CHAPTER 56 - NIGHT AT THE ALMANDINE CASTLECrown Prince of Central Hyacinth, Heinrich, watched the atmosphere of the castle from the balcony of his room. Quiet and calm.
Today in the morning, he had resumed discussions with the Old Duke and Heath Goldlane. And this was the third day he arrived at this place.
The two of them knew he had to ensure his brother's safety, not allowing a single chance for his brother to climb onto the gallows. That was why they gave him one more offer.
"We will let him live, but he will stay in our dungeon forever."
Honestly, Heinrich didn't care. But he was sure his father, the King, would not approve of that. He must be able to bring his brother home safely no matter what.
That was why, amidst the calm surface of Almandine castle, he had to find something he could use to mess this all up. His Aides had been ordered to gather information from inside and outside the castle, but the funny thing was, none of them could actually get hold of anything.
Of course, there were some public secrets that he could get. Some were interesting, like the fact that Young Lord Almandine was dying and could only wake up in the full moon night, and his new wife was either a surrogate Luna or not the real Young Lord's mate. He didn't know what that meant, yet he never wanted to learn about the monster culture.
At the same time, that was also his biggest weakness. If he knew all of this was going to happen, he would have really taken his research before coming here. He really didn't understand how a monster family like them could become the largest noble family on the Euclase Imperial Continent.
Just look at this castle, which was bigger and more luxurious than the Hyacinth Kingdom's castle!
Heinrich clicked his tongue. He knew negotiating with monsters would be pointless.
Knock, knock.
The Crown Prince turned to the door of his room which was more luxurious than his bedroom in his own kingdom and opened the door. One of his aides stood at the door, bowing his head to the prince respectfully.
Without further ado, his aide went inside and reported his findings today.
"Your Highness, there is a hasty movement from the Old Duke's side," said the aide.
"What kind of movement?" Heinrich asked.
"That old man sent an emergency message to the South to request the arrival of a physician from the East Continent. Ah, that's right, Your Highness. We also discovered that in the past week, the Main Secretary of this castle had searched the entire North for medical books from the East Continent," explained the guard.
Heinrich furrowed his brows. "Healer from the east, huh? Is Young Lord Almandine already dying?" he muttered.
"We couldn't find anything from the maids, even though we tried to bribe them… We learned all of this from outside the castle, Your Highness," said the guard. "We also know that the Old Duke wanted a physician from the Eastern Continent after we overheard the guards of the outermost gate of the northern region heading south. You also remember that we put some Artificial Spirits in there…"
Heinrich smirked.
This place was indeed filled with tight-lipped people, but he still had an ace to gather information. Artificial Spirits! Praise Archmage Delaroche, who made this breakthrough 80 years ago!
He was grateful that unlike on the West Continent, on the Euclase Continent, there wasn't much use of magic tools here. Even magicians were extremely rare compared to those on the West Continent!
"Good," said Heinrich. "If only we could bring more Artificial Spirits here…"
"Your Highness, can we use this information?" asked the aide.
"They want a physician. Well, it's not something we can give them," Heinrich muttered, though his smile was still wide. "But at least we know what they want."
Heinrich looked back at his aide and chuckled. "Is there anything else you can report?"
Heinrich's aide thought for a moment and spoke doubtfully, "We are not sure, but we feel that there is a dispute between the Old Duke and Heath Goldlane. This dispute suddenly started today," the man said.
Heinrich furrowed his brows. This had nothing to do with the offer they made because this morning, the two of them seemed to be fine. This also didn't sound to have anything to do with the fact that the Old Duke was looking for a physician from the East for his grandson. Why were they at odds?
***
"We don't know yet, okay?"
Harriet's words didn't take away Heath's dark and cold face nor did they erase Miriam's gleaming look and happy expression towards her.
"Damn wolves…" Heath muttered in annoyance and left the room.
Harriet and Miriam were still sitting on the couch in Harriet's room with smiles on their faces. Both of them chuckled at Heath's anger.
"Sorry about Heath, Sister. He didn't mean to reject your pregnancy," Miriam said.
"I know, he's just annoyed with the father-to-be," said Harriet. "That's if he's really going to be a father-to-be," the young woman continued with a chuckle.
Meanwhile, Heath walked towards the Old Duke's room to protest again. He was furious, and he wanted to burn the old man's ears with his complaint to his heart's content. However, as he got closer to the Old Duke's room, he could hear the voices of two men conversing in it with his greatly increased sense of hearing.
"–you read books about pregnant women instead? Didn't you say you've started research to find a way to heal your body again?" asked a man who sounded like the Old Duke's voice.
"Grandpa, I did come to your room, but I'm here to read without Harriet knowing. If I read in the library, she'll know. I didn't come here to be bothered by you," said a male voice that sounded like Liam's.
"This brat–this is my room! You're the one bothering me!"
"Sssh–now, listen. We don't have any women with pregnancy experience in this castle. We only have Daniel's wife and a few senior maids. Do you think they are enough?" Liam asked seriously.
"That's why I sent a letter to my connections in the south to find a physician from the East Continent to check on Harriet. Didn't we agree on this already?" asked the Old Duke.
"If we have to wait for the healers from the East Continent, they will come in a month at the earliest. That's if any of them want to come all the way to the North," Liam said flatly.
"I will make them come! I will finish the merchant ship group project from ten years ago and sail the Cold Blue Ocean to the East Continent!" Old Duke's anger seemed to be starting to explode.
"Heh, what can a project abandoned ten years ago do?" sneered Liam. "Grandpa, you should be able to work more effectively," Liam said.
"Go! Get out of here! You're the one who made my work ineffective!"
Heath, who was standing in the hallway, was shocked to see the door of the Old Duke's room violently open, and Liam being kicked out of there by his grandfather.
The man with long blonde hair was carrying a stack of books about women's pregnancy in his hands which fell to the floor as he was kicked out.
"Ugh–" Liam sighed in annoyance, trying to get all his books back. His golden eyes looked coldly and furiously at the door that was instantly closing behind him. "How could he be that harsh to his dying grandson?" he said in an irritated voice.
Just then, Liam saw Heath standing in the hallway, looking at him with narrowed eyes.