Rise of the Eromancer

Chapter 153 Rhys In The Palace

"…I'm not very keen on turning into a criminal on my first day here."

"Then let go of my husband, and we'll talk."

There were probably a thousand thoughts going on in Annabeth's mind right now. Ways to escape their current situation and save her husband, but even though she was now seeing Rhys as a threat, there was this sort of feeling inside her that made her think Rhys wasn't actually going to do anything.

And very soon, she realized what that feeling was as soon as she saw Rhys subtly sneak a glance at Lina, who was lying unconscious in the seat in front of them.

He wasn't going to do anything that would put her in danger.

"This is a crime, Mr. Rhys," Annabeth calmly breathed out, "Let go of him, and we will forget this ever happened."

"I don't exactly know the rules in your country, Ma'am…" Rhys then looked Annabeth in the eyes before turning his focus back to Lina, who was almost snoring too peacefully even with all the chaos happening around her, "...But I do believe that drugging someone is considered wrong anywhere in the world."

"That is my fault entirely, Mr. Rhys." And even though there was a man threatening to snap his neck off, Lance remained completely calm and even slightly glanced at Rhys as he spoke up, "Since you do not even have any signs of being knackered, I would assume you have been awake the entire time — you know the reason why I had to drug her."

"I am sure she would appreciate your reason, Sir," Rhys sighed and shook his head, "Where are you taking us?"

"Home," Lance answered cooperatively without any hesitation, "In the Royal Palace."

"You're bringing her to the place where her cousins are…?" Rhys's tone turned deep as he slightly tightened his wrap around Lance's shoulders, "I thought you were trying to keep her safe?"

"I am," Lance nodded, "The palace will be the safest place for Lina to stay, violence is not permitted within royal grounds — my children and her other cousins will not be able to do anything to her there. You have to believe me, Mr. Rhys… I am trying to keep her safe. The fact that I pulled her out immediately from Amerka should be enough proof of that… Annabeth?"

"One of our daughters, Adeleine, has brought a ticket to Amerka without letting anyone know — she is probably in Amerka right now searching for Lina to kill her." Annabeth said as he looked Rhys in his covered eyes, "I am not lying to you."

"We swear to the Crown, Mr. Rhys," Lance breathed out, "I am not doing any of this to harm Lina. She may have an estranged relationship with the family, but she is still family."

"...What is wrong with your children?" Rhys could not help but look back and forth between Lance and Annabeth, "That wasn't a rhetorical question. Until we arrive at the palace, I would like to know everything there is to know about. And please, don't lie or omit the truth…

…I have ways to know if you're lying and you won't like it one bit."

***

A few hours later, Rhys and the others arrived at their destination — there was no welcoming party, not even a single soul in sight as Rhys stepped out of the car. It is to be expected, of course, the less people know that Lance brought Lina home, the better. The very reason he opted to ride a car instead of a helicopter was to be as incognito as possible.

But of course, now that they were inside the palace, there was actually no need to sneak around since no one would attempt to assassinate or attack Lina even if they wanted to. But of course, Rhys was still in complete alert.

"Let me."

One of the guards was about to carry Lina out of the car, but Rhys lifted her up first; facing her toward him and… putting her over his shoulder. He only had one arm, after all, it would be hard to actually carry her like a princess.

The guard looked at Lance, but Lance only squinted his eyes and nodded; gesturing to the guard to just leave Rhys alone and let him do whatever he wanted.

"Where will we be staying?" Rhys asked as he looked around the area they were in, and seeing as there were other cars there, they were in some sort of parking lot. One thing that stood out for him, however, was how old the place looked.

It was almost as if the walls of the palace were untouched by time. Of course, he doesn't actually know what the palace looked like hundreds of years ago, but it was probably still the same — they were even using torches for some reason, even though there were street lights just meters away from the tall defensive walls of the castle.

"Follow me," Lance gestured to Riley to follow him, "Anna, can you make sure no one sees Rhys and Lina?"

"She's literally already in the palace," Annabeth sighed.

"Just at least for tonight," Lance grumbled, "Let's just have one final night before all the chaos ensues. This will be the last time for a long time we will be having a good night's sleep."

"Hm… very well," Annabeth nodded as she gestured to the guards to follow her. Although she was still a little worried about leaving her husband alone with Rhys, there was truly nowhere for Rhys to actually go since they were already inside the palace. And so, the two just looked at each other before she left Lance and Rhys.

"...Lina grew up in a place like this?"

Like the outside, the corridors of the palace seemed aged — even the furniture felt like they were hundreds of years old, expensive. There were also a lot of portraits plastered everywhere on the walls that were only lit up by torches that danced as they walked across the aged hallways.

"It may look destitute, but it has its moments. You should see it in morning, It is very beauti—"

And before Lance could finish his words, he felt his vision shift as Rhys suddenly grabbed him from behind and pulled him down. Lance gritted his teeth and was about to attack Rhys, but noticed the arrows that were suddenly stuck to the wall.

"Bloody…" Lance turned to look at Rhys for a few seconds, before quickly standing up and looking around,

"...Who activated the traps?"

"...There is something seriously wrong with your family, Sir."