It took us some time to catch-up with eachother. Harriette revealed during her stay at Hargreaves, Hira was already researching about the northern and eastern borders of Bahamut. It was then the explosion at the Murmun Sea happened. The three of them, Hira, Harriette and Rita held a video conference deciphering a plan to profit off of this explosion. Basically Hargreaves wouldn't go against Surya's demands about the solar plants as Harriette would be included as one of the two major shareholders of this project. The other one would be Hira. Although the Bahamut or Lazar Family itself wouldn't benefit from this sort of arrangements but Hira would be making quite some pocket moneys as Rita would propose all the dealings between Surya and Bahamut to be carried out through Hira. It would also strengthen her political position and give her a upper hand over Crown Prince Marcus and the Empress' family. She needed to climb up the family ladder to be somewhat on per with the Emperor Theodor II. The three of them didn't guess anything about FFF's involvement. They actually suspected the Emperor was being fishy and doing something in the Murmun Sea near the coastal areas of Bahamut and Xia. Hira being a Duke of West, she had no means of investigating the eastern coasts without being noticed by the Eastern Duke or his master the Crown Prince. So they made this long elaborated plan of acquiring influence and resources in the guise of the Duni Project and then implementing it to venture into Murmun Sea.
"So basically," I said and then lower my voice, "You guys are planning to go on per with His Majesty."
The two of them nodded.
"I'm sorry but it's starting to sound like a coup," I said hopelessly.
"See? This is why Hira keeps you out of the loop!" Harriette snaps, "You're jumping guns here!"
"You're doubting His Majesty's reign," I countered.
"We're just gonna check to make sure everything is okay you know?" Ritaishi laughed nervously, "Don't bring the c word in this."
"Marrying Marcus is a better idea than this," I said, "Hira can ascend to the position of Heir and have all the access to Eastern Coast she wants.
"First of all- eww," Ritaishi said, "Second of all, the Empress! Sayak! Who knows what she is capable of! And she absolutely hates Hira! Who knows what she'll do if I marry Marcus, she might just kill her!"
"Yeah she said some mean stuffs about Hira back then, that woman is nuts," Harriette agreed.
"I don't think it was the Emperor. My bait is on the FFF," I said, "They're trying to enter the mainland through the Murmun Sea or through the Arctic Regions."
They paused and looked at me with disbelief.
"Now," I clapped my hands, "I don't have time to waste, I'll leave Prima tonight."
"I don't have your shadow prepared," Ritaishi uttered.
"Well I didn't know the Peace Conference would end so hastily!" I said, "This just means I'll have to leave faster. I planned to leave within the Conference Week because that's the time nobody would expect me to leave.''
"Sayak-"
"I'll be back in weeks," I said, "Havard!"
Havard came to stand by me, "I'll have a resourceful backpack prepared in a minute."
"Thank you and did you deliver the thing to Clara like I told you to?"
"Positive."
"Prepare clothes that can withstand the winter," I said and paused, "And that injection to whiten your skin or whatever that is. Learn how to inject it."
"May I accompany you Sir?" Havard asked hasitantly.
"No I need you here to research about something," I informed him, "The Empress said some disturbing things about Hira. Verify it's truth while I'm gone."
"About what?"
"About her lineage," I said, "Not that it matters really but it may hamper her reputation so make sure something like that doesn't happen."
"Okay but are you going to travel alone?" Rita asked, "When you literally almost died a month ago?"
"I'll be in disguise and people will expect me to be at the castle, hon," I chidded her.
She or Harriette didn't argue. But their silence hinted they were planning something.
It took surprisingly few long hours to bleach my black hair into snow white. Whitening my skin was rather easy. Havard injected it on my face, neck and few other places and the result started showing in a few minutes.
I was fiddling with contact lenses when Harriette walked into my room with a heavy backpack slung on his back.
"Damn Bale," he said, "You look .... Different."
"Good different or bad?" I asked jokingly, trying to ignore his backpack openly.
"Like someone scared the ghost out of you different!" He said happily and threw himself on my bed waiting impatiently for me to ask about his bag.
Harriette was like those kids you should ignore when you know giving them attention would mean them throwing more tantrums. So I carefully carried on with my prepration asking him about anything but the bag.
"Did Rita go to bed," I asked him. He didn't answer instantly. Rather he popped off his boot and threw it at me, "She's searching for a proper shadow for your dumb ass!"
"I should thank her later," I said.
"Hmm."
"Hmm."
After some struggle I picked up a golden pair of lenses. In the mirror I looked like a typical Bahan.
"You think with that bare minimum of work people won't recognise you are the son in law of the Emperor?" He asked.
I pulled out a drawer and brought out some fake beards and moustaches. Havard came to help me with them.
"If anyone looks closely they'll know those beards are fake,'' Harriette hissed.
"I'll need barely a week to grow a natural one," I said, "I just need to stop shaving.".
"Aren't you going to ask me about the backpack?" He finally asked.
"Harriette, you're literal a prince," I reminded him, "If you even get a bit of scratch the Sultan will have my head."
"But I took the injection too! I can grow beards too!" He threw his legs on the bed. I ignored him, "Havard, bring my backpack." The sooner I leave the sooner he would give up.
Harriette suddenly stopped complaining. I peeked a glance at him to see him holding his phone in his hand. My throat went dry.
I still tried to hold my ground. Hastily, putting on my boots and shoved myself into a hooded sweater.
''Hira!" Harriette said cheerfully, "Girl, is your cold alright now?"
I almost tripped on my own leg. That bastard has even put the phone on speaker knowing very well how I malfunction sometimes when I hear her voice.
"What the fuck Harry," Hira said from the other end of the phone, she sounded sleepy and annoyed, "It's three in the morning. You know how much it's hard for me to fall asleep."
Ofcourse her insomic ass must be on fire right now for getting woken up by a phone call after she had probably tried very hard to fall asleep.
"I know right?" Harriette sighed, "Now people should sleep right? Only sleep and not do anything else!"
"Harriette!" I hissed showing him the middle finger. This bastard only smiled an evil smile.
"I'm blocking you," Hira said. For one hopeful second I really hoped Hira would cut the call and block this jerk before he could cause any disaster. But she didn't.
"Do you need something?" She asked uncharacteristically, "Right, the Peace Conference, did something happen?"
"The Conference was alright unlike your husband," the traitor finally showed his true colour, "You see-"
Anything more than this and I wouldn't just end up with mere house arrest. I'd probably be stripped off all of my powers and authorities. Who knows the thing Empress keeps threatening me with time and again might actually happen.
I snatched the phone away from Harriette. "Hey!" He protested.
"I apologize," I prompted, "Harriette's drunk."
"Oh," Hira said, "Hello, Sayara."
Stop my heart. It's just a voice. It's just a voice. I paced back and forth a bit to regain my willpower and ability to talk before I answered, "Hello sleep."
"What?" Hira asked.
"What?" I answered.
"Are you drunk as well?" Hira asked now sounding very much awake and irritated.
"Oh no," I prompted, "I meant to say Hello as well and you should go back to sleep, I've got this covered."
You would think being married to a person for three years would desensitize someone enough not to fumble and falter while speaking to that person. But not me! I still manage to find the smallest opportunities to embarass myself in any manner possible infront of Hira!
Worst part of all of this was she was so clearly oblivious to my struggles. She was so silent on the other end of the phone that you would think she had fallen asleep.
"The Conference. Havard will fill you in. It went a-as planned," I finally managed to make an almost perfect sentence.
"No hiccups?" she asked.
I thought about the hassle with the reporters and the argument with the Empress and answered, "None."
"Am I allowed to get back to bed then?" She said simply but it felt like a warning.
"I'll keep Harriette away from his phone," I promised but I didn't really want to cut the call. Last month when Ritaishi came to Prima, it was the last time I had tried calling her and failed. And she had only bothered calling me once back when I almost lost myself in the prison cell trying to murder Cassio Paolo.
"Hira..uh," I stuttered a bit before mastering up my courage, "Goodnight?"
There was no answer. I checked the phone screen to see she had already cut the call. Behind me Harriette snorted and bursted out laughing, "Nobody has fumbled a baddie as bad as you have!"
I grabbed his head and put it in an headlock.
"Treason! Treason!" He said choking, "Brother Sultan will have your head!"
"The Sultan'll thank me!" I said, "Fucking get ready fast!"
Harriette moved swiftly. But we didn't have any time to dye his hair so we settled with a wig. His disguise wasn't as flawless as mine but my only relief was nobody would think Prince of Hargreaves was insane enough to pull off this idiotic look.
"Between the two of us," Harriette said all smug, "I look better as a Bahan than you."
I rolled my eyes. Sneaking out of the Lazar Castle was surprisingly easy. Havard informed me Ritaishi was almost ready to put a shadow actor in my place and news were sent the Prince of Hargreaves had returned home. I asked Havard to send a separate message to the Sultan assuring him that Harriette would be travelling with me.
"No matter what keep your phone always on," Havard begged.
"You have my word," I promised him not knowing how soon I would be breaking it.