"Audreya…?" Vivia stared at Finnian blankly. "How is that possible? She was abducted, yes, but for a completely different reason. Lady Claudia's husband, Raffert and…" she glanced at Judith, "Lady Priscilla is behind her disappearance! To stop her from proving her guilt in her friend's murder!"
No…no, no, no! Audreya cannot be taken away for…
The mere thought alone sent chills across her spine. Suddenly, she didn't know which was worse - Priscilla or this unknown enemy?
"H-How can you be so certain?" She took a shaky breath.
Finnian said, "I'm not saying she couldn't have been abducted for some other reason, but if your search for her led you here - in this underwater cave - then yes, her disappearance fits the intention I just mentioned."
"But this cave doesn't look like it has been used in years, nor did we encounter any hostile forces."
"We haven't figured that part out yet."
"We?" Vivia blinked.
"Am I thinking of the same person?" Judith's eyes narrowed.
"Same person?"
"The one who sent me to guard the baby princess."
Vivia's brow twitched at that. Yet, she chose to ignore her tone.
"The one who sent you…Mother?"
Judith frowned. "No."
Her eyes went wide. "Who else would send you then?"
"That stupidly overprotective and doting elder brother of yours - Aeren Emberlain. Who else?"
—
"Your Highness!"
Aeren stopped and half-turned towards the voice.
Priscilla came hurrying over, slightly breathless. Her eyes brightened the moment they met his. "Are you going somewhere? May I come along?"
He stared at her, thoughful. "Sure."
She beamed, her happiness knowing no bounds.
"You should inform sister-in-law."
"Sister will be fine! I don't need her permission," she harrumphed.
"Yet you do need her protection."
"Huh?" She looked confused.
His gaze betrayed no emotion. "Nothing."
The carriage was waiting at the palace's entrance. Priscilla hopped in cheerfully and slightly adjusted the locks of her hair behind her ear.
"It's so sad that Clairette can't leave the palace freely like we can. Though she accused me unfairly, I didn't want His Majesty to be so harsh with her," she pursed her lips.
Aeren rested his chin loosely against his fingers. "Hm."
"She must be feeling terribly lonely, isn't she?"
"Maybe."
That was how largely Aeren's perfunctory responses were for most part of the ride as Priscilla continued chattering.
"Where are we going? Is it an important meeting? But don't those people usually come to the palace?"
"You'll see."
—
The carriage stopped before the gates of a certain villa. The atmosphere took a sudden drop to gloom. Priscilla barely managed a question before they were already being escorted inside.
Priscilla whispered. "Pr-Prince Aeren, why are we at Lady Melissa's house?"
"Because she's forbidden from coming to the palace," he replied without much emotion.
Her fists clenched.
Why would a royal prince bother to meet a fallen lady!?
"But…" She glanced to the left and gasped. "Ah!"
A woman wearing a black veil appeared before them like a ghost - or least Priscilla thought so about her sudden, haunted entrance.
Melissa settled with a quiet poise. "What brings His Highness to my humble home?"
Humble home? Everything is so dark and suffocating here! Her expression twisted.
"I'd like your divination to guide my path."
Huh? Divination? Prince Aeren likes his fortune to be read?
Melissa's severe gaze fixed at him. "As I've conveyed this to the prince countless times in the past, I don't do divination. I see divine dreams at times. I'm simply a medium."
"But those dreams led you to study divination."
"...I'm a novice at best."
"That's perfectly alright."
Priscilla inwardly frowned with distaste.
Even if Prince Aeren wanted divination, why come to Lady Melissa? There are plenty of diviners in Emberlain! Why come to this criminal family? Priscilla gnashed her jaw.
"Ahh!!"
She jolted at the sudden appearance of a young man, his face also veiled, who had seemingly materialized just as silently as Melissa had. A quiet air of melancholy hung about him.
What is wrong with these people!
Melissa whispered something into the young man's ear, to which he gave a small nod. A few minutes later, he returned qith two leaves placed atop a delicate pillow.
Melissa offered one leaf to Aeren. "Please write your question on this leaf. This is a leaf from the Aetherios Tree. When I cast a spell and hold it to a flame, it'll change its color - one that will hint at what lies ahead."
She glanced at Priscilla. "Would Lady Priscilla like to do it as well?"
She didn't - but in front of Aeren, she didn't want to be seen as dismissive.
"Of course."
"The questions must remain private. Please write yours without the other seeing."
Aeren took his leaf and wrote down his question. Priscilla tried to get a look and couldn't. She rolled her eyes inwardly. Still for the sake of appearances, she wrote, 'When will I marry Prince Aeren?'
Melissa collected both leaves, read them without expression, and set her gaze briefly between the two of them. She took Aeren's leaf first and held it in both hands. She closed her eyes, letting the essence of the question settle. Then she brought the leaf close to the candle's flame. A flicker caught, then bloomed. The orange flame changed - turning a vivid, climbing red.
"This is a warning, Your Highness," Melissa stared at him dead in the eye, "Do not try to seek what you're wishing for. Red signifies danger."
Aeren's countenance didn't take a single hit despite the abysmal result. "Mhm. Only danger. But not impossibility. That's good enough for me."
"You don't understand."
"A member of the royal family cannot really avoid danger, now can he?"
"If that's how His Highness chooses to see it."
Though we've known each other for a long time, he's still the Emberlain prince! Don't be so disrespectful! Priscilla hated her arrogance.
Melissa took Priscilla's leaf next and repeated the same process. The result was starkly different this time. The flame went out and the leaf color faded to brown.
"Why did my flame die out?" Priscilla frowned.
Melissa remained quiet for a moment. "A flame dying out…signifies a shortened life."
She froze.
"Brown is the color after a leaf has lived its life. It represents the return to the soil."
Her heart hammered against her chest as if she was dropped from the sky. A similar divination from one of the diviners she had met before had warned her about a similar future.
But that witch is dead! I killed her! So h-how can this divination return!?
She glared at Melissa. "Such insolence! I'm the Blessed, have you forgotten!? You are divining about my death?"
"I'm simply stating what I see."
"Lies! You don't know a thing about divination! You're just fooling His Highness and me," she gritted her teeth. "You'll be punished for this!"
No, no! This can't be right! That witch is dead, and only I'm the divine Blessed in Emberlain! I cannot die!
But somewhere in the corner of her heart, Clairette's face flashed in her mind. The miracle in Nethermoor and the few instances she had seen her dance was etched in her mind.
"I'm leaving this wretched place! What else could be expected from a criminal family!?"
She stormed out without another word or a backward glance at Aeren. Silence settled in the air.
"Apologies for her rudeness."
"Anyone would be shaken by a divination like that. However, you aren't."
"Must I be worried?"
Her dark eyes met him intently from behind her veil. "Peril is very close to you, Your Highness, whether it's you or…your sister. I suggest you siblings don't venture into the unknown you aren't meant to."