Chapter 32 - Receiving the Secret Missive

Vaughn and Zenia ate their dinner and decided to walk outside for a while. The night sky looked peaceful and tranquil. The moon seemed to dim its light as a thin layer of clouds partially covered its face. It had an ethereal beauty that Zenia could not describe by mere words. She had a weak yet enchanting smile on her lips.

The man next to her could not help but admire the beauties in front of his eyes. He felt like staying in Solaria for a bit more before returning to the capital. But, there was a pressing matter that he needed to deal with first. He hoped that King Tarrendino would not succ.u.mb to the Left Minister's plan.

"What are you thinking?" Zenia noticed that Vaughn's mind had drifted to somewhere far away.

"I really need to return to the capital and warn everyone. We did not receive any report about some mysterious transactions and dealings. I'm afraid that the enemies started to move. We were so focused on the upcoming wedding that we failed to look at the other possibilities."

"Hmm." Zenia nodded in agreement. "It's best that you do it now while no one has detected our presence. But I doubt if that crazy woman already gave up her search."

"It is possible that the Ninth Prince is already suspecting your identity and link you with the missing horse."

"Is it really safe to hide Noir there?"

"I have instructed the hostler and he knows what to do. He is one of the loyal followers of the Crown Prince, so we don't need to worry about that."

"We may not be certain what they want to do with the horse, but judging from the effort they expend in finding it they must be planning to use it to frame the Crown Prince."

"I also think that. It's a good thing that you found the horse."

Zenia looked at Vaughn innocently.

"I really just wanted to buy a horse and it was purely by chance that I found it. I really like black horses, and Noir happened to be so beautiful that he caught my eyes."

"Why didn't you bring your horse along?"

"Oh, I don't want to attract attention. Didn't I tell you that Thunderbolt is super fast? That horse hates to slow down and could be so stubborn. Besides, I plan to disguise myself as a traveling businessman looking for a new business prospect." Zenia laughed but a trace of sadness could be seen in her eyes. She must've loved that horse so much and missed him.

Vaughn knew that the disguise that she planned to use had a bit of truth in it. She was really looking for a business venture. Why does she need to have more money? She didn't lack money. It truly brought confusion to Vaughn.

'Is my wife a money grubber? But no matter, I can definitely give it to her.' Vaughn grinned when he thought of it.

"Are you sure you can be fine all by yourself?"

Zenia nodded. "No worries, I already know what to do. Is the brown horse for me?"

"Yes. It's a good horse."

"Yeah, I can tell."

"It's getting late. Let's go back." Vaughn suggested as they turned around and retraced their path.

Zenia noticed a tree with lots of fruits. She recognized the tree because they had it in Ishelon as well.

"Oh look, you have this too!" She ran excitedly to the tree and plucked the fruit and rubbed it against her sleeve.

"We don't eat that here," Vaughn warned her.

"Why? This is a sweet fruit. It's nice, you try it." She broke the fruit in half and handed it to Vaughn.

Zenia immediately bit the fruit.

"It's not sweet. Why is it not sweet?"

"It's already too sweet for us, that's why we don't eat it."

"This is already sweet? And your horse is already fast? Boy, what kind of kingdom do you have?"

Vaughn frowned and kept quiet. 'This is going to be your kingdom too.'

"See that fruit?" Vaughn pointed at the tree next to the one where Zenia stood. "That's a favorite around here."

"Really? It doesn't look sweet and tasty at all." Zenia still grabbed the fruit from that tree.

She broke the fruit in half and tasted it.

"My lord, it's so bitter! How can you eat this kind of fruit?"

"People from Tissuria prefer bitter-tasting food than sweet ones."

Zenia thought it could be one of the reasons why their people always ended up fighting each other. They were so different from each other. Zenia began to worry about her life in the Crown Prince's palace. What kind of food would they serve her? But the dishes that she ate in the restaurants that she had been to were fine. In fact, they tasted really good.

She bit the not-so-sweet fruit again and was really not satisfied. An idea suddenly popped in her head. She bit the bitter fruit and then bit the other fruit. She smiled and kept doing it until she finished both.

"Why did you do that?" Vaughn was utterly confused.

"You can only appreciate that something is sweet when you tasted something bitter." Zenia simply explained.

The corners of Vaughn's lips curved up. 'My wife is truly sensible.'

When they reached the room, the dilemma hit them both. There was only one bed and there were two of them. They were very tired and needed to have a proper rest.

Zenia was not someone so petty. She took the initiative to share the bed.

"You take that side and I will take this side. I hope I won't disturb your sleep. I usually toss and turn." She warned him.

"I can manage."

"You better change into your sleepwear." She gave him a top and a pair of soft pants, and she had the same.

"What's this?"

"It's a nightwear. We wear those when we go to sleep. They are comfortable. What do you usually wear?"

"My usual clothes, I guess. I just take off the outer robes and I'm good."

Vaughn began taking off his clothes to change.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm changing…" Vaughn thought that it was really inconsiderate of him to begin taking off his clothes in front of her.

"Don't you need to wash up first? Don't you feel sticky all over? Go on, wash up first." Zenia pushed him to the bath area in the room.

He shook his head. 'I got worried for nothing.' His wife was really different from most women.

After he washed up, Zenia took her turn. Vaughn couldn't help gazing at Zenia who looked like a man in her nightwear. He could not see the bumps that most women were proud of.

Zenia knew what he was thinking and did not bother explaining. She planned to disguise as a man once more so she wrapped her chest with a band to conceal her bumps. She would be alone and it would not be safe for a young woman to travel alone. It was totally fine for a young man, but not a young woman. She would be using the fake mustache.

They both lied down and instantly fell asleep. Vaughn did not even have the time to feel excited about sharing the same bed with Zenia. He needed to wake up early to start his journey back to the capital.

Before daybreak, Vaughn was suddenly awakened by Zenia's kick near his face. When he got up, he saw Zenia occupying more than half of the bed with her foot near his face.

He put Zenia's foot gently on the side and tucked her in bed. He went to the desk and wrote a letter to Zenia. He did not want to wake her up.

He got dressed and walked to the door. The light creaking of the door woke Zenia up. She knew that Vaughn had left. She smiled and went back to sleep.

Vaughn rode his silver steed and reached the other end of Solaria in less than an hour. He went to the town of Briae and entered a shop. He covered his face with a different type of mask before he left the shop. He felt that someone had been following him when he got out of the shop.

"Speak, who are you?"

"My lord, forgive this subordinate for lack of decisiveness. I was trying to confirm whether it's really you, my prince."

"Now that you know that it's me, do you have anything?"

The shadow guard handed a secret missive to Vaughn. "Lord Redivo specifically instructed me to hand this over to you."

Vaughn took it and began to read.

[My Prince,

Although you specifically instructed us not to send you any message, you need to know that the Left Minister is planning to marry you off with his niece…]

Vaughn's eye twitched when he began reading the supposedly secret missive. He no longer finished reading its entirety because he already heard about it straight from the horse's mouth.

'I am receiving this message now? Isn't it too late?'

Vaughn had decided to let everyone on his side, including Redivo, to go through a Spartan training. As Zenia once said, "You can only appreciate that something is truly sweet when you tasted something so bitter."

Vaughn smirked as he started planning for the kind of training to give.

"Let's go!"