This chapter is brought to you by 火炎 (Fire) by QUEEN BEE.

---

Part VI

---

Having to deal with the fallout that was Tobus Arcadia breaking into the Monttevi Compound in the middle of the night and knocking out all the guards in pursuit of him as he carved a path littered with the bodies of Monttevi men was not exactly the sort of thing Eartha had to face.

According to eye-witness testimonies, Tobus had kidnapped Rowan Monttevi during his evening meal with his family and proceeded to jump out of a window in his escape, disappearing into the night.

Rowan's protector was, unfortunately, a step too late in giving chase and lost sight of Tobus after thirty minutes of searching.

Lord Monttevi was incensed. Lady Monttevi cried her eyes out.

The Chambers of Tower of Truth was thrown into chaos as Lord Calypto and Lord Monttevi both appeared in Lord Eartha's office.

"Eartha! My nephew is missing--"

"Eartha! Valerius' nephew kidnapped my son!"

The two men froze and then slowly to each other.

"You!" They both pointed their fingers at one another.

Atilo Monttevi scowled viciously at Valerius.

"I should have known your underhanded tricks caused this mess."

"Me?! Tobus wouldn't have run off if not for the fact that Jovette mentioned your son!"

The other man scoffed. "So it's about the engagement, is it? Here I thought you weren't particularly fond of incest. Betrothing your own daughter to your nephew is truly most impressive."

Eartha brought his hands to his face.

Of course, the engagement rumors. That must have started all of this nonsense.

Valerius looked like he was about to explore. "There is no betrothing of anything, good sir! Have you not heard a word of what I just said?! Your son seduced my daughter!"

Atilo took a second too long before he finally understood Valerius' words.

"What?!"

"It's your son's fault--"

"Rowan, that stupid boy! First Lady Rasamund and now... I feel faint..."

Atilo looked two shades paler as he slowly sat down on Eartha's sofa.

Valerius rolled his eyes.

"We can discuss this after," he hissed, glaring daggers at Atilo. His gaze landed on Eartha, next.

Eartha was the city lord, but even he would quail under Valerius' vermillion eyes.

Valerius was slow to anger. At the moment, he was merely frustrated by the situation, but Eartha had seen what he could do on the battlefield.

"We need to find my nephew. I can assure you that if Atilo's fool son is as smart as everyone claims he is, he will cry and continue to do so until rescue is underway."

The fact that Valerius had to pin the world "rescue" rather than "retrieve" did not make Eartha feel any better about this stunt Tobus decided to pull.

Atilo will demand he be punished, and neither Valerius nor Eartha can protect him from the consequences.

Knowing Tobus, perhaps he was already aware of this but was willing to go to the lengths of giving the most terrifying shovel talk in all of Vesna's history.

Eartha pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes.

"Go gather your men, both of you. Search the city and let us hope Tobus is just overreacting."

---

Pluto wanted to drown his sorrows in a wine barrel.

Jovette and Tobus. Happy Dagger and Cat.

He kept the two of them in his memories for the longest time ever since that fateful meeting.

Golden hair and copper skin...

Two pairs of Emerald green eyes...

He was aware he needed to be neutral. That was the rule drilled into him since he started learning to be a Stella heir.

But Pluto didn't want the heirship.

Mercury and Venus could take it for themselves. All he wanted was to unite with the one who had called him Star and the girl who had looked at him with kind eyes.

It was all very stupid. They had only interacted for less than five minutes, but Pluto was used to cruelty all his life. That meeting was a core memory that he couldn't forget.

Meeting them again as adults was... strange.

Tobus was an assassin, and he was very good at what he did. Jovette was a dangerous killer in her own right, and she was a master of disguise.

They were gorgeous in their craft, and Pluto had the honor of watching them complete their missions with a finesse he couldn't compare with anything else he'd seen.

Now they were getting married...

Pluto wiped away his tears and took another swig of the wineskin.

"Okay, I get that heart has been shattered into smithereens, but can you cry somewhere else? Why does it have to be in my room?"

Alas, cruel world, alas.

Pluto closed his eyes and proceeded to pass out.

"Oh, come on!"

---

It wasn't that Venus didn't dislike his cousin... but he kind of did.

He would never let his one-sided dislike affect his work, but he would never go out of his way to talk to Pluto if he had the time.

Pluto liked Tobus.

A lot.

The moment he came back from the sister city, he demanded to be Tobus' handler.

Venus was Tobus' handler.

Tobus was his first and only agent, and his uncle proceeded to revoke his title as the Cat's handler and gave it to Pluto like a welcome gift.

Of course, Venus understood he wanted him to be the Director of Intelligence, but he was promised a few more years as a handler before his time would come.

But then the previous Director just had to die of natural causes and left the seat open to the most capable individual in the Tower.

Venus sometimes cursed his own genius. Would it have truly killed him to pretend to be ordinary for another decade?

Now he couldn't be Tobus' extra set of eyes and ears, and that upset him like no other.

Pluto took his job, and devastatingly enough, he was good at it.

Venus wished he would have proved himself incompetent, as selfish as the thought was.

Tobus and the others would have been in danger if Pluto turned out to be another Uranus.

Venus had seen Tobus' wounds, and he had visited him at the healing ward.

If Pluto had not supported the mission as well as he did, Tobus would have died.

He turned to the limp body lying on his bed.

Pluto still had on his handler cloak and was red in the face from the wine. His breathing was even, indicating he had fallen asleep after the... news regarding Tobus' engagement to Jovette.

Seriously, what the hell?

If the idiot hadn't run off before Tobus could explain himself, he would have known that Tobus had no desire to marry Jovette.

Venus moved to push him off the bed, but not a second later, the communication stone on his desk lit up.

His uncle had summoned him to his office.

---

Listen, just because Bel let Tobus kidnap Rowan didn't make him a bad Heir Protector.

No matter the glares people in the compound were shooting at him, Bel new he was perfectly capable of protecting his cousin if the situation ever raised.

Tobus just wasn't a part of his danger radar, so of course he wouldn't have triggered his internal alarm.

Gods, and just this afternoon, he was trying to figure out if Lord Calypto had really betrothed Tobus to Jovette.

While cousin marriages did happen from time to time, Tobus and Jovette were first cousins.

Also, Tobus was averse to sex, so whatever Lord Calypto had been thinking--which was likely along the lines of baby-making--would not have happened.

Not to mention, Tobus practically raised Jovette since she was four.

Marriage between the two of them would be wrong in several different ways.

Lastly...

Bel had staked his claim first! He was the first to confess, and Tobus hadn't said no, and even though he had no idea where they stood after the whole breaking into the Calypto Estate thing, there was still something there.

Bel would not let some rumor about cousins getting married get in the way of his pursuits.

He was ready to face off against Lord Calypto if need be, even if the whole kidnapping Rowan debacle ends in an even worse relationship between the Calyptos and the Monttevis.

Except...

It was the fact that, while Tobus was so concerned about Rowan and Jovette's relationship, he didn't seem all that aware of the fact that all these ridiculous stunts he continuously pulled, alongside his well-respected reputation in Vesna, had managed to train both Houses to be more tolerant of each other through his unintentional actions.

And also, kidnapping Rowan might have shifted the story to the left of the original narrative.

... Not that it stopped Tobus from literally speeding up the events of the story by his actions.

The "story" had somehow played out similarly to the events.

There was the duel, and the interference of Tobus, yet the context was completely different.

Whether or not he knew this didn't matter.

The foundation Tobus had set at the very beginning, with his kittens and his cats, had changed the hatred into genuine rivalry.

Vesna was the secret jewel of the Tiber Empire, and it would stand.

Whatever civil war Tobus had read would not be happening any time soon.

The story has long been changed.

---

Rowan kept crying because he realized Tobus was weak to tears.

The tear gas potion he had in his arsenal of poisons played a big role.

He doused it in his handkerchief, let out an ugly sob, and buried his face into the cloth.

Then the tears started trickling down without stopping.

"I...I...I...I'm s-sorry...! I just l-l-like her so much...!"

His breath kept hitching uncontrollably, and whenever he tried to say something, his words would blubber.

Tobus kept wiping his face. There was a flash of regret in his eyes that Rowan took advantage of.

Was this really a good time to discuss his love for Jovette?

No, but he kind of figured out the reason for his "kidnapping."

Exchanging letters with Jovette via Ophelia being the middleman had seemed harmless at first.

Sometimes, they would meet up at an orchard near the city square and just... talk.

Jovette was super handsome.

Not only was she strong, but she also treated him kindly.

What Rowan wouldn't give to blame damsel again...

She had him to be a mission partner.

They hadn't done another mission since their first one, but they would receive another soon.

Rowan imagined doing an infiltration, again.

Maybe another round of dancing with a mix of poison? And stabbing. A lot of stabbing.

"... Okay."

Rowan sniffed and squinted his swollen eyes. "W-What?"

Tobus let out a long and resigned sigh.

"Okay... but be careful."

Was he... giving him his blessing?

Rowan's eyes watered for real this time and he cried even harder.

"Wahhhh...!"

Childhood instincts.

He blamed it on Bel for letting him throw all those embarrassing tantrums in the city square, and Tobus for picking him up or giving him a cat whenever it happened.

Tobus pet him on the head like a kid.

It was alright.

There was no one here, anyway--

"Shows over, everyone. Go home."

What the fu--

His father and Lord Calypto suddenly appeared from behind the trees.

Both looked very displeased.

Rowan hiccuped and immediately grabbed onto the back of Tobus' shirt.

Childhood instincts also dictated that he needed to hide behind the other man.

"No! I don't know them! Go away!"

"I'm your father, you brat!" his father screamed, marching over.

Rowan was unceremoniously plucked away from the safety that was Tobus and dragged off.

"What's this about you seducing the Calypto Heir!?"

"... Well technically, she seduced--"

"That was a rhetorical question! We will have a long discussion about this tomorrow!"

His father stopped and then turned back around to yell at Lord Calypto.

"Chambers! Tomorrow! And bring that unruly nephew of yours!"

Rowan has once again discovered how powerful his father's lungs were.

He wanted to reply, but he suddenly felt rather dizzy.

Perhaps this whole ordeal has tired him.

Before he closed his eyes and went to sleep, Rowan faintly heard Lord Calypto say to Tobus:

"Did you wipe his face with that handkerchief? The entire time? Tobus, you do remember we wash everything in Calypto-grade poison, don't you?"

Then he blacked out.

---

The author has something to say:

Part VI is going to handle Poison Laced Dagger, and hopefully wrap it up so we can get to Nine's storyline with the village burning down conspiracy. Just so you know, Rumeo and Joliet took place over five days. Poiosn Laced Dagger takes place over two months. The math is mathing... I think.