The life of a Haughty Prince

Most of the nobles were gazing at the paper with sweat on their brow. As the king said, this was indeed intimidating, a single symbol of their country alone was weighing on them like a mountain was placed at all their backs.

The King looking at all the nervous nobles in silence only sighed and cleared his throat again.

"Ahem….don't panic, my lords, it is only but a message send by an earl of their region."

Hearing the king's words, the nobles finally took a breath, as it seems, it wasn't what they all imagined (like a letter for their submission), and even though an earl of their region was powerful in many ways than their own. They were glad, it wasn't from their Dukes and viscounts. If it were them. The pressure would truly be immense on their middle-tier country.

"ahem.. ahem, so what does it say, my king?" lord Ousirish asked.

"As I said, it is only but a message, a notice to be more accurate, and some requests along the lines. Most of you already know, the rumors about Xandar. This notice now clears all the suspicions. You all may open it and see for yourself."

They all opened with their files with Jospeh and Bela also doing the same. Whispering and discussing their thoughts on the subject of the rumors and after reading the file. Most of their suspicions finally came true.

"A civil war!!" one of the viscounts bellowed.

The sound of their discussion intensified as what was revealed to them all. As Xandar was a neighboring country for them, of course, they would hear some form of rumors if something happened there and not to mention it was an upper-tier country itself.

Joseph was not even caring about the situation in hand as his eyes were already dousing in his sleep and so did Bela who just threw back the file on the table after giving it a read.

"I got more things to handle than this nonsense, hmm... if it really turned into a civil war, I could… profit from selling weapons and potions but let's see.."

Atlas wanted to ask for the file from her but refrained from doing so. He didn't want to attract attention, for now, the suspicions that the king himself knows he was also here was still lingering in his thoughts.

"So the civil war may come soon but not confirmed huh." Said one of the viscounts.

"The conflict occurring between King Henry and Queen Elizabeth is indeed true, this document already proves that but why give us information about their conflict?" Ousirish asked.

"Yes, why message us? We can't neither help nor reinforce them in any form, our military is nothing compares to theirs' so what is this notice for, your majesty?" another viscount said.

"Yes, you are right, my lords. It is certain that we can't help them in any way and in actuality, they are not.

What they need from us is not military support but to actually search for someone."

Another round of discussion played around the table, noises of surprise and uncertainty echoing around the meeting hall.

"Who could be the person they are searching for, that even the nobles of Xandar are forced to ask for help?" one of the nobles asked in curiosity.

Not just him, all of them, even Joseph and Bela herself seemed a bit more interested than before.

'It would be me, I guess.' He thought with a sign.

He knew the day would eventually come. Xandar indeed was a powerhouse, with many nobles, and royalties holding the lineage of the peak-tier bloodline. Their reach, vast and clear. Adjoining kingdoms and other countries feared and respected the Xander kingdom but what all of them feared the most was the 'Don' bloodline flowing through every royal ever born.

It was said that humanity's bloodline power dwindled as time passed but the 'Don' bloodline remained strong as ever and even got stronger as their lineage would always give birth to monster-like geniuses.

Even King Henry who was dubbed the 'lightning' itself spoke volumes. Being one of the rare individuals to manipulate a second stage element already proving to its contiguous people that may they be an ally or an enemy, do not mess with Xandar.

King Bruce, tapped his ring and different colors of light started to come out trying to mix and combine to form a human-shaped being.

Bela, Joseph, and all the nobles gazed at the light form in anticipation, waiting to fully look at the actual image of the one who nobles of the one and only Xandar kingdom were searching for.

The silver-white hair started to form from the top, slowly clearing the actual images, and then came his forehead, then the enchanting eyes, nose, and his cute lips and the rest of his shoulder.

"A child!!"

"What!!"

"I don't understand…."

…..

...

…..

….

Another round of discussion came out but Bruce didn't let it be, slamming his hand on the table.

Bang!!

"Silence!!!"

All the nobles were silenced right away, the voice of their king still echoing on their ears.

"You may think he may be just a child but look at him clearly. Who do you think he resembles."

All the silenced nobles clearly gazed at the boy again. The innocent child, who looked like he was six or seven years old. His charm and beauty overflowing, even from just a projection catching everyone's eyes.

"....son of Queen Elizabeth, the warrior maiden??" Joseph suddenly said.

"Yes, Mr. Joseph is indeed right. He is the one and only 'prince' of Xander and undeniably the only son of both King Joseph and Queen Elizabeth themselves. Are we clear?"

"Hoooo!!!!"

"ohh!!!"

…

….

…..

All of them were still surprised and shocked that both of them had a child and oh so charming one at that. Some women among the nobles were still staring at the projection like there was no end. Their eyes glowing with a feeling to at least take the child to themselves.

Not just them, even Bela herself was staring at the projection without even a single Blink.

"You all may not know, cause they had kept their child hidden from everyone's eyes, with personal reasons which we are not told as of now. He is given the name Atlas Don Roxwell, A child of five years of age. He may seem a bit older but he is indeed a five-year-old child. And we have a search request for him all around our kingdom from today." King Henry bellowed.

"Why? Did someone dare to kidnap a prince, a prince of Xandar nonetheless? Who would do such a thing?"

"…it must be the people of All-Father. Only his men are capable of such atrocity."

…..

..

….

"Silence!!!... "The king ordered again, taking out another file from his storage ring.

"From the documents now in front of me. It is said that the prince wasn't kidnapped but something else entirely. The file which I am holding briefed that the prince was manipulated by certain individuals to be used as a key to dethroning the current king. So in rage, King Henry locked his son and all the convicts.

But after some time, the father tried to convince his innocent five-year-old son out of their convolution, but the prince never did and in the end, ran away from the kingdom with the other traitors like his maid who is dubbed Anny."

He said, taking out a simple projection of a blond blue-eyed girl in a maid outfit.

Everyone was surprised by the sudden revelation but mostly, Atlas himself was surprised to see his personal maid evicted in such a way.

'Damn you father, you have really done it, haven't you? Pulling out a makeup story to blame a five-year-old child in a way that fitted your needs. Me? manipulated? Fuck off….and grinding poor Anny along the way. haa....

If they are also searching for Anny, that means she's also out of Xandar or she is trying to escape. Looking at the report on the 'civil war', things might be escalating as Mother and others have planned, but why is Anny left out. Wait! Don't tell me...is she searching for me?

Dammit!! I said to not search for me but…. they didn't listen did they?'

He wanted to complain more about them but, a smile slowly erected at the end of his lips. He didn't want to deny it but, he missed them a lot and if somehow he could meet Anny. The thought made his heart soft all of a sudden.

He knew it would hinder the plan as she would have been a great asset to his mother but one part of him also wanted to meet Anny even if it was only for a second.

"so, what will you do, King Bruce?" Bela suddenly asked, attracting all the attention. Her simple words and presence alone gained the pin-drop silence that the king himself never could.

"What do you mean, Ms. Bela?" Bruce asked.

"Oh come on, you already know what I mean, if you accept the request, you will be siding with the king Henry himself, and if you don't..."

"I will be siding with Queen Elizabeth? Is that what you are trying to say, Ms. Bela?"

"Indeed, so which one will you pick? One way or another. The only one will reign supreme, 'If' their inner conflict truly transpires." Bela said.

"I already decided."

"oh! That's quick, then do tell all your subjects and me, King Bruce, I hope you choose wisely…"

"haa.....yes, it is inevitable that a side should be chosen wisely as they are a powerful neighboring country. If I took a side and they lost in the war. Our country, our kingdom will eventually see its doom."

All the nobles felt their throat dry, some started drinking more and more glasses of water. Some just stood still, some extremely nervous to a point that they were unconsciously taping their foot, discerning what would the king eventually choose. All their lives and their family were in their king's hands so of course most of them would be nervous to the extreme.

"We will be siding with….."

*****

Thank you for reading! The next chapter is free on patr eon (https://www.patr eon.com/Highelder), eight chapters beyond that for three dollars, and many more for five dollars (five-chapter release a week at this tier).

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