It took Elys and Aleksander several days on end to reach the Eastern borders by foot. Noa was searching for them far and wide, and it had been very difficult with the werewolves always tailing them.
The effort to stay hidden was a struggled collaboration with Aleksander’s illusions and the Northern women’s knack for sending their enemies unconscious with one blow to a vital body part.
Mostly it was to the back of the neck or to the gut, but at times they resorted to other under the belt blows especially with men.
Trackers were sent to them, even animals trained solely to capture and bring them back for questioning and judgement. To Queen Euphemia’s dismay, they always managed to escape and were able to reach the borders after five days of a wild goose chase.
The only moment that forced them to actually fight was when they reached the actual borders and a werewolf had been on guard.
Ten days later, Elys and Aleksander, with Cordelia dragging poor old Henry, were finally able to return to the Western Kingdom.
"Are we just going to barge in like nothing ever happened?" Elys asked, "I am sure that your father must have heard of Prince Dominick’s death by now."
"Let’s gather news about what happened while we were away first," Aleksander said as they snatched away garments to change into.
With hooded cloaks, the four of them blended in on the outskirts of the Western Kingdom’s towns. It was a bit further away from the capital but still close enough to reach the manor in less than a day.
They entered a pub that was run by a human blood servant who gave out ’extra services’ to her previous employers. She amassed a fortune out of such services, and ended up buying her freedom and establishing a pub for humans.
Using the emblem that Aleksander hated but still kept for convenience, they ordered a hearty meal that was practically a feast. Elys, Cordelia, and Henry dug in ravenously. They had been deprived of great meals since they ventured out of Eastern territories and back to the West.
Monsters and their meat were basically unedible, and the Western territory outside the capital and surrounding towns were underdeveloped quarrying towns.
Aleksander had controlled the amount of blood he drank from Elys too, as she herself needed more than just nuts and wild mushrooms to recover the blood he took from her.
"Have you heard from the king lately?" a guy asked from the table across them.
"I have a hunch something is amiss the castle," another whispered, "Ever since the Eastern Kingdom sent the severed head of the crown prince, King Raxus and Queen Zephyrine had locked themselves up in the castle and are denying audience even to nobilities."
"Perhaps the King has killed himself out of grief," another snickered. "He being crazy and all."
"Shush! Knights might hear you!" the first guy snapped as he jabbed at his piece of meat.
"Serves them right," the man scoffed.
Elys and Aleksander exchanged looks. It was evident from the whispers of the crowd that after his half-brother’s death, things were definitely not the same around the capital and the castle.
"Eat, and then we will make our way back to the manor," Aleksander said as he noticed Elys had stopped eating and had been focused on eavesdropping for further details.
"Right," she replied, "I should eat."
The princess returned to her food, but Aleksander knew she was still focused on the men that continued to gossip about the capital’s activity. It also seemed like the nobilities were uneasy of the King and Queen’s absence.
"Last night was supposedly a great celebration with the full moon," someone from another table gushed at her date. "The King and Queen always attended and gave their speeches and thanks to the blessing of the moon. Word is they weren’t there."
"Hanya, you should stop speaking about that now," the man in front of the lady turned a wary eye towards Aleksander’s table. "We might have vampires in our midst."
"Oh, silly," the woman continued, "no vampire would ever come here except those lowly commoners with practically no magical affinities. As long as all of us band together, we are safe."
"I warned you woman," the man said, his face wary of his surroundings, "it won’t be my fault if you end up dead if they hear you."
The lady grimaced and threw water at her date’s face, "You are such a bore, Yosei. We’re done, get out and go home."
After Elys and the rest were done, they went out of the pub and Henry tried to bribe a man to get each of them horses in less than thirty minutes.
"Look, bud, if you can’t pay me then I don’t think that emblem will help you," the man said with a sluggish tone that hinted on him possibly being slightly drunk. "No royalty ever comes to this part of town, you hoax."
Aleksander took of his hood and grabbed the man by his collar, "You will get us horses unless you want to experience hell."
Immediately recognizing the bastard prince, the man pissed himself and begged for forgiveness.
"P-Please spare me, y-your highness," the man said as he groveled when Aleksander let him go. "I-I-I will find you horses! Please wait here."
The man scurried away with his wet pants and returned after exactly thirty minutes with only two horses. He looked absolutely terrified, and by the time he reached Aleksander, the man went to his knees and begged for his life yet again.
"Stand up," Elys said, "this will do. Thank you for your service."
Aleksander didn’t let his chance slip, and for precaution, showed the man a short vision to threaten him if he ever spoke about seeing the bastard prince back. This time around, a foul smell came from behind him and Aleksander scrunched his nose in disgust.
After the tiny vision, the drunk man immediately ran away, kicking dust as he put in as much distance his feet could possibly take him away from the prince.
Aleksander was sure the man wasn’t going to say a word or even think about it – unless maybe if he wanted to get skinned alive while Aleksander drank his trickling blood.