NoGift

THE TEMPERATURE in the drawing room was getting lower and lower. Ice started forming on the surface of the different furnitures inside the room. Even the windows started to get foggy because of the sudden drop of temperature.

Merissa immediately grabbed her son's hand. "Winter, please, calm down."

Winter's face just became colder and colder. His heart was filled with extreme suffocation. He had never felt this angry before. Not when the Queen slapped him and told him he would be nothing more than a filthy bastard, not when the first prince tried to beat the shit out of him when he first arrived at the palace, and definitely not whenever the first princess schemed against him. But this, hurting his mother, this just hit his bottom-line.

He couldn't control his anger, making his Mana unstable. Then Winter noticed his mother shivering. That was like a punch straight to his gut. What was he doing? His mother only has a D level wind Gift. Releasing his Mana like this would only freeze her. He took a calming breath and slowly controled his Mana until it became stable. The ice forming around the room also slowly dissipated.

He took off his coat and put it on his mother. "I'm sorry, Mum."

Merissa shook her head and smiled. "No, don't apologize. I'm just happy that my baby grew up to be so powerful."

"Mum, please tell me who did this to you."

Merissa stared at her son's cold face and she knew she had no choice but to tell him everything. She told him the same things she told the young duke. At the end of her story, Winter was clenching his hands tightly. As if he's trying real hard not to lose control again. She squezzed her son's hand, comforting him. "It's okay, Winter. I'm not that hurt. Please, don't be mad."

Winter just felt more rage because of that last sentence his mother said. His mother was overly kind. Even if someone did something unkind to her, she would never truly hate that person. "If I don't get angry for you, then who would?" he said, almost in a whisper. "The person who caused the fire, was it one of the two men who kidnapped you?"

"Yes. When I attacked them, it took them by surprise and I accidentaly hurt the one with the fire Gift. He attacked me and since the shed was small and made of wood, it easily caught fire."

He took another calming breath. "Do you think they're still alive?"

"Yes. I mean, I think so. They ran out of the shed before me."

"Good." Which meant he could punish them for what they did. "I will look for a healer with an SS level healing Gift. They can definitely heal these burn scars."

"I don't mind the scars."

"Mum, please, just let me do this for you."

And as he does that, he would look for the people responsible for what happened to his mother. How hard could it be? He could literally count on his fingers the number of people who would do this. Then once he found them, he'd made sure that they'd pay.

----------

Argent was sitting behind the desk in her study, speaking to White. "You haven't found anything yet about the first princess?"

"Not yet, Master. The recordings taken from her sPhones so far were all just about her daily activities."

After going through the data of the first princess' sPhone, Argent was not surprised to hear that. She was obviously very meticulous and not the type to leave everything to chance. She wouldn't just leave evidence lying around that could cause detrimental damage to her reputation.

"Continue spying on her." Argent doesn't believe that the first princess wouldn't make a single blunder. "How about the Pope?"

She also told White to spy on the Pope as soon as she knew that he has a [Jiffy] account. But so far, just like the princess, nothing has come out of it.

"It's just the usual, Master. The recordings were just of his room and whenever he went to his garden and take a rest."

That meant what they could get from those were just of him waking up and sleeping. And also of him, sitting in the garden and browsing through [Jiffy]. He either only has those as his daily activities or that he turned off his sPhone whenever there's an important conversation. Argent was more inclined to believe it was the latter.

"Just like with the princess, continue your surveillance."

"Yes, Master."

Argent ended the call and turned off her light brain. She hasn't had time to continue with her thoughts because the door of the study suddenly opened. Aurum came in and sat in front of her desk.

"Who's that guy outside?" she asked.

"The second prince' servant or something," Argent answered.

Aurum furrowed her brows. "The popsicle is here?"

"He's meeting with his mother."

"Oh, I see." Aurum almost forgot that that was today. She still couldn't believe that the new maid turned out to be the popsicle's mother. The chance of that happening would be slim to none. But it still happened.

Aurum was about to ask her brother about something when someone suddenly knocked on the door.

"Come in," Argent called.

The door opened and the second prince came in. At one glance, one would think that reuniting with his mother didn't really have any effect on him. But if you just look at him closely, you could see that his eyes were slightly red. Indicating that he must have cried.

Winter saw the duke as soon as he entered the study, but he also saw Lady Aurum. He has conflicting feelings towards the girl. He knew that she was the only one who could have had destroyed the defaro crystal he asked Mishla to give to the duke. On the other hand, he also felt extremely foolish. Because that possibility didn't even crossed his mind.

He shook his head and just chose not to temporarily think about it. "Hanover," he first greeted the duke. "Thank you, for what you did for my mother."

Argent shrugged. "I didn't actually do anything."

"Exactly. Even if you found out about her real identity, you didn't exploit it. Instead, you called me. For that, you have my gratitude," the prince said seriously.

There was a hint of amusement in Argent's eyes. "Oh, but that's where you're wrong. I do plan to exploit this situation." The prince showed a confused look. "The one behind your mother's kidnapping, you should know that there's a high possibility that it could be a member of the royal family, well, aside from your father. Since he definitely wants you to be his official heir. I want to cause mayhem to the royal family. You know, let them be busy about something. And the emergence of your mother would be that perfect mayhem."

Winter became silent for a few seconds. "If you have a plan, then I'll work with you. But there's no way this plan could include my Mum being in danger."

Argent raised one of her brows. "You're here to protect her, aren't you?"

Winter was slightly taken aback by that and a small smile appeared on his lips. "Yes, I am."

Aurum observed the interaction between the two. She still doesn't like the second prince. But after interacting with the King, the Queen, and the second princess, she must admit that he's probably different from them. At least, he obviously loved his mother.

"Can my Mum continue to stay here?" Winter asked.

"Sure. You can even visit," Argent said. "But you have to think of a way so your visit won't look suspicious. If you go here frequently, even if you ride a nondescript carriage, there's no way no one would notice."

"You can act as if you're visiting me. The King wanted you to get close to me, right? No one would suspect you of anything if you tell them you're here for me," Aurum interjected.

The two simultaneously looked at her.

Argent smiled. "Good idea."

"What?" Aurum snarled when the prince stayed silent. "Just think of this as my way of apologizing. I broke that defaro crystal you sent when we left here seven years ago. I kind of thought you have some sort of hidden agenda. I didn't want you to get close to my brother. So with this, we're square. Okay?"

Winter stared at Lady Aurum for a few seconds more before nodding. He didn't expect that she would actually admit what she did. "Okay, I guess." What else could he say? No matter his grievance, what she said was really a good idea. He then turned to the duke. "It looks like my debt to you just kept getting bigger and bigger."

"You can pay in full once you become the king," the duke simply said, as if that was the most natural course of event.

"Yes, I think I will do just that," Winter said. "Thank you, Argent," he followed, saying the duke's name for the very first time.