"Slade," Caius called as soon as the door closed and the three of them were left alone.
The poor man shivered. At no point during the course of his journey did he think he would end up in the crown prince’s presence. He had simply thought he would deliver the letter and be out of the castle. Soone else would co and get Rose and all matters about this will be done with. He didn’t like nobles—never had—and the royal family was the top of that.
"Yes, Your Highness," he replied imdiately, forcing out his voice.
This was the first ti he had ever laid eyes on the crown prince. He had caught glimpses of him on his horse a handful of tis when the prince passed through the town, but never this closely. The crown prince was as scary as they said. His scar gave him a dark deanor, clearly stating he was the type not to be trifled with.
"Your lady has Rose," Caius said and tossed the letter, hitting Slade square in the face.
Slade nodded. He didn’t know the contents of the letter. He could read, but only barely. He would probably understand the contents if he tried to read it, but it didn’t an he could recreate it.
"I should have known," Rylen cut in. "This is about Rose. Isn’t it ti you let the girl go, Your Grace?"
Caius shot Rylen a look. "If I didn’t know you so well, I would be certain you had sothing to do with this."
Rylen imdiately tensed up. It was the way Caius said it—almost like there was an underlying threat. "Do with what?" he asked, clearly confused.
Caius turned his gaze back to Slade, ignoring his cousin. "Is Rose with Delphine right this mont?" he asked darkly.
Slade locked his gaze on the ground. He didn’t know what the letter said, but he knew Lady Delphine wanted to send Rose to the castle, and that was why he was here. The crown prince should already know she was in Lady Delphine’s manor. He couldn’t understand why he was being asked this.
"Yes, Your Highness." He knew better than to answer questions he wasn’t asked.
"How much do you know about this situation? And don’t you dare lie!"
"I was there when Lady Delphine purchased her. I rode the carriage that took them ho, and Rose has been in Milady’s manor since she was purchased from the masked auction."
"The masked auction?" Rylen said in horror. Rylen had listened quietly as Slade spoke, his expression changing according to the information he heard but hearing the masked auction had him almost bolting out of his seat.
Caius narrowed his eyes and turned his attention to Rylen. "Do you know anything about this?" The na was familiar but nothing ca to mind.
"Only very little. It’s an underground auction, and the King turns a blind eye to the activities that go on there, as most of their clientele are important nobles. I have ntioned it before, but you were uninterested in the matter."
"I thought they only auctioned exotic animals and artworks."
"Well," Rylen cleared his throat, "mostly. I don’t have many details about the matter."
"Find all that you can about it then—and about the auction three nights ago."
"Yes, Your Grace."
"Get Henry," Caius said.
Slade still had his gaze locked on the ground, but sohow, he could tell the order was for him. He quickly moved to his feet and rushed to the door. He pulled it open, and Henry rushed in—but not before glaring at Slade.
"Your Highness," Henry said, stepping into the room. He was barely away from the door when Caius started barking orders at him.
"Take thirty thousand pieces of gold and go to Lady Delphine’s manor. She should have sothing for . Don’t you dare return to the castle without it."
"T-thirty thousand gold pieces," Henry almost hyperventilated as he said this. It was just as he feared—this was a ransom. But why was the crown prince willing to pay such a price?
"Move, Henry—and take him with you," Caius said.
"You’re just going to let him go, Your Highness? Thirty thousand gold pieces is a lot of money."
Caius narrowed his eyes at Henry, but he didn’t wait for the crown prince to reply before nodding vigorously.
"As you wish, Your Highness." The words were barely out of his mouth before he fled the way he had just co, the door still partly open. Slade followed right after him, closing the door behind himself. He didn’t care how this went—as long as he got out of here.
"Thirty thousand gold pieces? Isn’t that a ridiculous amount of money?"
Caius locked eyes with his table. "It was the amount Rose was allegedly sold for at the auction."
Rylen blinked. "You think soone is lying."
Caius smirked and looked at Rylen. "It doesn’t matter. I will get to the bottom of the situation. Right now, getting Rose back is far more important."
Rylen narrowed his eyes at Caius, but he kept his thoughts to himself. Caius had no intention of letting Rose go—he had seen the way his eyes glimred at the ntion of her. He felt bad for the poor girl.
"Leave ," Caius said to Rylen. "Find out as much as you can about the masked auction. I need the details imdiately."
A lot of things didn’t make sense, but there was no reason for Lady Delphine to want to get on his bad side. More importantly, why was Rose returning if she had escaped? Did she find out he was pursuing her family once again? As he had found out, that was the only thing that made her do as he wanted.
Regardless of all the things that weren’t adding up, Caius realized he was surprisingly calm. All he wanted was for her to get to the castle, and he knew Lady Delphine wouldn’t propose what she couldn’t deliver.
"It’ll be hard and will take a few days at least. There isn’t particularly any record of it, and I’ll probably have to ask by word of mouth."
"Can you get it done?" Caius asked.
Rylen sighed and stood to his feet. "I will do my best."
"Good." He didn’t trust that there wasn’t a ploy here, and he wanted to find out every detail about it.
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