WHO MADE ME A PRINCE
chapter eighty five - duke of the north.

THE ROYALS ARRIVED BACK TO THE BANQUET HALL. Jennette and Athanasia walked side by side, while Arius and Claude walked ahead.

Arius was beyond happy to see Athanasia being nice and friendly to Jennette, despite turning pale when the Duke had announced her existence.

This was definitely a very, very good day for him. Now that Jennette's matter was resolved or at least the first step to resolve it had been taken, Arius decided to actually enjoy the banquet now.

Meaning, he searched the room with his eyes for the Villareals. Since they would've been leaving soon, Arius wanted to spend time with them.

As he finally spotted Edwin, he was about to make his way towards him when he felt a glare on his back.

Arius turned to see Claude. "Going towards that girl?"

Arius almost, almost laughed out loud over that question. "The Villareals. " He managed to say while controlling his laughter.

Claude nodded in approval and so Arius marched towards his cousins.

The three of them engaged in all sorts of nonsensical discussions and then a series of questions.

Eventually Arius brought up the topic of their short stay.

"Can't you guys stay for a longer time? It's been so long since we've met."

Edwin and Edna shared a glance and Arius immediately knew they were hiding something.

"What." Arius asked.

"Elder sister needs to take care of something in the north. So after the banquet we'll prepare for going to the north."

"The north? Why?"

The north...where the Lennox are and 'a war with the Empire to the north.

Edwin shrugged. "The Duke of the North's been acting suspicious. So we're going as spies of sorts."

Edna elbowed him immediately. "It was supposed to be a secret."

"Oh c'mon, we could tell from the way his expression changed from hearing about the north that he knows something."

"I'll keep it a secret jeez, tell me more."

"First you tell us what you know."

Arius gave them both a hesitant stare but ended up warning them about the Lennox and that if they are indeed going as spies, it wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on the lilacs.

And in return, Edwin began. "I've already told you most of it. The Duke of the north is acting suspiciously. He's not even attending an important banquet such as this. And so, we've been sent to see what is going on in the northern sides. Since us Villareals aren't that well known to the nobles in Obelia, the emperor thought it best to send us. And we were interested in visiting the north as well. Since Feradona is a country with a rather high temperature."

Arius took a moment to process this information. He glanced around at the various nobles attending.

The Duke of the north... Arius remembered reading about him, and seeing a picture. Truly he couldn't find the Duke within the hall.

But, another person did catch his eye, a count. One who, if Arius's memory served right, owned a small territory in the northeast. The man seemed to be half drunk, so Arius decided to see if the man held any information.

With a wink to the Villareals, he disappeared towards the man holding a champagne glass and speaking with a rather loud voice.

Count Fredrick.

"Good evening count, it seems the banquet is to your liking."

"Ah, Blessings and Glory upon the future sun of the Obelian Empire. Congratulations on your debut, Your Highness." The man spoke with a sluggish tone.

"This banquet is truly spectacular!" The man swung his glass around.

The nobles around the count and prince began to distance themselves, they knew better than to approach the prince after seeing how much the emperor treasured him.

"I must say, I'm glad you could attend today despite the disturbances in your territory." Arius smiled.

The count raised an eyebrow and replied after sounding a hiccup. "What made you think! that?"

"Oh, I heard there had been quite a few bandits in the territory. " Arius smiled.

The count's eyes widened slightly at the statement.

This information was nothing but the courtesy of Willow and Winslow. Those two would know everything, of everywhere. From the smallest territory to the largest.

But since Lennox had mentioned using the orphans as tools in war, Arius had decided not to send the twins to the north. Thus, his lack of knowledge about said territory.

But, the northeast, that he knew. The bandits aren't much, but according to the twins, the bandits appeared on the only path leading to the northern territory surrounded by the mountains.

Was there a connection?

If there was, the twins would've found out, but Arius decided talking to the count could also benefit in some way.

Arius stared at the count, who was examining Arius.

Was I too direct? I thought he'd be drunk enough to not be too guarded...

The count had never reported the bandits to the emperor since it was but a menial disturbance in a rather small territory. But for the crown prince to know of this could mean either of the two things.

Either the prince was keeping a specific eye on the count, or he had heard it from someone. A rumour?

Whichever of the two options it was, the count knew better than to discuss this in a hall with more than thirty pairs of ears to hear.

"The future of the empire is truly bright, if we have such a well informed prince!" The count praised, bringing his champagne glass to his lips to take a sip, before continuing.

"It was not something of enough importance to be reported to His Majesty. There is no need to worry, as the matter has been dealt with. " The count smiled.

"Is that so? Then perhaps have you figured out the origins of the bandits? or their aim in remaining rooted to the Sarlan Pass."

The count's gaze wavered, " That's..."

"Ah, let's not spoil the mood of the hall, let's head to one of the balconies." Arius suggested.

The count hesitantly nodded and began making his way up the stairs.

Arius led the way up.

From as much as he had discussed he could guess three possibilities.

First, the bandits were actually mercenaries hired by the Duke of the north to prevent anyone from entering his territory.

The northern territory has only one passageway and that is the Sarlan Pass. With the mercenaries blocking it, and robbing anyone who dared to pass it, the people wouldn't go there out of fear.

The northern territories were quite famous for their severe winters and cool summers.

As the Villareals are being sent to investigate it, the Duke of the north must be up to something behind the Pass.

Smuggling weapons to the Merika Empire? Giving area for the Merika army to prepare for a war? Was the Duke allied with the northern empire?

This was all nothing but a supposition.

The second supposition was that the count was involved with the bandits himself.

Usually, a nobleman would deal with bandits and present them to the emperor. Nobles liked to boast about their tiniest of achievements.

And seeing as how the Count seemed to be loud during the banquet and his manner of speech and flattery, he seemed like someone who would immediately boast about his achievement of arresting bandits.

Yet he took care of it silently. Suspicious.

And thirdly, the Duke nor the count are involved with the bandits and the bandits are just that, normal bandits.

But that still seems odd seeing as how they're occupying the Sarlan Pass or how they had been occupying the Sarlan Pass, as stated by the Count.

And of course there was also a fourth supposition, Arius was just overthinking. Which seemed a lot more likely.

Well whatever it is, Arius was gonna squeeze out every bit of information he could.

And if he still wasn't satisfied, then he'd ask Edwin to keep updating him with letters.

They reached the balcony, and by the time the doors behind them were shut, the count had got another glass of champagne from a servant passing them.

And now he stared at the sky while taking long sips.

"So, why are you interested in your highness?" He asked, a lot more bluntly than Arius had expected.

"Is it not my duty as the prince to know about the welfare of my subjects?" Arius shot back.

"As I've mentioned, they've been taken care of. As for their origins, they're people from the west, the west has always been a dry mess, I bet they just wanted to rob us mildly rich folks of whatever luxuries we were enjoying. It's nothing to concern his majesty or your highness with."

A blatant lie. If the people were from the west, which is a typically drier and warmer area, then why would they camp around the Sarlan Pass.

Why around a cold place which they've never been accustomed to living near?

Secondly, why did they choose the northeastern territories? Why not somewhere closer to the west?

It was such a foolish and dumb lie that Arius almost felt like strangling the man who seemed to be underestimating Arius.

But Arius knew better than to question him further, this proved his second supposition to be correct or else why would the count lie?

But Arius wasn't exactly eager to act like a dumb and clueless child in front of the Count.

Should he intimidate the man into giving more information? This could be the first step to begin a war. If the count is a traitor to Obelia. . .

Arius's jeweled eyes began to glow, he wasn't gonna hurt the count, just intimidate him with his mana.

Click!

The door to the balcony opened. "Oh Pardon me, I didn't know this was occupied." The ravenette spoke.

"We've finished our discussion, have we not, Your highness?" The count gave Arius a look, to which Arius hesitated.

But the count left, in a hurry at that. Arius sighed before looking at the ravenette still standing.

"I'll be leaving as well then."

He just decided to tell his father about this little bit of information and ask his father about the issue in the north.

But before Arius could walk to the balcony door, the ravenette stepped in front of it.

Arius glared at the man who had stopped him. Jewels met. . . jewels?

Arius couldn't believe what he saw for a few seconds. The man standing in front of him, definitely had the same glowing cerulean jeweled eyes as all the royals.

But how?

Confusion overcame him, but fear and instincts were stronger, so he immediately stepped back a few steps.

"I'll ask you once, Who are you?"

The ravenette held no emotions on his face, except a frown.

"Why don't you guess?" The man replied with a grin, making Arius shivers.