The small Solterne's village was a few hours by carriage from the port of Baydenn. Lucian wasn't excited to have to spend time sitting in the carriage, torturing his poor ass, but he had no choice if the goal was to check out his diamond mine.
In a way the anxiety of seeing a real mine made him less grumpy.
That is... until he meets with the head of the miners.
"We have already said that we will not go and period! All we got here was an inspector to make sure the mine remained untouched, and for years we tried to get in touch with His Highness to negotiate the mine's extraction. Now you decided to appear as if nothing had happened?"
Even in the presence of the Eighth Prince and the Grand Duke, the leader of the miners did not bow down and was firm in expressing his discontent. Lucian had no idea that the situation in the small village would be so... bad, to say the least.
A boy in plain clothes turned to Magnus and Lucian with a worried countenance. It was a knight sent by Magnus to negotiate with the local miners, a poor boy who seemed exhausted from dealing with the stubbornness and iron pride of those men.
"This is the situation, Your Highnesses. The miners refuse to cooperate."
"This is problematic."
Lucian would not take reason from them, after all he neglected any care about the mine despite being its owner. He had no idea how Cassander took care of his administration for all those years, and as far as Lucian remembered, one of his brothers was also thirsty to get his hands on his diamond mine.
All because of the purity of diamonds that would be sold for high price if worked in the right hands.
"Let me get this straight, you have constantly contacted the Imperial Palace with a request for cooperation to mine the diamonds in exchange for gaining government support that would improve your life?"
"Exactly! Does our village seem prosperous to you?" Replied the brute with rancor.
"Be careful, you are talking directly to the Eighth Prince."
"No, it's okay, Magnus" Lucian interjected, looking seriously at the man who represented the miners of the village "He is right."
Looking around he could see the sorry state of that village. It was clear the sign of neglect, especially considering the fact that the village was also within the territory where the mine is located. That is, it was the responsibility of the Eighth Prince to take care of the village and its residents as well.
However...
"For many years I have been away from my duties as a prince, but now I am regaining control. It is not my intention to deny my guilt, only that it seems hard to believe that the Imperial Consort would be neglecting all care for the village."
"The Consort is generous in sending us supplies in the fall, Your Highness" said the leader of the village, a poor old man who trembled just to breathe, "but we do not have enough funds to survive without supporting ourselves by donations in other seasons."
"I understand..." Lucian scratched his chin slightly, reminding himself to investigate the situation of the villagers when he returned to the capital "Then you said you spoke with an inspector who regularly visits the mine. Were the requests you sent to the Imperial Palace written?"
"Of course! That damned worm kept insisting it had a whole protocol to follow. I did what they told me, I sent dozens of these papers full of frills and I was always rejected."
"Rejected?", Magnus interfered, "Did you get a reply from the Palace?"
"Of course."
"Would you mind showing us?"
The miners' leader seemed suspicious of Magnus and Lucian, however, upon receiving a subtle touch from the village's leader, the miner snorted and turned to his desk looking for something in his various papers.
Something didn't ring.
Why would the Imperial Palace reject a mining request? The Emperor himself seemed interested when he gave it as a gift to Lucian. Although Lucian did not put his hand on the fire for anyone, since anyone in that palace could lie and try to get their hands on their wealth.
The miner soon returned and handed over the envelopes containing the imperial seal. Lucian and Magnus read each of the letters that in fact rejected his proposals for diamond mining. However, the signature of those documents was strange to Magnus.
"This is not the Imperial Consort's handwritting."
"What?!"
Taking an envelope from the suit, Magnus showed a letter that Lucian remembered seeing him receive just as they were leaving the hotel. However, the difference of letters was contrasting. The letter in possession of Magnus contained an elegant and fine letter, as if Cassander spent long hours lying at a table to write him. Fine that his words conveyed his concern for Lucian, which left the prince embarrassed by it being shown to all so blatantly, yet it was a beautiful handwriting.
Totally different from the coarse and objective writing of the letter-response that the miner received.
The man narrowed his eyes and leaned forward trying to read that beautiful letter of Cassander, increasing his mistrust.
"So? You royalty always send someone to write the letters-answers. Should that prove anything?"
"I'm just pointing out the fact that this situation is poorly told", Magnus replied while holding the letter.
"We intend to go to the mine to take a look at it, why not come with us? Maybe we need some fresh air so we don't get carried away by anger. Also, as soon as we check the condition of the mine, we can negotiate in person."
Lucian's proposal was not so bad, but the miner's pride still held firm as a wall. With the slight push that the old village leader gave to the miner, he agreed to go against his will.
The mine was not far from the village, which allowed them to follow on foot. A silent journey where everyone thought about the problem at hand. Soon, any thought was replaced by surprise when they found a huge hole in the ground with mining materials nearby.
Lucian looked around and hissed as he stretched his neck and saw the darkness in that hole. In its surroundings there were signs of mining forming a staircase that descends to the center of the hole.
"I was waiting for a cave, but..."
"There is a cave down there, but when you stopped caring about us, we had no way to keep working."
"I see... hm? Who is that?"
All turned in the direction pointed by Lucian. A man in a suit seemed to assess something on the ground near that crater, without noticing their presence. Magnus raised his fingers at some sign, and two knights who accompanied him took the lead to approach the subject and point their spears against his neck.
"Hic! But what the hell is that?!"
"Whoa! You again?!" The miner replied to recognize the man in the suit. Immediately he marched to the man, standing in front of him with his forehead furrowed at the worst sign of disgust "What the hell are you doing here?"
"What did I come to do? By chance besides poor is idiot? I came here at the command of the Imperial Consort to inspect the state of the mine!"
Lucian raised his eyebrow and approached from behind the subject. His presence has not yet been noticed, which irritated the prince. But he took the opportunity to assess the said inspector. A skinny man with long legs and black hair licked back. So weak that only a punch from one of the Grimwood knights would be enough to blow him up.
Pathetic.
"Ha! And why on earth would an inspector be needed when the prince himself is here?"
"Prince?", Questioned the man with a mocking smile "The Eighth Prince is on his honeymoon with the Grand Duke, and he would never be interested in such a matter. Of course that..."
Magnus' patience has exploded. He unsheathed his own sword and pointed at the throat of the subject leaving him completely cornered against the blades.
"May I know what the hell are you doing on my husband's land?"
The guy widened his eyes and fell to the ground, looking at Magnus as if he were a ghost. Quickly he checked the uniforms of the two knights, noticing the embroidered coat of arms of the Grimwood highlighted on the armbands. Realizing that he was in the presence of someone whose social rank was higher than his own, the man immediately changed his posture.
"Y-Your Grace!! What are you doing here?! I-I figured you'd be visiting the Grimwood territory..."
Magnus tightened the blade.
"I asked a question. Answer or I'll rip your head off right now."
The man swallowed dry, getting nervous when Magnus approached the blade and made a small superficial cut in his neck.
"As I said, I came here at the command of the Imperial Consort to ensure that the Eighth Prince's estate is intact."
"But it doesn't make sense" Lucian stood in front of the man, with that angel face and friendly voice "Since in recent months, I'm the one who is taking care of mine and not the Consort."
"Your Highness?!! What... what do you mean?"
"Exactly what I said, pray. My father has not taken care of mine on my behalf for months. So..." Lucian bent down in front of the man and looked at him coldly "May I know why you are sneaking into my mine?"
"I... I mean, I'm just doing my job, Your Highness. I was not notified that Your Highness would be responsible again for the management of the mine."
"Are you saying that the Imperial Consort failed to notify you?"
"Not at all!" The man responded in despair when Magnus and the two knights pressed their blades "Such things happen, Your Highness. Since you are always reclusive and uninterested in such worldly matters, surely you do not know such misunderstandings."
Ah, he was mocked. Lucian bit his own tongue to maintain composure. No one would mock the Eighth Prince in such a way, not as long as he was willing to change the fate of that story.
"In this case you will not mind to clarify the disagreements until the end, right?"
Lucian's evil smile made the man in the suit shudder all over. Magnus turned away his sword and struck the neck of the subject, causing him to fall unconscious on the ground.
"Take him and interrogate him. I want you to find out absolutely everything about this guy, even if the use of force is necessary."
"Yes, sir!"
The two knights held the man in a suit and carried him away. As he watched them disappear from his field of vision, Lucian had the slight impression that it was the villain's doing. It's okay that Cassander was still someone suspicious, however, it would be a dirty job to send an inspector to the mine while Lucian was there.
Unless you are...
The prince glanced aside, noticing that Magnus was keeping cool and serious while holding his sword.
"Have you told anyone about our coming, or are they all thinking we're in your territory?"
Magnus just smiled, arrogant and boastful.
Damn, he did it on purpose.