บท 41: The Eye of the King

Walking farther from the palace, a person wearing a hooded cloak stepped out of the lights that was coming from the palace and went into the shadows.

The gender of the person in the hood could not be identified, it pulled the hood forward even more to hide its face as it walked towards the tree, near the main gate of the palace.

When the person arrived at the tree, it looked around and waited if someone was going to meet him/her. The person remembered what a maid said earlier, "One of the gatekeepers ordered me to tell you that you must come to the tree near the main gate."

The hooded person folded its arms and watched the surroundings while in the shadows. 'What am I supposed to do here?' the person thought. An idea of asking the gatekeeper what to do has gone to the person's mind but the maid did not specify which of the gatekeepers to approach.

The person unfolded its arms and leaned on the tree but its elbow went inside a hole which almost made the person slip. It turned around to look at it and saw a small hollow in the tree.

Supposedly, the person was going to ignore it. Not until it saw a paper inside.

The mysterious figure extended its hand and made its way inside the hollow to grab the piece of paper. The person brushed off a bit of dirt and read the words written on the paper. It was a bit messy but still readable.

[From now on, come here every night to give out your report of the activities of the Crown Prince. Both of the gatekeepers guarding at night are on our side, so you have no reason to worry. Do your job well. - N.W.]

"Eh~ My, my. That old dude sure is prepared." the person muttered with a chuckle. A group of knights that went to patrol greeted the gatekeepers, it looked like they were returning to the manor where knights stay. The lamp they were holding as they passed by hit the person's face.

Despite the darkness that the hood gave to its face, the lights from the lamp showed the smirk on the person's face.

After the knights passed, the person pulled its hood again and walked towards the gatekeepers. The two alert guards turned when they felt a presence behind them. They immediately held on to the spears and pointed it to the person, "Who--"

The person showed the paper that the gatekeepers put inside the tree hollow and the keepers looked at each other. Since no one was around besides the three of them, the person pulled the hood of the cloak slightly to show its face.

"So it is you..." the gatekeeper in the right muttered.

"The Eye of the King."

They stopped pointing their spears to the spy and loosened up. The spy laughed inside its head, 'I already acquired a title?' he thought and chuckled.

The spy noticed a horse outside the gate, looks like they have prepared a messenger for the spy. The Eye of the King smiled and turned to one of the gatekeepers. The gatekeeper opened the gate for the person and it approached the messenger.

The messenger got off of the horse and the Eye stopped in front of him. "You there,"

The Eye stated his report and more details. The corner of the spy's lifted into a smile, "Pass this on to His Royal Majesty."

And so he did.

~~~~~~~~~~

Niro did not dare utter a word as the silence grew between him and Sherin. She was walking with a blank expression. It was strangely a calm demeanor but the aura she was emitting tells the opposite.

Niro bit his lip as he knew what it meant. 'She knows.' he thought. 'She knows and I am doomed.'

"I know him." Sherin muttered.

Niro was surprised, 'She knew who His Highness Charles is?' he thought. He was figuring out how because it looked like she did not know? "Since when?" Niro asked.

"He looked familiar, so I had to make sure. He also visited Caliber's room on his last visit." Sherin answered and Niro recalled that day. He did remember that Charles visited the palace the last time but he did not know that he also visited the prince's room.

Niro sighed, "So now you know that he is--"

"When did Caliber get a lover?" Sherin said at the same time. She was not sure yet but that was what it looked like to her. She might have been looking straight but she notices every action of her Prince and Chance. Even everyone in the room.

"Eh?" Niro suddenly muttered. 'I know they are all sweet and stuff, but I am not sure if they really are lovers.' he answered inside his mind.

"Wait."

Niro turned to Sherin who halted in the halls, "What were you about to say earlier?" she asked.

"Oh, I said now you know that he is the Crown Prince of Anta...res..." his words became slow as his gaze dropped to Sherin's face. He realized something, "Could it be...you still do not know?" he asked and his mood also dropped.

Sherin stared at him coldly and started to continue walking, leaving Niro in a daze, "Di-did I slip?" he asked.

Even from afar, Sherin could hear him. She let out a snort, "Indeed, you did. Fool."

~~~~~~~~~~

Separated from Tristan and the two aides, Alec went in a different direction to help finding the two princes. He did not care less for Tristan getting lost as the prince was more important. Surely the dumb knight can be lucky enough to find his way back.

He continued walking and outside the windows he was passing by, he saw a horse near the main gate from afar. "At this late hour?" he muttered.

His attention was removed from outside as he saw a shadow passing.

Chance does not know why Caliber is acting odd. Just earlier he was walking far away from him, a big gap that made it obvious that he was being avoided. 'You, I really do not understand you!' he shouted at him, but of course only inside his mind.

"Where are we going?" he asked because he had no idea where they were going.

Caliber stopped and Chance could hear his own heartbeat. Maybe it was because he got tired from walking fast or maybe he got nervous. It could be both.

"I have something to tell you." Caliber said to him.

Chance was looking forward to what he was going to tell him. He was hoping that it was the girl he was searching for but tried not to have high expectations. 'Maybe he will tell me,' Chance thought. 'But maybe he won't.' he added.

"I was not avoiding you on purpose earlier. Forgive me if you think of it that way." he said.

"Oh, I never thought of it that way. Do not worry." Chance said back.

Alec stopped and took a step backwards to hide behind the wall when he finally found the two princes but it looked like it was not a good time to interrupt.

"Your knight, Alec Valorian, told me to stay away from you."

Alec flinched and snorted out of disbelief, 'This prince really...' he could not continue his thoughts as he was a bit annoyed that the Prince of Canopus told his master his words.

Chance's eyes slightly widened, 'Alec did?' he thought, thinking that it was unbelievable. "Why would he?" he asked.

Caliber looked at him with a serious expression, "I do not know what the reason is as well but he said that it is for your sake. For your safety." he responded.

'For my sake? How does avoiding me keep me safe?' he thought, a bit upset. All this time he thought that it was because of his problem, that he was avoiding him because of a girl. Turns out it was what Alec ordered.

"He was serious when he said that it was for your sake, so I know that he is not lying." Caliber said and Alec continued to listen.

He does not like the idea of eavesdropping on the two princes but he has to.

"It was for your sake so I tried to do as he said." he said and went even near him. "I tried to stay away, I tried to avoid you."

"But my mind is full of your images that it is annoying. You are not the one annoying, the one I am annoyed in was that you in my mind kept breaking my will to get away from you." he stated and Chance does not know how to react.

He kept looking down to avoid his stare but his gaze kept on coming back to meet his turquoise eyes.

"Just at this moment, I want to be selfish. Even if it is for your safety, I still do not want to stay away from you. I do not want you to leave nor would I want to leave you."

Chance could feel his face heating up and all the more it did when Caliber's hands went to his face. "Everytime I see you, I get pulled into you. By any chance would you like to get even closer?" he asked.

'What kind of question is that?!' Chance thought, all flustered by the sudden situation.

"Because, indeed," he caressed his cheeks and their heads are an inch away.

"I want to get closer."