"What do you mean by that, Phillip? When?"

Diaz recounted the event to the others and added, "From the degree of his state, I am afraid he has not been eating for a few days. We wanted to tell Queen Mother at dinner that day, but…"

"But?" the Queen asked impatiently.

Diaz glared at Phillip. Phillip wrongfully said, "…He was too…scary."

Diaz faintly nodded in agreement, "He did not want us to say a word."

"Is it possible for a human body to not eat for several days continuously? Furthermore, he exercised that intensely at night. Is he trying to kill himself?" Maxis scratched his head frustratingly.

"Maxis!" the King rebuked him.

Maxis jolted and realized his inappropriate words, "…I apologize, father."

"Cecille, my dear, did you not realize he was not eating?"

Cecille sobbed, "Forgive me, Your Majesty. I did not realize anything at all. Prince Frederic was always smiling and kind and caring as usual. At the end of our meal, his plate is always empty, so I thought…"

Phillip and Diaz recounted Frederic's smile that day and wondered if Cecille's memory was altered.

Under normal circumstances, they would think Frederic was smiling kindly only at her, but after listening to Kaius that night…

They looked at Kaius.

Mary beside him spoke in worry, "Is there something troubling his mind deeply? I also have trouble eating when I were deeply stressed. But I am not too sure about exercising intensely at night and forgoing sleep. His body should've collapsed and forced him to sleep."

"Prince Frederic became like this after coming back from his latest mission. Is there perhaps something he discovered that couldn't be said?" Silvia took a guess.

"No, it's not that."

The people shifted their attention at Kaius who was silent until now. He stepped to the front and bowed.

"It is my fault."

"Kai…?" Mary was stunned.

"I cannot delve into details since I promised Frederic that I will honor our deal," Kaius straightened up, "If I had known his deteriorating state, I would've certainly stopped him. I pushed him too far. I probably cornered him to the edge of the cliff and made him desperate. All I can say, he went to the demon world to search for the boy and take him back."

"The boy? Noel?" the Queen stood up anxiously, "In that state?! Why?"

"I cannot say."

The Queen was about to say something when the door opened. A guard entered in a rush and knelt down, "Your Majesty, Prime Minister Heuglen Zerfnier requested audience."

The King stood and calmed his wife, "Let him in."

A few minutes later, a man clad in black entered the hall. The horns above his head were thick and sharp, with silver chains hanging down like a crown. At the center of his forehead was a bright red diamond-shaped gem. The black and red cape fluttered behind him with each of his powerful steps.

The people inside instantly felt the oppression of his aura.

"Good afternoon, King Harteinz, Queen Harteinz, ruler of Selvesthine. I see that everybody is here." He glanced at Cecille at the side.

"Good afternoon, Prime Minister Zerfnier. Is it correct if I assume you are here regarding our son?" the King asked.

"Yes. I am here to inform you that he is currently under our care. His condition was not good when he arrived, but he is recovering. I hope you can pull out your people from the demon world. My people are becoming quite nervous because of them."

"Yes, of course. Thank you for taking care of our son."

Heuglen folded his arms and shook his head, "Really, I don't understand you humans. And here I thought we demons are the bad ones. How can you deprive your own family of food and sleep? Are you experimenting with the limit of the human body? We have already researched that, so I can surely tell you that he would've already died if it wasn't for his strong inner energy that kept his body functioning."

"That…" the Queen choked, "How is he?"

"He's stable. Lord Noel managed to pull him away from the door to the other side. Fortunately, his inner energy is of the same type as Lord Noel's essence. He almost killed himself from emptying his inner energy. I'm not going to go into details. Another thing that I came here for was to ask for human food to feed him."

"We will prepare it shortly," The King nodded and sighed in relief, "Is there anything else?"

Heuglen turned his head towards Cecille. Cecille was startled and instinctively hid behind Mary.

"I suppose that is the human who is going to marry your son?" Heuglen raised his eyebrow.

However he compared them, Lord Noel definitely won in terms of everything. Except for height. But that in itself wasn't a disadvantage if you asked him. Lord Noel was infinitely more lovable.

"Yes, is there something wrong?" the Queen said nervously.

"I haven't understood the circumstances clearly, so I will refrain myself to give my opinion on the matter. But as a Prime Minister, I must give you a warning that Lord Noel's brothers are not happy at what your son did to Lord Noel. They, we, entrusted Lord Noel to your son yet he failed to properly care for him. I advise you to be ready," Heuglen gave Cecille a look, "Especially her."

Heuglen turned around and walked away, "Then, I will excuse myself. I will be expecting the food to arrive today."

While the others were still dumbfounded, Kaius realized the situation was not good and hurriedly caught up to him, "Prime Minister, may I have a word in private? It is regarding my brother."

Heuglen studied him up and down and agreed.

In Noel's room, Frederic's finger twitched. He felt there was something cold touching his lips and a sweet liquid poured into his mouth. He subconsciously swallowed it as he opened his eyes.

He was stunned to see Noel's face was right in front of his eyes. In fact, what was touching his lips was the other person's lips.

Noel backed away and saw that Frederic was finally awake.

"Eric!" Noel exclaimed in surprise and called Kahel.

Kahel promptly came before Frederic could process anything. His body and vitals were checked and Kahel nodded approvingly, "The nutrient solution worked. At least he has the bare minimum fuel to wake up. You just need to wait for Heuglen to bring proper food."

"Don't call me again." Kahel left the room.

Frederic raised up his hand and looked at his bare upper body. All his wounds were healed. His body still felt uncomfortable, but he could sense his inner energy was filled to the brim.

"Noel, what hap–"

Frederic hasn't finished his question when Noel suddenly hugged him and buried his head to his chest, "Eric stupid."

Frederic halted before he embraced him back, "Yes, I'm stupid. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you," he raised Noel's face, "Noel, I promised you that I'm not going to get married, so I won't. I would never lie to you. I was accompanying Lady Elvestine because my brother asked me to. It was for a full week where I was also banned to see you. Now, I won't be seeing her again."

"…"

"Noel, can you forgive me? I won't mind staying here with you if your brothers let me. We don't have to go back." Frederic stroked Noel's hair.

"Stay here?" Noel sat up.

Frederic nodded, "We can sleep together as long as we want."

Noel knew Frederic was compromising for him. Unlike him and his brothers, Frederic has many duties and work to attend to. He also understood that it was inevitable for Frederic to get married with his title as a prince.

At first, his intention for going back to Alrgava was to not interfere with Frederic's relationship. But he realized he was upset because Frederic was going to be taken away from him and threw a tantrum.

Although he was happy that Frederic came to apologize, he reluctantly shook his head.

"Eric can go back after recovering."

Frederic became restless. He held Noel's hand, "Together with you?"

"I'm staying here. Eric has Eric's work to do and royal duty to marry. I won't cause trouble for Eric anymore."

Frederic forced up his upper body and solemnly looked at Noel, "No, Noel, you are not causing any trouble for me. You don't understand how much…how important you are to me. If I return without you, then everything is meaningless. I will just throw everything away and come back here again."

Noel pushed back Frederic's body and held him down, "Don't move."

Frederic held both of Noel's wrist, "Stay with me. Let me stay with you."

Noel faltered, "I…can't."

"You can and I will," Frederic deeply stared at Noel's eyes, "You don't want to?"

Noel felt Frederic's eyes were penetrating his soul and flustered. He looked away. Frederic thought he was being rejected when he heard Noel mutter.

"…Want."