Rosie's Games

Chapter 51: Prince 2

"He is infected," the Duke said as Rosalind approached them. The fighting had ceased and the bodies of humans and some monsters were all over the ground. The smell of death surrounded them.

She stared at the Prince and immediately notice the black blood.

"That is not from any wound," she stated.

"You are right. It's from an old one. I believe that the dark curse had infected the crown prince a long time ago. It is either the crown is purposely hiding it or they are not aware of it," the Duke continued.

Someone infected with a dark curse was different from someone who was born with it. For instance, Alma, who was born with a dark curse, would suffer excruciating pain every night until her body could not take it and she died a painful death.

On the other hand, someone who had been infected by a curse using a weapon would have immediately died from it. The pain would be too much to handle.

Being bitten or scratched by someone infected with the curse also had different effects. Princess Isabel received a wound from an animal with a dark curse. She would not die as fast as someone who recieved it from a cursed weapon. However, she was still going to suffer until her death.

The Priests from the south insisted that this was because the weapons directly received the curse from the Dark Lord while the animals got it from their environment. This explanation actually made sense since those people haven't seen the Duke of the North, who clearly survived after being stabbed by a cursed weapon.

She narrowed her eyes at the Prince.

This only meant that

"The Prince was not infected by a weapon," Rosalind mummered. "He is not a Blessed one and his body wasn't as strong as the Duke's. He would have immediately died the moment he received the wound from a cursed weapon.

"Brilliant," he squatted near the prince, who fainted from exhaustion. "Those people didn't intend to harm the Prince." He put his hand on the wound. "It's nothing but a flesh wound. What an elaborate scheme."

"Scheme?"

"The assassins are wearing black, armed with weapons from the North."

"They" Rosalind's eyes widened. "They wanted to frame the Duke?"

"I believe they had another reason for doing that," the Duke said as he gave her a meaningful gaze.

"You mean they wanted to get rid of me," Rosalind answered casually. This was indeed a brilliant scheme. Federico Lux, the man considered the real ruler of this Empire, had two potential plans that he could use once this plan succeeded.

First, he could blame the Duke for Rosalind's death.

The Duke seemed to enjoy killing his potential spouses and so they could easily take advantage of that and stop the Duke from leaving the empire so they could investigate the situation.

Second, they could say that those assassins wanted to kill the Prince but accidentally killed her instead.

The second plan had more advantages than the first and she guessed that Federico would use it to frame the Duke and tell everyone that the Duke wanted to get rid of the heir of this Empire.

The plan only had one simple miscalculation

They didn't think that Rosalind would not follow the Prince around.

This was the first time that women were allowed to join the event. Because of this, everyone was under the assumption that the men would protect the women while fighting for their lives and the women would follow the men to survive in this exciting atmosphere.

However, Rosalind did the opposite.

She refused to follow the Prince after he left her alone. This might be because the Prince was unaware of Federico's plan.

"Are you well?" he asked.

"Yes," she frowned as she did not miss the softness that lingered in his tone. She did not like that. She blinked and turned her head away. "Are they all dead?" she asked.

"Yes."

The fight ended in just a few minutes.

"Why did you kill them? We could bring them with us to prove your innocence."

"They are not from the North."

"No one would believe that." It would be easier to tell everyone that the Duke did it than to find the real culprit.

"They will," the Duke said. "Can you heal his wound without taking the curse?"

She pursed her lips. Even if she could do that, she had no reason to help her enemy.

"I am going to hide all the bodies while you heal him " the Duke continued.

"What are you planning to do?" she asked. In response, he smiled.

"You are too impatient," said Lucas as he got up and stood in front of her. "If I tell you you wouldn't be able to fake the surprise on your face."

"Try me," she answered before she could even process her thoughts. She silently reprimanded herself. She was an adult woman whose soul was already in her seventies! Why was she acting like this!?

He chuckled in response.

"There will be many opportunities for us to explore each other's plans My Lady, but now is not the time," he smiled before disappearing once again into the night.

....

"She was with the Duke?" Federico's wizened face turned uglier when he heard the words from the attendants who carried Princess Isabel after the attack.

"What about the Prince?" he asked, he had a terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach.

What Federico hated the most was being a step behind his enemies.

"We did not see His Highness, Prince Lawrence, your Blessedness. The Young Miss was all alone with the Duke and found her near a tree."

Federico snorted, he had always known that there was something about the horses and a coat. Now, he knew, the Duke must have added some sort of tracking device to the coat and the horse.

The man must have known about the plan ahead of time. So he took precautions and even took advantage of the situation to show his affection towards Rosalind.

Federico eyes narrowed.

'This was not going well,' he thought.