"My lord! We've been given an assignment!"
The voice sounded urgent, breathless and loud.
It was also familiar to him. It was the voice of Captain Jason Barrow, commander of the royal guards and his most trusted subordinate.
Jason approached leaning slightly towards the door to catch his breath.
"Speak." Ethan didn't mind how casual Jason was as they were close, but he really throws etiquette out the door most times.
"His Majesty wants us to go undercover again. We are to visit Hasen. There's a mission to recover wealth gotten by debauchery among the nobles and elites of the city." Jason said delivering his message.
"..." Ethan was calm with just a blank look on his face.
The name Hansen was quite familiar to him now, beyond that of being just a state. He remembered the last two missions, the lavish mansions that were smelled of rare scented candles, hidden vaults, silk-clad nobles who wept and begged when their ill-gotten fortunes were stripped away.
He had walked through those gilded halls and wondering how many commoners had starved so that one lord could afford a chandelier made of crystal from the Eastern Isles. It made his blood boil and heat rise from his chest to his temples.
The captain hesitated uncertain about the prince's reaction "Do you not want to go?"
"Wrong," Ethan replied calmly as he stood up, keeping his hands loosely beside him and turning his back against Jason to look outside the window of his study.
The window had a great view of the palace garden.
Prince Ethan was tall, he had a little imposing build, and there was a quiet gravity, a stillness that made people listen to him. His dark hair was swept back from his forehead, and his eyes, the same deep grey as his father's, held a weariness that belied his twenty-two years.
"I'm just disappointed. This is the third report from the same city. If we keep recovering wealth without fixing the root, it will happen again. There must be something else." He said trying to figure it out.
He back towards Jason, patting his back slowly. "I'll speak with my father first."
"Understood, Prince Ethan. I'll take my leave, my lord."
"Yes, you may go now Jason."
Jason bowed and retreated down the hallway, now with discipline that clearly lacked the urgency and casual entrance he had at the beginning.
Ethan walked toward the door, but halfway through the hallway, he stopped. The wide palace windows stretched across the wall, showing the horizon beyond the capital.
The afternoon sun poured through the vast arched windows, reflecting long golden lights across the floor, the capital sprawled in elegant chaos—spires and rooftops, winding streets, the distant glimmer of the Royal Canal. Everything looked peaceful.
'This is all I have to do for now.' Ethan thought as he sighed quietly. 'Dad always hands me the things he's too busy to do himself.'
Still… he didn't hate it. He was the prince of Veridia after all. He understood the weight his father carried as King. He ruled Veridia for thirty years, shielding the people, providing for them, weathering rebellions, famine, staged coups and wars.
Trusting his son with smaller battles was not neglect but training and guidance.
It meant his father trusted him, would support him and believes in him.
'So much for a low-key rest today.'
As he approached the study, a loud voice echoed from inside.
"This has got to stop. No more. I will hear no more of this!" Ethan froze, he knew that voice. It was his father's, but not the gentle and warm version that called him 'my boy' over breakfast. It was a rare version, cold and absolute.
The voice of a king filled with fury, it could make a normal man tremble
" I order you to stop this instant and get lost. You just lost your value and you've come pleading for redemption? I spared you after you crossed the line and you think you can do that again? Since you won't add value to the kingdom I order you to leave now, while i decide your punishment." King's voice rolled like thunder.
Ethan was shocked. He had never heard his father speak to anyone in that manner.
"Yes, my King." Another voice answered quietly.
Slow footsteps echoed, slow l, heavy and resistant. Almost like whoever it was had more to say but choose otherwise.
Ethan moved quickly, slipping into a hidden compartment in the wall. The secret space closed silently behind him. Through the narrow opening, he watched as the man stepped out.
He only caught a glimpse of a tall man with a rigid posture and shadowed face as he walked away.
Ethan stepped out after the hallway went quiet. 'What was that about…?'
He pushed the study door open.
"My lord."
"My son, don't be formal," King Charles replied immediately, a warm smile replacing the earlier fury.
"Dad."
The king chuckled, trying to ease the atmosphere and mask his emotions.
"What are you here for, my boy? I thought you'd be preparing to go to Hasen. Do you have a request?"
He gestured toward the chair opposite him.
"Sit."
Ethan sat down.
"I have a feeling you already know why I'm here."
King Charles poured jasmine tea into a porcelain cup and placed it before him.
"If it's what we're both thinking, then handle it the way you see fit. Don't be formal." He paused for a moment his eyes softening. "Have tea with your dad before you leave," the king added gently. "How are you?"
"Great. School starts next week though… so this has to end this week. Permanently."
The king nodded slowly to show his understanding. No more band aids or slapping the wrists and calling it justice. Hansen needs to be burned out by the roots.
"Hasen again." The king murmured.
"Yes."
Silence settled between them.
"Any ideas, dad?"
King Charles leaned back slightly for a moment he wore nothing but the look of an exhausted father. He looked like he held a lot to consider.
"I do."
Ethan leaned forward, forgetting the tea for a moment, "I'm all ears."
" The nobles in Hansen aren't just greedy, they seem connected and protected by nobility Ethan. If you go in blindly you will be cleaning their mess again but if you find the source..." the king let the sentence hang for a while.
" you want me to find the traitor?"
" I want you to find the truth. And when you do__"