Chapter 365: The Three Princes' Stories
Chapter 365: The Three Princes' Stories
Oh, wow! This is hilarious. The three guests are actually other royal children in disguises. Bernard was shocked, and so I let the others remove their disguises as well.
As expected, they don't know me. But their reactions when they see Albert, Carmen, Fabio, and then Luna and Harold are worth it.
"…what is going on here?" Harold asked.
"Well, the messenger and his guards are actually your sons. There's no message at all from the fake king. Or at least I don't think that there's one. They are here disguising themselves to do something. That's why I have you return here," I said.
"…you forgot someone else," Harold said.
"…who?"
"Jill."
Oh, right. His daughter who thought of getting Bernard under him for the fight for the throne. But she failed instead.
Right now, she's in a room in this mansion. She's deep in thought. Probably regretting her decisions so far.
She's unable to return back to where she was supposed to be in charge of because of her own decisions while being influenced by her former assistant who is part of the cult. Now, the city should be filled with cult members. That's why returning there will be dangerous for her.
Remembering his own sister, Bernard hurriedly get a servant to bring Jill here and as expected, she was surprised as well.
"Francesco? Dominic? Why are you two here? And Roberto, I thought you were supporting Fiorentina to be the next queen? She's opposing Francesco's faction. So, why are you here?" Jill asked.
Hmm… I think I get the gist of it a little bit. The one named Roberto was supposed to be supporting the one named Fiorentina. And Fiorentina was fighting against Francesco for the throne. And Jill wanted to build a new faction before?
"…Jill? You're here? I thought you were planning to built a new faction. So, you're trying to recruit Bernard?" Roberto asked.
"Well, that's impossible now since the real king is here with the crown prince," Jill explained.
"Real king… fake king… things started to get clearer now. But who is that guy? He's acting so casual in front of three kings," Dominic asked.
"I'm an executioner. If I find any one of you to be related to the cult, I'm the one who will kill you," I said. I didn't see any reaction from them that tells me they are from the cult. But I still keep my guard up.
Well, now that we met three people whom we don't know yet to whom they put their allegiance to. Are they loyal to the kingdom? To the fake king? To the cult? Or to their own greed? Good thing Albert is still here.
"Well, I have something to take care of, so I won't participate your discussion. See you next time," Old man said.
After saying that, he returns back to his desk. Then, I close the portal.
"Now, I'll explain to you three first about why am I here," Harold started the discussion.
He started telling his three sons about what happened from the start. From how he suddenly got kidnapped, imprisoned and tortured for information, and left to dead in the prison once his usefulness expired.
After that, it was Fabio's turn. He didn't tell the three about his ability and Luna's ability to see the future. He just told them that Luna sensed that the king has been swapped, so Fabio planned their deaths so they can escape from the cult's grasp with his sister.
After that, Carmen told them about how she was depressed after Fabio's death, but then she found out that the current king is a fake. When she was telling them about how she found out about it, I make sure that Luna won't be able to hear it. The royal children's faces turn red hearing that.
"Mom!" Fabio complained that his mother spoke too much.
"Don't complain to your mom. I'm quite proud of what I can do in the bed, and you're all the result of it," Harold said.
"At least don't say it in front of Luna. She's still too young," I said.
I'm right behind Luna while closing her ears. If I cover only her head with Air Barrier, she might be panicked that she suddenly unable to hear anything. That's why I close her ears with my hands. Though I still put Air Barrier around her.
At least she didn't listen to it and curiously looked at me. Seeing her look curious, I guess even in the future, this result is unavoidable. Me, covering her ears or making sure she won't listen with other means.
Then, it goes back to Harold explaining about the cult and Toni who chooses to stay in the danger zone to be our informant. He also told that Toni's mother has fallen to the cult, and the others' mothers might as well be fallen.
"That… to think that we all almost fallen to the cult! DAMMIT!" Francesco shouted as he punched the table. Well, he's not well-trained so the table didn't break at all. If it's Bernard, even if he hadn't trained for long, the table might be cracked.
Next is stories from the three's side. Started from the fake guard called Roberto.
Like Jill said, he was in his sister's faction. But just a few months ago, there was an assassination attempt. He was lucky since he just breakthrough to advanced level light mage so he put barrier in time, but he was still injured. So, he pretended to be dead. But somehow, there was another Roberto by his sister's side. That's when he knows something was wrong, so he went to Francesco for help.
"Wow, there are so many people faked their death in this family. You're pretty lucky you haven't been discovered so far," I said.
Albert didn't react at all telling us that he's speaking the truth.
"I guess just like father, someone swapped Roberto with a fake," Fabio said.
"Is there any magic element that can help someone turned into another person?" I asked.
"None that I know of. But someone actually did it. it might be two people, or just one person who travels a lot and made those two's disguises," Albert said.
First, there's someone who can brainwash. Next, there's someone who can disguise themselves. Not to mention the Archbishop who is a master level mage. At least this time we know a little bit about our enemies.
Then as for the other two, seems like they are brothers from the same mother. Dominic has been following Francesco from the very beginning.
At first, Francesco was thinking of finding someone suitable to be the next in line, but no one was good enough, so he decided to do it himself with the help of Dominic. He gained enough reputation to be a strong contender to the throne.
So far, nothing unusual until Roberto came and told Francesco that there's another Roberto by Fiorentina's side. Everything was told by Francesco alone as Dominic just nodded to his explanation.
"I see. So, you two are brothers from the same mother?" I asked Dominic.
"That's right. Everything Francesco said was right," Dominic said.
This time, Albert reacted. Which mean he's not Francesco's real brother. He said that what Francesco said was right, and Albert didn't react. But after I asked if he's Francesco's brother, Albert reacted. I guess we found the rat.
But he doesn't have explosive device in his mouth. He could be an expert level mage. Good thing I grabbed one Magic Restraining Collar before they arrive here.
"Francesco, can you ask your brother anything that only you two know?"
"What? You don't trust Dominic?" Francesco asked.
"I don't."
"…Dominic, what's your most hated food until you were six?" Francesco asked.
"Fran, why are you asking me that? You don't believe that I'm another fake, right?" Dominic asked.
"Dominic. Answer the question," this time, it was Harold who forced Dominic to answer the question.
"…it's carrot, okay? I never liked carrot!" Dominic said.
"No. That's what Dominic hate until now. But there's another food that he doesn't like until he was six. But now, he can handle that food. Now, what is it?" Francesco noticed something strange with Dominic.
I have to say that this fake Dominic is the greatest actor so far. He even acted surprised after seeing Albert's face. Maybe he knows Albert's face as well, or he reacted the same as the other two previously.
"…it's bell pepper?"
"…wrong."
As soon as Francesco said it was wrong, I quickly run behind the fake Dominic, and put the collar on him. His reaction was quite fast, but luckily, he's a fire mage. I can stop the fire by my air magic before I put the collar on him.
"Well, now we have one of the fakes. This guy seems to be an expert level mage. His reaction when I moved was as fast as the expert level mages I fought previously," I said.
"Tsk! How did you know that I'm not the real Dominic?" the fake asked. But I'm not the one answered it.
"…Dominic never touched fish at all during meal until he was six. Who are you and where is my brother?" Francesco asked the fake Dominic with anger.