Affinity:Chaos

"Right this way your highness," Jean forced out a smile before leading the way.

He had set up a small banquet to welcome the Crown Prince, but unfortunately, the Crown Prince didn't even give him the chance and went straight to the point.

Gerald followed behind them confidently, he had already spoken to Grey before the Crown Prince arrived, and Grey had confirmed that he had already left the manor.

He didn't care how Grey left, all that mattered was that he was no longer there. He also asked him if he was sure the ladies were still kept in the cage, which Grey affirmed to.

Jean tried starting a conversation with the Crown Prince as he led them to the place, but after only getting a 'hmm' and a nod from him, he knew the Crown Prince didn't want to speak to him.

He felt angered by this, after all, it had been a long time since someone neglected him in this manner. Other than Gerald, no one else had neglected him in Frost City.

Even though he was angry, he still wore a fake smile on his face.

It didn't take long before they got to the back of the main building where the room was built.

"We made a wooden room just for this kid since he's an Earth Elementalist. There are eight Overlord Plane experts guarding this place, so that some people wouldn't come to rescue him," Jean spoke the last part of his statement while purposely looking at Gerald.

The Crown Prince saw how he was looking at Gerald, and turned to look at him.

Gerald didn't say anything, no one here had the right to question him. Even if the Emperor were here, he didn't have the right.

Jean smiled internally, when he saw how the Crown Prince looked at Gerald. He had never liked him.

"Open the door," He ordered as they got close.

His head held high thinking of the contribution he had made to the empire.

Creak…

The guard opened the door before turning around to look at Jean. He didn't even look inside the room since he was sure Grey was inside.

Jean's smile suddenly froze, he looked inside the room, then back at the guard again.

Jean wasn't the only one who was wearing a weird expression, everyone who was accompanying him also wore the same weird expression.

The guard was taken aback when he saw their expressions, he couldn't help but turn to take a peek at the room. He almost fainted from shock when he saw that it was completely empty.

"Eh?" He exclaimed and charged into the room, looking everywhere to make sure Grey wasn't hiding.

The second guard charged in as well when he saw his flustered comrade.

They checked behind the door, and everywhere in the room. They even started slowly demolishing the room, taking out pieces of wood to check underneath it.

"Where… where did he go?" The second guard asked in exasperation.

"What do you mean where did he go? Am I the only one guarding this place?" The flustered first guard yelled at the other one angrily.

They were both charged with guarding this place, and they were both outside, so why was the other guy asking him where Grey went as if he was the only one guarding the place.

They didn't dare to come out of the room, according to their knowledge of Jean, they were most likely going to suffer a terrible punishment, if they were lucky, their cultivation would be destroyed, if they were not, they would be killed.

Outside the room.

Jean and the others still hadn't come to terms with what they thought was happening. They thought about it, but they didn't want to believe it, especially the people from the Smith family.

The repercussions of summoning the Crown Prince here and not providing Grey was something they didn't dare to think of.

The Smith family weren't the strongest, their wealth was what had kept them in such a high position. Although they had some experts in the Overlord Plane, it couldn't be compared to the other families, and some of their experts were actually people they hired.

"Where's he?" The Crown Prince asked, his face devoid of any emotions.

"Your… your highness, the boy should be inside," Jean stuttered a little, but managed to quickly compose himself. The thought of Grey escaping wasn't something he believed was happening.

He currently felt maybe Grey had hidden somewhere in the room. Yes, that was it, he hid in the room.

"Bring the boy, his highness is waiting," He ordered.

His voice scared the two guards to the extreme.

They managed to come out of the room. The first guard was the one who broke the news to Jean, "My lord, the… the… the boy is… gone,"

While speaking, none of the guards dared to look at the face of Jean, they only focused on the ground.

"What?!" Jean exclaimed with his eyes widened.

"Come out here now!" He ordered while looking around.

Six Early stages Overlord Plane experts flew down from the sky, while two Mid stage experts came from the ground.

"What's the meaning of this?" The Crown Prince asked with a blank expression.

No one knew what he was thinking.

"Your highness, I can explain. The boy was here this morning. I even checked a few hours ago." Jean quickly tried to explain, "Where did you people put him?"

After explaining to the Crown Prince, he turned to the experts. The Early stage experts were hired, but the Mid stage experts were part of the family, people he trusted with his life. He was a hundred percent certain that they wouldn't betray him given their relationship.

"Isn't he inside?" One of the Overlord Plane experts in the Mid stages asked, a little confused.

Both experts in the Mid stages were Earth Elementalists, this was why they were able to perfectly sink into the ground and out without any problems.

All Earth Elementalists could do this, but it's only after getting to the Overlord Plane before they could.

"This… this…" Jean was short of words, he wanted to try to explain, but he didn't know what to say.