Once Upon The Life of The Wise King

The Thieves Within The Palace

ONCE UPON THE LIFE OF THE WISE KING

Volume 1

The Birth of The Wise King

Chapter 18 - The Thieves Within The Palace

Prince Colin finished his classes in the morning and training in the afternoon. He would have gone hunting as he usually did, but thought it had been a while since he played with his younger brother. I'm going to skip hunting to play with the baby, he told himself as he went into the bathroom to clean. Once done, he took some casual and comfortable clothes to wear. Then, he comb his hair, and made his way out of his room into the nursery.

The door to the nursery room was ajar. Prince Colin saw his brother, Prince Alphonse, playing with the maid on the floor. He got closer and knock on the door.

The people inside turned to the door when they heard the knock. The maid quickly stood up and opened the door for the First Prince. "You Highness, you are here," she spoke as she bowed her head.

"Yes. I am here to play with my brother." Prince Colin smiled, his eyes were focused on his brother. He sat on the floor opposite his younger brother, and ruffled his hair.

"Bro!" Prince Alphonse giggled.

"What are you doing?"

"Play blocks!"

"Oh, so you are playing blocks. Are you building a palace?"

"Yes!"

"Let me help you." The First Prince looked over his shoulder, and told the maid to leave his brother with him.

"As you wish, Your Highness."

The maid turned to leave, letting the brothers play by themselves. Since she was tasked to take care of the Second Prince, she had to go and inform the Queen that the Second Prince was with the First Prince.

The Queen, who was still in bed, said, "I see. Thank you. You may retreat." When the maid left, Queen Cielisse got off her bed. She sauntered toward her vanity mirror and sat. Picking up a comb, she began combing her hair while humming a happy song. These past few days were filled with happiness for her. She still can hardly believe that she ginally conceived an heir for the Kingdom. It made her heart feel full of happiness and love. Looking down, she started stroking her stomach.

"Hm?" The Queen furrowed her eyebrows upon noticing something strange on her pendant, the black firestone. She stopped combing her hair and stroking her stomach, placed her comb down, and picked up her pendant. She took a closer look on it and noticed the cracks. "Why are there cracks?" She pondered. "When did this happen?"

Meanwhile, the council members who were oppose to the King's verdict about taxes, formed a secret meeting in one of the inns in their town that night.

A fist slammed on the table. The owner of the fist was a bald, short, and fat old man with white beard. "I can't accept this! We have to pay more taxes!"

"Me, too! I believe it is unfair that we are paying more than those farmers!" another man, who was taller and thinner, exclaimed.

"I can not enjoy my life this way..." A man with shoulder length hair, slumped on the table. "I want to live in more luxuries!"

"We should do something about this," the bald man said. "Hey, Robert. How much did you get from the funds last year? You were in charge of distributing funds for rebuilding the damages from the storm."

"Not much, Mr. Lucas. I can not take any more, otherwise the King will notice that we have been stealing funds," the taller man replied.

"Hey," the man with shoulder length hair straightened up. "Since we are already stealing funds, why are we still against paying more tax?"

"Don't be an i***t, Peterson. It will be harder to steal. The King had sent us a written process of collecting taxes. All farmers will be listed. Their monthly and annual salaries will also be recorded, as well as the amount of tax they paid. Someone in charge will match the existing total amount of funds collecting from the farmers to what was recorded. And the same goes for us noblemen!" Mr. Lucas shouted.

"Then, how about one of us be in charge of collecting and recording taxes from the noblemen?" Robert proposed his idea.

"Hm. That would be good, but I heard there will be votes." Mr. Lucas said.

The three of them thought of more plans to steal from their Kingdom's funds.

At the residence of Priestess Bhavisha, the Priestess had another vision. She sat in the table, gazing at the dried flowers. "The majika continues to diminish," she spoke to herself. "This is understandable since the last piece of the black firestone was used." She touched the dried flowers. "With diminishing majika, people will have more inappropriate thoughts that can be detrimental to the nation." She sighed. "The King must do his best to hold on until the heir is of right age to do the majika release."

Back in the palace, the Queen, who was still prohibited from getting out of her room, ate dinner in her bed with her husband, King Wenhart.

"I had someone follow three of the council members that are suspicious," the King suddenly spoke.

"Why? What happened?" the Queen asked.

"During the meeting, these three seemed so adamant about increasing the tax, but when I told them my decision, their faces showed hidden contempt."

"Who are these council members?"

"Robert Delsuah, Walter Lucas, and Peterson vi Bonn."

"Are you sure about this? I mean, we have known them for so long, you know. They are honest people, Wenhart. Why do you suspect them of doing something against the law?" Queen Cielisse frowned.

"I know, I know." King Wenhart sighed. "That is why I am having a hard time believing that they can do something bad, so I had someone follow them."

"So... How did it turn out?" the Queen inquired.

"After I sent letters, containing the new law about tax, to each of the council members, I received news that these three individually created an excuse to go out into the town. One of them did not even make an excuse but simply hid from the palace guards and sneaked out. Where they went and what they did not do, I have no news yet. We will have to wait until tomorrow morning."

"I see." The Queen looked downcast. "I hope we will resolve whatever this issue with them is as soon as possible," she said.