Chapter 11: Chapter 11

King Ace, my brother-in-law, sat at the far end of his office table. He was wearing reading glasses and appeared to be staring intently at a piece of paper in front of him. His daughter was also present, sitting next to him and doodling on a piece of paper.

The moment he looked up, his eyes fell on Chace before they landed on me. One of his brows shot up questioningly in my direction. “What’s the brat doing here?”

“Hey!” I glared at him.

“Daddy, you called?” Elie looked up from her drawing.

Ace patted her head gently, “Not you, darling. I meant the other brat who’s your aunt.” He says while jerking his thumb in my direction.

Elie looked in my direction before turning back to her father. “A brat? Aunty brat?” She suggested.

My brother-in-law seemed satisfied as he grinned proudly at his daughter. “That’s my girl.”

“What the heck are you teaching my niece!?” I yelled at him and made a mental note to tell my sister later on. I’ll be sure to gaslight the story and get him in trouble.

Ace doesn’t seem too bothered and simply cast us with a lazy gaze as he removed his reading glasses. “So, what do you two want? I’m kind of busy.” He gestured at the array of papers on his desk.

I rolled my eyes. Even now, I still wonder what my sister sees in him that she agreed to marry a rude guy like him.

“King Ace,” Chace addressed him with a respectful bow. “I apologize for the intrusion-”

“Shut it, brat number two.” Ace snapped at him. “You rarely use formalities these days. Just because ice brat number one is here doesn’t mean that you can use this opportunity to impress her. Haven’t you had enough rejection letters from her already?”

Chace pursed his lips as his face turned red with embarrassment.

Once again, I turned to Ace. As usual, the man’s tongue has no breaks and would say whatever the hell that he wants. Somehow, I kind of pity Chace.

Chace coughed into his hands to recover. This time, when he turned to Ace, his face held a severe weight onto them that caught the Elf King’s attention. “I have found some rogues in Gija.” Ace’s eyes darkened, and his gaze momentarily shifted in my direction before returning them to Chace. The crowned fairy prince merely shook his head. “It’s fine. She knows. Well, at least to some extent. They attacked her.”

Ace let out a sigh and touched his daughter’s chin to get her attention. “Elie, can you go and get your mom?” He says gently. And I swear, whenever a demon elf like him acts friendly, it always makes me want to hide in a closet.

On the other hand, Elie was probably more used to it because she managed to smile at her father and nodded her head. “Okay!” She chirped and ran towards us. She engulfed me in a hug as a greeting before leaving the room.

Good. It was a sign that she was still nothing like her demonic father.

Ace motioned for us to sit on the empty seats in front of him as the door closed behind Elie. “I don’t know what else to say.” He says as soon as we are seated. “I promised Rose that I wouldn’t utter a word about this. We’ll have to wait until she arrives and decides what to do.”

I slumped in my seat. “Even my sister knows, huh? Why didn’t she tell me?” I asked him.

Ace looked at me and folded his hands in front of him. “You might have forgotten, but you live a double life as it is. Why would you want to be concerned about matters that aren’t related to your lessons and those crazy healing potions?”

I frowned. “Because it involves Kellar, that’s why!”

I saw Ace’s jaw hanging open in shock. “Brat number 3?” He gasped.

“At least all people by their names. I don’t think it’s that hard!” I chastised him.

Ace ignored me and turned to Chace. “Hey, colorless fool. Is it true that red eyes is involved?”

“Kellar.” I corrected him, feeling slightly irritated that he still wouldn’t call us by our names.

Despite his new nickname, colorless fool - I mean - Chace doesn’t seem to mind. Or he might just be used to it. “Yes,” He confirmed. “I was just in earshot when they questioned her about him.”

The door finally opened, and my sister came in. “Stella?” She sounded surprised as soon as she saw me. She immediately ran for me. “You’re late. What took you so long?” She questioned me as she pinched my cheek.

I swatted her hand away. “Relax, I was just in town doing some shopping.”

Rose finally relaxed. “Oh,” She sighed. “Did you bring me any snacks?” Her demeanor changed as she asked me that question with a hopeful tone of voice.

“Dear,” Ace spoke and called out to her.

That seemed to catch my sister’s attention as she smiled sheepishly at him and came to sit at the other chair beside him. As she got there, Elie’s drawing on the table caught her eyes. She gasped and grabbed the paper as she sat down. “Did Elie draw this?” As usual, my sister has the talent to draw people’s attention from the main topic at hand that even her husband fell into her trap.

Ace smiled at her proudly. “She certainly did.”

“This is amazing!” Rose laughed as she continued to admire her daughter’s work. “She drew our family. And look, she even gave you horns. I guess she caught on that you’re a bit of an evil punk.” She began to laugh, but Ace simply stared unwaveringly at her.

“Honey, those are my ears.” He says in a deadpanned tone.

“Oh,” She immediately stopped laughing and placed the drawing back on the table while looking away. She coughed once. “I-It’s a nice look, honey. Pointed and stiff.” She tried to save face and smile at Ace.

Ace sighed and held her hand, “Yes, yes. I know. It’s wonderful.” Ace said, completely understanding of his wife.

Chace chuckled at the exchange, and I had to elbow him shut up before looking back at Ace. “So my sister is here. Can you guys tell me what’s going on now?” I was getting impatient, and they could tell from the tone of voice that I was using.

On the other hand, Rose seemed puzzled and tilted her head to the side. “Tell you what?” She asked.

“About the rogues,” I answered her.

Rose gaped and stared at Ace for an answer.

“Your sister was attacked this evening while she visited your uncle’s cemetery,” Chace told her. “I have a few of them taken in captive, but as for the leader, I killed him.”

Ace raised a brow at him. “That’s a pretty bold and stupid move.” He told him.

“Hold on,” Rose cut the two of them off as she fixed her gaze at me. “You were attacked? You weren’t hurt, were you?”

I shook my head. “Nah. I could handle myself.”

“She almost died if I had not arrived on time,” Chace says, making me stomp on his feet. Crown prince or not, he should not butt in when I am trying to save my face in front of my sister.

And because I don’t want her to worry and restrict what little freedom I have left.

“Anyway,” I continued before she could begin to ask some questions. “Before Chace killed the man, they were interrogating me about Kellar.”

Rose’s eyes softened when she heard his name. Kellar may have been my friend, but he was my sister’s first student and the very first tamer to regain his magic through her. Although she doesn’t want to admit it, she cares for Kellar like a brother. “What about him? Was he found?”

“That’s the thing,” I told her. “They thought that we have him. From what I gathered from their thoughts, I can only believe that they want to rebuild Tereau and have Kellar as their...leader.” I said glumly.

Rose and Ace exchanged a look while Chace sat quietly beside me. We all have bad memories when it comes to Tereau. It was once ruled by the rogue tamer King Ferius, but it was brought down during the second war. It ended with a lot of lives lost. Rose and I lost our uncle, Ace lost his father, while Chace lost his sister, and his older brother ended up being handicapped and unable to rule their kingdom.

But somewhere deep in my mind, I don’t consider everything that I experience in Tereau as bad. Years ago, I was kidnapped by the rogue king to lure my sister to him because she holds the power to revive his magic. I was held in prison and was fed with scraps and dirty bread and water.

But that is where I met Kellar, the youngest son of late King Ferius, who helped me by giving me food and contacted my sister to arrange for my escape. That was why Kellar was someone that my sister and I could never forget.

“But we don’t know where he is.” My sister says. “We haven’t seen the kid since we returned to this realm. But, I guess that this is for the best.” She sighed. “If the rogues ever knew where he is, then they would probably force him to become their king. And that is something that shouldn’t happen.”

I nodded in agreement with my sister. “Yeah. I doubt that he’ll like it either. Still, I somehow wish that we know so that we could warn him.”

At that moment, my sister turned to her husband. “You really have no idea where he went? Not even a clue?”

Ace shook his seat. “The only child that I minded about that time is Nora. I never cared about the other brats.” He says before his gaze shifted to Chace. “You, on the other hand, looked like you wanted to say something. Come to think of it, the two of you were hanging out a lot after my wife’s sister disappeared. Is there anything that you would like to share?” There was a hint of suspicion in his voice as he addressed the Ice Prince.

All of our attention shifted to Chace, who was now wearing a grim expression. Then he suddenly smirked as he raised his head to turn to Ace. “As expected of you, you’re always sharp.” He says, and his face falls. “Kellar did tell me that he was leaving, but as to where he currently is, I have no idea. But I do know where he went before he disappeared.”

I was stunned at what I just heard that all I could do was gapped at him.

“Well? Hurry up and speak.” Ace demanded, ignoring Chace’s complement like some dust in the air.

“He was often in the Kingdom of Hazel because he knows a few residences there that used to live in the palace of Tereau. I think he told me that they were once the cooks of the palace. The ones who would hand him fresh bread secretly.” He says.

Ace seemed to be in deep thought as he processed this new information. “Come to think of it the brat wasn’t treated like a prince when I met him. But more like a servant.” He mumbled and started jotting down notes on a piece of paper. Then, when he raised his head, he was addressing the rest of us. “I’ll head over to Hazel tomorrow and look for the cooks. Do you know their name?”

Chace shook his head. “I don’t. I’m sorry.”

Ace sighed. “I’ll just have to ask King Fred for the lists then.”

“Hold on,” I interrupted. “If you guys are going, then I’m coming too. And before you raise that brow of yours again, I would just like to point out that you and my sister are King and Queen. Can you imagine the rumors that would circulate around the town if they see you guys interrogating the relocated rogues in the town of Hazel? Let me handle it. After all, he is more of my friend.” Ace and I may not be on the best of terms, but I know that he respects my instincts and intelligence.

“Alright. You can come.” Ace simply said. “You can come with Rose and I as we gather the list from Fred. Then you are on your own.”

“I’ll leave Custard with you just in case,” Rose added, looking worriedly at me. Then her eyes cast on Chace. “What about you? What are you going to do?”

“I’ll go and accompany Stella.” He responded. I didn’t look at him as he spoke, but I could feel that he was looking at me.

“We’ll leave early in the morning. You both should leave and get some rest because tomorrow will be a busy day.” Ace says.

Chace and I stood up at the same time and headed for the door after bidding the King and Queen goodnight. Then Chace moved and opened the door for me. I paused and waited for him until he closed the door behind us before I spoke.

“All these years, Chace. You told me that he left without a word, but you knew. You knew that he was leaving and lied to me.” My voice was stern as I began to recall all the times I kept asking him if there were any clues to Kellar’s whereabouts for years. I was young and cried a lot back then because my best friend was gone, and we didn’t even know if he was alive or not.

“I’m sorry, Stella.” I could hear the regret in his voice, but my disappointment in him was far too great for me to forgive him that easily. “But I only know that he was leaving and not where he was going. And,” He paused. “Before he left, he asked me not to tell you anything about his plans.”

“Liar!” I yelled and, this time turned to Chace. “Kellar, wouldn’t. We’re friends! He...He told me that I was his first friend. Why would he even say that?”

“It’s because you’re his first friend that he doesn’t want you to know. The guy knows that if you ever find him and asked for him to go back that he wouldn’t be able to resist.” Chace’s voice was as hard as a stone. His eyes were displaying a sad look in them. “He wants you to move on and forget about him, Stella.” He whispered and went to wipe the tears falling down my face.

I swatted his hands away gently. I didn’t even realize that I was crying - once again - for that guy. “I don’t think that we have much of a choice for this matter since we have to find him before the rogues do.” I sniffed and wiped my eyes with the back of my sleeves. I was hurt. Both Kellar and Chace kept this from me. Chace had been lying to me for years, while Kellar just makes me want to forget about him. What a couple of selfish jerks. “Goodnight, Chace. See you tomorrow.” I forced a smile at him before heading back to my room.