Chapter 169 - Taking Care of Unfinished Business (Part 2)

"I guarantee that you will be able to marry Vaughn in due time. Right now, it's still too early for you to know the whole truth. I am doing this for your sake."

Odette believed the words of the Left Minister once more, and her restless heart and mind calmed down. She smiled at the Left Minister.

"The masked man told me that everything was going smoothly. The soldiers in your private army improved a lot ever since he started training them. He was just not sure if they could measure up to Commander Zander's men. He said that he received a report that the Ishelon soldiers never stopped training."

"Hmm, is the source of the report reliable?"

"It should be."

"If the Ishelon soldiers are training constantly, tell the masked man that he should double the training that he gives my private army. Is there anything else?"

"Ah, he also told me that he was glad that he made the deal with you. But, he will also continue meeting the Ninth Prince. He won't tell anything to Damien and will just wait for you to be the one to tell him. Grandfather, will brother hate me if he learns that I'm the one dealing with the masked man on your behalf?"

"He probably will."

Odette sneered. It didn't matter to her if Damien would hate her for the rest of their lives. What she wanted ever since she was young was the position of the Crown Princess, which could only be possible when she married to Vaughn. Being a Queen of Tissuria wouldn't be bad either when Vaughn ascended the throne.

* * * * *

Zenia finally returned to the Palace of the Crown Prince at around two o'clock in the morning. Everyone was still fast asleep, except for the night guards. She entered the balcony and saw Vaughn lying on bed and sleeping soundly. He was not wearing a mask. Ever since they tightened the security around the palace and got closer, Vaughn had been sleeping without his mask.

'Well, we still need to tighten the palace's security a bit more since I entered without alerting anyone.'

Zenia went to the bathroom to wash the sweat off her body. She changed into her pajamas and kneeled by the bed. The moon was not brightly lit and the room was already dark, but Zenia could see Vaughn's sleeping face. He looked so peaceful and calm. But, she knew that there were a lot of things that had been occupying his mind lately.

She couldn't understand why the King seemed to protect the Left Minister when his kingdom was facing a crisis. Everyone should be a suspect, but the King did not seem to doubt the Left Minister and the Ninth Prince. The Left Minister was so confident that the King would not touch him.

The King would rather put his faith in the unrelated person than support his son. If Vaughn was getting the support of his father the King, it would be easy for him to end the problem. But, that was not the case.

Based on her observation in the last few months, the King seemed to be waiting for Vaughn to commit a grave mistake. He couldn't just strip the title of Crown Prince from Vaughn because the Queen would not allow it. If Vaughn committed an irreparable mistake, it would be easy for him to give the title of Crown Prince to someone else. Who could it be? The Ninth Prince?

She caressed Vaughn's face gently as if she was touching a delicate piece of jewelry. It must have been hard for him to wear a mask almost his entire life, but it helped him avoid numerous assassination attempts when he was young. Some of his doubles died for him. If not for them, he would have been buried a long time ago.

"You're one lucky guy, aren't you? You managed to dodge all of those assassination attempts when you were just a little boy."

A strong arm suddenly scooped her up in one swift move and put her in bed. Vaughn wrapped his arms around Zenia and whispered in her ears.

"I'm truly lucky because I still managed to marry my woman even though I belong to the Royal Family. I never thought that it would be this easy." Vaughn sniffed Zenia's hair and felt comforted.

"What are you doing? I did not wash my hair. I just cleaned my body to wash off the sweat."

"I like your scent. It's soothing. I'm no longer used to not having you around when I go to sleep."

"But, you're snoring when I got here."

Vaughn suddenly opened his eyes and felt embarrassed when he asked, "I was snoring?"

Zenia let out a peal of melodious laughter that captivated Vaughn even more, "I'm just kidding, but you are sleeping soundly."

Vaughn closed his eyes once more and hugged Zenia even tighter, "Your scent must've traveled here and lulled me to sleep. I've been waiting for you like…forever. What did you discuss with the Second Prince?"

"It was his men who acted without his consent. This Verone must have offended many people who might already be planning to kill her. She was so arrogant back in Solaria that I already expect that there are people who want her dead. I won't be surprised if someone stabs her while she's walking down the street."

"I already told Redivo to add more shadow guards whenever she's out of the palace. The incident that happened earlier must not happen again."

"It's no wonder that the Left Minister detained her in his manor."

"Who told you that?"

"Second-brother-in-law."

"He must be profiting a lot from his restaurants. The dishes he serves are all superb, and he can gather significant information. Should we open one too? With your great cooking skills, you can easily defeat his number one chef."

"That reminds me, what do you want to eat for breakfast tomorrow?"

Vaughn opened his eyes once more, "You're going to cook food for me again?"

Zenia blushed and bowed her head, "I decided to start being a proper wife little by little starting tomorrow. I will do my best to cook your breakfast and after some time, your lunch and dinner. I will also try to help you dress up and other things that a proper wife should do."

Vaughn smiled teasingly and said in a mellow voice, "Including having children with me?"

Zenia kicked his leg, "I said little by little. Which part of little by little did you not understand?"

Vaughn knew that it must be hard for Zenia to utter those words, which warmed his heart. He wanted Zenia to be his proper wife, but he did not want to force her. He gave her the freedom to decide when she would be willing to start.

'Heaven must still be showing me some mercy. My wife, I will only stay loyal to you.'

Zenia must've been too tired that she dozed off quickly. Vaughn held her in his arms and fell asleep. He had a sweet dream.

* * * * *

The following morning, Zekiah made his way to Ishelon without being detected. He was wearing a disguise, of course. But, Zander's men could easily recognize him in the past.

'Are they slacking?'

Zekiah went to see his Big Brother in the military camp. Because he had a token, he was allowed to enter the military camp. None of the soldiers recognized him.

'Tch, these guys are really slacking. What will they do if someone disguised himself and infiltrate the camp?'

Zekiah found Zander in his quarters sitting on his chair while touching the ribbon that he carefully wrapped around the hilt of his sword. He liked that ribbon so much because it provided him with a good grip on his sword. It also held a special memory. He smiled when he remembered something and that was the scene that Zekiah saw when he entered his quarters.

"Big Brother, stop daydreaming already."

Zander almost fell off his chair.

"What are you doing here?" He looked at his younger brother from head to foot and laughed out loud. "Why do you look like that? Madam Ageda who works in the kitchen looks younger than you and definitely slimmer when she already weighs like…a ton, ha-ha-ha."

"Go ahead and laugh. You will regret that later when you don't do something about your vigilance." Zekiah began taking off his disguise.

Zender looked at the body prosthetics that Zekiah took off and touched it.

"Whoa! This feels like a real flesh! Where did you get this?"

"We invented it, and I just made some improvements."

"We?"

"Zenzen and I. We had nothing to do in the palace when we came up with the idea. We think that the disguises we make look like ordinary. Many are copying us."

"So how is Zenzen doing?"

"Zenzen is fine, but you need to deploy that private army of hers as soon as possible. I have a feeling that the sc.u.mbag minister and Ninth Prince might move suddenly."

"Hmm, I understand. I still need a month to make sure that the soldiers are ready. And what do you mean by copying you? It must be that now is the only time that they have discovered the power of wearing a disguise."

"True, but you guys can easily detect it. However, none of your men recognized me just now. I bet you won't either if I did not call you Big Brother."

"What's your point?"

Zekiah moved closer to Zander, "What I'm saying is you should train yourself and your men to see if someone is wearing a disguise. Who knows if someone had already discovered how to make prosthetics ahead of us? You may already have a spy in disguise among your men, and you still don't know it."

"How the heck am I to know how to tell that? We need a professional to teach us."

Zekiah grinned and looked at Zander who looked back at him and gave him a puzzled expression. Suddenly, Zander's eyes brightened.

"You're going to teach us?"

"Of course! I and Zenzen are the foremost authority in disguising ourselves. Since she's not here, I will be the only one who can teach you and your men. But, I have a condition."

"What is it?"

"I want to try the Cave of Fire."

Zander looked at his younger brother hoping to see his laughing eyes, and everything he said was a joke. But what he saw was a pair of pleading eyes.

"You can't be serious."

"Please, Big Brother. I want to be strong. I know that the fire in that cave has the ability to burn the body's impurities that are making it impossible for a martial artist to advance."

"I know that you have been training these past few years, but you still might not be able to withstand the strength of that fire. Mother will definitely roast me if something happens to you."

"I will talk to Mother and make her understand."

Forget about their mother, Zander wouldn't let his younger brother go through it. He just mentioned their mother as an excuse, but he did not expect that Zekiah would be willing to talk to their mother about it.

"I will train your first. If you don't show any progress or just made minimal progress, you will not bring up the Cave of Fire again."

"Thank you, Big Brother!" Zekiah gave him a hug just like Zenia, and he sighed.

"Go home for now. Mother will be glad to see you again. Zenia's already away, Mother definitely misses the two of you."

"Okay, I'm going now."

'A month…'

Zander had decided to be the one to lead Zenia's private army to Tissuria. He would send a message that he would be visiting his younger sister because he missed her terribly, which was true. It had been known that he doted on Zenia so much.

He called for a subordinate and gave a command, "Send a message to the Crown Prince of Tissuria that Zekiah is at home - training. We would go together to Tissuria after a month. This should give him enough time to prepare himself."

* * * * *

It had been two days since Zenia began cooking Vaughn's breakfast every day. Earlier, Vaughn was quite happy with the breakfast that Zenia prepared for him. He requested a new meat dish from his wife who promised to make it for him for lunch. He was thinking about lunch since morning.  Verone was quiet and did not give anyone any trouble.

The Second Prince sent in a message that the King and the delegates were still discussing some things, although they already submitted their offers to convince the King. Renard also informed Zenia that his men were already working on the farm to give to the family of the deceased coachman.

Vaughn felt that everything was perfect that day. For two days, the left Minister and the Ninth Prince seemed to be waiting for the King's decision before making any move. His wife was already in the kitchen preparing his meal. He was smiling silly when Redivo entered his study with Zander's message and read it to him.

Vaughn stood up with a ghastly expression on his face, "Big brother-in-law will come and plans to stay for a couple of months?"

He just experienced the calm before the storm.