Asher's Plan

Amelia had never thought that the reunion with her brother would include finding that her brother and first knight were trying to kill each other.

After that exchange in the woods, Amelia felt a little too tired and did not have the energy to scold her brother for leaving her alone in the palace without any words. After her brother had entered the shed with Leo, Amelia was quiet as she needed to rearrange her thoughts.

When she entered the room, Leo was helping Asher to bandage his injury. Amelia gasped when she noticed the bandage around Asher's stomach. His blood seeped through the white clothe, dying them red. It looked quite scary.

"Brother!" Amelia lurched forward but stopped herself before she could touch him. "Are you alright? Why are you bleeding so much?" Her heart jumped with worry.

Asher frowned. He did not expect that his wound would open again and his sister would see them.

"Don't worry," Asher said. "I'm alright. It's just an old wound."

"How can I not worry," Amelia mumbled. Seeing that Leo was concentrating to dab some medicine on the wound, Amelia decided not to speak lest she would disturb him.

After a while, her anger rose again. Her brother had left the palace and came back with too many injuries on his body. As his sister, how can Amelia not be angry?

Asher heaved a long sigh when he saw the worried look on his sister's face. He thought of something and decided to divert her attention away.

"He's not from here, is he?" Asher asked. "That knight."

"No." Amelia immediately caught that her brother was asking about Laif. "He's not from Noa Kingdom."

"So, how did you meet this guy? Did he apply for the position as your knight?"

Amelia nodded. "Commander Irvine oversees the whole process."

Asher grunted. He trusted Commander Irvine's eyes and could see that Laif was very good after exchanging a few blows with him. However, Asher thought that Laif was not very pleasing to his eyes. His instinct was telling him not to let his sister get close to that boy.

Suddenly, Asher wished that the Commander would hire female knights to protect her sister instead.

"He's a good fighter. But, can he be trusted?"

"I trust him."

Asher met his sister's gaze and was annoyed to see her determination as she had spoken those words.

It was at this time that Asher noticed the strange look in Amelia's gaze. There was unmistakable anger in her eyes. Asher raised his hand to signal Leo to leave and looked at his sister again.

"I'm sorry," Asher said.

"For what?" Amelia decided to play dumb.

Asher felt a lump in his throat. He swallowed a few times and spoke, "I didn't mean to leave you. I thought that I was leaving for a few days. I didn't expect that I was going away for too long. I was," he paused, not knowing how to explain.

How was he supposed to tell her that he was unable to return because he was unconscious, battling for his life? He did not want his sister to worry.

Asher shook his head and pulled Amelia into a hug. "I'm sorry."

Soon, he felt her hand gripping tightly on his shirt.

"I missed you." Her voice croaked.

His expression softened at her words. "I missed you too."

Amelia shook her head. "Then why? Why did you leave without saying a word? What took you so long to come back? It has been—" she took a deep breath to control her emotion. However, it was really hard to hold her tears. "It has been months. And I was scared!" Amelia blinked, and her tears streamed down her cheek."

Asher patted her on her head, trying to calm her. "I'm sorry. I'm here now. So you don't have to be scared anymore."

"You left me to fend myself before the ministers. Even with Damian on my side, advising me with everything, I didn't know what to do. I was clueless and frightened." Amelia walked over to Asher and held his hand. "Please, brother... You need to return to the palace with me this instant and set thing straight."

Asher frowned when he heard her words.

The truth was... Asher was not planning to return to the palace. At least, not yet. There are a few things he needed to take care of before he made his appearance.

"About that," he paused. "I can't return to the palace right now. Not with how things are."

"Why not?"

Asher took a deep breath. "I have my reasons. Will you listen to me first?"

Amelia stared at her brother with a puzzled expression. After a brief hesitation, Amelia wiped the tears on her face and sat up straight. "Does this have to do with your investigation on our father's death?"

Asher's body went rigid. He was not expecting her to bring up the matter soon.

"Why didn't you tell me about it?" Amelia spoke again.

"I didn't want you to worry. Besides," Asher heaved a sigh. "I didn't have any concrete evidence with me. All I have was a letter from an anonymous person. Even that letter was not very trustworthy."

"He's my father too, you know. I deserve to know what happened to him."

"I know," Asher said softly. "But I thought it was best that you have no knowledge about it. I didn't want to put you in danger."

Amelia looked at him in confusion. "But why couldn't you return to the palace? Wouldn't it be easier if you made an appearance, apprehend Daren and interrogate him to find out who he's working with?"

"It's not that easy," Asher said. "We still have no idea who are we fighting against. We don't know who is our enemy."

"Enemy?"

"Daren was working for someone. And I'm guessing that he must be powerful enough to tempt him with money and power for his loyalty," Asher shook his head.

At this time he was still ad disbelief that Daren had betrayed him. Although Asher did found out that Baron Ake was part of the sinister plan, he knew that the Baron too was working for someone. The Baron was not brave enough or smart enough to plan anything.

Surely, there was someone else behind him. Someone who would gain a lot with Asher and Amelia out of the picture.

"So," Amelia stepped closer to her brother. "What are you planning to do now?"

There was a brief silence before Asher spoke again. "I'm going to get to the bottom of this thing and find out who is the mastermind behind all this. Without that knowledge, my life, and yours would always be in danger." He looked at his sister straight in her eyes. "This is why I need your help."

"Alright," Amelia spoke without hesitation.

"It could be dangerous," Asher warned.

"I know. But I don't care. I'll do anything to help you to get back to the palace."

Asher smiled at her sister's commitment. Suddenly, he realized that his sister had grown up a little bit when he was not around.

"I need you to play along and act as if you didn't know that I'm alive," Asher said. "Only then will we be able to set a trap and catch the person who was responsible for all these."