"The empire she came from isn't part of this star sector, and I don't mean the small sectors, but the grand sector," he started his talk with this simple, yet important info. Unfortunately for him, they also suspected this as well.
"We also suspected that," James sighed, as he started to be sick of this man's attitude.
"So you also know what a grand sector is?" Charles chuckled, as he was sure if they knew this info, then it would be easy for them to know everything about her.
And he was right in his guess, as the eyes of everyone were fixed on him, so he waited, and said nothing.
"And?!" James urged him.
"You didn't tell me if you know or don't know this."
James sighed, it was tedious, dealing with this man. "We don't, can you tell us everything you know," when Charles kept looking at him, he added, "please?"
They had already arrived at the prison gate, where there was a small garrison made of Dora' people. They didn't stop there, as Dora led them into the depth of this prison, where they were keeping Islinda and Alex.
"The grand sector is number forty three," Charles said, as he noticed the silent eyes between James and Rigo, "this sector is located near the centre of this universe, where the old sector is. The empire she came from is the one who controls all the grand sector under its reign for a long time already."
His words were shocking, so he elaborated, "Things at old grand sectors aren't just like our young ones here, as the rule there for a single empire to rule the whole grand sect, and it's not weird or rare to find an empire controlling even two grand sects."
"That's…" Dora muttered with disbelief, "that's really amazing!"
"I know, right? These empires already had the power and influence to crush any of our young sectors, but they never bothered with us," he said.
"Why is that?" James suddenly asked.
"Why what?" Charles asked back.
"Why are they not interested in us?" James explained.
"why do I feel you aren't that happy about this fact?" Dora was the one to answer him, not Charles.
"It's not about happiness, it's just weird. they aren't interested in us and suddenly one of their princesses came to us like this, isn't it weird?" James spoke in a slow tone as he was also thinking to himself.
"You won't find it weird if you know her identity, she is the current queen of this empire, or supposedly that, until she grows older to reach the appropriate age."
Charles words were really valuable, and as they were now so close to Islinda's cell, Dora stopped them as she asked:
"Do you mean she was sent to a trial or a test of some sort?"
"Or it might be a training session," Rigo added.
"No, it's neither of those. she was betrayed by her uncle, as after her father died she had all the right to hold the throne, and according to my knowledge she rose the throne, and selected her uncle as her guardian."
Charles didn't continue, as he winked with his eye, indicating what happened later.
"And that dirty uncle claimed the throne to himself, and sent her here to exile, right?" Dora's tone changed, as a recent bitter memory rose to her throat like lava.
"You are right, and she won't be able to get her throne back unless she managed to cross all the grand sectors separating us from her empire," he said before he softly murmured, "which is practically impossible, this little girl will live her entire life cursed by this misdoing of her uncle."
His words, though they came sincere, were highly doubted by James and Rigo. Only Dora, only her, was affected by his saying, like a spellbinding her, she started to shift all her thoughts and focused on one single idea, she had to help this poor girl!
"So, if I ask you how to know all that, you won't answer, right?" James asked what he wanted to know.
"You won't be upset if I decided to keep this to myself," Charles replied, with a smug smile over his face, which made James so irritated, but couldn't say or do anything more.
Not today for sure, but one day in the future he would be able to repay all this frustration to Charles, he promised himself that.
"We are here," Dora said as she picked up the speed again, driven by the new idea that started to invade her entire soul, turning bit by bit into an idea that might transform her life, making her one of her life goals, own beliefs, or even more.
The cell wasn't that narrow, closed by a regular door from the outside, but everyone here knew this wasn't just a simple door. The whole cell was designed for it to eject all its content, even humans, into the space once there was anyone trying to open it by force.
This was somehow a good and risky security measure, indeed effective. The four looked towards the cell as James finally asked:
"Why do those terases race want Islinda this badly?"
"You are mistaken," Charles shook his head in a way that made everyone look at him, "they aren't here for her."
"For Alex? Is he someone important?!" James asked with surprise.
"No," Charles shook his head again, "it's not Alex."
"Would you die if you don't say everything at once?" Dora burst on his face, as she was greatly agitated by his manner of speech.
"If the knowledge is worth a lot, then I should present it more diligently, right?"
He didn't get anyone's approval, and he didn't care about it.
"So, who is our big shot, the reason all this ship's big shots are here?" James sarcastically asked.
"It's a prisoner, Dora's mother brought here before the whole war erupted," Charels replied, and then paused, as his usual, waiting for anyone to ask him about the identity of that man.
"Are there any more prisoners here?" James ignored him as he turned to ask Dora.
"As far I know, hmm, no," she said as she turned and was about to leave the place.
"Why are you going?"
"To know everything about this prisoner," she replied without even stopping.
"C'mon, this prisoner wasn't included in the main ship registry," Charles said, "you are wasting your time," he added, as if he wasn't interested in that.
As for James, once he heard these words he glanced silently at Rigo, who had already searched the prison a couple of times, and thus he nodded his head. Whoever was kept captive here, he wasn't on the main system, which was weird.
"Why would my mother do that?" Dora asked.
"Why would your mother do that to you?" Charles was blunt, and his words literally crumbled all the hard work she did so far to handle herself.
"Are you such a senseless bastard?" James rudely said as he hurried to support the shaky Dora, as she didn't control what just happened after Charles' words.
"She is just fragile," he lamented with his rudeness, without caring for her. James just glances silently at him, as he was wondering with more doubt if Charles was really her brother or not, as if he was hers, then he was a psycho.
"Just give her a break," Rigo interfered, as he, despite being a humanoid with no deep ties with Dora, felt offended by Charles' behavior.
"That's her issue, not mine," he continued to be rude, "anyway, the man locked up here is very dangerous. Letting him out will lead to a more calamity that she just experienced," he finally admitted her suffering, in a way that seemed careless, without any consideration.
James just glanced at him before he hugged, warmly hugged Dora. At this precise moment, Eli came, walking from far, passing through the guarding posts of the prison, to meet this scene in front of her.
Watching James holding another woman in his embrace made her heart hurt, shuddered from shock and pain, while her mind kept raging about her failures, her mistakes, her wrong choices guided by emotions and false intel, and that all led to this moment.
For James to be away from her, hugging someone other than her, that really cut her heart open, bursting like an egg crashing on the wall.
Her presence was noticed by everyone late, but James didn't flinch, or move away from Dora. He simply held nothing more for Eli, and he already had done her great help when he saved her life, on expense on much more innocent lives. He didn't think he owed anything to her, if there was anyone here who would feel owed, then this should be her.
"Welcome back, are you here to join the show?" Charles said, in a much more irritating way, with his rude behavior.
She glanced at him for a moment before dropping him from her sight. He was the one who misled her, she knew that now, and he had done this, cold blooded, for his own sake.