The Scarlet Phoenix and the Prince of Winter

Chapter Ninety

So this man is Jack Bloomfire. I was flabbergasted when I heard him introduce his name because his appearance did not match the one that I had created in my mind. I imagined him to be older, perhaps as old as the current King or maybe Artholdt, but this man is still young. This man might just be a few years older than the Crown Prince. He is probably in his late twenties. And something in him was making my brain work. I don't know what it is, but I can identify something in him that I could not just figure out what it is.

Jack Bloomfire looked matured though. He might have features that give away his youth, but he gives off this 'mastermind' aura and exudes confidence that surely will intimidate anyone who does not know him personally, just like me. He was looking at us with a poker face, and he was holding a long staff, the ones which are used in combat by high-ranking Royal Guards. I stared at that as I just thought of something. The staff which was made of steel that he is holding right now is the same weapon that my brother, Garreth, used. Maybe this person is of the same authority as my brother? Is he a Royal Guard too?

"YOU!"

I almost had a heart attack when I heard that scream from the Crown Prince. I looked at him and saw that he was raging with anger as he glared at the man in front of us. Prince Kao was also trying everything to break free from the chains that were put into us, but it was strong enough to contain him. "Hello, Your Highness. I see that you can recognize me even though I have changed so much. You are indeed a smart person." Jack Bloomfire sounded both sarcastic and domineering and I can already feel the tension between the two. They must have been acquaintances, the way the Crown prince was glaring at this man was telling.

"Unchain me! How dare you kidnap me!" Prince Kao hissed at him as he tried to break free again.

"I am afraid that I cannot follow your order, Your Highness. My job is to stop you from going on with your excursions."

"Who told you to do this?" said the Crown Prince to him and if it was possible to get madder than ever, the Crown Prince was in that state now. I can even see the veins on his forehead as he yells at this person. "Is it my father? Did he order you to do this?"

But Jack Bloomfire did not reply to the Crown Prince's last question. Instead, he just smiled and looked at my way. Then he made a gesture to the other people in this room that made them go out one by one. Then he talked to the last person going out of the door, which left me and the Crown Prince here at the spot where they dropped us.

I took the opportunity to ask the Crown Prince. "Prince Kao, who is that person? Do you personally know him?"

The Crown Prince nodded with a grim expression on his face. "Unfortunately, I happen to know him. He is one of my former Royal Guards."

"What? But how did that happen? Did he change names?" I asked too as I realized that even though the Crown Prince knows this person, he was not able to recognize the name Jack Bloomfire the first time he heard it.

"I think he did," said the Crown Prince. "He was just twenty when he became one of the Royal Guards assigned to guard me. We became friends, as a matter of fact. But I know him in a different name. Back then, he went by the name of Raven Jackson."

"Raven Jackson? Is that his real name? So the name Jack Blommfire is an alias?"

The Crown Prince shook his head. "I do not think so. If I remember correctly, Raven was an orphan that my father trained to become a Royal Guard. It was my father who gave him that name Raven Jackson to him, as he was too young to remember his true name when my father got to know him."

"I see... But what happened to him? Why did he disappear?" I curiously asked as I had never even heard of that name back at the Palace. And that is saying something because if you have Jang for a best friend, not knowing at least a thing about anyone working and living in the castle would have been a great failure of friendship as Jang loves to gossip then share it with me.

"I think when he was twenty-three, my father promoted him to become one of his own Royal Guards. But then something happened on one of their trips. Raven was severely injured in a freak accident with an avalanche in a town where my father visited. He suffered so much physical trauma that he was immediately released from being a Royal Guard. The last information I heard from him was that he was sent to an asylum-like facility in the south where we will spend the rest of his life as he was rendered incapable of living a normal life again."

"But he is here," I said. "Prince Kao, are you sure that this Jack Bloomfire is the same person that you are talking about? Maybe this was a mistake---"

"It is him," Prince Kao said, cutting me. "He has the same voice and personality. Plus, he already confirmed it. He might look a little bit different now but I guess that is because he probably underwent some kind of treatment."

"That is right," said a voice and we saw Jack Bloomfire walking back to us. "A few years have passed, Your Highness, so of course, change will be inevitable. And I went through a couple of medical procedures over the years that improved my health so much. And that I owe from your King father. See? My face had totally changed. I did not look like anything when I was twenty. That is why I am so impressed that you still recognized who I was in an instant. Only a few people in my past were able to do that feat."

"Enough with the chit chat," the Crown Prince then told him angrily. "That is not what I wanted to hear from you, Raven. I wanted to know why you are doing this! I wanted to know what went into your head when you started becoming my father's puppet!"

"I understand why you are upset right now, but I am not a puppet, Your Highness," said Jack in a calm manner. "I just owe your father so much that I cannot refuse anything from him. After sponsoring all the treatments that I had to go to, he gave me a job, which is to be the person in charge of Mt. Kal Ayu's coalstone mining. I have been working there these last few years you know, keeping quiet about my true identity so that I can work for the King in secret. I even have to use my birth name so that no one will find it suspicious."

So the name Jack Bloomfire is his birth name? It shocked me for some reason, and in one fluid moment, I realized why it was so shocking to me! I could not help but ask him the question. "So your family name is Bloomfire?"

"Yes, Rainha. That is my real name, a name which I found out when I was able to trace my family tree. My origins used to live here in Carmel, the nearest town from here. And why do I think I used this park as my secret base? It is because I wanted to mock my origins more. You see, according to my research, my family used to be extremely wealthy a couple of generations ago. They even have a mansion on their own and had a ranch in tow. But they were not smart and they became somewhat accomplices to a criminal. That is why their property was sold when they were caught and the Palace turned it into a theme park. This place which used to be a lively and happy place called Mistyland, used to be in my family's possession. And now all I could do is hide my underground work here at the King's orders! What a lame twist and turn of fate, don't you think so?"

I was speechless for a moment after hearing his story. For I think I was right. This person is a descendant of Nievo Bloomfire! And this place used to be part of Carmel, the town where Nievo lived! And this theme park used to be owned by their family! How could I not notice that sooner? I should have known since we are in Carmel right now and that Jack and Nievo share the same family name!

"If you had done your research about your family, then you must have come up with a name called Nievo Bloomfire," I told him. "Do you know that person?"

Jack stared at me with a puzzled look on his face. "I came to stumble upon that name. How did you know that person?"

"I... I just read about him somewhere," I lied. I did not want to tell him that I am having dreams of his ancestor who was a deity in human form, so I decided to just make the story as simple as possible.

Jack looked convinced with my answer. "I see... It is not uncommon for someone to find that name in history books as that ancestor of mine was stupid enough to try and kill the Queen of Aure during his time with poison. My original family was so full of terrible people don't you think?"

"Nievo did not poison anyone," I told him before I could control my emotions. "He was a good man. He was framed!"

That made both the Crown Prince and Jack stare at me with their eyebrows raised. "I don't know what you are saying, but don't get smart with me. I have been doing a lot of unearthing my genealogy as I was hoping that they might be influential people. But alas, no! They were nothing but stupid criminals with no ambition! I even feel lucky that my parents threw me out! I did not want to be related to them!"

"But you are here in their previous property," said the Crown Prince to him. "How ironic is it that you hate them but you also stay in a place where they used to own!"

Jack laughed at that. "For King Luander, I can do everything, Prince Kao. If he tells me to research about the Snow Gypsy using my skill, I will! If he tells me to kidnap MIlca Filbuster to interrogate her about the Snow Gypsies, I will do it gladly! And if he tells me to punish the old hag for not answering any of my questions truthfully, then I will do it with all my heart! That is how I am loyal to him!"

"W-What did you do to my Aunt?" I asked with my whole body shaking for this was it. This was the moment of truth. Any second now, I will hear from him what happened to my Aunt.

"Do you know what happened to your dear Aunt? Then why don't you just cooperate with me, Rainha, and then I will bring you to her."

"So she is alive? Where is she? What did you do to her?"

Jack Bloomfire looked like he just won a game, based on the look on his face. "I will answer all of your questions, Rainha. But you need to answer everything that I will ask you first." It frustrated me that he still has some sort of condition before he will tell me what I wanted to know, but I did not have the luxury of refusing him so I just nodded. "Good girl, Rainha. That is what I want from you. All you have to do is cooperate. So now, tell me, where is the bracelet?"

The question caught me off guard. I can feel the Crown Prince looking at me with intensity right now, and I know why. "B-Bracelet? What bracelet?"

"The bracelet that your deceased mother left for you back in your old house in Kajos. The one you took when you went there with the Crown Prince! Tell me! Where is it?"

"Why do you want to have it? Is it important?" I asked, feigning ignorance.

Jack laughed. "Important? It is very, very much important! It is the key to the place where the Snow Gypsies live!"