Chapter 493 - Connecting The Dots

'Was she involved?' Prince Draco wondered while finishing the tea in his cup.

On the day he had returned to his Palace without meeting his friend, he had summoned his black shadow knights who had been assigned to keep an eye on the daughter of Earl St. Claire.

It had been so long since he had given them that duty that he had eventually forgotten about it. 

The guards who were assigned to the girl too never reported back to him unless something drastic had taken place.

Since things had been normal in the St. Claire mansion, he had not heard from them in a long time so much so that he had forgotten about the guards he had placed there.

While those guards did not follow her when she left the Capital for the summer vacation to visit other fiefs, they were present on that day when she had visited Sevenz's mansion.

From their report, he soon heard that the Master of Ocular had come to the St. Claire mansion to meet the family and he came bearing presents of all kinds as well.

'That fool must be planning something.' He had thought at that time after listening to the report from his subordinates.

He knew that Sevenz appeared to have taken an interest in the little girl of the St. Claire's family on the day that they had met in the caravan.

However, Draco had shrugged it off as momentary curiosity that would fade with time.

Sadly, on the day that he had seen the girl at his mansion, he realized that his thoughts were far from reality.

After asking his knights he was informed about Tutu's frequent arrival at the St. Claire's mansion.

This information made him curious as to what his friend was planning with the little girl but before he could investigate and interrogate him, he heard the news about Ocular and Sevenz leaving for the south.

It had been three months since that day and he had not yet heard anything about Sevenz's return to the Capital nor had he tried to contact his friend.

Connecting the dots from the pieces of information he held in his hands.

His friend's curiosity in the girl, the constant communication between them, her appearance at his mansion, and soon after his departure from the Capital.

All of them pointed at something new that he had discovered.

'Ocular and CLOVER's union seems connected to the St. Claire family.' He declared and was sure that the scheming little girl also held an important role in this matter.

Things were beginning to get interesting and he could not help but wonder what would happen next.

"Do you have to leave tomorrow?" His brother's voice woke him up from his thoughts about Ocular and CLOVER.

Glancing at the King's face, Draco hid all traces of what his thoughts were and nodded his head.

"I will be back soon." He added to soften the frown on the King's face.

While the King had decided to give Draco his space as he was beginning to grow into a fine young man now, he still worried for his safety and well-being.

This was the little brother that he had taken care of from his birth so he felt responsible for his safety which was his top priority at all times.

Draco smiled as he understood where his brother's concerns were coming from so he never got mad at him for trying to control his life in the past.

However, now that he was given more freedom to move about as he pleased, he knew that his brother was worried so he made sure to return once every few weeks to visit and show that he was in good health.

"You even asked Governess Bloom to stop looking after you." King Ophire sulked while pointing out another detail that had changed from the past.

The idea of returning Governess Bloom to the position that was originally hers was Prince Draco's.

As he had healed completely and did not need her constant attention, he decided that it would be best to assign her to look after the Princess and her education.

This way, the old lady will be able to utilize her talents while he wasn't in the Palace and the Princess along with her playmates could benefit from learning under a graceful and elegant tutor like Governess Bloom.

With this reasoning in mind, the young Prince had asked his brother to assign her to look after the upbringing of his lovely niece, Princess Felicia.

The King who always paid heed to his brother's words mulled over it and found his advice reasonable and assigned Governess Bloom to work with the Royal Tutor and teach the three young girls.

"Felly will learn a lot from Governess Bloom and big brother, you know that very well." Draco revealed as he felt that his brother was simply annoyed that he was sending away the Governess who was supposed to be looking after his health.

"I am older now and do not need a nanny anymore." He added while crossing his arms across his chest, displaying his refusal to converse about this issue any longer.

King Ophire chuckled after taking a look at his baby brother's defensive ways and nodded his head in defeat.

"As you say." He accepted his brother's words even though he disagreed in his heart.

'You will always be my baby brother.' King Ophire's smile was gentle and pure while gazing at the young man who was once a little baby he had raised since the moment of his birth.

Draco smiled back before returning to the files that needed his attention.

'I need to get this done before I leave tomorrow.' He sighed and focused on the contents of the files.

The King noticed his sincerity to the work at hand and recalled that due to his wandering thoughts about Ocular's involvement with CLOVER, he had forgotten to do his work.

Thus, the King and the future Grand Duke of this Kingdom got back to work before they could rest for the day.

___

Back at the St. Claire mansion's back garden, Yvonne and Howard's duel had finally come to an end.

"A tie," Jax announced as he had been asked to referee for the duel just before it could begin.

"Are you siding with your Master, Jackson?" Howard narrowed his eyes at the young butler who was a few years older than him.

Yvonne rolled her eyes at her brother's words while Jax glared at his Master's brother.

"My name is Jax and not Jackson!" He corrected the heir of this family but only found him smirking instead.

For months now, whenever Howard returned from the Royal Academy and the two boys met each other, he would always call the butler 'Jackson' instead of 'Jax'.

"Stop it, Jax! You know that he does it because you get mad at him." Yvonne reminded him of the reason why Howard addressed him in the wrong way.

The twisted look of annoyance on Jax's face soothed Howard's heart which burned with anger for the butler who stuck close to his sister all day long.

Thus, whenever he met the butler, he would call him Jackson after learning that this was his only weakness.

Jax harrumphed in anger as he knew of Howard's sadistic habit but he could not control his emotions whenever he was called by the other name.

Shaking her head, Yvonne ignored the teenager going through puberty and turned towards her brother who was trying to argue about the result of the match.

"Do you disagree with the result, Big Brother?" She inquired while tilting her head as a smile appeared on her face.

Unlike the usual smiles that she bestowed upon him, this one was filled with menace and mischief alike.

'She looks just like how she did before she lost her memories.' Howard gulped at the nostalgic feeling he was experiencing right now.

Though his sister stopped tormenting him for more than a year now and she had become the apple of his eye, the memories of how she used to be still remained vivid in his mind.

Right now, she was showing traces of the scary her that she once used to be.

"N-not at all! The result was fair!" He exclaimed in fear that she would revert to the wicked little she-devil who tortured him in the past.

'What's with that reaction?' Yvonne was left baffled as she had not yet realized that it was her expression that had led to this outcome.

Nonetheless, she was satisfied with it so she did not dig deeper and shot Jax a victorious smile as she knew how to handle her elder brother and stop him from throwing a tantrum.