Royal Blood

CG Chapter 75: Royal Blood

Everything in life happens due to our actions, for even inaction is but a lesser form of action that we don't have any control over. In the end, we are the only ones to blame for our actions, for we, and only we, will live with the consequences.

Amidst the hustle and bustle of the Attrio mansion, the guests waited patiently for the seven royal families to make their appearance. However, the oblivious guests had no idea that while they were enjoying themselves with food and drinks, a fight was being fought in the darkness of the bright mansion.

For one, they didn't notice Tom, who was instructing Alfred on their plan. At least, the plan he wanted Alfred to know of.

"I am going to meet a couple of friends I just saw; I need you to wait and get ready for any situation," Tom told Alfred in a low voice. While his words seemed normal, they had an undertone that revealed to Alfred his hidden intentions.

Just like that, Tom slipped into the crowd, becoming unnoticed as he went in search of the royal families and their secret location.

The mansion, as stated before, was extremely vast. But after hearing and seeing the way Alexander acted, anyone would have been able to tell that the ritual held high importance to the seven royal families.

Even though he didn't know the contents of the ritual, he had a general idea. For one, the equipment needed for the ritual must be heavy or hard to move, or they wouldn't have held the ritual in the mansion, as it would have been safer to hold it away from the eyes of the many servants.

This led him to conclude that the most likely place where they would hold their sinister ceremony was none other than beneath the ground the unaware guests stood on.

As he walked around searching for the hidden path, he constantly observed the expressions of the servants to see if any of them appeared suspicious or seemed to be involved in the ritual.

Yet, he didn't let that stop him from keeping track of the mansion layout so he could run away if things turned bad.

...

A while passed, and even with his skills, Tom wasn't able to find the doors that led to the underground basement.

Unfortunately for him, it seemed that the royal families didn't spare any effort in the measures they put in place to ensure the location of the ritual wouldn't be found.

As he observed the servants, Tom noticed that all of them seemed genuinely unaware of what was happening, or they wouldn't have looked so calm.

'Alexander, where might you be? Don't you think it is selfish to hide and play alone with your relatives without inviting me?' Tom's thoughts raced. He knew that if he let this opportunity slip, he might never get the chance to be so near another ceremony.

After reaching the middle of the mansion in his fruitless search, Tom found himself standing in front of the giant tree of Danloor. Just as he was about to pass by it, he noticed something off about the tree. Quickly, he began to inspect it before knocking on it gently.

Once he felt the feedback from his knocks, his expression changed into a wide grin. He looked up at the roof before looking down at the ground.

Parts of the interior of the tree were hollowed out, small enough to be unnoticed yet big enough to create a sort of tunnel.

Tom wasn't only pleased that he had found the path but also that his idea was correct.

'If you want to hide a tree, then hide it in a forest. Hiding the path to the basement in the middle of the tree that most people in the seven kingdoms have heard about. I have to say, you are quite daring. But I am not sure whether to call you stupid or smart since someone else might have noticed this. No, even if anyone noticed it, you would probably kill them before they had a chance to spread the information.'

Finding the path to the basement was only the first step in Tom's plan. He still needed to sneak in, and he didn't think the royal families would make his path an easy one.

From there, Tom followed the stairs as he climbed to the upper floors, looking for the hole in the tree that would lead him to the basement.

When he stood above the mansion, he didn't hesitate to climb the tree.

Once he reached the top of the tree, he smiled at the sight of a small hole that could not be seen from anywhere other than the exact spot where he stood.

He wore a cloak and a mask that he had prepared to conceal his identity.