Capítulo 3: Devil Loves Chaos

Albert soon came back to the study and brought tea with some refreshments for the Royal Highness. "M'lord, have something to eat. You must be tired after the last night."

Rhys looked at how attentive Albert was being right now and couldn't seem to link this man to the one who always frustrated him. There were too many sides of Albert and even Rhys could say that he hadn't seen it all.

When it comes to matters like Rhys' safety and health, Albert would never be careless. He was the most attentive one and he was the only one who served Rhys directly.

"After eating, you should go to bed," added Albert. "You've been inside 'The Icy Hellscape' for the past three days. Aren't you tired already? Stop looking through these books. They won't help you anyway."

Rhys looked up at Albert and asked, "You have noticed, right?"

Albert was silent but Rhys knew that he wasn't the only one who had noticed the abnormality. Being Rhys' mentor, there was no way, Albert didn't notice anything.

"The books won't help for real?" Rhys changed his question since Albert wasn't willing to answer the previous one.

"Not all answers are written in the books, M'lord," answered Albert.

"Since you have the answers, you can share."

"I'm not here to give you answers," replied Albert straightforwardly. "I'm here to keep you alive."

There was that cunning smirk once again. Rhys took a sip of the tea to calm himself down.

"But I'll tell you one thing. Even I don't have all the answers," added Albert without being prompted which surprised Rhys a little. "You still have to make some effort and search for the answers yourself. At most, I'll just accompany you on this journey of finding answers."

He narrowed his deep-set eyes at Albert and dropped the topic. Since Albert had no answers, he had to look for the answers himself. The season of astral was coming later and later in the last couple of years. This year, it was a whole month late which almost made the soldiers not hold on till the end.

He had already noticed that the demonic energy in the cold desert was thicker than ever. Even he had started to get affected by inhaling it which had never happened before. And he had been guarding this border for a decade now!

"What does the letter say?" inquired Albert.

"Your Majesty told me to visit the Duchy of Rosewood instead of coming straight to the Capital as soon as the season of astral begins."

"Duchy of Rosewood?" repeated Albert.

"I have to meet my fianceé," added Rhys. "His Majesty wants to be a Father all of a sudden. The precious daughter of Second in the formal order of precedence, "Blood Rose" House of Rosewood, Duke! He has chosen her as my fiancée." He took a pause before looking at Albert's thoughtful expression as he asked, "What do you think he is up to?"

"How can this humble one even knows the thoughts of His Majesty?"

"You sound like a hoodwinker," commented Rhys in all honesty. Even if Deputy General Garen could see that Albert had no respect for anyone else except for Rhys, how could Rhys not know it himself? When Albert said his job was to keep Rhys alive, only Rhys knew that that was exactly what he meant.

"Are you going?" prodded Albert. "To the Duchy of Rosewood?"

"We will go," beamed Rhys. "Why wouldn't we go? We have to go and see what prompted His Majesty to suddenly take on the role of being my Father. Since he has already chosen a fiancée for me. I have to show my sincerity by going to see my future Princess. I can't be rude to the House of Rosewood. He is a Duke and second in order as well."

Although Rhys looked rather handsome as he beamed, Albert could feel the devilish aura around him. His Royal Highness was again getting high and wanted to wreak havoc. Sigh. It was to be expected. When have His Royal Highness, Rhys Crown been obedient?

Wouldn't people in the palace feel uneasy if this Prince didn't create trouble every once in a while?

The devil had to show his fangs every once in a while as a reminder to people that he was still the same devil that took joy in bloodshed and chaos.

Albert silently prayed for the precious daughter of the House of Rosewood. He hoped she had a big heart and wasn't a delicate lady. Although this seemed like his wishful thinking.

"Before leaving, we have to make some arrangements," stated Rhys in his usual manner which oozed with superior nobility and elegance. Even if he didn't like his soldiers addressing him as the Royal Highness, that didn't mean deep in his bones, he wasn't the Royal Prince.

It's just that most of the time, his elegance and nobility got overshadowed by the roughness that constant battles brought him.

Listening to the arrangements that Rhys told him, even Albert's indifferent face almost twitched. Still, like a qualified aide, he listened to everything and noted everything in his memory. Then he went to arrange everything. Even if they were going to start the journey next week, he had to start making preparations early.

Once Albert was gone, Rhys went to sit behind his desk and as his gaze fell on the letter once again, he read out the name of his fiancée, "Lady Drusilla Rosewood... Let's see why my father chose you."

Although Rhys was at the age where marriage was supposed to be discussed, he had no interest in this. He fought day and night in 'The Icy Hellscape' for years, how could he have the mind to think about anything else? So, now that this fianceé was suddenly thrown at him, he had to take some interest in her.

He folded the letter and burned it to ashes.

Then he went to read the book he placed aside earlier and felt a headache coming on. Since Albert said, there were no answers in the books that he wanted, then he knew he won't be finding the answers here. But since he had no other way at the moment, he still went through the whole book to find the answers.

The situation in Ixtal wasn't as stable and peaceful as it appeared at the moment. He knew this peace was very fragile at the moment and once it broke, it will only bring chaos with it.