As the boys made their way to the source of the scent, Elias and the rest of his men had finally put out the fire in the throne room. Fortunately, it did not spread past the room that the fire had originated from. However, the throne room was a complete and utter wreck. Knowing how King Orpheus will react once he returns, one of the knights began to shiver at the thought of it.

King Orpheus was a just and competent ruler whose contributions brought a spring of wealth to the kingdom. But, the same cannot be said about his son, Prince Elias. While he attended his lessons diligently, he was often much too reckless in making his decisions and often leaped before he looked. Knowing his son’s brash and arrogant nature, he had hoped that finding him a wife for Elias would tame him. At the same time, the king was also brainstorming ideas on how to restructure the trade proposal. It was like killing two birds with one stone!

But now that this incident had happened...

Well, to say that King Orpheus would be furious once he finds out that not only did the throne room burn down, but also his son had broken off the engagement without consulting him and consequently, driven his fiancee to such madness that she turned into a dragon. . . let’s just say that no one would want to be in the castle when he comes back next week.

“Your Highness, should we send a messenger to King Orpheus?” the Head Knight Lukas saluted, looking at the prince who held a somber expression. After doing a quick headcount to check whether anyone was missing, Lukas dismissed everyone else leaving only he and the prince had remained in the room. Even though the incident of the dragon caught everyone by surprise, they were lucky to have made it out unscathed. It wasn't every day that someone could say they've escaped the wrath of a dragon.

Elias had remained silent the entire time, his face gravely looking ahead as he pondered about something deeply. His uniform was dirty from the ashes of the fire and his face was slightly scratched. Still, he did not immediately call upon the maids to prepare his bath. It meant that he had something much more serious to talk about.

“... Don't tell the King anything”

Lukas made a momentarily surprised expression but, quickly masked it. He was in no position to question the prince’s decision who was above his rank. Even if he didn't think it was proper procedures to leave the King in the dark about the situation.

“You cannot tell anyone about this, Lukas. And make sure to invoke the fourth imperial oath to everyone who had witnessed today's events”

Invoking the fourth imperial oath meant that they were sworn to silence otherwise it would mean death upon themselves and their family members. The oath was meant to keep the kingdom's spies from leaking secrets if they were ever caught by enemies. To invoke the fourth imperial oath on an incident like this was a little too much considering the situation.

“Yes, Your Highness. What about Her Highness Vellamere? What will we tell the King once His Majesty comes back and finds out that the princess is missing?”

Elias raised his head and gave a wry smile.

“I’ll come up with something. For now, make sure no one speaks of this incident”

“Understood, sir”

Lukas saluted the prince once more and began to show himself the way out. Exhaustion was plastered all over his face but it would be considered rude to show it towards his master.

“Lukas?”

Lukas turned back upon hearing his name being called out, quickly adorning an austere expression.

“Yes, sir?”

“… Do you think I did the right thing?”

“What do you mean, sir? Do you mean the annulment of your engagement to the princess? Or do you mean … when you drove your sword into her when she transformed into a dragon?”

"The second one”

Lukas sighed. Quite frankly he was overwhelmed with everything that had transpired this afternoon so he didn’t really want to think about it anymore. He just wanted to settle the orders given to him and then go back home to rest.

“I’m not sure, sir. But, I believe if you had not swung your sword, more people would have been injured today or even killed today. But about your annulment, I don’t think-“

“So you mean to say, I did a very heroic thing by protecting everyone?” Elias raised his head, cutting off the knight's words.

“Well, I guess if you put it like that. However-"

“Hero of Calendula- I like the sound of that”

Lukas shut his mouth and stared at Elias, realizing that the prince was not concerned about the way he handled his annulment at all. In fact, ever since the prince attacked the princess, he was acting a little strange seeing as he didn’t even ask about the status of the woman he had brought into the hall with him earlier. He had figured that Elias would have at least checked up on her.

He shook his head and decided to blame it on the shock of this afternoon. How could he, a lowly servant, begin to imagine the thoughts of high nobility?

Lukas bowed before closing the door behind him. He should have stayed a little longer, even just for a few minutes. If he had, he would have noticed that the prince had a strange gleam in his eyes- one that will change the fate of the kingdom in the future.

starsmidnight

Sorry for the short chapter! It was hard to find a stopping point without putting in too many unnecessary stuff. As compensation, I'll posting two chapters today :>