The prince's mind was a roller coaster of emotions from the moment he stepped back on the capital. When he heard the news that Emmelyn died after giving birth, he thought his world collapsed.
Truly, without Harlow, he wouldn't want to continue living.
What was the point? His beloved mother was gone, and so was the only woman he loved. He was not really interested in becoming the king. He only took up the role to be the future king out of his devotion to his parents.
But now that his mother had passed away, he was not too eager to keep the title. For all he cared, Athos could take the throne in his place.
His cousin would make a good king. He was already experienced ruling Southberry and he did his job well. He was also part of the original Strongmoor family. His mother was King Jared's older sister.
Mars would have supported Athos to become king if he couldn't free himself from the curse when he took the throne anyway.
Instead of letting the kingdom turn into civil war for power, he would gladly appoint Athos as his successor. He would retreat from the world and let his cousin lead their empire.
However, now that he had Harlow, his priority shifted. He no longer only thought about himself. That poor defenseless baby needed him. She was what's left of his wife.
Mars must make sure sure that he could keep her safe, and that meant, for Harlow's sake, he had to be the king of this country.
He couldn't really tell his father's state of mind right now, but from what he had heard, it looked like King Jared was deeply grief-stricken and became more vicious than usual.
He didn't care about other people and could easily call for their beheading when he thought they offended him.
If King Jared heard Emmelyn escaped and left behind her daughter, who knew what he would do to Harlow. Especially since Harlow was not a boy.
If she was a boy, the king might spare her since Harlow was set to inherit the throne. But since she was a girl, the baby might remind him of Emmelyn and how much he hated her for killing his wife.
"Tell General Frey I want to meet him and his men in my castle tonight. I have important things to discuss," Mars told the knight standing by the palace entrance. "Right after sunset."
"Will do, Your Highness," said the knight after he bowed deeply. By the time he raised his head to look at the prince, Mars was already gone. He dashed Snow to go back to the little forest where Emmelyn's grave was located.
Before he got there, he stopped by his castle and dragged Roshan to come with him. They also brought some soldiers with shovels to dig the grave and check Ellena's story.
Roshan's face turned pale when he saw what Mars wanted his soldiers to do. Surely the prince had not lost his mind like his father, hadn't he?
What was he trying to do? Did he want to take his wife's body out of the grave and tried to preserve it like what his father was doing to the late queen?
The butler felt cold sweat ran down his back.
Uff... he surely didn't want to see Emmelyn's decomposing body. He would have nightmares, especially knowing that he had a hand on her demise.
No amount of gold could help him get rid of those nightmares...
However, as a mere butler, he didn't have a choice. The prince ordered him to come and so he had to obey. Roshan only held back his nausea and didn't say anything.
"Roshan, tell me what happened on the day my mother died," said Mars with his arms crossed on his chest, without looking at Roshan. His eyes were focused on the soldiers who were working hard to dig the grave with the shovels they brought with them.
The butler went stiff when he heard the question. He knew this day would come. He had prepared his story and practiced it several times. He was just shocked to know he had to recount it earlier than expected.
He thought the prince was still on the way, but he arrived back much, much earlier than expected.
Wasn't Wintermere a kingdom located at the end of the continent? It should be really far from here. He heard that it should take people 6 to 8 weeks just to get there.
So, why did the prince return in only slightly over three weeks?
This made him nervous and beads of sweat started rolling down his face.
"Y-your Highness..." Roshan wiped his forehead with his sleeves. "On-on that day, I went to accompany Lady Emmelyn to town. She said she needed to buy something. We went back by lunchtime."
He licked his lips to get rid of his nervousness. Luckily, the prince was not looking in his direction, so Roshan could pretend that his hoarse voice was because he was sad about the queen's passing.
"The queen arrived not long after. Lady Emmelyn said she was feeling unwell. So, she rested in the chamber and the queen went there to visit her. They didn't come out for hours until finally, the queen's guard came to check on Her Majesty."
Finally, Mars turned to Roshan and looked at the man with grief in his eyes. "And then?"
Roshan wiped his fake tears and continued his words. "Wh-when they got in... they found the queen on the floor, surrounded by her own pool of blood and many stab wounds on her body... Lady Emmelyn was gone. The gold coins in the treasure chest in your study were also gone."
The truth was, as soon as Emmelyn was captured by the thugs, Roshan immediately went home to the castle and told all the other servants that their lady was feeling unwell and needed rest.
He emptied the treasure chest and kept the gold to himself, thinking people would suspect Emmelyn stole the gold to run away after killing the queen.
He could tell the story easily to other people, but now that he had to repeat the lies to the crown prince, the butler felt so nervous.