Thrown Into A New World: Let The Punishment Begin!

\'Are you sure we did the right thing?\' Horace inquired, using the mental link formed by their etchers.

In response, the other man only patted his shoulder to reveal that they had indeed done the right thing.

The Prince would have liked to know about this and they had done what was right in the sights of their Master.

Discerning his urgency, Sigma knew that they could have been punished if they had delayed this information just so that the Prince could relax for a little while.

The pat reassured Horace who sighed before they retreated from the room, leaving only the etcher sprawled lazily on the ground like it had been doing until now.

___

As the shadow knights had deduced, Prince Draco was already dressed and ready to head out within a few minutes.

Gaining the location he needed to move towards from his guards, he did not dawdle but hastened his feet in its direction.

___

The greenhouse in the Rose Palace wasn\'t the only greenhouse constructed within the Palace grounds.

The one under the control of the Queen was the biggest among them all and was also a place where not many could enter without her permission.

Not even Prince Fritzen and Princess Felicia could come by as they pleased but would need the approval of the Queen to set foot inside.

However, two others were given free entry no matter which part of the day or night it was.

One such person had now stepped into the vast greenhouse where he found the Queen trimming the leaves of a thorny rose bush.

Prince Draco was dressed in a simple attire consisting of black pants and a white shirt which made him look like an eligible bachelor that he would soon become in the coming few months.

The Queen had sensed the arrival of someone but did not raise her head, concentrating on what she was doing right now.

The Prince glanced at the yellow roses which were fresh and beautiful but in his heart, none could compare to the blue roses his mother had cultivated while she was still alive.

Those blue roses, a testimony of her love and her loyalty, were still thriving in his Cloud Palace where he could see them at any time.

Even this greenhouse, where he was right now, had no similar blue rose as they were forbidden from being grown anywhere else, inside or outside the Palace grounds.

Therefore, Queen Zena, who also had a fondness for roses, could never own any blue roses in her greenhouse and only make do with the other kinds of roses she had gathered from all over the Kingdom.

"How are you, Sister-in-law?" The Prince asked after he greeted the woman who stood before him in a long peach gown.

She was trimming the rose bushes but still looked as elegant as she always did.

This made him wonder if there was anything that could make her look bad as he had never once seen her losing her composure in the past.

"Greetings, Prince. You\'ve grown taller." Queen Zena pointed out, placing the sharp trimmers on the tray her maid was holding.

The time she spent with her roses in this greenhouse was a period of relaxation for her and having served her for so many years, her maids knew not to make any sound whenever the Queen visited this place.

Two maids were accompanying her yet did not dare to utter a word lest they disturbed her.

However, the Prince had come by at the wrong time, making them fret about how their Queen must be feeling right at this moment.

Thankfully, there were no signs of frustration visible on her face which implied that she did not mind the appearance of the Prince who had interrupted her quiet time in her greenhouse.

"Yes. A few inches." Prince Draco agreed with the observation she had made as he was indeed in the period where his growth came in spurts.

In just a few months, he had grown a few inches, making his clothes shorter and tighter once again.

He had returned to the Palace with the intention of getting more clothes but before that, he needed to discuss something with the Queen of this land.

"May we speak over some tea?" He inquired and the Queen was smart enough to understand what he truly meant.

Thus she glanced at her maids who were capable of deciphering what she wanted them to do and left soon after.

Queen Zena then guided her brother-in-law to the table placed in this greenhouse and gestured to take a seat.

Being the gentleman that he was, Prince Draco first pulled the chair for his sister-in-law before he took his seat on the opposite side of the table.

"What is it that the Prince wishes to say?" The Queen inquired straightaway, not bothering to beat around the bush.

The emerald eyes of the Prince glanced at his sister-in-law who was much older than him but he knew that he had to state his mind.

"Sister-in-law, why do you dislike Felly?" He questioned in the same direct manner she had opted for earlier.

Some servants in the Palace felt that the Queen hated her daughter but he knew that it wasn\'t to that degree.

The Queen\'s irises shook in surprise at his words but she soon regained her composure.

"Is this something you can ask me?" Her reply was stern and this made it clear that she did not wish to discuss such matters with him.

However, Prince Draco had kept his silence for a long time now and no longer wished to be passive when he knew that something wasn\'t right.

When he was just a little boy, his elder brother had brought home a beautiful Princess from a distant island Kingdom to be his bride.

A few nobles had expressed their dissatisfaction as this Princess wasn\'t even the firstborn daughter but was the fourth among six girls born to the King of that nation.

They hoped that the then Crown Prince Ophire would marry the firstborn daughter to strengthen his ties with that kingdom.

However, his elder brother had disregarded their pleas and chose to marry the woman who had caught his eye on their very first meeting.

When the Crown Prince Ophire had brought the Princess to Rosenhyde and later married her, Prince Draco had a good relationship with her.

As a child who had lost his mother upon birth and a few years later, his father had soon followed, Draco lacked the love of his parents.

His elder brother had done everything to decrease this void in his life but the space given to a father was not something he could fill despite his numerous efforts.

In the same way, the Princess who married his brother wasn\'t a mother figure to him but was close to an older sister whom he respected from the very beginning.

When they had first met, Draco was just four but he knew that Crown Princess Zena was a kindhearted woman who could be trusted.

His father was still alive back then and was also pleased with the daughter-in-law his elder son had chosen for himself.

The health of the previous King had already waned by then and the Crown Prince was looking after the Kingdom in his place.

The King had succumbed to his illnesses a year after the birth of Prince Fritzen which initiated the reign of King Ophire henceforth.

However, ever since his first encounter with the Princess of the neighboring nation, Draco knew that she was not someone who was capable of being unkind.

She had treated him with kindness and after Fritzen was born, he had seen her motherly instincts blossom and grow as well.

Though he had sensed her insecurity at times after Fritzen\'s birth, Draco had never thought of ascending to the Throne which was, is, and will always be his nephew\'s birthright.

However, what had stumped him many years ago and continued to remain the same until now was the fact that the Queen whose kindness he had experienced firsthand in the past was also capable of being cold and unfeeling to her second child.

"Has Felicia ever done something to garner such dislike from you?" He questioned again, not caring that his sister-in-law wasn\'t comfortable with what he wished to discuss.