Hidden genius: Black belly snake

Inside the elven royal courtroom:

Xavier hurriedly strolled in with his eyes bulging with excitement as usual.

Earlier, he had casually gone to the tea ceremony that the Empress was organizing.

Why?

Everyone knew the answer to this question. 

When there were more than five women assembled anywhere in the Eldorian establishment, one can always expect Xavier to make an appearance. There was nothing new about this.

Of course, unluckily, this time around, his timing was just a tad bit off and he had missed the juicy part of the tea ceremony where two women were busy locking lips and exchanging saliva.

But he still managed to gather a lot of gossips and immediately rushed over to his brother to update him about the disastrous turn of events.

"Bro! Your new queen is in trouble!"

"Since when did I have a queen?" Xander rubbed his temples and looked at his brother, whose cheeks were thoroughly flushed. 

He couldn't help but wonder what trouble Xavier had caused this time around.

"I went to the tea party… cough… cough… of course… with very honorable intentions and happened to come across something mind-blowing!"

"My favorite… I mean, Your favorite snake is in the dungeons!"

"What are you blabbering about?" Xander scoffed. As usual, he held a stack of parchments in his hands, this time describing the recent research work for new pill formulae the Master alchemists had been struggling with.

As the brothers continued chatting, one interested and one indifferent, Xander suddenly froze mid-air.

His blood-red eyes deepened in hue and for some reason, they seemed extra frostier.

"Hrmm." He stood up and wordlessly left the courtroom, leaving Xavier hanging behind, still in the middle of his one-sided chatter.

And lo and behold! The direction he was headed towards was the underground dungeons!

"You say that you don't care! So why are you still heading towards the dungeon? What a bad liar?! Hmph." Xavier chuckled.

His cold-hearted brother indeed had a soft spot for the snake! He was sure of it now!

Right after that, Xavier as well let the courtroom. 

He had a busy interesting day ahead and couldn't afford to spend any more time with this prude brother of his.

And habitually ignoring the brother who was yapping behind him, Xander continued walking downstairs.

Following closely behind him, Charlotte's father, General Salvatore also accompanied the crown prince.

They both had a solemn expression on their faces as if the entirety of the Empire was under attack.

As they entered deeper and deeper into the dungeon network, layers and layers of cells passed them by, but the duo continued walking downstairs until they reached the very bottom floor.

Unlike the other cells, the cells in this layer each had an elven guard stationed specifically for that cell.

And the cell itself was not that big.

It was rather small, thin and short, barely big enough to hold a medium-sized living being inside.

One would feel extremely suffocated and claustrophobic inside, with the air around them not even sufficient for breathing freely.

As Xander and the General approached this particular cell, the guard immediately stood up in respect and bowed.

"Greetings, your highness." He mumbled.

"Did she speak?" Xander asked, his hands already fidgeting with the main door of the prison cell.

The main door immediately opened revealing the deeply disintegrated being inside.

Several metal rods were protruding from the small cell's four walls impaling the pitiful creature in multiple spots.

If not for the fact that the wounds had already started to heal with tissue growing back as if the metal rod itself was a part of the body, the creature would have still continued to bleed, as it had done for several decades.

Because of this merciless disfiguration, the creature which was once a powerful beast known as a harpee, was barely even recognizable any longer.

Harpees are rare grade beasts that ranked slightly higher than spirit beasts.

More importantly, harpees are said to possess God's tongue- the ability to predict the future, engrave prophecies, and sometimes even use their power to bend the future to their will and words.

No one to date understood this ability well, considering that these beasts were extremely rare and many didn't possess any ability at all.

But one thing was certain, any contact with a harpee was akin to a disaster. It was a bringer of bad omens and great perils.

Because more often than not, the black-hearted creature always wished for the wrong things to happen.

Xander had only managed to capture and bring this beast under his control after spending a lot of resources and even losing some of his men in the process.

But he was still not able to control it as he pleased.

After trying for a while, things finally turned out to how they were currently, with the harpee imprisoned in the dungeons, only barely kept alive.

It might seem cruel but ultimately it was necessary. 

"Yes, your highness. I have noted it down here." 

The guard quickly picked up a parchment from his desk and handed it over to the crown prince.

"Hmm… Daughter of Medussa has returned?" The elf's eyebrows raised ever so slightly.

His eyes lingered on the parchment for a few minutes, with an unfathomable look within them and then the man tilted his head to the side and mumbled. "What do you think General?"

"Your highness, forgive me for my ignorance. But I can't seem to think of anyone called Medussa."

"Mmmm. Neither can I."

"Then, do you think that this is a hoax, your highness? A false prophecy just to send us in circles?"

"It very well might be." Xander nodded. 

His crimson eyes glanced at the shriveled creature within and narrowed in thought.

"Or maybe it was something that the harpee subconsciously mumbled, a true prophecy."

"Only time can tell." Xander looked at the prisoner for a few more minutes, before flicking his sleeve and shutting down the gates again.

The rods around the winged harpee tightened further and the creature let out a small gasp of pain.

Even that sensation was not enough to bring any sort of life into that almost dead shriveled creature.

After the door securely closed, Xander and the General started walking back.

And surprisingly, Xander, without thinking twice took a different route this time around, a route that crossed the torture chambers.