The Prince's Fiance

Chapter Eighteen

Within not even an full hour Saiyumi was back in the palace. The reason she was called back for was her to temporarily working as royal fashion consultant. The reason was utterly foolish but it was the fasted Akito could come up with and made the most sense despite her family owing a large popular store. Since she was back, Raito vanished out of the office and he was sure that those two were together.

Concerns ceased his face as he sat the next morning in his office and oversaw the newest investigations. Without his aide it would be difficult to handle all this work. He wanted him to come back and do his work but on the other hand he didn't wanted him to oversee sensitive information while spending time with Saiyumi. It was a misery.

Akito flipped frustrated through the report. Whatever they were planning next, it had to do with illegal dispatched magical items. This was too big for him to deal with alone. But whom could he trust? The only person he thought of to trust was Jisoo. She surely wouldn't betray him. The merely thought of her made him smile, but it was too dangerous too involve her. His memory wandered off and Lilith came to his mind. She was Jisoo's best friend and also the palace magican. She successfully healed the King and told no one about the poisoning. Might she be trustful enough? Even if he is still wary of involving others deeper he had no choice. Lilith would certainly be useful in this case as a magician and Akito was willing to show her as much trust as Jisoo would. "Butler, go and summon our palace Magican."

A few hours later the butler returned together with her. Lilith was looking slightly confused as she entered the office and saw Akito sitting there but kept up an poker face after the short irritation. "Greetings young Duke Frazer. I've been told that the prince is summoning me." "Yes." Akito stood up from his seat and waved for the butler to leave. After stepping around the table he leaned against the front of it and watched the girl. She was calmly waiting for him to talk but he was only pondering on how much he should reveal to her. "Alright. We have work for you which contains high sensible information. You can't tell this to anyone. Since you faithfully treated his Majesty and helped us out, I decided you're a trustful person." She nodded along. "I will call on you as soon as your person is needed. And for the time you're not needed... I want to to stay at the palace again." "Again..?" "Yes, is there a problem with staying here?" Lilith hesitated a moment with a nervous gaze. "Last time the prince disallowed me any visitors. It felt really stuffed without being able to see my friend.."

'Oh, Raito did that?' it was reasonable despite the drama they caused last time on the grand balcony. Should he allow her to have visitors? Jisoo would be one of them. He would be able to see her more often but it all could be more messed up if more and more people get involved. On the other hand, if Jisoo would be allowed to stay at the palace too, it would lessen every rumor about the prince having another woman. It was a risk he was worth to take. "You're allowed to have only Lady Arden as your visitor." "Really?!" "Yes." "But what if the Prince finds out you're acting on your own accord?" She seemed concerned. It was almost cute to watch for him. "Don't worry about him, he is currently complete consumed with other.. things." He trailed off as he though back to whatever those so called love birds were doing. "I see. So this is why you're receiving me and not the Prince?" "Exactly. And I'd ask you to come only to me from now on. Don't involve him unnecessary." "Understood." "Great. Since you're part of my- Our team now, have a look at this." He reached behind him onto the table and handed the report over the illegal magic item transfer to her. She silently scanned it. "Oh.. this is rather dubious. And concerning. I will look into it." The prince nodded at her and dismissed her for the investigations.

As soon as Lilith left the office she fled from curious eyes of the palace servants and returned to the room she had stayed in once before. The door barely shut behind her as she broke down to her knees. "What.. who?!" Illegal dispatching of magical items? As the only daughter of a mage family she was well aware of the business behind magic. She knew things neither the prince nor the aide would know about. And the thing which worried her currently the most was that on the entire continent only five mage families did big business with those items. The Valeis Kingdom themselves had only the Boulage family, Lucifs had the Arden family and the other three magic traders lived across the neighboring Kingdoms. It also was highly unlikely that other families who could practice magic suddenly entered the world of trade. They would rather offer their service than items to earn money so those family could be excluded of the list of suspects. Could they? Those conclusions brought her to the worry that her own family might be involved. It was a hard pill to swallow but Lilith was determined to find out who the culprit was for the sake of her own family.

The same day but to a later point, Lilith had just sent an servant off with an invitation for her friend so she could come over the next day. Before she would throw herself into investigation about illegal acting mages, she wanted to make sure she could spend some more time with her. Her next stop was the royal library. This time she had full access to every book for the sake of investigating. No one had to know she actually wanted to learn a few first class spells of previous royal mages. In some kind it was investigation too. But for her own curiousity.

On her way to the library a female giggling echoed through the hall. The laugh was less interesting for her until a second male laugh followed the first giggle. Now the voices had her full attention since the male voice was familiar. The laughing seemed to come from the library so Lilith carefully entered while gazing around. She could hear the voices having an enlightened conversation about something she couldn't understand because of the echoing from the large rooms. Lilith carefully peeked around a large shelf and saw in the middle of the library the sitting area. The back of Raito's pink head was what she first saw. Instinctively she leaned further out behind the shelf and got now to see the woman he was talking with. It was Saiyumi Peres. Like a flashback Lilith remembered the scene where she would cause a havoc because she wanted to see the prince and even slapped her. 'Suddenly so gentle, now that you're finally able to meet him, huh?' she narrowed her eyes and pondered if she should rudely interrupt to get some revenge. Before the mage could decide, Saiyumi, who was standing in from of the Prince, glanced past him and locked eyes with her for a brief moment. 'Ah-' The red haired lady smiled devilish and leaned down to the Prince. Lilith's eyes widened as she saw that Saiyumi leaned in to kiss Raito. She quickly hid back behind the shelf. Now she felt foolish for wanting to interrupt them. It seemed like she had misunderstood him in one way.

'He's a playboy.' Of course he would be one, he's the Crown Prince after all. A lot ladies offer themselves to him for his favour and being handsome like he is, is making it only easier to life a lavish life of pleasure. Was she just toyed with too? Probably. But thinking this way made something in her throb heavily. The mage rubbed her chest in the hope to ease the uncomfortable feeling and shook her head. 'Forget it. Just get the books you're here for and leave.' With that she began to look around the bookshelves, out of the couples view of course.