Chapter 7: Still waters run deep (Pt.1)

On the other side of the furnished teak wooden door, a double knock resounded.

"Come in."

A young maid stepped in and greeted him.

The Duke sat at his office table, endlessly flipping through stacks of papers. Without lifting his head, he asked the maid about her observations.

"So, how's your observation of him?"

"I can't say much since it's the first day, but he seems comfortable with his stay," Maia answered.

Taking a particular resume sent by The Guild, the Duke adjusted his sitting position, reading it with a serious expression.

"Very well, continue as usual. Approach him slowly and gain his trust to get him to open up. Report if there's anything insightful. Eren, please escort him to the main hall tomorrow morning."

Eren, who was standing in the corner, nodded his head.

"Understood, Your Grace," they collectively replied.

"You may be dismissed."

After they left, the Duke pulled a small transmission orb from his drawer. Placing it before him, he tapped the orb in a specific rhythm and dialed. The orb lit up, and a voice from inside answered.

"Sorry for the disturbance, Your Highness. It's me, Vidar. I'm here to inform you that Yohan arrived safely at my mansion this afternoon. He rested for a while before Maia, my servant, took him on a tour around Vines, and he drank quite a bit at our famous pub," the Duke relayed his servant's observations.

"Have you checked that his identification is authentic?" the voice from the orb asked.

"Yes, Your Highness. We have yet to hear any specific 'information' from him since this is his first day. But what The Guild sent seems to slightly match your description."

"So he ended up as a delivery man for The Guild, which is an unexpected shift. Out of all the usual places, to think he ran away this far…"

"Since he's going to stay at your place for some time, please help me keep an eye on him. I'm still curious about his decisions; it's not what I expected, but it's not much of a change." The voice let out a small chuckle. "Then again, thank you for your cooperation."

"You're being generous. I'm indebted to you, so consider it a return of the favour."

"It's quite late, Your Highness. Please get some sleep for your official duties. If you're feeling nervous, I can provide some advice for your paperwork," the Duke teased.

"There's no need, you should also rest well, I'll call you back tomorrow." The line was cut off, turning the orb back to its greyish form.

The Duke leaned back in his chair, his mind drifting to the day he first met His Highness.

———

After his visit to the Emperor, he noticed a young boy sitting at the far east of the Obsidian Palace. At the pavilion, the boy flipped a book with a seemingly disinterested expression, yet his air of introspection piqued the Duke's attention. His golden hair and gentle facial features caught the sunlight, blending seamlessly with the garden scenery like a figure from a renowned oil painting.

Dressed in a crisp, simple white high-collared shirt, tied with a black ribbon and adorned with a brooch clasped to an obsidian pendant, the second prince, Laurent Carlos La Eir, presented a kaleidoscope of opalescent rays, enigmatic yet enchanting. Despite his fair appearance, his emerald eyes hinted at a deep complexity.

'As expected, the obsidian gemstone doesn't suit him,' the Duke thought.

It was customary for the royal children to choose which palace, named after gemstones, as their titles. Adorned with a velvet red robe, the soon-to-be heir in line would kneel at the altar as the Pope graced them with a palette of gemstones. Under the holy light, the purity of the gems reflected their translucent colors, enthralling the crowd.

"To see the purest form of gems all laid on the tray is truly remarkable. In my opinion, the lighter color of gems complements His Highness the most. Perhaps emerald, like his eyes that resemble the Empress's," the lady dressed in green commented.

"His Highness is more than his mother's beauty, Duchess Bianca. He surpasses more than just a bland emerald. The iridescent white opalite elevates his supremacy, fit for a king," the lady in blue noted.

Restless eyes observed the pale hand hovering above the gems. Casting a shadow onto a gem, the prince picked it delicately, kissing it lightly. The Pope arched his eyebrows in bemusement. Clearing his throat, he announced the title of the second prince.

"His Highness, Laurent Carlos La Eir, has chosen Obsidian as his title. He will reside at the Obsidian Palace and be bestowed a pendant by the Emperor."

Words of condemnation echoed the altar, suggesting that someone might have influenced the prince's decision.

"I didn't see it clearly, but why obsidian? That's the least radiant of all gems. It'll desaturate His Highness's overall appearance!" A voice said in disbelief.

"Even the first prince was smart enough to choose Amber as his stone. Who advised the young prince on something so distasteful?"

This included the Duke of Vidar, whose face couldn't hide his disapproval.

'Does His Highness know that choosing the wrong gemstone makes him appear ignorant of his dignity?'

Seeing His Highness alone reading in his spare time, the Duke decided to approach the second prince to discern his perspective.

"Glory to the rising sun, Your Highness. Would you like to share with me what you are reading?" he asked politely.

The young boy did not lift his head nor stop his reading; he simply answered, "quantum hyperspace."

"That's physics, right?" the Duke asked, unable to continue the conversation.

'Quantum hyperspace? What even is that? For a young child to read such a theory,' the Duke thought.

"It's a nonsensical theory about dimensions," the prince said as if he read the Duke's mind. "It's quite boring. I don't understand why I was so fixated on this."

"Duke of Vidar, do you think the 4th dimension truly exists?"

"No, isn't that already debunked at the Council of Evolutionary Sciences?"

"Their theory is that we see life in a 3-dimensional reality, made of height, length, and width. Hence, we are unable to visualize the 4th dimension, or any other dimensions beyond that, since it's out of our comprehension. Tell me, can you imagine a different universe with a different system, despite its inhabitants being similar to us? You can't, right? What we can conceive of as impossible, or as an era of the past, is translated into two-dimensional written works. That's how stories come about."

"So your point is?"

"Similar to the concept of God, it's not just words that become our belief system. I still think there's evidence of its existence. For example, many see me as the living proof of the Sun God, but has anyone seen it descending to our surface? Such supernatural phenomena are just beyond our mere created consciousness. The 4th dimension is still widely discussed because we're aware of the possibility, even if we categorize it as fictional, just like the stories we write. So, could we be the products of someone's 4th dimension?"

"I don't think I quite catch what you said, Your Highness."

"Of course. Self-awareness has its limits too."

Silence followed. The Duke's mouth was wide open, stunned and speechless.

"You don't have to answer this question. Rather, I have another question for you, Duke of Vidar. Do you happen to know someone named Yohan?"

"You mean Yohan Elmer Morris? He is a rising star in the medical field. I heard he just created a drug that could ease tension."

"No, that's not him. I mean Yohan. Maybe Yohan Alta will ring a bell," the prince pondered.

"Pardon my ignorance, but that's the first time I've heard that name."

Seeing the confusion on his face, the prince directed his attention back to his book.

"Alright, you may leave."

The Duke couldn't help but stare at the prince, who continued to read the same page since he had approached him. Walking down the hallway, he finally understood the unusual actions of the young prince.

'He's no fool! Even if he's eccentric, he may be the one who makes history.'

After many years, the boy who was light years ahead of his peers had grown up to be extraordinarily brilliant, like the sun. His Highness published a work named "Higher Dimension: Time as the 4th Dimension" and "Spatial Hyperspace" with calculations of the tesseract, pushing the limits of what could be visualised and what could be proven by existing equations and diagrams.

It was an incredible feat that neither the Grand Mage nor the genius himself could accomplish based on a lifetime's worth of hard work and experience.

———