章節 23: The King returned to Antares, leaving his son!

All of the servants of the Canopus were lined up outside near the outer gate where the carriage of Antares was waiting. In front and at the back of the carriage are the horses with the knights holding onto them.

The prince of Canopus, Chance and his knight, Alec, was also there to see the king off. They all bowed when King Cadell made his way to where they were. Cadell turned to them and squinted his eyes upon knowing that someone was missing.

He looked at Caliber with a scowl, "Does your 'new ruler' not feel the need to see off the king of another kingdom?" he sneered.

Caliber went silent for a moment as it was because of his request that the king could not come, he bowed his head, "I apologize on behalf of King Leonidas, he was exhausted from yesterday's coronation and requested to take his time in his chamber." he said as an excuse.

"He seems to be too full of himself." Cadell said and Caliber did not respond back.

As the king's eyes wandered around, he caught a glimpse of a man at the front door of the palace and it looked like no one noticed. Leonidas has his hands on his back while watching him with a smile. Cadell let out a snort, 'If you are going to me off, why not just come here?' he thought.

The king of Canopus waved his hand and king Cadell clicked his tongue in annoyance, ignoring his wave by turning his back. As he took one step up the carriage, he looked at his son. "Remember my words." he commanded in a serious tone.

Chance bowed his head, "Yes, father."

The king of Antares went inside the carriage and Chance had a lot of thoughts in his mind, nervous about what could happen to him in Canopus. 'There are still a lot of things I should do, why should I stay here?' he was scared that he might change fate and worried about whether this happened to the real Charles, 'Am I messing things up?'

He felt a warm hand on his arm and he looked up to his side to see Caliber staring down at him with concern, "Are you not feeling well?" he asked. Chance just shook his head and looked away, bringing his head back to the direction of the carriage.

Caliber removed his hand and just stayed silent, standing in line of seeing the king off. King Cadell was already inside but strangely the carriage is still not moving.

A little while, Cadell's hand was out of the window and moved his index finger, gesturing to a knight to come inside. The knight who was pointed at, immediately went inside the carriage. At the same time, Caliber and Chance wore a curious face.

Tristan, one of the knights in line, was nervous about facing the king. He was hesitating whether to sit or not. To sit across the king so closely is too much of a privilege but if he did not, then he will be disobeying His Majesty's order. Having left with no choice, he sat down.

"Your Majesty, you called for me?" he asked.

"Yes." Cadell answered, even though he responded, the king's eyes was not on the knight, but still on the curtain that could see what was outside. Even if he could not see the faces clearly, he could clearly see Chance and Caliber standing side by side.

The knight felt tense as he felt the king's mood darkened. "Stay here in Canopus and be my messenger." Cadell commanded.

The knight was surprised to hear sudden orders, "But, Your Majesty, Sir Alec is already there—

"I do not care. I know how great Valorian is, but with this task I am about to give you, I cannot trust him with it." Cadell stated which made Tristan curious, 'Just what task is it?' he thought.

The king finally looked at the knight, "While my son is in Canopus, I want you to inform me about the things he does. Watch him closely." he ordered.

He put on a scowl as he glanced at Caliber, "Especially that impudent brother of Leonidas."

After the intense talk with the king, Sir Tristan came out of the carriage and secretly glanced at the two princes. "Why does the king suddenly doubt his favorite son?' he thought.

It was a mystery for him, since by the time he started to serve as a knight in the palace, he could see the great treatment of the king to Prince Charles. He will probably find out the reason for the command while watching the prince so he let the thought of it aside for now.

"His Majesty, the king of Canopus, will be leaving!" the coach of the carriage announced.

Everyone knelt and bowed with their hands up, except Caliber and Chance who just bowed their head, "May the Goddess guide you!" they all said, for the goddess to bless the king in his return to his kingdom.

The knights riding the horses in the front of the carriage gestured, alarming the ones at the back. The horses started galloping, followed by the others at the back. They watched them go until they were far enough to not be seen.

Seeing that the people from Antares have already left, Chance let out a deep sigh. He missed his only chance to meet the king in the celebration because of his tardiness. 'Tailor Linda delayed me too much by showing different clothes.' he thought.

It was not easy even for a prince to just suddenly request a meeting with the king, it was rare to go face to face with a king, especially now that he has just been crowned.

He was anxious, scared that he will be staying in Canopus. He has no problem with it but worried about accidentally changing Charles's fate. 'Did this also happen to Charles? Did he also stay here in Canopus after the celebration?' he had thought about it since earlier. 'What if I already changed what was supposed to happen?' he could not stop thinking about what would happen if he stayed long in Canopus.

Since the appearance of Fate in the library, he has never seen Fate again. 'Fate, where the hell are you?' he said in his mind, hoping that Fate would come after wishing it.

"Your Highness, it is time to go inside." one of the servants said after noticing that Chance was not moving from his spot.

"Go on inside, I will take care of him." Caliber said and the servants bowed and went inside as he instructed. The only ones left were the two princes and two knights.

"Your Highness does not need your help." Alec stated, as if trying to emphasize that he was his personal knight. "The Crown prince is not your duty, but mine." he stated.

Caliber felt annoyed by the tone he was using again, "Do you know the palace well enough to guide him?" he said and the knight did not respond, "Well, we can go study the map later."

The three of them turned to the other knight who answered instead of Alec.

"Why are you here?"

"Why are you still here?"

Alec and Caliber asked at the same time. Chance just looked at the three and did not try to say anything to not make it obvious that he does not know who the knight was. 'I do not know this guy but why did he not go back to Antares?' he thought.

Caliber just stared at the man, even for just a second, he remembered that it was him who went inside King Cadell's carriage. He let out a snort, 'Cadell probably ordered him to do something in Canopus.'

"Why would the king let you stay here, does he not know that I am here?" the Valorian knight asked in curiosity but Tristan shook his head, "He knows."

At the point, he knew that something was odd, "Is His Majesty..." doubting me? That was what he wanted to ask but he cut it as he has no proof. Sending another knight even though he was enough to guard Charles is a strange thing for King Cadell to do. 'His Majesty was never like this before, what made him do that?' he thought.

Even though Alec was just staring at him, he could not help but feel frightened. Valorian is his captain, just one mistake and he will be punished. If Alec knew about it and told his task to Charles, then the King will not hesitate to kill him. 'Aish, what did I put myself into?'

Before Alec could react, Caliber grabbed Chance's hand and started walking back to the palace. Startled by the sudden pull, his heart pounded as he was conscious of the people who might look. With his other hand, he grabbed Caliber's hand to remove it but he could not, "Caliber! Someone might—

"Why are you nervous? Are we hiding something?" he asked. Chance knew that there was nothing between them and that was what Caliber was trying to say, "No, but someone might misunderstand." he responded.

Caliber went straight ahead, could not care less about what people would think.

At the same moment where Caliber and Chance were whispering to each other, Alec and Tristan were staring at both of them. The Valorian knight wanted to separate the two princes but he was silently observing Tristan.

Tristan stared at Caliber and Chance and was trying to figure out a clue about why the King ordered him to watch them. His eyes slightly widened as an idea crossed his mind, 'Could it be..?'

Alec noticed the change in his expression, 'What is he thinking?' his eyes narrowed, carefully observing his face.

Tristan looked at how Caliber gripped the Crown prince, 'Could it be that they do not get along? Is Prince Caliber attempting to harm His Highness that is why His Majesty told me to watch?' he glanced at Alec and was surprised to see him staring at him in the corner of his eyes.

He gasped, 'Is the reason why His Majesty did not want to give the task to Sir Alec, because he is siding with Canopus?' he shook his head multiple times to remove the absurd thought, 'Sir Alec, a Valorian, would never betray Antares!—ow!'

Tristan rubbed the top of his head as he could feel the pain from the smack that his captain gave him. "S-sir Alec? Why did y-you?"

"Whatever it is you are thinking, snap out of it." Alec said with and looked at him blankly.

Alec fastened his pace to join the two princes and walked beside Chance. Confused, Tristan just followed after them, staying behind their backs.

Chance was surprised by the sudden stop of walking. Caliber paused on his tracks and caught a glimpse of the King. Leonidas was giving him his usual annoying smile.

Caliber let go of Chance's hand and faced him, "Go in first, I remembered something, I will be quick." he said to Charles and he looked at Alec.

As he walked away, not taking the main door but in the far side of the front, the three looked at each other and went inside, leaving Chance's mind with curiosity.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Why are you outside?" Caliber said as he approached his brother that was leaning on the wall.

"It would be rude to not see the king off, right?" he responded and smiled at him with closed eyes.

Caliber's brows furrowed after hearing his response, "Cadell saw you?" he asked. Leonidas nodded, "He saw me clearly from afar, but of course I did not go near or you will scold me." he said.

"You should be careful, what if Charles saw you earlier at the door?" Caliber stated with worry. Leonidas was amused by the face Caliber was making, "I have never seen you so anxious, brother." he stated.

"Do you know how surprised I was when you told me not to meet the Crown Prince of Antares?"

Yes, that is right. King Leonidas not appearing to see off the King Cadell was Caliber's plan. He told him to not let Chance be able to meet him.

He heard what the King of Antares said to Chance, so he planned to not let the two of them meet.

So that Chance would stay longer in Canopus.