Prologue (3)

Chapter 4

Knock knock.

There was a knock on his office door and without his reply, it opened and the same girl from earlier appeared from it while carrying two cups. Only this time, her face wasn't covered which should be given her beauty to captivate even angels.

"Hey." She said and he replied back with the same word, "Hey."

"Coffee?" She asked shaking a cup in her hand a little.

"You know just the words to cheer me up, don't you?" He replied with a smile and the girl smiled in return.

"What's that?" She asked while placing the coffee on the table. She was pointing at the seven books he had received from his father.

"Another shenanigan of his. He wants me to review these by morning." He replied while taking a sip of his coffee. The girl didn't reply but instead picked up one book and read the title.

"What's it about?" She asked. The boy contemplated for a while before he replied, "Classic story. Medieval setting. Magical world. About a hero and his party against the demon king. World end. Regression. Second try. Etcetera etcetera."

The boy explained the key points before going quiet. There was a contemplating expression on his face which the girl was very familiar with. "What is it?"

The boy waited, trying to find proper words but all he could say was, "It doesn't make sense. Some points in this novel just don't make sense."

The girl shrugged and said, "So what? It's dad. Things rarely make sense with him." But the boy wasn't satisfied with that answer.

"But you know Dad. There is always a reason behind his every move. Even now, I think there is something I am missing." He replied.

The girl contemplated for a bit before she said, "What is it?"

The boy started explaining, "Well, first of all, it's the hero. It's like he is incomplete. Like he knows what his purpose is but he can't really see it."

"That doesn't make sense." She replied. The boy nodded and explained his point in a few simple words, "It's like he's lost."

"So?" She asked and said, "It's called character building." The boy nodded to her reply but added his own analysis by saying, "But not throughout the whole novel. It's like he can't decide a side. Like his ideal of justice is strained. A mindless soldier. A lost mindless soldier."

The girl now remained quiet. She knew the boy better than many people in the world. She knew him well enough to know that he didn't pick on useless things. If something is irrelevant, he wouldn't give it even a few seconds of his life.

So if right now he was considering this, there must be some reason behind it. 

"What else?" She asked as she was sure there was more.

"Well, for starters, it's not complete. There are seven volumes but the story doesn't end there." He stated another point.

"It could be just a work in progress. What else?" She asked more.

"The hero doesn't win." He replied. The girl was puzzled by that sentence. What does it mean that the hero doesn't win?

The boy seeing her confusion replied, "The hero doesn't win. No matter what he does. No matter what method he uses, he won't win against the demon king."

"How is that possible?" The girl skeptically asked.

"That's what I am wondering. No matter what, he doesn't win. Every scenario ends in his defeat with his and his companion's current power." He elaborated and then continued, "And then there's this. This one line just keeps bothering me."

The girl took the book. It was the seventh volume and the last page and the last sentence read like this, [There was a chance of winning but Eric and humanity didn't expect an unexpected variable to show up at that moment.]

The girl read the line but found nothing wrong with it. "It seems like a line to maintain curiosity in the reader to me." She replied. Anyone would have thought that it was a suspense tactic to arouse the reader's curiosity and make them look forward to the next part.

However, the boy thought differently. To him, it was something else. That one line was bothering him more than anything in the novel.

"That's what it looks like to you but to me, it invokes the feeling of regret. What regret? I have no idea." He replied while throwing his head back in the chair.

The girl looked at him for a while before asking, "Do you still regret it?"

He looked at her and even though he knew what she was talking about, he acted oblivious and asked, "About what?"

Despite knowing that he clearly understood what she was talking about, she still chose to clarify the question and asked, "Do you regret what you have done to them?"

Although there wasn't much difference in question, the boy knew he would have to answer. "No. Not one bit. If I have to, I will do it again."

He replied with conviction and from the way his eyes were still, he wasn't putting on an act. "Even if it hurts you?" She asked again.

He scoffed a little and countered, "Who cares."

"I do." She replied back. He looked at her for a while before changing the topic, "Heard you didn't go home last night?"

She knew what he was trying to do yet still, she chose to respect his wishes and chose to drop their previous topic. But it wasn't like this topic was easy either. It was a very difficult topic for her.

"I don't want to come before them." She replied with a slight stiffness in her voice. The boy nodded while saying, "You know that no one can force you to do anything right?"

There weren't many who could force the girl to do anything. Because even though she had a soft heart and many times chose to avoid conflicts, the same didn't go for his father or him.

"I know. I just don't want to be the reason for the strain between two brothers." She replied and this time the boy laughed, "You know that dad doesn't care about that. And uncle knows that too."

She didn't reply but remained silent for a few minutes before saying, "I don't want to talk about it." Saying so she stood up and made her way for the door.

"Going home?" He asked and she nodded in return before saying, "Yeah. Have to meet the Chinese delegates tomorrow."

The boy frowned while saying, "Aren't I supposed to lead that meeting tomorrow?" The girl shook her head in return before saying, "No. Dad asked me to deal with it which reminds me, what should my strategy be?"

Although he was surprised that his father took one of his tasks off of him, somewhere inside of him, he was also a little suspicious because he knew that his father doesn't do anything without a reason.

Still, he chose to answer the girl's inquiry and replied, "Although many members say that we should be aggressive with our deal, we are in the end, merchants, not invaders. It's not those at the top who do all the work for us. It's those on the bottom that we need to look out for."

The girl nodded at his reply and went for the door. "Good night." He said before she left. She turned in the door to look at him and said, "You too. It's going to be a long night for you after all."

Before he could ask what she meant, she had already disappeared so he could only leave it for later.

He picked up the book and read that last line again which kept nagging him at the back of his head. While still contemplating that last line, his eyes felt heavy and he dozed off.

=========

"His Highness has regained consciousness!" Rose declared loudly as she entered the building of the physicians. She must have run all the way there with her chest heaving up and down and shallow breaths coming out of her mouth.

There were only three physicians at this time of the night. The chief physicians and two junior physicians with minor heal spells. The chief physician himself left his office and followed Rose to the quarters of the third crown candidate, the fifth imperial prince.

As soon as they entered, there they saw a boy with handsome features even though he was covered in bandages due to his wounds. His golden hair, a trademark of the Lux family, was flowing down to his shoulders. His golden eyes, another trademark of the imperial family were blank. He was just sitting there, looking lost as if he didn't know who he was.

The chief physician hurriedly came to the young prince and examined him for a few minutes before he asked, "How do you feel, Your Highness?"

"Who are you?" The boy asked without replying to his question. His tone was emotionless as if it was simple water without anything additionally added.

The chief physician puzzledly looked at Rose who whispered, "He can't remember anything." The eyes of the physician went wide when he heard that and then he asked, "Have you checked completely?"

Rose nodded in return while whispering again, "He can't even remember his own name." The chief physician turned to look at the young man who was looking back at him with a blank look.

"Do you know who you are?" He asked the boy who in turn nodded and replied, "I'm His Highness." The chief physician did not know what to say to that. The boy seems to have mistaken his title as his name.

"Your name is not His Highness, Your Highness, your name is Adrian. Adrian Von Deus Lux." The chief physician corrected the mistake before it cemented itself in the boy's subconscious. If he really had lost his memories which was very much possible with what had happened to him, then they needed to correctively inform him of everything before new information which could be wrong, gets cemented in his mind.

"I'm Adrian?" He asked with a blank look and the man nodded. If only the man knew that deep inside, the young boy was cursing everything in existence when he found out who he was but there was nothing he could do about it.

"Yes, Your Highness." He replied before saying further, "I need to run a few tests on you before I can give any analysis. Am I allowed to?"

The young man nodded and he asked, "Can you tell me the difference between a man and a woman?" He wanted to see to what extent information had been damaged. Maybe the boy still held common knowledge.

"Men have rods while girls don't and girls have balloons while men don't." He stated the simplest difference with a blank face and an emotionless voice. The cheeks of the female junior physician turned crimson at the shameless words of the prince.

The physician coughed embarrassingly but chose to move on, "Can you tell me what mana is?" This time the boy remained silent. The verdict was that he knew nothing about mana.

He noted that fact and moved on. "Do you know what blessings are?" The boy again remained silent. The physician again noted this fact and moved on and asked, "Can you say 'status'?"

The boy nodded and said in a low voice, "Status."

Something appeared before him that surprised him a little. "It's nothing to be worried about Your Highness, it's called a blessing and everyone has it. Is there anything written there?"

The boy nodded before he started to speak, "It says streng----" but he interrupted before he could complete the sentence by the physician. "You cannot tell someone what is written in there. Never ever." The boy turned to look at him and nodded. The physician heaved a sigh of relief.

He then gave his analysis, "It seems some major parts of your memories have become damaged. It would be great to rest and try to remember by knowing new things but be careful and don't put a strain on your brain by taking in too much knowledge. Try to take it slow."

The boy nodded and the physician left. Rose came close to Adrian and asked, "Do you feel hungry, Your Highness?" Adrian nodded and Rose left to bring something for Adrian.

Once left alone, Adrian looked at what really surprised him when he had called his blessing.

The news of the prince losing his memory spread in the palace and then the capital and from there to the cities around faster than wildfire.