108 THE UNEXPLAINABLE POWER

"A-are you okay, young Master?" Olivia tried to suppress her laughter after seeing what happened after her Mistress blurted out that she was with someone whom he didn't know. It was funny seeing him spill his tea on his white pants. He looks like he peed. 

"I am not! What makes you think that I am? Goddess! So you've been with that man all evening?! I can't believe you!" He gasped, glaring at Felicia who was biting her bottom lip and didn't want to laugh. 

"But anyway, I'm not happy with it but you need to continue. He saved your life but if I see that person, I will kill him." He growled, mumbling in a low tone while Olivia just burst out giggling. 

"Alright... So he saved me by letting his aura cool my heart. He said that it felt like some sort of a beast. He was able to smell the foul smell of her magic. It smells similar to the beasts back in his country. This baffled me because how was Helena able to manifest such power if she was a Saintess by the Pope's prediction?" She asked, frowning upon realizing it. 

"So what colour is it?"

"Dark green to black?"

"Hm..." Noctua fell silent after she told him the colour of what she saw when Helena showed off that power. "Oh and, my heart was being suppressed. It felt like I was getting crushed with its aura that's why Alistair has to do what he did." Felicia responded. 

"There's no doubt..." Noctua mentioned. "Helena has the ability to wield akin to what Demons possessed," Noctua told them, making everyone gasp at what he claimed. 

"Lower your voice. We don't know if someone is here to listen to us. You know how damn sensitive these walls are. There are always prying monsters outside." Olivia shushed him after he revealed such an ominous thing. 

"It's forbidden to even mention that word. If someone caught you, you would've been a fried chicken." Olivia warned, making Noctua roll his eyes. "Relax, no one is here." He responded as he turned his eyes towards the direction of the balcony where he spotted no one. The door is locked too. 

"See? No one. But anyway. Demons possessed dark magic. A forbidden magic that was manifested by a Demon Lord which was defeated by the Saintess. Whoever, the Demon Lord disappeared and everyone assumed he died already. What if Helena was a demon, the lord of all misfits and chaos?" He then said, earning a hit on his head by Felicia. 

"No. That wouldn't be possible. But someone of higher rank is." Felicia mumbled after she gave him a smack on his head. It was gentle and he didn't suffer much but that was rude. 

Yet it is a possibility. 

"So you're telling me... Helena is able to access a powerful demonic magic that makes everyone bow to her presence, making her control the poor guy. What the hell is that? It seems like some sort of a charm." Alexander commented, in disbelief after learning everything. 

"That's it. It's a charm." Felicia responded, facing Alexander. "What if someone gave her the ability to control someone through a charm? And that charm seems to be a dark magic that was able to manipulate everyone. What if all this time, she manipulated everyone into making them like her by the charm she used?" Felicia then answered, making them look at her with surprise on their face. 

"But how was she not able to make everyone close to you possessed?" Alexander asked. "No, she did actually," Felicia responded as she looked at the two of them, Olivia and Alexander. 

"Using her charm, she was able to control the situation in her favour. She must have recently obtained it but I interfered since the effect was quite not effective. She must have used it a lot when she controlled the crown Prince for the charm not to work when we were having tea." Felicia answered Alexander. 

"And I have the feeling that I know who's the one who gave her that ability. But I'm not sure so I will just not tell everyone. Not until I am certain that it is that person who entrusted such a strong charm towards Helena." She added, having an idea of who the person might be. 

"We can't just point ourselves with people. Who knows they may be innocent so I'll tell you everyone when my guts tell me that it's that person. But anyway, the charm works whenever we're in her radius. Those people who hate her or have strong will have grown repellent, while those who choose to submit get to be charmed. A manipulation." She even pointed out, a key concept of what the charm might do. 

"You guessed it right." Noctua chirped. "Do you want me to investigate—"

"No. There is someone with her on her side right now. That man is dangerous therefore I wouldn't advise you to spy on her. That knight is quite strange after all." Felicia stopped Noctua from investigating Helena. 

"Then... Does that mean the Duke is being charmed right now? And it's not the crown Prince who is being hit with such powerful magic but the Duke?" Alexander suddenly asked as he fell silent earlier. 

It made everyone silent, overthinking the possibility that the Duke might be under the impression of her dark charm. Because what else would be there to explain how irregular his behaviour was?

"When did the Duke start to change his behaviour on me again?" Felicia asked, thinking about it. Helena might be able to control the Duke but guessing with the amount of charm she possesses, it seems that it's not her who did it. 

"Since we last went to the Holy Church? If I'm not mistaken." Alexander responded, his brows furrowed as to why Felicia asked something completely unrelated to what they were talking about. 

But no... Something wasn't right in her mind. It's really not Helena. But rather, someone whom she has been thinking of. Someone whose position is higher and that no one can control that person. 

"It seems that I'm connecting something here. But I'm not sure about it. But if it's the truth then I will have no choice but to... Do something." She responded, making Alexander frown once more. 

"Hm... All this overthinking makes my head spin. We'll wait whenever you have the idea who did this." Alexander mentioned as he then took a bite of the refreshments, looking at Felicia who was silent. 

"What else? You know. I'm sure that's not the only reason why you wanted to talk to me. You even said that Constantine is not the reason as to why you wanted to talk to me but he sure did become the talk of the town." Alexander asked, making Felicia stir in thinking deeply. 

"Huh? Oh yeah... Yes... I have someone else to talk about." She added as she sighed and leaned her body on the couch, feeling overwhelmed and tired over just thinking about a lot of possible outcomes related to this case. 

"Why is the second Prince being shunned by society?" She asked which made Olivia and Alexander's eyes bulge out, shocked from hearing her asking about the origin of the Second Prince. 

"Do not associate yourself with that man, Felicia. He's a brutal and blood-hungry man. It's no good if you were to be with him alone. Leave him alone and never be his Target." Alexander warned her off, his expression screams he's serious about it. Even his tone changed when she opened such an inquiry about the second prince. 

"Mistress... Leave the second Prince be. H-he just wanted to be alone, okay? It would be useless if we were to talk about him. He's nothing more than a bastard son of the Emperor. Nothing else." Even Olivia said to her, making her eyebrows meet each end, bewildered by how they just dismissed her question. 

"Tell me what's with him. I need to know it. Because if you're going to keep it, how will I be able to protect myself if everyone just keeps it to themselves right?" She asked them once again, eager to know about the second Prince. 

She needs to know, whether he'll be a good ally or not. Everyone talks about him with rude words, even though he is but that's just quite rude and unethical. He's a prince, he still has the authority to use them. 

Alexander sighed, leaning on his chair as he stared at Felicia, wondering whether to tell her or not. But since she wanted to know what's with the second Prince then he has no other choice but to tell her about him. 

"The second Prince is a bastard child from the Emperor and well... A Baroness. The Empress was mad about the betrayal and so she sent an assassin to kill them both. What they didn't expect was that only His Highness managed to survive. He's... Resentful of the Imperial family, more towards the Empress... But since the Empress has her growing reputation and influence, the Second Prince remains shunned by society, because of the Empress." Alexander stated, giving her a clear explanation with the second Prince. 

"It was said that the second Prince looks so much like His Majesty that when he appeared in front of him, the Emperor went pale, granted the second Prince his position and sent him to the battlefield when he was young. Therefore do not associate yourself with that man, Felicia. He is... Dangerous." Alexander added after telling the truth. 

"Rumors even said that even though there are nobles supporting the second prince to become the crown Prince, some of them were forced by him as he's currently being driven by revenge. He also is the most ice-cold person ever. His castle is built upon the drops of blood of those who have hurt—"

"That's false." Alexander interrupted Olivia who then glared at him for interrupting her, which made Alexander chuckle and stick out his tongue on Olivia.

"I see... So he faced a lot of trouble when he was a child... I understand his resentment and his idea of wanting to get revenge. Yet I can see that he has the potential to become an Emperor rather than with Constantine." She said, making everyone once again fall into disbelief. 

"No. He's ruthless. He doesn't deserve the crown. As much as I hate Constantine, at least he'd quite... Sane? But no. Not the second Prince." Alexander refused, exclaiming despite hating Constantine. 

This made Felicia laugh at him for siding with Constantine. And here she thought that he was hating him for real.