Chapter 8

• Lance was passed worrying for the maid’s safety now, it was obvious she played him for a fool and he had been so stupid to trust her with something as huge as the rare diamonds he had entrusted to her, the driver was too shaken to have been lying and when he had questioned the people who worked with the maid, they all seem not to have anything good to say about her, in fact, they barely had anything to say about her except that she is always on her on and barely interact with them and aside for being very loyal to him, she just doesn’t give her other jobs in the palace much attention, it was hard to believe based of how he saw her be so diligent but many people can’t be lying on her when they don’t have anything to gain from it.
• “Your highness, the future queen is not happy that her request has been constantly ignored recently,”
• Patrick said as he walked into his chamber and Lance cursed under his breath, he was beginning to think he made a huge mistake by agreeing to wife the princess from the neighboring kingdom, she was obviously a spoilt brat who was used to getting everything she wanted, well, it was about damn time she is faced with the reality that he doesn’t answer to her and he had no reason to be running to her when she comes calling, if it were up to him, he would never be married to anyone especially not her, but he couldn’t, he needed the exposure and brand that she comes with, needed her kingdom’s comradeship too much.
• “What does she want this time? Why is she always not happy? Does she not know I have a kingdom to run? I don’t have time to be catering to her unending needs.”
• He let out, he had too much going on aside from the fact that he had practically handed over a priced and important piece of jewelry to a thief who is still missing, he still needed to deal with the military aspect of the kingdom as there have been some lapses recently, if not why is the woman still not caught? She shouldn’t be able to get out of the kingdom if the military is doing their jobs right and if she doesn’t have anyone helping her from the inside.
• “Your highness, your wedding party is soon, I believe that’s the reason the future queen is demanding to see you so often, I believe she wants to get to know you more, so if you will please make put time, I am this close to telling her to shove it or come tell you herself,”
• Patrick said and Lance glared at him.
• “Why not just tell her already, oh, except the part when she comes here, I don’t want no nagging female in my private area,”
• “Can you not help me just this once, I can’t even not pick up her calls because how dare I do that,”
• He said in frustration.
• “Well, I have no time to see her, besides, she can always relay whatever she wants to say to you and you can tell me, you are my right-hand man for a lot of reasons,”
• Lance said getting up, he had places he needed to be, had a kingdom to run, he wasn’t about to go be with a woman who doesn’t even know how a kingdom is run, all she knows how to do is host her little tea parties.
• “I didn’t sign up for the Lance, I am going to quit,”
• Patrick let out, calling out his name, it has been so long since Lance heard someone call out his name that hearing it felt so strange and unfamiliar., for Patrick to even think of calling his name, then he must be so tired of the princess nagging.
• “You Patrick must be really tired, you haven’t spoken out my name in years, so I will help you, arrange a meeting with her tomorrow, I can’t do that today,”
• He responded and he heard Patrick breathe out in relief.
• “I am sorry my king, I lost it for a moment,”
• “No, don’t apologize, I like you calling my name, no one does and I kind of forget that’s my name,”
• He let out in a bitter tone. Part of the things he had to give up when he agreed to become king was his normal life, even though he won’t change his mind if he was made to choose again, he still missed his old normal life, missed when Patrick was just his best friend, but it was okay, he gained a lot and Patrick might not treat him like he used to, but at least he was still here.
• “Your highness,”
• “Shut up Patrick, don’t ruin it, anyway, let’s talk about important issues, what’s the news?”
• He asked and Patrick quickly went to business mode again.
• “There is no news unfortunately but we are still working on it and there is no way she has left the kingdom because all entrances have been informed and she would be caught once she tries to leave,”
• He explained but Lance wasn’t satisfied, he couldn’t trust the same people who seem to have been corrupted.
• “Now, tell all security heads from the head of the military to the lowest form of security to come to see me, additionally, I want to speak with the driver that took her again, those diamonds are of too much value,”
• He added.
• “Yes, my king,”
• “What’s more, I need what I asked you to get for me the last time,”
• He announced, he has been slacking in that aspect and it was time to do the needful, some of the heads in the army and other security positions are people put there by his older brother and he couldn’t trust them anymore, there had been a recorded increase in illegal handling of alms that are labeled from the military, especially the military, he needed to fix it before it gets out of hand, he wanted all the bad eggs off, he has been monitoring a few and had asked Patrick to do a check on them.
• “Yes my king, I will send it to you this evening,”
• “Good, anything else?”
• He asked already ready to start the day.
• “Yes, your highness, might I say, you have a scheduled meeting with King Sebastian the second, and we can not reschedule,”
• Patrick reminded not that Lance has forgotten, he knew just how important the meeting was for the king, he needed to build the brand value of the kingdom more, expand on what they already had and build on what they are lacking, five years of hard work and he could say they have done a reasonable work but still, it wasn’t enough, there were still too many poor and average citizens which was worrying and Otano wasn’t even halfway in the global scene, he wanted them to be known and to be known in a good way as a striving and successful kingdom and he would achieve it even if it means he befriends and even marries people he doesn’t like, what matters is the kingdom is doing well, because the wellness of Otano equals his happiness too.
• “Yes, I know,”
• He said as Patrick’s phone rang, he excused himself to take the call, Lance watched as he spoke on the phone and watched his demo change quite a couple of times in less than two minutes.
• “What’s going on?”
• He asked as soon as he was done with the call.
• “The maiden,”
• He said and Lance’s interest kicked in immediately.
• “What about her? Has she been found? What about the diamonds?”
• He asked.
• “I can’t say if she has truly been found but I got the news that she is over there,”
• “Over where Patrick? Go straight to the point,”
• He commanded.
• “Yes, my king, I just got a call that the maiden might be at the punished queen’s home on the outskirts of the kingdom,”
• Patrick revealed and Lance felt his blood boil, he just hopes that wasn’t the case, because then he would have to get his hands dirty again, why couldn’t the disgraced queen just for once not be involved in things like this? Her? Again?? He already knew this wasn’t going to end well.
• “What are you doing? Send guards there to go get her, make sure she doesn’t escape, we both know what the disgraced queen can do, so act fast now,”
• He commanded as he walked out of his room, the day barely started and he was already pissed, he should have listened to the elders and just send her out of Otano permanently but he had taken pity on her, he should have known better…