While Prince Rian was preparing for bed, Princess Aurelia Lūpiter and Prince Marcus Lūpiter still had a long night ahead of them.
Marcus gave Aurelia a smirk as he swapped positions with her in front of King Augustus’s quarters. Aurelia’s cold expression didn’t change as she inclined her head the minimum amount to be polite.
After Aurelia left, one of Marcus’s servants arrived with a chair for him to sit upon. Standing guard was boring. Marcus liked it when assassins came to try and kill his father—it made the night more interesting.
And oh, it never failed to amuse Marcus how he was the one to guard King Augustus at night. Every night was another opportunity for him. Luckily for King Augustus, other matters needed to be in place to secure his ascension.
As Marcus sat and was bored, his mind wandered over what had happened today.
Earlier that day, Marcia and Ariadne had left with their servants and guards for a so-called ‘summer beach-side holiday.’ The Imperial family had numerous properties, including one on the south coast of the country, where it was warm and had sandy beaches.
But it was clearly an excuse. Marcia and Ariadne were running away.
He was offended by Marcia running away like that. He had only played around with her a little bit! She didn’t even die, and didn’t even come close to dying, so what was the problem? And he hadn’t even gotten started with dear little Ariadne yet!
Look at Pollux—Marcus had been messing with him for years, and the boy was still hanging around.
Marcia wasn’t as good as Pollux, Marcus thought with disapproval.
Marcus had gotten bored of messing with Pollux. Messing with servants was also boring because they were too weak. Now, with Marcia and Ariadne gone, who should he play around with next? Should he make Aurelia’s life harder instead?
Aurelia was the most difficult, but that was what made it interesting…
He had many things to think about while he was stationed outside King Augustus’s door.
After Aurelia’s guard duty for the night ended, she went to visit the academic mages who were supposed to break the contract.
When she entered their office, they all gave her wary looks. The white-haired senior mage came out: Lord Mage Horatio Vulturnus, Marchioness Vulturnus’s uncle.
“Your Highness, do you wish for a report on our progress for His Majesty?”
“Let us speak in private.”
Mage Vulturnus met her gaze. “Then please, my office.”
The other mages looked at each other as the door to the office closed, curious about what Princess Aurelia wanted to talk about. But they couldn’t hear anything, no matter what spell they tried. The privacy spell inside was too good.
Inside the office, Mage Vulturnus offered Princess Aurelia a seat before sitting down himself.
“So, how can I help your Highness?” Mage Vulturnus asked.
“I refer to the King Augustus’s matter a few nights ago, regarding the use of contracts between your staff.”
Mage Vulturnus’s face stiffened. “Please go on.”
“I can assist you to pretend to follow King Augustus’s directive. Alternatively, I can help your staff quietly leave for the time being.”
Mage Vulturnus’s eyes flashed. She’s preparing for a coup.
He wasn’t planning to let his best mages lose their magic like that. He had already thought of countermeasures. He didn’t need Princess Aurelia to come here and say that, and she should know that too. That meant she was here to pull him into her faction.
—If he didn’t tell King Augustus about this, then he was implicitly supporting her. Or, at the very least, implicitly not supporting King Augustus.
After the last few weeks of annoying verbal abuse and years of magical abuse, it was not in Mage Vulturnus’s best interest to tell. He wouldn’t be rewarded for it in any way; and it may make King Augustus even more suspicious of him.
“And the contract?” Mage Vulturnus asked.
“I will handle the contract.”
“Forgive me for being impolite, but does Your Highness know how to break the contract?”
“I know how to return King Augustus’s magic.”
He noticed that Princess Aurelia wasn’t saying she could break the contract, which meant she had a method to work with the contract. Did that mean she was willing to pay the gold? Regardless, that wasn’t his problem.
The Vulturnus family was known for being loyal to the Imperial Lūpiter family. However, after living and working in close contact with them, his personal feelings had soured.
If he had to choose a member of the royal family to follow…well, he rather not chose any of them. But for now, he lowered his head. “Then, on behalf of my team, we thank you for your assistance.”
Princess Aurelia stood up. “A nation is not made of one person. You and your team are crucial for Angio’s strength.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.” Mage Vulturnus hid a sardonic smile as he bowed.
Princess Aurelia left without wasting any more time.
Prince Pollux was in his quarters, books open in front of him.
He was gloomy.
He had been thinking about leaving the castle for a long time. And yet, Marcia had done it first. And she had left with Ariadne.
Pollux was sharply aware of his isolation.
Marcus and Aurelia each had their backing. Marcia and Ariadne had each other.
He had nothing, but his servants whom he didn’t fully trust. He didn’t know if they secretly pitied him or looked down on him or if their pockets were being filled by someone like Marcus.
Due to his disability, he had always strongly felt the restriction in his movements. It had been the servants pushing him around and who ultimately decided where he should go.
Even now, with the new floating chair, those unconscious barriers remained in his mind. He felt like he needed to plan carefully to leave the castle, to gather his belongings, money and resources, and to prepare an ironclad reason for leaving.
He didn’t realise that he simply leave with a flimsy excuse with a few days of preparation.
At the same time, Pollux had a contrarian streak. Marcus’s pressure over the years had made him want to leave, which made Pollux dig his feet in even more. He still had his pride. He didn’t want to run away. He wanted to show that he was stronger than other people realised.
He could tell that Marcus was up to something. He wanted to see Marcus fall and be crushed.
But, Prince Rian’s parting words repeated in his mind: “I hope we can meet again. If you wish to visit Sedaveria, do not hesitate to contact my office.”
Pollux clenched his hands. What should he do now? And how should he do it?
Ren Xiyang attended the Imperial Council gathering in the morning, along with Rian. It was Rian’s first gathering, as being a Crown Prince made him eligible despite not having his own fief; and they had missed the other gatherings since Rian’s birthday because they were travelling.
Lunch was at the Imperial Parliament with other councillors. Then, they returned to the Imperial Palace to meet with Florence.
Rian may have sneaked a few kisses from Ren Xiyang while they were in the Imperial carriage.
When they exited the carriage, Rian was radiating a subtle delight. His warm smile at the servants in the Imperial Palace made those servants smile back and brighten up.
Rian, Ren Xiyang, and Florence settled into Rian’s main room. The servants set down tea and snacks and quietly left.
Rian cast a privacy spell around the room and poured tea for everyone, which immediately made Florence wary.
“Is there any particular matter about the agricultural initiative you wished to speak about first?” she asked.
“Yes,” Ren Xiyang said, pulling out his prepared agenda.
“Wait,” Rian said, plopping his hand on top of Ren Xiyang’s papers. “There’s something else I want to tell you.”
Ren Xiyang glanced at him, raising an eyebrow. Is this what I’m thinking you’re thinking of? Now?
Rian glanced back at him with a smile, before turning that smile onto Florence.
Florence put down her teacup, just in case.
Rian reached out and took Ren Xiyang’s hand in his own. “Lady Florence Sage, I would like to tell you that Ayden Rosewood and I are lovers,” he said proudly.
Oh, Florence thought. She picked up her teacup again. “Thank you for telling me.”
Rian was disgruntled with Florence’s reaction. “Aren’t you surprised?” There were a dozen reasons why his announcement should have been shocking!
Florence sipped her tea before answering, “I’ll admit it, I noticed that you two had become sweethearts a few years ago. So I’m not surprised.”
Rian and Ren Xiyang: “…”
It wasn’t Florence who was surprised: it was Rian and Ren Xiyang.
On one hand, Rian wanted to correct her—they had only become lovers a few weeks ago! On the other hand, he didn’t want to admit that it had taken him so long to capture Ren Xiyang. In the end, he made a complex expression on his face.
“What gave it away?” Ren Xiyang asked. He felt that it must have been Rian who gave it away—after all, Rian had liked him for years.
Florence thought back over the years. “Well, it’s well known that you two spend many evenings together whenever the other is in town. You always sit together at events and meals. Ayden, you’ve sent roses to Prince Rian multiple times, starting from a few years back. Prince Rian also always supports your initiatives either with time or gold. You also wear matching clothing frequently. Like now.”
Rian and Ren Xiyang glanced at each other. They needed to unpack this (and accuse each other/tease each other appropriately) in private later.
“However, that’s all public information,” Rian said. He gave Florence a look. “Even my Imperial Mother has not realised that we are lovers. So, how did you know?”
There were more things Florence had noticed—like how Rian’s jealousy and possessiveness of Ayden was clear, and how Ayden’s eyes often sought out Rian—but she felt that saying that would make it seem like she paid too much attention to them. And again, this was how they acted in public.
Florence smiled wryly. “If Your Highness must know—”
Rian’s expression clearly stated his desire to know.
“—Then perhaps it’s because I’m romantically inclined towards women. And so, I suspected that you were romantically inclined towards each other.”
Rian was shocked.
Ren Xiyang was surprised, but he recovered first with a smile. “Yet another reason why we’re such great friends.”
“Hm,” Florence agreed. She sipped her tea and glanced at the frozen prince and hid an amused smile. It was rare to see Prince Rian speechless; usually, he was the one making others speechless.
Ren Xiyang patted Rian and moved his agenda papers onto the table between him and Florence. “Let’s move onto the actual agenda,” he said.
Florence leaned forward. “Yes, how can I help?”
There was a loud explosion on the outskirts of the Angio capital.
The ground next to an ordinary-looking house was destroyed, leaving a large hole revealing a poorly lit space beneath.
“There! Them! I was right!” Antonia Argentum rushed forward, along with other members of Viscountess Venenum’s team. Half a dozen more mages, some of them their friends, and two of them sent by Princess Aurelia to assist Viscountess Venenum, followed them down.
What they saw shocked everyone, even Antonia.
Over the last few weeks, she and Valerio and Viscountess Venenum had been using the heat-sensing techniques to look for suspicious locations. Antonia had discovered this place only yesterday, when she had detected what seemed like people, underground, deeper than a normal basement would be.
Viscountess Venenum and Valerio confirmed her suspicions. On a hunch, Viscountess Venenum gathered an extra group of mages to accompany them, just in case, and had them check the place as soon as possible.
Her hunch was right.
Beneath the ground, there was a huge, deep cylindrical space. In the centre was a ‘tower’-like building, with the top behind the ‘ordinary’ house on the ground surface. Thin ‘spokes’—walkways—radiated outwards from the tower to the circling wall which was embedded with multiple doors, windows, and bars.
Cells. There were cells down here.
“Oh dear, oh gods, oh gods!” Antonia muttered. “Fuck!”
Viscountess Venenum turned to one of the mages sent by Princess Aurelia. “Alert the Eldest Princess immediately!”
“Yes, my lady.”
Viscountess Venenum narrowly dodged a magical attack and started a spell for sleep-inducing venom. “Don’t let anyone escape!”
“Yes, my lady!”
While Viscountess Venenum engaged in battle, the mage sent by Princess Aurelia rushed back to the castle.
The mage didn’t go directly to Princess Aurelia but instead went to the princess’s ladies-in-waiting.
“Lady Helios! Lady Helios! Viscountess Venenum has discovered something, and they need backup quickly!”
Lady Helios froze. “Where?”
“On the outskirts of the city! Viscountess Venenum instructed me to alert the Eldest Princess.”
Lady Helios turned to one of the other ladies-in-waiting and instructed her to discreetly alert Princess Aurelia. Then, she organised a group of mages and Princess Aurelia’s private guards to assist Viscountess Venenum.
These actions did not go unnoticed, and some curious nobles followed them to the scene.
Today was fated to be turbulent.
Under Viscountess Venenum’s direction and the help sent by Lady Helios, all the mages in the underground tower were apprehended. To the best of Viscountess Venenum’s knowledge, no one escaped—she and her team used heat-sensing to uncover those who tried to secretly flee.
There were both familiar and unfamiliar faces among the captured. They were shadow mages and light healers, and some of them were respected.
Viscountess Venenum had a bad feeling. It wasn’t healing they were doing down here, was it?
While a team of people kept guard of these mages, she and others investigated the tower and the surrounding rooms.
Laboratories. Living quarters. Storage rooms. And prison cells.
The prison cells contained people, alive, dead, and undead. Some were commoners. Some were mages. And some were nobles they had thought were supposed to be dead and buried.
One of the mages investigating gagged. They looked at each other, the realisation clear.
Necromancy!
Those mages were conducting necromantic experiments on people down here!
Rian: Prepared to be shocked!
A few moments later—
Rian:
Florence: *sips tea*
While Prince Rian was preparing for bed, Princess Aurelia Lūpiter and Prince Marcus Lūpiter still had a long night ahead of them.
Marcus gave Aurelia a smirk as he swapped positions with her in front of King Augustus’s quarters. Aurelia’s cold expression didn’t change as she inclined her head the minimum amount to be polite.
After Aurelia left, one of Marcus’s servants arrived with a chair for him to sit upon. Standing guard was boring. Marcus liked it when assassins came to try and kill his father—it made the night more interesting.
And oh, it never failed to amuse Marcus how he was the one to guard King Augustus at night. Every night was another opportunity for him. Luckily for King Augustus, other matters needed to be in place to secure his ascension.
As Marcus sat and was bored, his mind wandered over what had happened today.
Earlier that day, Marcia and Ariadne had left with their servants and guards for a so-called ‘summer beach-side holiday.’ The Imperial family had numerous properties, including one on the south coast of the country, where it was warm and had sandy beaches.
But it was clearly an excuse. Marcia and Ariadne were running away.
He was offended by Marcia running away like that. He had only played around with her a little bit! She didn’t even die, and didn’t even come close to dying, so what was the problem? And he hadn’t even gotten started with dear little Ariadne yet!
Look at Pollux—Marcus had been messing with him for years, and the boy was still hanging around.
Marcia wasn’t as good as Pollux, Marcus thought with disapproval.
Marcus had gotten bored of messing with Pollux. Messing with servants was also boring because they were too weak. Now, with Marcia and Ariadne gone, who should he play around with next? Should he make Aurelia’s life harder instead?
Aurelia was the most difficult, but that was what made it interesting…
He had many things to think about while he was stationed outside King Augustus’s door.
After Aurelia’s guard duty for the night ended, she went to visit the academic mages who were supposed to break the contract.
When she entered their office, they all gave her wary looks. The white-haired senior mage came out: Lord Mage Horatio Vulturnus, Marchioness Vulturnus’s uncle.
“Your Highness, do you wish for a report on our progress for His Majesty?”
“Let us speak in private.”
Mage Vulturnus met her gaze. “Then please, my office.”
The other mages looked at each other as the door to the office closed, curious about what Princess Aurelia wanted to talk about. But they couldn’t hear anything, no matter what spell they tried. The privacy spell inside was too good.
Inside the office, Mage Vulturnus offered Princess Aurelia a seat before sitting down himself.
“So, how can I help your Highness?” Mage Vulturnus asked.
“I refer to the King Augustus’s matter a few nights ago, regarding the use of contracts between your staff.”
Mage Vulturnus’s face stiffened. “Please go on.”
“I can assist you to pretend to follow King Augustus’s directive. Alternatively, I can help your staff quietly leave for the time being.”
Mage Vulturnus’s eyes flashed. She’s preparing for a coup.
He wasn’t planning to let his best mages lose their magic like that. He had already thought of countermeasures. He didn’t need Princess Aurelia to come here and say that, and she should know that too. That meant she was here to pull him into her faction.
—If he didn’t tell King Augustus about this, then he was implicitly supporting her. Or, at the very least, implicitly not supporting King Augustus.
After the last few weeks of annoying verbal abuse and years of magical abuse, it was not in Mage Vulturnus’s best interest to tell. He wouldn’t be rewarded for it in any way; and it may make King Augustus even more suspicious of him.
“And the contract?” Mage Vulturnus asked.
“I will handle the contract.”
“Forgive me for being impolite, but does Your Highness know how to break the contract?”
“I know how to return King Augustus’s magic.”
He noticed that Princess Aurelia wasn’t saying she could break the contract, which meant she had a method to work with the contract. Did that mean she was willing to pay the gold? Regardless, that wasn’t his problem.
The Vulturnus family was known for being loyal to the Imperial Lūpiter family. However, after living and working in close contact with them, his personal feelings had soured.
If he had to choose a member of the royal family to follow…well, he rather not chose any of them. But for now, he lowered his head. “Then, on behalf of my team, we thank you for your assistance.”
Princess Aurelia stood up. “A nation is not made of one person. You and your team are crucial for Angio’s strength.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.” Mage Vulturnus hid a sardonic smile as he bowed.
Princess Aurelia left without wasting any more time.
Prince Pollux was in his quarters, books open in front of him.
He was gloomy.
He had been thinking about leaving the castle for a long time. And yet, Marcia had done it first. And she had left with Ariadne.
Pollux was sharply aware of his isolation.
Marcus and Aurelia each had their backing. Marcia and Ariadne had each other.
He had nothing, but his servants whom he didn’t fully trust. He didn’t know if they secretly pitied him or looked down on him or if their pockets were being filled by someone like Marcus.
Due to his disability, he had always strongly felt the restriction in his movements. It had been the servants pushing him around and who ultimately decided where he should go.
Even now, with the new floating chair, those unconscious barriers remained in his mind. He felt like he needed to plan carefully to leave the castle, to gather his belongings, money and resources, and to prepare an ironclad reason for leaving.
He didn’t realise that he simply leave with a flimsy excuse with a few days of preparation.
At the same time, Pollux had a contrarian streak. Marcus’s pressure over the years had made him want to leave, which made Pollux dig his feet in even more. He still had his pride. He didn’t want to run away. He wanted to show that he was stronger than other people realised.
He could tell that Marcus was up to something. He wanted to see Marcus fall and be crushed.
But, Prince Rian’s parting words repeated in his mind: “I hope we can meet again. If you wish to visit Sedaveria, do not hesitate to contact my office.”
Pollux clenched his hands. What should he do now? And how should he do it?
Ren Xiyang attended the Imperial Council gathering in the morning, along with Rian. It was Rian’s first gathering, as being a Crown Prince made him eligible despite not having his own fief; and they had missed the other gatherings since Rian’s birthday because they were travelling.
Lunch was at the Imperial Parliament with other councillors. Then, they returned to the Imperial Palace to meet with Florence.
Rian may have sneaked a few kisses from Ren Xiyang while they were in the Imperial carriage.
When they exited the carriage, Rian was radiating a subtle delight. His warm smile at the servants in the Imperial Palace made those servants smile back and brighten up.
Rian, Ren Xiyang, and Florence settled into Rian’s main room. The servants set down tea and snacks and quietly left.
Rian cast a privacy spell around the room and poured tea for everyone, which immediately made Florence wary.
“Is there any particular matter about the agricultural initiative you wished to speak about first?” she asked.
“Yes,” Ren Xiyang said, pulling out his prepared agenda.
“Wait,” Rian said, plopping his hand on top of Ren Xiyang’s papers. “There’s something else I want to tell you.”
Ren Xiyang glanced at him, raising an eyebrow. Is this what I’m thinking you’re thinking of? Now?
Rian glanced back at him with a smile, before turning that smile onto Florence.
Florence put down her teacup, just in case.
Rian reached out and took Ren Xiyang’s hand in his own. “Lady Florence Sage, I would like to tell you that Ayden Rosewood and I are lovers,” he said proudly.
Oh, Florence thought. She picked up her teacup again. “Thank you for telling me.”
Rian was disgruntled with Florence’s reaction. “Aren’t you surprised?” There were a dozen reasons why his announcement should have been shocking!
Florence sipped her tea before answering, “I’ll admit it, I noticed that you two had become sweethearts a few years ago. So I’m not surprised.”
Rian and Ren Xiyang: “…”
It wasn’t Florence who was surprised: it was Rian and Ren Xiyang.
On one hand, Rian wanted to correct her—they had only become lovers a few weeks ago! On the other hand, he didn’t want to admit that it had taken him so long to capture Ren Xiyang. In the end, he made a complex expression on his face.
“What gave it away?” Ren Xiyang asked. He felt that it must have been Rian who gave it away—after all, Rian had liked him for years.
Florence thought back over the years. “Well, it’s well known that you two spend many evenings together whenever the other is in town. You always sit together at events and meals. Ayden, you’ve sent roses to Prince Rian multiple times, starting from a few years back. Prince Rian also always supports your initiatives either with time or gold. You also wear matching clothing frequently. Like now.”
Rian and Ren Xiyang glanced at each other. They needed to unpack this (and accuse each other/tease each other appropriately) in private later.
“However, that’s all public information,” Rian said. He gave Florence a look. “Even my Imperial Mother has not realised that we are lovers. So, how did you know?”
There were more things Florence had noticed—like how Rian’s jealousy and possessiveness of Ayden was clear, and how Ayden’s eyes often sought out Rian—but she felt that saying that would make it seem like she paid too much attention to them. And again, this was how they acted in public.
Florence smiled wryly. “If Your Highness must know—”
Rian’s expression clearly stated his desire to know.
“—Then perhaps it’s because I’m romantically inclined towards women. And so, I suspected that you were romantically inclined towards each other.”
Rian was shocked.
Ren Xiyang was surprised, but he recovered first with a smile. “Yet another reason why we’re such great friends.”
“Hm,” Florence agreed. She sipped her tea and glanced at the frozen prince and hid an amused smile. It was rare to see Prince Rian speechless; usually, he was the one making others speechless.
Ren Xiyang patted Rian and moved his agenda papers onto the table between him and Florence. “Let’s move onto the actual agenda,” he said.
Florence leaned forward. “Yes, how can I help?”
There was a loud explosion on the outskirts of the Angio capital.
The ground next to an ordinary-looking house was destroyed, leaving a large hole revealing a poorly lit space beneath.
“There! Them! I was right!” Antonia Argentum rushed forward, along with other members of Viscountess Venenum’s team. Half a dozen more mages, some of them their friends, and two of them sent by Princess Aurelia to assist Viscountess Venenum, followed them down.
What they saw shocked everyone, even Antonia.
Over the last few weeks, she and Valerio and Viscountess Venenum had been using the heat-sensing techniques to look for suspicious locations. Antonia had discovered this place only yesterday, when she had detected what seemed like people, underground, deeper than a normal basement would be.
Viscountess Venenum and Valerio confirmed her suspicions. On a hunch, Viscountess Venenum gathered an extra group of mages to accompany them, just in case, and had them check the place as soon as possible.
Her hunch was right.
Beneath the ground, there was a huge, deep cylindrical space. In the centre was a ‘tower’-like building, with the top behind the ‘ordinary’ house on the ground surface. Thin ‘spokes’—walkways—radiated outwards from the tower to the circling wall which was embedded with multiple doors, windows, and bars.
Cells. There were cells down here.
“Oh dear, oh gods, oh gods!” Antonia muttered. “Fuck!”
Viscountess Venenum turned to one of the mages sent by Princess Aurelia. “Alert the Eldest Princess immediately!”
“Yes, my lady.”
Viscountess Venenum narrowly dodged a magical attack and started a spell for sleep-inducing venom. “Don’t let anyone escape!”
“Yes, my lady!”
While Viscountess Venenum engaged in battle, the mage sent by Princess Aurelia rushed back to the castle.
The mage didn’t go directly to Princess Aurelia but instead went to the princess’s ladies-in-waiting.
“Lady Helios! Lady Helios! Viscountess Venenum has discovered something, and they need backup quickly!”
Lady Helios froze. “Where?”
“On the outskirts of the city! Viscountess Venenum instructed me to alert the Eldest Princess.”
Lady Helios turned to one of the other ladies-in-waiting and instructed her to discreetly alert Princess Aurelia. Then, she organised a group of mages and Princess Aurelia’s private guards to assist Viscountess Venenum.
These actions did not go unnoticed, and some curious nobles followed them to the scene.
Today was fated to be turbulent.
Under Viscountess Venenum’s direction and the help sent by Lady Helios, all the mages in the underground tower were apprehended. To the best of Viscountess Venenum’s knowledge, no one escaped—she and her team used heat-sensing to uncover those who tried to secretly flee.
There were both familiar and unfamiliar faces among the captured. They were shadow mages and light healers, and some of them were respected.
Viscountess Venenum had a bad feeling. It wasn’t healing they were doing down here, was it?
While a team of people kept guard of these mages, she and others investigated the tower and the surrounding rooms.
Laboratories. Living quarters. Storage rooms. And prison cells.
The prison cells contained people, alive, dead, and undead. Some were commoners. Some were mages. And some were nobles they had thought were supposed to be dead and buried.
One of the mages investigating gagged. They looked at each other, the realisation clear.
Necromancy!
Those mages were conducting necromantic experiments on people down here!
Rian: Prepared to be shocked!
A few moments later—
Rian:
Florence: *sips tea*
