20 days after the explosion – Duke’s Villa – Susan’s Room

Susan was wearing the slave collar ring, so she could make sure that Aria didn’t use her mana, solving the prince issue of having to search around the villa for the ring

So, after taking the ring from Susan’s fingers, the prince chose to force Susan to take him to Aria’s room. The reason was really simple, the prince was planning to take off Aria’s slave collar and put on Susan. This way, he would be able to use both her ice and heal magic(really useful in any kind of situation)while securing her “loyalty”. Besides, the prince asked Rebbeca to add a lie detector function to the ring when she send Aria with the letter, a function he planned to fully take advantage off when he kept interrogating her

The only tiny little problem with the idea was the mad dog. By taking off her collar, he would lose his only way of properly controlling her, and there was a good chance that she would beat the crap out of him or at least demand a rematch

And worse, she may even make a scene and make everyone in the castle realize they were trying to escape

but like it or not, the prince had to take the chance, and if she went into a rampage, at least he would fulfill his end of the deal by been half dead when he calls for Rebbeca

20 days after the explosion – Duke’s Villa – Aria’s room

Getting to the room wasn’t too hard. Susan told the prince which room had Aria, and since the prince already took care off the guard on duty, he only had to drag aria to the room while keeping the knife to her neck and the other hand on her mouth just in case

When he instruct her to open the door to the room, he prepared himself for a trap(basically use her as a shield and maybe slit her throat if necessary) but it was pointless, Aria really was there all tied up with her mouth gagged

Well, the prince was relieved when he saw her until he catches a glimpse of her eyes…..

Let’s just say that if eyes could murder, he would be even a good wouldn’t get away unharmed from that look

And obviously, this made his plan REALLY hard to accomplish, specially since as soon as he takes the gag, she would throw more cursed at him that a sailor, bringing every person in the villa to see what the heck is going on

Having a mage with a knife in her throat also didn't help to the situation, since a moment of distraction could be fatal

HIs best option right now was turn the light on and show Aria this wasn't a joke or something like that, since she probably couldn't see him holding a knife to Susan's neck in the darkness(or at least he hoped that was the reason she was still glaring at him)

"Susan, turn on the light and remember, no sudden movements"(Prince)instructed Susan while still holding the knife and covering her mouth just in case

While going to the night stand where the light was, he closed the door with his foot just in case. Besides, a villa of this caliber probably had noise reduction walls so they could have "fun" without disturbing the rest.But even if it probably had those, it was better to be safe than sorry and try to be as quiet as possible

Susan did manage to turn on the magic lamp without causing a disturbance, and as soon as Aria saw the situation, there was a reaction on her face, proving that at least the situation wasn't hopeless

"look, whatever you are thinking the reason you are tied up, you are probably wrong, we have been kidnaped by the duke"(prince) tried to reason with Aria

Sadly, Aria gave the prince a diff believing look instead of a shocked one, probing she needed more convincing

"Fine, command: don't shout and use your mana to get free from your ropes"(prince)

Of course, as soon as the prince said that, Aria easily got out of those ropes and got out off the bed

"Fine prince, explain the situation, and can you take the knife from Susan's throat?"(Aria) said while barely holding her fury

"Nope, the duke betrayed the country and his dear daughter over here helped in all that. I managed to escape unnoticed and I am trying to get out of here with her "cooperation",and as you can see, the knife is the persuasion tool I need for it "(prince) explained it like he just went for a walk in the park

"Do you really expect me to believe that!!????"(Aria) almost shouted after hearing what he said

"First, lower your voice, if someone downstairs hears you we are dead. And second.... yep, since it's the truth"(prince)

"What you are saying doesn't make any sense, why would someone like the duke betray the country!? According to my father, without the duke's help, your father would never have rebuilt the kingdom or even succeeded to the throne. Why would he betray the country now?"(Aria) said a common knowledge fact

"How the f-ck would I know? that doesn't change the situation we are in. Besides, I have a way to get that information"(prince) after saying that, he took off the ring from his finger(with his mouth) and handed it over to Aria

"put it on and take off the collar"(prince)

Aria was really confused since it was almost unbelievable, the prince actually doing something nice???even the duke betraying the country sounded more plausible

That didn't mean that Aria put the ring and took off the collar faster than the speed of light as soon as she realised it wasn't a prank or something like that

"why did you do that?"(aria)

"Give me the ring and collar back if you wanna know"(prince)extended the hand he used to cover Susan's mouth

"Fine, here"(Aria)handed over the stuff

The prince grabbed the stuff with his left hand while still keeping the knife with his right hand, and with some difficulties, the prince managed to put on the ring with just one hand

Now, what he did next made both Susan and Aria a little pale. with his free hand, he put The collar around Susan's neck(and some help from his mouth) and after securing it, he finally could stop pointing the knife at her

"congrats to both of you, one is no longer a slave, and the other keeps on living for a while longer"(prince)said with a pleased smile

"why did you do that?"(Aria)stutter

"........"(Susan) didn't say anything but was also a little confused with this development

"I need the firepower to get out, besides I can trust what she says now since it has a lie detector function"(prince) said in a tone like it was obvious

Well, originally the collar could only prevent the "slave" to not harm the user and follow some commands, since the general wouldn't allow any more than that or the prince would pay. Problem was he needed people he could "trust", so he asked Rebbeca to upgrade it a little to be safe

"now, would you mind answering some questions?"(prince) send a charming smile to Susan with a deadly glare

Note: sorry it's short, but since it's a good moment to stop, I will release the next one tomorrow or the day after