“I need your help again, my friend...” he said before letting out a long sigh.
It wasn’t rare for the prince to give me a call and he was right when he said that we are friends. While taking Anthony’s place over the years, I’ve had a couple of opportunities to meet the crown prince. At first everything was very distant and formal between us; however, our relationship started to change when I suddenly received a mysterious invitation from the palace. What surprised me even more at the time was the fact that the invitation was addressed to me as ‘Bradon’ instead of to my younger brother.
I had always thought that I was good at impersonating my brother but it appeared that the crown prince was even more talented at telling people apart. Upon our meeting, he could tell that I wasn’t Anthony and my true identity turned up after some investigation. Instead of probing into the reasons why the Vulkan family had a hidden son that sometimes impersonated their only son, the crown prince was more interested in becoming friends with me and also in forming business connections that could benefit us both.
“What mess did you get into this time?” I asked, and it was my turn to heave a sigh.
“It’s not what you think. There’s some unrest here since news leaked that you’ve left the country,” the prince replied.
“I’ve been gone for less than a day...” I pointed out coldly.
“More than enough time for those guys to stir up trouble,” the prince pointed out.
“Tell me more,” I instructed before waiting patiently for the prince to give me some more details.
“The foreign traders that have snuck into the country want to orchestrate a huge trade that will go down tomorrow while taking the opportunity while you’re gone. You see, some news leaked out that you also brought some of your best men with you. Naturally, they saw this as a good opportunity to strike,” the prince explained.
I should have known that bringing a few of my top men was going to cause a stir. Then again, no one knew that I left because I had a honeymoon trip to attend in my brother’s place.
“Do you want me to head back to handle it?” I asked, although I had already guessed that this must have been the real purpose of his call.
“I don’t see any other way,” the prince replied in short.
I hated to admit it but heading back there to sort this out myself would be the easiest and fastest way. Keeping drugs from abroad from pouring into the country was one of the prince’s top agenda. Of course, being a benevolent prince was one of the reasons but it wasn’t the main reason. Having the supply of illegal drugs rushing into the country and being easily accessible to people of all classes would lead to a steep drop in the prices of these drugs and that would vastly impact the profit of the prince’s business.
As far as the prince was concerned, selling these substances to the upper class and nobles wasn’t a problem because they ‘don’t really do any work anyways’. On top of that, they had ample amounts of wealth to waste away. Feeding these drugs to the common people would cause big problems in society and the economy as a whole, which is why the prince has been working with me to ensure that the supply of these substances stays in strict control.
“It’s my fault that this happened. I’ll return right away to sort it out. The trade won’t happen,” I stated with confidence.
“Sorry for asking you to do this when you’re supposed to be having fun with your wife,” the prince said with mocking regret in his tone.
“If you’re really sorry, then you wouldn’t be asking me for help. Would you rather handle it yourself?” I asked sarcastically.
“I would love to but it’s a little difficult with my position as the crown prince,” the prince replied smoothly with the exact response that I had anticipated.
“I’m hanging up,” I stated coldly.
“Wait! You should invite your beautiful wife to have dinner with me. I’ve heard so much about her beauty lately and it seems like everyone has been captivated by her,” the prince said with clear excitement.
“I believe that you’ve seen Diana before and not so long ago,” I replied flatly.
“That’s true; however, it’s been years since I’ve last seen Dahlia in person...” the prince said and I could tell that he was smiling calculatingly without needing to see his face.
I let out a small chuckle when I realized that it was expected of the prince to figure out that Dahlia had taken Diana’s place. He wasn’t even trying to hide it and had boldly requested to see Dahlia. My eyes narrowed and I could feel myself feeling a little uneasy at the thought of the two of them meeting. I wasn’t sure why the prince had expressed such clear interest in Dahlia. Then again, there was always that possibility that he was doing this simply to irritate me.
“You’re not going to turn down my invitation are you?” the prince asked.
“It depends who you’re inviting,” I replied emotionlessly.
“I’m inviting you and your wife, of course...” he replied before letting out a laugh.
If he was inviting me simply as myself instead of as Anthony then...
I removed the phone from the side of my face and hung up the call without a second thought. If the invitation wasn’t a formal one, I had every right to turn it down.
...
Traveling back and forth was going to be a big hassle and also a big waste of time. Coming up with reasons that would appease everyone about my sudden need to take off in the middle of my honeymoon also felt annoyingly troublesome. After briefing Zain about the situation, I made the decision to leave him behind.
“Stay here, Zain,” I told him as I placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Is it because of the Lady?” Zain asked knowingly.
–To be continued...