房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

Chapter 241 – A Conspiracy Brewing In The Royal Castle (part 1) [side]

Sometime in the morning before breakfast, Horeo was informed by Veo that thanks to Patishi\'s intervention an assassination attempt has been stopped.

What was even more surprising was the fact that for some reason the royal magician Lazaram got interested in the young supposedly magicless girl.

Well… but she wasn\'t magicless at all, was she?

That bit of news was quite a big shock for both Horeo and Veo since Patishi never told any of them that she was actually a variant magician – after all, she was worried that no one would believe her, again, even though both the first prince and the older attendant have shown that they aren\'t like most of the people Patishi has met in her life.

Well, the younger girl\'s distrust came mostly from the fact that in the past she has told another person about her magic and was not only laughed at but became a target of rather a nasty bullying since \'I can make food taste better\', was a rather doubtful attribute, and neither of her spells produced any visual effects.

The thing was, Patishi would still try to hide the fact that she was a magician but during reporting the case of attempted poisoning, the commander of the King\'s Guard and the royal magician who both were in charge asked how did the girl notice the poison – since the vial in the cook\'s possession was still sealed – Patishi had little choice but to truthfully say that she felt the ingredients fury towards the man who was about to ruin their value.

Anyone else would just think that the young girl was lying and she had something to do with the culprit but the royal magician, who himself was a unique attribute wielder, got curious and started asking more questions.

It ended up with Patishi going together with lord Lazaram to be examined for the mana attribute with some of the royal magician\'s latest inventions.

Veo was worried, so after she reported the case to Horeo, she hurriedly went after them to wait for the girl.

Although the short brown-haired attendant was more concerned about Patishi, Horeo raised his brow at the attempted poisoning…

Who was the target? Was it the entire royal family, someone specific, just anyone at random…?

The timing was also extremely suspicious – the day of important negotiations where both the king and the first prince were known to be present?

|…is it a coincidence that the perpetrator aimed to poison the food right when I arrived at the castle with a new attendant who was well amongst the Academy\'s staff for her love of cooking? This reeks of a setup… Time to make use of the King\'s Guard, let\'s see if they really are as willing to cooperate as they assured me…|

The gold-haired prince decided to alter his plans for the day a little bit and stopped by the office of the commander of the King\'s Guard for a little chat before going back to his original schedule and arriving at quarters near the barracks.

The negotiations were scheduled around the lunch to intimidate other parties with the pompous feast, so the first prince had some time to kill beforehand.

|That little ball of cuteness was a magician all along? Lazaram should already know what happens to those who try to threaten people that I acknowledge…|

Horeo thought to himself while glaring towards the research wing of the royal castle…

Alright, actually, Horeo was in every way just as concerned about Patishi as Veo was.

|What attribute would allow her to discern poison…? Regardless, that\'s actually so perfect for an attendant that I can hardly imagine anyone more suited – ability like that completely nullifies the need of having food testers around, now mother will have no objections about me hiring Patishi…|

The first prince was smirking under his nose while walking by the bowing servants and knights.

"…"

But then his expression darkened and he frowned to himself in a sudden realization.

|…that old hag knew about Patishi\'s love for cooking… what if she… No, that wouldn\'t make sense… with Surou out of the race to the throne, there is no other viable candidate aside from me, at least not to my knowledge…|

The first prince thought to himself in concern, before continuing his walk while trying to piece together all the puzzle pieces spread out in front of him.

After a few minutes, the gold-haired boy arrived before the quarters of sir Karestas and lady Yarvestreg and knocked on the door momentarily pushing his concerns in the back of his brain.

"Yes…?"

Tall golden-haired beauty opened the door almost immediately and looked at the unannounced visitor in surprise.

She didn\'t have her imposing armor on but it was definitely one of the knights who escorted the second prince Surou from the academy not that long ago.

"Oh! Hello, my prince, what brings you here?"

The woman raised her brows and asked in a friendly manner while discreetly straightening her clothes, a brown shirt, and a surprisingly cute pink turtleneck sweater that tastefully enhanced the figure always hidden by the heavy enchanted armor.

"I talked with the commander Irghun and got permission to train with the two of you, he didn\'t tell you?"

Horeo raised his brow and stared at the woman questioningly, \'accidentally\' not mentioning that the whole talk happened less than a dozen minutes before.

"Eh!? No, he didn\'t say a thing!"

Lady Yarvestreg shook her head and moved in front of the prince and closed the door behind her.

"It\'s not like I\'m saying that we won\'t train with you, but don\'t you have to take part in the important negotiations and whatnot and…"

Yarvestreg may have sounded like she was more concerned than annoyed but her cold glare and crossed arms were completely contradicting that image.

"It\'s alright, I know my limits and a bit of movement will help me keep a clear mind – on the other hand, am I interrupting you or something…?"

Horeo tilted his head and responded to her glare with an even colder one.

"No, why would you?"

Yarvestreg shrugged her shoulders and squinted her eyes not backing in the slightest.

"…"

"…"

The two of them stared at each other waiting for the other one to back off, and finally…

"Tsk…!"

Surprisingly, Yarvestreg was the one to click her tongue and shook her head fist in a clear declaration of defeat.

"Fine, you probably can\'t get a proper magic training session when you\'re locked in the academy anyway."

The tall woman sighed and walked past Horeo and looked at the training field bathed in the sun.

"Hmhm~"

She said magic training and just training because of a certain black-haired attendant – and that certainly didn\'t escape Horeo\'s attention, making the gold-haired boy snicker with a content expression.

"Oh, by the way, have you heard about the attempted poisoning?\'

The first prince cleared his throat and decided to change the subject.

"Again? Who\'s behind it this time, the foreign ambassadors?"

As it was in her nature, Yarvestreg wasn\'t shaken at all by the news – she only raised her brow and glanced at the Horeo sideways.

"They only just took the poisoner to the interrogation chamber, so we can\'t say for sure, but I wouldn\'t bet on that – they would have to be really short-sighted or be sent here as expendable pawns."

Horeo shook his head with a doubtful expression.

"If you say so…"

*click*

Yarvestreg shrugged her shoulders and sighed – that moment the same door that she came out of opened and a half-naked golden-haired man appeared.

He only had pants on and his hair was still wet…

And he looked like a god-damn superhero that would make most women and a lot of men drool.