The Royal Mark-Chapter 185: Do You Like Me?
The following day, everyone roused early to prepare for their mission: the retrieval of Elsa’s amethyst necklace from their sunken ship resting on the ocean floor. Locating the submerged vessel proved straightforward, yet the challenge lay in recovering the small necklace, even with the assistance of water mages.
King Tyrion and Queen Ydril actively supported the mission, restocking Zemaria’s ship with provisions and dispatching skilled swimmers to aid in the search.
"Prince Andrius, enlighten me on your objective in recovering this necklace. What purpose does it serve once found?" King Tyrion queried with curiosity. "You’re aware of the tracking spell cast by the witch queen, so why invest time and effort in retrieving it? In my opinion, it seems like a futile endeavor."
"I understand, Your Majesty. Waiting for Princess Elsa to wake up and provide an answer to the origins of the necklace from the castle is not a viable option. We have witches in our custody who, want to turn their back to their queen and wish to defect to Zemaria. They are willing to assist us by employing their magic to trace the individual responsible for giving the necklace to Princess Elsa.
Our strategic moves against King Alaric and Queen Yvonne cannot be planned until we identify the traitor, or else we risk them staying one step ahead of us. I suspect that the perpetrator is someone within our close circle," Prince Andrius explained.
Passing by, Prince Drake overheard the conversation and interjected, "I propose a better plan. Once we locate the necklace, let’s bring it to the Moon Wells around the Tree of Life. In the castle’s library last night, I stumbled upon a fascinating book about Moon Wells that can purify magic corruption from people and objects. We’ll test my theory there. Your Majesty, may we have your permission to use the Moon Wells for this purpose?"
"There’s no reason to deny it. The Moon Wells are accessible to everyone in Qiryn, and if it involves purging corruption, I encourage you to proceed. We want to eliminate any traces of evil and dark magic," King Tyrion declared, patting the shoulders of both princes before making his way towards Elandir, who was giving instructions to the swimmers.
"Son," King Tyrion called out, prompting Elandir to turn towards the king. "Take this." King Tyrion handed Elandir a leather necklace with an elongated seashell pendant attached to it.
"Prince Andrius mentioned that the location of the sunken ship is approximately two days away from here. This shell will aid you, but you can only activate it on the night of the full moon, which is the third day. Have a water mage cast a spell on it, directing the shell to locate the necklace before blowing on it. Ensure that no one is underwater when you do, or that person may never resurface. Do you understand?" King Tyrion explained.
Elandir, wearing a frown, questioned, "Is this thing what I suspect it is?"
King Tyrion confirmed, "Yes, it is," and chuckled when Elandir hastily returned the necklace the moment he confirmed what it was.
"No, no, no. I’m never going to use it. It’s too dangerous!" Elandir exclaimed.
"Then don’t use it, but carry it with you. You never know when you might need it," the king advised before walking away.
Despite his hesitation, Elandir shook his head but decided to keep it. He carefully wrapped the necklace with two handkerchiefs and stowed it away at the very bottom of his deep pocket, ensuring its safety.
With all preparations complete, their ship set sail for the destination with the anticipation of locating the necklace as swiftly as possible.
The atmosphere was filled with joy and excitement, as King Tyrion not only provided them with exotic food from their kingdom but also assigned a cook to ensure that everyone could concentrate on the search for the necklace without the added concern of preparing their meals.
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It was the third day and everyone noticed how quiet Prince Drake was throughout their journey, and when the cook called everyone to get their food, Prince Drake remained on his spot. He was sitting on one of the benches in the breezeway of the ship looking at a distance.
Arla came to the prince since he looked like he had no plan of moving out from there to get his meal.
"Your Highness," Arla greeted before handing the plate full of mouth-watering aromatic food, "Prince Andrius ordered to me to make sure you finish this, or else I will be reprimanded."
"What? He really said that?" Drake could not believe that his brother would use Arla just to make him eat.
He was not in the mood to eat anything after talking to Hera and Elandir about the necklace. He already knows who did it but he is in denial and torn. He was both sad and happy at how things turned out but until they get concrete proof, he cannot say anything about the culprit. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚
"Okay, I’ll eat it, you can go, thank you," Prince Drake said to dismiss Arla since he really wanted to be alone. But instead of walking away, Arla sat beside him.
"Prince Andrius said to make sure you will eat everything and will not throw any of it. He said he knows you so well that you will pretend you ate everything. So go ahead, please enjoy it."
Prince Drake was flabbergasted at how serious Arla was in following his brother’s order. But since he did not want to be punished, he proceeded to eat everything on the plate quietly.
"Can I ask you a question, Your Highness?" Arla asked when Drake had consumed most of the food on his plate.
"Sure, go ahead," Drake answered without looking at her.
"Do you like me?"
*COUGH, COUGH*
Arla boldly asks causing Drake to choke on his food. She quickly handed a bottle of water that she already brought earlier.
"Sorry... My fault. Forget it. No need to answer," Arla swiftly dismissed her question and added, "Perhaps, I should go. The crown prince did not order me to bring you food. I just want to make sure you will eat. Since you ate a lot, I will leave you be..." Arla stands up ready to walk away but Drake grabs her hand, stopping her.
"Don’t leave... Don’t you want to hear my answer?" Drake said making Arla’s heart beat faster.
