Chapter 77

"You're back?" Vorbuk asked while trying to avoid any awkward conversation about the princess due to Leo's obvious miss understanding.

Standing up straight he made his way over to Prince Leo. He was hoping that the conversation would quickly get on track without a problem. The prince was a person with a kind heart and Vorbuk felt a strange sense of worry. If the prince dropped his guard too quickly with the wrong person in their situation it could spell disaster.

"Yes.. I've been up all night working to solve this matter as soon as possible." Prince Leo's eyes could not tear themselves away from the princess. Something about the girl seemed familiar to him.

"I was expecting to search for you when I finished here after a few days of hunting these things. Why did you come back so soon?" Vorbuk subconsciously moved in between Leo and the princess so that the prince's gaze switched to him.

Vorbuk could see that something was wrong with the look in Leo's eyes. There was no sign of the usual calm Leo. His gaze had fallen dark. The only thing he could do was try to push the conversation forward as long as the prince continued along with it.

Princess Isis slowly climbed to her feet as the air around them because heavy with killing intent.

"Did you find information already?" Vorbuk tossed out a question quickly to distract the prince.

"Ah.. Yes.. From what I can tell the man behind all this is hiding out in the forest somewhere so searching for him inside of Cista is going to be pointless. I came back to ask if you are ready to go with me?" Prince Leo's voice was stiff. It was obvious by his tone that he was not simply asking Vorbuk to come with him. He wanted to separate from the Theapan Princess as quickly as possible.

"Yes. I will be going with you.. also.." Vorbuk hesitated to say the words to the prince because he could sense how badly Leo already wanted to lash out at seeing the princess. "She will be coming along with us."

Leo's expression seemed as if it paled the second he heard those words. Neither of them had to explain to him from the beginning who the girl was. He was well aware that she was Princess of Theapan from the moment he saw her. Regardless of being the king, queen, or an heir to the throne if they were among the twelve kingdoms who were expected to become a ruler among them all knew each other.

Once a year the royal families come together to discuss matters of the kingdoms within the confines of the Cista Kingdom because it is the central, nuetral, kingdom among the twelve of them. In this way they ensure that all royal families are aware of who belongs to each kingdom. That way they can ensure when the next king or queen takes the throne of their own kingdom their wave of control will have already developed a pathway for the new ruler early.

"Why? Why are we taking her? The princess of Theapan. Are you joking with me? Why do we need her of all people to follow us?" Leo muttered every word as he shook.

Theapan is one of the most brutal Kingdoms there are and yet he wants her to follow us? ... Leo thought to himself as he flipped his head around to take a few steps away from the both of them. Leaving Vorbuk to gaze at the prince's lonely back as he walked.

"He neither declined.. nor accepted. I will just interpret it as he did not object. Do not make me regret bringing you along." Vorbuk did not look back at the girl either. He had no interest in if she got left behind at that time.

Princess Isis still felt a bit shaken by Vorbuk's sudden outburst at her being followed by Prince Leo's cold attitude towards her. She could see that neither of them trusted her but that did not matter to her. After some time she felt she could change their opinions of her if she stayed with them. The only matter was how long she could remain quiet about why she had left her own home and ran away to Cista.

"I know you don't like her. I don't trust her either.. but at least for now we'll see how she does." Vorbuk whispered to Leo as he picked up pace so that they were walking side by side. His red eyes gazed down at the prince with a look of expectancy. He knew the heart of the prince well after all they'd been through together. With time he felt he would probably know him better then anyone.

"If anything happens it will fall on you. I am not taking responsibility for that one. You know her kingdom is one of the worst ones that follow the ice queen, Lyra." Leo whispered in return to his comment.

"What if we could change that... ?" Vorbuk whispered once more as he closed his eyes. Deep in thought he considered his own ways to deal with the Theapan king.

If Theapan could be removed from the Ice Queen's control it would be a huge blow to her power.. They both thought this as they walked in silence for a long time.

As a Kingdom of demi wolves they relied on their king and queen's strength when they had someone ruling on the throne. In order to claim the throne one simply had to be of the wolf race, but that did not mean they had to be a pure demi. What they valued above their race was pure strength. They did not look down on their king being killed by another, but rather if a new demi wolf could successfully take down the king they would be automatically deemed the new king of Theapan.

"You want to take the throne yourself and set it to serve Cadirade?" Prince Leo asked though he knew the answer without Vorbuk needing to tell him.

Vorbuk smiled slightly as he saw the confused yet excited look on the prince's face. The prince was clearly excited by the idea of doing such a thing to one of the kingdoms under Lyra's control. Leaning in to Leo a bit he whispered to him once more with a warm tone as he could feel himself winning the prince's favor. It was a relief to see the prince calming down and not worrying about matters of the princess following them.

"After we solve this matter to save Cista's people, let's go steal ourselves a throne from that savage king~" Vorbuk's warm voice echoed in Prince Leo's ear. As if all the prince's worries had washed away a smile played at his lips.

"At a time like this.. I can't determine which side is suppose to be the good one." Leo waved Vorbuk away with his joke.

Prince Leo knew that Vorbuk did not really care about taking up the position of the King of Theapan at all. He was simply saying those words and offering to help his Kingdom of Cadirade during the hard times they were going through with the war.

It was the fact that he knew Vorbuk was really doing it all for his sake that made the prince feel extremely complicated emotions.

As a prince that never took his position that serious until now when everything was falling apart due to a god interfering in the kingdom's affairs he wondered if he was even worthy to call himself a prince and accept such help from everyone. The only thing he knew for sure was that he enjoyed every moment with the others.

[ New Quest Activated: Stealing A Throne

Upon Completion: All Territory ownership under Theapan Kingdom will be transferred to you

Title To Receive: King of Theapan ]

[ ... ]

[ Warning: Suggest to complete current quest before worrying about your next one.. ]

I get that already.. I'll deal with the current situation here in Cista first.. Vorbuk sighed heavily as he thought to himself. Upon mentioning that he wanted to take the throne from Theapan's king he was not surprised god's voice would mention something about it as well. He could only assume it was already considering giving him the task later. But he had thought of it himself first this time.