Chapter 6:- Vanish Into the Horizon

The butler finished reading the diary of Alex.

Silence enveloped the meeting room.

The emperor stared at the butler in shock.

"Is that true?"

After listening to Alex's diary, everyone present felt remorse for what they had done to Alex.

The emperor said "I'm sorry."

"I know we were very cruel and unfair to him."

"I apologize for how I treated him."

"I can't believe he really left us. And now I want him in front of me after neglecting him for so long."

"I'm so sorry he had to suffer at our hands."

They regretted their actions.

The king asked the butler why he had hidden the diary for so long.

"But why now?" Why not before? Why did he wait for six months?"

"He thought that you wouldn't believe his words otherwise."

The emperor nodded.

"Why didn't he just tell us?"

"It was Alex's wish to show you all his diary after six months and to inform you that he is stepping away from everyone and will not come back to the Empire."

The king asked "Did he have any other message?"

"No," said the butler.

The butler said those were the only things Alex had told him to relay to the royal family.

The king asked "Do you perhaps know where Alex might have headed to?"

The butler said "As said in the diary, Master Alex has said that he will attempt to return his maternal family heirloom as it was the last promise he made to the Empress and after that I don't know."

Alex's mother's family was a allied Kingdom of the Empire.

While the Empire was swallowing its neighbouring kingdom, the King of Cielo surrendered before the Empire attacked.

They proposed the marriage between their princess, Princess Selena and the emperor to strengthen family ties. As a token of submission to the empire they also gifted the family heirloom of Cielo to the emperor.

Princess Selena was known as the most beautiful among the continent's kingdoms with silver hair and green eyes. She was the woman every man wanted for himself.

But as if the family abandoned her the Empress family has since forgotten about her and has broken ties with her with no contact to her till her death and even after her death they didn't contacted Alex.

*****

As the king rushed out of the meeting, everyone was left speechless. Maybe he felt guilt for what he had done to Alex all these years.

He rushed to his office chamber and summoned all five head ministers immediately.

Within a few minutes, the five ministers arrived.

"I want you all to track Alex down as soon as possible." The emperor ordered.

"We have to do something about this," said one minister.

"Alex may be dead," said the second minister.

"But we have to find him at all costs before it's too late," said the third minister.

'We only know he left the Empire six months ago and went to the Cielo,' said the fourth minister.

"It's the only hope for us to find him" said the fifth minister.

"Just find out his whereabouts and how he is doing for now. I will meet with myself after that." Said the emperor.

The session ended with a meeting and an order to find Alex.

*****

The ministers ventured out of the palace and ordered their knights to search for Alex's whereabouts.

The Emperor sat quietly in his royal chamber.

The royal chamber is located northwest of the royal court, behind the throne and directly west of the council chamber.

A lavish double-door entrance leads into a large hall, which is dominated by the monumental statue of the emperor himself, and can be entered.

He was now worried about Alex after abandoning him for eighteen years, and guilt was killing him. He wanted to ease his guilt by meeting Alex one more time and apologizing.

He was staring at a portrait of him and his wife, the late empress.

The minister sent a soldier to find out what happened to Alex in Cielo, the Empress' hometown.

After 3 days the soldier sends a message to the Ministers "Former Prince Alex came to Cielo Kingdom two months ago. After delivering the heirloom to his maternal grandfather he left the kingdom."

"The king said he had some talks with Alex before he departed saying now just the way God tells me to move."

"The King of Cielo secretly ordered his Knights to follow Alex and his whereabouts."

"The knights followed him secretly but as soon as Alex reached the outskirts of the kingdom he vanished into thin air."

"It was as if he was swallowed by the earth or the sky swallowed him."

"Nothing belonging to him has been spotted since that day for five months."

"We will report if we find anything regarding Former Prince Alex."