Pretending To Be Gilead's Prince and Master Wizard

-THIRD PERSON-

At the castle….

Alex returned to the castle the moment he and Krisella were done spending their precious time together at the Christmas Carnival a while ago. As hard as it is, the lad tried to contain his joy and put on his usual nonchalant face when having to deal with castle guards and servants while entering the castle's premises.

And if he is being unlucky today, the first person Alex encounters is none other than Lancelot, whom he already had an idea on what kind of being this man is.

According to his research on his true identity, Lancelot over here is a fake priest and a level S wizard and graduate of Gilead Academy several years ago. Except for Alex and the prince, only Lancelot aced all the magic skills tests in his four-year stay in the academy.

Aside from that fact, Lancelot over here is also a level S dream walker, having that rare ability to walk into someone's dream and kill that person inside his head.

Now that he thinks about it, why does this guy have to undergo the trouble of pretending to be the city's archbishop when he can just kill the prince and steal the crown from him all this time? It's so hard to get into his head and decipher what he's been thinking all along even if he will use a mind-reading spell at the moment.

For all they know, it must have been a slip of his tongue before at the time when he blurts out about his experiences in the academy while he is currently a priest. For all they know, priests are prohibited to learn and use magic as part of their sacred oath to stay away from the affairs of the state. 

"Ah, Captain Alex! I've been searching everywhere for you," Lancelot says playfully and hunches his eyebrows. "Where have you been all this time?"

Nonchalantly, Alex replied, "You know where I always go when I am not here. I was in the headquarters, training novice wizards in the magic army."

Lancelot's mouth forms the letter 'o' before responding, "Oh, is that so? Margaret says earlier that she doesn't know where you are and so I've been worried."

That last part of his sentence immediately caught Alex's keen attention and so he asked as enthusiastically as he could, "Why would you be worried, Lancelot? It's not like I am lost or something."

Lancelot looked like someone he was taken aback by what this lad said and therefore barked an awkward laugh. "I was worried that the pie I've baked for you and Lucas would go cold without you tasting it."

Alex chuckles. "Is that so? Well then, I'll have a taste of your delicious pie once I am done with all my paperworks in the office."

"Alrighty. Whatever you say, captain."

After that brief conversation he had with the archbishop, Alex immediately excused himself and walked straight to his office. As soon as his back faced Lancelot, his fake smile disappeared almost instantly and was replaced with a frown on his lips.

"Nice act as always, Lancelot," he mumbled to himself and proceeded to go to his office.

By the time he arrived there, something had immediately caught his attention that made his eyebrows knitted together. He saw Lucas already sitting on his seat as his back was comfortably resting on his leather chair.

"And what do you think you're doing here?" Alex asked, frowning.

Lucas only chuckled with his initial reaction and said, "Grumpy as always, I see. Anyway, I'm only here to deliver you some great news that I'm sure you'll love to hear."

"And what would that be, hmm?"

Before saying it, Lucas looked to his left and right and cast a look at their surroundings to look for a possibility that someone might be listening to their conversation at the moment. Alex only rolled his eyes at what he is currently doing and nonchalantly activates a sound barrier inside this room for his satisfaction.

"There. Much better." Lucas pointed out happily. "Anyway, as what I'm saying earlier, I secretly visited the prince's chamber where the unconscious body of the prince was currently stored until the day of his burial on the 23rd."

By the mention of the prince, Alex's attention was suddenly piqued, and is now all ears to listen to what this lad is going to say at the moment.

"And have you discovered something, I assume?" Alex asked.

Lucas smiled widely and replied, "Yes, I have. And it is definitely worth risking my life for."

"What is it?"

"At first, I didn't believe what I saw. But then, I looked a bit closer at his fingers, and I saw that it's indeed moving-- barely. But still moving. Could it be…"

"That the prince is still-- alive?" Alex finished it for him, making Lucas frown instantly.

"Hey! I was just going to say that!"

Learning this new information now, Alex suddenly remembers the prince's diary and what does he mean by his last entry. He got this weird intuition that somehow, what really happened to him was somewhat recorded inside and there was a good explanation why the prince chose to hide it and even applied some magic to seal it from others.

I've got to check the prince's body for myself and try to reread his diary for some missed clues!

Finally making up his mind, Alex faced Lucas once more and said, "I have to see the body for myself." and immediately left his office without waiting for Lucas's response.

***

-KRISELLA-

The following day, I woke up in such a good mood with a smile on my lips. 

I may look like a retarded teenage girl who has completely lost her sanity because who would wake up with such a smile on their lips, right?

But since I had the most amazing dream ever last night involving me and Lance and our future together with kids and pets and things like that, you can't possibly blame me for smiling like this so early in the morning.

And speaking of that guy, me and the rest of the guys involved in the plan of taking down Lancelot and his goons on Christmas Day have all agreed to meet at the captain's house later in the afternoon when Alex suddenly called for an 'emergency meeting' out of nowhere through sending a telepathic message to each one of us.

I wonder what that important message he is going to relay to us though. But I was hoping that it's not something dreadful….