Chapter VI
A few days have passed. Justin reported to the Foreign Affairs Department and was thriving in the atmosphere. Asteri was very glad that his hunch worked. However, Captain Miriam did not show up for their talk and kept ignoring his summons. Honestly, Asteri was done with the man. When he sent the summon again, it came back with a response around bedtime last night. The answer simply in other words told him to fuck off. Asteri has been irritated and angry since then. Everyone avoided the leaking murderous aura around him. No one was brave enough to go to him. Justine knew it had to do with Santos Miriam. They were friends but even then Santos was so callous and a training fanatic, they drifted apart. Justine swallowed his fears and decided to encounter the angry tiger. Everyone in the office noticed him edging to Asteri's office and prayed to Luz that he get out unscathed.
Justin stepped in to see Asteri in cold anger read all the treaties and documents. He took a deep breath and walked up to the desk. Asteri looked at him and stretched out his hand. Justin deposited the papers in his hand and stood there as Asteri looked through them. A few minutes passed by. Asteri handed it back. "Good. Process them. I am leaving for the training arena. Wanna come ?" Justin was surprised at the invitation but nodded quickly. They quickly processed the work. Asteri still had the murderous aura but Justin felt that it was not as bad it was before. They quickly made their way to the training arena which was located on the East side of the Imperial Palace.
The training arena was huge with places for spectators to sit. At the moment several knights were practicing drills with Imperial Commanders Cassian Giroldi and Markos Harakis. They were supervising the soldiers. Cassian had a look of mute anger which confused Markos. "Cassian, is everything okay ? You have been angry." he asked hesitantly. Cassian let out a breath. "Captain Miriam is being ridiculous and causing problems for the Crown Prince. He is not answering the summons. I can only fear what will happen once the Crown Prince's threshold is shot." he said. Markos blanched instantly. The Crown Prince is a brilliant soldier and a great tactician but he knew when the man gets angry, no one survives.
As he was about to reply, a murderous aura filled the area. Cassian and Markos felt it while the knights did not. Both knew that the Devil arrived. They cautiously turned to see Crown Prince Asteri arrive with Justin in tow. Asteri sat down on the bench and looked at the direction in which Captain Miriam was training. Cassian knew that the boy was screwed. He looked at Justin who brought his thumb to his neck and signed the motion of slicing his neck. Cassian blanched and Markos looked like a ghost. They looked at Captain Miriam praying for the man's safety.
Asteri sat staring unaware of what was going on. He was angry that everytime he sent an olive branch, he was rejected and humiliated as the idiotic knight refused to give him the basic courtesy. He sat there when he felt a tap to see his maidservant Gemma carry his ornate sword. She handed it over. "Thank you Gemma. Please keep a fresh pair of clothes ready in the changing room." he smiled sweetly which send chills down everyone's spine but Gemma steeled her nerves and nodded.
Asteri got up and made his way to the arena. He entered the ground and made his way across the ground with pensieve gazes following him. He saw Santos sparring with a fellow knight but the spectators around suddenly froze like deer in the headlights. The sparring soldiers noticed the frozen audience and turned to see an irate Crown prince heading towards him. Santos was frozen in place. He did not expect to see the Crown Prince here. Asteri stood and bowed. He removed the cloak that he had around his neck. He turned to the closest soldier who stepped forward feeling the gaze. "Could you please hold on to this, Sir Knight ?" Asteri asked to which the soldier nodded and carefully held the cloak. Asteri rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and tied his hair into a bun.
"Well, well, well Captain Miriam. I certainly did not expect you to be so free. I thought that you were away on a mission to send that sort of letter. You certainly do not have the rank and file nor the authority to decide if I am worthy of your time. This is quite brave of you." Asteri's voice was sickly sweet and kept sounding angerier. All the soldiers definitely knew that whatever Captain Miriam did was really bad. They knew that the Captain has screwed up. There were the soldiers of Cassian's unit. They blanched seeing the irate Crown Prince. They looked at their Commander who showed the the same sign Justin had done. They all paled further and started pushing everyone a few feet away and chanted barrier and protective shield spells.
Santos was quite scared. He knew that he definitely messed up big time. He never realized that the Crown Prince was the type to get angry if they go against the royal order. While he did not hold much anger to the nobility, he was quite scared of the Crown Prince's smiling face and the lazy yet graceful way he pulled the sword out. "Prepare yourself Captain. This is an once in a lifetime opportunity that you will ever get." Asteri said sweetly. Santos knew that he was royally screwed.
Meanwhile in the throne room, King Adonis was finishing up the budget for the military and was about ask Aryen to check up on his son. He noticed that Asteri was in an angry mood at breakfast yet reassured him. Aryen was about to answer when the throne room banged open and in ran Cassian Giroldi out of breath and pale. He quickly kneeled. "Your Majesty please come quickly to the training arena. Crown Prince Asteri has decided to murder Captain Miriam." As he finished, all he felt was a gust air. The King had fled and they quickly followed. As he entered the training arena, his mouth dropped at the destruction. Black smoky patches, bits of ice and definitely cracks in the earth. Justin was in awe of the sheer power. Adonis looked to see his son send fireballs at the dodging Captain. He decided that enough was enough. Adonis jumped into the arena summoning his spiritual sword and parried it against his son's sword. Asteri was about to growl when he saw his father's sword and face come into view.
Just like that the murderous aura disappeared and the attacks stopped. Santos collapsed where he stood. "That is enough son. Let it go." Adonis ordered. Asteri took in a deep breath, exhaled and sheathed his sword making everyone breathe in relief. Adonis turned to Santos who was being helped up by his fellow comrades as Justin came and wrapped his arms around Asteri who had calmed down and looked ashamed. "Captain Santos Miriam, what did you do that forced the Crown Prince to act so drastically ?" Adonis commanded. Santos refused to answer. This infuriated everyone present. Not answering could be seen as a sign of disobedience. Justin was ready to throttle the stupid soldier when a man around the King's age appeared and made a beeline to Santos. Santos stared defiantly at the man.
SMACK!!!!!!
The man had smacked Santos on the back of his head glaring at his defiance. Santos looked at the man in shock and disbelief. "Tell the King why his son had to physically teach you a lesson." the man ordered. Santos glared and yelled "Why should I ?! Prince Asteri is a spoiled and weak brat who does not understand that we soldiers are not his personal guard to run about at his every whim. We serve the King and go to war. Our duty to the nation comes first, the royal family second." All soldiers present balked in fear and anger. Santos Miriam has definitely caused treason. Calling Crown Prince Asteri names is one thing but dictating the way the army should behave is another. Marquess Miriam looked stunned at his son. He couldn't believe that the boy was so stupid. "That is not true. Crown Prince Asteri is the heir to the throne. You should listen to him. He is not a spoiled brat. You don't know what he has been through." Santos gave a cruel laugh. "He hurts his servants and tortures them. That is why he needed to be killed. Too bad the Belladonna did not do its job." Silence reigned. The soldiers gasped. Asteri was in shock while Justin was unable to move. The Marquess stared in disbelief when everyone felt a murderous aura. They all saw the King look ready to commit murder.
Adonis looked at this brilliant man and took a deep breath. "Marquess Miriam. Kneel." he ordered. Marquess Miriam kneeled shocking Santos. "My Imperial Order. Captain Santos Miriam is to be stripped of all honor and branded traitor. He is to be thrown into the dungeons. Marquess Miriam, you and sons will be spared but I want to know who he associated himself with in order to assassinate my son." Adonis gave the decree. "We shall heed the decree, Your Majesty." Marquess Miriam vowed. The Imperial Commanders came and took away the screaming Santos while the Marquess looked on in sadness. Asteri felt guilty. He went to the Marquess and bowed deeply stunning everyone. Before Asteri could, the man stopped him. "Don't your highness. It is not your fault that this happened. I don't blame you. I blame myself for spoiling him like this. You can rest assured that I will find answers." Asteri nodded and trudged back to his father who wrapped him in his arms. They headed to the chambers to process the information.
It was truly a day of shocks and betrayals.