Galekin

Chapter 23, As Time Goes By

*Theodore's POV*

~One year later~

A year has gone by since that dreaded night. It has been a year since I last saw Lydia. After I had recovered from the original shock, I ran to Sereen's house, hoping to find Lydia there. But after opening the door, the very tired looking Sereen was just as shocked as I was. She had known Lydia a lot longer than I had, so I guess Lydia being the Flying Archer must have hurt her even more than it had hurt me.

Sereen and I decided not to tell Chris and Amber, we didn't want to bother them, or put them in danger. Surely, because I now knew of Lydia's identity, I had received a whole new target on my back. When we went back to military training, Lydia had apparently sent the commanding officer a letter of resignation.

Our remaining group managed to graduate, and after graduation Amber, Chris and Sereen got their letters of employment. I was to return to the castle and start doing royal training. We all went our separate ways and we haven't talked much since. My days in the castle were boring, and I spent all my free time in the kitchen, talking to the chefs. I started doing more paperwork. I knew my father was preparing me to become king, so I worked as hard as I could.

I had realized a lot when I started working. Mainly that the kingdom I grew up in isn't as nice and peaceful as I thought.

There was corruption everywhere. Tax fraud, slavery, child labor, and more horrible things I never knew about. I tried cleaning up the kingdom on my own, but the Order seemed to be one step ahead of me every time. Lydia was one step ahead of me every time. Every single time we got close to finding enough evidence to lock someone up, they would be killed. A bright crystal blue arrow always being present at the crime scene.

I felt like I was slowly going mad. She was so close to me yet so far. I had been looking for her of course. I wanted to speak to her at least once more. I had to tell her. Tell her that I wasn't angry or disappointed. Because the more I looked into the kingdom's affairs, the more I realized the kingdom was an absolute mess, and it was my responsibility to clean it up. I suddenly understood the Order better. I knew they were somehow helping the kingdom. The very same kingdom they had been banned from. The same kingdom that hunted down and killed thousands of their kind. I somehow didn't hate the Order anymore. I respected them. Because if you can still try to better the kingdom which caused so much hurt, you really can't be that evil.

I got snapped from my trance as the soldiers around me started to move. We were currently in Dragondell. We had enough evidence to apprehend the mayor of Dragondell. He had been a tax fraud and there was evidence of him using the town's funding for his own pleasures. We were outside the city hall, and everyone was tense. This was the first time we were ahead of the Order, but we all knew that they might- no will show up tonight.

We entered the city hall. The mayor was sitting behind the desk inside his office.

"Prince Theodore!" he spoke as he noticed me. He stood up and bowed. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

I remained calm and stood in front of the man. I was taller than him, and with my physique I knew he would be no match for me. I had been training more even after graduating military training. I had become quite happy with my body. "You are under arrest for tax fraud and misuse of town funding." I spoke which made the mayor's eyes widen.

"W-what? I don't know what you're talking about."

"We have plenty of evidence. You have the right to remain silent." I explained as I mentioned for my guards to apprehend him.

If only it would have been that easy. As my guards took their first step, an arrow pierced the desk. A crystal blue arrow. My eyes widened. Lydia is here.