Prince Wilder insisted that he didn't need any more men deployed to that village to hunt around for witches. He said he would handle it and would be permanently moving there to better find them on his own.
Everyone was supposed to be happy about him going far away, right? But no. They were uneasy.
First of all, it has been 3 years now. How come he still hadn't been able to find one single witch in that small village? The Prince Wilder they knew would even burn down the entire village just to find them. It didn't make sense that after three full years, he still did not have any information.
Secondly, for what reason was he stating he would permanently move to that side of the kingdom when many of them understood his tacit desire to be the ruler? It doesn't make sense that he suddenly wanted to give up such ambition to travel far away and live in a place that wasn't even as developed as the capital. So his desire to move there was suspicious. It was better for them to keep the enemy close.
Thirdly, his insistence on not having any more guards deployed to that area made them even more suspicious and wary. Was he, by chance, planning something?
Was he probably trying to start a revolution and carry out the plot there, then show up here one day to take over the throne?
Many of them had questions. However, they couldn't even ask him, and even if they could, he hadn't given them the chance because as soon as he said his piece, he left the hall and returned to prepare for his trip, leaving the assembly in an uproar with the elders putting pressure on King Eli to do something and control his brother to behave properly even though they all knew it— Prince Wilder was untamable.
King Eli didn't even look like he was in the mood to do anything. He looked terrible, and many feared he was falling victim to the same illness that had taken the life of the late King.
The only group of people who were happy about the news from Prince Wilder were the guards that would have been deployed over there with him. Because so far, almost all of the guards that had been deployed there have vanished off the face of the earth. They didn't want to be in that position either.
For Richard, however, he thought that Prince Wilder's announcement didn't make any sense. Wilder hadn't mentioned it to him before he made the announcement, and it wasn't like Wilder told him about his plans anyway, but they have been together for the past 3 years. He also hasn't been able to go on with his marriage because he has had to remain in the West with Prince Wilder, so the news had come as a shock to him.
There was nothing fun in that place. So the only reason he could think of that would have made Prince Wilder come to that silly decision was probably because of Anne. Why? Prince Wilder wasn't the type to be emotionally attached to someone, so he doubted that was the case. In fact, it was too weird and impossible to think about that.
At one point, he began to suspect that she had probably cast a spell on him, and that made him worried for not just Wilder but the entire kingdom. And now that Prince Wilder was asking for guards to not be sent there anymore, what would happen to them if witches came out to attack them over there? He wanted to believe that Prince Wilder had a grand plan, but he just could not believe that. There was definitely something he did not know.
He had wanted to report this the first time but had waited and kept monitoring things to make sure he wasn't simply jumping to conclusions since he also hadn't confirmed whether she was truly a witch or not.
Anne had shown up again after the last time she declared her interest in marrying Prince Wilder, and Wilder had almost struck her with a sword but ceased at the last minute, reminding her that she was still too weak, even though she had surprisingly been able to stop him once with a stick. Wilder had assured her that the next time they met, he was going to strike her for real if she was still that slow.
Surprisingly, the girl had smiled and taken it as an encouragement that they were going to meet again, and she had promised to do better and make sure to fight back.
In Richard's opinion, Anne wasn't all that suspicious. But that fact alone made her very suspicious.
And the reason he began to really suspect her was how Wilder was always lenient with her and had even ordered Richard not to tail her to find where she lived when Richard had suggested it.
Also, more and more guards that came into contact with Anne kept disappearing mysteriously, and Wilder didn't say anything about that either, so Richard wasn't sure what to think about it. He felt he was probably overthinking it because if that had been the case, then he would have also disappeared since he had met her a couple of times already.
With all this still in his mind, he stood before Lord Zealot the next day.
Of course, he hadn't gone of his own volition. And the fact that Lord Zealot had sought him out when Prince Wilder stepped out of the palace alone made him very uncomfortable. He wasn't the type of man you wanted to meet alone. The funny thing was that he was a Beta like them. But his grandfather had been so important to the creation and expansion of the Moon Kingdom that even after many decades passed, his family was still revered, and now, it didn't help that Lord Zealot also controlled most of the kingdom's resources.
Since they were still within the palace, Richard chose not to think too much about this private meeting.
But he had been wrong.
After all, this was Lord Zealot.
Visit freewe𝑏(n)ovel.co(m) for the b𝘦st novel reading experience