Liam glanced up at the ceiling of the wooden house, hidden somewhere far, far away from Aquapolis. There was not much in the small house, only a bed and a tiny kitchen, but it was enough for Liam to survive. This was already amazing from what he expected to live in after he was captured. Liam did not know exactly where he was located, but it was somewhere in a small village next to a forest. The main reason why he captured Liam was quite clear to him.
Just a few weeks ago, Liam was urged to join a “friend group” and have some fun together by one of his friends. He did not mind to make more friends and agreed. However, during their first meeting together, Liam discovered that this was a thieving group that was planning to seize the royal properties that could worth thousands if sold in a black market. His friend wanted him to join because he thought that Liam wanted the throne but could not get it due to his older brother, and that he was annoyed about the royal family too. However, this was just a belief and not true at all. Liam did sometimes complain about all the drama in the family, but he did not plan to betray his family at all. This was already too late to inform his friend, and he could not explain in the middle of half a dozen strong, experienced thieves, each ready to kill if anything went wrong.
Liam was stunned with the information. The thieves were trying to use him as a crucial part in their mission since he was most related and trusted by the royal family. Of course, he could not betray his family at any costs, but meanwhile he had no other option but to pretend that he was into it and think about a way to not do it and still keep his life.
He decided to first agree to their plan, and when they ask him to act just make an excuse to fail or delay the act. Liam knew that this was not going to work for a long period of time, but it was enough for him to survive for now. While he was working on this plan, he still had to think about a plan to drop out of the group.
The thieving group’s main plan was all the jewelry inside the castle’s locked vault. The thieves wanted Liam to first get access to the vault, then alert the thieves and let them teleport in after the magical barricade is lowered. Liam asked if he could take the teleportation magic and teleport the jewelry by himself, thinking of not teleporting at all, but the thieves did not allow it and gave up the idea of trusting Liam with anything.
Since the thieves were powerful and not stupid at all, when the time comes to the day of taking the jewelry, Liam was forced to go to Aquapolis. That was the day Liam got kidnapped. The reason he was scared at every small motion was because he was scared the the the thieves would discover what he was planning, and decided to get him, but rather more scared about the misunderstanding between the family and him. That would be quite hard to explain.
The thieves threatened to kill his family if he tells them about the plan, and Liam doesn’t doubt their abilities. The leader of the group was one of the most dangerous criminals of the country, and he just escaped prison with the help of his partner who was not locked. He was fully capable of killing at least the old king with the help of his team. Liam did not want anybody to get hurt, so he kept the mission to himself. Liam did expect something to happen, so he alerted his powerful friend, Arlene, who used to be the royal sorcerer, to help if anything happens. However, he did not expect to be kidnapped.
The man who took Liam was one of the group members who did not talk much. Liam remembered that his name was Owen, but knew nothing else of him, except for that he wanted “the necklace of Selena” more than anything, and was not aggressive as the others. He must have discovered that the necklace did not belong in the vault, and kidnapped him to question him.
Owen, in contrast to his looks and desire, was actually quite calm and nice. He brought food for Liam to cook for himself everyday, and gave him a phone with some games on it to make sure Liam did not get bored. Owen always wears a hood that covers his face and only comes back to the wooden house to bring food. Suddenly, as Liam was staring at the ceiling, and going over the reasons why Owen took him and when he’s going to question him, Owen slammed the door open, panting as if he had been running for a long time. Unlike what he usually does, Owen’s hood that used to cover his face now laid on his shoulders, revealing a young face with piercing green eyes. “We’ve got to go now.” Owen said to Liam as he grabbed his hand and led him out the door. The man pulled out a bottle of teleportation magic, and teleported them to a dark mansion. Liam was extremely confused, but before he could ask, he was knocked out by a long stick.
The next thing Liam knew, he was back in his room in Aquapolis. Adrian and Arlene were standing by his bedside, waiting for him to wake up.
“What happened?” Liam asked, clearly confused. Arlene chuckled, and patted Liam’s head.
“Actually, it’s a very complicated story.” Adrian said, sighing a bit.
What actually happened after Liam was brought to the dark mansion, was Adrian and Arlene arriving at the wooden house Liam stayed at for a while before. After thinking about who could possibly own a soul capturing stone that’s clearly broken, Arlene figured out that the kidnapper might be a person who was captured in the stone in the first place, and broke out on his own.
Things were becoming much easier to understand at this point. Since the emerald looked old, and someone could break out of it easily, it must be one of the prisoners who was used to test the stone’s ability captured inside. Since Arlene was a sorcerer, she had a plethora of knowledge regarding the first souls captured in stones. There was only one soul captured in an emerald particularly, and that would be the thief who stole "the necklace of Selena”, which belonged to the first queen of Aquapolis. His name was Owen.
Owen was from a poor family that used to live on land. He had a younger sister who frequently got sick, and a single mother with almost no money. After an accident, he discovered the existence of Aquapolis, and was shocked at how the people living there were all rich. He decided to ask some people about tips to get more money, but unfortunately met an old man who made a living off selling precious objects at the black market. There, he mentioned the “necklace of Selena”, more as an example of one of the most precious products, but piqued the interest in young Owen who was desperate for money. Owen was young, but was clever. He disguised as a soldier guarding the vault and snuck in as the Queen was taking something out. He knocked out the queen and took the necklace. However, that triggered the alarm Owen was not aware of, and he was caught instantly and captured for stealing and hurting the queen.
The king discovered that Owen’s family was the reason why he decided to steal, then gave them a considerable amount of money to support their living. However, Owen, who was captured, did not know about it, and still remained desperate for saving his family. With the strength of his mind, he broke out of the stone in less than a year, and returned to his old business, unable to contact his family since they have moved and changed numbers. Owen decided to first get the money, then hire some people to find his family and get the money for them.
The tradition of passing on the necklace in the royal lineage was always queen after queen. However, since the necklace was almost stolen, the queen decided to give the necklace to one of her sons, who would keep it safe. The queen gave the necklace to Adrian who would be the next ruler. The necklace was a magical item that became bound to the owner in a way that’s easy to carry around. For example, for Adrian’s mother, the necklace changed into the rim on her elegant dress she always wore. For Adrian, the jewels on the necklace changed into a row of buttons on his shirt. The necklace could only be removed if someone knew exactly where it was located, which is a secret the owner would never tell.
Owen, sadly, had gotten the owner of the necklace mixed up and thought that Liam was the owner. He decided to capture Liam and question him about where the necklace is located after he known the new rule of the necklace from the thieves.
However, after deciding with questioning Liam who would probably contact the royalty and get him in a bad position again and taking the necklace by his own, he decided to do it the way much easier for himself. Owen decided to go out and learn illegal magic so that could find the necklace. There, he learnt that the older prince Adrian was looking for Liam with a powerful witch on his side, and that Adrian was actually the one inheritor of the necklace, just a few moments before Adrian reached the wooden house.
After thinking about another plan, he started planning to lure Adrian into his mansion where he could get the necklace and imprison both the princes. He was quite sure that with the help of the witch, they would be quick to locate their position. He was not sure if the witch was strong enough to beat him easily, but he could always use Liam as a shield and threaten to kill him if the witch does not give up and give over the older prince. With both the princes in his hands, he could ask the royal family for all sorts of precious jewelry, not only the necklace of Selena.
Adrian and Arlene on the other hand, armed with the knowledge of who took Liam, Owen’s magic that shielded him and Liam was not a problem to Arlene at all. Using the cards, Arlene reached Owen’s wooden house, but after discovering. Nobody was there, she used her cards again and located Owen the second time.
After teleporting to the mansion and seeing the situation where Liam was knocked out, Arlene quickly used her magic to control the thief, and successfully made him confess everything. He learnt the shielding magic from an illegal magic group, and also stole the teleportation liquid. Even the mansion and the wooden house was abandoned so Owen could use it as temporary settlements. Owen got out of the emerald somewhere in the trading center because the sorcerer who was in charge of keeping him accidentally dropped it as he was bargaining with a merchant. After escaping, Owen discovered the apartment hidden at the end, but after examining it he decided that there were too many people next to it and it would be hard to hide a person here. However, he forgot to take the emerald, which made it easy for Arlene to locate.
The king alerted Owen about his family’s current address and situation, then sent him to the police to deal with. Owen was relieved after knowing that his family was alright, and promised to never stealagain. The police went soft on him, and would release him back to his family after a week.
Life returned to normal, and the necklace was still fine. Even the thieving group was captured after Owen confessed, and Liam was relieved.
However, Adrian failed to avoid the long discussion about the inheritance of the throne. The old king sincerely wanted Adrian to lead, but Adrian still refused his request. He had already contributed to the country and family and wanted to live a peaceful life as an editor. Arlene agreed, and convinced the king that living like you want to be more important than anything. Thus, after the event being exposed to the public, the citizens all appreciated and admired how Liam did not rely on his family and tried to deal with matters alone. After being affected by his courage, the citizens would not be disappointed if he was promoted as king.
The old king thought this out thoroughly, and finally agreed for Liam to rule after getting trained how. Adrian was relived, and Liam would show his greatqualities more as a ruler. Arlene returned to her wandering life, continuing to help all sorts of people around the world with her magic. Life as an editor was surely amazing for Adrian.