20 days after the explosion - Duke's villa

In the end, the prince chose to be pragmatic

He broke the guards neck(the sound almost made him vomit), put his old cloth on the dead body, and after making it look like he was properly tied up, he put the body on the bed and to make it look like it was him

The prince really hated having to kill, for the obvious reasons like it was wrong, he really didn't want to get used to killing, he was always taught that killing was wrong(even if his own mother "took care" of A LOT of people),etc

But unlike before with the thief that killing them could bring all kind of problems like police investigation or bad reputation on the underworld, in here except for feeling bad afterwards, it was a great idea

Not only he had one less person to worry about, he didn't have to worry for him to suddenly wake up and sound the alarm. Besides, he would probably make a better body double as a corpse than a living person

The only problem would be if he gets caught since the other guards may retaliate, but since he would be screwed if he gets caught, anyway, it didn't matter

And the reason he broke his neck instead of cutting his throat was the blood of course. Besides being messy and disgusting, the smell of blood may give it away that something happened. Besides,  since it was a wooden floor the blood may slip the cracks, or tell something happened if someone decided to take a peek inside the room

So in the end, after making sure the guard looked like him sleeping on the bed, the prince left his room without trying to sneak around since not making any noise would be even more suspicious

But even if he didn't try to sneak around, the prince made sure to pay attention to any noise while trying to not been too loud just in case

While moving around and making sure no one was near, the prince decided to check each door in the second floor. If he was lucky, he may not only find some guards sleeping( that he would "take care"), but he may even find Aria and Elena

Sadly, the first room he checked was empty, and the next 3. It wasn't until the 4 door that he hit the jackpot

When he open the door, the prince was secretly glad when he find out that unlike other rooms this one had personal stuff inside it

Of course, this meant that someone was using. Sadly, it looked like no one was inside since the light was out and no one was sleeping on the bed

Or at least that was what the prince originally thought until he heard a strange noise at the side of the room

At first he almost panic and almost launched himself at the direction of the noise in hope of taking out whatever made that noise, but instead what the prince found out in that direction astonished him

The prince couldn't see that well in the dark, but he could see a small humanoid form crouching down on the floor, making him panic again but for a different reason

please don't be a ghost, please don't be a ghost(prince) prayed while approached the figure slowly

And after getting close enough, he let go of his breath he didn't even notice he was holding, and was secretly glad it was only a person puking on a flower base

But what astonished the prince was that the person puking was Susan!

A mixture of anger, disgust, pity, curiosity and even sinister joy mix up on the prince mind

But since it was a great opportunity, he paused for a second to properly decide how to proceed in this situation

He could act like a guard and see if he could fish for some information, but even if she looked like sh-t and was in the middle of "something", she was likely to notice it was the prince talking

And the other option he could think was threatening her with his knife(stolen from the guard) and question her

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The prince tried to come up with an alternative since both came with some risk. In the end, he chose threatening since he would get information faster and she looked too weak to fight back

Soo, after gathering some courage, the prince took out his knife and grabbed Susan from behind while aiming the sharp part of the knife to her neck

" If you try to scream or do something, I will slit your throat, do you understand?"(prince) whisper to her ear while concentrating to the max for sudden movements

"Prince?"(Susan) said with a hoarse voice

"Yep, sooo if you don't behave, I won't feel too guilty when I finish you off, are we clear?"(prince)

"I don't understand, how can you be here?"(Susan) thought that it should be impossible for the prince to be here

"You know, I didn't put a knife in your neck to answer your questions"(prince)made a sinister smile(that no one could see) since he felt a little smug

And since Susan was processing the new information, they stayed in silence for a while

"Whhaat do yoou want?"(Susan) finally comprehended in what kind of mess she was in

"Finally we are getting somewhere. All I want is for you to answer honestly and behave. As long as you do this, you may live, do you understand?"(prince)prince said

"You promise?"(Susan)really doubted his word after everything she did and knowing prince personality

"I did say "may", and you don't have a choice if you want to live"(prince)warned her while avoiding the question

Susan stayed quiet for a second deciding how to proceed, but in the end give up

"what do you want to know prince"(Susan)said reluctantly

"Is Lina ok?"(prince) asked first what matter him the most rigth now, since he really cared for his niece

"Last time I checked, she was still sleeping with the cat by her side. We put her in a room up hear and the cat follow her all the way"(Susan)

"And her maid?"(prince) Remember what she said while he was tied up, but he had to make sure

And he confirmed his worst fears when she puked again on the vase, almost slitting her throat accidentally with the sudden motion

"So dead, right?"(prince)

"yes"(Susan) didn't beat around the bush

"and the guard?"(prince) knew the answer but asked anyway

"also dead"(Susan)

"and Aria?"(prince)

"tied up on a room with her mana suppressed. Since she is a valuable hostage she should be unharmed"(Susan)

He already knew this, but double checking didn't hurt, or more like it did hurt since it made him feel like sh-t, but it was something he had to make sure

So now it was time to think how to proceed from here, and that's when he came up with an idea

It was a great idea if everything went great but involved trusting a mad dog that wanted to beat him to a pulp. He hoped that she wasn't a complete idiot since it was a life or dead situation but if he had to be honest.......Still, he made up his mind and

Still, he made up his mind and decided to gamble it

"sooooo where is the ring that controls the slave collar?"(prince)

Note: by the way, I plan to enter the mystery contest. I was planning to have the prince in a mystery and make it a side story or a main story if I manage to advance the story enough to make it to the deadline. I will make it in a way that new readers don't need to read the previous chapters to understand the plot

Any advice or preference?like revealing the bad guy at the end or not, any special situation you wanna see the prince, etc