The Royal Contract

The Grand Palace was buzzing with activity. All the Council members were summoned to an emergency session called by the Council head, Duke Frederick. King Edward was also invited to attend the assembly.

But the royal staff were clueless about the reason for the urgency. After all, the wedding ceremony had just been concluded. The organizers and the staff were not even finished clearing all the remnants of the celebration.

"Prince Edward, I think you should see this." His personal assistant, with a confused expression, rushed inside his office. He only stopped when he was at his side.

He handed the papers he had printed for his perusal. He watched his boss check the document with a blank expression at first. It would show him some figures he had discovered in his personal account.

When his eyes reached the questionable data, his eyebrows raised in inquiry. It would seem that the prince also had no idea of the source of the mysterious transaction.

"What is the meaning of this, Vince?" Edward asked his assistant, perplexed with the sudden influx in his personal account.

It was quite a considerable amount of money in his bank statement. He had no clue who would arrange a fund transfer and for what purpose since he did not make any personal arrangements lately.

"I have no idea yet, Sir. I decided to ask you first if you knew about this before I checked with our finance expert and the bank." Vince informed his boss.

It was not unusual for his boss to have large transactions. But he usually informed him about it beforehand or even arranged it for him. Therefore, he was surprised to see this without prior notice.

"There is more, Sir." Vince turned to the next page. He showed him several transactions that he had red-flagged. Anomalous numbers that did not make sense to him.

It was still large amounts of cash going out of his finances this time. Those figures were not familiar. At the same time, he did not remember his boss issuing payouts, especially that kind of amount.

He could only think of one possible answer to these suspicious dealings. Someone must have hacked the account of the prince and made those dubious entries.

"Are you sure you have no knowledge of who might be doing this?" He dropped the papers on the table, staring directly into the eyes of his assistant. 

Although Edward had no reason to doubt his loyalty to him, in his experience, even the most loyal people could be bought for a price. Besides, he knew that Vince was as cunning as him.

If he was using him to do his bidding without questions asked, Vince was also only after the enormous payment he was giving him. He was not under any impression that he served for his pleasure without waiting for anything in return.

"Of course, your highness." Vince quickly denied any involvement in the anomaly. "Let me see what I can find out about this." He offered since it was the only thing he could do to clear his name.

He could see the doubt in his boss's eyes. He did have access to his many accounts, but he would not do this. It was too transparent and possibly traceable.

He quickly returned to his position outside of his office, leaving his boss in his own thoughts. He knew his boss had many enemies, especially since he was the future king. 

"Where did you come from?" He mumbled to himself as he examined the papers again.

He had many enemies who would want a chance to take him down. One of them was his cousin, but he would not use this tactic. He was too honest for his own good to do this to him.

He doubted that Nick was responsible for this. He could not see why he would go to such trouble. Why would he send him money in his personal account when Nick just sent him an enormous return from his investment in his company.

"Excuse me, Sir." Vince mildly knocked on his door before entering again. "The Council representative is here to see you, Sir." He gestured to the visitor to enter the office chamber once the prince gave his signal. 

"Your highness." The man greeted the prince and handed an envelope addressed to him with the seal of the Council head. Without another word, he bowed and left when dismissed by the prince.

He had no idea of what the content of the letter was. Only the prince could break the seal. He had never once seen the inside of those kinds of envelopes. 

Once the prince had read its content, he quickly burned it into ashes, leaving no remnants of the written message from the Council. The same thing happened to all the letters from the king himself.

He always believed it was old school, but technology could easily be hacked. Only trusted people could touch the envelope and only deliver it into the hands of the intended recipient, no one else.

"Close the door on your way out," Edward told his assistant as he broke the seal and removed the paper out of the envelope.

He was being summoned to the Council Chambers immediately for an emergency session. An urgent incident had come to their attention and needed everyone's presence to resolve the matter.

His immediate attendance was required. There was no room for any excuses, which meant that the meeting was a serious matter. He could only wonder what the issue was. 

However, he had not heard anything out of the ordinary from Vince. He would be the first to know if there was activity inside the palace or around the kingdom. Aside from spotting a few Council members, Vince had not said much.

"Vince, cancel all my meetings for this morning. I have to go somewhere." He held the paper in his hands, and with a lighter, he burned it to ashes on the ashtray on his table. 

"Yes, Sir." Vince already knew that he was not going with him to this meeting. When it came to important matters involving the kingdom, no one else was invited to join.

"Continue checking on those documents." Reminding Vince of his assignment. He grabbed his phone and walked out of the room.

He walked to several guarded hallways towards the designated location written on the letter. Meeting at the Council Chambers reminded him that this meeting was being done in secrecy. 

Therefore, it could only mean one thing, he thought. The subject matter was a sensitive issue. His father must be coming too if that was the case.

Finally, he arrived outside the said room with two uniformed men guarding the door. "Your highness, you may proceed inside." One of them opened the door for him, announcing his presence to the occupants of the room.

He could see that all the Council members were already in their respective places. His uncle sat on the other end of the table. The rest were situated on the sides of the long rectangular wooden surface.

"Edward, why don't you sit down." His father said once he saw him. He indicated the vacant chair at his side by the other end of the table.

"What is this all about?" He voiced out his curiosity, seeing the grave faces of the people around him.

It would not be the first time he would attend this meeting, but it appeared that this was different from his previous experience.. He just realized the gravity of the situation hence the secrecy behind the secret chambers.