Seeing Henry being away, Leonard thought that his time had come and he offered to carry Sebastian on his back, “Fourth brother, let me carry you.”
Yet Sebastian did not accept his kindness with gratitude but complained secretly in his heart, pff, what a hypocrite. If Leonard truly cared for their brotherhood he would not just stand there and see Hector toss the drawing away! What was the point to pretend being nice now?
James coughed violently all of a sudden, he finally calmed himself down and spoke slowly after a deep breath, “Now that fourth brother is injured and it is cold here, should we go back and rest at the hut just now while waiting for big brother to return?”
Kace knew James was finding opportunity to send the crowd away so that the Debeur sisters could leave. He then spoke in concert with James, “Yes, it’s too cold here, I can’t even withstand it any longer.” After finished, he began to cough too.
Iago quickly said, “Since Kace and James could not withstand the cold any longer, and Sebastian has a bad injury, let’s go have a rest at the hut. The fire at the fireplace might not be put off yet so we can still warm ourselves.” He pushed Kace’s wheelchair and walked directly to the hut after finishing.
Sebastian had already known what was in their mind and he began to make a fuss on Leonard’s back, “No! I’m staying here to wait for Big Brother! You can go if you want to!” He insisted to stay so the ladies did not have the chance to escape.
Seeing Leonard hesitated, James turned around and said with a pitiful face, “Eighth brother, I’m really not feeling well, I’m afraid I need to lie down once I go back.”
Leonard no longer hesitated, if the emperor knew he ignored his sick youngest brother and let his injured fourth brother fooling around here, he would be doomed.
Until there was no more commotion outside and the sound of footsteps had gone far, Mary held Luna’s hand and led the maidens back to their yard quickly while carrying the table after keeping away the drawing kits.
They were focusing on the thought to escape, including Mary until they did not notice a shadow appeared at a dark corner. The person let out a grim smile, “With both of their beauty, it’s enough for them to become the concubines of the crown prince.”
They were panic-stricken along the way until they made it back to their own yard. Both Mary and Luna did not have the mood to clean up once more and they went directly to bed after changing their clothes. The maidens all fell asleep quickly.
Luna tossed and turned and finally could not endure it anymore, she asked softly, “Mary sis, have you fallen asleep?”
Mary did not have the urge to sleep for sure. She did not understand why the handsome ninth prince James would keep on helping them for so many times, plus, she had a strange feeling that she had seen that prince somewhere before.
“What’s wrong, Luna Sis?”
Luna moved closer to Mary, she slightly hesitated and paused. As if making a huge decision, she took a deep breath and asked Mary, “Mary sis, what do you think of Sir Kace?”
Mary felt a sudden leap in her heart; could Luna have fallen in love to Kace? It was possible since her behavior today had indicated that she had a crush on him.
She did not expect Luna who had always wanted to marry a rich guy to escape from the side consort’s control had developed interest towards Kace.
Mary did not dare to expose the truth. Luna was only having blurry thoughts right now, if she exposed it, it would aggravate her indecent thinking, since Kace was already engaged with Amy and it was inappropriate for her to fell in love with her future brother-in-law.
After making careful considerations on her choice of words, Mary mumbled, “Well he does look quite handsome.”
Luna gave Mary a light push and sulked, “Who’s asking you for his looks? What I meant was how did you feel about him as a person?”
Mary felt even more surprised, it turned out that Luna who used to be shallow did not fall in love to Kace due to his looks. To think about it, it was true since Kace could only be counted as graceful not attractive in appearance, not to mention he was paralyzed.
Talking about identity, Kace did match Luna since he was the third son of the Minister family while Luna was the daughter of Lord Regent, yet the problem was Kace had already decided his future spouse who was Amy. Even if Amy cried and refused to marry him, the problem would still be difficult to settle.
If Amy and the side consort knew Luna had a crush on Kace, both of them would immediately go to the Minister household to change the name on the marriage letter to Luna’s, yet it was hard to deal with Ralph.
“Luna sis, how could I say? I only met Sir Kace today. Since he did help us out when we’re bullied by the fourth prince, I can say he’s a nice guy.”
Mary gave her a perfunctory reply but hoped to inquire more about Kace’s personality. She had treated Luna as her real sister and wanted to lend her a hand if she did have interest in Kace.
She felt confused when she thought of Norman who did not show up for quite a while. She did not have the power and help to inquire about these and could only rely on him yet she could not get in touch with him no matter how.
Both sisters slept in unconsciously from their pillow talk, while on the other hand, the large room at the south-east corner of Munashii Temple, especially given to the princes was still bright with lights.
James had brought only Doughall Thompson who was his usual doctor. Doughall was used to treat internal injury and he was an amateur towards the external. With the help of the self-taught genius Kace, both of them managed to fix Sebastian’s heel, though in a hard way. Sebastian almost died from pain.
Doughall even examined Sebastian’s teeth, he shook his head and sighed, “I’m afraid the fourth Highness’ tooth can’t be cured.”
Sebastian yelled in anger, yet his mouth seemed to leak air when he spoke, therefore he could only keep his mouth shut.
Messing around for a couple of hours, Sebastian finally slept in. The princes were all tired of the fuss they had the whole night too and they fell asleep instantly when they lied down.
During midnight, James suddenly got out of bed and woke his bodyguard, Josh up. He whispered, “Come with me.”
Both of them walked straight towards the north-west corner of the temple while concealed by the darkness of the night. It was where the mistresses of the Debeur family lived. Josh did not know what James intended to do, he blocked his path and said, “My master, if we’re discovered and this is spread out, I’m afraid it would endanger your Highness’ position.”
James stopped and replied with a wry smile, “Right, my identity now…”
Letting out a sigh, James led Josh their way back but suddenly he saw Gautama Damma leading a little priest entering a small yard from afar, and it seemed to be the place where the mistresses stayed.
James was alert, “Josh, come, let’s find out what’s going on.” It had been late and something must have gone wrong when Gautama Damma still wanted to go to the mistresses’.
Josh wanted to advice James to return back at first, but upon seeing Gautama Damma entering the yard, he then kept quiet and followed James into the yard secretly. Josh knew James had had resentment towards Lord Regent, and he believed the reason why they are following Gautama Damma was to disclose any secret plan that Ralph had in mind.
The lights of the other rooms had been put off, leaving only the main room with barely visible light. A woman’s voice was heard.
Slightly suspicious, Josh asked, “Your Highness, could it be that the side consort of Lord Regent and Gautama Damma…”
People said that the side consort of Lord Regent had an enchanting look; it could be that she felt lonely due to Lord Regent being busy managing the state affairs all the time therefore she decided to hook up with this old priest.
James burst out laughter, he pat Josh’s head hard and criticized him while suppressing his urge to laugh, “Nonsense! If the side consort really did hook up with Gautama Damma, she would already be chopped up by Lord Regent. Are you thinking that Lord Regent is blind? He had so many death warriors underneath him; do you think he’ll allow the side consort messing around? Plus, the side consort would not lay an eye on Gautama Damma’s looks unless she’s blind.”
Both of them moved closer to the wall and focused to eavesdrop on the conversation inside.
There was only a lantern lit up in the room. The priest accompanying Gautama Damma stayed outside the room while Gautama Damma was inside together with the side consort and Madam Barbosa.
The side consort leaned slightly forward, the thick powder on her face made her appeared paler. Although Gautama Damma was experienced in connecting with people, he was still taken aback by the side consort’s evil smile which grew creepier and hideous under the dim candlelight.
“Damma, have you prepared everything I asked you to do a while ago?”
Damma was all smiles; he nodded and stooped, fawning on the side consort, “Of course, your Highness…”
Yet Madam Barbosa interrupted him with a few coughs and threw him a look, Damma quickly responded by giving a few slaps to his face upon receiving her signals, “Look at me, being more muddled and useless with age. It’s your Ladyship, your Ladyship…”
The side consort snorted, she sat straight and her creepy smile disappeared, “You better keep that in mind and don’t repeat it next time.”
Damma nodded until his head almost fell off his neck, with a flattering smile he replied, “I’ve prepared everything what your Ladyship had asked me to do. What’s left is your Ladyship bringing the mistresses to pray at the main hall tomorrow. The person I send would disturb the fifth mistress until she was unable to handle it. Till then I’ll come out and accuse that the fifth mistress has been possessed…”
Damma paused, and then smiled, “Although I lack talent, yet my words are still believed by some people. No matter how the fifth mistress struggle, the others would only think that it is due to the ghost inside her body. Wait until she is captured, your Ladyship could do anything on her as you wish. It’s just that I’m wondering have your Ladyship done any preparation for the thing that I’ve given to your Ladyship?”
Madam Barbosa quickly replied after given a cold stare by the side consort, “Don’t worry, your Ladyship, I’ve given it to Madam Lewis, she knows what to do. After we’ve done with the fifth mistress and return, it would be time for that thing to be put into good use.” Madam Barbosa felt a cold shiver upon thinking about that thing covered by layers of red handkerchief.
The side consort nodded satisfyingly and chuckled softly, “Mary, oh Mary, let’s see how are you gonna escape this time!”