Chapter 220 - How to Enter the Forbidden Garden?

Frustrated, the Prince Regent kicked the floor,

"Damn it!" Lex imagined that the Prince could easily escape punishment, but ... what about the men in the castle guard? Has there ever been a situation like this before?

"If the Prince needs anything, I will go in his place!" said the same soldier as before. Balbo also offered, and even the girl Lex had never seen, kneeling at his feet.

But Lex had no idea what could happen to these people when he touched the pomegranate tree.

Lex read and reread the mosaic several times, to make sure what was written. It would have been better to have done this without witnesses, but there was no time to regret it.

"Is it written there, 'stepping'?"

"Yes, Your Highness!" said the girl, distressed. "Whenever my father leaves the garden, he sweeps it meticulously towards the exit. If there were footprints around it, it would be proof that the place was invaded. Normally the trespasser would be suffering from the effects of being exposed to the poisonous garden air, to which my father is already immune. Some plants are deadly and even their pollen is poisonous. But even if the suspect suffered mild effects, the green dust on his feet would be an indication of the crime...! Please, Your Highness, allow yourself to go in your place. My father would kill himself for knowing he was not here when His Highness needed him, anyway!"

"Shhh, stop, let me think!"

Alexander intervened,

'Alexa, don't! I didn't think it would have such an expensive price. I don't want to live if the price is the death of these people! What happened a little while ago at the lighthouse, because of me!'

'You really aren't giving up anytime soon, are you?'

'You have a weird smile plastered on your face, so I imagine you know what to do,' Alexander noticed, with a worried tone in his voice.

'I never know what to do. I have only a vague idea.'

'And what exactly do you want?'

'We don't have so many time left, so ... Let's go in through the top. Show me that place again, that place where I first saw the Forbidden Garden.'

'Lex! You are a genius!' Alexander exclaimed.

'Don't greet me yet! If I get too confident, I will screw up as usual,' Alexa said. And turning to the kneeling girl, the Prince held out his hand to help her up.

"Ana, do you know what the garden is like?"

"Well, I never went there, of course, but we have a map… The pharmacy assistants also operate the mobile awnings, all year round," said the girl, who was red in the face from touching the hand of the Prince with hers.

"Mobile awnings? What is it?"

"Some plants need more shade and water than others, and during the year, as the light changes, we operate awnings and watering cans a few floors above trees and shrubs..."

It sounded better than expected.

"Show me the map," ordered the Prince, and the girl nodded. His guards surrounded him before he took a step, however. And Balbo, who was their leader, asked,

"Your Highness, what do you intend to do? We will do it for you!"

The Prince shook his head, "Only I can do this. There is no point in offering to do this in my place. If you want to help me, just don't get in the way and help get people out of my way, and that will be good enough."

Balbo motioned for everyone to move away, and bowed his head,

"Just tell us what to do, Your Highness."

Lex's heart was racing because every moment that passed was one less moment to reach the pomegranate seed.

The Prince followed Ana to the rooms of the royal pharmacy, where aides stopped by their benches.

Everyone wore cloths around their faces, and thick leather gloves, to deal with the poisonous and medicinal assets that came from the garden and other parts of the kingdom. When they understood the Regent was there, they knelt down.

Ana approached with gloves and the same type of bandages that everyone wore there,

"Allow me, Your Highness. Anyone who is not used to these poisons will be seriously affected by a short time of exposure."

The Prince let the apothecary to help him with the bandage and gloves.

While I was sitting there for the girl to do this, it was long enough that the news had reached the councilors. And Agnello di Borghesi was arriving, limping but haughty, and with a deadly glare in his blue eyes.

"Your Highness, an incendiary rumor has reached my ears .. But I am sure that the Prince, who always thinks of others first and not of himself, is not thinking of exposing himself to death!"

"Ahem ..." Why did the Blue Eyes look always make Lex intimidated? "I'll explain..." But Lex knew that whatever he said in public, it could have an unpredictable effect.

"Please don't make your father who is severely ill suffer so much ..."

Lex didn't want to waste time on a long explanation, but he already supposed he couldn't get rid of Blue Eyes so easily. And in theory, being one of his tutors, he might be able to stop the Prince Regent from doing something.

"Don't doubt me, Father Agnello. I don't have time to explain. I need a pomegranate seed, the poisonous pomegranate that is in the Forbidden Garden. It's important. Crucial I would say. A life can be lost without this ingredient. So don't stop me. I have no plans to risk other lives because of a Prince or a Princess. But I need to go there, so I need to do it myself."

Lex realized that Ana was surprised that he knew about the pomegranate tree. After all, how could anyone besides apothecaries know about it? And Lex doubted the Royal Garden Keeper would even come close the cursed pomegranate.

But the girl kept her thoughts to herself, which Lex thanked in thought. Their inexplicable knowledge only complicated a situation that was already complicated by nature.

Blue Eyes surveyed the Prince's face for a moment, and his gaze softened,

"I see. You are desperate. But you are perfectly aware it's an immutable law of that place. Even a consort has already lost her life to a similar situation. The Sovereign King did not allow the entire guard of the castle to be lost by his wife's disobedience. Nor he defied the law written on stone, because it would shatter the belief in the laws, and in his authority and right to rule."

"Yes I know. But I will take the risk and pay with my life, if I step in the garden, as the law says!" Lex spoke grimly, remembering Alexander's account of this episode. "Now please, Father Agnello, don't expose yourself to these poisons, for these can harm you just by being aspirated. Guards, please escort my tutor out."

"Alexander!" Blue Eyes exclaimed, surprised and irritated, when the guards obeyed the prince. But he preferred to go out proudly, accompanied by the guard.

Now, only Balbo was on the Prince's side. Ana opened a sliding door that had various types of plants drawn on it, revealing a staircase.

"This way, Your Highness." Going upstairs behind the botanist, Lex saw a complex system of pulleys and levers which could be accessed from the inside, and probably controlled the awnings and sprinklers Ana had mentioned earlier.

When they reached the top floor, Lex saw a second room with water tanks, and a map of the garden. Trying not to take a deep breath, since even there, the toxic potential of the air was great, Lex studied the map for a moment.

The garden wasn't extensive, and they marked the types of plants with drawings, colors and words.

By the map, the pomegranate tree was almost in the center of the garden, isolated from other plants by concentric walls.

"What is it?" The prince asked Ana.

"Extra protection, Your Highness. There are three two-meters high stone walls. We never touched this tree. It's the reason the garden exists in the first place. It cannot be destroyed or removed from there, according to legend. And ... In spring it bears fruit to a single pomegranate, with black skin and red interior. This is what is written, of course, because not even my father saw it in person. I don't know of any remedy that uses these tree's ingredients specifically ..."she dared not question him, of course, and the Prince ordered,

"Extend all the awnings Ana, so I get as close as possible," If Lex had infinite time to his disposition, he could think of more efficient and safer ways of doing what he had in mind, but that wasn't the case now.

With the map memorized, Lex said to Balbo, "Let's go upstairs, I'll go down there to the tree. You can hold a lifeline for me."

Balbo nodded, and they ran over there. Lex felt Alexander as apprehensive as she did,

'Have you started to think I'm crazy yet?'

'No. You are the most courageous person I know. '

'If there is still no pomegranate ... It's the end.'

'Yes. Most likely.'

Lex took the rope and wrapped it around his waist, making a tight knot. Climbing on the par.a.p.et, the Prince realized that the sky was no longer bright. A dark cloud had obscured the view of the sun, and the wind had started to blow.

'Your friend is watching, Zand.'

'She's not my friend. But yes. She may not know what we are doing, but Letitia may not care if you are a body or a spirit, to do what she wants ... Watch out.'

Looking down, Lex saw the awnings made of canvas and slats start to open. When the first one was fully extended, she motioned for Balbo to keep the rope safe, and threw herself into the air.

A gust of wind hit the Prince's body in the middle of the jump.