by Michael Sisa
Standing next to the king was Princess Esmeralda, and right next to the princess was a young man with short silver hair and clear blue eyes. Just a single look was enough for the nobles to realize the identity of that person. But what was the second son of Duke Drakus doing here at the capital? And why was he standing next to the princess?
Everyone in the throne room held several questions in their mind. Judging by the sudden summon of the crown, something big was going to happen moments from now.
The king looked at everyone in the room, before his eyes landed on Lord Hais. “Hais, it’s been a while,” said the king.
Lord Hais, still shackled by metallic chains and magic, bowed his head. “Yes, Your Majesty. I’m truly glad to see you safe and sound.”
The face of the king contorted for a moment upon hearing those words. Was it anger, disappointment, sadness? No one was sure. Everyone here knew that Lord Hais was among the pillars of the king’s faction. They could not understand why Lord Hais was currently kneeling there, his body bound by chains.
Silence befell the throne room.
Eventually, the King sighed and rubbed his temples. “Hais, I’m disappointed in you.”
“F-Forgive me, but I do not understand, Your Majesty,” said Lord Hais in a trembling voice.
General Carlos snorted. “Stop feigning ignorance. We already know that you’re the reason for His Majesty’s collapse.”
Those words stirred everyone in the throne room. They couldn’t believe that a rift had formed between the king and the minister. Furthermore, it seemed that Lord Hais tried to harm His Majesty.
Lord Hais continued to tremble. He still did his best to feign ignorance of what was going on. “I… I don’t understand, Your Majesty! I’ve been your faithful ally, even before your coronation. I would never dare harm you!” Lord Hais glared at Lady Ropianna and General Carlos. “I don’t know what kind of lies those two fed you, my King! But please believe me!”
Lord Hais noticed the princess standing next to the king. She wore a look of disappointment as she looked at her uncle.
“Princess Esmeralda, please tell your father! You know that Uncle Hais would never do something to harm His Majesty, right?”
The princess bit her lip and shook her head, disagreeing with all the things Lord Hais just said.
Lord Hais’ eyes darted toward the young man standing next to the princess. Lord Hais did not like the pair of blue eyes that were looking at him as though he was garbage.
“Bring in the chief healer,” said the king.
On cue, a man in his mid-fifties was brought into the throne room by the guards. Just like Lord Hais, the chief healer was bound by chains.
“The chief healer already confessed to the crime this morning,” said the king.
Shivers crawled down Lord Hais’ spine upon hearing this.
The king said to the chief healer, “Aldur, let everyone in this room hear it.”
Before Lord Hais could stop him, the chief healer started recounting the story in a desperately loud voice. Spit flew out as the chief healer blabbered his mouth nonstop. At the same time, the everyone’s face slowly transitioned from disbelief, to disgust, and eventually, anger.
According to the chief healer, Lord Hais was the one pulling the strings—the one behind the collapse of His Majesty. After he captured the chief healer’s only grandchild, the minister coerced the chief healer to slowly feed poison to the king, eventually resulting in His Majesty’s collapse during the banquet.
“H-His Majesty is already weak from age,” said the chief healer. “W-With the help of the poison, the curse used this opportunity to start devouring the king’s soul.”
To some of the government officials, this was the first time they’d heard of this curse. But most of the nobles in the room were aware that an incurable curse ran down the blood of the royal family. It was just simply taboo to talk about it.
“Lies!” shouted Lord Hais. “Why would I poison the king? Everyone knows that I’m loyal to His Majesty! If we think about it, who will gain the most if His Majesty suddenly dies? Surely, it isn’t me! How about the Kelvins! The Marcuses! The Youchesters!”
Lord Hais started pushing the blame to others. “None of my sons are eligible for the throne! As part of the king’s faction, if His Majesty dies, we’ll be the ones to suffer the most!”
A buzz filled the throne room once again. The nobles and government officials started discussing things among themselves. The argument of Lord Hais was valid, after all. They could not see what the minister would gain from this ploy.
“The chief healer is obviously trying to frame me, Your Majesty!” pleaded Lord Hais. “They’re trying to break one of the pillars of your faction! Please reconsider, my king!”
The king fell silent. Everything Lord Hais had said made sense.
He looked at the priestess from the Temple of the Water God. “Priestess Thea. Could you perform an Oath of Veracity for us?”
“I’d be happy to, Your Majesty.” The priestess bowed her head and moved to where Lord Hais was situated.
The king said to Lord Hais, “In front of all these witnesses, we will now conduct an Oath of Veracity. If what you are saying is truly correct, you shall be freed from all allegations and criminal liabilities.”
Color started draining from Lord Hais’ face as the priestess came closer.
“But if it is found that you are behind the attempted assassination,” the king paused for a few seconds, as though he couldn’t bring himself to say his next words, “you shall be publicly executed.”
The priestess finally stood before Lord Hais. In a soft voice, she said, “Please forgive my impudence, but we shall proceed with the ritual, minister.”
The priestess took out a dagger and made a small cut on the Lord Hais’ finger. With practiced movements, she started performing the ritual. Slowly, a small magic formation formed underneath her feet.
Lord Hais panicked. Once the Oath of Veracity was complete, he would have no choice but to tell everyone the truth. Even a simple lie would subject his body to the most excruciating pain possible.
Realizing that he had no way out of this mess, he decided to confess everything. It would be better to speak now, while the oath hadn’t bound his body yet.
“I’ll tell you everything!” he shouted. Lord Hais breathed in. “That’s right! I’m the one behind the poisoning of His Majesty!”
There was momentary silence, before the crowd burst into outrage. Those loyal to the crown were glaring at him, while the fence-sitters held bewildered gazes.
The king grabbed his chest after hearing Lord Hais’ words.
“Your Majesty!” said one of the guards.
“I’m fine,” breathed King Alvis. Tears started forming at the corner of his eyes. For some reason, this betrayal felt more painful than the curse. He felt his heart being squeezed as the words of his friend echoed in his mind.
Princess Esmeralda clenched her fists and bit her lip, but managed to hold back her tears. She remained standing next to her father, concerned of his well-being.
“Hais, when we were young,” King Alvis struggled to say his words due to the squeezing pain in his heart, “we both dreamed of a better Kingdom. Isn’t that right? I was merely the Crown Prince back then, and you were just the deputy to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Back then, you repeatedly proposed several reforms for the Kingdom, ways to improve the lives of the citizens.”
The pain became more unbearable as the King reminisced. This was more painful than the betrayal of the chief healer.
“When my father died and the Southern Faction revolted, you were the first person to come to my aid.” The king gripped the armrest. “You rallied your troops to quell the rebellion, along with Carlos, Ropianna, and Mikael. You never left my side until the end of the Bloody Thorn Plains Incident.”
That incident solidified the King’s trust in Lord Hais. When all seemed lost and the rebels managed to breach the capital, Lord Hais was
among those who stood valiantly at the front lines.
“So why?” The king’s snarl echoed in the throne room. His chest rapidly rose and fell. When the anguish became unbearable, it finally turned into anger. “Why did you do it?” said the king. “Was it for money, for power? You could have told me and I would have done what I could to help you! We’re friends, aren’t we?!”
No one expected such words to come out of the king’s mouth. Just now, King Alvis spoke to Lord Hais not as the ruler of this Kingdom, but as a lifelong friend. As a comrade who’d been with him through numerous tribulations.
“Lock him up in the dungeon.” The King spoke through gritted teeth. “In accordance to the laws of the Kingdom, he shall be executed in public at a later date.”
Several guards immediately moved to drag away Lord Hais from the throne room.
“W-Wait! I was merely forced into this, Your Majesty!” shouted Lord Hais. “Please believe me. It’s all part of that man’s plan!”
King Alvis raised his hand and the soldiers stopped.
“Speak.”
“Everything was part of Du—”
Duke Kelvin’s plans.
For some reason, Lord House couldn’t utter those words out loud.
He felt a tingling sensation on his hand, specifically at the part where Duke Kelvin engraved the crests of Black Midas. Slowly, Lord Hais’ eyes widened. He realized the real reason Duke Kelvin easily gave him these crests. The tingling sensation started to burn, and the crests started sucking in all the mana in his body.
“What’s happening?!”
Lord Hais raised his hand and noticed that it was swelling at a noticeable rate. The same was true for his face, trunk, and legs.
“I-It hurts! H-Help! Help me!”
Lord Hais screamed. Slowly, his body bloated, as though he’d swallowed large amounts of water.
Lark Marcus was the first one to react among the crowd. He leaped toward Lord Hais and placed a hand on his chest and channeled his mana into it, immediately suppressing the body from growing any further than this.
But it was too late.
Blood and muddy water started flowing from Lord Hais’ eyes, ears, and mouth. Seeing this, Lark gave up all thoughts of saving him. He took a few steps back and cast a small dome-shaped barrier spell, enclosing Lord Hais’ body.
The bloated body finally burst, sending innards, blood, and muddy water flying about. Thankfully, the barrier spell blocked everything, preventing them from splattering the surrounding officials.
The nobles started screaming in fright, while the royal guards immediately moved in front of His Majesty.
Lark was in dismay as he stared at what remained of Lord Hais’ body. If he had been a few seconds quicker to respond, he would have been able to prevent the spell from killing the minister.
“What… happened?” said the king. “Why did Hais suddenly…”
Lady Ropianna trudged toward what remained of Lord Hais’ body. After closely inspecting the remains, she said, “An Oath of Death, Your Majesty. And the repercussions and restrictions placed on this one are… quite brutal, it seems.”
She looked at Lark, as though asking for confirmation. The young man simply stood there, his eyes fixated on the disfigured corpse.
“An Oath of Death,” said King Alvis. “I’ve seen one before… But is it supposed to be as ruthless as this?”
“It isn’t usually,” said Lady Ropianna.
Piercing the heart with magic was more than sufficient to kill a person, and this was the most common form of repercussion in an Oath of Death. Even for Lady Ropianna, this was the first time she’d encountered such an extremely brutal case.
“It seems that even Minister Hais didn’t know that he was under the oath,” she said. The minister’s reaction as before his death was peculiar, no matter how she thought about it.
Lady Ropianna looked at the king and added, “But one thing is for sure—there’s another person behind the attempted assassination of His Majesty.”
CHAPTER 22
“Another person,” repeated King Alvis. The words of Lady Ropianna echoed in his mind. He rubbed his brows as his head started to ache. So many events transpired the moment he woke up, taking their toll on his mind.
Who was it? Who was the man behind Lord Hais? The real culprit pulling the strings.
While the king was in deep thought, Elias, one of the three royal court magicians present in the throne room, approached the disfigured corpse. He glanced at Lark and passed by him. Upon reaching the corpse of Lord Hais, he bent down and grabbed the sundered hand lying on the ground. The faces of the nobles and government officials who saw this contorted from disgust.
“Interesting,” said the royal court magician. “The spell just ended, but there are no longer any traces of magic left in his corpse.”
Blood dripped down the severed hand he was holding.
“Elias, what do you think?” said the king.
Elias was the best archer of the Kingdom and ranked among the royal court magicians. His eyesight and reflexes were far better than your average soldier. It was well-known that he could even catch an arrow with his fingers.
Surprisingly, despite being an archer, Elias’ skin was whiter than snow. It was as though his body was drained of all blood, as though he’d never been exposed to the scorching sun before.
Elias ‘Farsight’ saw everything moments before Lord Hais’ death. He was sure that not just one, but five crests activated before the minister’s body burst into pieces. But now that he’d personally checked the minister’s corpse, there were no longer any traces of magic left in it. It was peculiar.
“If I’m not mistaken… the minister was bound by five Oaths of Death, Your Majesty,” said Elias.
“F-Five?” said the king.
It was unheard of. Just one was enough to kill a person.
“Priestess Thea,” said Elias. His black eyes were a stark contrast to his pale, white skin. “Is it possible for a single person to undergo five Oaths of Death at the same time?”
Priestess Thea stared at the corpse of the minister then shook her head. “I’m… not sure. I’ve heard from a fellow priest regarding two concurrent oaths, but five? It’s probably never been done before, and I don’t see any merit in doing so.”
It seemed that five oaths had never been attempted before. Even the priestess from the Water God’s Temple did not know the answer to his question.
“Is that so?” Elias frowned. “Then was it a mistake?”
As Elias started doubting what he saw, the young man standing silently near the corpse spoke.
“I also saw them,” said Lark. “Five crests. The first one pierced the minister’s chest, and the remaining four forced their way through his mana core and overloaded his inner circuit. His body couldn’t handle the rampaging mana—” Lark looked at the disfigured corpse on the ground. “—And burst into pieces.”
Elias was surprised to hear a detailed explanation of what transpired. Even he, the best archer of the Kingdom, couldn’t catch all those details at once.
“I agree with what Lady Ropianna said,” said Lark. “It seemed that the minister wasn’t aware that he was bound by an Oath of Death.”
The petrified expression of the minister moments before his death was still vivid in everyone’s mind. It wasn’t the face of someone who knew beforehand that he was going to die.
***
Due to Lord Hais’ unexpected death, Lady Ropianna suggested that they postpone discussing the method to sever the curse running through the blood of the royal family to a later date.
Lord Hais was among the most trusted vassals of King Alvis and one of his closest friends. The minister’s betrayal, coupled with his gruesome death, had taken a toll on His Majesty’s mental health.
After that incident, the king followed Lady Ropianna’s advice and rested in his room for two days, refusing any and all audiences from his subjects.
On the third day, the king finally s
ummoned Lark’s group to the throne room to discuss the method proposed in the letter.
When Lark and his disciples arrived in the throne room, nobles belonging to the king’s faction, royal knights, royal court magicians, various government officials, and the princess and her knights were already inside.
There were fewer people gathered here today than last time. Lark surmised that the king summoned only his trusted vassals.
Lark started with formalities. Together with his disciples, he knelt on one knee and bowed his head.
“It’s an honor to be in the presence of Your Majesty!”
“I-It’s an honor to be in the presence of Your Majesty!”
Chryselle and Anandra performed the stance with swift but graceful movements, as though they’d practiced it several times before. Austen and George’s movements, on the other hand, were stiff and awkward. The brothers were too nervous and stuttered the words out.
“Please rise,” said King Alvis. “There’s no need for useless formalities. Especially after saving this old man’s life.”
Lark and his disciples stood up and they finally gazed at the king. The old man sitting on the throne looked better than before. Although he’d locked himself inside his room after that incident, it seemed that he hadn’t neglected his health. His cheeks no longer looked sunken and his skin had regained its vibrant color.
“Everyone here has already been briefed regarding the method you’ve proposed in your letter,” said King Alvis. “And the royal court magicians have analyzed this so-called phylactery we’ll be using to sever the curse.”
Lark looked at the royal court magicians standing just below the throne. Lady Ropianna was gently smiling at him, Elias ‘Farsight’ was staring at Anandra, while the remaining royal court magician—a muscular bald man who could be easily mistaken as a mercenary—held a fierce gaze.
“Ropianna, please tell us what you think,” said the king.
Lady Ropianna bowed her head at the king for a moment, before turning her gaze to the crowd. Everyone turned silent. Her raspy voice was surprisingly audible. “Frankly speaking, three days isn’t enough time for us to fully analyze the phylactery,” said the elderly female magician.
