Both of Kaelis’ brothers stared at him in complete shock.

Not just a surprise.

Actual shock.

Neither of them fully knew how to process what they had just heard.

Aurien looked confused more than anything else.

But Helios—

Even Helios’ arrogance seemed to disappear for a brief moment.

And honestly, that alone almost felt more unbelievable than the confession itself.

"Why...didn’t you tell us?" Aurien asks slowly, his brows raised as he tries to make sense of everything. "Or rather..."

Aurien shakes his head slightly.

"Why have you been pretending to still be a candidate all this time?"

Kaelis gives him a small smile.

"For the investigation."

Aurien blinks.

"The investigation?"

Even Helios looked caught off guard now.

"All of this..." Helios says quietly, his eyes slightly widened for once. "...was for the investigation? Isn’t that too much?"

Kaelis was about to answer when Samson spoke first instead.

"I needed Kaelis to investigate in peace," Samson says calmly from the throne, sounding almost casual despite the massive revelation sitting in the middle of the room. "And I was very certain that whoever was responsible would eventually realize we were catching on."

Samson slowly crosses one leg over the other.

"But what mattered most was ensuring they never figured out who was actually investigating them."

His golden eyes briefly shift toward Kaelis.

"So I had Kaelis maintain the image everyone already believed about him."

Samson smiles faintly.

"An enigmatic prince."

A pause.

"And let’s be honest..."

Now Samson actually chuckles under his breath.

"A rather careless one."

Aurien looked even more stunned somehow.

Helios’ expression became harder to read.

Samson, meanwhile, seemed genuinely amused by the entire situation.

"It was a rather fun process, if I’m being honest."

Kaelis nearly stared at him.

’I can’t believe he’s saying it was fun while everyone here looks like their entire reality just collapsed,’ Kaelis thought dryly.

Then again—

That was very like Samson.

Their father had always found strategy entertaining.

Even a dangerous strategy.

An especially dangerous strategy.

Aurien slowly rubs his forehead now like he’s trying to piece years of memories together.

"So all this time..." Aurien murmurs quietly. "The flirting. The acting irresponsible. The way you constantly avoided serious political discussions publicly..."

Kaelis shrugs lightly.

"Most of it was exaggerated on purpose, yes."

Aurien stares at him.

"God."

Then suddenly—

Aurien laughs.

Not loudly.

Just once.

Disbelieving.

"I genuinely thought you were just insane."

"That too," Kaelis says immediately. "The investigation did not magically cure me of that."

Even Aamon coughs quietly to hide a laugh.

Samson outright smiles.

And somehow—

The tension in the room eases for half a second.

Only half a second.

Because Helios still hadn’t moved.

Hadn’t reacted properly.

Kaelis slowly glances toward him.

And immediately notices it.

Helios looked disturbed.

Not angry.

Not yet.

Disturbed.

Like something much deeper than pride had just been shaken apart.

’He really thought I wanted the throne,’ Kaelis realized quietly.

All these years.

All the resentment.

All the competition Helios forced between them.

And Kaelis apparently abandoned the throne before Helios even fully started fighting for it.

Helios slowly lets out a breath through his nose, the sound quiet against the heavy silence filling the throne room.

"Since you’re telling us about this now..." he says carefully, though Kaelis could tell his mind was still reeling from everything he had just learned. "I’m assuming there’s progress?"

Kaelis looks directly at him for a moment before nodding once.

"Yes."

Immediately, the atmosphere in the throne room shifts again.

Aurien straightens slightly where he stands, the earlier shock on his face slowly giving way to focus.

Even Aamon’s attention sharpens further beside the throne, his expression hardening subtly.

Because progress meant something important.

Progress meant more danger.

It meant Kaelis had gotten close enough to uncover something the cult likely never wanted found.

Kaelis folds his arms loosely behind his back before continuing, his posture calm even if the tension beneath it was obvious.

"Over the years, there have been multiple major incidents throughout the kingdom that I knew were connected somehow."

His expression darkens slightly, eyes narrowing in thought as old memories resurface.

"Not random crimes, but patterns. They wanted to make it seem like it was just the kingdom declining, but it was intentional."

Aurien furrows his brows immediately.

"What kind of patterns?"

Kaelis exhales quietly before answering.

"At first, it was difficult to prove anything because the cult was careful."

Very careful.

Careful enough to erase evidence before anyone could piece things together properly.

Careful enough that there had once been a time Kaelis himself almost believed he was overthinking everything.

That may be his suspicions were ridiculous.

That may be the kingdom was simply cursed.

"But eventually..." Kaelis continues slowly, "certain details started repeating."

His gaze lowers slightly in thought, recalling reports, corpses, missing records, scenes that never quite made sense until years later.

"Certain victims. Certain locations. Certain people are involved."

Then Kaelis looks back up again, his eyes colder now.

"One of the biggest discoveries came from the alphas."

That immediately catches Aurien’s attention.

And Helios’.

"The alphas?" Aurien repeats, confusion flickering across his face. "Like us?"

"Yes, but..." Kaelis nods once. "The ones who were capable of controlling their pheromones unnaturally. If you can recall, we had an in-depth conversation trying to figure out how to even do that without triggering our rut."

His jaw tightens faintly as he says it, like even now the thought left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Aurien’s brows immediately pull together.

"How did you even confirm that?"

Kaelis answers almost immediately.

"Because the cult is mostly made up of alphas."

Silence follows right after that.

Again.

And this time, even Helios looked visibly unsettled by that information.

Not dramatically.

Not enough for most people to notice.

But Kaelis noticed the slight narrowing of his eyes.

The way Helios’ posture straightened just a bit more.

Careful.

Before either of them could interrupt properly, Kaelis continued.

"The so-called bandits we encountered recently?"

His eyes narrow slightly.

"They weren’t ordinary criminals."

Aurien slowly lowers his folded arms now, his expression becoming more serious.

"You mean the ones who attacked that family of survivors and took Lior?"

Kaelis nods once again before answering simply.

"Yes."

Then his expression tightens faintly at the memory.

At Ezra’s face that night.

At how terrified he looked trying to find Lior.

"And the same people who orchestrated the Fleur De Lys horde."

Helios immediately looks up sharply.

"What?"

For the first time since this meeting started, Helios actually sounded genuinely caught off guard.

Not a calculated surprise.

Real surprise.

"I thought the horde was an accident," Helios says immediately, his brows furrowing slightly. "A sudden outbreak."

Kaelis slowly shakes his head.

"No."

The room somehow feels colder after that answer.

Heavier too.

"Fleur De Lys was targeted."

Aurien visibly stiffens now.

Even Aamon’s expression darkens slightly beside the throne.

Meanwhile, Helios’ face slowly becomes unreadable again.

Too unreadable.

"Is that how you knew there were survivors?" Helios suddenly asks.

Kaelis glances briefly toward Samson before answering.

"Yes."

Then he pauses for a moment.

"Father received a letter from Richard."

Aurien’s eyes widened slightly at the name.

"The man who died?"

"Yes," Kaelis nods. "Before communication from the island stopped completely, he managed to send information regarding his location and what happened there."

Kaelis slowly exhales through his nose.

"The letter mentioned suspicious activity."

His gaze lowers slightly in thought.

"Masked individuals are taking over parts of the island quietly."

Then his jaw tightens.

"And children disappearing."

That immediately makes Aurien’s expression darken further.

Kaelis continues anyway.

"To the point the adults themselves eventually surrendered centuries of tradition, trying to protect them."

His eyes narrow faintly now.

"Which leads to the other repeating pattern."

Kaelis slowly looks between both of his brothers.

"The serial kidnappings."

A pause.

"All the missing children across the kingdom."

The room falls silent again afterward.

Kaelis had honestly expected Helios to react more strongly to that part.

Anything.

Even slight irritation.

Concern.

A question.

But Helios remained calm.

His expression stayed composed, thoughtful, almost analytical.

’Now that’s curious,’ Kaelis thought quietly.

Because the person who reacted—

Wasn’t Helios.

No.

It was Aurien.

Kaelis’ eyes immediately catch it.

The subtle shift in Aurien’s face.

The sudden paleness was creeping into his complexion.

The way his fingers tightened faintly against his sleeve before relaxing again almost immediately after.

It wasn’t obvious.

Most people probably wouldn’t notice it at all.

But Kaelis knew Aurien far better than he knew Helios.

Aurien had always been expressive.

Transparent, even.

He wore emotions openly without realizing it most of the time.

But right now—

It almost looked like Aurien was actively trying not to react.

Trying too hard.

And that alone made Kaelis’ stomach twist slightly.

’Interesting.’