The Tyrant's Pet

As the crown princess and the crown prince tangled in an embrace, Inez, who rushed in here and planned to check on Aries under the facade of checking the fire, stared at the two figures coldly. She had already noticed the shock in the crown princess' eyes while she stood in that spot, looking around like a lost child.

However, just when she was about to approach Aries, she noticed how the latter smiled gently as relief clouded her features. When Inez shifted her eyes to where the crown princess was looking, her eyes glinted upon catching Joaquin's figure.

It took Joaquin minutes to realize Aries's presence, and when he finally noticed the crown princess, he approached her, acting as the hero. Although the crown prince was simply acting as a doting husband, worried for his wife, it left a nasty taste in the ninth princess's mouth.

'If only I know, I'm certain he started this fire,' Inez thought, clicking her tongue secretly, keeping her bitter eyes on Joaquin, embracing Aries with eyes full of contempt. Aries couldn't even see her husband's unaffectionate eyes as she basked in the safety of his embrace.

'What a fool,' she muttered, peeling her eyes away from those eyesores to the palace engulfed with fire. The longer she stared at the fire, the more theories came to her head.

'Now that I think about it, why would Joaquin burn this place and kill Carlos's wife and children?' she wondered, brows creasing. 'That doesn't make sense.'

As far as Inez knows, Joaquin had cornered Ismael and his people. The last thing she heard was Carlos being dragged to prison. Although she didn't hear anything about Ismael, she was certain his fate would also be the same. So, there was no need to kill Princess Violet if they were all doom in the morrow.

'Unless… something Joaquin didn't expect happened.' Her eyes sharpened as she glanced at Joaquin, who finally released Aries from his embrace. Her eyes then caught the fourth prince helping the knights by commanding them to move faster.

It was no surprise that the fourth prince would come out of this incident safely since Enrique was a smart one. Although everyone knew, without a doubt, his vote would go to Ismael, Enrique was careful enough to save himself if worse comes to worst.

"Interesting," she whispered, snapping her eyes before pivoting on her heel to walk away.

"Your Highness," the knight standing behind her called when he noticed that the ninth princess was leaving.

"I have nothing else to do here. Lend everyone a hand and put out the fire so it won't spread. Everyone will be busy tomorrow and I needed rest." Inez waved and simply cast the knight an indifferent side-eye.

"Yes, Your Highness." The knight bowed before he watched Inez walk away with a few of her servants following her trail. When the knight raised his gaze up at the burning palace, his eyes glinted.

What Inez said was correct.

Once morning come, everyone would be twice as busy. First, the matters regarding the arrest of the eighth prince Carlos and the fourth prince Ismael, and then this fire. The first one was already something, but with this fire… not only it was a headache for the ninth princess, but it would also be a troublesome matter the crown prince had to deal with.

Everyone, not just Inez's personal knight, had one realization.

The seemingly predictable outcome, which was Joaquin's total victory for tonight, changed. This fire… was the proof he didn't win the round.

So the question remained; who did?

******

[ Emperor's Palace ]

In the balcony of the emperor's room sat Abel on the railings. His feet dangling outside swayed back and forth leisurely, his palms on either side of him, eyes on the huge 'bonfire' where the party was at.

"Haha…" came out an amused chuckle with his lips closed. "I reckoned this event is a total victory. She makes me proud."

Abel rocked his head as he chuckled in delight. He had been watching everything unfold from this spot. Although he didn't see everything from everyone's perspective, he had a good grasp of what happened tonight.

"Conan is really good at this, and my darling dear, pulled it off just perfectly," he intoned, thinking that this resulted from Conan and Aries's scheming brains. "Isaiah, what do you think? Conan is better than you in playing this role, right?"

He looked heavenward, catching a figure standing on the roof motionless. The latter's board shoulders that he tried to hide under the cloak were reckoned a total failure, as there was only one person Abel had met with such distinct shoulders.

Isaiah didn't even shoot Abel a look as he kept his eyes in the bright direction where there was a fire. He kept his mouth shut, making one unable to distinguish what could possibly go in his head.

"Your Majesty, you should die." Abel frowned at the out-of-the-blue suggestion. This time, Isaiah gazed down at the emperor, who was looking up at him leisurely.

"Conan is slowly returning to his old ways, and it'll be better if we switch our roles again."

"Why don't you switch roles now?" the emperor's frown grew worse, averting his eyes away from him to where he was initially looking at. "I don't want Eustass Silvestri to die just yet. You and Conan can switch roles if he wants to become my personal hellhound again. After all, it had always been that way, isn't it? I am the only one who can switch roles with me, but anyway, Maganti is surely interesting in many ways I could never fathom."

"I might end up dead!" he added and smirked.

Isaiah's eyes glinted. "Your Majesty."

"Don't fret, Isaiah. I might, but I won't. I'm far too invested in what I had seen so far. It somehow satisfies me from stepping in." The side of Abel's lips curled up into a smirk, eyes squinting slightly. "You should just focus on your investigation while I enjoy myself watching and anticipating who will become the maddest of them all."

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