|| Preparations (Part 1)||

|| Chapter 3: Preparations ||

Loud muffled voices and groans were heard from every direction as distressed-looking maids roamed around the palace, searching for something - or someone. They called out the ravenette's noble title, searching through the imperial gardens. At this point, they were getting fed up because the princess's orders were getting more absurd than ever. Meanwhile, at the far end of the garden, the ravenette quietly balanced on a branch in a lush tree. A few leaves and tiny sticks got tangled in his messy hair, annoying him. His face had a few scratch marks from hiding up in a tree. 

Sneakily, he peeked out from behind the leaves, his gaze flickering around. He quickly retreated into hiding again when one of the maids turned around to look in his direction. A frown appeared on his lips and his brows furrowed in discomfort. All of these maids belonged to the strawberry-blonde-haired girl from before. Recalling the woman bulldozing through the nobles to get to him, his entire body got covered in goosebumps and his face contorted with disgust. "Urk," He softly uttered, feeling slightly nauseated and covering his mouth with his hand.

As he lowered his hand to fix his hair, he quietly sat cross-legged on a hidden branch and observed how the maids aimlessly roamed around with frustrated faces. Gently, he closed his eyes when a fresh summer breeze fluttered past him, causing the leaves surrounding him to rustle. It felt surprisingly cool and relaxing, making him unconsciously lean against the tree trunk with his arms folded over his chest. The rustling leaves and faint chirping bird sounds made his head start to lull him into a sleepy state, his head bobbing up and down as he struggled to stay conscious. 

However, just before he could fall into unconsciousness, a branch snapping beneath him alerted him, causing his eyes to open. Immediately, he positioned himself into a crouching position and looked down at the culprit of the noise. To his surprise, his gaze was met with an extremely smug-looking teenage boy. Neither of them said a word as they stared at each other for a few seconds.

"Looks like Sister Lorelei threw one of her crazy tantrums when she heard of your return," The teen broke the silence with a whispering voice and casually leaned against the tree trunk, avoiding appearing suspicious to passersby. "Right," The teen added with a mischievous grin, peering up at the hidden man, "Uncle?" Irked, the ravenette's brow twitched and his lips curled into a displeased frown. Although he was mentally grateful that the teen had no intention of exposing his location, he disliked his teasing antics.

The teen - who was fifteen years old - was around 5'6 ft. He looked lean yet muscular and his skin was a healthy peach colour, hinting that he spent most of his time practising swordsmanship outdoors. He had short wavy peach-blonde coloured hair and slightly hooded golden-coloured eyes. He was dressed in a white short-sleeved shirt that was tucked into his long yet thin brown trousers and leather boots adorned his feet. Even though this boy was only fifteen years old, he was already growing to look handsome - all thanks to the Emperor's strong genes. 

Indeed, this boy was part of the Aeonian royal family. He was the youngest prince in the Aeonian Empire - Saide Aeonian, the Amber of the Royal Family. Saide was different from his half-siblings, who desperately begged on their knees to gain recognition from their cold-hearted father. He had no interest in begging for his father's love. In reality, he despised the Emperor. Also, he had no intention of fighting his delirious half-siblings for a chair made out of gold.

"You're indeed correct about that, Your Highness," The ravenette sighed with a crooked smile, inaudibly chuckling to avoid getting caught by the nearby maids, "I'm afraid to report that the Fourth Princess's tantrum was worse than last time..." Hearing his words, Saide couldn't help but sneer with an annoyed smirk, digging his nails into his forearms, "Crazy bitch..." 

"I pray that you have no intention of exposing me, Your Highness?" The ravenette quickly asked with narrowed eyes, staring down at the frowning teen. "What's in it for me, Uncle?" The teen immediately retorted with a smug smirk, peering up at him. 'Now this brat wants to negotiate with me?' Erix mentally grumbled as he kept a composed expression on his face, ignoring the giggling teen below the tree. With furrowed brows and a look of defeat, he sighed and offered, "I'll teach you some Five Tier combat magic if you don't expose me, Your Highness?"

When Saide heard the words 'teach' and 'combat magic', he instantly sent the older man a thumbs up without making it obvious, showing that he was satisfied with the negotiation. Meanwhile, one of the maids noticed the prince's presence and called out to him, startling him and the hidden ravenette, "Huh? Your Highness, the Fifth Prince?" With a confused expression, she approached him, scolding him, "What are you doing out here? You have morning classes with Professor Zike today, Your Highness?"

Immediately, a look of pure panic appeared on the teen's face when she started approaching him. "She's coming...! She's coming...!" He repeatedly whisper-yelled to the ravenette in the tree while cold sweat dripped down his nape from how stressed he felt. With a simple snap of his thumb and middle finger, a thick puff of shadowy smoke surrounded the ravenette. A heavy magic atmosphere whiffed over the area for a split second before it vanished, causing everyone nearby to be confused. 

There was a tense silence between the approaching man and the panicked prince. However, the terrifying sounds of branches creaking and bending above the prince interrupted the silence. A chill ran down the prince's and maid's spine when they heard a low yet deep animalistic growl that came from the branches. The maid's face grew eerie pale and her body trembled when a large beast started climbing down from the tree behind the prince, revealing its presence to her and everyone else. 

The prince didn't move an inch as the beast's muzzle appeared from behind him, peering over his shoulder. The beast was at least 7 feet tall as it stood on all fours. It resembled a furred dragon but as well as a demonic beast. Its soft-looking fur was a dark yet rich shade of obsidian while its ribcage, throat, and stomach had sea-current markings that pulsated with a bright oceanic-blue colour. It had large antler curved horns that had golden markings and its panther-like paws had similar markings. 

Its extremely long furred tail flicked around behind it, resembling a demon's tail. A low snarl escaped its jaws, revealing its sharp canine teeth that could easily tear flesh like paper. Its bright turquoise irises were sharp and its pupils were as thin as a needle. Overall, the beast looked extremely dangerous and menacing, especially with the golden collar wrapped around its throat that hinted it was a pet. The petrified maid covered her mouth with her trembling hands when a shriek almost escaped her lips.

The beast's deer-like ears flattened when it heard her sharp gasp. Everyone in the area was trembling with terrified expressions, however, they didn't dare to run away for their lives. If they did, the beast would instantly hunt them down and devour them. "O-Oh," The prince's voice cracked a bit as he cautiously turned his head to look at the beast peering over him, "So... So this is where my Father's Aurorium dragon went, haha..." The said beast released a huff of hot air into his face, making him lean back in surprise.

A look of amusement swirled in the beast's eyes, clearly satisfied with his reaction. The Emperor of Aeonian's beast - who gained the pet name Damon - was a species known to hunt down anything that moved around them. A few years ago, Erix captured the beast during the hunting festival on the edge of the Aeonian Empire's northern borders and presented the beast to the Emperor as a gift. Damon was well-behaved around humans who had more powerful magic auras than him, showing that he knew when to stand down.

However, it didn't mean that it behaved itself around normal humans. So, it was securely locked up inside the Upper Northern Imperial Annex to keep civilians safe from harm. The petrified maid started silently crying from how frightened she was but she didn't move a muscle. Alas, a servant - who was new to the job - started running away, screaming. Everyone yelled at him to stand still but their words fell on deaf ears.

Suddenly, the beast charged towards the fleeing servant and pounced on him. "No! NO!" The servants screeched as he tried to the beast that opened its jaws. "Arrgghhhhh!" His agonizing scream bellowed throughout the garden when the beast sunk its teeth into his throat, tearing it apart. The trembling servants watched with shaky eyes as the beast ripped the barely alive servant into pieces. Saide's face grew stoic at the bloody scene, witnessing how the beast recklessly tossed the severed limbs, blood, organs, and torn pieces of flesh to the side.

The moment the servant was completely mauled to death, the beast got off the corpse and approached Saide with something dangling from its mouth. Only the thuds of the beast's paws against the grass were heard across the eerie silent garden. Once the beast was in front of Saide, it lowered its head and opened its blood-soaked mouth, handing him the object. The teen's eyes darkened when he saw that the object was a bottle of poison, hinting that the mauled servant was an assassin sent by someone.

"Take the corpse to the research department for further analysis of its true identity," Saide ordered with a menacingly cold frown, his eyes narrowed in fury, "Especially this bottle." He tossed the bottle to the nearby maid, who clumsily caught it with wide eyes. Without another word, he grabbed the beast by its collar and dragged him to the indoor corridors. Once they were alone in the empty corridors, the teen released him with a scowl, quietly cursing under his breath at what just happened. 

"Uncle-" The teen started, only to be interrupted when smoke surrounded the blood-covered beast before vanishing in seconds. As the smoke vanished, the ravenette was dusting himself off, wiping his blood-stained mouth with his sleeves. A heavy yet strong scent fluttered past the teen, making him tense up with a startled look in his eyes. "Before you ask me if it was necessary to resort to that method," The ravenette started without looking at the teen before walking down the hallways, "I had no other choice since you could've been in danger if that assassin was left alive, Your Highness."

A heavy silence fell over the teen, who clenched his hand into a fist before jogging to catch up to the older man. "How did you know that he was an assassin?" He asked the ravenette, sneakily glancing at him from the corner of his eye, "He looked like a completely normal servant to me..." He watched how the blood on the ravenette's clothes slowly disintegrated with thin trails of shadows leaking from his body. "His shadows," The ravenette bluntly answered while keeping his gaze focused in front of him, "He didn't have any shadows."

His words made Saide's skin crawl with horror. Beads of cold sweat dripped down his forehead while his heart thundered against his ribcage. 'If Uncle didn't kill him, then I...' Saide couldn't even finish his thoughts before he felt a large gloved hand on his head, surprising him. "You don't have to look that worried, Your Highness," The ravenette reassured him with a lopsided smile while his eyes softened, "It's been taken care of."

A warm feeling coursed through the teen's body when he heard those reassuring words and unconsciously smiled back at the ravenette. Soon, they arrived in front of two large dark oak doors. Silently, the ravenette took a key out of his pocket and unlocked the doors with a loud click. As he pushed one of the doors open, it creaked loudly, making Saide cringe at the noise. With a stoic face, the ravenette held the door open for the teen, showing that he could enter.

As the teen walked through the open door, he was immediately met with a spacious room that resembled a library and an office. Directly across the doors were looming windows, showing the large terrace outside that had the overview of the imperial garden below them. In front of the terrace doors was a long oak desk that was covered with piles of paperwork and documents. A large chandelier hung in the centre of the ceiling, providing light to the room. On either side of the room were dozens of bookshelves lined up; all of them had books in them. 

In the far left corner of the office was a door that led to a private bedroom and bathroom for the owner to rest when they had to work overnight. In the middle of the room was a lounging area where two couches faced each other with a coffee table between them. "You can relax here while I do some paperwork, Your Highness," The ravenette's calm voice mentioned from behind him before walking him towards the desk, "Feel free to pick some books to pass the time." 

Without hesitation, the teen lept towards one of the sofas and landed with an 'oof' escaping him. As he got comfortable on the sofa, he folded his hands behind his head and relaxed with a sigh. Lazily, he lifted his index finger before a faint golden circle appeared at his fingertip. On the other side of the room, several books from the shelves started glowing with the same golden colour before getting flung towards him. They floated around him as he started stacking them into a pile next to him. 

As the teen opened a velvet-covered book, the ravenette sat down behind the desk and took out a pair of round golden-framed glasses from his drawer. Casually, he placed them on and heard the faint chimes of the thin golden chains dangling from the frames. Now, he didn't look like a young Grand Duke, he rather looked like a professor from the Magic Academy. It wasn't long before the office was filled with a comfortable silence. The faint sounds of a page occasionally turning and a quill against paper were heard amongst the silence. 

The ravenette continued to read through the official documents that contained information regarding the lists of food, entertainment, and alcohol that needed to be prepared for the Imperial Summer Ball. He seemed satisfied that the documents were organised, meaning that one of the Imperial Aides took his place while he was away for the subjugation. However, his mood grew sour when he reached the guest list for the event, noticing guests' names belonging to the Holy Empire. 

Unconsciously, his eyes darkened and his fingers curled around the paper, crumbling it as veins popped out of his clenched jaw. Feeling the shift in the air, Saide glanced over his book at the older man with a raised brow before continuing his reading. With a small huff, he placed the crumbled guest list down and closed his eyes, attempting to regain his calm composure. Noticing his actions, Saide closed his book and sat up with an intense gaze.

"Uncle," His sudden voice caught the ravenette off-guard, causing him to flinch with wide eyes. When the ravenette turned to look at him, he was met with the teen's intense gaze. "When are you going to be my escort knight again?" Saide asked with a serious expression, narrowing his eyes at him with slight displeasure, "I was told that you would be my knight again when I turned fifteen." 

Speechless, the ravenette's lips parted before he closed them. "...I thought you disliked having such a scary knight as myself by your side, Your Highness?" The ravenette spoke with a chuckle, his eyes filled with an amused yet teasing gleam, "You used to cry whenever you saw me." Embarrassed at the mention of his childhood, the teen jumped up from the sofa and yelled at him with a beet-red face, "I-I told you to never bring that up again, Uncle!" Saide gritted his teeth when he got laughter in return from the ravenette.

"It's not my fault that you looked scary," The teen argued with him, huffing as he sat down on the sofa again with crossed arms, "Imagine you encounter a tall gloomy guy when you're ten years old." Another chuckle escaped the ravenette's smiling lips as he shook his head at the teen's reasoning and continued approving the documents. Unknownst to him, the teen stared at the ravenette with a soft gaze. With his chin propped on his palm, he watched how the sunlight peered through the terrace doors behind Erix, giving him a holy-like glow.