"She wants you as her back-up plan."

Bern, the former instructor and the contracted spirit of Evelyn who uses space and lightning said.

​​

Sir George looked at the Crown Prince with his eyes open wide. He can't believe that someone has the guts to plan the next King of the Perspiru Kingdom as the back-up for her marriage.

The pink hair man, Bern chuckled at how slow the two are. He raffles his own hair, he was feeling stiff disguising as Silvester's knight.

"Who would have thought that she would see you as a backup groom?! Ha-haha!"

"It's not something to laugh about, Sir Bern!"

"That's right, that's why…"

Bern looked at Evelyn and she nodded.

A magic circle popped up beside him and he reached for it. A ring with a mana stone embedded with a spell was etched inside.

Silvester was shocked as well as Sir Geoge.

The Crown Prince never expected that the man who drilled them in swordsmanship had a unique affinity.

'Come to think of it… I never saw him use his powers. He only used his sword.'

Silvester accepted the ring that Bern passed to him. Bern yawned in front of him which made Sir George raise his brows because of the lack of etiquette of the man.

"What's this?"

Silvester observes the ring. And looked at the black ring in Evelyn's hand.

"Are they the same?"

Evelyn followed Silvester's line of sight and fell to her slender hands. The black ring was there resting on her ring finger.

"This is different…" Evelyn replied. At that moment, Bern explained the purpose of the ring that he gave for the both of them.

"Well, Eve said that you would need this… it's a protection for charm magic. Wear it at all times…"

Silvester became more perplexed at the relationship of the two.

'The lazy Bern was following Evelyn's order? How come? Actually, not just him, but the people I saw at the academy… Chrisfold, Alisha and Cathy? All of them are from the Academy and have a bright future after they graduated, how come they're sticking to Evelyn like a sore thumb?!'

The more Silvester thought about it, the more he got confused.

'First of all, Evelyn left the academy after the hunting season… that's just two seasons passed when Evelyn was in the academy… how did they become close?'

"I'm sleepy, Eve… wake me when we got there."

Bern leaned his head on the soft headboard of the carriage.

"Alright." Evelyn let Bern be.

She knew that Bern stayed up all night because he was waiting for her and the others while they were infiltrating the Temple and sticking the enchanted talisman from Cassandra.

The interaction of the two seems to have made Silvester question about what happened four years ago.

'Are they the people who helped, Eve?' he thought.

Evelyn felt the observing eyes of Silvester. And she kind of had a gist of what he was thinking. She knew that she didn't explain things to him… or at anyone rather.

'It's still better to let them think that the others are human and not spirits… they would act natural towards them.' Evelyn thought.

That was all she wanted for her contracted spirits who live for how many centuries alone. That is also the reason why she contracted them in the first place.

However, the thought that she left them behind for almost a decade because of her memory being locked away and them not having the chance to contact her because of the lack of mana in her body is what Evelyn was feeling guilty for.

Evelyn sighed in defeat. She will talk about these things when everything passes and the humid breeze that was brewing from the storm comes passed by them.

***

The carriage stopped at the Royal Palace and Silvester walked out from it. The rest of the people inside which are Evelyn, Bern and Sir George were already standing straight as a knight of Silvester's entourage.

The itinerary of Silvester's visit to the Levingstone Kingdom was for him to have the last day in the Royal Palace to have dinner with the royalties and as well as courtesy for him.

And of course, Silvester knew that this was only an excuse for him to have a contact with Crown Prince Edickart without making unnecessary movements for the members of Temple of Light to make suspicions from them.

Evelyn and Silvester exchanged glances. They have decided to move separately.

Silvester attended the dinner and for the first time he saw Prince Adley, the second in line for the throne beside Crown Prince Edickart.

Prince Adley with his shining blue hair that was comparable to the clear blue sky and his emerald eyes that was the sign of being a royalty, walked to him and greeted Silvester.

He was wearing a black suit that accentuated his blue hair and emerald eyes. A good looking man that evidently receives the good genes of his Royal Majesty.

"It's been a while, Crown Prince Silvester…"

Prince Adley extended his arm for a shake hand. Silvester glanced down and to Prince Adley's smiling face, he took her hands and shook it.

Silvester gave his businesslike smile and greeted him.

"It really has been a while, Prince Adley…"

Silvester can see that Prince Adley changed his demeanor… from the look of a gentle charming prince when they were in the St. Prisch Academy to a cunning and scheming man full of greed… just like what Silvester saw in his little brother's eyes.

"We should catch up sometimes… you were always having a talk with big brother that I sometimes think that you're doing something behind everyone's back…" Prince Adley jokingly said.

Silvester smiles but his mind was calling Prince Adley a bastard.

"What are you talking about, brother…? I don't have the hobby of scheming something behind everyone's back." Edicakart smiled at his brother.

Prince Adley smiled as his brother, crown Prince Edickart while his eyes were totally telling how absurd the words he was spouting.

The King and Queen are only chatting away and are obviously not listening to the conversation that the three were having.

Silvester knew that this dinner wouldn't let him eat in peace, so he was ready to armor himself with his business-like smile. An act that keeps him sane.

"The Crown Prince and I are just catching up and discussing things about how I'm learning so much from the Levingstone Kingdom…"

Prince Adley looked beside him and saw Edickart smiling at Silvester like they were best of friends.

"Is that so…? I hope I got invited some time with your little tea time. I tend to be lonely when people exclude me from these things… I get weird ideas…."

Prince Adley looked at Silvester with sharp eyes for a second before he smiled. Silvester smiled back like he didn't see anything.

In that moment, Silvester's eyes kind of landed behind Prince Adley. He saw Prince Adley's aide that was looking at him with his eyes that seemed to contain a void so deep that you can't see his emotion.

Silvester found it odd, he saw people with red hair like Gab but Prince Adley's right hand man's hair color was near dark red, something that would let you compare it to the pits of hell.

It sends him shivering when their eyes locked with each other. Silvester unconsciously turned his sight to Prince Adley who was smiling and he concluded that the two are partners in crime just like what Evelyn said.

'They are lunatics…'

Silvester wanted this dinner to end and let him rest in peace. However he knew that was just wishful thinking, his cousin, Evelyn, already asked him to let the Crown Prince know what they have done in the Temple of Light and the black liquid that they saw.

She needed the Crown Prince to exchange the statues with ordinary ones before the effects of Cassandra's spell came to fruition and the Temple learned of it.

Silvester remembered what Evelyn said.

"Tell the Crown Prince that the Temple of Light is artificially making black mana. It would be better for him to know about it…this problem are becoming too big for me to handle and that Pope Nelson and Elise are planning something, I don't know who is behind them but my guts tell me that Prince Adley and his aide Ishid have something to do with it… they're too quiet that it's suspicious."

Silvester agreed to what Evelyn said now that he saw Prince Adley and his aide Ishid.

'It is really suspicious that they were here, silently living in peace and keeping quiet when they were crushed by Edickart…' Silvester thought.

And he looked at Crown Prince Edickart and recalled what Evelyn told him to say again.

"Give him a video communication device and tell him that I'll contact him after I settle everything in the Duchy. Allan wouldn't carry all of the baggage now that Father needed time to recuperate and the nobles would surely pursue this matter and Allan would be cornered on all sides…"

Silvester let out a sigh that time. His cousin, Evelyn, decided to leave everything behind four years ago and yet here she is worried about her brother, her father, the duchy, and the people who abandoned her. She doesn't want them to fall and become one of the victims of the Temple of Light's scheme.

'She's too good for this Kingdom…' Silvester thought.