Heart desired

//Chapter 58//

I felt the ground move underneath my feet. Resh put a hand on my shoulder, helping me steady myself. I tried to catch my breath. If we went there before... If I had thought about that possibility... If I had listened to Darav...

"Tell us what exactly had happened." Resh ordered.

"When I went there, only hundred or so mind destroyed people remained." he said. All the others were shot directly on the chest and were dead. Comparing to the others, that was a mercy, I think. I investigated the area and found out two survived soldiers. According to them, when the attack came, they had fled as fast as possible. The soldiers and people had fallen to the ground, their minds going berserk. Then they were shot to death."

"What about the stones?" I asked. "We sent a sack full of insfi stones to them. It should have arrived at least ten hours before."

"I'm sorry, your highness." He said. "There was no sign of stones anywhere."

I gritted my teeth. The possibility of Relach being the spy or working under the spy was getting bigger and bigger. No matter whay I thought, I could not think of anything else.

"Let's get going," I said to Resh. "I need to find out what happened to those stones."

"Uh, your highness," The massenger said, looking nervous. "You can't go. The clean up soldiers just arrived."

I remembered what Darav said about clean up soldiers. They were there to kill the people who were driven insane.

I did not know what came over me as I heard that. I tuned and left, aiming for my room. I ignored all the soldiers who made way for me through the crowd.

Inside the room, the bag I packed was on my bed. I kicked it out after climbing on to the bed. I couldn't help it. Everytime I thought of saving someone, everytime I tried to prevent the destruction I knew that would occur, people still died. Those who went insane, they had a family just before yesterday. They had a life. Had I stayed in the prison, they would still have them.

Somebody knocked on my door. I didn't say anything, hoping they would go away. Then, a second knock came. Then, a third one. As I was about to snap, Resh's voice came through. "I'm coming in."

"Don't." I said, wanting to be alone. "I am naked."

He felt him pause turning the doorknob. Then a wall of fire came through the gap between the door and the floor and covered me from head to toe before he walked in.

Heat and sweat covered me in an instant, even cutting off my oxygen. I yelled. "Oh, withdraw this. I'm not naked."

He drew it back in an instant and I glared at him. "Even though you being naked was highly illogical, I could not risk cursing my eyes." He said, shrugging.

I glared at him. "Why are you even here?" I asked. "Go away, I want to be alone."

"Look here." He said, sitting on the edge of my bed. There were no chairs in the room. "It's not your fault. I know you must be beating up yourself right now. You did everything-"

"No, It is my fault." I interrupted him. "Don't you see? If I hadn't interverned, if I had stayed in prison-"

"We would never have our first victory." He said, his voice sharp. "We would never have saved Yorosso. We would never even know we had a chance to protect our people from going insane."

"It's true. But still-"

"You made that happen, Nasha." Resh said. "Leven was an unfortunate mistake. I'm sure all the kingdom is protected now. Leven fell, but the other cities are alright."

A cold realisation came to my mind. "It was not a mistake." I said. "We had it covered up. This is all that spy's fault."

"Do you suspect Relach?" Resh asked.

"I suspect everyone." I said.

"That's exactly what they want. To turn us against each other. That is the other advantage of having a spy planted in a city." Resh said.

I knew he was telling the truth. I had a hard time accepting it.

Resh stood up. "I'll get going now. Rest for a while and get your emotions under control. We will investigate what happened to Relach."

I laid back. "Close the door when you go out."

-

I furiously glared at the damned creature infront of me. Not only did he had failed to full fill my orders, he dared to bring back a message from that b***h.

I tried to even my breaths as he declared it infront of the citizens. "Princess Nasha is alive and she said she was going to take the throne."

I glared at him. "Lies." Nave said, standing on the podium. "That must be an imposter from Elkelyn. We all saw the princess murder the king and we personally executed her."

That damned soldier didn't say anything. Just as I was about to breath in relief, an Elf from archer unit stepped up. "She didn't felt like an imposter. Her powers of illusion was very real. I had experienced that before. This was the same."

The crowd started to whisper again. I gritted my teeth. This time, I stood up amd calmly looked at the soldiers. "What are you trying to say, soldier?" I asked.

He looked at me, a little confused. "Your Majesty? I just told-"

"Are you trying to tell me that I snatched the throne by pretending to kill the rightful heir?" I interrupted him. "Or are you trying to make people against me so you can somehow profit from it? Wait. Are you working for the Elkelyn?"

He looked like he could not understand what was happening. I knew I had him as soon as I saw his fingers twitching a little. Nave took the opportunity to give the final blow.

"For plotting against the king and betraying the kingdom, you will be sentenced to death." He announced. "And you-" He pointed to the one who spoke about the illusion. "will ne sentenced to six years in prison."

All the soldiers looked shocked, but they masked it in a moment. "Guards! Seize them!" Nave ordered. I watched the crowd steer away from them as the guards approach them. I knew that soldiers wanted to say more, but they kept that in, afraid of the punishment. "And if you ever saw that imposter again," Nave said. "Bring her head to us."

I sat back on my chair as Nave finished congratulating the survivors and the soldiers who massacred Leven. They just bowed their heads and accepted it, not uttering a word about Nasha or so called first born prince.

Their expressions were fierce though. I couldn't help but feel smug. Another captain would be appointed to them. No matter how hard they tried to raise their voices against me, I would crush them down.

So I kept smiling.

-

I stood before minister Nave's office, my friends all behind me.

I took a deep breath and knocked on the door. A moment later, an assistant elf came and opened the door, looking pissed. "What the hell do you want?" He asked.

I was taken aback, but I kept my voice steady. "We came to plead to the minister."

He went inside. For a moment, I was afraid of the door slamming on to my face. Gladly, he kept it open.

Soon, the minister walked out. His thin white goatee was a little messed up and there was a mark on his cheek like he was sleeping on the desk. His thin frame was covered with purple robes as usual, hands busy with tapping on to the top of his cane. He had aged more than he looked from afar.

"What do you want?" he asked, his voice bored but there was an edge to it.

I bowed to him. I wanted to kneel, but we didn't kneel to anyone exept royalty. "Please, my lord. Russ is innocent. He had been our leader for ten years and the late king himself appointed him. He just delivered the message. He did not do anything wrong."

"Interesting." Nave said. "Go on."

"We never meant to even meet the imposter." I said, gaining a little confidence now. Can you at least lessen his punishment? Even lifetime imprisonment would be better than execution."

Nave laughed, hard. I felt like my chest squeezing. I did not say anything that much funny at all. I waited for him to stop laughing.

When he stopped, there were tears in his eyes. "Oh, that was so funny. Thank you for the entertainment." He said and I gritted my teeth. "Unless you also wants to die with him, get the hell out of here. I would look away only this time. Don't come here again."

This time, the door closed on my face.

I jolted awake, still hearing the bang of the door.

No, that wasn't a dream. Someone was really knocking on my door. "Wake up. We are going tp Leven."

It was Resh.

Before I could feel anything, I grabbed my bag and went out.