Casimir finally had reason to remove his jacket and made Adira wear it. As if that was not enough, he even wrapped his cape around her like a cocoon.

Now, nobody shall see a glimpse of her skin except her face.

"Why soak yourself?"

"Casey, it's too hot... Help me... Save me from this heat." She breathed hotly into his ear since he was carrying and embracing her too close to him to provide her with warmth.

Casimir always thought that even though he loved her so much, he was strong-willed enough to control and suppress his insatiable desires for her.

But her being drugged like this was proving that to be difficult. His self control was being put to the test.

"Shit. What do I do?" He growled low. The beast inside of him, that he had kept in check for so long, was clawing to break free.

Don't breathe into my ear like that! That's bad for my heart!

"Cold water. Ice. You." She whispered and her butterfly-like eyelashes fluttered to a close as her brows knitted in an obvious endurance of pain.

"Ice. Okay." Casimir nodded solemnly and casted a spell on his cape, which was meant to warm her, to cool her down.

He pledged to himself that he was gonna thank the person who drugged her like this first before he sends him/her to hell. How dare they touch what belongs to him?

"Thank you, Casey." She said and snuggled into his embrace as soon as she started shivering. And all Casimir could do then was wait. For the heat and pain to subside.

Cause God knows he won't be able to contain himself if she comes onto him like that one more time.

"Mm. Rest easy. I'm here."

"I know. Casey will always stay beside me. He's the only person that will never leave me. So I need to protect him."

Casimir was over here, silently reciting the empire's laws or counting all the books he had in his personal library or even as trivial as naming all the flowers he could see in the garden just to distract himself, but his enticing and seductively tempting fiancee was over here as well, being her adorable self again but upgraded to the next level.

He suddenly stabbed his sword on the ground and gripped the hilt as tightly as he could and surprised Adira with his sudden outburst of irritation.

"Umm.. I'm sorry?" She squeaked. She didn't know if she said something that irritated him or what, but she apologized nonetheless.

To him, this might be the hardest task yet.

"You!" He suddenly turned his irritation towards the odd one out of this moment with clenched jaws and barked,

"Send my orders to the knights and to William and Roman. No one goes out tonight. I will kill whoever put Adira in this state."

And magically, he was very articulate and wordy.

Triton didn't like Casimir ordering him around like that but when he heard that someone intentionally did this to Adira, he didn't mind anymore. Not only will he beat Casimir into killing that person, he will make sure he'll rue the day he dared to hurt Adira.

"Casey, don't. I need to have a talk with that person. Don't kill, please."

Hearing the lady speak her wishes, both Casimir and Triton considered it and retracted their thoughts of killing that mongrel.

But she didn't say anything about torturing, right?

Pivoting on his heel, Triton went ahead with the order and walked back inside. He could somewhat rest easy that Casimir won't do anything strange to Adira since he could visibly see how he was desperately controlling himself from taking advantage of her state and jump on her.

He's the prince! He knows what's best!

...

As soon as Triton relayed Casimir's orders and informed the king, a commotion arose and there was unrest in the large ball room.

Knights were stationed at every entrances and exits as they kept everyone right inside.

Casimir came back, a dark cloud surrounding him and a frosty chill in the air with him, and stood above the stage.

He addressed everyone icily and everyone knew, they were in for a world of pain.

"Lady Adira Remeria Eir Sylveris. Everyone knows who she is, right?"

Everyone were already shaking in their boots, who among them would even have the courage to answer him while he's looking like that?

He looked as if he could swallow them whole and drag them to hell or personally send them to the gallows himself!

While no one answered, Casimir didn't mind it and instead continued,

"Yet, one of you dared to hurt her."

After announcing that, he shifted his gaze to William, who was waiting for his cue, and nodded. That was the signal to start his mission.

"Search everyone!"

He already briefed the knights what to look for and if they were lucky, they should find that person carrying the drug with them.

But after everyone was thoroughly searched, nothing turned up.

Everyone was very scared for their lives because of the pestilent aura enveloping the prince that even though they felt intruded and wronged, they could not utter a single word of complaint.

"Your highness, there was nothing. No one carried the drug with them." William reported but Casimir already deduced as much.

He wasn't sure if the culprit slipped out as soon as they did the deed or he did something and perfectly hid the drug elsewhere.

But, that didn't mean that he will not find him.

It seems the culprit was smarter than I originally thought.

Casimir once again stood up in front of everyone and talked,

"Since everyone here proved their innocence, let me apologize."

He once again nodded to William and the servants promptly moved and offered champagne to each and every noble present.

Although he did say he wanted to apologize, he most definitely did not look like it! So how were they supposed to rest easy and enjoy a drink?!

"I hope everyone will take a sip from his majesty's personal favorite. This is fresh from his own collection, so I guarantee its taste."

Damn, the more they listened to Casimir the more the fear in their hearts grow. He was too wordy tonight and that never mean well.

Is there poison in this champagne?

Regardless, they still followed his words and took a sip. They were too tensed and scared that they could not taste the drink at all! It felt as if their tongues had gone numb!

Please! Whoever hurt his woman! Please! We beg you! Just come out!

They screamed in their hearts and cried rivers of tears. They were well aware that this charade will never end till he finds whoever harmed the Sylveris lady.

Which idiot dared to harm the most sought after and protected lady?! Not only did they make enemies out of a superpower family like the Sylveris, they directly provoked the only man one should never provoke in their entire life! Lest it'd be the last time the sun shall rise in their small, unimportant life.

Casimir watched them take a sip and made sure they really did drink. However, still, no one was showing any reaction.

Hmm. You hide too well.

"My apologies for scaring everyone." He smiled but when he did, he looked even more like the great demon lord rising out from hell to drag whoever angered him back down with him.

Everyone wished he wouldn't smile when he's practically chilling them to death.

He instructed the knights to step away from the doors after opening them wide. The nobles dared not avert their eyes away from this ticking time bomb and kept as still as they could. Everyone felt that even breathing loudly might spell their death.

"Everyone's free to go." Casimir said and walked down the stairs to approach a noble and shook his hand with an apology.

The noble was so scared he almost shat himself. Now, imagine how humiliated he would be if that actually happened? He's dead to high society.

Casimir personally escorted the said noble out the door and repeated the process to a few more nobles, personally seeing them out and shaking their hands.

The nobles finally relaxed a bit as they filed out of the ballroom slowly.

The king and the Sylveris family were confused with Casimir's actions but didn't say otherwise. They knew they could leave it to him—although Ramir and Silfor was reluctant to accept that idea.

It went down to a few more people now and even then, he did the same.

Until he came across the one person with a peculiar scent on theirself.

Found you.

Notes:
Thank you so much for the overwhelming support and love guys! Thank you for your comments as well! I really have fun reading them as always! Of course, as well as the votes! Thank you so much!