The King's Only True Love

Chapter 4: King has no mistress

Prince Stephen walked into the throne room and bowed his head as he greeted the king who didn't even glance up at him but was rather listening to what the prime minister was saying.

Prince Stephen immediately took his seat in the council as he listened to what was being said.

"With this new invention, our army will become more equipped and ready for war at any time," the prime minister said

Emerald signaled for them to get him the long draft, and Gideon immediately collected it from the prime minister's aide and handed it to the king who opened it and looked at the draft.

The prime minister and the minister of force fumbled with their palm as they hoped and prayed the king would accept it.

After looking at the draft, Emerald raised his head and looked at both the minister of force and the prime minister. "Is this the invention you spoke about?" He asked them

They both looked at each other and the prime minister responded "Ye, yes your Majesty".

Emerald placed both hands in the middle of the draft and tore it into two and then flicked it on their faces.

Both ministers shifted back away in fear, the king tearing it means that he doesn't approve of it and that they are now in big trouble.

"I thought you said he would approve of it" the minister of the force said in a low tone of voice that only the prime minister would hear and the prime minister glared at him to shut up.

"Who made this draft?" Emerald asked and both of them looked at each other.

"One of the engineer's your Majesty," the minister of force said.

"So you expect me to approve of an invention made by the kingdom of the north?"

The prime minister stared at the minister of force in shock. The minister of force on the other hand didn't know the king would know it was an invention made by the north, now he was in big trouble, and his head might be cut off. "I'm sorry your Majesty I didn't know," the minister of the force said with a trembling voice.

"Believe me my king, I didn't know about this," the prime minister said with heads bowed.

"Is me sitting on this throne a joke to you? How dare you bring an invention from another nation and want my nation to replicate it. I personally hand-picked those engineers, so how dare you insult me by saying one of the engineers drafted this?"

The minister of force shifted back away in fear, and he kept on bowing his head in apology.

" Before any invention reaches your table, it gets to mine first because I picked the engineers myself," Emerald said, his face beared no emotions but deep down he was furious.

He got up from his thrown and approached the minister with his sword in his hand. He walked slowly until he finally stood in front of a trembling minister of force. He raised his sword and placed it on the neck of the prime minister of force, who immediately knelt and begged for mercy.

"Forgive me, forgive me your Majesty," he said as he kept on pleading.

"There are two reasons why you should die right now. One reason is that you stole an invention of another nation and dared to bring it in front of me, the second reason is that you lied about it being drafted by one of my engineers right in my face. So now tell me why I shouldn't cut off your head right here and now".

The minister who was a middle-aged man kept on trembling in fear. He knows the king will not only kill him but will torture him for days before finally killing him. "Give me one last chance your Majesty, I promise I will never fail you," he said with a shaken voice as he sobbed.

"Get me my dagger" Emerald said and the minister wept.

Stephen looked at all the ministers including himself. Powerful men like this were so afraid of a 27-year-old king when they should be the ones telling him what needs to be done. He tightened his grip on the chair as he tried to control the anger inside him.

Gideon brought his dagger to him and Emerald gave him the sword to hold. The minister of force shut his eyes close as he awaited his death. Rather than killing him, Emerald walked away from him and headed elsewhere. The minister of force opened his eyes in surprise as he looked towards where the king was going.

Everyone turned their attention as the king walked towards the minister of development who was already shaken in fear.

"Stretch out your palms" he commanded and the minister of development stretched out his shaken palms on the table. Emerald raised his hand and stabbed the dagger in his left palm and the minister screamed in pain, others kept silent as they watched what was happening.

"What is your crime?" Emerald asked him.

The minister of development, Alfred Johnson opened his mouth to speak but the pain he was feeling was unbearable.

"What is your crime?" Emerald asked the second time.

"I…I didn't do….my…job…prober…ly" He stammered as he tried to bear the pain he was feeling. When he had the king went to Crystal yesterday, which was one of the yet-to-be-developed towns, he knew he was in big trouble.

Emerald removed the dagger from his palm and he screamed in more pain. "The next time I go to any town and I see it in a terrible nature, I will make sure I remove your fingers and toes one by one till you bleed to death, have I made myself clear?" He said and the minister nodded.

" Your second palm" Emerald said and the minister widened his eyes, he thought the king was done with him already, he was still bleeding from this one.

Minister Alfred Johnson stretched out his right hand that was shaken.

"Your…Majesty….please" The minister said but screamed aloud when Emerald stabbed his other palm and then screamed aloud again when he brought the dagger out.

"Take him out" Emerald ordered and the guards took him out of there immediately as he kept on screaming.

Emerald wiped the dagger with a white cloth brought to him by Gideon and turned his attention to the minister of forces who was shivering. "Let this save as a warning to you, the next time you don't do your job well, I will make sure I feed you to my lions"

"Yes….Yesss…your Majesty, I will never disappoint you anymore," he said with his head down low

Emerald glanced at the prime minister who looked terrified and the prime minister brought his eyes down.

He turned around and walked back to his throne " And you what are you doing here?" He asked and everyone looked at each other wondering who he was referring to.

Emerald stopped close to his throne and turned around to look at his uncle " I said what are you doing here?" He asked a second time.

"I didn't know you were talking to me your Majesty," prince Stephen said.

" Who else isn't supposed to be here other than you," He said as he looked straight at his uncle.

"Oh…your Majesty, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that on time. I was hoping to talk to you after the meeting is over" he said.

Emerald sat on his throne without responding to him "If there is nothing else, then this meeting is over" he said and the ministers all left the throne room one after the other, they were surely going to breathe easy after leaving this place.

"Go on," Emerald said

Stephen stood up immediately and walked closer to him "Your Majesty, I came to apologize to you for what Lina did last night, please find it in your heart to forever and forget, I will make sure this doesn't happen again, please" he said with heads bowed.

"Apology accepted, but she still has to stay in the dungeon for 24 hours and it's not yet 24 hours"

Speaking more about this or pleading more for his daughter will only make things worse. It was better to throw one in prison for 1 month than to allow them to spend 24 hours in that dungeon. He was the one who kept on impelling his daughter to approach the king and see if he would look at her, but now it's clear that won't work, he just has to think of another plan. "Okay your majesty, I will wait for her to come out after 24 hours and caution her for her wrong deeds," he said and walked out of the throne room.

" Gideon" Emerald called out

Gideon stood in front of the king and bowed his head " Yes Your Majesty"

" What is the time?"

" It's 1 pm your Majesty" Gideon said

" How many hours has it been since I asked you to investigate that girl?" He asked as he narrowed his eyes at Gideon who immediately understood what he was asking about.

" Oh, the men I sent are already in the castle, I was waiting for you to finish the meeting before telling you"

" Where are they?"

" In your office" Gideon responded

Emerald stood up immediately and walked out of the throne room, heading to his office. Outside his office stood two of the men Gideon had sent to go investigate Acacia. The two knights bowed their heads down low as the king approached, he didn't even glance at them and just walked into his office and one of them followed behind.

After sitting down on his chair he stared at the man in front of him "Go on" he said.

"With just the mention of her purple eyes, the people we asked immediately knew who we were referring to. According to them she and her mother are the only survivors of the El tribe which are known for their purple eye color.

"What is her full name?" Emerald asked.

"Her full name is Acacia Chepera and her mother's name is Mariana Chepera"

"Acacia Chepera" Emerald mumbled "How come they survived? I remember the late king killing the whole tribe for treason," he asked

" It turns out that her late father is not of that tribe but only her mother is. Her father is of the zee tribe, so when her mother got married to him, she was now a part of his tribe and was thus not part of her tribe's treason" the Knight said.

" Tell me more" Emerald said

" Her and her mother farm for survival"

Emerald remembered seeing her on the farm yesterday which meant she was a farmer "What about her educational background" he asked

"She finished basic school and hasn't furthered yet, but according to the source, she is a very smart young lady who has won several educational competitions organized in town. Someone had told me she loved poetry, everyone we came across had something to say about her which meant she was popularly known in Crystal town.

Emerald motioned for him to drop all his findings on the table and leave. The knight did just that and walked away after bowing his head in respect.

"You can leave too, I want to be alone" Emerald motioned for Gideon to walk out too. Gideon walked out as he shut the door behind him.

Ever since he was the king's right hand man, he hasn't seen the king with a woman before. A young vibrant king like him in normal cases will already have many mistresses warming his bed every night but weirdly, he doesn't have any. He had concluded that the king didn't know anyone yet, but a young man who would be the same age as the king came to visit him last 3 months and he overheard their conversation when the young man had talked about the way the king changed women like clothes in the 3 years they schooled in Westland. According to the friend, King Emerald was the wish of every young lady who he came across, and had also wondered why his friend had no mistresses presently here in Elvanor.

Gideon kept on listening to their conversation as he waited for King Emerald to respond but no response came from him. His friend kept on talking and laughing as if he knew Emerald wouldn't respond to him. When the young man came out of the office, the way he looked at him that day made him shiver. Both friends had so much in common, they were both heartless but he knew that Emerald's dose of heartlessness was double dosage. Who knows what he has done to the women that ever warmed his bed. He felt that the king had an interest in the girl they saw yesterday on the farm and he felt pity for her. Whatever reason the king have for telling them to investigate her was certainly a bad one, he thought.