Peace Offering To The Cursed Prince

Royal palace Sham. 

The four kings had agreed to take an oath to serve the prince two days ago in the secret room of Venums Royal palace. No matter what the kings wanted to keep their kingdoms safe. 

None of the kings understood why prince Sébastien had made them take an oat in his name instead of Avalo but they did. Since the oath was with him, it means it will break off should anything happen to him. 

Prince Sébastien wanted to leave his mother and Jeffrey to handle everything but the Queen will not hear of it. She insisted that he stay back and take care of everything himself before leaving. 

Two days ago when he had gotten the news from One that his sunshine had been slapped by Queen Regina. So much that her face turned red. He had wanted to go over immediately and cut off the arm but he stopped himself.

"your majesty. We receive news that the young prince of Phrygia had traveled to Bozoa today. It was confirmed that he left with a very low profile but our spies managed to follow him," Jeffery reported.

"The young prince is the son of one of the king's wives, who is a sister to King George," Jeffery continues to explain when he saw that the prince has no response.

"prepare fifteen thousand no, make it twenty thousand men, they will journey to Bozoa at the first light of tomorrow morning. I want the rest sent to venums to protect Mother. Ensure to leave a few spies everywhere. At midnight, We would leave for Bozao," prince Sébastien said after a short pause.

" yes your highness, " Jeffery understand what the prince was trying to do. Prince Sébastien and the twenty will arrive at Bozao before the Army.

Since Bozao was now a friend of Avalo it will be wrong to have an Army accompany him. Then the Army will arrive later in the day and camp in the closet wood to Bozoa. 

"I will have Eight and Two prepare and lead the Army tomorrow. I will have Seven be your mother's guards to ensure her safety," Jeffery shared his plans with the prince.

"Go get Ready," prince Sébastien did not have a problem with his arrangement. He just wanted to go to Bozao and see his sunshine.

He just wanted an excuse to go to Bozoa. When he had insisted on going to Bozoa after he found out what happened to the princess two days ago, Jeffrey had managed to stop him by remaining him that his love for the princess must be kept secret to keep her safe. 

Now that he had a real reason to visit Bozoa, he was happy. If the prince of Phrygia was visiting, it will definitely have something to do with the war, besides everybody around the twelve kingdoms was now aware of the king's death and his brother seizing the throne. 

One would have expected prince Sébastien to hurry up and return to Avalo to claim his seat but he did not. If he goes to Avalo and becomes the king, then it will become impossible for him to accompany his sunshine in Bozoa and he did not want that. 

Moreover, he still wanted to see the book collection Bozoa has of the men across the sea. Furthermore, he did not want to use one Avalo Army to kill another because he wanted to seat on the throne.

Jeffrey, on the other hand, went to find his brothers. Eight and the three men who saw the prince's face a few days ago were trying hard to tell their brothers the details. 

It has been a few days but they had all been busy,  Sham was the last kingdom that they visited. Because of the fourth prince of Avalo loyalty to his kingdom, dealing with this kingdom was easy and prince Sébastien especially rewarded the fourth prince. 

From henceforth, he could take five percent of the tax that Sham paid to Avalo. To a kingdom this five percent was not much but to a neglected prince, his life had finally turned out for good. Prince Sébastien even gave him a few hundred men to protect him.

These men would have been a burden for him to keep but after having five percent off from the tax, he could comfort take care of himself and his family.

Five years ago his wife had pressured him to behave like his brothers after all the king give them large amounts of gold for being on their side but those brothers died and prince Sébastien exiled their family. He promised to find trouble with any kingdom that houses them. This lead their friends to collect money together and put them on a boat. 

To think that they would die or become servants where ever they were settling. The wife of the fourth prince could not help but show off to her friends who used to mock her behind her back. 

She had heard them say she was unlucky to have been married to the dumbest prince from Avalo but who is dumb now? With her husband's new power, every other lady in the noble court would have to speak to her with respect. Even the Queen will not dare go overboard when dealing with her.

"stop gossiping and get ready, we leave for Bozao at midnight," Jeffery told his brothers. He did not sound nice when he spoke to them. He has acted as the prince's body doubler for more than ten years but when the man opened his mask he was not even there to see what he look like.

This made him very jealous, he should be the first to see what the crown prince looks like. These brothers of his will not stop talking about the prince's looks. He hated being ignorant the most and so he was happy to put an end to the conversation.

The journey to Bozoa from Sham is a journey that should take at least two days. If one was riding without taking a rest. If one had to rest at night then it will take three days. 

Prince Sébastien could not wait two days, so he had decided to use a shortcut called the forbidden forest. Legend had it that this forest is what joined and separated the twelve kingdoms. In a few hours, one could journey from one kingdom to another as against days or even a full week but those who have tried to use this tunnel never returned to tell the story, so people generally avoid it and they did rather ride around it, or take the longest road. 

What was the use of a shortcut, if it will not lead one to his distinction in the end? So one could imagine the puzzled look on the twenty faces when the prince declared that as their root. 

They were currently seventeen of them including Jeffery, since the other four assigned other tasks.

"Why? There was no war and they could not understand why the prince was desperate to reach Bozoa at breakfast the next morning.

If he really wanted to take the shortcut, then he should go with an Army of twenty thousand so they will have enough defense. 

"was the prince so desperate to get rid of them?" They wondered if they have done something to irritate him.