(Please support the author JoanB by reading only in Royal Road or Webnovel.com. Thank you.)After leaving the administration office that morning, Theo received a messenger fly from the king. Using the fly as a medium of communication, the king whispered the message directly to his ear, summoning him to go to the palace.
While the fly flew near the opening of his ear, Theo kept on twitching his face and tugging his shoulder up, due to the itchiness the fly"s buzzing wings brought to his ear. His arms and feet had obvious gooseb.u.mps as it went along.
He wished to swat the fly dead but he knew how important the message was to him. He had no way but to bear with it.
The others who were watching him were twitching their faces as well as if they were the ones having the fly near their ear. Mostly Wenti, she couldn"t stand looking at the fly and said in disgust, "Eew!"
Theo was more than happy when the fly left his ear and flew back toward the castle. He vigorously rubbed his ear, hating why the king had to send him a fly for a messenger.
"Ugh, why is he still using these outdated messengers," complained Theo. "A bird will do or any other creature but please not the fly."
"Flies can go in and out unhindered and the least to be noticed unless it"s near any food," said Fred. "My father prefers mosquitoes but it can"t speak so, he only makes it fly to me and the mosquito will bring me to where he hid the message. But he usually uses this when he… calls me… home," his voice dwindled, feeling the pang of pain while reminiscing.
He looked to the hill and gulped down a good amount of saliva to hold back the tears from falling.
"So, you"re leaving now, and we won"t be going to meet Sir Averardus?" said Fred, still in pain inside and wished to go home as soon as he could.
"We"ll send you home first and I"ll go," said Theo and shook his head to the rest, hinting them not to ask Fred.
The rest saw Fred"s emotional upheaval too but didn"t ask when Theo showed them his shaking head.
Fred was glad when the horses started running and also when no one brought out the topic earlier. They enjoyed talking about other things until they reached the Amberdrift"s mansion"s gate.
"Bye, everyone. Thank you for sending me home. See you tomorrow." And he let the horse ran to the stables at the back.
Wenti told her coach to fly home since it was far from the Amberdrift mansion. All of a sudden, the sides of the horses moved and hidden wings flapped opened. Not for long, the whole carriage and horses were flying in the sky. While the four boys let their horses strode the dusty road.
That night, the king had a closed-door meeting with some of the princes of the kingdom. His adviser was not included this time. In attendance were Prince Lowis, two adult princes, Theo, and three other young princes of the kingdom. Fiel didn"t attend that night. He was totally wasted with alcohol.
These princes were now standing in the Legal Hall of the palace.
The palace had different chambers based on its purposes.
The king met dignitaries and other royalties in the lavish Monarch"s Hall.
Special gatherings for the kingdom was in a separate hall, half the size of the previous. It"s called Xaeviel Hall.
For the bureaucratic meetings of the kingdom was the Drech Hall.
Close-door meetings with the Griftein Knights were in the room called the Griftein Hole.
The whole Legal Hall was cloaked with reversal magic. It meant, those outside could hear nothing and see nothing, not even the light, as if n.o.body was using the chamber. A total reversal of everything occurring inside.
To shadow the chamber with that type of magic meant the meeting was discussing a very sensitive issue.
Sensitive, indeed. It was all about the incident which took place in school.
Though the school was far, the Griftein in the king communicated with the academy"s sentient barrier in utmost secrecy. Only the Griftein Knights and the school headmaster knew of this. Even the queen and the princes weren"t informed of this matter.
This was the rule made by the first Griftein King to protect his people and the kingdom. In fact, the king could control the barrier as it pleased though he was afar. But the distance also matters. At least, he had to be at a place twice the barrier"s range of attack.
King Thierri had seen what went on and saw the people involved. He had to address the matter before it escalates.
The king paced the floor back and forth.
"It seems a lof you are untamed when it comes to gathering men to build your influence before the official candidates for the crown prince"s race will be announced," began the king"s speech. "The shameful thing is, some of you here are fighting over young Lord Amberdrift when he"s already under Prince Theodrech. You even dare to do things without care and use ways, even evil one, so you can get him to your side. And the worse, to cause a young servant to be attacked out of defense. Isn"t this shameful?"
While the king was speaking, three princes were now undergoing the subjugation of the Griftein power. These were Prince Lowis, the king"s youngest son Prince Leidrech, and Lowis" eldest son Prince Felch.
The three of them were trembling on their knees. and Felch was already in tears.
"Grandpa, please…," said Felch but the king interrupted him.
"I"m the Griftein King of Xaeviel you are facing now. Don"t call me with that intimate name." King Thierri"s voice was echoing inside the hall.
Prince Felch winced in fear. He stuttered trying to explain his motive to the king.
"Your Majesty, I didn"t try to hurt Lord Amberdrift. I only want to talk to him but everything went wrong when someone went to him first and brought him to a secluded place. I have to act to keep him safe but he ran away when he saw my men. His cla.s.smate even threw a stun smoke at them. My men and I are innocent, Your Majesty." said Felch. His arms around him as he shivered in fright.
He knew Hue"s group was from his father but couldn"t mention his father"s name in front of the king. They believed the king was still probing them.
"Leidrech, explain yourself," said King Thierri.
"Your Majesty, I only ordered my men to bring him to me so I can have some time to talk with him without Prince Theodrech by his side. Nothing else."
"Talk by using a sheinbinne user? Are you trying to brainwash him so he will side with you while he stays with Theodrech?"
"No, no, father, please. Hear me out," said Leidrech in panic but the king ignored him. Sending a sheinbinne user was totally a villainous way to get followers.
In an instant, Leidrech"s body flopped on the yellow crystallized floor, prostrating. Tears and urine were gushing out from him as the Griftein power wholly overwhelmed him. He was in such a pitiful state that brought fear into the hearts to all the princes present.
"Lowis?"
Lowis swiftly knelt on both knees and kowtowed. "I begged for your forgiveness, Your Majesty. I was the one who asked my men to bring him to that secluded place with the same intention as Felch. But Lord Amberdrift attacked the manservant and everything went chaos. Please spare me, Your Majesty. My men are looking after that servant until he will totally get healed."
He knew well, lying would never work. Though he had no idea how the king got the news this fast, he had to admit and tell the truth than receive the king"s wrath.
King Thierri was a bit satisfied with his admittance.
"As the future rulers and officials of this kingdom, I beseech you to behave as worthy of the people"s trust and the t.i.tle you are holding. This is only a warning. If you act again without restraint, I will strip you off of your t.i.tles as royal princes of this kingdom and send you into seclusion. Do you understand?" The whole hall quaked with King Thierri"s voice.
"Yes, Your Majesty," everyone replied as they bowed, aside from Leidrech.
The princes left the hall in a sorry state, even those who were not involved. Leidrech was still in a bad shape that his men had to carry him to his carriage.
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Felch - /Felk/ - first son of Prince Lowis.
Leidrech - /Ley-drek/ - youngest son of the king.
(Please support the author JoanB by reading only in Royal Road or Webnovel.com. Thank you.)