Guessing Game

Lumian suddenly held a dagger to his now bandaged throat. "You should not have confronted me so openly,"

Eru gulped and gazed up at him with his eyes blown out. Just looking at his expressionless uncle, he could feel his legs tremble uncontrollably. It was unlike anything he had felt before. The feeling of something was gripping tightly onto his heart. "W—why?" he stuttered.

Lumian's lips rose slightly. He removed the dagger from his throat and stepped back. "Silly kid, Even if you know I'm the perpetrator you should not confront so openly and did you notice your surroundings."

Whistling a tune, Lumian staggered in front of his little nephew. "Oh little Eru, you have a lot to learn. Not just magic, but how to analyse people as well," he said and sheathed the dagger.

Watching him walk ahead, Eru was quite stunned. Eh hesitantly followed after him and tugged at his sleeves. "What...what do you mean uncle?"

His uncle shuffled his blond head and whispered, "You doubted me so quickly. Oh, I'm so sad," he pouted, pinching his slightly chubby cheeks.

"But..but....I thought you were trying to kill me. Like that jaguar incident, and that Aaorlin, everything...everything looked super suspicious," Eru whispered confusedly.

When he first met his uncle, he thought he was quite mysterious. But later on, he had a seed of doubt planted in his heart. Every single action of his uncle seemed so doubtful from the start. When he was attacked by that jaguar, his uncle did not help and, and that Aaorlin, that incident looked like it was instated by him.

Lumian let out a deep breath and leaned down. "Little Eru, I swore a blood oath to protect your family. My life....it belongs to the royal family. I would never hurt you. That jaguar incident was really to test your skills. And in that Aaorlin incident I was close by," he whispered, glancing deeply into his eyes.

Watching his genuine expression, Eru too was convinced. Yet there was a small question that still remained. "Then why didn't you act. If—if you were nearby, why didn't you act," he whispered anxiously.

Lumian chuckle and started walking, holding his hands softly. "I will let you guess. If you guess it correctly, I will skip your physical training for two days,"

"Really!! Okay, let me guess then. You perhaps were not aware that she was the Aaorlin when you employed her."

"No, I knew exactly who she was," his uncle shook his head. His lips raised in a willful smirk, he glanced down at him. "Come on, you have two more chances to guess the correct answer,"

Eru held his chin and thought of other reason. 'If uncle was already aware of her identity, why would he have employed her for so long? Maybe.....maybe she has some information that he needs....no, if so he would have tortured her and got that info. Then why was he keeping her here...why. Oh, I get it,'

"You were not planning to get information from her. Rather, you were planning on proving Lafta as an enemy nation. You knew that she was still in contact with Lafta. If the letters exchanged were apprehended, this was you can prove that the country is trying to breach the peace treaty," Eru said, glancing up at him expectantly.

Lumian's lips rose further. "Partially right, I did keep her around to prove of Lafta's traitorous nature. But you still have not guessed why I let that Aaorlin attack you yesterday," he said slightly tapping his little nose.

Eru sniffed and wiped his nose with a pout. "What more reason do you need? It's all I could guess," he huffed, slowing a small ring of fog.

"Come on, think. Why would 'I' let anyone close to attacking 'you'?"

Eru paused in his steps and sat down next to a world tree. He picked up a small fallen leaf and twirled it in his palm. 'Why? Why....hmmm, let me recollect what happened that day. I fainted, and Deric took be back to my room. I woke up to a knife to my throat about Deric helped me out. And finally, the assassin was shot dead. What am I missing?'

He bit his lips and twirled the pretty leaf around. 'Okay, let's think in a different perspective, who and all were involved. Deric, Kaden, uncle and that Aaorlin. Why did that assassin attack today? From the looks of it, it looked like she was threatening Deric to give her something.'

"What was she looking for?" he whispered.

Lumian squatted next to him and plucked the leaf out of his hand. "The imperial seal of Lafta. She thought Deric had it,"

"She came looking for the seal? Hmmm, god, this is getting more confusing," Eru shouted, pulling at his hair.

Taking pity on his poor nephew, Lumian decided to help him out a bit. "What in common did they all have?"

"Hmm, Deric and the Aaorlin...they are from Lafta?"

"Yes, and...." Lumian gestured for him to continue.

From all the clues, he could vaguely guess. He gazed up at his uncle and whispered, "then, wait a minute, yesterday, you were not trying to weed out the assassin instead you.....you were planning to test Deric's motive,"

Without a word, Lumina smirked at him and needed.

"You....you did not trust Deric from the start. Initially only I was meant to be trained by you, yet you insisted that Deric should tag along, because you doubted his intentions. To test him, you let the assassin act yesterday. You stood by silently to see whether he would try to save me or not."

"Correct answer, little Eru there is hope for you after all," Lumian whispered, pinching his cheeks once again.

"But....what would have happened is Deric filed to save me?"

Lumian did not answer to this. He just gazed up at the giant trees and smirked.

Even without his answer, Eru was able to guess what would have happened. 'If Deric had let me get hurt, uncle would have had the ample reason to kill him and declare war against Lafta. Furthermore, uncle should have already collected enough proof from the Aaorlin, to prove Lafta guilty.' He thought with a gulp.

Eru glanced at his naïve looking uncle with a mortified look. "Master, you are so sly," he whispered.