Chapter 121: Friends’ Talk

Chapter 121: Friends’ TalkOriana bowed. "Greetings, Your Highness."

"Who is wasting time? I was just trying to know this brave servant of yours," Arthur replied and then looked at Oriana. "I am Arthur Clarence, your master’s good friend."

She kept her head lowered. "Glad to meet you, Lord Clarence. I am Orian, His Highness’s primary attendant."

"If you won’t come upstairs this very instance, I will throw you out of the window. I am sure the House of Clarence will love to see their son crippled," Arlan’s voice once more reached them before the prince turned to leave. His blue eyes clearly showed displeasure.

Arthur didn’t feel threatened. Instead, he shrugged his shoulders."Always empty threats."

He patted Oriana’s shoulder. "Anyway, last night was fantastic, Orian. You are already quite famous in our circle. I’d love to chat more but I have to go before your crazy master loses his brain entirely. He seemed to be already on edge."

Oriana wondered what he meant, but Arthur was already on his way.

’On edge?’ She recalled the way Arlan looked so serious when she looked up at him just now. ’Is he in a bad mood today? Who offended him? Or was it because of last night?’

Feeling puzzled, she walked downstairs and went to the dining hall of the servant quarters. She felt embarrassed to see the other servants working, some of them since early morning. She expected to get displeased gazes from them but no one looked at her like that. Instead, she realized they offered her smiles and nods whenever their gazes met.

’What’s happening?’

When she went to the empty dining hall, a passing manservant who was part of the kitchen staff came to her. "Try that smoked red snapper. It’s the best dish of the day."

"Ah, thank you."

He then helped her get the remaining food from the pots on her plate.

"We got to know what happened last night at the ball," the servant said as he raised two thumbs up. "You did well. That Young Lord of Milton deserves it."

Oriana didn’t know what to say and simply lowered her head to eat. A hint of a smile appeared on her face. Maybe it was because the smoked dish was indeed well-made, but she felt today’s morning meal was particularly delicious.

Meanwhile, inside the study of the Crown Prince.

Arthur entered the study and saw his friend drinking tea behind his desk.

"Woke up from the wrong side of the bed, Cromwell?" Arthur said as he put the scrolls in his hand on the mahogany table.

Arlan leaned back in the chair and looked at him. "Did you take care of it?"

"Do I have any other choice? To spend my night slaving for you instead of sleeping with a beautiful maiden in my arms."

Arlan ignored him and picked up one of the newly brought scrolls. Arthur sat in the chair opposite to him, his green eyes observing the prince’s solemn face.

"Should we go to the royal hunting grounds after this?"

"I’m busy."

"How about inviting that famous minstrel from the South for a song or two? We can have a small banquet, just us boys—"

"I’m busy."

"Why are you like this again, Cromwell?" Arthur playfully snatched the scroll from Arlan’s hand, which the prince snatched back just as easily. "You are always like this. When you are with boring people, you are the social butterfly, but when you are in the palace, you act like the same boring old fart. Do you have two personalities or something? Do you get possessed by a ghost with a grudge to be this serious and scary here?"

"This is called maturity. There is time for work and time for play. We have so many entertainment places in the capital. Drag those guys who have free time with you. I’m really busy."

"Tsk, I heard you met with King Drayce during your brother’s wedding. I bet you annoyed him to no end. He gets to see your funny side, while I’m here stuck with the boring—oh, apologies, the mature Crown Prince."

"Well, it is enjoyable to tease Dray."

"Oh yeah, only you can cause a crack on his cold face."

The pair of friends then shared knowing grins, but Arlan’s next words broke the good atmosphere.

"You will be serving this Crown Prince till the end of your life so get used to it."

"Yes, Your Highness." Arthur exaggerated a bow. "This friend, no, this loyal subject will serve you well till the end of his life." He watched as Arlan read the second document. "I dug up some pretty useful documents for you since I know you didn’t like what happened last night."

"They should know their limits," Arlan replied "Walter Milton is clean, but Wallace Milton is associated with bribery and stealing part of the tax which was meant to be in the royal treasury. Nothing new you found." He threw the scroll on the table and picked up another one.

"Why are you so impatient instead of looking through all of the information?" Arthur raised a brow. "You are acting strange. Is that servant so important to you that you can’t wait to get your hands on those Miltons?"

"That Walter Milton touched my possession."

The grip of Arlan’s hand tightened on the scroll, almost scrunching it. It reminded him of Oriana’s groans of pain last night. Though he could not see her, he could still imagine the bruises on her body from being kicked by the Count. Just earlier, despite the distance between them on the staircase, he still caught sight of her swollen cheek.

"I got my answer, all right, calm down," Arthur commented as he noticed Arlan’s reaction, the way his hands gripped that scroll, his clenched jaw and that murderous intent in his eyes.

"That brave lad seems more important than I thought," Arthur mumbled and said, "Don’t ruin that scroll. I won’t be bringing a new one for you. Do not increase my aide’s work."

It brought Arlan back to his senses and he read through the scroll.