212: Guilty Conscience

Guilty Conscience

A servant outside knocked and announced the arrival of the King of Megaris. Oriana immediately stood up from her chair to bow to the red-eyed king. Drayce accepted her greetings and went to his wife. He had overheard the last part of their conversation, especially the part of her mentioning her mother, and it worried him but Seren looked fine to him. It was a relief.2

That pair of purple eyes squarely met his red ones. "You left in the morning and returned in the evening. You seem to forget about your wife, Your Majesty."

"Arlan and I decided to contribute to Prince Cian's investigation."

"Did you find anything?"

"We did," he informed her, "but I wish to inform you that you should persuade your brother to take care of his hand. He is way too careless."

"What? What happened now?" Seren exclaimed.

While these husband and wife were talking, forgetting others around them, Oriana was trying to find a chance to excuse herself, but she had to wait to not interrupt the couple's conversation. 

Yorian offered her an assuring nod, as if telling wait for a while. 

"I will go check on him." Seren stood up. 

Finally, Oriana found a chance. "Your Majesty, I should head back to my master. I will take my leave then."

Seren looked at her. "No, wait, I mean, you are coming with me to check on my brother. You are his physician."

Oriana could not reject it. "His Highness Prince Arlan must have returned as well. I have to first go and inform them."

"I will send a servant to inform Prince Arlan. Do not worry," Seren offered and Oriana could not reject. 

These people were helping her a lot despite the difference between their status, not to mention they were newly acquainted,  not treating her like a commoner or an outsider. They even hid her secrets instead of revealing them to Arlan, so she had nothing but gratitude towards them.

"Let's go, then," Seren said. She was ready to leave, but Drayce held her hand to stop her. "I have just returned yet you're already leaving me? Let Oriana do her job first. You can go to your brother after you spend some time with me."

"But…"

"In your presence, he will only try to hide his injuries to not let you worry about him," Drayce interrupted her. 

His words made sense to Seren and she gave Oriana an apologetic look. 

"No worries, Your Majesty. I will head to your brother first."

Getting an approving nod from Seren, Oriana left. 

"Are you trying to create trouble for poor soul, King Drayce?" Yorian chuckled. "Do you think she can handle your overbearing friend later?"

Puzzled, Seren eyed her husband before looking at the grinning elf. "What are you talking about?"

"Do not pay attention to him, my Queen," Drayce said. "You should pay attention to your husband who missed you the entire day."

"You don't want to tell me. You are trying to change the topic. "

"Am I successful then?"

"You have to tell me later."

"Sure." 

The King held his wife's hand and the couple departed the room, leaving Yorian shaking his head, thinking about Oriana. 'That poor child.'

—-

Arlan returned to his mansion after parting ways with Drayce and Cian. The moment he stepped inside the foyer, his eyes searched for a certain someone, but that person's small figure could not be sighted anywhere. 

Without realizing it, his power began to extend outwardly, wanting to search for Oriana, but he caught himself doing something he promised not to do and blocked his senses.

Out of sight, out of mind.

He should not be using powers in the first place. He told himself that he didn't want to know where she is. That he didn't need to know.

Since morning, he had chosen to bury his head in work. Whenever his mind would wonder about her or her whereabouts, he would purposely divert his attention—sometimes by actively asking questions to his officials, at times debating against the other participants during the summit conference just so he would stop thinking about her. Afterwards, he even accepted Drayce's invitation to help with the secret plantation investigation, mostly as a form of distraction. 

The fact that he had no idea what Oriana was doing the entire day, it was a deliberate choice on his part, and he chose to continue doing the same. 

At this moment, Neil and Damien were helping the prince change out of the plain  clothes he used during the investigation. 

"Your Highness, about your meal—" Neil started, but Arlan cut him off.

"I'm not hungry."

Neil tactfully did not bring up the matter of food again. Their master's mood was foul. However, it was part of his duty to inform the prince of another matter which he knew would worsen that already foul mood. 

"Your Highness, Orian was summoned by the Queen of Megaris and is yet to return. Shall I send someone to call for him for his evening duties?"

The prince didn't respond, and thus, his two attendants continued to do the rest of their work without another word.

With the same grim silence, Arlan strode towards his study. Seconds ticked by ever so slowly, seemingly stretching into hours, but it was impossible to focus on his work and not think about her. 

His gaze landed on the darkness outside the window. It was getting late into the evening. She should have been back now. Giving up, he finally chose to spread his senses to see if she was resting inside her lodgings.

It happened that he heard something from the drawing room that made him scowl.

"Her Majesty the Queen of Megaris has sent me to deliver a message," came the voice of Seren's servant.

"What is it?" It was Neil who asked. 

"Her Majesty told me to relay the news that she sent Mister Orian to attend to the injuries of the Crown Prince of Abetha. She told me to inform you that Mister Orian would be late to return and that she asks for your master's understanding."

Understanding?

"Hah," a disbelieving scoff escaped the prince's lips.

Hearing Oriana was gone to Cian—again!— Arlan felt like turning the entire room upside down. 

She was allowed to go to the mansion of Megaris, but how dare she go to some other kingdom's mansion without his permission?! 

As the grip of his hand tightened on the hand rest, he did not even realize he had used his powers to appear within the grounds of the mansion of Abetha. His body appeared inside Cian's study, where they last had a meeting. It was empty. 

With his senses heightened with anger, the range of his hearing extended to the entire mansion, what he heard next was enough to make him kill someone.

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