Chapter 183: 183: Escaped
"Should we go and look for him?" the guard asked, still kneeling.
Elvis had both hands behind him as he stared at them. "Don’t do anything for now,"
he said as he turned and walked off. The guards still knelt there as Elvis stormed off to meet Lysander, whom the guard said was the person that took Eden away.
*******
Lysander was in his bedroom, going through the clothes in his wardrobe when a knock came on the door.
"The Crown Prince is here," the person outside announced.
Lysander turned. He was excited and also worried to hear that Elvis was here—probably for him.
Excited that his brother was coming to see him, and also worried to know that he was probably mad because he helped Eden out and he was still not back.
And he had done so, going against Elvis’s words.
"I’m coming..." Lysander hesitated. He thought for a while, wondering if he should go or not. And then he finally made his way to the door.
He hesitated again and then opened the door. He smiled at the Crown Prince, Elvis, who now walked into his room.
He didn’t look too happy at all.
"Ah, welcome back from your long trip. How are you doing? Why are you here...? Is there something I can help you with..?"
Elvis didn’t waste time but decided to go straight to the point. "Where is he? The wizard of EL."
Lysander paused. "Well. That..."
"I gave an order that he shouldn’t leave this mansion. I made it clear that he should stay here. Why did you go against that?" he questioned Lysander.
Lysander hesitated and then said, "He said he wanted to go out... so..."
Elvis took a deep breath and then exhaled. "Now where is he?"
"He hasn’t returned..." Lysander finally said.
"And where is he?" Elvis added.
Lysander paused before he said, "I don’t know..."
Elvis inhaled and exhaled again. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t wish to get mad at Lysander.
He didn’t feel it was necessary to do so, and he turned and paced around for a while. Thoughts streamed through his mind as he paused.
"Don’t you know who he is?" he asked Lysander. "Don’t you know that he’s the wizard of EL? Don’t you know how dangerous he is? Why then do you even bother to associate yourself with him?"
Lysander was quiet for a while before he said, "He’s not as dangerous as you all make of him. He’s a good person..."
"Snap out of it and don’t be fooled by his tricks. He’s dangerous and that’s it. You can’t trust him. He can play you and use you... like he did now..." Elvis said.
"He didn’t use me. I willingly helped him out," Lysander defended. "So don’t make him seem like a monster or something..."
"But he is..." Elvis interrupted him. "He is the monster who destroyed cities and burnt lives. He is the infamous wizard of EL known to bring doom. How else do you want a monster he spelt?"
Lysander only stared at him now. No words came to him as he thought for a while.
"You can’t just trust him like that..." Elvis stated again.
And as though he had made his point clear, he turned and walked off. He soon left the room, leaving Lysander standing there in thoughts.
Lysander had learned to trust Eden fully, so he couldn’t bring himself to trust any contrary words—even those coming from his brother whom he trusted.
******
Elvis panicked after leaving Lysander’s room.
He knew he didn’t have any means of looking for Eden. He didn’t even know where to start looking for him.
He had lost the responsibility his father had given him to take care of, and now he was forced to find a way out.
Elvis planned on secretly sending some soldiers out to look for Eden. Maybe before a day or two they’d find him.
And the news wouldn’t get to his father, whom he knew would explode in fury. He couldn’t let his father know that they had lost their means of obtaining glory.
But it was already too late, because the news had gotten to the king.
And the king had summoned Elvis and his brother, Lysander, to meet him.
*******
The two brothers stood before King Edward, who didn’t seem to be pleased with them at all.
"And what in the world am I hearing?" King Edward questioned Elvis. "What do you mean you’ve lost the wizard of EL?"
"Apologies, Father. It’s my mistake. I wasn’t responsible enough to handle the important task you entrusted me with. Punish me." Elvis had already confessed to it all.
Queen Lea, who sat there by the king’s side, casually scoffed. "I knew someone like you can’t handle such an important task. Useless as always. I can’t believe you lost something as important as this! What rubbish!"
The king clenched his fist. "I give you one important task and you turn it into this? Do you think I can just punish you and let it off?!"
Elvis said nothing.
The king lashed again. "How can you not be responsible to look after him?! How can you leave him to roam like that without guarding him! Do you know the mess you’ve caused right now?!"
"Apologies." That was all Elvis could say.
The king sighed deeply as Queen Lea added, "I can’t believe we entrusted such a task to such a useless person and he messed it up. He couldn’t even look after a single person? What a complete joke!"
But then Lysander, who was standing there, was already feeling guilty since Elvis was taking the whole blame.
He decided to speak up as well. "Elvis locked him off well. I was the one who took him out and had him leave."
As soon as he announced that, Queen Lea paused. She blinked in shock at the realization that all she said had just backfired.
Her son was actually the person behind all the mess that befell them at the moment.