"It makes no sense at all, your highness. Prince Nolan has no reason whatsoever to try and hurt his own sister to prove a point, he should even love her just as much as the King loves her so it makes no sense at all that he would want to play around with her life." Steve said, still unable to believe that one of the other princes was involved in the tragedy that had almost happened.
Prince Arthur threw his head back in his seat and laughed out loud.
"Of course not Steve, Prince Nolan has no interest whatsoever in hurting his sister, he doesn't want her dead either, he just wants to prove a point. The intention isn't to kill anyone but to be seen," he paused and fell silent for a few seconds with a look on his face that signified that he was lost in thought before he spoke up again,
"I have my doubts though, I don't think Prince Nolan would do something like that with his mother's permission. Anya is her daughter and I doubt she would give her blessings to her son to pull off something like that on her daughter and I am certain he didn't do something like that without her knowledge. Queen Marina is Prince Nolan's backbone and he would never do anything without his mother." He added and Steve shook his head.
"So you think Prince Frederick did it? Why would he want to do something like that?" Steve asked, getting invested in the whole thing.
"Prince Frederick actually is most likely the one behind this, he has a lot of things that could have backed up his motive. He is the third son of the king and has secretly been in competition with Prince Nolan for years now, especially now that the crown prince competition has been announced, worse still, his mother hates Queen Marina and what better opportunity to kill two birds with one stone than for Prince Frederick to become the crown prince."
"This competition is a perfect opportunity and he is willing to do anything to ensure Prince Nolan doesn't win. This is where things start getting interesting." Prince Arthur added with an odd smile while Steve seemed stunned at the realization that had just hit him.
"So, there is a very high chance that Prince Frederick paid whoever did this to cause a commotion that would get the King's attention then he would step forward and take responsibility. He would pretend to catch the culprit, present him before the king and his court and people will start seeing him in a new light." Steve summarized the whole thing out loud for himself and Prince Arthur nodded.
"Exactly! He is trying to even out the competition field. As of now, Prince Nolan is the only one the people see and believe to be worthy, entering the competition with the favor of the people is definitely a good idea so he is simply trying to put his name on everyone's lips so when the competition finally starts, he would stand a chance against Prince Nolan, making the whole competition even more intense; too intense for Prince Nolan to still be confident that he would win."
"So what about you, your highness? You just said it's not a bad idea to enter the competition with the people's favor and since you're now aware that that's the plan your competitors have then shouldn't you be planning on how to be seen by the people by winning them over and putting your name in their mouths?" Steve asked and once again, the young prince threw his head back and laughed so hard as if what Steve had just said was really funny.
"Patience…" he responded, "there's no need to rush so patience is the key. Besides, the king never gave a time frame so I would assume we still have some time before the competition ends."
Steve stared at the young prince in confusion and admiration, he had no idea what was going on in his mind, neither could he comprehend what the prince was planning but if there was one thing he was confident in, it was the prince's ability to successfully pull off anything he puts his mind to.
Steve strongly believed in Prince Arthur.
"You just sit back and watch how things unfold from here on out, trust me, it's about to get a whole lot more interesting." Prince Arthur added with a smile before he returned to the papers on his desk which he had borrowed from his father's study in preparation for the competition.
Steve wasn't exactly sure what the young Prince meant but he fell silent and left the Prince alone in his study.
That night, alone in his room with his thoughts, Prince Arthur's mind drifted back to the Governor's daughter. He was sad that he had rushed out on her like that without getting to actually talk to her and even though he was worried he might not be opportune to see her again like that, but for some reason he was confident that he would.
Her pretty face under the hood and her curvaceous body under the cloak filled his thoughts and he couldn't stop himself from smiling in the darkness as he remembered how she had confidently challenged him even when it was clear that he could have hit her.
She was really something else, fearless even and he wondered what exactly it was that kept her on his mind?
Prince Arthur was certain that it wasn't his dislike for her but amusement and his sudden interest in her so he wanted to get to know her.
Then, when he had felt her so close to him and even held her in his arms, her scent had taken over his senses and he could even still perceive it,
Fuck! He could even still feel just how soft her skin was underneath his hands.
Everything about her was so vivid in his head that it was driving him insane.
"What are you doing to me?" He asked himself as he groaned out loud in the darkness, realizing that he had let himself lose focus because of her, again.
He needed to get himself together, that was what he kept telling himself until he fell asleep.