CHAPTER 8

"Do you know why dad wants to see us?"

"No. I'm also thinking of any possible reason. Maybe he wants to scold you?"

"Dad will never do that! I'm her favorite daughter."

"You are his only daughter anyway."

"Oh, come on. Try to be jealous of me, Geradine."

"Yeah, sure. I'm jealous of you."

Seeing that her twin brother does not want to indulge in her antics, Ramira just pursed her lips and walk side by side with Geradine. While they were in the music room, a palace attendant knocked on the door and informed them that King Teriza is looking for them. The king told them to go to his office.

When Geradine asked why did their Imperial father suddenly want to see them, the attendant only said King Teriza wants to discuss something important with them. After that, he left the prince and princess in the music room to attend to his duties for today. Since Geradine doesn't want to play the piano anymore and Ramira is no longer feeling tired and sleepy, they decided to go together and see their father.

When they both arrived at the Diamond Palace, the twins didn't enter the king's office immediately. A guard informed them that King Teriza is still discussing something with Duke Bastella. Geradine and Ramira take a quick look at each other but they didn't say anything.

Duke Ivan Bastella is one of the nobles in their kingdom who is respected by a lot of people. He is also the former General Knight of their Royal Guards. But after getting involved in a gruesome accident, Duke Bastinella has to give up his position because he can no longer fight just like in the past. Since then, he only focused on managing his business as well as the lands owned by his family.

When the twins thought they will have to wait for a few more minutes, the huge door suddenly opened and the duke came out from it.

When the duke sees the twin, he stops walking and faces them. The twins are also looking at him in silence. The duke gives them a smile first before bowing his head to greet the royal prince and princess in front of her.

"I humbly greet the Little Sun and the Little Moon of our kingdom." Duke Bastella said and lowered half of his body in front of them.

Both Geradine and Ramira nodded their heads to acknowledge the duke's greeting.

"Are the Crown Prince and the princess here to see King Teriza today?" Duke Bastella asked with a pleasant smile plastered on his face.

"Yes." Geradine simply said.

"Well, then. I will not try to take more of your precious time." The duke said and bowed in front of them again.

When the duke stands up straight again, he looks at Geradine first before his gaze lingers on Ramira longer. The prince quickly noticed it and pulls his twin sister closer to him. Without looking back at Duke Bastella, the twins enter their father's office and close its door.

"Are you alright?" Geradine worriedly asked Ramira after closing the door. "I can feel your discomfort earlier."

"Yes." Ramira said. "I just really feel weird around that duke."

Ramira didn't know why, but she feels uneasy every time Duke Bastella is near her vicinity. The way he looks at her doesn't even help the situation at all. The way Duke Bastella stares at her feels like he is not seeing her but another person. And that really makes Ramira's skin to crawl.

"It's okay now. You don't need to talk and spend time with that duke anyway. You're safe in our palace. Many people will protect you, including me and our Imperial father." Geradine comforted her.

Ramira just made a humming sound before smiling at her twin brother. He's right. There's no need to be worried like this. She has her amazing twin brother and their loving father on her side that will never hesitate to protect her from any danger.

Seeing that Ramira is no longer anxious and worried, the twins entered the inner office where the king is already waiting for them. King Teriza is reading a few documents on his desk when Ramira opens the door after knocking on it twice. When he sees his daughter, King Teriza puts down the document he's holding and looks at Ramira with a gentle smile on his face.

"Hi, dad! I miss you so much today!" Ramira chirped.

"If that's the case, then why didn't you visit my office for the past few days?" The king asked with a smile.

"Because I'm trying to be considerate. If I visit your office, then you'll obviously become distracted. So I decided not to visit you and annoy Geradine instead."

The king can only chuckle after hearing her answer. His daughter is so playful that he sometimes wonders where did she get all those silly thoughts. The king can see his son shaking his head in exasperation seeing their interaction. Soon, Geradine also greeted him and King Teriza told them to sit down first before telling them the reason for calling them to visit his office.

"As the Crown Prince and the Royal Princess of our kingdom, you two have the right to know what is happening in our kingdom." The king said as faced his children. "I received a report from Duke Bastella just now that a few merchants in our kingdom are involved with the black market and they were selling slaves for a high price."

"Slaves?" Ramira gasped.

King Teriza nodded his head.

"According to the reports, there were at least ten to fifteen slaves brought to our kingdom in secret."

Buying slaves are no longer in their kingdom. King Renzel III, King Teriza's father, and the twin's grandfather, had released a law that forbids the slavery system in their kingdom. They will no longer allow any nobles to have slaves that they can easily buy and control whenever they want. King Renzen III believes that every human has the right to live and control their own life.

Since then, the Verdandi Kingdom strongly refuse to have any connection with the other kingdoms who still implement their slavery system. For those people who will disobey this law will be punished with fifty whips on their backs and they have to pay two hundred pieces of gold coins. In case they cannot pay it, then those people will spend fifteen years inside the prison dungeon together with those people that committed the worst crimes compared to them.

But there are still people who don't want to follow this law, especially nobles. Because of it, these people will involve themselves in an illegal market that sells different rare items and slaves that came from a different kingdom. These nobles will either send their subordinates or go to the black market themselves while wearing a disguise to hide their identities.

And King Teriza received a report that a few people take advantage of the day when Verdandi kingdom expanded their marketplace for the merchants in different kingdoms to open an illegal market that will sell a lot of stolen goods and rare items. Of course, the main highlight of this place is the slaves that they're going to sell for a high price. It is also included in the report that the black market will open tomorrow evening.