With their interests aligned, the reunion was over. The Amin and Laukkanen families went back to their rooms, while Mrs. Wa and her associates went back to their camping. Master Sybil, the prince and the princess stayed in the office.  

“How did it go with your brother?”, Master Sybil asked.  

“He still has two hours until the deadline. But we can check if he hasn’t already made a decision”. The princess signaled to me. “Naava, sent Aven to check on him”.  

“I also need to check about my sister. It has been a week, how is she going?”, the prince asked. 

“We did our best to make her unrecognizable, so even if the knights come looking for her, she wouldn’t get caught. But we don’t know if it’s our best option to keep that child here”. Master Sybil answered. “She is a big liability, and she doesn’t show any effort to keep up with her classes. Although she shows some potential using weapons, she has no intention of further developing her abilities. And I don’t believe we can extract any useful information from her”.  

“So, your conclusion is that we should let her go?”, prince Ewan asked her. 

“We might be able to keep her for one week or two, but if she can’t keep up with the others, or bring us something worthy, I don’t believe there is any reason for her to stay. Just by keeping her here, we are already going against the King. We are already doing too much against him, but everything we did we gained much more than we lost”.  

“She is my sister, and a part of me would like to keep her here, to protect her. But I must agree. Keeping her here may put all of us in danger. Maybe we can send her somewhere, like a monastery or a secluded city?”  

“Would she agree to that?”, the princess asked.  

“Probably not”, the prince answered. “But throwing her away isn’t the best option”.  

They tried to think about many options but didn’t come to any conclusion. While they discussed, Aven brought the signed contract. Prospectus duke Llywellyn Conwenna agreed to all the items without questioning. While they were discussing the future and how to use the contract, someone knocked on the door. I opened the door for a girl with black hair, preeminent cheeks and a pointy nose, with lots of freckles and dark brown eyes. Even her voice changed, but she was still princess Chara Argyris Scevola.  

“What are you doing here?”, the prince asked. 

“I need to talk to you. It’s something serious, may I come in?”, princess Chara asked.  

They called for tea and let her in. Although she was dressed as a maid, she behaved like a royal. She sat down and drank a cup before talking.  

“I know how much I’m asking for by staying here, and that I’m a liability for you all. I can’t carry my own weight, and I may not be showing as much effort as I should”. The princess started.  

“Were you listening to our conversation?”, Ewan asked.  

“Maybe. You know what they say – the walls have ears”.  

Sybil looked at her, interested. It was the look she used for all the kids she took in.  

“We could talk later about how she heard those things. If you are here is because you have something valuable”. Princess Astrea interfered.  

“Thank you, sister”. Princess Chara smiled. “I’m not sure how valuable what I said is, but I know what the walls in the royal palace whisper about. I’m much younger than all my siblings, and many of you have already left me before I was born. But the walls and the books keep terrible memories of our past. Many of them are about the little boys that father takes to his room”. She waited for a few seconds, observing the public reaction before going back. “Our family is proud of maintaining only a legitimate lineage, to avoid battles for power with many illegitimate heirs. But, as they would say, men have many compulsions, and one woman isn’t enough to keep them in check. To keep only one lineage, they invited little boys to their beds. Kids that looked feminine enough to be treated like women, but masculine enough not to have kids. That has been going on for generations, but father is probably the worst. He would invite many boys to his bed every night, and when they got old enough their balls would be removed so they would look pretty for a longer time. 

“All those kids were gathered from poor regions of the country and pushed in this direction from early childhood. They arrived there at the age of five or six and waited to be taken by someone to warm their beds. You left home as a small kid, but the king gifted one of the sex-slave-boys to Andrian and Attiko when they were thirteen or fourteen, maybe younger. The butlers say Attiko is even worse than father, that he has many feral orgies. They even suspect he might has killed some of them in his sadistic sessions. His favorites are the really young ones, ten or eleven years old. Old enough to be his own children. The servants are doing their best to keep it a secret, and the King threatens to kill anyone who leeks any kind of information.  

“Even Andrian, who was always sweet, kept one of those child-slaves by his side. He was much more polite than Attiko, and used the same child every time, prohibiting anyone from taking him. But, one day the child disappeared. Rumors say that Andrian was obsessed with the boy, and knowing he would have to leave him behind when he left the palace, the prince preferred to kill the kid than seeing him be taking by someone else”. She looked at everyone and refilled her teacup. “I hope this is good enough to guarantee my place here”.  

She recounted the facts in a cold tone, but her hands were shaking, and if I concentrated, I could hear her breathing get heavier and her heart erratic and loud. It isn’t easy to talk about this. I looked at the others face. It hid a disgust that was palpable, and understandable.  

“Do you have any proof of it?”, prince Ewan asked after a few seconds. 

“There are some papers on the palace, and many witnesses among the older servants”.  

“And I believe you didn’t see any of those things first-hand". The princess questioned. 

“I saw the king sending young servants to Attiko’s room every time he visited; normally three or four at a time. I avoided the walls of his room those times, but I still heard the sounds when I went close. The king’s room is out of my reach, but once a week I saw the kids being taken there. They always use secret passages, but I know the castle better than anyone. I was incredible lonely as a child. I found the place where the kids stay, but...”, she paused and took a sip of tea. She almost dropped all the content, her hands trembling too much. “They might just burn it with the kids inside if they find out someone knows. They did it before. And no one there knows they are working for the royal family, so they can’t bear witness”. She stopped once more. “And the kids that came back from their rooms, especially Attiko’s room, they were barely alive. I saw them in the cabin, after they went back. Many had broken limbs, pulled hairs, dislocated jaws and bleeding...”. A solitary tear fell from her eyes. She quickly cleaned it, as if it never existed. “They were bleeding a lot, mainly from that part”. 

She didn’t need to say which part it was, or even gesticulate. We all knew what she was talking about.  

“We can’t go directly against the second prince and the king”. The prince tried to distance himself from the story and from the people in it. He had seen a lot, clearly; he was the only one still talking in the room. Princess Astrea and master Sybil were quiet, rethinking everything that happened that night and forming a plan about how to deal with it. “And all the information you have about the first prince is second-hand. Correct?” 

“Unfortunately, yes”.  

The prince stayed quiet for a while, staring at a random point in the room. I could see the gears in his brain working.  

“Sybil”, he called, “Could I borrow Helena for a few weeks?”  

“Hmmm...”, she said, deep in thought, “You want to investigate the first prince?” 

“Yes. This may be able to destroy some reputations, showing how morally corrupted the royals are. Some families will just brush over it, but others, like the Rhydderch and Abasteciani, that consider themselves the bastions of morality, won’t ignore it. And, right now, we really need Rhydderch support, don’t we?” The prince answered. “We can investigate them for a while, try to find some clues. I am sorry, sister, but the testimony of a runaway princess is not enough to convince them; and if we let you be a whistleblower, there is no way to keep you safe”.  

His past as a grand general showed clearly at this moment, in this terrible nightmare, he could keep his head level and find a way to keep everyone safe. His relationship with his sister wasn’t the best, still he wanted to protect her, and instead of just using her he decided to find a way to secure her freedom and well-being. And, as he talked, he caressed his wife’s hand to calm her. 

“But I can stay, right?” she asked, still trembling from the story she told.  

“Yes, you can stay. But you better take your classes seriously. If you want to stay alive, you must fight. I believe that is not the only information you have; if you found a way to listen to our reunion earlier, I can only imagine what you heard in the palace. As a lady, you are under your father’s, the king’s, tutelage until you get married. Even if you wanted to bear witness to any of the wrongdoings you saw, you couldn’t. Your word is valuable here, it allows us to investigate and find the necessary proofs. But outside, it is nothing but baseless rumors. Still, others might want to use that knowledge of yours as much as we do. And, as soon as the royals catch up to it, they will hunt you down. When that time comes, you’ll need to find a way to defend yourself. If you don’t, there’s no way to predict what will happen to you”.  

“I understand”, princess Chara answered.  

“We may analyze what options we have for your future. You don’t want to marry the man father chose, but does it mean you don’t want to marry at all? At this moment, a political marriage may be a good choice, even if it’s only to get away from father’s guardianship. That way, he can’t take you back by force”, the prince said. 

“I don’t want to get married to someone much older than me just to fulfill some role. I’m not fit to be someone’s wife, and it isn’t in my plans to create a family with some stranger, being under his wing and unable to say no to his peculiar requests”. She emphasized the world peculiar. The only examples of men she had in her life were her father and brother. It made sense to fear what other men may do to her.  

“Well, you can have a contractual marriage, just for appearances. Both of you use it only to get what you need, and you can establish the exact terms in which your marriage will develop. You don’t need to decide that right now. But if some day you realize that would be a good option, we will make a list of people we know. Anyway, your place is safe now, and you shall rest. I’ll call Aimi to take you to your room”. 

When the maid, Aimi, arrived, he asked her to give her some good tea with milk to help her sleep. And that she could go to class a little later the next day. After she left, the prince got some paper and ink.  

“If this goes well, might be able to get the Rhydderch support. We will have two of the three generals, if we include Vilhjálmr. That leaves us Novak Crnčević, the third general. One of my companions is now a lieutenant general under him, Hamdija Hodžic. In the last years, he developed a good relationship with the general, and he is a prospectus Count for the Hodžic House. He is stationed on the frontier with Zemlya in the middle of a campaign, so we may have to wait a few weeks before we have any answer; and even if he decides to meet, it will take him almost a month to come here. I hope that will be enough time for us to solve everything with house Rhydderch”.  

After the prince’s reassurance, they felt more optimistic about their plans and kept going forward. The next morning, prospectus duke Llywellyn was freed from his confinement; princess Astrea and marquise Cerys walked around the property with him, showing the fields and introducing him to the personnel. They had a brief meeting with Wa Yuexi and Naade Kayode, discussed about the formation of the committee that would regulate the research facility. Llywellyn was not totally satisfied with it, and people looked at him with distrust. Master Sybil sent two of Helena’s apprentices, Perseus and Achilles, to follow him and guarantee that he wouldn’t betray us. 

Helena and three assistants - Castor, Orithyia and Hemithea – were dispatched to Hodža, where the first prince was living. For five weeks they sent letters. The first prince was working under an alias as a professor in Hodžic Academy. His subject was magical objects, the history of magic in the Old Continent and magical technology. Supposedly, he was living in Casa Autunno, the Scevola House near the academy; however, he would rarely be there. The butlers and maids said that he spent the night in the city, probably with some strange woman. However, he had a small cabin on the outskirts of Hodža. There, he lived with his apprentice, Ethan, and a butler, Auryn Rhys. Ethan is, most probably, the rumored son of Andrin, although he was not formally registered in the house tree. They tried to find the butler’s background, but there was nothing about Auryn Rhys before he became Andrin’s butler.  

A month passed fast. The Amin family and the Moonrise Caravan departed to the north. Llywellyn sent to the Conwenna House Council the document asking for the duke’s interdiction, the next week they will vote. The research on magical plants is almost complete. Master Sybil established an accord with Mileva Ateljević, the young inventor, and got in contact with the Kovač family to grant her entrance into the mines. The Count, master Sybil’s father, was a little reluctant in the beginning, as most of the family was against it. After analyzing some of the youngster projects, they agreed to it.  

On the same day the Conwenna House Council decided to interdict Fursey Conwenna and declare Llywellyn Conwenna the new duke – of course, the process would still take a while -, Hemithea arrived with a letter from prince Andrin. He wanted to talk with prince Ewan face to face and was arriving in three days to do so.