Back to outside of Palace in the grounds:Evan saw the soldiers leaving with a little hope that they would find her. He knew that won"t find anyone there. She would have already escaped from the Seazle. She may not even had went to that city. She may have just crossed the border from the capital. They may never be able to catch her.
The chances of catching her there were very slim. But, the doubt was there. If the herb came from western side, then it would have been bought in City Belgonia. It was the only big and developed city in the western side of the country.
The western side of the empire has a dense vegetation. Most medicinal herbs and some peculiar fruits and vegetables that can"t be grown in the normal fields, are bought from there. The food and products exported from there hold so much value.
So, if there is no trace of that woman, than at least they would get any information about her or something. Even, if they find her family it would be great help.
But, the only thing bothering him was not capturing that woman. He had to know who and why people were doing it. What are the people want that they are plotting against them? They even somehow got hold of their Marques and G.o.d knows what information about them is pa.s.sed to those people.
The family of Marques, Samuel, is obviously killed. They were said to be gone to their hometown but, there was absolutely no trace of them. The only theory that makes sense now is, they blackmailed the official by abducting his family.
If they killed their source of information then, definitely something must have gone wrong. But, what? The incident must be something that took place after he came back from City Valencia. But, there are many events that took place.
Something major information of the Palace must had not gone according to their plan. Hence, that resulted in the death of the official along with his family. And their, whatever information was gone.
He snapped out of his thoughts and a.n.a.lyzing when he heard someone speak from beside him. he turned his face to see it was Peter. He was looking at Evan with eyebrows raised, expecting him to say something.
Evan made a face, he didnt listen to him. Peter sighed, he tried to speak again but, Evan bet him to it. "What were doing before I gave you the order?" Peter was confused and tilted his head a bit to side, trying to remember what was he doing at that specified time stamp.
"When I was inside the Emperor"s chambers?" Evan helped him, sensing his seemingly temporary memory loss. Peter"s mouth formed a shape of "o" and his eyes widened a. bit in realization. "I was sending a message" he spoke with a matter of fact tone.
It was now Evan"s turn to let a silent "oh" but, that morphed into a confused expression. Peter saw this and pursed his lips. "This idiot has lost his mind" he silently thought but, didnt voice out. He loved his dear life. So, instead he opted by fluttering his hands.
He did a weird flying pose and Evan finally seem to understand. When he did, he made a disgusted face towards his friend. He could use his words, why this monoplay? The message was dispatched to their informers and the guards in City Belgonia, by a pigeon.
Only some people in the empire, only trained, know how to dispatch a message like this. Ecah main guard, like commander for a region knew what pigoen it would be and how to receive and read the message. Peter slightly smiled at the expression but, the smile went away as soon as it came.
He carefully eyed his best friend. He seemed to be calm. Well, calmed down than before. He didnt know how he got to that wretched house. But, settled on the conclusion that Evan wasn"t that of an idiot. He maybe an idiot and not understand and can be a hard headed but, he is extremely skilled and observing with what he does.
He never let"s his personal emotions or things to effect his professionality. But, he can surely do the other way around. He let"s his profession affect him in taking in personal matters. His exterior is the biggest trap for others and a problem to himself.
Evan sensed Peter was looking - more like trying to stare into his soul - at him, cautiously. As if, one wrong move and Evan would pounce on him. He let a small chuckle and Peter was almost immediately weirded out.
"You alright?" Peter whispered, only audible to Evan only. He didnt want anyone to hear him address their prince informally. They were best friends but, there are always protocols when your position is high.
That"s how the world works.
"I"m alright." he said with a small smile on his face. However, it faded away as the thought of Aeins.h.i.+a came into his head. The way her ocean blue almost sparkling, eyes gazed into his dark ones. The expression change when she caught something in his eyes.
He was definite that she caught on to what he was feeling at that time. Her expression made it very clear. Now, he was even more scared to face her." What if she asks? What if she somehow figured it out and want to question me? What would I even answer?" all negative things swarmed up his head like bees.
Peter sensed the falter in his smile and decided not to press on the topic anymore. "Does his highness know?" he quietly inquired, now standing a bit straight and putting some distance between them. Evan snapped out of it and shook his head.
Just then, Andrew walked up to them. "His majesty, The Emperor, is asking for your presence in his chambers, your highness." he spoke out in monotone. Evan nodded his head curtly and made his way towards the Palace. He had some long explanation to do.
As he was on his way to the chambers, he pa.s.sed by the hallway in which he and Aeins.h.i.+a collided earlier. He chuckled silently when he thought back to how fl.u.s.tered and embarra.s.sed Aeins.h.i.+a was. She was absolutely red in face. He decided, he would only think about the adorable things about his Aeins.h.i.+a, to keep away the negative thoughts at bay.
He halted in his steps, when he finally reached his destination. He reached quite quickly in his opinion. He sighed and composed his thoughts together. He gathered what was he going to talk, mentally. The guards, when sensed his presence, stood up and bowed to them.
Evan marched into the room and saw Felix and his father still hunched over the desk. "They mist be doing something important" he thought. "But, what"s that important?" he frowned lightly when he thought about that.
He was about to let his presence known but, his fathet looked up at him and gestured for him sit beside Felix. Felix didnt notice all this as his back was facing towards Evan and he was too immersed in writing something on his paper. Felix was startled a bit when he felt someone come beside him from behind.
He relaxed immediately knowing it was only Evan. Evan took a seat beside Felix and from across Alexander. He observed the papers scattered over and on which Felix was working. All papers had some symbols, alphabets and numbers written in weird order.
His eyes slowly trailed from Felix"s to his father"s but, those papers were also in the same fas.h.i.+on. Then, he saw a paper in the middle of all chaos, the code. He immediately understood, what they were up to.
"You have explaining to do." Alexander stated in an even tone, it was not demanding or accusing or suspicious. Alexander straightened up and leaned back in his chair. Felix looked up to his uncle and then averted his gaze on Evan. Also, eager for the explanation.
Evan looked straight into the eyes of his father and gathered up all the things he went over earlier, to explain to his best. He was about to open his mouth to start his little briefing, when.....
The door burst open and a guard came inside. All the three looked up to the door and the guard.
"Your highness...." the guard trailed off before gulping.