades said from behind.
"Inform his family. We will hold the funeral tomorrow morning." Asterion commanded before turning around.
"Call Titan and tell him I am waiting in the courtroom." Asterion said before taking large strides towards the same.
Soon, Titan walked inside the courtroom, kneeling in front of Asterion who was standing with his back to the door.
"Your highness, you called for me." Titan asked politely.
"Yes, get up." Asterion said while turning to face Titan.
"What exactly happened near the valley?" Asterion asked, coming directly to the main point.
"Your highness, it… we.. we were-" Titan was fumbling when Asterion interrupted.
"Titan, you are the vice captain of our team. I want you to be honest and tell me everything in detail so that I can take proper countermeasures." Asterion explained.
"Your highness, after you went taking five men along with you, we kept waiting patiently at the same spot. Some time later, the Crown princess was thirsty and asked if anyone could bring some water.
Captain was already unwilling to stay there with the Princess hence with the excuse of bringing water he went away.
It had been some time and the princess was worried about Captain, hence she requested me and another guard to search for the Captain. We were unable to deny her request and went searching for ouf captain.
But.. but captain.." Titan paused, unsure how to proceed. Finally he took a deep breath.
"Captain was resting beneath a tree, unwilling to return back. We were confronting each other when a loud crash was heard and we instantly returned to the previous spot. But the carriage along with the princess and two other men was already missing and before we could conclude anything, you arrived." Titan said, explaining everything honestly that had happened over there.
Asterion stood there with an expressionless face, but he was furious. He knew Hades had some misconceptions about Ether, but he thought that given some time, everything will dissolve.
But Hades went too far, disobeying his orders and leaving the princess behind with the rest of the men to worry about him.
"How.. How is her highness? Is she alright?" Titan managed to speak.
"She is unconscious and weak. But for now, you, the royal physician and two maids alloted for her are the only ones who know about the situation.
I will have to make Hades understand that he can not act according to his own will, not at the cost of lives!" Asterion said.
"Your highness, you mean.." Titan asked in a confused tone.
"I will be telling all the men that Princess Ether didn't make it and is dead now. I think a brother and the crown princess itself dying because of their negligence would serve them enough.
As for the rest of the country, I will be announcing that Ether is missing along with one more of our men. Anyways we would be sending a team tomorrow to search for him, so we can say that the same team will be searching for Princess Ether.
Someone wants to kill her, and with me being busy in royal matters, it would be a lot easier for them to trap her. It would be better to announce her missing to save her for the time being.
Meanwhile I want you to make sure that news about Princess Ether being alive is confined to us. Also if you notice anything suspicious, inform me immediately.
And take care that no one enters my chamber without my permission. If the person is courageous enough to attack her in my presence, I don't know what he will do once she is away from my sight." Asterion said, his tone grave.
"Yes, your highness." Titan replied, understanding how important this matter was.
"Call the rest of the men and Hades. It's time to make them regret their actions and make sure they don't repeat this kind of behavior again." Asterion ordered.
Titan hesitated a little before finally calling the men inside as he took the seat on the throne.
Hades along with six more men entered, paying respect to their Crown prince.
"The Princess is… no more." Asterion said and paused, taking in all the reactions by the men in front of him.
"I am sure you all know that you people play a major role in killing your brother as well as the Crown princess herself while one of your brothers is still missing." Asterion said, his tone getting colder with each word.
All the men lowered their heads, knowing that they were wrong in leaving the princess.
"I hope you will reflect on your actions. And I am giving you one last chance to prove yourself.
I will not announce the Crown princess's death and would instead declare her missing. Somebody wanted to kill her, and I won't spare that person. Hence to find him, I will hide the fact that the Crown Princess is dead. She is still missing and we didn't bring her back to the palace.
Is that clear?" Asterion asked, his voice low and stern.
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Heys lovelies!
What do you think about the plot? Is it going well? Tell me in the comments below and don't forget to vote. Stay healthy!
- Kizy