Christopher's POV :
Time flies really fast, doesn't it? Just look, the last meeting I had with The Knights, was at the end of October and right now I'm already on my way to the same shabby building for the second meeting with them, and it's already the end of December! I wonder why they didn't invite me in the previous one that was held on the end of November, was there something that I shouldn't have known or did something bad happen? I guess I'll only know these when I reach there.
The whole row was almost covered with a thin coating of snow, it had started just four days ago, making the weather gravely freezing. Our Defence Strategy Practical classes had been shortened, our dinner time had been scheduled earlier and so did the curfew. Right now, it's beyond that time and not a single soul was anywhere to be seen, or maybe I was wrong, there is someone, walking ahead of me with no steps to be heard, nothing to be seen, only the silhouette.
And I took a wild guess, "Felix!?"
Immediately that silhouette stopped, looking back at me, he greeted "Good evening, Chris."
"Good evening! I see, I'm not the only one late here." With a mild smile, I remarked.
Keeping up our pace, he responded "I had some work to finish."
"Are you sure, it was just some work not someone?"
"Okay, fine! Nick invited me to see some of his art works."
I'm pretty sure that he had red coating over his cheeks, right under that thick muffler.
"Already? He never did that to me?! I'm so disappointed with him now!"
My expressions might've shown too much fakeness, as Felix gave me a hard judging side-eye.
"Okay, okay. He had shown me his very first one to the very last one. That's not what I wanted to say! I was saying that he had given his trust to you. Which is a good start, that within just two months!"
"That's also the reason I'm scared now, Chris. He has trusted me and I...what am I doing with him?! Deceiving him!" He sounded so stressed, that might've been a serious load on him.
"Felix, trust me, he'll get over with it once he comes to know the whole broader picture."
"I can only pray for that."
His eyes reflected so many emotions in one go, shame, remorse, hurt.
Patting his back to encourage him, we continued to walk in a suffocating silence, coming from the boy next to me, which I didn't like at all.
In need of uplifting his mood, I changed the subject "Felix, did they not have a meeting last month?"
"Well, they had one. But not on the day of campfire, it was on 4th December."
"Sudden change?"
"Not exactly. It's a custom within the group to celebrate the birthdays of the members. That day was Steve's day. So I guess they just celebrated it. If anything important happened they would let us know."
"You weren't present?"
"Uhh...I had a practical class that night. More precisely a surgery observation."
Thankfully the darkness looming over him subsided, and finally we settled in a comfortable silence.
As we reached the shabby building, I was definitely surprised to see the lively atmosphere feeling up the now beautifully decorated corridors. More and more people joined in and I almost had the thought that they might've actually invited the whole university.
Until Felix clarified "don't worry, they're all the workers under the agency. Some of them are spies, some are physical enforcement, some are undercover agents. Now that I'm seeing them together here, I guess something actually happened. Let's see what the members have to say."
Nodding my head in understanding, we entered the conference room where as usual the seven members were present and they're being carefree. Chatting among themselves merrily, giving each other teasing praises, showing their gifts for the birthday boy, and the birthday boy himself was all flustered with all the attentions he was getting.
A sweet voice from my back broke the trance of my thoughts, "Christopher, please get in. They've been waiting for your presence."
"Simon Kaiser! What're you doing here?"
"It's my second elder brother's birthday, remember? I'm here to celebrate!"
I was completely dumbfounded. His both elder brothers are involved in this not to mention that the future general and the future prime minister of the Kaisers too, of course he knows what's going on inside out.
"Not only him, we're here too, crown prince Hammond."
Just behind him stood the trio of the Lawrences and certainly it was Crown Prince Lawrence who had the gut to call me with that name!
"Seems like we're all gonna have a hella get-together. And it's only Prince Christopher, by the way." I tried my best to stay composed.
"That doesn't change the fact that you're the crown prince of the Hammond Royals!"
And he dared to say that with an obnoxious smirk!
"YOU!!..."
I know he didn't mean to disrespect me, it's just he has this habit to get into everyone's nerves out of boredom.
Before I could find the right words, surprisingly Felix interfered "your highnesses, will you both keep this aside? We're literally blocking the way for others."
Only then we all realised that we actually created a bit crowd watching us with amusement.
Striding straight to the centre, taking a seat beside Jeremy, I wished the birthday boy, then started enjoying the cake that was served. Felix was shockingly with the Lawrence people and crown prince Matthew didn't get offended at all, they indeed shared a good bond. My eyes met with the crown prince Matthew's apologetic one, and I couldn't hold on the grudge for too long, giving a small smile, I settled the score.
"He surely does have a peculiar way to get into your nerves." Jeremy remarked with an amused smile.
"Well.....he never means them, so no harm done."
"Okay, that's it! Since everyone is here, finally! I want all the attentions on me!"
As expected from the leader, professor Klein successfully got everyone's attention.
"Since in the last meeting which was held on 4th December, many were absent, I should let them know the gist. First of all, the forensic results for those letters have arrived. It shows less than 40 percent similarity which certainly confirmed that this person is definitely not his majesty the King Hammond."
While saying so, his eyes were fixed on me and I braced myself for the worst, professor Klein continued "Christopher, we apologise for not being able to find the original King Hammond at the moment. It seems that only this person is aware about his whereabouts."
I couldn't meet his sincere, brooding gaze anymore, it hurts me, however I can't blame him. That imposter has killed my mom, almost murdered our mother, the whole Hammond royalty is under his control now. I can't let other people to face the same tragic end.
As Jeremy held me in a side hug, professor Klein added "however, the second achievement, we officially started our merch inside the Kiyansy which still now, is a success."
As I finally breathed a relieved sigh, Dr. Kaiser who was completely lost in somewhere, interjected "but that success didn't come easily. For the last two weeks, we got news from our spies that they had help from outside. Who would want us to get rid of the Khirighan spy camps in the Kaiser territory unless they also have a fued against them. First we thought it was the Lawrence Royals..."
As we all looked at the Lawrence troop, they also looked surprised to hear that and before Matthew could protest, Dr. Kaiser continued on his own accord as if he never actually thought of that possibility "...until these letters reached this morning. Though we don't know who is the sender, at least it gave us a lead."
With that said, all the Kaisers people looked nervous as if they were endangering their whole race. And the next statement of professor Klein actually proved that.
"These letters contains the handwriting of my older brother, Nolan Klein, the elder son of general Klein and these definitely state the fact that his majesty, the King Kaiser is the one who has indirectly interfered in our mission."
Silence. Absolute silence engulfed the whole room. I was still staring at the younger son of the general Klein, when Felix's remark resonated "so that means we all were wrong about the ruler of the Kaisers all along and he actually grabbed our chance to fight back!"
It should be a good thing, right? To get one more power in the alliance? Then why does the Kaisers don't look happy about it?!
"Yes. We all were wrong. How could we not see it?! He was bearing all the blames, all the pains alone and I didn't even hesitate to leave him in that state! I didn't even look back at him all these years! Am I even qualified to be called his son anymore?!" Dr. Kaiser's desperation was suffocating and we all felt that.
Until Simon hugged his oldest brother, then prince Tristan joined, consoling his both brothers "since dad has decided to interfere, we just can pray for his safety first. When the time comes, I'm sure he'll explain everything to us."
"Crown prince Kaiser, I have a suggestion, if you don't mind." It was crown prince Lawrence who broke the reverie.
As the three Kaiser brothers turned to him, he continued "I want to send a truce to his majesty..."
"That'll only make things difficult for him!" I countered immediately.
"Crown prince Hammond, would you let me complete it first?" His eyes flashed utter frustration. He was definitely stressing over this matter.
As soon as I realised the gravity of his seriousness, I let him complete it, "the way we're seeing the matters going on, it seems that your father had planned this a long ago and he didn't want to endanger any of the royalties, specially your lives. So I want to approach him in secret."
"Crown prince Lawrence that would cause a war between the Lawrence royals and the Hammonds." Professor Klein had a very critical look over this matter.
"Do you think, that can be actually avoided? That clown might have already set up his army to merch towards the Toyre borders! And now I don't care if that actually happens sooner. My priority, right now, is to keep all the alliances under safe zone, as much as possible."
Now crown prince Matthew actually sounded like a true leader, his eyes reflecting his unwavering determination.
"And how do you think you can achieve that truce? I mean, if you want any of us to visit the king personally, we can help."
For the first time in that room, the future prime minister of the KaiserRoyalty, professor Palmer spoke with measured strategy.
"Professor Palmer, if we actually want it to be secret, we'll be in need of an experienced spy, not a messanger."
With the same attitude, the another future King of the Lawrence royals, Julian Hanson replied but in much relaxed manner.
"But of course, we need to discuss this further with their majesties, so I will like to request for time."
Crown prince Lawrence added his request in a humble way and everyone silently agreed to it.
Professor Klein looked like he aged a lot in this small amount of time, with a firm tone, he assured "that's settled then. Our teams will still continue with the eliminations of the Hammond spy camps. We won't bother the Kaiser Royalty, neither we'll expose ourselves directly to them. And crown prince Lawrence, even if your parents agree to the truce, we won't take action until his majesty the King Kaiser signs it."
As crown prince Matthew nodded in affirmation, Jeremy remarked "we turned this night into an actual political debate! We Were supposed to wish everyone a nice happy new year!"
"That still can happen, your majesty. It's not like we don't have another day to live!"
As expected from crown prince Lawrence, he made sure that we all get offended.
We all stayed there for another one hour, sometimes discussing the strategies for the advancing groups in the Kiyansy territory, correcting each and every members' postings, checking everyone's monthly reports and many more. When we finally got out of the building, it was past midnight and we all decided to go to our rooms and rest.