Nielle knelt silently in the main hall, pretending to listen to the king's shout. His father wasn´t a person capable of taking things with impartiality. All he saw were the current problems and his own opinion of the culprit, which was usually his youngest son. The truth was that even if Louise had made a mistake, the king would have found a way to blame Nielle anyway.
But Nielle didn't care. The angrier his father was with him, the more disadvantaged he was in his family position, the better chances he had for a free life in the future. That's why he just stayed on the floor, waiting for the king to finish his shout and wondering who was stupid enough to really kill under his watch.
A candlestick suddenly flew in his direction, whereupon Nielle ducked in surprise and looked up at the king.
"Are you even listening?! Do you ever even listen?!" He screamed.
"I'm listening," Nielle lied.
"You're only concerned with the security of the country, one thing and you can't even do that right?" he shouted, "In a minute we could have a celebration in honor of the reduced crime, there hasn't been a murder in so long! I thought it's to your credit as well! I wanted to reward you for trying, but as I can see you have absolutely no regard for the safety of the city! What are your people doing? Do you give them any orders at all? Perhaps I should put my own soldiers to supervise the goings-on in city? Do you want us to look like a rotten country with military surveillance in the streets everywhere? How will people look at us?"
Nielle tried to listen for a moment before he switched off again for his own good. First of all, he didn´t participate in the safety of the city, cause it was only him. No one else was throwing money or people into it, and no one else knew how to control crowds by force. The fact that the king was considering rewarding him as well only showed how he doesn't pay attention to his work. Nielle wouldn´t be surprised if the king thought that all the order in the city was thanks to Louis.
Nielle would really like to see him send his soldiers into the city and expect it to help something. When his people made a mistake, no one else would be better. However, Nielle intended to thoroughly investigate yesterday even without the king demanding it, as he didn´t intend to allow such things to happen under his control.
A sharp blow to the head brought Nielle out of his thoughts. He grabbed his forehead in surprise and looked up at the king again. A second candlestick lay on the ground next to him, which this time really hit him. Nielle just raised his eyebrows and wiped the blood from his forehead.
"Are you listening?!" the king shouted.
Nielle, who really hated the pain, got up with the last bit of patience and sighed deeply: "Father," he said and slowly wiped the streak of blood still dripping, "I will investigate the situation today, I will report to you tonight. It is the first murder in a long time, it won't be difficult to find the culprit." He clarified.
The king looked at him irritably: "For your own sake, hope you're not wrong!"
Nielle considered for a moment whether to remind the king that he wasn't the one who did the killing, but finally dismissed the idea, "I'm not wrong...if you're worried, feel free to send one of Louis' s men with me," He stated.
,,I should! If Louise wasn't busy I'd leave it to him." He snapped.
Nielle sighed, "If that's all, I'll go," he said as he didn't feel like talking to his father any longer. Especially when he was throwing things at him.
The king shouted something at him, but Nielle considered the situation resolved and left the hall. He hadn't been home for several days and he already wanted to pack away from the palace. Even though he always said that he would stay here longer, everyone always irritated him so much that he couldn't fulfill his goal.
He slowly returned to his chamber, where he caught sight of a pair of people.
He raised his eyebrows in surprise, closed the door and walked over to the table: "One murder and look how many of you are suddenly interested in me," he laughed.
"Nielle," Louis looked at him as always, trying to calm down the situation, "I see that father is really upset," he took a step towards him, "what did he say to you?" he stretched his fingers to Nielle's bloody forehead, but Nielle simply grabbed his palm and lowered it down with a gentle smile.
"Nothing special, thanks for your concern. Do you need anything?" He asked.
"Father said that I should give you a hand. I don't have time myself today, but I'll lend you Iuwine." He nodded to the young man next to him, who only bowed gently, but didn´t speak.
Nielle looked dispassionately at Lacrisan, whom he knew very well. Iuwine, who was Louis's only source of luck, had lived with them in the palace practically since childhood. Nielle had never particularly liked him, but he couldn't be said to hate him like the rest of the Lacrisans. Their relationship was more or less neutral, although sometimes there was a reason to fight.
"Iwi," Nielle smiled, not exactly enthusiastically, "don't you want to tell Louis that you'll have a better use with him?"
"Prince Louis said I should go, so I'm going. If you have a problem with my presence, work it out between you," He clarified.
"Iuwin," Louis looked at him unsatisfied, "the king is really upset, if Nielle doesn't manage to solve the case as soon as possible, there will be no peace in the palace. You know how he can be. Don't let Nielle drive you away."
"Understood," Iuwin nodded and walked up to Prince Nielle, "You heard, I'm at your service today."
Nielle let out a deep sigh when there was a knock on the door. After Nielle ordered them in, a guard walked into the room with Shane.
"Your Highness," the guy greeted, letting Shane inside.
"Don't you have better clothes? How do you want to go to town?" Nielle laughed looking at his Lacrisan.
"My things ended up in the ditch," Shane reminded, looking at the pair of people at the table.
One of them seemed more noble, and as his graceful white hair, falling below his shoulders, sufficiently indicated his parentage, Shane had no doubt that he was one of the princes. He seemed to be the calmest of everyone in the room, while his prince looked like he'd love to beat someone up. Shane didn't understand why he couldn't end up with a normal individual.
The other one was obviously Lacrisan. His long black hair tied back in an elegant braid, straight posture, and piercing blue eyes that were strikingly similar to his, looked like they had enough luck for ten people. He might have been around twenty-five years old, but his demeanor made him look older. The soft white fabric on his uniform matched his bright irises beautifully.
"Nielle...is that the new Lacrisan that father was talking about yesterday?" Louis wondered, walking closer to Shane.
"He's meaner than he looks," Nielle nodded, "but his luck tastes better than anything I've ever had." He laughed.
Louis ignored his brother's inappropriate remarks and looked at Shane, "My name is Louis Alben von Rinsel, I'm Nielle's oldest brother, if you have any problem, don't hesitate to contact me and I'll see what I can do about it," he smiled. ,,what´s your name?"
"Shane," he introduced himself, "if I may, I would really appreciate it if he would at least call me by my name." He glared at Nielle.
Louis gave his brother a scolding look, "Nielle."
"Lacrisans don't deserve names, numbers and swears are better," He explained.
Louis, who knew Nielle well enough to know that it didn't matter right now, looked at Shane, "Don't worry, when he likes you, he'll start calling you by your name...he calls Iuwin by his name, eventually he'll call you as well." He smiled.
Shane looked at Lacrisan who was looking at him neutrally.
"I'm Iuwin," he introduced himself, "feel free to call me Iwi, Iuwi, the Lacrisan who stands around the crown prince...it's up to you." He clarified in a monotone until Shane didn't know if he was kidding or not.
"Beautiful times," Nielle looked at Iuwin, who only nodded slightly ironically, how the prince's treatment couldn´t be forgotten, no matter what position he was in.
"Nielle," Louis frowned.
"Yes, yes... don't worry, I won't touch him," he laughed, "as if he let himself." He looked at Iuwin who simply responded.
"You don't have to worry, I won't let you do anything, so you won't offend Prince Louis...even if you try something, Louis isn't the first one I'll go to," He promised.
Nielle laughed softly, how he still couldn't get used to the behavior of this individual over the years, but it amused him all the more: "Don't worry, although until yesterday you could boast the best luck in the palace," he took a step towards Lacrisan, "and it's true that I couldn't forget it´s taste," he laughed, "after yesterday you're losing." He roughly pulled Shane to himself, who immediately got out of his grip.
Shane gave him a confused look, but immediately noticed Iuwin's inquisitive look: "What?" Shane didn't understand.
"Prince Nielle says you have better luck than me," He pointed out.
"I don't compare my luck with other Lacrisans," Shane said.
"Me neither, I just don't understand one thing," Iuwin continued.
"What is that?" Shane didn´t really want to know.
"When you have better luck, why did you end up in his service?" He wondered.
Shane remained silent as he didn´t have an appropriate response to this knowledge. But the truth had to be clear to everyone in the room. Shane's goal in this country wasn´t to win a good prince and live a quiet life here. His goals were different, so his luck lay rather in the possibility that could lead him to them most effectively. And since Shane believed in his luck, he knew that Nielle was the one he should ended up with.
Nielle's sudden laugh snapped everyone out of their thoughts, "Lui, I get the impression that Iwi is losing his manners," He laughed.
"Iuwin." Louis looked at his Lacrisan who only bowed slightly and declared.
"I apologize, my curiosity crossed the line," He lied.
Louis sighed deeply and looked at Nielle: "When it's all over, I'll leave him at your service." When you come back, bring him back...in the same condition that I'm lending him to you. Do you understand, Nielle?" He asked.
"Stop acting like I'm a kid who doesn't care about the consequences," he laughed, "I won't hurt him, I only touched him once, right? After your last hysteria, why would I do it again when have better?"
Louis stared at him for a while and looked at Iuwin, "You'll give me a report in the evening," He instructed and after Lacrisan nodded he left the room.
Nielle looked at the two similar Lacrisans and crossed his arms over his chest. If he added five years, longer hair and nicer clothes to Shane, they would look like a photocopier. However, Nielle knew Iuwin's roots, he knew everything related to him, just like Louis, so he was sure that he had nothing to do with Shane. The Lacrisans were all more or less similar anyway. At least most had black hair and blue eyes, although other combinations were found.
"Iwi, did the king order Louis to help me or are you here with another purpose?" He asked after a while.
"I think you can answer it yourself without me telling you and getting into trouble," He informed.
Nielle laughed lightly, "Uncooperative as always, you'll get along." He looked at Shane.
"I'm not the type to get along with others," Shane clarified.
"Me neither," Iuwin said to him as well.
Nielle smiled softly, "Iwi, wait down by the horses," He instructed.
Iuwin disappeared down the hall while Nielle looked at Shane contentedly.
"And as for you, don't think I've forgotten your insolence today," He took a step towards him, to which Shane only subconsciously backed away.
"I don't think I did anything wrong...I didn't know the rules, but the rule that unawareness of the rules is no excuse is bullshit," He clarified.
"I don't mean the rules, they're just to have fun with the rest when I have time to spare," he laughed, "it was more unpleasant how you ruined a beautiful moment when I wanted to take tears from my property." He roughly slammed him against the cabinet behind him, causing Shane to let out a soft gasp as his whole back hurt.
"He didn't want to," he said, and when Nielle touched his chest, he grabbed his palm in displeasure, "and I don't want to either."
"Didn't you realize after yesterday that your opinion doesn't matter?" He laughed and roughly slapped Shane's face with his other hand as he tried to move to the side.
Nielle looked at him contentedly for a moment, his displeased expression, his beautiful blue irises staring at him irritably, yet without any sign of significant protest, as if he didn't want to get into real trouble.
"Or do you want me to give you a practical review now? If you don't remember." He chuckled and dug his nails roughly into Shane's neck, running them down to his chest, down to his sides and under his clothes to his bottom which had had a night of action last night.
Shane frowned in irritation, and the second Nielle´s hand touched his ass, he aggressively pushed him away, giving him an angry look.
"You look like you're fine, but I see you remember our night in detail." Nielle gently licked his fingers that were still bloody from Shane's fresh scratches. He smiled sadistically, "don't worry, for how obedient you were in the morning, we'll do it again in the evening in a better torture chamber...I didn't get tears from you yesterday, I'll make up for it today." He smiled and studied Shane's frown for a moment before calling the guard in satisfaction.
Shane shifted his gaze to the new guy and took a deep breath as he realized he'd avoided Nielle intention for the time being. Shane would like to fight back more, he would like to kick Nielle to the ground and take back everything he did to him yesterday, but he knew he couldn't. At least not for now.
Nielle looked at the guard, "Let him get some good clothes."
The guard walked to the door and open it for Lacrisan to follow him. Shane gave Nielle a look before taking the opportunity to disappear behind the door. He knew that today he couldn't avoid the prince's presence, but that didn't change the fact that every moment without him counted.