Chapter 61: Chapter 60 – Hot-Potato
This was even more confusing, why would Duke White's son want to kill him? If the Duke desired to kill him, he could have accomplished that a long time ago. There would be no need for sending in an assassin when he left him with Hazel. Was he planning to create a sort of conspiracy against Hazel, or was it someone else that wanted him dead?
Maybe another wife of the Duke, but that did not make sense either why would they want to kill him. He was a part of the Duke's plan. So Why? This news made him very confused. He kept on thinking for any reason however remote it may be to justify sending an assassin after him. But he could not come up with one.
Sara shook him, "Aile, what happened?"
"Nothing I was just thinking."
"Thinking about what?"
"I wonder what happened to him?"
"It does not matter, it was probably karma acting up because of his rudeness." She said this very jovially and without care.
Aile said with some concern, "Sara, he was rude, but you should not be happy that he has gone mad because of his rudeness!" He felt that Sara was celebrating his downfall excessively.
A young person is allowed to be rude once in a while. Sara should not wish people harm for a single mistake. It would not be a desirable characteristic to develop.
Sara shook her head and responded, "I do not like him because he said a lot of bad stuff to mom. If he becomes insane, then he can not be rude to her."
Aile sighed it seemed that her mind worked in a pretty straight forward method and he was overthinking it. He smiled and nodded, "I guess that is great, at least for now, he can not speak."
"Yeah!"
Then like always, she started to have an uplifting chat with Aile. She mainly spoke about yesterday and what she thought of the princess.
She had liked the princess and was glad that they got along. The talks continued for a while. To Ailes surprised Sara still had not made a decision to make the princess her sister. This is because she thinks that she needed to know her better. This made Aile smile and thought that Sara was showing signs of maturity and was happy.
Soon it was time for breakfast, Aile and Sara started to have a lot of food. Aile had a lot because he did not get much food last night as a result of the princess's antics.
After breakfast, Hazel announced that they were to meet up in front of the tavern in 10 minutes. Then they will go to the town centre for the celebration of the princess's birthday.
Aile went back upstairs and got dressed in the clothes Sara picked for him. He wore the chainmail underneath it.
He strapped the dagger in his side and took the small piece of mushroom just incase. He also took the fireball talisman that he stole off the young master.
He put the first part of the Ingredient Concealing Book underneath the bathtub's tile.
Aile gently removed it and installed the tile back once the book was there and made sure it was flat to prevent it from standing out. He placed an alert ruin and fire ruin combo close to the book which would be triggered if someone who does not know about it, touches it, burning the evidence. He also felt somewhat uneasy, so he took his bag and went downstairs.
He was ahead of everyone, then very quickly he wore his mask and robe and checked into another tavern that was not too far away. There he placed his bag.
Meeting so many people in a weak state was not ideal, especially since Duke White's son Knew where he lived. If they cure him, another ready place that he does not know about could become handy.
He felt less protected since he was not in his top shape, and all of his stored energy was absorbed. So he was compensating for it by being extra careful. Once all of it was done, he sneaked back into the tavern and came down being the last person out. Hazel and Sara were already there waiting for him.
Sara had an excited glint in her eye, seeing Aile. This was the gaze she had always welcomed him with, and he felt cherished seeing this look every time.
They started to walk to the town centre. Sara like always stuck to Aile's side. As they were going towards the town centre, they noticed well-dressed people everywhere, and they kept on joining the main street and heading towards the same direction.
There was a constant murmuring going on as the crowd slowly moved cheerily ahead. The environment was lively everyone came with a lot of expectation, and they wore their best articles of clothing.
They soon arrive at a jam-packed area in the centre of town. Here the townspeople were gathered, the people formed a circular shape, leaving it's centre empty. In front of them stood a group of guards preventing them from going too close. At the centre was where the nobles and royals would gather for the celebration.
The citizens were genuinely happy to see their princess, and all sorts of discussions were going on in the crowd.
From the younger generation, that wanted to get the princess's attention and possibly woe her.
To others, that wanted to evaluate her looks and predict her beauty in a few years.
To people that came here to see how the nobles gathered, identifying the different factions.
There were many people with many objectives here.
Aile was not bothered by the different conversation that he heard. He just kept on having a bad premonition. This made him act more paranoid. The foreboding feeling made Aile have a sense of dread, his anxiety was very high. He was only at 33 percent of his strength. This did not help the current situation.
He came back to it when Sara pulled his hand as they entered the central location. They passed the guards and in front of him was some of the most influential people in the kingdom.
Once they reached the inside of the noble's circle, a lot of eyes evaluated them. Aile listened to the conversation, and initially, it was everyone asking each other if they recognized the group.
After all, this group consisted of 3 good looking people. Hazel being the centre of attention. Then people started to nod, and a few well-informed people explained who Hazel was.
Apparently Hazel was the genius daughter of the Nala Clan. They also explained that she was used as a political alliance between the Nala Clan and the White Clan.
She was the most promising person with a great future. However, for some reason, after her marriage with Duke White, she has not progressed in her cultivation. This would be the 10 years that she has remained stagnant.
The nobles' discussions revolved around, mocking the Nala Clan for letting go of such a talent.
Duke White destroyed a genius's talent due to jealousy and because he could not accept another strong genius in his generation. And many more conversations regarding her downfall.
One thing that people did was respect her strength even though she had remained stagnant, she was still a powerful practitioner.
Soon after the conversation changed to Sara and Aile.
A certain group of nobles already made up their mind to propose marriage to Sara, and they were scrambling for candidates in their families.
Then the attention changed to Aile.
Another controversial topic started. A majority of the group were under the impression that Aile was Sara's twin brother and Duke White was grooming him to become the next leader of the White clan. Apparently, he was put into such a remote place to grow up humble and have an understanding of the needs of people in the White clan's territory.
There was another theory that he was a bastard child and was put away to hide his shame.
There were also people that pointed out that Aile does not resemble Duke White and he is an illegitimate child of Hazel with her lover.
Because of this, the Duke is allowing the unrest to continue in Port Kiar.
He is not planning to support Hazel as a punishment.
There were many more theories, some in support of Hazel and a lot more against her. There were only a few positive comments that came out of the nobles about her.
The nobles had a divide. The influential nobles were mainly in two camps, and both wanted to keep their distance away from Hazel.
They were either in the royal faction's camp, which viewed her in alliance with the White clan.
Then there was the group in support of the White clan, they viewed the incident of Port Kiar that did not receive help from the White clan as a sign of a bigger problem. Therefore, they preferred to keep their distance.
This made Hazel a strong powerhouse to become the hot-potato between the nobles, no one wanted to risk provoking either side by siding with her.
The lower, less influential nobles found this as an opportunity. She was a high-level practitioner that seemed to be in limbo between the two powers. This was the perfect opportunity to gamble. If she survives the political storm, they could have a strong ally. If she fails, it is unlikely that the more influential powers would deal with them. Thus, marriage alliances and other means were being planned.
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CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
GloriouslyFamous
GloriouslyFamous Hey guys, I am close to the end of this arc with my drafts. So if you have any ideas, things you want to see more of and things you want to see less of, for the next arc, please comment. I will take them under consideration as long as it does not affect the plot.
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