A fancy carriage surrounded by a dozen guards advanced on the mega highway, this highway connected many parts of the continent; inside the carriage a prince, five nobles, and a prisoner? They were on their way to the city of Asterion.
"We're almost there my prince." The driver, a member of the knights regiment of Uruz signaled the esteemed guests. "How long do we have before we get there, John? Red asked, wondering if he had enough time to talk to everyone inside. "About 30 minutes my prince." "Excellent!"
Inside the carriage, Red sat with his two fiancés and his soon to be mother in law, on the other side, Azure and Christopher sat next to what could only be described as a mummy.
"Red, are you finally gonna tell us why we brought him along?" Azure had been wondering why in heaven's name Red would insist on bringing a traitor along with them for a mission that required intel gathering. "Well, we're going to turn Leonorio here into a hero." Red chuckled as he said this. "You damn brat, you'll pay for what you did to me." Christopher reacted to this threat by punching Leonorio in the gut. "Red what are you talking about?" Christopher ignored the cries from the injured man next to him.
"I meant exactly what I said!" Red had said this with a lot of emotion. "What they're asking is how and why we would do this." Kitty finally spoke up after being silent for almost the entire journey, she had officially become one of Red's fiancé's before leaving Uruz, and she had been too embarrassed to speak around Red now that her relationship with him was official.
"Ok then.." As Red said this he put his arm around Kitty, knowing full well that this would embarrass her, but he couldn't help but tease her. "We'll do this by saying the following: Leonorio was injured while fighting off the rest of the guards of the Rosales family. Those lightning wounds were received when he got caught up in the spell of the prince Red Uruz who had at the time confused him for another attacker of his two fiancé's. This was a blessing in disguise however, because Leonorio was the only individual strong enough to survive that attack, in the process all traitors were killed, and Leonorio was also spared since he would of almost certainly been unable to dispatch so many guards himself."
Red had managed to utilize all the events that occurred, to create a convincing coverup. "That is a truly believable story, but only to the masses, how do you plan to trick whoever's at fault for this plot?" Sybil had been truly impressed by Red's reasoning, but there were still some holes in this plan, and they had very little time to further prepare.
"Well since we already know Leonorio didn't receive his orders directly from the king, but from count Orlok, who is known for being particularly close to the king and prince, a few things become evident. First, they already know that Leonorio was part of the plot, second, the plot can't be traced back to the royals, because count Orlok would take the fall, and then it would be our word against theirs about their involvement, and finally, if we simply told the story that I made up, then count Orlok would believe Leonorio betrayed him, and he would most likely suspect that the rest of the assassins are currently being questioned." Red had explained the faults of his plan very well, this was in order to assuage everyone's fears with the solution.
"So, Leonorio here will simply have to put on a convincing act when he meets count Orlok. He will pretend as if he planned to create a ruse to get rid of Rosalina, this being why the rest of the guards were pretending to attack him too. As to why he felt the need to do this, that would be because Kitty Calico was with her. If this ruse had worked, he would get a chance to take out both of them silently, without causing a large commotion. The Calico family's sixth sense is quite famous so Orlok would most certainly understand the need for a ruse. This was all in vain however, because I attacked you all en masse, since Leonorio had pretended to be defending Rose and Kitty, it would stand to reason that none of us would suspect him of betrayal." Red needed to catch his breath after all that talking.
"What makes you think I'll help you brat? I should just tell his lordship what actually happened." Leonorio had been listening intently to Red's plan, in order to exploit any weakness he found, but this plan relied on him, since he was sure he wouldn't help Red, he had an arrogance when he said this.
"It's honestly very simple, and I won't tell you that I'll give you a horrifying death that would leave you grateful when you died and finally stopped feeling pain, which I could but I won't need to. This is because both you and I know those rumors about what happens to those that fail count Orlok, from what I hear he's a very old vampire that needs a reason NOT to feed on his subjects. What do you think will happen if you tell him the truth? You know, that your assignment was failed miserably, and that count Orlok's involvement was exposed." Red exuded a dangerous aura that only Christopher had seen before, it was enough to even make the senior knight Leonorio fear for his life.
Trembling Leonorio said: "You're right, what was I thinking? Even if I go with your story it won't be enough, to save myself from him. What do I do?!!" Red didn't show his utter disgust with the man's cowardice. So you're fine with assassinating the innocent, but you're scared of dying yourself!!! This guy's lucky he's helping my plan.
"Don't worry about that, I thought of that too, you better appreciate this second chance I'm giving you!!" Red made sure to still sound mad at Leonorio when he said this, it was better for the plan if Leonorio remained terrified. "Yes of course my lord!!" Leonorio believed that helping Red was now the only thing that would save his life.
"Rose, what was that place you said had amazing scenery and was quite intimate?" Rose had been day dreaming ever since the engagement became official, and hadn't been paying as much attention as she should have. "Oh, it's divine, you mean the restaurant that specializes in pasta, Mascarpone, are we going there?" Rosalina only had romance in the head right now.
"Yes we are, you, Kitty, and I. Lets see, today is Thursday so how about I rent the entire place out for tomorrow night?" Rosalina grabbed Red's hands and excitedly said: "That sounds lovely Red!!!"
"There you have it Leonorio, that's your ticket to life." Red said this while pointing at the man.
"I'm sorry my lord, but I don't understand." Leonorio struggled to respond from all the bandages.
"Oh boy." While rolling his eyes Red continued. "You're going to tell that count Orlok of yours that I'm alone with both my girls in that very restaurant!!!"
"But, I still don…" Red interrupted the man. "I'm sure count Orlok will be tempted to try something else while we're alone there, that restaurant is very isolated, and since I'm buying out the whole place, it will most likely be a perfect chance for him to attack. I'm sure he'll even spare you." Red said this while turning his hand and pointing at Leonorio again.
"I see my lord, thank you for granting me this second chance." Leonorio bowed. 'What a useless piece of trash, I'm sure he's fully expecting us to be killed in that restaurant. He didn't even pretend to care about what we would do after. What a damn fool, I know what you're thinking.' Red smiled while these thoughts ran through his head.
"My prince!" John suddenly called Red. "What is it?" "There appears to be a carriage heading our way my prince."
"Stop the carriage, they must be from the city, Christopher and I will speak to them." The carriage stopped, and before getting out Red said: "Azure, I'm trusting you to protect the carriage if anything goes wrong." "You can leave it to me." Azure could easily handle such a task.
The carriage arrived to a visibly bothered Red and Christopher.
"My name is Lento, I've been sent by count Orlok Sangrado, I'll be escorting the Rosales to their manor today." Lento didn't realize that he was speaking to a prince and a noble. Red rarely used his crown after all. They were still unaware of what had happened in Uruz as well. All they could see was the Rosales' carriage, yet they hadn't received any news of Sybil's death, so they assumed the assassination was botched.
"That won't be necessary." Red waved him off while he said this.
"It wasn't a request, my lord requested this, Lady Sybil is in no position to refuse." He became visibly upset.
"Lady Sybil isn't the one telling you to go screw yourself, that's me." Red flipped the man off afterwards.
"You bastard!!!! Kill these guards and take the Rosales family to their home." Lento appeared to be incredibly prideful.
"Christopher, don't kill them, but everything else goes." Red dashed forward and drew his sword. 30 minutes later, a noble arrived to find Red and Christopher unhurt, the soldiers however, had received the beating of theirs lives.
"We're sorry for the rude greeting prince Red Uruz Alfwar and lord Christopher Arknight. We've received news of the engagement, I'll personally make sure these men pay for insulting you… there is still a need to meet count Orlok however." The noble bowed.
"I won't be meeting anyone, how about I send one of lady Sybil's servants, Leonorio, he's been quite helpful, I doubt he'd mind meeting lord Orlok." Red wasn't letting any of his friends go anywhere near Orlok. " I'd also like to add that there better not be anymore soldiers at the Rosales home, they've proven to be unable to comport themselves before royalty." Red signaled Azure, and Leonorio got out off the carriage.
"Very well, prince Red Uruz, this should suffice, and I'll make sure you're unbothered. My name is Gimor Fauzas. It was a pleasure to make your acquaintance." With a smile, Gimor departed along with Leonorio and the injured soldiers.
Now in the carriage and on their way to the Rosales home, both Red and Christopher started laughing at what had occurred. "You're both crazy, I knew we were planning on getting attention but…" Azure was interrupted by both Red and Christopher. "What the hell is wrong with this city." Christopher almost puked after saying this. "How can anything become this corrupted, this land is literally unlivable." Red also Grimaced. "What's wrong with you two?!" Rosalina was honestly worried about their reactions
Red breathed in deeply and said: "I'm sorry Rose, but we might actually have to destroy this city after all."