Episode 121- Puppet sitting on the throne.

Last Chapter: Commander Kal did not want the King to know the truth behind Ario's incident. Duke Marleigh confirmed Ario's death when the King asked. The King went crazy.

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The guards' reaction to Commander Kal asking for his flute was very natural. And though he didn’t order for anything else, the guards surrounded Eugene and her group from the back naturally. It seemed so ordinary; the situation where people aren't allowed to leave, as if this occurs frequently.

Though the Crown Prince insists that he doesn’t know what was going on doesn’t mean that he has never been in this situation. He was most possibly hypnotized to forget everything at some point, and as for the King...

It was possible that the King was hypnotized as well, and a long time ago at that. This would explain why Commander Kal had the final say in decisions, was able to stop the King and Crown Prince from fighting, and was able to make his guards, no, his ‘personal’ knights refute the Crown Prince.

‘The one that has the most power is Commander Kal, whilst the King was only a puppet sitting on the throne.’

Eugene's speculation was comparable to what Duke Marleigh, Duke Rodriguez, and Louis believed in, one way or another.

But unbeknown to Eugene and Louis, the Emperor of Xenperia and the King of Zene were pen pals when they were younger. However, letters of friendships stopped a year or two after they both got married. Before Duke Marleigh and Duke Rodriguez departed to Zene with the children, he was told by Emperor Zen that the King of Zene was a wise and friendly King, unlike the previous King of Zene. The current King lived for the people and wanted to eradicate corruption to bring peace and life back to the citizens of Zene. Some of his letters mentioned his childhood fiance who would later be the Queen of Zene. There, he mentioned that he hoped to be a good husband and to only have the Queen as his only wife in this life.

However, the person the Emperor described the King to be was different from how the King of Zene seemed to be in real life. There was no Queen in the palace, but many male concubines. The country was peaceful in a certain aspect, but at the same time, there was tension ready to break the peace. The King of Zene wasn’t the good person Emperor Zen described him to be, was what Duke Marleigh and Duke Rodriguez thought.

Now, however, Duke Marleigh and Duke Rodriguez believed in Emperor Zen’s words. If they took count of Commander Kal and his hypnotism, the King, the Emperor described him to be, was real. It was just that the current King wasn’t himself.

In the silent room, the sweet melody of the flute quickly came and resonated throughout the room. The flute was played softly and hit the souls of everyone in the room, as if it was surrounding the nerves and tension in everyone's heart, diminishing it to almost nothing. It was calming music played by Commander Kal.

As everyone’s body started feeling lighter and freer, the King’s screams of pain also ceased. The King who was hit with the melodic song was swaying left and right as if he was dancing to the music. He was just like Musician Hal back at the cafe when he was soothed to enter the Royal Palace.

Commander Kal played until the King’s eyelids began to droop and eventually closed, to sleep in peace. After that, Commander Kal gently placed the King in a comfortable position so that his body could lean on the throne. Once he was done with that, he stood up and turned to Eugene and her group, glancing down from below as if they were underneath him.

It was only now that the Crown Prince snapped out of the lingering calm illusion that relaxed him and he pointed to Commander Kal in speechless and alarm, “Wha, What is this insolence!! THIS IS A CRIME!” He shouted the last sentence as his eyes glared at Commander Kal and the 2 guards kneeling beside the King.

Commander Kal raised his eyebrows before laughing heartily, “Hahaha! Crime? Oh, well soon enough you will soon forget everything again.” he shrugged as his eyes moved from the Crown Prince to Duke Mareigh and Duke Rodriguez.

He continued whilst an aura of righteousness flowed out, “And that also includes our esteemed guest. If only you didn’t find out, no, if only you didn’t reveal what happened to Ario, I would have let you go with a sound mind. Too bad I can’t give you any mercy.”

Eugene watched Commander Kal’s disgusting face in silence.,“......”

Duke Marleigh didn’t pay any heed to Commander Kal’s taunt and stared back at him fearlessly, “I assumed you ‘looked after’ Liasel’s envoys like this too?” He asked as if it was a matter of fact.

Commander Kal’s raised lips formed a straight line as he looked at Duke Marleigh blankly.

“Were other envoys hypnotized?” He repeated for confirmation.

Commander Kal sighed as his lips raised again and he confessed, “Only to some.”

Duke Marleigh’s eyes narrowed in a dangerous light and with a voice 2 tone deeper, he asked, “Why are you purposely hiding Sir Ario’s death from the King?” This was a question that has been on his mind ever since the King went insane.

“Heh?”, Commander Kal chuckled, “You’re about to forget about that damn man’s death so is it really necessary for you to know now?” he asked with his eyebrows raised provocatively.

Duke Marleigh countered without a second loss, “If I’m forgetting anyways, shouldn’t it be acceptable to know?”

His speedy reply made Commander Kal pause. It wasn’t every day that he would meet someone fearless after knowing that he was going to wipe out their memories.

Eugene frowned when she saw the intrigued look on Commander Kal’s face and his sigh that sounded as if he had no choice but to tell them. Seeing this, she had a faint inkling that something was very wrong.

Flashback to Day 3...

In a smaller audience room that had a conference table that almost covered the whole room, the King of Zene was holding his Royal duties early in the morning as he was debriefed about the country’s affair by the High aristocrats of Zene. Commander Kal was sitting beside the King because of his Commanding status as well as the second person who has the most power in the country after the Royal family.

It was the usual boring debriefing about the country’s state of affairs, and about the land, the higher aristocrats rule over. The same things about increasing tax on the poor, and not having enough land for agriculture growth.

One of the reasons the King values Commander Kal, apart from being brainwashed, is because of the noble's greed. Commander Kal was neither selfish nor corrupt. He was a good commander for the people.

The more the aristocrats spoke, the more annoyed the King became. Just as he was about to explode, a man pushed open the big audience door with a loud bang and rushed in hurriedly. This man was Ario.

Shock and mutters immediately filled the room. Seeing Ario, the aristocrats immediately became wary. They were afraid that the King’s mood would become sour and direct his misgivings towards them. But contrary to what they thought, the King stood up from his chair loudly and only watched as Ario speed-walked closer and closer to him.

As soon as Ario got close enough, he bent over in an attempt to catch his breath as he attempted to converse with the King by raising his voice loudly over his huffs of breath, “E...EMERGENCY, His Highness, Your Majesty!”

The King knew it was an emergency because Ario was never someone rude, never someone who would just barge into a room, so he asked as he frowned, “What’s wrong?”

Ario’s voice was rough with anxiousness as he replied, “Men, Hundreds.. No, roughly a thousand armed men are rushing to the tribal community!” he reported, as he attempted to stand up.

Everyone gasped at Ario’s words. The King’s eyes widened as he stared at Ario in seriousness.

Ario took his eyes as a sign to explain more, and explained, “The men will be reaching the village soon! The tribes will not be able to survive this without any help! Knowing them, they wouldn’t fight because of the law passed hundreds of years ago! Please send knights to stop them immediately!!” Ario begged with eyes filled with anxiousness!

The King’s eyebrows furrowed as he pondered deeply. It took him 2 seconds before he turned to Commander Kal to give orders.

Commander Kal stood up and saluted. He was about to reach the audience door when multiple aristocrats stood and shouted for him to stop!

“Wait!! Please wait!!”

The voice belonged to an aristocrat with a not-so-attractive face. This aristocrat rules over a city that was closest to the Tribal community.

Commander Kal furrowed his eyebrow as his impatient eyes met the aristocrat, “What is it? If it’s not important, please leave it for later, Marquess.”

Another aristocrat shouted, “No please wait!”

The King and Ario looked at each other and frowned. Without having to hear the aristocrats, the three knew what they were going to say.

“Is this not good timing? With this, the tribespeople won’t have to eat away our tax money no more!” One aristocrat mentioned as he attempted to convince the King. After this aristocrat, many more raised their voices in approval!

“We won’t have to raise tax anymore!”

“Those tribespeople aren’t useful! Please consider your decision, His Highness Your Majesty!”

Numerous aristocrats spoke out in favor of not helping the tribal people. This infuriated the King to no end as he slammed his palms on the big conference table loudly!

BANG!

The sound reverberated across the room, shutting the aristocrats up.

Without glancing at Commander Kal, the King said, “You may go.” His meaning: I will take care of this.

The aristocrats watched the audience door as they felt shivers going down their spine. The door reminded them that they went too far with their words. Who else but them knew that although the King was a bit of a player, he devoted everything for the peace of the citizens.

However, the scold or disdain they expected to come never came.

“Everyone here is dismissed. If I hear another word from you, I’ll interpret it as going against me, the ruler of this country!” Though he didn’t scold them, he threatened the aristocrats with what they feared the most, frightening them silly.

“Yes.. Yes… Yes..” The aristocrats bowed their heads and swiftly rushed out! Dismissed means screaming immediately! Yes! Yes! Yes!

“....” The aristocrats that scrammed out of the room were scammed again by Commander Kal who stood guard outside the room. Little did the King and Ario know that he was listening in on the conversation from outside the audience room and only left after hearing what Ario had to say.

Ario turned to the King and bowed deeply, “Your Majesty, I will leave with Commander Kal.”

The King frowned, and immediately refuted, “You useless thing. You can’t even lift a sword, what’s the use of a weakling like you going?” He dismissed his idea with cruel words. Words that crush a man’s self-esteem.

Ario shook his head, firm with his decision, “Your Majesty, I believe that there is a conspiracy surrounding this incident. I must go on-site to investigate!”

The King had no words to say, “....” When it came to investigations, Ario was one of the most trusty men he had. Hence when he saw the determination on Ario’s face, he could only wave his sleeves, indicating for Ario to scram away.

Ario bowed, “I will return with a report!”

The King could only watch the back of Ario as he departed, not knowing that this would be the last time he would ever see him in this life.