Chapter 38

38 Henry’s Confession (part 3)

“I should tell you, I really hate that we need to do this.” Said Xavier to Justice and Vale.

Vale, who’s in the middle of reviewing documents, glanced at Xavier, “We have already agreed on this, hence why Henry is now taking her to lunch.”

“Oh, the lunch date, yeah I know, But that’s not what I’m complaining about.”

Justice throw his own document into the desk and glared at Xavier. “It’s not a date! Henry is going to ask her to have lunch, that’s all.”

Xavier shrugged, “Seems like a date to me, why do you even care so much Justice?” He then pointed at Vale, “Vale here already got a lunch date and also a partner for the freaking palace ball.”

The red hair crown prince just scoffed at him and mumbled something incoherent. Vale on the other hand smiled widely at Xavier making the golden eyes huntsman wanted to smack the head of the green eyes magi.

“Look, I know that you hate our way to check on Anne’s safety and not even telling her, but it is for the best, We don’t need to alert everyone about our involvement.”

He was pacing left and right, Xavier doesn’t go to give in to their reason, “By how? She is already on every radar of those bully nobles because of Justice’s action, and now Henry needs to be there as well to make her more visible to those bullies.”

Justice saw a glimpse of worried on Xavier’s face, a very peculiar expression for Xavier. He was a countryside peasant, who thought animals are better than people. Becoming a huntsman is his passion, knowing that he could be closer to animals all the time, all of that He learned about at the orphanage.

.....

“Look, I have my own reason to ask Henry, and as for now, you just need to shut your d*mn mouth!” Justice was infuriated, his eyes were glaring at Xavier.

Sensing the hostility between his two friends, Vale tried to speak to Justice about Xavier’s objection, “Justice, you need to cool down, Xavier was...”

“No need to, I’ll see you all at the encampment.”

As soon as Justice said those words, he was out of Vale’s room ignoring the two completely. Vale just take a sigh while Xavier scoffed at the door that Justice just went through seconds ago.

“Xavier, that was too strong my friend, no need to be so aggressive.” Said Vale to Xavier.

Xavier turned his head for a minute to Vale and shrugged, “Fine, I’ll say my sorry later.”

“What happened to you? Never see you like this before.”

“What? trying to pick a fight with that pompous *ss crown prince? I’ve done it more than once already.”

“No! I mean... caring so much for someone who is not originally in your circle,” Vale looks at Xavier, the way he never looks at him before, something is different about Anne in Xavier’s eyes, “We know that we have the same feeling for Anne, but I guess, I never thought that you’re...”

Xavier drops himself to the sofa, his mind goes wandering to a girl, a young girl with purple hair, her smile, and how she moves around, it was like he’s being... “I don’t know, I think I was mesmerized by her so much.”

This is more than that, though Vale is inside his own mind, he doesn’t want to make a dubious assumption, for now, he needs proof. To get the proof, Anne and all of them have to be in the same place at the same time, the palace ball is perfect for it. He already gathered the materials and will set everything in the hall before the palace ball.

“Come on, let’s get something to eat before we go to the camp, I wanted to see my troops before the field training begins.” He asked Xavier who was still lounging on the sofa.

Xavier complied with Vale’s request, they head outside to get something to eat. Afterward, they go straight to the field training camp, where Vale and Xavier have their own set of troops to evaluate. Xavier as the Huntsman captain will be evaluating his troops’ capability to detect and differentiate animals and monsters and their level of danger.

The field training has always been done twice a year, to polish their skills and also to enhance their power. In the Valorian kingdom, there are two problems that occurred on a random basis, the dark and mischievous road came and go into every mountainous area and valley, where one or two monsters will appear and slay every passerby. But as dangerous as the dark and mischievous road can be, there’s only one thing that is more dangerous and threatening than the dark and mischievous road.

The Hoard, where the danger came from every direction, the sky, the sea, the underground. Unlike the dark and mischievous road, the hoard comes in a fixed place, but at a random time. The monster in the hoard is more dangerous and cam in numbers, That’s why the Valorian kingdom has the strongest military power, they need to defend the citizens from the hoard.

“I guess Justice will come later, let us meet before dinner at his tent.” Said Vale to Xavier.

A frown came into Xavier’s face, “Are you sure? Cause I can see that our crown prince was busy being friends with the high management.”

Vale just grinned at Xavier, while patting his friend’s back. They are in the middle of instructing the officers, it was in the afternoon when Justice was inside of his tent having a meeting with the generals. Henry is on the way to the camp, his familiar, Sabrina, came a while back to inform them about his arrival.

When the night came rolling down, the three of them were already inside Justice’s tent, waiting for Henry to come. Xavier is in the middle of giving Sabrina some snacks. He always takes care of every animal, even his friends familiar. Both Justice and Xavier still not talking to each other, and Vale was trapped between the two of them.

“Should the two of you just said something?!” Gruntled Vale, he was so tired of seeing them in silence.

“Why don’t you ask that crown prince over there? or he was just too proud to even speak to this lowly friend of his now?”

Justice put his documents calmly, his hands clasped together while his eyes focused on Xavier. “What do you want from me? Do you want me to admit that I was wrong?”

Xavier jumped from his chair, “What? No, I want you to be more active in helping her.”

“I am trying to actively help her, why do you think I was sending Henry to go have lunch with her? I wanted to know what happened to her.” Said Justice with his right hand massaging his temple.

“Xavier, Justice send Henry because he needs to apologize personally to Anne, you know Heirim was the one who caused all of this, right? Well, Henry feels guilty and needs to voice his opinion about his sister’s selfish behavior.” Vale gave the answer to Xavier, getting tired of waiting for Justice to speak.

“Oh, I see, I thought you just doesn’t care so much about her, sorry Just.”

Justice let out a sigh, “Why do you think I didn’t care about Anne, I was the one who broke protocol for her.”

“Well, because...”

Suddenly the tent opened and Henry walked inside, Sabrina chirping happily and perched on her master’s shoulder.

“Welcome back, did you gallop to get here?” Asked Vale after he saw how drenched Henry was.

“Yes, we kind of forgot the time.” Said Henry with a grin on his face, he dropped his body to the sofa and asked for a drink.

“So, how is it?” Asked Xavier while he handed Henry a glass of drink.

Henry gratefully took it and empty the glass in a second, he wipe his mouth and look into Justice, “I saw her, and it is worse than we imagined.”

Justice, who looks at him in silence, suddenly took a deep breath and sighed, “So, it begins.”

“Yes, it is, someone burned her left hand, she told me it was an accident, But I know it wasn’t,” Henry tells his friends morosely, still concerned about the bandaged left hand, “After I drop her at the dormitory, I go and meet with her friend on the practice building, they told me everything.”

“So, what happened to her?” It was Xavier, he was curious to know about the whole story.

“Apparently, one of the noble kids drop a hot buttered moomilk into her hand, it happened on the loungeroom, good thing she knew what to do, Anne was doing all of the first aid herself.”

The three of them were aghast at Henry’s story, Justice’s eyes burning, his voice growing hoarse, “She doesn’t even have a healer came to her aid?”

Henry shook his head, “No, the matron wanted to take her to the medic bay, she refused to do so, and stated it is just a mild injury.”

Leaning on his chair, an image came into Justice’s mind. Anne smiled while riding Henry’s horse, the winning smile that she gave to him when she gave her statement that she doesn’t need help to ride a horse. “You wanted to solve this problem alone, I see...” Whispered Justice with a smile on his face.

“What? what are you saying, Justice?” Asked Vale to Justice.

“Nothing, I was just thinking, about how brave she was, handling those snobs like a trooper.”

All of them stay silent for a while, thinking about the young girl with purple hair and the smile that makes them smitten. Vale then opened the tent once again.

“There’s nothing we can do for now, but rest assured I have something that could help her in a long run.”

Xavier walks out from the tent, his hand patted on Vale’s shoulder, “I’ll take your bet on it.”

With the sound of people getting ready outside the tent, and the orb lamps floating around to give a clear view of the encampment, Four of them go outside the tent and get ready for the field training day.