Chapter 239 - 239

"I'm here."

Duke Mason casually said as he stood up, giving Lady Melissa a wink.

She hadn't expected him to do it in public, in front of everyone but judging by what he had done at Duchess Victoria's ball, it was obvious that this was going to come.

"Alright, now before we start, I'm sure all of you know each other, but I'll just introduce each other, just in case."

Lady Melissa confidently said, as the others nodded their heads in unison, not minding to be introduced once more.

"This is Duke Alphonso, he's one of the Crown Prince's aides, this is Duke Gaston, he's the main general for the royal palace's army, and lastly, this is Duke Mason he's one of the most influential men."

Lady Melissa blankly stated, she thought that Duke Mason didn't want his guild to be exposed to the both of them- at least not during their first meeting.

She was sure that Duke Alphonso had bits of information about it, and had his own thoughts of Duke Mason, and whether he was the one who led the guild or not, though he obviously wouldn't confront either Lady Melissa, Duke Mason, or anyone about it for that matter.

Lady Melissa could feel the tension in the room as nobody tried to speak up, she had expected things to be loud, but she hadn't expected it to be completely silent- with just her talking to them.

"Does anybody want to ask any questions before we start?"

Lady Melissa asked as all of them shook their heads.

"All right, then without further ado, we're here to discuss any updates on the Crown Prince and new information that could be used against him, in the future."

Lady Melissa said with a smile as they all looked at each other, it was obvious that they didn't trust each other.

"Look, I know all of you don't trust each other, but you need to trust each other for the rebellion, or else you might as well be dead."

Lady Melissa said as she stared at them, letting out a sigh.

"The history between all of you is complex and complicated, but can't you trust each other? At least this one time."

Lady Melissa said as they were all still sceptical, though eventually, Duke Mason nodded his head.

"I'm willing to ignore my history between the two of them if they do the same thing."

Duke Mason spoke up, as the other two nodded their heads, agreeing.

"Great, now, would anyone care to talk about any new updates on the Crown Prince?"

Lady Melissa asked, she wanted Duke Alphonso to reply to her question since there was no doubt that he knew most about everything.

"I'll go first, the Crown Prince has recently started to use a few of the army men, specifically the best and strongest ones for his own being, I'm not sure what it's for though."

Duke Gaston said as he maintained eye contact with Lady Melissa whilst doing so.

"Perhaps he was trying to rebel against his father? It's a fact that if the King dies the crown would go to him by default since he's the oldest child and the Crown Prince."

Lady Melissa said she was aware that everybody at the table had probably understood how complicated the Crown Prince's relationship with his father was, though thinking about it, it was quite ironic if the Crown Prince was preparing for a rebellion against his father since they were preparing a rebellion against him.

"That's a reasonable answer, but I don't think he'd rebel against his father directly, if I was him, I'd try to send someone to kill the King."

Duke Alphonso said, as he spoke up, he thought that it would be incredibly stupid of the Crown Prince to even think of directly rebelling against his father, especially with the amount of power and control his father had over him, though if there were a few other nobles who were helping him, it wouldn't be too far-fetched.

"I believe that both of the answers are reasonable, though what if the answer wasn't connected to the King at all? What if he's preparing for something bigger instead?"

Duke Mason suggested, as Lady Melissa and Duke Alphonso both agreed, it was always possible that the Crown Prince was preparing for something bigger, they just didn't know what it was.

"Before, my men would be more than happy to tell me things about the Crown Prince, and some of them had obviously resented him, but after he took those very same men of mine, they all returned....weird."

Duke Gaston said, wondering of a better way to explain it.

"They didn't act like they used to, perhaps I'm overthinking it, but I'm sure the Crown Prince said something to frighten them."

Duke Gaston said as Lady Melissa thought for a few seconds, it was always possible that the Crown Prince had done such a thing, and it sounded reasonable that he'd do something like that to prevent them from telling any information to Duke Gaston.

"Do you perhaps know anything else about the Crown Prince and what he's planning to do, Duke Alphonso?"

Lady Melissa asked as Duke Alphonso darted his eyes, she knew that he knew more than he led on.

"I'm not quite sure with this theory of mine, but I believe it has something to do with his new fiance, Camilia, I haven't found any sort of background information from her- other than the fact that she was a peasant, and her name, ever since Camilia had come, the Crown Prince had been acting much more different than usual."

Duke Alphonso said, as he finally expressed his thoughts out loud, Duke Mason and Duke Gaston sharing a look between each other, they agreed the Crown Prince had acted more differently than usual, even Lady Melissa agreed, though she didn't show it since that would surely be suspicious since she didn't see the Crown Prince that often compared to the three men.