What came into view was a large fortress city acting like a checkpoint. Serpent like queues stretched from the gate that was caused by the inspection of travellers, merchants and adventurers thinking to enter the city. As the convoy approached, large clearing was made while all the people surrounding made way and bowed. The inspections were temporarily halted as a group of soldiers ran out. In the middle of them was Quyen and Rada while the twins were behind them.As the two groups neared, Amadeus left the carriage to meet them in the middle.
"Haha, your highness, handsome like always."
Rada gave a slight giggle while Quyen just gave a small honest smile. The twins didn"t say anything while Amadeus smiled back,
"You jest d.u.c.h.ess…"
Rada was expecting a similar compliment but seeing the sheepish smile on Amadeus, she immediately knew that it wasn"t coming. Feeling a bit down, Quyen gave out a laugh before turning to Amadeus,
"Come, your highness, it seems we have the honour of being the first duke household you will visit."
Laughing lightly, the Duke then led Amadeus and his convoy to his mansion. The castle was a typical albeit ma.s.sive medieval castle with flags sporting the walls. The flag of the duke was a black one with a golden dragon coiling in the middle. Entering through its ma.s.sive gates, group of servants came and took Amadeus" belongings while him, Erika, Velia, his maids and a small group of the strongest blades entered the castle.
What entered Amadeus eyes was a simple yet elegant design while a pleasant earthly smell tickled his nose. Quyen, who was leading the group, asked Amadeus,
"How long are you planning on staying your highness?"
"Just the night, we will leave tomorrow at dawn."
The jolly atmosphere surrounding the twins suddenly dampened as the both grabbed each of Amadeus" arms,
"Why can"t you stay for longer?"
Chandra was the one asked as she hugged Amadeus" right hand. She was also the one that had a ponytail on the left side of her head. Selene on the other side nodded at her elder sister"s question. The two looked up at Amadeus" eyes with little kitten eyes and a pleading expression. Amadeus became stiff with these expressions and caved,
"Fine…"
A happy grin found the twin"s faces while Amadeus finished his sentence,
"…we"ll leave at noon."
The twins froze at his words while a cunning look flashed through his eyes. The duke and d.u.c.h.ess started laughing as they made their way to the banquet. Quyen was sitting at one end of the table with Amadeus was sitting at the other. He was flanked by his wife and children while there was no one next to Amadeus. Velia was looking at the sumptuous food with bright s.h.i.+ning eyes as drool started dripping from her mouth. Erika saw this and coughed, bringing the girl back to her senses. Quyen and Rada had a deep look at Velia as they concluded her race. With astonished looks, they saw Amadeus look at them with a smile,
"I found it. She"s mine."
The two just exchanged glances with a smile, they just sighed at the fortune of their crown prince. The rest of the evening pa.s.sed by at the dining table while Velia got more and more shocked by what they ate and the amount of it. The meat of beasts that were served were as strong or even stronger than the ones her father defeated in his stories.
Erika and the rest were used to this while the other person that was shocked was Amadeus. He had eaten the least here, yet he was already full. The twins had a pile of plates next to them while Quyen had a mountain next to him. After the three was Rada who had a small pile of plate next to her.
Amadeus had wondered why the table was so large if there was only going to be five of them, so it seemed this was the reason. Quyen, looked at Amadeus with his mouth full,
"Why aren"t you eating?"
With a nervous laugh, Amadeus bit into a piece of meat,
"I"m just starting."
…
Amadeus laid down on his appointed bed with a satisfied stomach. Patting his stomach, he got the sudden urge to look out the window. Walking in front of it, he opened the curtains just when a knock was heard on the door.
"Come in."
Velia entered and looked Amadeus with her stoic face.
"I would like to know what I am."
Amadeus didn"t turn around and beckoned her to come next to him.
"Tengu, that"s what you are."
"A Tengu?"
"Yeah, otherwise known as the harbingers of war."
A shocked look replaced Velia"s stoic one as disbelief was written all over her face.
"Tengu"s don"t have a race of their own but one is born when a calamitic war appears. The last one that had appeared was when my ancestor went to war with the G.o.ds. Yet that was only a bird of small stature, it died when the war began. Right now…"
He turned towards Velia,
"…I"m looking at a humanoid Tengu."
Velia knew what Amadeus was implying. Fear sprouted in her heart as she thought of the future and looked up only to see a drop of a blood fall down Amadeus" silver right eye. Her eyes widened as she called out,
"Your highness…"
Amadeus didn"t do anything and looked out the window,
"It"s not mine…"
She didn"t know what he meant but followed his line of sight that led to the moon. Looking at it, she didn"t know why but she got the urge to cry and tears began to show themselves in her eyes.
"For others that is just a normal moon, but people with some sort of relation to the moon we can tell that it is weeping. Weeping for the times to come."
As far as she can remember she had no connection to the moon but immediately came to one hypothesis, the feather. Looking at the feather, she then looked at the one she called master. The feather could be transmitting a portion of her master"s feelings to her.
"A portion, huh?"
Moving her gaze towards her master"s back, she suddenly felt that a huge burden was currently laying on those tiny shoulders. Despite being the youngest one, she had a mature mental age alongside the looks of a ten-year-old despite being only five.
"Even if it"s a little, I"ll help shoulder that burden…"
Amadeus saw her thoughts through the determined expression on her face as he inwardly shook his head. He looked like an eight-year-old, was eight years old and had the mental age far more than his peers.
The tear of blood magically disappeared from his face as a smile replaced his forlorn look.
"Come go to sleep, we"ve got a long day tomorrow as well."
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Wiping her eyes, Velia also nodded her head as she looked at Amadeus with admiration.
"Master is trying his best and shouldering all that burden, I would have to also live up to his expectations."
Amadeus tilted his head, wondering why Velia had sparkling eyes as she left. Amadeus had just buried himself in the sweet heaven known as the bed when the door opened once again. He heard two similar footsteps as two figures entered his bed. Knowing that it was Chandra and Selene, he just ignored the two as they laid there on either side of him.
Just as he was about to ask them what they were doing, he saw the two immediately fall asleep while holding his sleeves.
"Fast."
Sighing lightly, he closed his eyes towards a blissful sleep.
…
The next day, Amadeus woke up to Erika opening the curtains of the window. The sunlight shot its rays onto his eyelids as he slowly opened his eyes. he felt a stiffness in the way he moved as he slowly got up indicating that he slept in one position all night. Erika had opened the curtains and saw the two figures on either side of Amadeus. She didn"t say anything as the maids entered.
With a slight movement the twins also woke up while rubbing their eyes. Sitting up, they saw Amadeus already up and was being dragged by his maids. Their own maids had also entered and were dragging them away. By the time Amadeus had left the room with half opened eyes, Rada was walking past.
"Good morning, your highness."
"Good morning, d.u.c.h.ess."
Amadeus replied with a yawn while Rada walked up to him and leaned next to his ear.
"You work fast, as expected of your highness."
Amadeus was confused by what she meant but remembered that the twins spent the night in his room. Amadeus didn"t think much of it as they were still young, but it seemed that the d.u.c.h.ess was already planning who she would invite to the wedding. Speaking of marriage, his mind wondered off to the fiancé from his other world. For her an instant would have pa.s.sed but for him it was already eight years and nine were still left.
The twins met him at the dining table and were wearing black kimono while Amadeus wearing his traditional purple and gold robe. Quyen was eating breakfast while Rada kept alternating her eyes between the twins and Amadeus. Breakfast was silent and the rest of the morning went with preparation of them leaving and there being a small spar with the twins. While they were leaving, Quyen crouched down to Amadeus" eye level and looked at him in the eye. Grasping his shoulder, a sentence followed,
"Take care of them."
Amadeus had a stiff smile on his face as he replied,
"Duke, you"re hurting my shoulder."
Still keeping that smiling face,
"I know."
By the time the duke let go of him it was already time to leave. Mounting Sleipnir he looked at the castle and couldn"t see the twins anywhere. It wasn"t until the group was out of sight did Quyen turn to Rada,
"Where are they?"
"Training."
Quyen just laughed before returning to the castle.