Stolen by the Rebel King
Chapter 400: Metal Ores I

Chapter 400: Metal Ores I

"Prince Nathaniel, do you have some time to talk?" Sirona asked cautiously as she eyed the blond prince. He had been reading the same notes over and over again, rubbing his temples and sniffing his perfumed pouch at regular intervals, as though he needed a way to starve off an impending headache.

Sirona wondered how much Daphne told him about Atticus’s actions. Did Daphne drag the poor prince underneath the sewers? That certainly explained his notable dark circles.

Either that or he was kept awake by the rumors that claimed he was Jonah’s secret lover. Sirona felt the barest twinge of pity for Prince Nathaniel before she ruthlessly squashed it underneath her heel.

"Of course. What is it?" Nathaniel cleared his throat as he forced his eyes open to make himself look like the very picture of alertness when actually he felt nearly dead on his feet.

His night did not end with the jaunt to the sewers; he had gone back and scrubbed his hair and skin repeatedly until he could no longer smell the grime on his skin, but his sleep was tainted with nightmares about peeling skin and foul-smelling dead bodies.

It got to the point where he decided to feed himself an energy stimulant to stay awake so that he could think about the puzzle Daphne presented him with.

A kelpie’s eye. A griffin’s wing. Both items belonged to elements that formed the very basic building blocks of magic, water, and air respectively. There were seven elements in total, including earth, fire, metal, light, and darkness. Nathaniel guessed that King Atticus might be on the hunt for other objects that could embody these elements best, even if he couldn’t figure out exactly what on earth this madman had in mind.

But there was one thing Nathaniel was pretty sure about, and that was Atticus had harvested organs from the dragon when he had slayed it months ago. Back then, the town and the royal family were both undergoing such upheaval that no one would notice if a dead dragon was missing a talon, a scale, or god forbid, a more vital organ.

After all, there was no better representative of the fire element than the heart of a dragon, and it suited King Atticus’s current methodology― harvesting organs from dangerous magical beings.

He planned to report his findings to Daphne, but he did not see her during breakfast. Clearly she decided to sleep in, so Nathaniel proceeded to work in the infirmary, wishing he had the foresight to do the same.

Yet, he knew he wouldn’t be able to rest easily even if he could enter a dreamless sleep. Healer Sirona might just take the opportunity to make off with more of the infirmary’s rare ingredients without supervision. She stole an entire eye from a still-living kelpie because Nathaniel was too preoccupied with saving Daphne!

Honestly, working next to such a cold-blooded woman gave Prince Nathaniel the chills. But he pasted a familiar, polite smile on his face as he addressed Sirona’s question.

"Is it about your friend, Sir Jonah?" Prince Nathaniel asked, deliberately diverting the topic to something more light-hearted. He had to make himself seem oblivious, but not stupid. Better to let her and King Atticus believe he was focused on the trees instead of the forest.

"I must say, I did not expect him to have such ardent feelings for me. But I have no choice but to reject him. He is wholly unsuitable as a future lover. Even if we somehow manage to produce children to rule over Raxuvia after me, he still comes with a very annoying best friend," Nathaniel pursed his lips.

He didn’t need to pretend to find King Atticus disagreeable.

That was something Healer Sirona should know well enough already. After all, King Atticus had done virtually nothing at all to allow Prince Nathaniel to like him, starting from the fact that he had stolen his wife-to-be before parading the same woman right in front of him like some candy snatched from a child.

"If I actually married Sir Jonah, I have no doubt King Atticus would ruin the ceremony on purpose, either by purposely farting loudly during the vows or by raining dead bodies all over the venue. Knowing him, both actions were equally likely."

"...You’ve thought a lot about this," Sirona marveled. "I’m impressed. But that is not what I’m approaching you for."

"Then what is it?" Nathaniel asked, his mind going on high alert even as he continued to stare placidly at Sirona.

There was no way she would ask so directly about the rendezvous at the underground catacombs, would she?

Nathaniel lifted his sleeves under the guise of rubbing his nose. Subtly, he took a quick whiff. He had scrubbed himself clean enough that he couldn’t smell anything but the soap he used to scrub his own skin raw and red. She must not have been able to smell anything too, in that case.

He should be safe.

"I’ve been following your research notes on Prince Silas’s condition," Sirona said.

She pulled out a few loose pieces of parchment, pointing at several diagrams and messy scribbles that Nathaniel himself had left behind the last time. With it, Sirona had also added some of her own. They were a legitimate set of notes, and if Nathaniel hadn’t known better, he would’ve thought that this was exactly what Sirona was here for.

Alas, he did know better. This was surely just to hide a different motive, although Nathaniel was yet to know exactly what. There were too many things Sirona could be suspected of at this point that he didn’t dare to pinpoint a crime too quickly.

"These are the notes written for the temporary serum, yes," Nathaniel confirmed. "Is there anything wrong with it?" he asked. "Prince Silas is not experiencing any negative side effects, is he?"

"No, of course not," Sirona quickly replied. "It’s just that we have one ingredient missing if we’re to come up with a long-lasting antidote that can change His Highness back to a human completely. That would be the iron meteorite ore."

"But Reaweth’s treasure vault has a lack of it," Nathaniel reminded.

"That’s why we might have to look elsewhere," Sirona said. Her eyes sparkled, and Nathaniel instantly put his guard up. "Perhaps... some place which is rich in metal ores?"