Chapter 363 - So Many Surprises (1/2)

Terry arrived just before the meal was served at the dinner table. He carried Little Prince Siegfried in his arms and hurriedly placed him on Aleksis' lap.

”Your dog ate so much that he can no longer walk ... I was forced to carry him,” Terry grumbled, stretching out his arms to ease the aches after breaking away from Aleksis' beloved fat dog.

”Oh, Little Prince Siegfried!! I missed you so much ...” Aleksis exclaimed while kissing her dog, while Terry rolled his eyes.

”You haven't seen each other in just two days, but you're acting like you have been separated for years,” he said, shaking his head. ”When are you not overreacting when it comes to your dog?”

He turned to Lauriel and was immediately stunned. He just saw Nicolae's presence at Lauriel's side and his attitude immediately changed somewhat curtly.

”Why is he here?” he said in surprise. He narrowed his eyes and saw the bandage that wrapped Nicolae's left shoulder from under his shirt that was open at the chest.

Terry had to blink a few times to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.

”Oh, Nico saved me from some kidnappers ...” said Aleksis. ”He got injured during the fight, so I brought him here. The doctor said he could have died if the bullet had gone a little more to the side. You see, he got hit very close to the heart.”

”Another kidnapper?” Terry became somewhat worried. ”You already have four bodyguards but kidnappers could still get to you? How is that possible? Does Uncle Caspar know?”

Aleksis shook her head. ”No, he doesn't. I want to investigate this before I make Mom and Dad worried. I will call Carl and Sasha tomorrow to find as much information as possible.”

Terry stared at Aleksis with a complicated look. He wanted to ask whether Aleksis had also told Prince Siegfried about this attack, but he remembered that Aleksis was still keeping her relationship with Prince Siegfried a secret. Finally, he held back and just nodded.

”Let's just discuss the hard stuff later, now let's eat first,” Aleksis said to distract their minds from what had happened. She put Little Prince Siegfried into her bedroom then hurriedly dragged everyone to the dining table.

The atmosphere during dinner was warm. Terry was the only one who was still not friendly to Nicolae, because they had been enemies for the past year. Aleksis and Lauriel looked at both of them with amused eyes and decided not to tell Terry right away that Nicolae was Lauriel's son. They wanted to see if the two young men were able to act civil with each other ...

”The food, as usual, is delicious ...” Terry said, stroking his full stomach. ”Does anyone want dessert wine?”

They nodded, and Terry happily took a bottle of wine from the cabinet and poured it for everyone, except for Nicolae. He let Nicolae pour for himself.

Aleksis just laughed silently at the sight of her brother and Lauriel's son behaving like little children, sneering at each other and exchanging insults. Several times Aleksis and Lauriel exchanged glances and both of them could only shake their heads.

”Well ... Since Uncle Rory had told you about the history of our clan and everything you need to know. Now it's your turn to tell me, what happened to you so far and why you are investigating Rhionen Industries in Singapore?” said Aleksis after gulping down her wine.

She wanted to immediately gather information about what Nicolae was doing in Singapore, what was the purpose of him investigating Rhionen Industries, and to what extent did he know about Alaric's identity. Aleksis felt that she had to protect Alaric so that her husband could take action before the danger threatened him. And hopefully later, Alaric would slowly be able to change his mind.

”Lauriel, did you tell him about the Alchemist clan?!?” Terry gasped at Aleksis' words, ”Why would you do that?”

”Lauriel???” It was then Nicolae's turn to be confused when he heard Terry call his father Lauriel. He had thought his father's name was Rory, because Aleksis kept calling him 'Uncle Rory'. So, he turned toward Lauriel and asked him. ”Father, isn't your name Rory?”

”Father???” Now Terry was very surprised and looked at Lauriel and Nicolae alternately. He then patted his forehead as if forcing his frozen brain to work, ”I don't understand what you all are saying ...”

”Uhm ... Well, Uncle Rory's real name is Lauriel Medici, and he comes from the Medici Family. Only I can call him Uncle Rory, because I'm his favorite child.” Aleksis said explaining. She was satisfied to see Nicolae's expression, who then nodded in agreement. Then she turned to Terry, ”Nicolae is apparently Uncle Rory's son whom he thought had died while still in the womb ... It turned out that Princess Luna had given birth to Nicolae in Romania before she passed away. We found out about it accidentally when the doctor asked Uncle Rory to donate his blood to Nicolae because Nicolae's injury was so severe and he lost a lot of blood and so he needed a blood transfusion ...”

Terry was stunned to hear Aleksis' comprehensive explanation. He turned to Nicolae and looked at him sharply. He then looked at Lauriel who smiled and nodded.

Only then did Terry realize, after knowing Lauriel for almost 8 years, this was the first time he had seen Lauriel's face genuinely happy.