The whole empire was now currently under a treason investigation. All of the government officials, from the rookie soldiers to the lowest officials, the ordinary accountants to the department chiefs were required to comply with the investigation. Due to this, most of the imperial government's functions had been halted.
"Where is Lord Theocheirós?" Augros Uthalonica asked as they waited inside the emperor's office.
They turned to Jaizen Hemmethe who was sitting comfortably on the emperor's couch when he spoke.
"I saw him sending his sister off this morning. But I don't know where to."
Jaizen looked at the white-haired mage standing across from him.
"You saw that too, didn't you? Lord Luxier."
The scion of light let out a sigh.
"I also happened to be in the area that time. He probably ordered her to investigate their clan," said Thevon Luxier.
With a calm expression, he added:
"According to the information he managed to squeeze out of one of the traitors, an external entity is involved. They have infiltrated the empire somehow, and they are able to control some people within the Divinity Clan to some extent. With Zarria Theocheirós handling the matters in the South Olcour, and Dheinyrus Theocheirós actively pursuing the traitors here in the capital, the enemies of the empire have less wiggle room. Their moves are limited."
Fiorelle, the representative of the Spirit Clan, stood quietly in the side, listening to their conversation. Even though she was the one who had been closest to the scion of divinity, she had nothing of value to share with the conversation.
Except for the knowledge that Dheinyrus lied about Shina's location.
She didn't know why he did it, but there must be a deeper reason. Dheinyrus also knew that she could detect lies, yet he did it twice while she was around.
Did this mean he trusted her to keep this secret?
The first time he said something untruthful was when Fiorelle asked about why the abductors wouldn't hurt Shina. She just didn't realize that it was him giving her a hint about the real situation.
There was always a purpose to everything he did. So why did the scion of divinity choose to misdirect them from the princess' real location?
Most importantly, he lied to the emperor! If this was found out, he would face serious consequences.
Fiorelle had already asked the spirit of wisdom about this, but even the great spirit couldn't come up with a good and definite answer. The spirit had calculated every possible variation of Dheinyrus plans, based on all the relevant information Fiorelle had. It had diverged into countless branches, each just as plausible as the other. In the end, it didn't even bring her one step closer to understanding the God Tamer's logic.
Moments later, the emperor's servants entered the room and after them, Emperor Vedis had entered. Jaizen immediately jumped out of the couch and stood in line with the other scions.
The emperor scanned them and then asked:
"Lord Theocheirós isn't present?"
Thevon nodded.
"Yes, Your Highness. I believe he is handling another matter at the moment."
Emperor Vedis walked past them and then sat behind his desk before speaking.
"I see. Well, it's fine. Thank you all for humoring me everyday. I'm glad to see everyone working hard in the face of a crisis."
The four lowered their heads.
The emperor then began to give orders to the heirs. Thevon had been tasked to accompany the search party in the west due to sightings of monster activities. Augros, together with his older brother, Herros, who was the imperial army general, were tasked to investigate the military sector. Jaizen Hemmethe was supposed to handle the resources sector when he humbly asked the emperor to reconsider. The scion of craft insisted that someone else from their clan should do this job because he wanted to develop a tracking device to help with the search. The emperor granted his request.
Fiorelle knew the scion of craft was lying.
As for her, the emperor apologized for all the inconveniences she'd experienced. She was originally invited as a special guest, yet she ended up being caught up in the fiasco.
"You're free to go home at any time, Lady Wixorn. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the help that you've given us," Emperor Vedis stated.
With that, the meeting ended and they were dismissed.
Fiorelle, along with the servants of the Spirit Clan that came to the capital with her, had been staying in a private inn that was generously offered by Emperor Vedis Venilon. After the meeting, she went straight back inside her room to organize her thoughts.
It was only noon. The streets of Olcour capital, despite facing a serious threat of terrorism, were still as bustling as ever.
Why did Jaizen Hemmethe have to lie?
First, Dheinyrus, now him? What the heck was going on?
In the middle of her thinking, muffled voices from outside her room stole her attention. She normally didn't care about listening in to people's gossip but this time, Fiorelle couldn't help it. After all, they were talking about her.
"I heard monsters are rampant again in the Callex Region," said one of her personal maids.
"That's why I'm saying it's better to go back to the village. Far from all this noise. But Lady Fiorelle is just so stubborn," their coachman replied.
"I don't know about you, but I couldn't help but remember that incident," he added, sighing.
"Shh! Someone might hear you!"
"The lady is in the palace right now, it's fine."
'They don't think I'm here?'
After a brief silence, the maid responded.
"Even so. You know how much the Wixorns are trying to protect this secret."
With that, they walked along and proceeded with their daily jobs.
Fiorelle knew exactly what they were talking about.
When she was a baby, her real parents had died in the Callex Region due to a monster attack. The clan head took her as their daughter since then, and no one outside of their family knew the truth.
Fiorelle was also pretending to not know this. Little did they know, the great spirit had already revealed it to her when she turned twelve.
Of course, this revelation broke her heart. But at the end of the day, she had to move forward with her life. She didn't know if she should tell her adoptive parents about this or if she should just act as if nothing was different. Sometimes, when she was calling them "mother" or "father," she couldn't help but feel like she was lying to herself.
< THE NEXT DAY >
Fiorelle's eyes fluttered open, revealing a pair of coffee-brown orbs that glowed under the morning sunshine. With a yawn, she sat up, stretching her back and arms.
The girl lazily got off of her soft bed.
A moment later, she walked downstairs where the wafting smell of freshly grilled meat and fried eggs were coming from. Her eyes were half closed, her mind stayed on the pillows. Strands of her pale blonde hair messily entangled to one another, bouncing stiffly with her every step.
As she sat down the chair, one strap of her white sleeping-dress slid off of her left shoulder, teasing to expose more of her soft, supple skin. In early mornings like these, Fiorelle didn't wear anything inside her nightgown since during the entire day, she had always been so covered that it restricted her movements heavily.
She rubbed her eyes, ready to take a bite off of her delicious breakfast. But as her vision cleared and her mind had woken up, she noticed a familiar person sitting across from her. It was someone who wasn't supposed to be there.
Slowly, Fiorelle came to her senses. The last shackles of drowsiness had been broken.
Her eyes widened and her face turned red as a tomato.
"Good morning, Lady Wixorn," Dheinyrus greeted with a smile.