At the Ellion family household, things are still normal... Or so everyone thought it is.
"WHAAAAT?!"
The second son, Noctyrus, stood up from his seat right after hearing the news from their third brother, Simbeon.
Currently, the family head along with his sons, generals of the army, are sitting in the main hall and having an emergency meeting.
"Simbeon, can you repeat what you just said right now?"
The one who spoke is the current head of the family, the legendary general of the Ellion Army and sworn brother of the Winsterein Kingdom's old Emperor, Arcyl Ellion.
"F-father, I was told that the third prince is on his way to meet Ceres."
The third prince is Ceres' childhood friend. Everyone was aware how the third prince is close to Ceres. Even though he was older than her and that she was a good for nothing, he still meets her whenever he can. Nobody bothered with their friendship since he was just the third prince. He will never have any chance to have the crown anyway. But suddenly, his fate changed when he turned 10 years old. An elder from Heaven's Peak told His majesty that the third prince possesses a talent beyond anyone's imagination. He was then accepted as a disciple of Heaven's Peak and on his first year, ranked second on the list of newcomers. This was also the reason why he never saw Ceres for a long time. He had to go and train leaving her behind all by herself.
"This is going to be a headache."
Knitting his brows, Arcyl thinks of a way to get rid of their problem. Just when everyone is thinking of what to do, the first son and soon to be family head, spoke.
"Since we can never let him meet Ceres, let's just say that Ceres went to some faraway place to live in secrecy. He wouldn't push this issue that far if we make it known that an unknown master helped Ceres because she was nearly assassinated."
"What are you planning, Dotrald?"
It was again Arcyl who asked his first son.
"We will spread some gossip to the public that Ceres was nearly assassinated. All of us know that because of our very own status and position as well as the battles we've fought, we have a lot of enemies. These enemies tried to kill Ceres and luckily, she was saved by a master whose background we cannot reveal. This master also told us that Ceres can live with him for some time and will return when the time is right. This would save us the time to explain to her brother if he will also look for her as well as the time to look more on her... Death."
Arcyl coughed twice before reminding his sons,
"Ceres is not dead. We will find out where she is and whoever laid their hands on her will be taken care of by me."
Noctyrus laid back on his seat and said,
"Since we will be conducting an investigation on Ceres, we also have to find an excuse for everyone about her situation. And, first brother, do you think your plan will be bought by everyone? More importantly, that brother of hers would go on a rampage knowing she's gone and we don't have any means to contact her."
Only then did Dotrald smile.
"Rest assured father and brothers, I have planned this way ahead of you."
"Who would have thought that Ceres would suddenly disappear without any trace and suddenly a corpse with her things showed at the borders? We must investigate this properly and this will be our priority. Even though she's not exceptional, she is still my granddaughter and the beloved daughter of my fifth son."
This statement of Arcyl made the rest of his sons feel bitter. The fifth son, Ceres' father, is named Ceraph and Arcyl's favorite son. Ceraph is the most talented general among the siblings and has contributed a lot for the kingdom's peace and land expansions. Who would have thought that he would be killed in a fight nine years ago?
What Arcyl knew was that Ceres disappeared one day. Three days after, the family received a letter stating that a burnt corpse was found near the city's border with Ceres' belongings. This includes the family's crest for identity. He immediately went to see the crime scene and verified the belongings as well as the crest. He knew something was off and he didn't believe it was Ceres' corpse. He immediately launched an investigation but until today, there were no updates or even clues.
News about this was immediately cut off by Dotrald so that nobody aside from the Ellion family will know about the incident.
"Well, well, well, no need to thank me if everything goes well because this is impossible without fourth brother's help. Right, Lonwarlt?"
The ever silent fourth son finally spoke.
"I have no interest except in medicines and poisons."
"My father and dear brothers, I asked Lonwarlt to make a medicine which could alter someone's appearance. He is nearing its completion. Soon, we will just need to find someone who will be the next Ceres and this would solve all our problems for the mean time. We will just need someone to replace Ceres for the time being while the investigations are still going. And it's not that hard to find someone so useless like her, am I right?"
Arcyl didn't want to go with Dotrald's plans but if worst comes to worst, he said that they will use it. Only, they have to inform him about the medicine and the subject and that, not until he gave the go signal, no one should proceed according to that plan. He was still distressed about Ceres and lately his headaches became so frequent that he also had problems sleeping. He didn't want to stay for long and he knew that his sons would take care of the third prince. When he was about to stand up and bid goodbye to his sons, Dotrald made a request.
"Father, I request of you to speak highly of my daughter, Beatrice. We all know that she is suited for the third prince. She has also showed to me that she adores the third prince."
Beatrice is the only daughter of Dotrald. She excels in magic and was accepted in Heaven's Peak. She is also included in the top ranking of disciples in their school but aside from that, she is also known as a fan of the third prince. Due to the closeness of the Ellion family to the royal family, many believed that Beatrice is suited for the third prince and their relationship could bring more prosperity for the kingdom as the Ellion family holds part of the military powers of the kingdom which is also the highest position.
"You are going to request that we arrange a marriage for Beatrice and the third prince?"
"If it could be done, this son of yours would very much be grateful and serve with all loyalty to this household."
Arcyl's lips eyes twitched at that statement. Nevertheless, he didn't voiced his displeasure.
"Since Beatrice likes the third prince, I will look into it. However, this would only be possible if the third prince is also willing. As a matter of fact, I don't want to join the power struggle by marrying any of our women into the royal family. You all know that other households will make a move and do anything to prevent us from getting more than what we have today. Our family only holds the highest military position in the kingdom. Getting more than that will not be wise."
The Ellion family is powerful because they hold a large part of the military powers in the entire kingdom. Arcyl is an old man who doesn't like meddling with political affairs and thus, decided to settle with being the military affairs minister while three of his sons were generals of the kingdom. Old houses know that they shouldn't easily meddle with the politics. Everyone didn't mind Ceres being close to the third prince not until the third prince became the favorite son of the king. Still, almost everyone thought that Ceres is not fit to have any romantic relationship with the prince so she really wasn't considered a hindrance. Arcyl, of course, knew this. But he was still already planning on how to make Ceres stay away from the third prince as far as possible because he doesn't want Ceres and their family to get involved in any political struggle. Then all of a sudden, Dotrald brought up the topic about wanting to marry Beatrice to the third prince, he knew that his son is up to no good but he still wouldn't directly say no.
When everyone finally came to a conclusion, they went on with their respective work. Only, Dotrald went to see his brother, Lonwarlt.
"My dear fourth brother, I told everyone that your medicine is near completion. Remember, it is supposed to be like that or else, you know what will happen."
"Iunderstand. Don't rush things like this or you'll eventually harm yourself,first brother." -tbc
A/N: (As of March 11, 2018) I'm editing chapters to pave way for new ones. I really want to split myself into several parts just so I could finish posting edited chapters. ;A;