The Alpha King Is Mad

Episode 4

KILLIAN

The Royal stable was popularly known as the Space. Don't ask me why. I wasn't sure there was a reason it was called that, and if there was, I had no idea what it was.

The Space had four hundred and ninety-three horses. Pardon me, four hundred and ninety-three royal horses, as they were called. These horses were given the freshest grasses, groomed daily, and adorned with the most beautiful wear and armour in all of Agroman. Only people of title had access to the horses.

"It is funny how these horses are worth more to Agroman than the people," Damian said, drinking wine from a leather bottle. "At least, to your father, they are worth more than every Agromanian who wasn't of Royal blood."

I shrugged, clicking my tongue. "It's an unfair world."

I didn't say anything else. Really, what else was there to say? He spoke nothing but the truth. Now, it wasn't just the horses. Every single one of the thousands of swords my father had was of more value than a newborn of a commoner.

Damian and I were sitting at the feet of a staircase that led to one of the buildings meant for watching over the Space. We often came here to talk and walk away from the world of the castle and everything related.

In the whole of Wembourge, there wasn't a people more afraid of their leader than the Agromanians. Trust me, their dread of the Royal family was more than justified. Particularly, their fear of the mad king, my father. Agromanians were ruled by the chief Royal blood of the land, in the person of Tyrell Panis. The family of Panis have ruled the people of Agroman for as long as the scrolls could tell. Any attempt to have a new family rule has always resulted in, well, the death of everyone involved. Always.

The Panises weren't seen as regular people. They were seen and regarded as gods. Commoners couldn't look them in the eyes. Even if you were naive or brave enough to not fear the Panises, a soldier would make sure such fear is instilled in you. For the sake of specificity, 'instilling fear' connoted the immediate removal of the offender’s eye. While this doesn't always happen, it had happened way more times than anyone would like to talk about.

While it was common knowledge that the Panis family were tyrants, my father, King Tyrell was, unarguably, the worst Panis the people of Agroman have ever seen. In fact, people believed he was the worst person to have ever been conceived in the whole of Wembourge. Even Father knew that most people referred to him as the 'mad king'— at his back, of course.

Father had seven children; four boys and three girls. Morgian Panis, thirty-four years of age, was the first son and child of Tyrell and the heir to the throne. In the most hidden chambers of their hearts, most people hoped Father would die and Morgian would take over. I had zero doubts that people would celebrate if they heard Father died. They would dance on the streets and welcome Morgian as their new King.

Oh, don't get it twisted. Just like every Panis—myself included— Morgian was hated by everyone and their mother. But no one could be as ruthless as my father. Not even if you tried.

Cassandra was the second child of Tyrell. I guess you could say she was the one person who actually tried to be as ruthless as Father. She was the next worst thing after Father. Cassandra was twenty-nine years of age and a beauty in her own right. Just like Father, she was so feared by Agromanians that people feared talking about her. Some believed her to have severe mental issues, and man, can anyone confidently say otherwise?

Norris, twenty-seven years of age, was the third child of Tyrell. He was one of the less hated Panises but, of course, feared nonetheless. He often didn't show wickedness towards the people. However, he had ordered the execution of about three people. Compared to Cassandra's endless tally, Norris wasn't seen as a very bad Panis.

The next Panis was me. The beast of the East, as they like to say. Despite that not-very-appealing description, many Agromanians, predominantly the younger ones, were convinced that I wasn't a bad person at all. Despite being told by their parents that the only good Panis was one six feet under, some Agronmanians still believed that Prince Killian Panis was a good man. They argued that I had never taken a life and that was true.

A little back story here. I was the only child of Tyrell that many saw as…, not a true Panis. As crazy as Tyrell was, all his children came from the womb of the crowned Queen of the East, Borgia Panis. I wasn't theirs— biologically, but was raised as a Panis since Tyrell took me in as a baby.

Of course, Tyrell wouldn't make just anyone a Panis. He made me a Panis because I was, well, different.

About a thousand years ago, the then-ruler of Agroman slept with the goddess of dragons. Yes, that happened. For some reason, the goddess got bored of immortality and wanted to end her life. But first, she wanted an heir. Who better than the king of the greatest land in Wembourge to share her bed?

However, there were two things the king of Agroman hadn't known. For one, he wasn't told that he would die minutes after from thrusting his p***s into the goddess—and, of course, the goddess knew this. Also, the naive king didn't know that the goddess would lay an egg two years after they were intimate. Of course, no one knew the egg wouldn't be hatched for a little over a thousand years.

For many centuries, the people of Agroman watched as this little egg grew slowly every few years. Many kings of Agroman have tried to break the egg with all they could, but the egg was impregnable. There was a time Father, when he had newly been crowned, had the egg being struck upon for two years nonstop. Four hundred soldiers took turns hitting on the egg for two good years. Nothing happened. The egg didn't even get a scratch.

But one day, a few days after Prince Norris was born, the egg cracked and a baby boy was found there. The kingdom was a little disappointed when they heard that the egg they had waited a thousand years for just had a baby in it. Tyrell, with the full backing of his wife, took little Killian as his own and gave me what he believed to be the greatest gift of all time— his last name.

As I grew, Tyrell loved me all the more especially when he learnt that little Killian wasn't just a boy after all. I was a weredragon. At the age of fifteen, I could turn into a fully grown dragon. As everyone expected, Father made me work very hard and I learnt just about everything I could about my powers. Even in my normal human form, I could still breathe fire and had the strength of a hundred men. At least, that was what people said. Oh, how could I forget Father's favourite? My voice— what Father called the dragon's breath. When I chose to, I could command anyone to do just about anything I wanted.

Just like Father, the Agromanians referred to me as the beast of the east. While I was the least hated Panis, people still had so much fear for me. They didn't see the human side of me even though that was all I have ever shown them. To them, I was just a beast. As you would expect, fear easily turned into hate, hence the immense pressure I had because of the fear that I could lose control and live up to the name they gave me.

I was seen as the fourth child of Tyrell Panis though Norris and I were of the same age. After me, Mother had another son, Williame— currently fifteen years old. All Williame wanted was to be loved by Father and it was always a sad sight watching him trying to please Father who was rather hard to please.

Lastly, a little over five years ago, Mother gave birth to a set of twins at the age of fifty-two. Yeah, that happened. The royal midwife told Father that Mother might not survive the delivery. Somehow, to the surprise of everyone, she did. Claire and Naire really brought life to the castle.

"I'm sure His Grace wants us all to feed our flesh to our children," a woman said to another woman as they carried heavy baskets on their heads.

They didn't expect to see me in the Space this early, and when they did, they couldn't conceal their shock.

"Come over here," I ordered. "What did I hear you say?"

The older woman's hands trembled and she didn't realise when her basket fell off her head. Some of the fruits in the basket rolled towards me when the basket fell.

"I'm so sorry, your highness," they pleaded in unison, both of them already lying on the ground, sobbing.

Now, wasn't this just a sad sight?

"Get up at once," Damian yelled at them. "Your voices irritate his highness more than your clumsiness."

Trying to sound as calm as possible, I said, "Tell me what you just said about the king. You're in no trouble at all. I promise you."

The women kept shaking as though they had seizures and they couldn't make out anything meaningful.

"Speak at once!" Damian yelled.

The younger woman managed to get her mouth running. "The king has ordered everyone to pay one-third of our monthly earnings as tax."

"Leave at once," Damian barked at them.

The two women took to their heels after they picked their baskets. The older woman fell as she ran and very nearly tripped the other one.

Damian shook his head, drawing closer to me. "Don't even think about it. There is no use trying to talk your father out of anything. You should know this by now. Somehow you tend to forget this every bloody time."

Slapping Damian's shoulder softly, I said, "I will see you later."