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Micah looked about the ballroom to see where his brother had disappeared off to.

Initially, when he saw Luca sitting in a far-off corner by himself and stuffing his face, Micah felt disappointed. He had hoped that by now Luca would have realized the benefits of attending such events, the food aside.

Not that he would ever lecture Luca on how he ought to live his life. Such a lecture could easily backfire and cause Luca to rebel once again, like three months back.

And now that Luca had awakened, I certainly don't want to risk coming across overbearing ever again. I can only lead by example.

These royal balls and other large parties served as a natural way of interacting with individuals Micah might not have otherwise had a good excuse to bump into and connect with, given his family's background. Not that he didn't fabricate advantageous situations to meet those he needed as well. However, there was a certain level of elegant efficiency to such events, being able to connect with so many in a short period of time.

Of course, the prep work beforehand always takes the longest.

Micah sipped his champagne and gazed about the room at the attending guests. His eyes immediately picked up on the four targets he planned to converse with later this evening.

Thus earlier, when he saw Kathy, the Poison Maker sit across from Luca and make an exchange of some sort with his brother, he felt relieved to see that Luca was indeed taking advantage of the ball after all.

But just where did he disappear to now?

Micah whisked Julius to come over.

"Have you seen where Luca has gone?" Micah asked.

Julius nodded his head.

"He went out to one of the private lounges on the west end," Julius replied.

"With whom?" Micah asked.

During social events such as this ball, rooms within the palace were set up into private lounges, serving diverse purposes. Some guests used them as an escape to fool around without prying eyes. Others used them to discuss discrete business dealings, much like Mother was doing currently. And yet others utilized them as a way to get away and rest.

"It was Prince Chase Daylan," Julius replied.

Micah raised a brow.

Perhaps I was underestimating how much Luca had grown if he's already meeting with royal members of other nations.

Micah had maintained communications with several of the Daylan princes and princesses, all vying to topple one another in their struggle for the throne their mother would eventually leave. He even helped the second prince quite significantly the month prior.

But Chase Daylan? The fifteenth and youngest child of Queen Yadana Daylan?

Of all the Daylan royals, Prince Chase never caught Micah's interest.

For one, he was the youngest, and thus by the Daylan Dynasty's ascension laws, he was dead last, with fourteen still living siblings to beat out. Therefore, Micah saw little point in backing him to ascend the throne.

However, even though he was dead last, he had one of the most prominent targets on his back, provided by none other than his siblings. There was significant money to be made for a successful assassination of the young royal, and yet Micah never found the job of interest either. It was simply too much trouble to bother wasting resources on the matter. Of all the Daylan royals, no one was more closely guarded against assassination attempts than Chase Daylan because he had the backing of the Paragons of Rahosm Temple.

And then there's the dubious prophecy. But perhaps there was some merit to it if Luca is bothering with him?

The prophecy was why Chase Daylan was wanted dead by so many and why the temple so zealously protected him. Half a century back, one of the Paragons of Rahosm Temple's oracles proclaimed that a saint would appear above a sacred Daylan lake and bear a golden child that would lead believers into a new era of prosperity.

Or so one of the interpretations went. The oracle was exceedingly intoxicated when he made this prophecy to a group of equally drunk members of the temple. No one remembered exactly what the man said, and neither could the oracle recall, given how he died of an overdose the next day.

The iffy prophecy was forgotten, but then some twenty-plus years back, a strange man really did appear above the sacred lake, seemingly out of nowhere. The Paragons of Rahosm Temple, a relic of the past, dug up this prophecy to explain his appearance and renew people's faith in them. Intrigued, Queen Yadana Daylan instantly took him on as a concubine.

It didn't even take a week for the man to get killed off.

However, Queen Yadana Daylan managed to produce a child in that little time, who was none other than Chase Daylan.

"Micah, dear." Evelyn appeared and slid her arm into his. "This is still a ball, and it's about time people started dancing. As the crown princess, I must lead the first dance."

The mana-embedded bangles on her thin wrist clinked together, a reminder of the precautions she was taking regarding potential threats to her life.

"Very well, let us dance," Micah said, leading them to the ballroom's center. The guests moved to the sides of the room to allow the first dance to begin.

DUN-DUNNNN~

The musicians began playing a new tune, starting with a bang and getting everyone's attention on the dancing couple.

"Luca apparently went to meet with Chase Daylan," Micah said, moving Evelyn to the music. "I don't suppose you know something of interest about him that I don't?"

Evelyn smiled radiantly, not at the question, but for the performance's sake, now that everyone's eyes were on them.

"Oh, I do," she replied smugly, twirling away and back to Micah.

"But you won't tell me?" Micah asked, putting on a brilliant performative smile of his own.

Evelyn continued to simply smile.

"Ah, it's one of your royal runic seals, is it?" Micah guessed.

When Evelyn had begun to take over her ill father's work, she had to obtain a runic seal that allowed her access to Adovoria's royal secrets. The seal worked both ways, allowing her to access the records while also placing a restriction on her ability to share them.

"What can you tell me about him?" Micah asked.

If Luca is meeting with him, clearly, there's more to Chase Daylan than the unimpressive accounts I've heard about him.

The Paragons of Rahosm Temple had seen to it that no outside forces could easily get to Chase, as they had gotten to his father. He was, after all, their long-awaited prophesied Golden Saint. Believers across the continent, especially within the Daylan Dynasty, had great expectations about what Chase would accomplish.

Yet, despite these great expectations, Chase Daylan had not proven himself unique in any way in the last twenty-one years. He lacked the charisma one might expect from a holy leader or a Daylan royal. He didn't have any spectacular and noteworthy talents either, despite having access to some of the best teachers and scholars of the continent. As far as Micah could tell, Chase Daylan was but a puppet mascot that the Paragons of Rahosm Temple paraded about the continent to obtain more gold donations from its gullible followers.

And for this third reason, Micah never previously saw a reason to bother with the youngest Daylan prince.

"Well, I can tell you that if hosting Prince Enon Daylan was a pain, it's nothing compared to hosting the Daylan Golden Saint," Evelyn replied.

Her words didn't match the radiant smile on her face.

Enon Daylan was trash like no other when he visited Adovoria half a year ago.

The Daylan Dynasty was the most powerful nation on the continent, with all other countries justifiably afraid of enacting its Queen's wrath. This meant that her children could parade about and do as they liked with little to no consequence. However, Enon Daylan had the most inflated ego of the lot and liked to wave the threat of complaining to his powerful mother any chance he got. As a result, he made entirely unreasonable demands while visiting the Adovorian capital, making diplomatic relations extremely difficult.

Thus the comparison of Chase to his older brother was concerning.

"What has Chase Daylan caused?" Micah asked. "I thought he was quite harmless, having been over-protected by the temple."

"Smile," Evelyn reminded him and arched one away from him and fluttered her fan to the music. "No need to get so upset. Chase hasn't caused any problems; he's kept to himself the entire visit until today. It's his entourage of believers that have been the issue."

Micah pulled her in and moved her around himself.

"Not only is it the official members from the Paragons of Rahosm Temple that I had to personally ensure that their Golden Saint would be safe and sound. But I had no idea just how many believers were within Adovoria," Eveyln explained.

There was one aspect in which Chase Daylan was exceptional. But Micah always deemed it a rather insignificant and fleeting trait, especially since the prince had no autonomy and did what the temple required.

"Calling them 'believers' is giving him too much credit," Micah replied. "I don't think belief has anything to do with his newly gained support."

Evelyn's red lips widened, and she let out a laugh.

"You are right. But do you know how much trouble I've had in swatting away ogling maids from Chase Daylan's quarters?" Evelyn said. "I could have completed reading a dozen newly proposed laws in the time I've wasted controlling the staff and apologizing to his holy entourage."

Micah perked up at this and again noticed how thin Evelyn's wrist felt.

Time was a resource Evelyn was desperately lacking as of late. Even eating all of her meals in a timely manner was something she would often forgo. With the King's deteriorating health, she was bearing nearly all of his official state duties alone while maintaining the illusion that nothing was amiss to avoid international troubles. It was a delicate and demanding balancing act. She didn't show it, but he knew how exhausting it was.

"I even placed him in the most secluded part of the palace, and yet the servants kept finding excuses to go clean the floors or rearrange the flowers there," she said. "And don't get me started on the gardeners. Even those off for the day came in to tend to the hedges."

"That does sound troublesome. Do you want me to help take care of that for you?" Micah offered.

"Oh, most certainly not." Evelyn thwacked him lightly with her fan and fluttered it back open over herself to the music. "You went a tad overboard with the last Daylan prince issue I had."

However, she winked, clearly not too upset about Micah having gone a 'tad overboard.'

"You can't keep doing all of the work on your own, though," Micah said, pulling her in close. "Your father had two ministers help with what you are currently doing by yourself."

"I know, but I don't have a choice," Evelyn replied. "My sister's supporters would use any excuse to undermine my ability to rule Adovoria, even if it is detrimental to the country's health. They currently hold three out of five seats on the council that selects royal ministers, and you should have seen some of the idiots they've attempted to appoint my way."

"Does it have to be someone officially appointed?" Micah asked, twirling her out and back to him. The music was wafting into the final chorus.

Evelyn gave him a side-eye.

"It does," she said. "They'd need to receive the royal runic seal to understand some of the nuances. And when attending to matters of the state, I can't have someone not officially appointed review royal documents due to concerns about confidentiality. Doing so will only give those scumbags reason to question my ability to rule."

"Who is on that council exactly?" Micah asked, moving Eveyln around the ballroom, in a final round. "Specifically, the three that are supporters of your sister? I presume you had invited them tonight."

"Orange bow on the left, pink feather fan near the musicians, and the giant white beard on the right." Evelyn fluttered her fan in their direction as Micah moved her about the room to the music.

To Micah's amusement, the man with the white beard was already on his target list for another matter.

"Do you mind if I help handle this issue for you?" Micah offered, pulling Evelyn into a dramatic arched pose in the center of the room.

"Not at all," she replied, fluttering her fan outward as the musicians thundered the music dramatically to an end.

A brief silence followed before being overtaken by loud applause.

 

AlekAundra

Micah certainly has a way of handling issues... =^._.^=

 

Btw if you wish to read the next 4 chapters, I do have advanced chapters on Patreon.