Alex met Shizuka as planned. What she told him shocked him to the core:
"Ten years ago, the succession of Wales was the hot topic. Possible candidates were Marina, the second princess; Tanasia, the first princess; Noschia, the third princess. The late emperor Austin didn't have any sons, so he had to firstly consider his son in laws and then consider his daughters.
Ethan was a simple man and wasn't that ambitious, he just wanted to live a simple life but ended up as royalty. Tanasia was a calm and quiet lady who was solely focused on raising her children. They wouldn't want to be distracted by anything else. They agreed and abdicated their right to the throne.
Arskan was a dignified man who wouldn't cause outsiders any inconvenience but was troublesome to his family. Marina was a religious lady who was keen to acquire religious knowledge. Arskan would become more considerate then and would cause more trouble for his family. Noschia had no interest whatsoever in state affairs and was only concerned about the well-being of the family. Stephen was almost all the time busy, he had his own business conglomerate to run and wasn't going to back down. No one was willing, no one from other family branches as well, they all thought it was too much responsibility. The council was at a loss, when someone suggested asking the public. An mcq message was put on the community groups. The voting resulted in marina being selected. Austin discussed with Rachel, his wife on what to do. She suggested to consider future heirs as well. Astella and Luka were being considered. No one properly understood what criteria was being checked. Finally astella was chosen as the future crown princess and Stephen as the crown prince of this generation.
An official announcement gathering was assembled. Stephan and astella were called upon. Aqua, the fourth princess was enraged.
"I should be the heir!"
She yelled. Austin said it didn't matter, enraging the girl. She unleashed waves of enchanted ice, causing chaos everywhere. The extremely cold ice waves destroyed everything in sight. People were awestruck that a 5 year old could wield such destructive power. Then aqua looked at astella and unleashed relentless waves of ice. Astella defended herself with a flame shield but under the cool and pressure it broke incessantly . She continously remade it but being only 9 years old, her power was unstable and delicate. Austin came infront of her and conjured a more sturdy shield. He was the only male descendent that wielded the glacial ice vein. However, the power was more powerful in the female decendants than in the male. The western ice prowess from a female wielder overpowered the power of the old man. He was determined to protect his grandchild and shielded her, eventhough it meant he would get injured. It was then he saw luka ushering some people to an exit. He called for him and instructed him to take his cousin away from here.
"But what about you?"
Astella said tears flowing from her eyes.
"I trust the people of islam, they will handle this in a way pleasing to my lord"
with that he handed Astella to luka and gave his all to stop his other grandchild. Which caused his death...."
Astella broke down in tears as she narrated this incident. Alex was horrified at the thought that he was going to marry a murderer. He unconditionally believed she was right and said he will take revenge for Astella with this engagement as a pretense. He asked what her relationship with the Wales family is, she told him she was Astella's aide. She also told him not to ask the family of Wales about this as they were protecting Aqua, they were being manipulated by her she said.
She said that only Coral would answer him truthfully. Alex paused for a moment as he had seen that Aqua and Coral had a rather good relationship. Shizuka said that if Coral showed her true feelings, Aqua could kill her, so she was extremely careful about her behavior with her.
Convinced, Alex left, gritting his teeth wanting to execute Aqua for her atrocities. After traveling a distance, he felt weird about the whole situation and wondered why he immediately believed Shizuka, it was out of character for him to do that. Then he remembered the incident of the cctv footage and criminal Wales was trying to catch. He felt there was some relation between these situations but could not put his finger on them.
He decided to visit Luka and ask Him about the incident as he was the only other witness alive.
As he wondered how to contact the crown prince of Wales, Jack reminded him that the school year will end soon and in the last two months they would be doing field work out of Ghana.
The light bulb in Alex's head lit up he praised Jack for his smartness and rushed down the palace stairs to find his father.
"What did I do?"
Jack asked from the screen in confusion to no one in particular.
"Dad! Where are you?! Dad?"
Alex asked excitedly like a small child as he looked for his father in the palace.
When he finally found his father, he was surprised to see him crying.
"Whats wrong Dad?"
Alex asked his concern growing by each second.
"Your sister ya Habib, your sister has been killed!"
Theodore said with grief overcoming his voice.
Alex was stunned for a moment.
"I have a sister?!"
He yelled in disbelief.
Alex ran his hand through his hair, exasperated.
His father was in no condition to explain anything to him.
He went out of the room to look for his mother. She was nowhere to be seen.
He didn't know what to do anymore. Vincent was at Shizuka's place whose address he didn't know. On top of that,
Vincent was not responding to his calls. Desperate, he looked for any of his father's subordinates. No one was there. For some reason
Snow popped up in his head.
By the time he knew it, he had dialed Aqua's number.
He confided his grief in her as she consoled him.
"I will see if I can do anything"
she said as she hung up.
Alex sat in a daze when suddenly there was a commotion in the hallway. Alex went there to check and found his mother dressed in armor, carrying a small little girl
With brown hair in her arms.
"Son! Call the physicians now!"
She yelled as she came near.
Soon the little girl was being treated as Anna told Alex about the little one's origins.
"Oh, I thought that it was over"
Theodore said sheepishly.
"If only you would do something other than crying, you would be a bit more charming"
Anna said a bit annoyed as she took off her armor.
Wow i have a little sister now?!
Alex thought as he returned to his room and immediately told Aqua that the situation had defused.
His mind suddenly went to Shizuka's words.
"Aqua, do you know anyone named Astella?"
Alex asked trying to be as casual as possible.
"Its a state secret"
Aqua said as her face darkened. Alex immediately understood that it was a sensitive topic so tactfully diverted the topic
"What is your relationship with Acrys?"
Alex asked assuming a serious expression.
"He is in my study group"
Aqua replied flatly.
Alex had another idea, he hung up and went to his father's room.
"Two matters Dad"
he said as he entered.
"What is it?"
Theodore asked uninterested.
"Choose Wales for the on-site assignment and combine the 1A and 1B classes"
Alex said impatiently.
"Robert handles it"
He replied without Raising his head from his work.
"Certainly your highness"
Robert said as he got up to do the assignments.
Satisfied with his work, he walked in the hallway, hands in his pockets as he recited a fragment of the new nasheed which had been released.