Kapitel 52: Excuses and Suspicions

Time flew by before she realized it, Isaac returned awhile back but refused to tell her anything. She'd been continuing her etiquette lessons diligently but what a pain it was. She saw no point in it, it's not like she was going to start entertaining these people once Isaac became the Duke.

Her beasts were getting better at reading her body language and coming when she starts calling, but for now Theron was still the best out of everyone. Time for his walk, she tightened his leash and sadly shook her head at him. "You think you could grow sometime soon?" She asked half-jokingly, only to get a confused growl from Theron.

In her dreams the white tiger was much more beast like than this. Exiting the sanctuary she hit her head on the chest of a boy she'd seen a few times before, falling backwards against Theron. Cedar brown hair and dark blue eyes, she knew him from anywhere, the very boy her sister kept inviting over to the estate.

"Young master Arka…" before she could finish Nyx went and helped her up, worrying about her and whether she'd scraped herself. Dusting herself she shook her head and looked to the side where the other boy sat on the floor, shoved to the side abruptly by the redhead.

"I'm fine, but why is he here?" She questioned about the boy most clearly not a member of the Argyris family to the side. Almost as though annoyed, Nyx clicked his tongue while staring at him. "Isaac brought back a turtle for ya."

More questions remained unanswered than answered as she watched him get up on his own. "Arkadios Elyas greets Lady Theia Argyris." Formal as always, she didn't know what Penelope had ever seen in him, he was quite like the duchess compared to his older brother that took after the duke once you got to know him.

"Why are you here?" She bluntly asked, not in the mood to dance around the question. If Nyx wouldn't explain it to her, she'd go to the source for an explanation.

"I was told by Duke Argyris I could stay for the time being, I decided to find Lady Theia in the meantime to greet her." She felt as though there was much more behind the story but couldn't push it as Nyx begun talking about Theron's walk.

There was no way he'd come over just because, he hated Penelope with a passion. She'd constantly fawn all over him and tried at one point to rope him into an engagement when they were younger. Although her mother was after the power of the Elyas family, Penelope was simply a love struck fool for someone that had less of a personality than a brick.

Her tea party she'd be hosting was in little under a week, there was no need to arrive so early even if the northern territory was so far from the southern territory. One way or another she'd find out the information, there was only so much they could keep from her before she knew it all. She wished she were a baby again so they'd simply talk about their plans in front of her.

Walking past the two boys, she took Theron on his walk ignoring Nyx's talk about how his day was and ignoring Arkadios's presence altogether. Why did everyone insist on bothering her and telling her nothing?

Back in his room Isaac reviewed many documents and papers, making sure to read them thoroughly about what he could find out. There was something completely unnatural about the third prince's mother, he was going to find out just what it was. He'd manage to get permission to leave under the guise of investigating the third prince, but the more he learned about her the more something felt off.

A woman from unknown origins that came out of nowhere, she one day presents her son to the king and insists they are of blood relations. The son looks nothing like the king, but somehow he agrees to make him the third prince and that they must share the same blood.

The woman was an anomaly. Her goal was to make the third prince the king so she had power, everyone knew that. But she was hiding secrets, could it be he really wasn't the king's child, or there was something else about her?

On top of that there were almost no records of her no matter who he asked. Just what was she? She seemed crazy, even desperate. A woman who never attended social gatherings she forced her son to attend, screaming at maids to respect her and royalty because the king once loved her, as she claimed even more than the queen according to some former maids.

Even from the way her son acted it looked like he hated her. She wasn't the only weird one, he was too as well. She'd throw constantly physical and verbal abuse at him, including other children, but he always seemed to take it with a clenched fist. He wasn't imagining it at that time, the third prince was glaring into the back of Theia's neck.

He could tell he had hatred deep within him that he hid behind a mask, but that may be precisely why the Duke himself would want to support the third prince. There were too many mysteries surrounding the person that he didn't want Theia involved, but couldn't go against their decision just yet. Gripping the document in his hand tightly, he vowed to kill the Duke sometime soon.

There was so much to do within a short little time span, if it weren't for Theia and their mother he would of never bothered to look into any of this. One day he'd be unable to keep all this from her anymore, but for now she just needed to live in ignorance.

Hearing footsteps and a knock on his door, he recognized the sound of it anywhere, it was Theia. She'd gotten faster at walking, she must definitely be growing bigger than he realized. Putting them aside under his mattress, he opened the door for her as he glared at the two boys briefly, looking down at her and picking her up. "Eins!" She wrapped her arms around his neck.