The next day, Arthur called Alicia into his study. He greeted,
"Good morning, Alicia."
Alicia greeted back,
"Good morning, Sir."
Carl, who was by the side of Arthur, spoke,
"So, Ms. Alicia, we have decided that I will teach you the Dark magic. You can say that the dark magic is a speciality of us, Windsors. And you will learn fire magic from a renowned master mage, till you can cast an Intermediate spell. He will also teach you the fundamentals of magic. After you have reached the intermediate level, His Majesty, the Magic Emperor, will personally oversee your training. And I will also start teaching about your dark magics around that time."
Alicia was excited to hear that.
She replied,
"Thank you, Your Majesty, Sir Carl. I hope to answer your expectations! But, if it's not too presumptuous, may I ask for something?"
Arthur replied,
"Sure, what is it?"
Alicia replied,
"If it's possible, I would like someone to show me around the mage district. If it's alright, could I ask Sir Carl to show me around?"
Both Arthur and Carl were surprised by this request. Hesitant, Carl replied,
"Sure. I can help you with that. My schedule is quite free the day after tomorrow. Shall we go then?"
Alicia happily agreed. She went to her room afterwards.
Arthur spoke,
"I wonder what that was about?"
Carl, with a cold, suspicious look, replied,
"Your Majesty, I think we both know what that might be about."
Seeing Carl's expression, Arthur, with a piercing look, spoke,
"You actually don't think that, do you?"
Carl, with a chilling smile,
"Who knows, Your Majesty? Shall we continue with other affairs?"
Arthur, pulled back to normal, replied,
"Of course. Let's continue. But Carl, if you doubt something, you should always clarify it."
Carl replied,
"Oh, don't worry, I meant to do that as well."
Alicia, in her room, started on with her thoughts.
"Yes, everything is going according to plan. I now just have to make sure I get Uncle Carl on board. But seems like it's going to be difficult... He already seems so wary of me. I should do something about that."
The next night, Arthur was in his study when Carl suddenly came in. Arthur spoke,
"What's wrong, Carl? What is so important that made you barge in late at night?"
Carl replied,
"Guess what, Arthur? The investigation was finally completed. Guess who was at the door when we were talking at night three days ago?"
Arthur, who bolted out of the blue, replied,
"Don't tell me..."
Carl continued,
"Yes, it was Alicia. As per the investigation, she seems to have heard everything we talked about that night."