Chapter 19: Chapter 19

Katherina stared calmly at the king, trying to conceal her emotions under a cold façade, it was equally painful for her to see her beloved husband in such a state, Edard was always a dignified man and a dominant king with a powerful presence, to witness him like that, looking like a wounded animal struggling to attack what he thought was his predator wasn’t the best sight for her eyes…

“What have you done to me?” Edard asked in a small voice while his wide eyes stared at the bloodied bandage above his knee, right where his now amputated leg used to be, he refused to believe it at first, telling himself he was dreaming, that all of this was but a nightmare but the pain was too real to be made by imagination, and so was the bitter truth.

“I saved your life...”, At her sudden words, the king glared sharply at his wife, thinking she was mocking him but he was met with nothing but an utterly serious face…

The king still remembered that day a few weeks ago when he was betrayed by his family, he was in his private room getting ready to go and see his daughter when his wife walked in on him, followed by his eldest son who stood by the door frame crossing his arms in defiance, they both wore serious expressions but he didn’t pay either of them any attention, what ever the problem at hand was, they could either work it out on their own or wait until he comes back next day.

“We need to talk, Edard.”, the queen’s voice was indeed urgent, giving her a side glance, he scoffed before looking back at his mirror, unwilling to listen to them when they pleased.

“Father.”, the king was surprised by his son’s angry retort, he stopped lacing his shirt to look at Henry with a raised brow, wondering when did his son started having the audacity to speak to him that way, he expected him to apologize or quiver but Henry didn’t show any signs of that as he kept on glaring at his eyes with the same intensity.

“I don’t have time for either of you.” Thinking the mother and son duo would be dismissed after his words, the king turned back to his mirror to finish lacing his shirt, however, Katherina stepped forward and her next words caused his entire body to freeze.

“Are you going to meet your hybrid daughter?”, Katherina knew that only the direct confrontation would work on her husband, throwing out the big bait, she watched as her husband turned towards her slowly with shocked eyes, she knew he was surprised, ready to explain the reason she and her eldest son were there, Katherina opened her mouth only to be stopped by a loud sound of a slap that resonated in the quite room which was followed by a force that caused her to lose her balance and fall on the carpeted ground, for seconds, no one talked, no one even breathed, she slowly placed her hand on her cheek, flinching at the sore skin that burned, she slowly raised her shocked eyes at her husband, the man she loved with all her heart, the man who just slapped her.

Katherina was never slapped in her entire life, even as a kid, all she did receive were few smacks on the head or on her hands when she was very young but never on her face, and to be slapped by non-other than Edard, her childhood friend and lover, her husband and king, in front of her son…

Too absorbed in her shock and self-pity, Katherina hardly noticed the king walking towards her with menacing glares, he himself couldn’t believe he raised a hand on his wife, but her words, the fact that she knew what Sara was and the fact that she was probably the one who was trying to kill her all this time blinded him with anger, ready to grab her throat, he was pushed back by his son before a strong punch landed on his face, the king felt the warm blood run out of his nose, a long blade was placed on his neck, his son dared to raise his sword at him, furious, he screamed for his guards to interfere.

The guards quickly filled the room, but instead of capturing the duo, they surrounded him with raised swords, one even holding ropes and a small black bag, he looked at them dumbfounded before he heard his son give them the orders to take him to the dungeons, which they did without hesitations…

“Saved my life?” the king repeated mockingly, “From what? You and that God forsaken son of yours?”

“You were poisoned, Edard, I… don’t know who did it, who ever it was, it almost worked, we managed to save you in time, but your rotten leg was the price…” The queen sighed tiredly, she was still deeply hurt and upset with him but she couldn’t watch her husband die, not that way...

“By we, do you mean you and Henry?”

“No, he couldn’t forget about your latest encounter, he said he doesn’t care.”

“Oh, he will when I fucking execute him and yourself for treason” the king spat angrily

“Is that so?”, The queen’s voice turned slightly cold, not liking the fact that her son was being threatened. “I hate to disappoint you, but the holy council, the Nobles, and the Generals all agreed to set you aside and name Henry the king, You have no power against him, and in a week time he will officially claim the throne. You no longer hold any authority.” Edard stared at her with horrid eyes, that couldn’t be possible, he was the king, he couldn’t be discarded so easily, his wife was lying, that was the only logical explanation he could come up with.

Seeing his expression, the queen sighed, she was too tired and emotionally drained from all of recent events but still needed to do what she had to do, she couldn’t let the man she loved die, nor could she sit still and watch him lead their kingdom towards it end. “Do you even know what have been going on lately, Edard? Do you have any idea about the dangers our kingdom is facing?”.

Seeing his perplexed expression which was still hostile and disgusted, the queen started explaining, “While you were too busy drinking and fighting with everyone that mattered, while you were throwing all the kingdom’s responsibilities on me and Henry to go see your daughter or mourn your dead lover, me and Henry worked day and night to cover for you and keep the kingdom together, the demons attacks had increased alarmingly, Henry’s men were able to capture one of the creatures alive, and, he told us some scary things…”

“He told us about the existence of a hybrid, the first of its kind…”. The queen stopped to swallow her bitterness, “I knew Historia wasn’t an ordinary woman, Yet I never expected her to be a Goddess.” Shaking her head, the queen went on with her story, “The demon told us their empire had a new Lord, a young one who have been trying to find the hybrid in order to use her blood to break the curse, if they found her, Edard, then the demons would be able to step into our world without anything to stop them, you know what that means…”

“And that is why you tried to kill her?”

“Believe what ever you want, Edard, but I never gave any orders for your daughter to be killed, the holy tower incident wasn’t my doing, although I admit I did send some guards to capture her, alive as I knew how much she mattered to you, I wanted to keep her in a place where no demon can reach her…”

“And you simply trusted a fucking demon’s words?”

“Henry had his way to get the truth out of him, beside, the creature didn’t look too fond of his new lord either as he called him a half blooded bastard, What ever that meant…” shaking her head, the queen looked back at her husband, deadly serious this time.

“You showed no signs of cooperation, you showed no signs that you would finally place your kingdom and your race first and start acting like a king should have, we had to put you aside…”

“And what are you going to do now?” The king asked as he felt the carriage door being opened and a soldier appeared, looking up outside the carriage, the king recognized the familiar trees…”

“You knew?”

“I always knew, Now you can go and live with your daughter, for good, I promise no harm will fall on you nor her, I know this place is protected, you will be both safe…”, The queen said while handing him a black bag, the king took it as a guard unlocked his chains carefully, ready to fight him off in case he dared hurt his queen…

Staring at his wife’s pained expression, he knew she was waiting for him to say something, anything, but the king didn’t have it in his heart to do so, he just couldn’t, there were too many things happening all at once, his wife’s feeling weren’t on the top of his list to tend to, they never were and definitely weren’t going to be now…

Stepping off the carriage, the king spared a last look to his wife before turning back, hearing the door of the carriage being closed, he used the cane he was given to limb toward the shack…

King Edard was always King Edard, He couldn’t remember the last time when he wasn’t the king, or at least the crowned prince, to have all of that taken away from him in a single second was so hard to take, those days he spent in a cell screaming and cursing the guards and his wife and son duo, he somehow managed to convince himself that it was but a big joke that might end any moment, but the nightmare only kept on getting worse, he stared at the bloodied bandages, the pain was completely dulled by that weird water his wife had given him but not the mental trauma of losing his leg, especially after falling several times while trying to walk back to the shack.