Illness

The doctor exited the Duke's bedroom.

Even though they hated the Duke, they still rushed towards the doctor in worry to hear the news.

"What happened?"

"Is he okay?"

Doctor Keith waited until they finished talking.

"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you. This is Duke Cassius's personal health information." He informed the four men.

"I order you as the crown prince to tell us!" Axel shouted at the Doctor.

'How dare he disobey me?' Axel thought in anger.

The doctor's eyes widened at the order. He did not want to tell the four men but seeing that it was an imperial order from the crown prince himself, he had to comply.

He sighed and said, "The Duke has an incurable illness. Since he is not the eldest child of the Winter family, the power of frost constantly rejects him. But since the Duke has such a powerful soul, he can use the power of frost. But it comes with a heavy price. Every time he uses the power of frost, a fragment of his soul is covered with ice that could not be melted. Each time his soul is covered with ice, it would give him excruciating pain. Eventually, his entire soul would be completely frozen, leaving him nothing but an empty shell."

The Doctor lifted his glasses and continued to speak, "The Duke's soul is almost completely encased in ice. I had to use my healing magic to save his life as his heart stopped beating for nearly 4 minutes."

The four men looked at the Doctor in utter shock. To think that the man they hated and loathed the most was suffering so much made them feel so much regret.

After the doctor left, they stood outside of the Duke's bedroom, not knowing what to do.

Just then, they heard the sound of glass shattering.

Immediately, the four men rushed into the room.

"Are you alright Cassius?"

"Do you need anything?"

Cassius glared at the four men.

"Who allowed you in my room?" He questioned with a dark tone.

The four gulped in fear. They were scared of Cassius. They never saw him like this before. They were used to seeing him with a bright smile and a cute puppy dog aura.

Due to their fear, they were scared into silence.

"I said, who the fuck allowed you in my room!!!?" Cassius roared with a furious expression on his face.

"We...we...we were..." Axel stuttered in fear.

Cassius grew impatient. He swept his right hand and shards of ice were sent flying straight at the Axel. He dodged out of the way but he was a second too late as one shard scratched his cheeks.

The Crown Prince lifted his trembling hand to touch the scratch and looked in shock as he saw blood on his hand.

"You dare harm me, the Crown Prince of this Empire!?" Axel shouted in shock, forgetting his previous fear.

"I think we should go guys," Ender whispered.

Leo and Zander nodded.

The three sneaked out of the room and winced when they heard an earth-shattering boom.

"AAAAAAH!!!" They heard Axel scream in pain.

Axel flew through the Duke's door and landed at their feet. They looked up in fear and saw the Duke slowly come towards them. They stood still in fear and watched as the Duke raised his bare foot and stepped on Axel's ball sack.

"AAAAAH!!!" Axel screamed again.

It hurt him so bad that Axel passed out.

"You three, take your friend and go." The Duke ordered calmly.

The three nodded and dragged the Crown Prince out of the Duke's estate.

They rushed towards their carriage, not caring that snow and ice was getting on them from the icy blizzard.

They quickly leaped into their carriage and urged their horsemen to speed up.

During their ride, Axel finally woke up and clutched his balls and winced.

Seeing that Axel was awake, the trio began to speak.

"Didn't the duke seem weird to you?" Leo asked.

"You're right. He is not his usual bright self. He seems emotionless" Ender replied.

Zander's eyes widened in realization.

"Do you think this change is because of the Duke's illness? Has his illness gotten to the final stages?"

His question brought everyone to silence.

Ender started to cry as he said, "Why did we treat him so badly during his stay at Academy guys? He didn't do anything, all he did was help Lucy fend off that high-level demon! We overreacted."

Axel groaned in pain and opened his mouth to speak, "You're right. Cassius injuring me has made me realize my wrong doings. That was no reason to complain to my father to expel him from the Imperial Academy. I'll talk to my father about letting him return."

The four men nodded in determination.