Chapter 251

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A familiar voice was calling out to Vorbuk as he slept. He could not hear what the voice had to tell him. The wolf's ear flicked at the sound calling out to him. His sleep was deep and it was not enough to wake him.

"What are you looking at?" Prince Leo glared at Duke Heket that was watching the sleeping wolf closely from where he sat.

Duke Heket could feel the coldness from the prince's voice as the prince was protective of the beast, "I just find it rather interesting how easy it seems to be to forget that he is a beast when talking to him."

"That's not a big deal though," Duke Heket quickly added on, "Nobody sitting here is exactly normal. You could even take King Micah for an example. Besides him what man allows himself to be stalked by a woman."

King Micah shivered when he heard what the duke had said.

"What are you talking about?" Prince Leo felt like he heard something he didn't need to learn about.

"I do nothing of the sort." King Micah denied those words.

"You mean the mermaid queen right?" Bredret asked suddenly.

"You see," Duke Heket smiled as if he had won, "I am not the only one that knows about your situation with her."

"She does not stalk me." King Micah sighed dejectedly.

"What else would you call it when she finds reasons to show up where ever you are?" Duke Heket asked.

King Micah was silent as if he had to think about something carefully before responding, "She has never caused me any trouble so there is nothing wrong with her behavior."

What are they going on about? Prince Leo listened to the conversation while his mind wandered. He was not interested in what the others were talking about.

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Vorbuk flinched at the urgent sound calling out to him again. What was that sound? Who's disturbing his slumber?

At the sight of the wolf being restless in his sleep the prince carefully caressed the wolf's head. He wasn't sure what was bothering the wolf so much while he slept. The only thing he could assume was that they were talking too loudly. However they were not back at the palace so it would be difficult to make the wolf exactly comfortable to begin with.

Meanwhile back at Theapan Palace...

"You mean those rumors floating around the guests are actually about Vorbuk?" Daryl asked as he finished listening to the explanation from Aoki.

"Yes," Aoki glanced between Daryl and Zoe who stood beside him as he whispered his words to Daryl carefully so that others did not overhear their conversation, if the nobles became aware that it was Vorbuk that had rode off into the night with the others causing a ruckus on the streets of the capital it could damage his reputation early on, "Thankfully it seems nobody was able to tell he was involved as it was too dark for a horse running at full speed to be recognized at first glance."

"We should be thankful that is the case for the average commoners." Daryl mumbled his thoughts out loud. He was feeling nervous and worried about a lot of things after talking with Aoki. "We do not know for certain that nobody recognized them. If someone from Drethia was on the streets they could have recognized them easily."

Aoki felt the weight of the gaze that came from Daryl as he spoke those words. They were not meant to be a question but rather Daryl knew that vampires could easily recognize Vorbuk from that horse. If they were on the street and noticed them out riding things could become more complicated.

"That is right," Aoki admitted that he knew the truth that some races such as his own were capable, "Are you going to go find them?"

"Of course I am!" Daryl would not feel right if he left them alone out there while they were being reckless. It made him want to scold them for being so reckless during such a important event. There were also dangers in what they had done.

Should I tell him that Prince Chase was starting a fight with a noble before I came here? Aoki thought to himself as he pondered carefully.

"You take care of Prince Chase and the princess until I bring them back. Ashley can not manage everything on his own." Daryl said as he turned to Zoe. She looked both confused and worried about what was going on around her. Though she was not a battle mage she still cared and did her best to help protect the others when something happened.

"I will be back soon." Daryl said to her without waiting for a reply as he turned to rush off.

It's probably better he finds out about it later... Aoki thought as he kept that last bit of news to himself. Ashley would take care of Chase during that situation. He had his own tasks to take care of and that had been to inform Daryl of what was happening with Vorbuk. Daryl was not the master of Aoki so his orders to watch over others would have no control over him. The order would have to come from Vorbuk directly for it to be an order he could not refuse.

"I should go check on the young master..." Aoki said as he made an excuse to leave Zoe's side. He did not quite feel comfortable around her. It may have been the fact that she was a light mage and he was a vampire. Something about her bright aura from being a light mage made him feel sick.

In fact he had no interest in getting involved in the problematic affair that he knew Chase was starting with another noble his age. The thought of getting involved and trying to resolve it felt like it would be exhausting. Unless someone directly called him into the situation he would much rather observe from afar.

"Do you think no one notices?" Zoe asked as soon as Daryl was gone when she caught sight of Aoki trying to leave.

Aoki flinched when he heard those words come from her mouth, "What do you mean?"

"You're trying to avoid your duty because your hesitating to accept the fact that you are a part of the group now." Zoe admitted that she knew he was avoiding getting involved too deeply with them all.

"How..." Aoki felt flustered as he realized Zoe knew about his hesitation, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Zoe smiled as she knew that Aoki could not admit easily to the fact that he was finding it difficult to open up to the others and simply said, "I hope you at least take your job seriously even if you find it difficult to let others in."

Without waiting any longer Aoki turned and fled from Zoe's side without a word further. He could not admit anything to her. Yet knowing that she had realized made him worry who else might have become aware of his questionable behavior. If they realized he could not be completely honest with them it would make him worry even more. How much patience could they have with him before deciding it was better to cut him loose from the group? He was not taken into the group because they felt fond of him. They simply needed him in the future when they dealt with Drethia Kingdom.