WHY THE DELAY FOR THREE DAYS

WHY THE DELAY FOR THREE DAYS

"The great great great grandma already saw something in you when you were young which is why she arranged this marriage. You are the only one now who can save the family now", Orol told me.

"Did Geoffraie tell you that? That is reasonable, their family is in a mess now and they probably need us," I asked him.

"Yes, Cousin Geoffraie passed me the great great great grandma's last will. Your arranged marriage is in it", Orol told me.

"Damn, that cannot be true", I replied to him.

"Don't worry, Xene is a wonderful and beautiful girl. You have a crush on her before when you were young although you forgot everything about it after you fell ill", Orol told me about my fiancé. 

"I thought we never came to the Mithridocus family before?" I asked him.

"Son, you suffered something bad when you were young in the family home, but you forgot everything about it. I didn't want to let you know earlier that we often came here before because I don't want you to remember the bad things", he told me.

"What bad thing?" I asked him.

"Maybe you should ask Xene herself", he replied to me.

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"Son, what do you think about what just happened in the banquet?" King Laventios asked his son, Raslee, the Crown Prince.

"Do you mean the murder of Prince Stamatis?" Prince Raslee asked his father.

"Yes, what else?" the king asked.

"Well, there are a lot of unanswered questions", Prince Raslee replied to the king.

"Namely?" the king asked.

"Firstly, who will murder Prince Stamatis in our city and who has the ability to do so. It is not possible the Duke of Kaleon could achieve that. Even if we want to murder Prince Stamatis, it would not be a simple matter and definitely not something that can be achieved without a serious battle in the city. Prince Stamatis has several Legendary knights who guard him everywhere he goes", Prince Raslee told the king.

"Who do you think can and will kill Stamatis?" the king asked.

"I believe a hidden force has entered the equilibrium of the balance of power in our kingdom", Prince Stamatis told the king.

"What hidden force?" The king asked.

"I don't know for sure but ever since the Earl of Kaleon arrived at Tarah city, things are not the same anymore and he has brought many foreigners to our kingdom", Prince Raslee told the king.

"What foreigners?" the king asked.

"Powerful people with magic that has never been seen before", Raslee told the king.

"Like how he managed to print his newspaper?" the king asked.

"Yes, and many more instances", Prince Raslee replied to the king.

"Are you advising me to ban the Earl's newspaper like Samlee and Kimon?" the king asked.

"No, not at the moment. The Earl is not making news that will hurt us, the Royal family. The newspaper could improve our image to the people if he continues to flatter us with his news. Besides, we still do not know what force the Earl is really aligned with yet", Prince Raslee told the king.

"That is troubling. Did the Earl kill Stamatis?" the king asked.

"That is possible although unlikely. He will not accuse his own father of murder surely", the prince replied to the king.

"Then we come back to the same question, who killed Stamatis?" the king asked.

"That is a more troubling question. It seems besides the hidden forces of Earl Oriese of Kaleon, we must contend with another hidden hand, a force that could easily murder our Legendary knights without us knowing at all", Prince Raslee told his father.

"Is Samlee and Kimon involved with the new hidden hands? The ones who killed Stamatis," the king asked the crown prince.

"I do not know yet, but it is possible they are being manipulated by them somehow. What Kimon did with the murder investigation is so blatantly deficient and foolish that it makes them look like they are behind Prince Stamatis' murder", Prince Raslee told the king about his opinion.

"But I don't understand why he must hide the murder from us until my wedding with my concubine? For three days", the king told his son and asked.

"Minister Kimon probably thought that revealing the murder case during the wedding when every prominent family of Drachia is there will have the most political impact", Prince Raslee told the king.

"What kind of nonsense is Kimon thinking?" the king asked.

"He wants to get rid of the Earl of Oriese and embarrass me in the wedding at the same time, thinking that the Earl is my men for one. There is also the possibility he is trying to make a deal with the Mithridocus family first, hence he negotiated for three days with Prince Geoffraie", Prince Raslee replied to the king.

"I don't understand. What is there to negotiate with Geoffraie about?" the king asked.

"Kimon will not frame the murder on the Mithridocus family but put the blame solely on the outsider, Duke of Kaleon, Orol. The Mithridocus family will owe Kimon and Samlee a favor in return. I heard he fancies the daughter of Prince Geoffraie", Prince Raslee told the king.

"Damn that stupid moron of a son, Samlee. How can he mix his own pleasure into matters of the state? Was he involved in Stamatis' murder?" the king asked.

"He may not intend to, but he surely got involved in this, and we need to get to the bottom of this quickly before this matter harms the reputation of the royal family and the loyalty of the noble families", Prince Raslee advised his father.

"Elaborate?" the king asked Raslee.

"The Appolokis family are not stupid. Due to the fumbling of Samlee and Kimon, what if they suspect that we are the ones who secretly murdered their patriarch and then pin the deed on the Mithridocus family? They will suspect that we are trying to rein in the noble families by making them fight with each other", Prince Raslee told the king.

"Raslee, you are indeed not silly like your brother Samlee. I wasn't wrong to make you the crown prince. Make sure to resolve the matters that will harm our kingdom", King Laventios told his son.

"I will, father", Raslee replied to the king.