Chapter 30: Chapter 30

Shia shot a glance at the face of Langrion’s twin and surveyed it one more time before she finally decided to lower down her weapon. As soon as she did, an arm and a pair of coat were wrapped around her body. It was Langrion. He continued to lock her in an embrace, which she felt was more for the sake of his brother than for her.

“She is feeling unwell. I shall take her back into the room,” Langrion declared to the people around the table.

“Obviously she is, boy,” the old man replied. “But let her stay. I want to see her face up close.”

The lady with dark green eyes snorted, “There goes my appetite...”

Shia’s eyed the group of people around the dining hall suspiciously. How did each of these horrible folks come to know each other? What’s worse is the fact that even Langrion is acquainted with them! Was there some kind of connivance between all of them that they decided to single out this day to infuriate her?

In an apparent compliance, Langrion gently pushed a seat near the old man that Lord Fincher referred to as the ‘king,’ and he guided her towards it.

The wheezy elderly looked at her as if he was holding his breath all along. Shia did not like the way that his eyes pierced into her at all. It was as if he was stripping her naked in his head.

As if reading her thoughts accurately, Langrion sat down beside Shia. He occupied the seat nearest to the old man, coming in between them. He leaned closer to the edge of the table as if to block his lustful eyes away from her too.

“I think you have seen enough tonight,” Langrion said curtly towards him.

The green-eyed maiden laughed exasperatedly from across the table. “I agree with the prince. After seeing her manners fly up in the air, there isn’t too much to see now, is there?”

“Pray, what made you so bold as to attack the prince over there? Didn’t you know he is to be your family very soon?” the old man said. He leaned closer in to her, studying her face and trailing his eyes along her neck and far beneath into her chest. Shia had begun to feel truly thankful that Langrion had covered her up before she was made to sit there in front of that nasty old creature.

“He attacked me,” Shia began to say.

The strange old man and his eyes were making her feel uncomfortable. It felt like she was being attacked in the woods all over again whenever their eyes met, but she did not falter at all when she answered him. She stared down to him as squarely as she could and carried herself in the most dignified manner she could possibly feign.

“Did he now?” The old man turned to the other person at the end of the table that looked like Prince Langrion. “Did you really harm your brother’s betrothed?”

Shia held her breath. She wondered how they seem to know so much about her while she, on the other hand, had no clue who they all were, save for Langrion’s twin.

To Shia’s surprise, Langrion’s brother began to whimper, “I- I did not attack the duchess, uncle. I swear! Don’t punish me, please...”

“Very well, Danry, you may go to bed now. No more desserts for you as a punishment,” the old man said.

Langrion’s twin began to calm a little as he tried to stifle some of his tears away. A knight began to escort him away from the table. He began to stand up from his seat and was about to leave when all of a sudden, he went back and kneeled in front of Shia, clutching her hand while crying like a small child.

“Nana, I didn’t do it! I did not hurt you. It was him, the Tainted One!”

“That’s it, Danry! Go to bed now, the duchess is tired,” the old man said again. “Lady Edelfina, take Prince Danry into his bed chambers now. Make sure that he falls asleep soundly tonight.”

Edelfina let out a long sigh, but she immediately stood from her chair and walked over to Langrion’s brother, patting his head gently. “Now, now, you heard your uncle. Be a good boy now and say good night to our guests.”

The authoritative tone of the old man’s voice and the green-eyed maiden’s command made Langrion’s twin stiffen up with fright. He stood up and walked away from Shia, glancing back at her from time to time until they were finally out of sight from the dining hall.

Shia wanted to scratch her head in confusion. The frightened, jumpy prince who cried in her lap was so different from the monster she saw earlier. The way they all treated Langrion’s twin so far was also very confusing to her. The prince in question was a full grown man of twenty, tall and muscular, just like Prince Langrion, but he acted like a little child of around nine or ten.

“Judging from your face, I see that your future husband has not informed you that our dear Danry is slightly demented in the head. He is in such a poor state mentally, but at least he is not like his brother here who is simply revolting to look at.” the old man declared.

“Uncle -” Langrion began to say.

“You fool! Is that how you address your king?!”

Langrion’s eyes were ablaze with hatred. “Your Highest Grace, King Caldwell,” Langrion said in an icy, impartial tone, “it is one thing to speak about my brother’s illness, but it is unforgivable to utterly degrade us in front of my bride.”

“Hah, very well! She will soon find out for herself how strange you two are anyway,” the old man said in exasperation. He rose up from his seat and so did Langrion, forcing Shia to copy his decorum.

The old man – King Caldwell - left the table and walked closer to Shia’s side. Suddenly, he took her left hand and spoke “Lady Shia, you must excuse me and Danry from addressing you in your grandmother’s name, but you do bear quite a stunning resemblance with her. I wish to see you in private about this matter if you will have the time soon. I dare not think you would refuse your king, wouldn’t you?”

Shia held her tongue as the old man she repulsed gave her hand a kiss that seemed to linger longer than she would have wanted before he left.

“Is he?...” Shia began to say, but Langrion stopped her from speaking further amidst the many ears of the knights and servants in the manor.

“Let us go back first,” he said quietly but sternly.

Shia nodded towards him, and they began the long and silent walk back to Langrion’s bed chambers.

As soon as the door of the room closed, Langrion hugged her, and then he stepped back a bit and held her shoulders away, scanning her quickly from head to foot. “Are you alright? Did they hurt you in anyway?”

“Yes,” Shia replied, “I’m alright. Did I hear you correctly in there? That old man is -”

“That vile old man is the king – Caldwell the First!” he said finishing up her sentence entirely. “Are you sure you are alright? You did not use your powers in front of them, correct?”

Upon hearing Langrion’s confirmation on the name, Shia’s knees seemed to give way a little. Fortunately, Langrion was there to support her. He carried her half way into the bed.

After a while, she began to implore him about the things she heard once more. “How about that woman? She said he was your brother’s fiancé.”

He nodded, “Indeed. She is Lady Edelfina Nanris, my brother’s soon-to-be wife. And of course, you have met my brother, Danterion. Or at least one of his personalities....”

“Personalities?”

Langrion’s eyes fell to the ground. “After my mother died, my brother started developing more than one ‘identity’ or ‘personality,’ as the doctors call it. He started splitting his memories in two, and from time to time, he acts in certain ways, just like what you saw tonight... That personality right there is named Danry. He acts and talks just like my brother when he was ten years old. That was before he had seen how my mother died and discovered the real reason why she had taken her life away...”

He continued, “the other person that resides inside of him is Danterion. He is my brother’s more dominant identity, if you may call it that. Although that personality is haughty and cruel, he is not the type who attacks women or any person without just cause, so I am still unsure if he was the one who attacked you in the woods tonight or if it was someone else...”

“Someone else?” Shia remarked.

Langrion nodded back to her. “We have so far seen only two personalities from my brother throughout the years, but the doctors said it was possible that for him to develop other ones... I think we must call the royal physicians immediately so they could examine him.”

The story she heard felt so surreal in Shia’s ears. She could not imagine how frustrating it must have been for Langrion to bear all the guilt of causing a condition like that of his brother’s. But there was something else she had begun to realize about Danterion.

“What if it wasn’t a medical condition at all, Langrey?... What if your brother did not develop all these personalities by himself?” she began to say.

“What do you mean?”

“The Mark of the Beast – I saw it. I saw that mark on my attacker tonight!”

“If that is the case, then he must be...” Langrion trailed off.

Shia clasped her hands over her mouth and nodded. “Perhaps, the devil must be controlling him too!”