9)A old friend?

The crown prince smiled back at him and stood up from up from his seat and walked to him gazing down at his face trying to make out his expression.

"Well, i'm sure everyone here in the capital has heard that the 'crown prince' is in a very bad situation because of his older brothers trying to take over the throne. So i might not have this title much longer..." He trailed off still gazing at Salis's face and eyes trying to read him.

'This man..reminds me too much of him. Weather it's his aura that he emits unconsciously or on purpose or the look in his eyes and behavior of trying to read me... I should be careful.'

This thought just left his head when the crown prince stepped back and sat down behind his desk motioning to the seat across from him.

"Let's talk about my reason for... inviting you here."

The crown prince smiled, in the dark it seemed especially out of place, such a bright smile surrounded should not be surrounded by dark. His next words made Salis's hair on the back of his neck rise, "I'm hear because you escaped from your cell and the slave house and managed to survive, in the condition you were in, escaping from my men and evening find a job..Are you lucky or just superman? Haha..." Salis's body momentarily stiffened, before forcefully relaxing it as if the princes words met nothing to him.

"It's be stupid to ask me this, couldn't you just investigate?" He narrowed grey his eyes at the prince, trying to get a read on him.

The prince froze. He bowed his head and his shoulders began to shake.

"You-.. What- hahaha-oh my god! Hahaha-"

The prince looked up and made eye contact with Salis, as he laughed.

"Wow, it's been a while since someone talked back to me like that. I'll be blunt, the only things we were able to find were that you were sold off by your father. Your name, jobs and other family or acquaintances are all a mystery, but common sense implies that you lived in the slums and your father was desperate for money."

Salis kept watching the crown prince, unconsciously he began to look for similarity's between the crownh prince inces face and his old friends, Choi-tae's. There actions were very familiar oddly so.

"What? Is my face that interesting? I'm still waiting for a explanation about you."

Salis paused a moment collecting his thoughts trying g to reason that even if Choi-tae came over he would have had to die and that Salis wouldn't be able to recognize his face. If Salis face changed that Choi-tae's would have too.

"My mother is a prostitute and my father is a drunk, i worked at a bar in the slums before being sold off. Nice to meet you crown prince, im Salis."

The crown prince smiled before speaking, "My mother was the queen who came right after the empresses was married to the emperor, my father the emperor named me his successor because he loved my mother the most. My 2 older brothers are currently trying to kill me at every turn. Nice to meet u escaped slave Salis, i'm Alton Elliot Halewell."

Salis narrowed his eyes before moving to sit on the couch in front of the desk. He had confirmed that the prince wouldn't do anything to him yet. It seemed more like the prince wanted to make a deal?

"So then, Your highness how may this humble citizen of the empire help you, the sun that shines even at night, the most blessed person under this sky?"

The crown prince stiffen before studying Salis again then saying,

"Cut the flattery, I need you. To elaborate, I need you to enter the order of the Royal knights to become the captain. You will receive good pay and better house if than a inn and, you'll be rich and living a good life, what do u say?"

Salis watched the crown prince, his body unconsciously emitting a pressure that rivaled the crown princes, but neither noticed.

"Do you just want my skill? Or is there something else?"

The prince just smiled.

Salis after starring at the prince for a while longer finally sighed and turned away. He was indeed in need of money and having a house would be much better than a inn room.

But most importantly he knew that he could not continue what he was doing now, one reason was because surely the prince would keep tracking him down if he ran. But most importantly even while he had chained down the monster inside him, it would not be staying dormant forever.

It would be dangerous if he slipped up and wasn't able to control himself. And somewhere in his mind he too was looking for a bloody battlefield like in his past life, the feeling of ruling over others and beating them until they had no choice but to submit was not a easy one to forget.

"Alright, but don't expect me to lay my life down, i plan on buying myself a nice house in the future and i need to be alive to do it."

The crown prince smiled even brighter,

"Haha! I knew you would agree, mm i like this guy. Here, i'll make you a promise, become the royal commander and i'll buy you a nice house wherever you want. Louse! Come down here take him to his new quarters!"

A shadow dropped behind Salis and a low voice spoke,

"Your highness, Sir Salis."

"Just Salis is fine, by the way crown prince,"

Salis stood from his seat and lowered his voice,

"Please remove the men stationed at the inn, i'm sure your happy with how things turned out is there's no need for a hostage situation."

The prince froze before chuckling a bit and waved his hand motioning for the two to leave.

"I'll take care of it Salis, I look forward to seeing your name on the royal knights list soon."