I am Reborn through Revenge

I am in trouble

My heart leapt into my throat when I saw Night's face. His eyes were wide opened, jaw; dropped, cheek; round. He had caught me in the act. In the act of not just killing an ordinary person but killing a knight— a knight of Zahrin. His gaze reminded me that I had just killed Knight Simon the son of I-don't-really-care which I knew should be a capital offense in our kingdom. When Night began walking closer to where I was, I saw Knight Brant behind him.

Simon was already lying down in a pool of blood like a fish in a hook. Night approached me. He shot me an angry gaze, but I didn’t say a word. My face remained unfazed.

“We were asked to hunt animals not humans, Anon. You have just murdered an innocent Knight in cold blood.”

“What?” I snarled. “what are you saying, Your Highness? He is no innocent man. He tried to kill me first.”

“He tried to kill you?” he asked. He raised a brow at me like I was lying to him.

“Yes. He tried to kill me.”

“So why didn’t he kill you?”

“This is a ridiculous question, Night”

“Answer the f.u.c k.i.n.g question.” He snarled at me, his voice sent shivers down my spine.

“Because he couldn’t kill me so I killed him first.”

Night laughed. “And you expect me to believe that?” he asked, with a sound of doubt in his voice.

“Why wouldn’t you believe me?” I asked. “Why would I want to kill Simon of all the people in Zahrin?”

Ignoring me, Night squatted down and touched Simon’s neck, possibly checking if he was still breathing. Then squinted his eyes up at me. “Because dead man can’t defend himself. You just broke the first law of the penal code of the Knights.” He stood up, brought out his red hankie, and wiped away the blood on his finger. “Thou shall not kill his kind. Ever heard of that?” He asked.

“No.”

Rain began to sprinkle from above. I could feel some droplets on my nose and some in my ears. It dropped in rows on Night's brown hair. Or was it golden hair? Well, I was very bad at clarifying things when something is bothering me.

“You would have understood more if you were qualified to be a Knight. Knight is the image of our kingdom, they are the cradle upon which our strength lies. You don’t go around killing them rather you bless them and offer them what you have in an exchange for the selfless services they render.”

“It seems like you don’t understand me. I didn’t plan to kill him. He came to me first.”

He looked at me for a second and continued. “You have just broken the penal code, Anon and by law, you deserve to be punished to the full extent of the law.”

More knights emerged from the bush and they came close to witness what was happening.

“Night. . .” I tried to chip in but he continued, ignoring me.

“As an eye witness to this senseless murder of the finest Knight of Zahrin, I hereby state that you have contravened against the first penal code of the Knights,” he said. “Do you have any other thing else to say before I proceed?”

“Proceed?” I blurted. “You are not even hearing me out. Simon ambushed me and he planned to kill me when I was here hunting alone.”

“But you choose to hunt alone. You might have had it all planned out.”

Goodness! I wondered where all this was coming from. I remembered Nightwinder smiling mischievously at me when I told him that I would love to go alone. I didn’t understand what that smile meant but I think it now started to make sense inside my head.

“Yes, I decided to hunt alone but that doesn’t mean I wanted to kill him while hunting alone. How would I have known that he was going to be here? Huh? Just tell me.”

“How would he know that you are going to be here too?”

I flickered my brows and looked around me. Every knight had their eyes on me and Brant's bow lips were partly opened. I was starting to develop a sad mood, nausea and the weather wasn’t even in any way helping out. The drizzling had just increased and I was slowly getting chilly. I knew we wouldn’t be staying in the woods much longer. And I didn’t want this to get to the palace.

“Remember that I didn’t choose to be here in the first place. I didn’t even remember that today was going to be the hunt day. So there is no way I would have planned this all by myself. I shouldn’t have been here in the first place.”

“But here you are,” he said, he folded his arms on his chest. “Remember, you had the free will to go back but you choose not to for reasons best known to you. You had this planned all along.”

My neck dropped instinctively. I realized that there was nothing I would say that would convince him. In fact, he had rebutted all my excuses. I knew I was already in trouble. But what kind of trouble? How far was the trouble? I didn’t just want to be in Nightwinder's mercy.

“By the authority conferred on me as the TRUE crown Prince of Zahrin,” he said, calmly. “I declare you, Anon Fred Daz, the killer of Knight Simon, the son of Duke Don Thomas the second. I hereby sentence you to death by beheading. You will die by sunrise tomorrow. May the gods be with you.”

Just like that? He said it like he had sentenced a piece of deadwood to death.

The sound of his voice showed no compassion. The last thing I ever wanted was to be in Nightwinder's trap but here I was, helpless. He had me cornered like a rat and I didn’t think there was a way I could escape it or there was anything I could do to save my dying self. I had already run out of options. I had already lost concentration. I knew the Queen would be more than happy to learn that I had murdered a Knight which begs the question: who would offer me the clemency? Who would be my eyewitness? Who could save me from this obnoxious situation? Who would I run to for help? Who would I complain to? I was in a dark, rough, long tunnel without any hope of seeing the light. How could I have been so foolish and careless at the same time to fall into this trap?

I stood motionless, my mouth slowly opening. “Anon,” he called me. He leaned closer to me, making sure no one else was hearing him. He put his arm on my shoulder. “You have only one option. You can choose to run now. At least, if I were you, that’s what I would do. I could delay my men. That’s your final option and that’s all I could do for you for old time sake,” he whispered.

I saw him as he furrowed his face in a quick smile that didn’t last there. I should run? Wouldn’t that be the most stupid thing to do? I wasn’t even familiar with this terrain so where could I possibly run to? This is me leaving my fate for Prince NIGHTWINDER to choose for me. If I had dared to run, he would shoot me in the back and there would be no way anyone would believe my part of the story, ever. According to him, “dead man don’t talk after all”. I would be dead and that would be all. At least seeing tomorrow’s sunlight would be enough to figure out something to do but if I had to choose running as the best option, then that would be very foolish of me.

“Night” I called him.

“Yes.” He was eager to hear me out.

“Go to hell.” I saw him frowned, his eyes blazing with anger. His lips quirked.

“Cease him,” he ordered.

The Knights began to circle me, coming towards me slowly like I was going to fight them. I wasn’t even planning to. To avoid accidental attack from any of them, I dropped my sword on the ground and raised my hands in the air. About five of them grabbed me and tied my hands to my back. I became a prisoner; an innocent prisoner. I experienced something phenomenal that moment that I liked. While they were doing all this, I didn’t flinch nor begged for mercy. In fact, I didn’t feel sorry or apologetic. When I was being dragged away, I saw as Knight Brant was looking at me, motionless. He didn’t join them while they were dragging me, I didn’t know why. Walking with your hands tied on your back was so much difficult than you could imagine. It makes you place your footsteps carefully on the ground while walking and if you do make any careless mistake, you would double down on the ground and possibly landing with your front teeth. While I was still being dragged out, I saw Young where he stood beside a tree watching me. His amber eyes were on my face. His face was still but his chin was furrowed—either smiling or laughing, I couldn’t tell.

Could he had possibly planned this with his brother? Even if he did, it must have been his brother’s idea.

I had been lied to, I had been beaten, I had been made to pass through pains before and I came out unscathed. But I found out that in this situation, there was nothing I could do. My hands were tied.