"Just the fact that the colonel was willing to et you can be considered a piece of good luck for a newcor like you. The al was a way for him to confirm that he could trust you not to blab to soone else about your deal."
"So? Did I pass that ridiculous test?" asked Zach as he contemplated whether the others were too paranoid or if it was him who was too carefree.
"Of course, you did. Why do you think that colonel agreed to save Luke? From what I heard, you passed with flying colors too. The colonel was quite satisfied with your obedience through that drinking ga."
"Did Bruce tell you anything else or is that all of it?" asked Zach in a nonchalant manner.
"No, that's all...." replied Diana instinctively before sothing ca to her and she jerked her head towards Zach only to see him smiling like he had caught her red-handed doing sothing shaful.
Her face turned red instantly like a bloody tomato. She couldn't help but blush that Zach had already seen through her.
Of course, the knowledge ca from her brother. She had gotten too curious after witnessing Zach's drunken state upon his return.
She had to pester her brother for a long ti before he agreed to reveal the proceedings of the eting to her.
After confirming that the information had indeed co from Bruce, Zach let out a sigh of relief as if a great burden had been taken off his shoulders. Even though he had an inkling as to where Diana had gotten her information, there was a lingering suspicion in his mind that Diana was only saying so to make him feel better or maybe her inference was far away from the truth.
At the sa ti, Zach couldn't help but marvel at the rate that society was being corrupted. Even though there were lesser overall vices in this world due to the lack of technology and the like, there was no way to stop moral corruption. And this society had been corrupted to the very core.
No matter how prepared he was to witness the dark underbelly of the political world, he was still caught off guard by how black it truly was. The existence of the twisted custom was proof of how frequently these people t up with immoral and illegal factors because only then could they devise such a norm that was not only understood by everyone in the community but was also accepted.
Zach had yet to understand the normal customs of the world and yet he had been thrown into the corrupt customs of the top brass.
He was still able to keep up with it all with the help of Bruce and the police chief Andy. Otherwise, he would have long since gotten tired of it all. All of them were pretending to be good while their hands were soaked in darkness and corruption. But he didn't know for how long he could keep it up. He was gradually getting exhausted from dealing with such matters.
Moreover, it didn't help that he had to build another residence for himself and his family all over again. The pressure was taking its toll on him as he finally understood why the saying 'Heavy is the head that bears the crown' existed. He was certainly feeling the weight as he witnessed the lifeless eyes of his family mbers who were still grieving over the destruction of their last ho in Greenland.
There was heaviness deep in his chest and his eyes revealed the turmoil he had been hiding within himself.
Diana noticed it instantly. She had been with Zach the longest and had developed a knack for guessing what he was feeling sowhere along the way. This was the reason why they were able to cooperate so efficiently when it ca to battles. She was perfectly able to understand and follow through with his orders.
So, the heaviness in his heart couldn't remain hidden from her. She reached out and pulled him into a tight hug.
Her sudden embrace felt soft and tender. Zach couldn't help but indulge himself in her care. He let himself loose and allowed himself to rest for a mont on her shoulder.
She slled soothing like a bunch of colorful and fragrant flowers in an otherwise colorless and odorless world.
Diana felt sorry for Zach. She believed that Zach could have easily lived a good life by himself given how powerful he was and the otherworldly ans he had at his disposal. And yet, he was willing to protect and shelter her family. She couldn't help but feel heartache as she rubbed his back delicately in an attempt to provide so sort of comfort to him in his ti of need and self-doubt.
…
Both the Windsor family and the Smith family had been of the opinion that Prince Luke would soon be released from the prison given that the Viscount Zach had requested the colonel himself. Not to ntion that Prince Luke never had any murderous intentions to begin with. He had only been trying to stop the injustice of the cops following the Hunter family's will.
Since innocents couldn't be punished by law and the Viscount had already vouched for Prince Luke, the release was practically a done deal.
Alas! Things didn't go as smoothly as they had previously imagined. And to blow the situation out of proportions even more, it wasn't the military trying to keep him under lock. It was the prisoner himself who was refusing to be released from confinent as if adamant about spending the rest of his life in the solitary darkness of his confinent.
The Windsor family was shocked at such a response from Prince Luke. Even Violet, who had been a childhood friend of Luke, was unable to figure out his reasoning behind such a self-mutilating action.
Zach imdiately called Bruce and Andy to discuss the situation with the both of them. His intention behind the eting was to figure out if the Colonel had played them. What if the Colonel only agreed for appearance's sake and never intended to keep his promises? It wasn't as if he was under so kind of agreent or if they had so kind of leverage on him to make him adhere to the agreent.
Alas! The eting turned out to be completely useless as well. The only conclusion Zach could infer by putting his head together with the only two politicians in his social circle was that the Colonel wouldn't have done such a thing, especially when there was no benefit whatsoever in offending a royalty.
Zach couldn't agree more with that line of thought. Therefore, the only possible reason for Luke still being imprisoned was that the prisoner himself didn't want to co out.
Zach couldn't understand why Luke chose confinent over freedom. Was he being coerced into doing that? But who could possibly be so influential to be able to restrict a prince like him?
Or maybe...was he suffering from murderer's remorse? Was he feeling guilty over killing the cops?
He had heard of such psychological problems regarding prisoners in the past world. Even though the prisoners completed their sentence, they still couldn't get over their guilt that manifested after they committed the deed. Such prisoners often refused to be released and stayed in the prison till their eventual demise.
Zach wondered whether Luke was amongst that group. But the ti period he had spent in prison was probably not enough to even overco the shock of the incident. So, he sohow doubted the whole premise.
Since he couldn't figure out the true reason despite all the hours he spent brainstorming, he decided to visit him in the prison to hear this important reason for himself.
Zach told Andy to investigate the conditions that Luke was living in at the place of his confinent. He wanted to know if his current condition was sohow induced by the environnt, he was in.
It wasn't long before Andy returned with the results. It was a thick envelope that contained all the information about Luke ever since he stepped into the prison. There was a detailed log about him. It was obvious that the military had given him special treatnt since he was one of the Royalty. The detailed log was necessary in case sothing happened to him during his sentence.
The information was probably a gesture of goodwill from the Colonel because it was almost impossible for Andy to get his hands on the secret military records otherwise.
Zach tore apart the seal on the envelope and sat down on the study table in his room to go through it once Andy departed the mansion.
Surprisingly, it didn't take him very long to go through the thick stack of docunts. There wasn't much information on Luke's ntal state. It was more like his daily routine. Whether he ate his al or not, the ti he did if he did and any other activity that he took part in was all recorded in the log. But it didn't help much in determining what Luke was thinking when he refused to co out despite having the opportunity to do that.
The only information he got out of the whole bundle of docunts was that Luke was being kept in solitary prison instead of the general populace both due to his exalted status and because of the severity of his cri. He had killed several jailers even though the jailers were corrupted. The fact that Marico was innocent didn't negate the fact that he had indeed murdered several people even if they weren't exactly innocent.
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