The prince was surprisingly gracious, stopping at Madam Wagner's so Benjamin could retrieve his medical bag. During the ride there, the carriage was silent, but Benjamin noticed the Prince stealing glances at him whenever he thought he wasn't looking.

When they arrived, the front door was locked, but it swung open the second Benjamin knocked. Madam Wagner pulled him into a tight hug, her relief evident. She had clearly been waiting for his return. Benjamin, conscious of the Prince waiting for him, gently disentangled himself. He told her a friend was waiting and bid her a hurried goodnight before scurrying back to the carriage.

The final twenty-minute leg of the journey felt like a tactical interrogation. Charles sat across from him, his posture perfect, asking him one question after the next.

"How old are you, Doctor?"

"Twenty-six. I believe Your Highness is twenty-four?"

The Prince nodded in response to Benjamin's question, and replied with his own.

"Are you originally from Isadora? Your eyes are beautiful." Charles blinked, catching himself. "I meant unique," he added quickly, his voice dropping into a defensive, commanding tone to cover the slip.

Benjamin shifted uncomfortably. He didn't know how to handle the Prince's compliments handed to him sternly.

"Well, I've lived here since I was a child," Benjamin explained. "But I've been away for a long time—studying, teaching, working."

"Where were you before you moved here?"

"My parents actually met in Isadora. My father is from Zephyr and my mother from Xenos. They eventually settled in Zephyr, where I was born, but we moved back here when I was four."

"Have you served in the Zephyr military yet? Is that not a requirement?" Charles asked.

The question made Benjamin's stomach churn. Zephyrian law was strict: four years of service was mandatory for all citizens.

"Oh, I haven't had a chance to serve," Benjamin said, reaching up to rub the back of his neck nervously. "Since I've been away for so long..."

He hated discussing his roots for this very reason. To a Zephyrian, a person who hadn't served was often viewed with disdain or suspicion. Surprisingly, the Prince didn't seem to mind. He simply moved on to the next line of questioning as they pulled up to Benjamin's home.

"You live quite far from the city center, Doctor. How do you usually get around?"

"I don't go to the city often unless it's required. I usually call for a carriage, or I use my bicycle."

Charles stepped out of the carriage first, his keen eyes sweeping over the property. The house was large, situated on a substantial plot of land that was carefully fenced off. From the front gate, Charles could see the property line extending far into the darkness of the trees.

"Do you live alone?" Charles asked.

"I live with my parents."

"I see. Well, I should be off." Charles turned toward the carriage door, then paused, pivoting back with a look of sudden realization. "Doctor, is this not the same address you gave for the clinic?"

Benjamin froze. I never intended for you to know I live above my workplace. I don't want to be involved with you a second longer than necessary.

"Ah, yes," he chuckled nervously. "I forgot to mention that I converted the bottom floor into a small clinic."

"Interesting," Charles said. "Good night, Doctor." 

Charles turned and vanished into the carriage, which rumbled off into the night shortly after.

Benjamin stood at the gate until he saw the carriage disappear. "I need to send a message out now," he muttered. "What a pain. How did this happen? What an absolute mess."

Only after he had reported the incident, he remembered the attendants at the mansion, and hoped they would return safely.

** ** ** ** ** **

The next morning, immediately upon returning to his office, Charles requested a comprehensive background report on Benjamin Nystrom.

That afternoon, Calix and Felix Hunter returned to the palace with the report in hand. They were soldiers of the First Guards and they were also a part of the five guards who were a part of Charles's inner circle. But, their bond went much deeper than duty. 

The Hunter family had served Isadoran royalty for generations, and the twins had grown up alongside Charles, becoming his closest friends and most trusted confidants.

"Charles, this is the report." Felix said, handing over a slender file with a puzzled expression.

Charles opened the folder. He found only a single sheet of paper. The report, dated five years ago, was almost blank. It included Benjamin's full name, birth date, birth place, and "Orphan" was written where a lineage should be. His secondary gender was listed as Unknown. 

"He has an AA license," Charles noted, his eyes narrowing at the medical license number. "You wouldn't expect that. He's far too young."

"We saw that too," Felix said. "It takes years of experience to even apply. He must be pretty bright." 

While local licenses started with prefixes like IS (Isadora), XE (Xenos), ZE (Zephyr), AR (Arcadia) and were valid for ten years, AA licenses from the Andromedus Medical Authority, the foremost medical body in the empire, were rare. They allowed one to practice anywhere in the empire and were valid for only five years.

Charles flipped to the travel log. It noted Benjamin's exit to Xenos twelve years ago and his return to Isadora this year. The twelve years in between, the years that should have contained his doctorate, his residency and work experience, were missing.

"Why is there only one page to this report? Where's the rest?" Charles asked, flipping the paper over to search for additional text, but finding only a blank page. "Did you contact the Imperial Censor Division to verify this report?"

"I did," Felix said, his frustration evident. "According to them, his entire record is marked as A.O.T." 

An A.O.T., an Act of Tempest. Legally, it was an "act of god," a designation used when records were accidentally destroyed due to unforeseen circumstances and incidents.
 
"They were incredibly dismissive," Felix continued. "They claimed Benjamin was part of a batch of AA applicants whose files were caught in a climatic event upon return of the original records. They couldn't tell us where or when. They just said previous records couldn't be retrieved. The records were also noted to be insignificant."

"Something is definitely fishy," Calix chimed in. "We checked the Imperial Archives for backups of their records or a disaster log. They have no backups of the records and no disaster log."

Charles leaned back. "To lose a batch of files for AA applicants and not document the disaster? In this day and age, it's unheard of. That's definitely not some accident."

Such a loss might occur once in a while to a single, stray file, especially when the transport of original documentation was required. But, to have a batch of records, especially of those with high-credentials, vanish without a single disaster log to report the incident was unheard of.

"I think we should cross-reference the other A.O.T. files from that period," Charles said, his mind already working through the logistics. "If we narrow the search to doctors who were applying for or renewing an AA license that year, we might find out what's going on."

"AA licenses are rare enough that we'd only be looking at a hundred or so records for that time frame," Felix noted, though his expression remained wary. "The difficulty is the access. We would have to petition the Andromedus Medical Authority directly. The AMA is quite bureaucratic. A request like this could take weeks."

"Then let's get to it," Charles replied firmly. "If a formal written request is required, I'll sign it."

"Charles," Calix warned, "if we push the AMA, we're stepping past Isadoran jurisdiction and straight into the Empire's. Are you certain you want to get involved in something like that?"

Charles leaned forward, his brows furrowed in deep thought. "Let's see if we can even get our foot in the door first."