After covering their important royal march in the outer territory of his kingdom, accompanied by his strongest knights and Maxim, Zordan returned back to the province of his royal castle after 2 days. Soon as they reached the royal stable, Zordan and Maxi hopped down from their horses, wearing exhausted looks.
Throughout the march, Maxim was always following him closely from behind and he didn’t fail to notice either that the claw graze wound on his arm had still not healed yet. Even after wrapping the wound with a bandage and medicinal herbs, that area of his skin had formed a dark-bluish bruise. With a concerned gaze in his orbs, he glanced once again at the wound and laid his eyes back on Zordan, with a sigh.
“Stop worrying so much, Maxim. It’s just a graze, I am fine.” However, Zordan tried to assure him again as he quickly realized his worried glances focused on him.
“Yeah, that’s what I am worried about, Your Grace!” Giving a disappointed glare at him, Maxim shrugged with another heavy sigh. “It’s just a graze mark and still not healed yet! And have you forgotten the reason why is it happening so?”
Zordan quietly stared at him, keeping a brief pause. But his silent gesture seemed to trigger his impatience more as Maxim grumbled at him, “The Wolfsbane! Your blood is affected with Wolfsbane poison and that’s why even any minor wound can become life-threatening for you! It must be a small graze mark for you but look at the bruise it has become! Do you realize now why do I feel constantly worried for you?
There are countless enemies breathing around who want you dead and…after your curse with Wolfsbane, their task has become much easier!! After this…how can you be still reckless!?”
Maxim’s loud grumble reverberated as an echo inside the horse stable but there were no other knights surrounding them, except the two of them. Zordan still retained a brief silence and after an anticipated pause, he answered, “I know there are countless people who want me dead…and they will go to any extent to fulfill their ambition, especially Queen Lorelia…”
As Zordan’s voice deepened into a low, cryptic tone, Maxim rolled his worried eyes in a circular motion to take a glance around their surrounding. After confirming the silence, he huffed a deep breath and murmured to Zordan, “Your Grace, were you always aware that Our Highness is the one who poisoned you with Wolfsbane?”
“Of course,” a small sad smirk curved his lips as Zordan mumbled with a blank gaze above at the murky sky. “She hates me so much that it’s visible on her face. I don’t know how my father can be so blinded by her to never realize it in all these years. However, she just made her intentions clear to me by preparing a meal first time for me and poisoning it with Wolfsbane. She…really wanted me dead, since the very beginning.”
Maxim clenched his gloves in his arm and wore a pained look on his face as he leaned his eyes down. His smile was small but too painful to look at as it throbbed pain in his heart. After a heavy silence, Maxim murmured, “Your Grace…I…I know, how much you have suffered all alone since your childhood, and that’s why I really wanted you to find happiness. And, I am also aware, no one on this earth can make you happy other than Lady Gabriel…but I am worried now.
The path you have opted for by accepting her hatred will leave you wrecked in the end! What if…she never realizes your pure devotion? Are you going to keep suffering like this when you have done nothing wrong?” His low, anxious voice sounded much more serious.
Zordan clearly understood his immense concern through his words and tossed a sad smile at him. He walked a step closer and patted his shoulder, as he tried to uplift his grim mood with a tease, “Maxim, if you would have been a woman, perhaps I would have married you in the first place. You are the only person perhaps who worries so much about me.”
“How can you make a joke like this in a serious situation? You are unbelievable!” He coldly snarled at his bluff.
“Pfft, haha!” Zordan snickered at his irked reaction and patted his shoulder again as he succeeded in uplifting his gloomy mood a bit. He turned his gaze away towards the dark sky shining with stars and answered with a smile, “Maxim, don’t worry. I will absolutely not surrender to her evil intentions. I can’t die yet, not until I find the reason about what had actually happened to my mother…and why someone wants to harm my Gabriel!” His voice grew deep and hoarse.
Maxim gazed intensely into him from behind and mumbled in a dubious voice, “Umm, Your Grace, do you think that person behind everything can be Our Highness?”
“It’s not an impossible guess, Maxim.” Zordan clenched his fist, narrowing his onyx eyes at the dark sky. “But, I need to find the reason behind everything…If she is the culprit, she must have something to gain from harming Gabriel…and I have to know why! Why does she have to go to this extent?
There has to be a grave reason!” His pitch sounded obscure as he grumbled.
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