As ordered by Drayce, Arlan's aide Oriana, arrived at their guest mansion. After they talked with her, they realized this young witch was not just unaware of her being a witch but she was also unaware of having divine powers. They discussed for long and came to the conclusion to call her again in the night so Yorian could scry through her powers thoroughly by using his lineage as a Moon elf.
After Oriana left, Yorian talked, "King Drayce, it's the second time in a day we have whisked away Prince Arlan's aide, keeping in him dark that why she is being summoned here frequently. We have asked her to visit us in the night as well, do you think Prince Arlan would allow it given how possessive he acts towards her."
"I have a way, do not worry," Drayce assured. "Arlan has invited us for an evening meal. After that I will find a way to keep him busy till you finish scrying into Oriana's powers."
"I fear, he might just appear here out of nowhere and find out what we are up to," the elf said, "Not like we fear him, but it might put your friendship with him in trouble."
Drayce chuckled, "After sharing a few punches, that friendship will get back on track," Drayce said as if it was nothing serious, "But I won't let it escalate it to that point. You can just focus on your part of the job."
Yorian nodded.
In the evening they departed to the guest mansion of Griven for the dinner banquet. As the mansion was not far and was merely separated by the single compound wall, they preferred to go walking.
Drayce and Seren walked together with Yorian by their side while Slayer and Azer followed them.
"Slayer," Drayce called for him while walking ahead.
"Yes, Your Majesty," the knight replied.
"After the meal, we have to make arrangement to take Arlan away from here and I might need your help to keep him busy," Drayce explained.
"We can keep him busy with the drinks," Slayer spoke, knowing his friend as much as Drayce did.
"I was thinking the same. I will suggest drinking after a meal. I am sure he would love to go to the Tavern as we are together here."
Slayer understood what he had to do, "I will accept the invite and join you two for the drinks."
Drayce offered an approving nod and added, "At the tavern, we have to keep him busy for long. I might be gone in between for some time."
"I will find a way to keep him," Slayer assured.
They finally arrived at the Griven guest mansion. Imbert and Rafal welcomed the esteemed guests and led their way towards the rear of the mansion as the preparations were made in the open, where an outdoor arrangement was made in the middle of the rear garden of the mansion.
The entire place was well decorated with numerous lamps lighting up the place, making it look more beautiful than it already was.
When they finally reached the place, they spotted Arlan and walked towards him, his personal aide, Orian, was next to him who was staring at Seren like in a daze. Though the aide was a woman in the disguise of a man, Drayce was clearly displeased to see how Orian was looking at Seren.
Arlan and Drayce exchanged displeased glances as both their women looked eager to speak with each other, and the way Oriana was staring at Seren, it was something that both men had to frown upon.
They both could clearly hear Oriana's loud heart beats when she saw Seren and even her face was blushing. Was it even normal?
At that Seren was looking back at her as well and smiling which was apparent through how her eyes were curved.
"How are you, Orian?" Seren asked.
"I am good, Your Majesty, I hope you are feeling much better with the new medicine I made for you."
"Yes, they are working really fine. It's good to have you as my physician."
"It's me being fortunate to be able to treat a great lady like you."
The pair continued to talk as if others didn't exist and made the two men standing with them incredibly jealous.
'Can't you take care of your woman and stop her from ogling over mine?' Drayce's brows creased.
'Mine is a pervert but you should keep yours away from her so she won't have anyone to ogle at.'
'Who was the one to invite us over for dinner?' Drayce countered. 'You should have kept her locked away before we arrived.'
Arlan silently agreed through his gaze. 'I should have done that.'
The conversations halted when the last guest appeared. It was Cian, the Crown Prince of Abetha.
"Brother, finally you got time to meet us?" Seren said, a little complaint in her voice.
On the other hand, Drayce and Arlan were relieved that finally Seren and Oriana stopped talking and should thank Cian for his timely arrival.
Cian looked at his younger sister with a loving gaze. "I was busy with some important stuff and…"
As the brother and sister conversed, Oriana's gaze was focused on Cian's face, shifting to Seren's once in a while.
Of course, her behavior did not go unnoticed. Arlan clenched his fists. 'The sister was not enough for her, and now, she is staring at the brother as well.'
Drayce looked at him, his gaze laughing at him. 'You sure got a perverted one.'
Arlan glared back. 'I will get rid of her pervertness soon.'
It was Arlan's other aide, Neil, who fortunately broke the tension.
"Your Highness, food will be served shortly," the aide said. "Shall we invite the guests to have a seat?"
Arlan began playing his role as host and ushered his guests to take their seats on the circular dinner table in the middle of the decorated garden.
The chairs were arranged around the circular table. Drayce, dutifully pulled the chair out of Seren and helped her seat comfortably.
The servants waiting nearby began to lift the lids covering the fancy dishes. What they served were authentic Othinian delicacies, together with servings of native food from Griven. After filling their respective goblets with fruit juice and wine, these palace servants tactfully left the vicinity, leaving only the most trusted aides and knights of royalty within the garden.
"How is the investigation going on, Prince Cian?," Arlan commented. "You disappeared after the summit conference for your secret investigation."
This reminded Cian of the encounter with that young woman but he composed himself and replied. "I came across Sir Alexander during the investigation so I believe Prince Arlan already heard the details from your most loyal hound."
"Your group was attacked," Arlan said in tacit agreement.
"We took care of it. I trust Sir Alexander made sure to wipe out the rest of the trail."
"He did. But next time, be more careful. As a prince of another kingdom, you should be more discreet with your actions though this is your mother's homeland."
"Thank you for the wise words, Prince Arlan," Cian said.
When Seren heard their exchange, she could not help but ask, "Attacked? Were you hurt, Brother?"
"I am fine. It was just a minor attack."
Because of Seren's reaction, this caused Oriana, who was staring at the prince's handsome face, to also observe his body. It was the kind of scrutinizing gaze that made a certain prince very, very unhappy, as her eyes impudently trailed from Cian's face to his neck, then to his broad shoulders, then down on his arms—
Snap!
That certain prince's thin thread of patience snapped.
Throughout the meal, Arlan had his eyes on her and none of her actions were missed by him. His expression was dark, his food barely touched, and he had to drown his growing frustration with wine.
Drayce, who was watching his friend's distress in relish, had to hide the smile on his face.
'Do not laugh.' Arlan glared at him. 'Have you forgotten how foolish you look being jealous of your wife's brother? You could not even accept a simple hug between siblings. What right do you have to laugh at me?'
'You laugh at my foolishness, I laugh at yours. It is only fair.'
'Something is wrong with these Ilven siblings. How dare they both attract my aide?'
'Is it their fault? Your aide is a pervert. She seems comfortable with either gender. Neither siblings did anything to get this kind of attention from your aide.'
Arlan swallowed his anger. He could not refute. He could only swallow another goblet of wine while engrossed with the thought of teaching his aide a good lesson.
Drayce mused inwardly as he looked at Cian, he found the way to keep Arlan away for long. 'Apologies, Seren. But I have to use your brother today.'
When their meal was over, Drayce spoke to Arlan as he had planned, "Let's have drinks tonight. It's been a while since we had it together."
"How about a tavern? The atmosphere in the palace is pretty stifling."
Arlan's reply was within Drayce and Slayer's expectations.
"Fine with me," Drayce spoke as he intentionally looked at Slayer.
Arlan threw a grin at Slayer, who was standing several feet behind the young king. "That means you are off duty tonight, Sir Knight."
"As you say, Your Highness," Slayer replied with a bow.
Arlan rolled his eyes, before complaining towards Drayce, "He is going to make me sick with all his polite formal talk."
Drayce chuckled. "We will make him drink tonight and get him to start cursing you."
"Make him drink? He can't even stand one fill of it. I don't want to carry his sorry ass back."
Seren stopped Arlan as the men were about to head out. "Prince Arlan, since you and Dray are going out, I would like Orian to attend to me. I hope you have no objection."
Arlan looked at Drayce to which Drayce offered him a light nod. He agreed, "As you wish, Your Majesty." He gave Oriana a deep stare, whose face visibly brightened.
Drayce and Seren shared knowing gazes as the two looked at Yorian who was ready with his plan already.
Cian suddenly spoke out, "You enjoy your outing. I will take my leave now."
"Are you not interested in coming with us?" Drayce asked. Cian was going to be a big help, then how could he let go of him.
Cian did not enjoy drinking, be it expensive wine or commoner beer. He was someone who grew up in the military, and he led a somewhat disciplined lifestyle. "I still have some important matters to attend to. I have to leave to continue with the investigation."
"Be more careful," Drayce commented. "Do not engage them head on."
"I will," Cian bowed to them before turning to leave.
Before Drayce cold say more, someone else beat him to it.
"Wait, Your Highness!" That was Oriana and everyone to looked at her sudden reaction.
She lowered her head immediately and spoke, "Apologies for speaking without being allowed to…but I have to say something to Prince Cian. May I speak my mind?"
The others had no special reaction to her statement, aside from Arlan. Surrounded by people, he could only swallow his anger. His aide was getting ahead of herself, acting so blatant in front of him. Did she forget who she belonged to?
"What is it?" Cian asked.
"With your right hand hurt, I recommend that you not hold a sword for a while. It will get severe."
Surprised by her words, all eyes were on the prince's hand.
"Brother, are you hurt? Where? Why didn't you tell us?" Seren panicked.
Cian was surprised at what Oriana said. He was sure that, other than his knight, no one knew about it. He threw a placating look at his sister. "It's nothing but a bruise."
Arlan and Drayce shared gazes. 'We didn't smell any blood.'
"From my observation, it shouldn't be a simple bruise, but a slight fracture in your hand. I noticed it when you were holding the spoon. Although it seems minor at the moment, it will worsen with neglect and cause damage in the long term if left untreated," Oriana explained.
"It's nothing much…"
"Brother, you have to get treated," Seren said in a worried voice. "You shouldn't go outside for any investigation if you can't hold a sword."
"Seren…"
"I won't allow it. You have to listen to me. Nothing is more important than your own safety."
Seeing her worry-filled eyes, Cian had to give up. "Alright. As you say."
"Why don't you get treated by Orian first? Then you can go with Dray. You should not bury yourself in too much work," Seren said as Drayce had already told his intentions just a while ago.
Drayce smiled as his wife had made it easy for him. Though she was worried for her brother, she didn't neglect their plan which was equally important.
Helpless, Cian could only nod once more. He remembered how he got hurt and for the first time getting hurt felt sweeter.
Oriana treated Cian's injury and they headed to the Tavern.
Seren and Yorian took Oriana with them to Megaris guest mansion where Yorian had arranged to scy into her powers.
===
Note- For the readers who are yet to read the 3rd book. To know what happens when they all went to tavern and where exactly Yorian and Seren took Oriana, read chapters 192 to 196 from the 3rd book- The Devil's Betrothed. Do not miss the fun in the tavern. Those chapters won't be repeated here.
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