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“What?”
Garcia looked at his son in bewilderment.
He had no choice but to do so.
“Who sent this?”
“Karan sent it, Father. As you can see, it’s a letter from the Seventh Prince…”
Garcia checked the letter again, dumbfounded by the answer of his second, Heinley. Clearly, the seal belonged to the royal family.
And however mischievous he was, Karan wouldn’t have stolen the royal seal.
“Then this is the Seventh Prince’s intention.”
Garcia put down the letter as if it was ridiculous.
Heinley trembled at the sight.
“What did that brat… the prince send, Father?”
“Check it out yourself if you’re really curious.”
With the permission of Duke Garcia, Heinley immediately checked the letter.
However, his eyes widened upon reading the content.
There was nothing special about the letter. But the content was anything but simple.
[Is this all you can do?
Why didn’t you do a good job?
Do you think you can be a guardian like this?
Do it right.]
Heinley froze with his mouth agape. He had never seen such an unmannered letter like this before.
‘No, even if you are royalty, this is just…!’
He sent this kind of letter to the one and only Duke Garcia?
But Duke Garcia knew.
The piece of paper used for Ian’s letter.
He noticed that it was a special paper he had sent to the Second Prince in the past.
So, Duke Garcia couldn’t help but frown.
‘Seventh Prince. Could it be that he noticed I was having an intrigue with the Second Prince?’
It was a measure he prepared just in case.
But it was not impossible to understand how the paper ended up in Ian’s hands. The secret letter that the Second Prince couldn’t get rid of must have remained in the Sapphire Palace.
Of course it left a bad taste in his mouth, but it didn’t matter.
‘It’s not just Kaistein that I have my hands on.’
But even so, it was too wasteful to throw away the card called Ian.
Being his guardian was necessary for future plans as long as Ian continued to win and win.
That was the case with the Northern Expedition.
‘It’s the opposite situation from when I first brought him.’
Ian was no longer a prince who had nothing.
Nobility’s interest in his Battle of Ranking match.
The advantage Lavaltor had, which Garcia lacked.
A situation that might bring forth an enormous force that was second to none if the powers of the North were to be brought together.
Therefore, Duke Garcia had to make a decision to keep Ian in his clutches by any means.
“Heinley, there’s something you need to do.”
“Please leave it to me, Father.”
Heinley had been acting as a servant all this time. He couldn’t help being happy to do a proper job.
But his face soon hardened.
“F, Father. What’s this?”
“You just have to deliver it as it is.”
“Ho…however, the recipient of this letter is…”
He couldn’t help but stiffen.
Two letters from Duke Garcia.
One was for the First Princess. The other one was…
“Why are you sending a letter to the crown prince of the Cantum Empire? This is treason!”
In addition, the content was absurd.
Details on Ian were written in the letter. It was as if the Duke was reporting Ian’s weaknesses to another country.
Heinley might have no patriotism, but this was not it.
“On the day this letter were to come to light, things would get ugly, Father. Even the king won’t leave our family alone…”
“That’s why I have to do it.”
“Yes?”
“There are many people who target our family. But we always survived. Do you know why?”
“That’s…”
Heinley couldn’t open his mouth easily.
The Garcia dukedom was a mercantile family. He couldn’t say they survived by quickly changing sides.
But Duke Garcia said calmly.
“We make those stronger than us weaker. The weak survived by exploiting them. This time, the target is only the Seventh Prince. There is nothing difficult about it.”
Heinley grabbed the letter with trembling hands. No, he put it in his pocket without anyone noticing.
But he didn’t know yet.
What a heartless man his own father was.
‘That will be the last thing you do as my son, Son.’
Since the Seventh Prince found out anyway, it would not be long before King Eloin noticed. So, Duke Garcia was going to make Heinley the culprit.
As if colluding with the Second Prince was not enough, he would be a traitor who joined hands with the crown prince of Cantum.
Of course, it’s a pity to abandon his son over this kind of thing.
‘In the meantime, the plan will be completed.’
It wasn’t just about roping Ian to be on his side. He had to succeed even if he had to stir up trouble in this country.
Garcia smiled confidently.
“Move without the Seventh Prince knowing.”
“Yes.”
Swish.
Then the black shadows began to move.
As if to follow Heinley.
***
“Prince, can you really do this?”
Nathan had a puzzled look on his face.
No matter what, to think he would promise the crown prince the oath of allegiance. If he did lose, what would he do?
“Even if you win, it’s still a problem..! This is the crown prince. You know what would happen if you swear allegiance to the crown prince of the empire…”
“Why can’t I take it?”
“What?”
“I don’t think the empire will attack our kingdom because of that oath.”
“That… That…”
He could have struck them.
Of course, it would have happened if honor was valued more than life. He’s the next emperor. If by chance he attacked Kaistein to remove the shame of the past…
But Galon spoke in a calm voice.
“If the prince is kidnapped as a hostage, we will sacrifice our lives to save him.”
“The prince will never go to Cantum.”
Fiosen also put his hand on his chest.
He was determined to protect Ian even at the cost of his life.
“Thank you for your words, but that’s alright.”
Ian smiled lightly.
He was confident that he would win the bet. It was because he had thought of a way to clean up this mess.
Rather, the problem lay elsewhere.
“There’s really no one here.”
“Yes. It seems that all useful clues have been taken by Cantum. How are we going to do the investigation?”
The desolate village was empty, giving off dreary air. All the household chores were left as they were. There were no traces of a human being. It looked like they literally vanished into thin air.
Fiosen clicked his tongue seeing what the sneaky Cantum had done.
“Although it is a village in the border area, which is a neutral zone, it is closer to Kaistein. These foolish bastards…”
But Ian knew it wasn’t the case.
‘They must have already disappeared before Cantum even touched this village. They would have intervened otherwise.’
After looking around the village, Ian immediately ordered heading to the village chief’s house. There must be an emergency means to contact the feudal lord.
However, the soldiers looked skeptical about the basic route.
“Will there be anything? Even if we went there, Cantum would have already taken everything.”
Ian smiled faintly.
In the first place, there was only one reason he showed such an obvious movement.
‘As expected, he’d add someone.’
It was because the person sent by the crown prince was watching them. Even the knights knew about it, but they didn’t show it on purpose. In fact, even the crown prince would not have thought he wouldn’t be caught.
‘How can he be so obvious? As expected of the crown prince.’
An ulterior motive to grasp Ian’s movements and to pressure him at the same time. If Ian found fault with him, he would just say he was patrolling. Rather, he might make up a pretext.
Therefore, Ian did not intentionally show any signs of noticing anything.
“Let’s go for now. There might be something.”
Of course, there was nothing in the village chief’s house as expected. But something was off.
Fiosen recognized immediately.
“Unlike other places, it’s kind of chaotic. Looks like they’ve found something.”
Nathan flashed his characteristic sleazy but sharp smile.
“Cantum must have discovered something, and they would have put it back so we couldn’t find it.”
“Yes, but at least it’s a rural chief’s room. I don’t think there was anything special.”
“You don’t understand, do you? Beat up a few guys, and they’ll spill any information they have.”
“Huh, does this guy even have chivalry?”
Fiosen, a model student, followed Nathan in disgust.
Meanwhile, Galon quietly picked up a club. He seemed determined to settle some score with Cantum.
But Ian knew.
It was because in his previous life he had read reports related to the disappearance case in this village. That’s when Lavaltor fell, and Cantum started to have their eyes on Kaistein.
But instead of expressing it, Ian began to rummage through the bookshelf.
“Your Highness? What are you doing…”
“There are a lot of books that look interesting. I was looking around to see what books were there.”
Surprised, other knights and soldiers tried to stop Ian.
“N-no, Prince. You may have to pledge allegiance to the crown prince of the empire. You might be taken as the son-in-law of the empire. Please don’t…”
“That’s… Right! It’s time for the scouts to return! You should go outside now.”
It was then.
Ian pulled a book from the corner of the bookcase.
Clack!
Grooo—
The chest of drawers began to move aside with a loud rumble.
“What?”
Everyone was stunned.
How in the world did this happen all of a sudden?
But Ian smiled.
“Oh, my god. I didn’t know there was a secret passage in this place.”
“What?!”
Ian didn’t look surprised at all. It’s like he knew it would happen.
When the knights looked at Ian in bewilderment.
“Well, let’s go.”
The surprised Nathan unusually stepped up.
“Prince! It may be a trap. First of all, we should check it out…”
Yet Ian smiled at him.
“Alright. Then Sir Nathan will be the first to go in. I will follow suit.”
“What? No, but over there…”
No matter how he looked at it, that place screamed of imminent death. Nathan turned to Fiosen and Galon, but the two kicked Nathan toward the space instead.
“What are you doing, His Highness has ordered you to go.”
“Argh!”
The two were amused. Nathan wasn’t the kind to straightforwardly warn others of danger. It was the first time he acted like a knight.
In the end, Nathan could only bite the bullet and take the lead with tears in his eyes.
But it was then.
Ian, after glancing around the surroundings, secretly put something in Fiosen’s pocket.
“Your Highness?”
“Just to be safe, send it to Duke Lavaltor. He’ll be in the fief by now, won’t he?”
“What? How do you know that?”
Fiosen was perplexed.
His eyes asked how Ian knew the secret information that only a few knew that his father, Duke Lavaltor, had returned to the duchy.
But he soon sent a letter to the messenger.
‘I’m sure there’s a meaning.’
He decided to believe in the actions Ian had shown so far.
And right at that moment.
“N-no way! There was a passage here?”
“Damn it! H-hurry, we must inform His Highness quickly.”
Following Ian, the prince’s men began to run with urgency.
***
“What? He found a secret passage in the village chief’s room?”
Bang!
The crown prince slammed the table, his eyebrows rose sharply. His subordinates bowed at the sight.
“For some reason, the Seventh Prince touched the bookshelf, and the chest of drawers was pushed aside.”
“I never thought there would be such a device in a slash-and-burn village like this…”
Obviously, it was a place where the soldiers of the Cantum Empire had once searched. But back then, they didn’t find such a device. It was a blunder that occurred after being careless because of thinking it was a mere village.
But their lord was never one to tolerate such mistakes.
Sure enough.
“These ignorant fools.”
“!”
“You haven’t even found an important clue properly. You are trash that can’t even interfere with finding a secret room.”
The men bowed their heads in panic at the crown prince’s cold utterance.
“Please forgive us!”
“Give us one more chance…”
But the crown prince beckoned with great displeasure.
“Yeong!”
When the crown prince shouted, something popped out from behind the spies.
It’s a shiny iron piece.
And the next second.
Slash!
The spies’ heads were looped off, then rolled on the floor.
However, the crown prince did not even glance at those heads.
Instead, he gave orders to the man who suddenly popped out.
“Yeong, go after the Seventh Prince. And.”
The crown prince took a moment to catch his breath and ordered in a cold voice.
“Check what’s there. And if you think he’s going to find something…”
Blast the secret passage.
So that no one could find it.
When the crown prince finished issuing his secret orders.
Shhh.
The man disappeared like a shadow.
The crown prince smiled crookedly in the dark.
He intended to get Ian on his knees one way or the other.
“Huh, then I have no choice but to strike Lavaltor first.”
Just in case.
And with Lavaltor’s successor by his side, the Seventh Prince must be quite surprised by the unexpected.
The crown prince burst into laughter. Ian would have no choice but to follow him.