The big sign

"Jess" as soon as he had realised what was going on, Keito's mind had turned into a one-track mode and he had ignored everything else to get to Jess.

In retrospect, he knew that she would be alright. She had to be since she was not even a prime target for the assassination, just the wrong place at the wrong time but he could not help but worry.

The door to her room was open which made his panic just worst. Whatever his wolf was saying to console him, Keito could not hear it at all.

However, the scenario inside the room was much different than what he had imagined it to be. Instead of Jess facing off against the opponents, she stood frowning above a pair of would-be assassins.

In his hurry, he had forgotten that she was a trained Alpha too, and hence would not have needed his assistance. The last time just happened to be a fluke because he had been there.

"What happened to the security? I'm assuming someone is going to get sacked over this?" the female sounded far calmer than he had anticipated her to be but that was no big deal. She had almost always been like this, calm and composite.

"You alright?" Keito did not answer her, not even registering what she had said. Instead, his focus was on her wellbeing which looked as well as he could have expected it to be.

"I'm alright, just a little annoyed these pests were able to make their way here. Now that I look at them again, they don't seem to be human" the female had caught on, her hand coming to pick one of those puppets up by their neck.

Her arm strength was one he had to commend, it was unmatched by anyone he knew and that showed in moments like these. Just imagining being on the opposite end of that strength in another scenario made his insides go hot.

'Not the time' his wolf screamed and Keito kindle did not acknowledge the shout. If he had to deal with his wolf's fantasies, so did the wolf who had to deal with his own.

"We found one of them earlier too and I ran here to make sure you were alright" the female frowned at his words, a worried depression crossing her face at the admission.

"This was awfully close to the royal chambers. Thankfully, that place is warded against intruders" Keito felt his blood go cold at those words and realisation flashed in the female's eyes at his stiff pose.

"They breached the royal wards? That's not supposed to be possible. We can't let it get out or it would cause a riot in the nobility" the female was right and Keito knew that.

The nobility was problematic, believing themselves far above everyone. If it got out that their family wards were not as secure as they believed them to be then it would cause a riot and no one knew what it might result in.

One could only imagine their demands in this regard.

"The king and queen. I need to get back to my mother and father" Keito tried to be optimistic but inside his heart, he knew what must have happened. He had become far too focused on Jess to pay attention to the real problem.

And the time had already passed when the king and queen had been assassinated. They were likely dead.

"Your highness" as soon as Keito noticed the missing shadow of the child behind him, the other came running in. It was a suspicious move that made Keito narrow his eyes at the other.

"Your highness, you were too fast and made me lose my way. I'm sorry I was late but I have news for you. I found another assassin nearby here" Keito lost the harsh edge, his mind too full of emotions to hold the grudge and suspicion.

He could see how the other lost the way in his hurry now.

'This is not real, don't lose yourself in all of this. There was nothing we could have done here' his wolf's words were the only thing that was keeping him held together right now.

"Jess, can you find all the information about this attack? I'll follow this child and see what he had discovered" the female seemed fascinated with the child which caused Keito to unconsciously step in front of him.

He did not like the female's gaze on that small child. Perhaps it was his jealous nature that did not want them interacting or maybe it was the paranoia from his last life acting up. Keito could not be sure what it was exactly, just that he had a natural defence mechanism for that.

"I'm not sure if your highness would find it useful, but we can actually trace this puppet back to its source. However, how accurate that would turn out to be is still a mystery. '' Those words sounded interesting.

So they could tell whose body it had been before death. While it would not help immensely, it would at least give them a direction to move forward in. This was perhaps the best news he could have heard in such a situation.

The puppet's body was openly in the hallway with a plethora of guards surrounding it.

"Give me space" the sea of soldiers parted as soon as his voice reached them and he found that he knew a few of them. They were the ones recommended by noble families and had been deployed to work in higher royal palace positions as a result. Most of them were likely spies and could not be trusted to be out of sight, so they had been clustered into one group.

In other words, they could not be trusted to carry out any delicate and sensitive work but could not be rid of either.

This was the biggest downside of a political system and one no one could get rid of. This was a factor that had even carried over in modern times and Keito was beginning to see the problem now.

Another blind spot he had exposed in his last life.

"Who gave you permission to come into this corridor? Everyone leaves this corridor wing immediately and also get the royal doctor here, the old one" that was the only royal doctor Keito could trust.

All the new ones had been deployed by the nobilities anyway and would likely tattle.

Soldiers began to move out, some in a hurry and some with a worried expression. However, some did turn back to look at the child at the young prince's side who had not moved an inch and grabbed him in a panicky state.

The young prince saw the temple's oracle being dragged away which just made his already bad mood worse. When had he allowed the soldiers to do as they wished?

"I told you all to get out, not to drag people out. Leave that kid inside, I have some work for him to do. Also, get the temple's doctor too while you are at it. It would help to have an additional witness" temple was a neutral party and one who had no interest in the crown.

Perhaps that was the best place to get help for now. He was not sure who he could trust in the palace anyway.

The young guard let the child go in a panicked hurry, his expression turning from a calm rage to a frightened mouse in mere seconds. People did not pay him any attention as they left and the young guard hurried to join them.

The child, meanwhile, kept on looking at the puppet that was lying down on the floor as he made his way closer.

"He's likely from the valley. Do you see these markings? Their noble tribes mark their direct descendants with these markings. But they also burn their dead which makes this body's appearance all the more curious" yes, it was curious for Mark too.

The valley had been a neutral party but had ultimately helped their side in the last battle. There was no way they were behind this assassination attempt.

"Well, this does not help us at all. Are we back to square one now?" the young king sounded almost defeated, loathing coated his words.

But the child did not think so and you could tell with the tilt of his head that he knew something.

"On the contrary, I think this information does help us a lot. After all, there are not a lot of people that have had contact with the valley since it closed down. I'm sure we can narrow down the suspects" that made the young king pause.

The child was right in a way. But that also made the teen turn toward that child with suspicion. He had only shared that news with a few people and the temple was not one of them.

"You-" Keito began but then stopped himself. There was another explanation for all this information, the spies the temple likely had to gather rumours.

The valley was not an easy place to get to and even harder to come out of. As such, only a few families had been handed trading rights and had contact with that place. Perhaps, this was not as bad as he had imagined it all to be.

It felt like a good all over the sign. But before he could think any further on it, he had a few funerals to organise.