Page 160 of The White King's Favorite

A cold silence followed this. It didn’t take more than a few seconds to understand, but a while longer to accept what they had just heard. However, it was clear Lord Yebekh was very proud of himself. He turned to the people of his clan, and, to everyone’s surprise, a young man came forward. He had a portion of his face burnt, and one of his eyes was covered by a white, foggy veil. For a few seconds, everyone was confused. It was clear most of them had no idea who this man was. He seemed young, strong, and suddenly smiled at Ashen. A smile that meant nothing good.

“It’s been a while... my bastard brother.”

All were shocked.

A brother of the King had survived? Cessilia noticed Ashen’s fist closing tightly. He was clenching it so tightly his knuckles were going white, and he was faintly shaking. He was furious, and not happy in the slightest. She guessed he was completely unaware one of his adopted-siblings had survived. The anger on his face meant this wasn’t his blood brother, but one of those boys his father had adopted, one of his former rivals he had told her about. Cessi knew him well enough. Despite the circumstances, no matter what he said, Ashen would have been relieved to see his younger brother be brought back to life. This wasn’t anything like that. Plus, that man didn’t even remotely look like the White King... They only seemed to be of similar age. She couldn’t remember if Ashen had mentioned what had happened to those three young men, but it was clear now one of them had survived the previous King’s death.

“Surprised to see me?” asked the man. “You certainly don’t seem happy... Your Majesty.”

The irony in his voice was unpleasant, irksome. Moreover, because of his burn, half the muscles of his face weren’t moving when he spoke, making him do strange grimaces whenever his lips moved, and his speech was strangely altered as well. Even a portion of his scalp was burnt, but his hair had been arranged to fall in dreadlocks to the side, and he had earrings on each lobe. They could all guess how handsome he had once been before that horrible burn. Now that he was standing, they could also see how tall and muscular he was. Almost as much as Ashen, and the scars of more burns were visible on his skin that wasn’t covered by his dark clothes. His body frame was the most similar thing to Ashen, showing how they had grown up with similar training...

Cessilia was shocked. Not by the man himself, but by how he had even dared to be here. The Yekara Clan Leader had deliberately brought one of Ashen’s adopted brothers here, since the beginning? This meant they were planning to rebel from the start. She had guessed something was wrong, but now it was clear the situation was way worse than she had thought.

“What the fuck are you doing here...” grunted Ashen.

“I’m not too sure,” said the burnt man, tilting his head. “I heard you’re not doing a decent job at being King. ...I came to see if you needed someone to help you with that. Or replace you.”

The two former siblings glared at each other. Despite his words, and his soft and slow voice, that man wasn’t fooling anyone. He clearly hadn’t come for Ashen’s sake, but to fight him. The deep hatred in his dark eyes and the irony in his voice didn’t leave any room for mistake.

Meanwhile, Lord Yebekh, very proud of himself, turned to the rest of the audience.

“See, good people of the Kingdom!” he shouted, opening his arms wide. “Our King lied! Another one of the rightful heirs to the throne survived! His Highness Prince Rohin is just as legitimate of an heir as Prince Ashen was, and without murdering his own father...”

“You damn bastard, Yebekh...” groaned Ashen. “You were the first one to rejoice in my father’s death when it suited you!”

“You should be ashamed!” shouted the Dorosef Tribe Leader. “You’re one fickle, backboneless, greedy piece of shit! It took years for King Ashen to bring peace to us, end our civil war, and now you’re turning against the savior of our nation!”

“Prince Ashen was the only remaining blood heir to the Kingdom!” added Bastat’s father. “At the very least, he had the support of our people! That man is no more than a boy who was created, formatted by King Ashtoran to be no less of a tyrant than he was!”

“A tyrant is a man who won’t listen to his people!” retorted Yebekh. “Can’t you see? King Ashen is betraying his people for a foreigner! A woman threatening us with her family’s power as if we are powerless! If we let this happen, soon we will all be bowing to the Dragon Empire itself! Or is it that everyone forgot the vile humiliation they imposed on us? They couldn’t get us by strength, so they sent this woman to win us over and then get rid of us in our sleep! Soon, we will see dragons burning our Kingdom to ashes! I won’t have that! The Yekara Clan will only stand for a king that listens to his people and stands against the Empire’s dominion!”

“You mean a king that will listen to you!” said the Pangoja Clan Leader. “This is ridiculous, Yebekh! You’re going too far!”

“...Prince Rohin.”

All eyes turned to the calm voice who had spoken. Yassim was staring at the Prince with a pained expression, as if he was not shocked, but feeling betrayed by his appearance. Cessilia frowned. He didn’t look like someone who was surprised to see one of his former students alive... Could it be that he knew all along that this man had survived? She exchanged a look with Tessandra. Her sword back in her hand, her cousin was glaring at the assembly, looking for who would try and fight first. It was clear the competition was completely forgotten now, if it had even been relevant at all. The whole room was preparing for a fight. With what the Yekara Leader had insinuated, and with one of the King’s possible rivals brought back from the dead, there would be no going back.

“Ah, Yassim,” chuckled Rohin. “Good old Yassim. Still alive, are you? I’m surprised Ashen didn’t chop your head off already. After all, you were never able to pick a side, were you? Saving him, then me... always saving everyone, but alienating us at the same time. You’re too good for your own sake, old man.”

Ashen’s furious glare immediately shifted to his old teacher. So Yassim was the reason his adopted-brother had survived... The elder didn’t even seem to notice the King’s furious eyes. Instead, he was staring at his former student as if his heart was broken. Cessilia felt a bit sorry for him. If he had saved Rohin, it was probably not for him to come back this way.

The young man chuckled and suddenly began to step down the stairs. Everyone who had one drew out their swords, Ashen being the first. He was clearly prepared to fight Rohin, but instead, his adopted-brother calmly walked up to Yassim. He completely ignored the fact that every person present in the cave was getting ready to fight for or against him. He simply went to his former teacher, with an apologetic expression.

“What is it? Not even happy to see me?”

“...I had suggested you leave, Rohin,” muttered Yassim. “I asked you to leave and find a peaceful life for yourself...”

“Oh, I know, teacher,” sighed Rohin, patting his shoulder, “...but, you see, after what Ashen did to me and my brothers, I’m afraid peace was never really an option. I sincerely thank you for saving my life, though. Please don’t resent me too much. I really did like you.”

His hands suddenly moved quickly, a snap was heard, and Yassim’s body dropped at his feet.

Cessilia’s scream died in her throat. It had happened too fast for anyone to react. The shock was too intense. After all his words from before, no one could have foreseen he’d kill his own teacher, not when his affection toward Yassim seemed so real and genuine. A faint silence followed the Counselor’s death, and someone in the audience suddenly screamed, a bit late. There was truly no going back this time.

“You... bastard!” shouted Ashen.

“Oh, stop yelling and shouting every time something doesn’t go your way, big brother,” sighed Rohin, rolling his eyes. “It’s not proper conduct for a king... Plus, you should have killed him yourself ages ago. Or is it that Your Majesty’s gone too soft for that? You were always the soft one, Ashen. Too kind and too weak to get things done.”

His mocking tone was infuriating. Anger helped Cessilia recover from the shock, and her green eyes began glaring at that man instead. She couldn’t believe he’d killed the man who had saved his life, to then mock Ashen about it. She had always had a hunch that Ashen hadn’t killed Yassim out of respect for his former teacher, despite his resentment. Rohin just had no second thoughts about getting rid of him. He was staring down at the body and Ashen, his hands moving as if he wasn’t sure what to do with them. There were strange movements in his shoulders too, like spasms. The more she looked at his expression, listened to his speech, and witnessed his strange mannerism, the more she was sure of it. That man was insane... and completely unfit to become King.

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