The much awaited Imperial Supreme Mage finally arrived and took charge of the cursed living ghost corpse Vir.
"Keep him in the isolation dungeon, and do not remove the net of rainbow magic around him," Queen Carolina ordered. "Do not try anything, do not touch him. Just levitate him to the isolation dungeon and lock him in. We shall figure out what to do with him later after I have explained the whole situation to you."
The Imperial Supreme Mage bowed. "Answering to Her Majesty the Queen, we will do as ordered," he said.
Queen Carolina nodded and waved him away.
By now, Raven and Mana's joint magic net, glowing with rainbow colours, had wrapped tightly around the cursed living ghost corpse Vir and no part of him was visible, not even his face. So, even if there were older people around the imperial palace who could possibly have recognised the face of the late King Consort Vir of the Sapphire Kingdom – they wouldn't have the chance to do so.
That was quite a relief for Queen Carolina.
The group watched quietly as the Imperial Supreme Mage took away the cursed living ghost corpse Vir.
The Captain of the imperial shadow guards, who had come with the Imperial Supreme Mage, stayed behind. He was a well-built and good looking fellow – and had an air of heroism and bravery wafting around him. While he wasn't as big or as dashing as General Aquila, he was quite attractive as well. It was only much later that Mana and Raven learnt that the man known as Captain Shadow, the Captain of the imperial shadow guards, was actually the father of Shadow Nineteen. But that was a story for later, and by then, Shadow Nineteen had become more than just an ordinary imperial shadow guard for them.
Currently, Shadow Nineteen, who had returned with the Imperial Supreme Mage and the Captain of the imperial shadow guards, was bowing to Queen Carolina. Captain Shadow was standing behind him, his head bowed respectfully.
"What is it, Shadow Nineteen?" Queen Carolina asked, a hint of fatigue creeping into her voice.
"Answering to Her Majesty the Queen, we have found the body of Shadow Sixteen. From the state of his corpse, it seems like he was murdered either yesterday early morning, or late night the day before yesterday. The skin mask used by the ghost corpse seemed to be – seemed to be…" he faltered.
"I understand, Shadow Nineteen," Queen Carolina said quietly. She wondered in her own mind if the Vir she had loved and cherished with all her heart was actually so cruel – and then realised that the answer was in the affirmative. However, that set off another line of thought in her mind – leading her to wonder how she could possibly have been taken in and deceived by a man as cruel and duplicitous as this…
"Shadow Nineteen," Bella spoke up, as soon as she realised that her mother seemed to be in a daze, probably lost in thoughts of the past. Worried, Bella immediately took the action of stepping up and standing next to her mother. "Were you able to find anything about the two maids that were involved?" she asked.
Shadow Nineteen nodded. "Answering the Crown Princess Isabel, yes, we have arrested both the maids. Your outfit was found with one of them. Awaiting orders from the Crown Princess Isabel on what action is to be taken regarding the two maids and the dress," he replied.
"Burn it," Jules said. He came up to Bella and held her fair, slim hands into his own larger ones. "My beautiful Bella does not need any dress which has been touched by such traitorous maids."
Shadow Nineteen nodded again. "Answering the Imperial Son in Law Crown Prince Jules of the Emerald Kingdom, we will burn the dress," he said.
Queen Carolina gathered her thoughts and turned to the Captain of the imperial shadow guards. "Captain Shadow," she said quietly. "Please take care of the interrogation of the two maids who dared to betray my daughter and the heiress to the throne of the Sapphire Kingdom." There was a hint of steel in her voice that brooked no argument and that had the distinct ring of power which only a monarch's voice could have. "And please find out whatever you can about the situation, especially if they know anything about the ghost corpse. Also, please look into their backgrounds and their associates – we may have more such people hiding around us with malicious intent – and I want no efforts spared in protecting my Bella, as well as Jules and our new family members – especially the other royals of the Emerald Kingdom that you see in this room, including Raven."
Captain Shadow, Shadow Nineteen, as well as Raven were surprised at Queen Carolina's choice of words and her inclusion of Prince Raven of the Obsidian Kingdom within her own list of family members – and she had even counted him in as a member of the royal family of the Emerald Kingdom instead of the Obsidian Kingdom, where Raven's mother was the Crown Princess Pica of the Obsidian Kingdom, the heiress and daughter of the reigning monarch King Corvus of the Obsidian Kingdom, or the Pearl Kingdom, where Raven's father was the Head Sage Yue of the Moon Temple of the Pearl Kingdom, and it was already quite well known that Head Sage Yue was the cousin of the reigning King of the Pearl Kingdom, and had as much claim to the throne of the Pearl Kingdom as the king himself – it was just that the position of the Head Sage of the Moon Temple was a position that came with much greater power than the monarch in the Pearl Kingdom – besides, no heir to the throne could be chosen in the Pearl Kingdom without the express blessing and induction by the Moon Temple, so it was quite possible that Head Sage Yue would be the one who would have the power to decide the next monarch of the Pearl Kingdom at his sole discretion! Besides, Prince Raven bore the royal blood of two of the kingdoms – one from his mother's side, which was largely recognised, and one from his father's side, which had been acknowledged and formalised only recently. And these two kingdoms were the Obsidian Kingdom and the Pearl Kingdom – not the Emerald Kingdom! And while it was true that Prince Raven of the Obsidian Kingdom was engaged to Princess Mana of the Emerald Kingdom – would that be sufficient for Queen Carolina to include him in the list of her own family members, and call him a member of the royal family of the Emerald Kingdom? Would Prince Raven of the Obsidian Kingdom be all right with it? And more importantly, would King Jaren of the Emerald Kingdom be all right with it?
Well, Shadow Nineteen and Captain Shadow could be forgiven for thinking thus – for they hadn't yet witnessed how much the young Prince Raven was loved in the Emerald Kingdom, and how deeply and desperately young Prince Raven of the Obsidian Kingdom wanted to be a part of the royal family of the Emerald Kingdom, and how much King Jaren of the Emerald Kingdom, Crown Prince Jules of the Emerald Kingdom and Princess Mana of the Emerald Kingdom doted on Prince Raven of the Obsidian Kingdom. However, they found out about this soon enough – in fact, they would find out exactly how beloved Prince Raven was among the members of the royal family of the Emerald Kingdom the very next day – and also, how highly Prince Raven was regarded by their own Queen Carolina and Crown Princess Bella, which went beyond the public's goodwill and adulation for the young Prince Raven. For now, they would simply do what they had always done – take their monarch – Queen Carolina's words to be the absolute truth and act accordingly.
That was for the reactions of Shadow Nineteen and Captain Shadow of the imperial shadow guards of the Sapphire Kingdom.
Raven himself, on the other hand, while being secretly quite pleased by how easily Queen Carolina had acknowledged him to be one of her new family members and had also counted him as a member of the royal family of the Emerald Kingdom without missing a beat, was also a little apprehensive about the reaction of King Jaren and Big Brother Jules – after all, he was still a foreign prince, no matter how they indulged him and doted on him and took care of him like they were his real father or real big brother (which Raven absolutely loved, of course). But when Raven looked up at King Jaren, he found that his Papa was actually quite pleased that Queen Carolina had specifically included Raven in the list of the royal family of the Emerald Kingdom!
Mana raised an eyebrow and glanced at Raven, as if asking him silent, mocking question – did he still not understand that he was firmly and most definitely a part of their family already?
Raven caught his young fiancée's eye and smiled shyly, earning a resulting smile from Mana as well.