Gloria Regali

Chapter Twelve

Carlos could have sworn that he remembers that fateful day quite vividly. He could vividly remember how that day went. He could still hear the shots.

Even her screams. 

On how every moonless night he would look up to the clear sky with remorse filling him. He closed his eyes. Everything rewinds,

He remembers it vividly, too vividly he can still hear the pandemonium that was about to broke out that night.

"Kuya, gising!" he awoke to Alejandro shaking him rapidly. An eighteen-year-old Carlos dragged himself out of bed. Alejandro was perched by the window, the two brothers saw guards heading towards the Casa Baliuag I.

The two princes were staying in Casa Binan. The De Balmen's were confined to Casa Baliuag as per their father's orders. There was something that the older prince felt that he could not quite shake.

The De Balmens' was never an easy topic to talk about. Crisanto De Balmen was the emperor's advisor. He came from a prominent and noble family but still succumbed to the ropes of political power. He was convicted of high treason back in 2002. The whole family was executed, no one was left alive,

Or so what the history has foretold.

"Dito ka lang, Alejandro. Titingnan ko kung anong nangyayari sa labas. Naandiyan ang Gobernador Heneral." Carlos said as he fixed his disheveled self but grabbed a pistol just in case.

It never hurts to be prepared.

"Heneral Andrada," Carlos greeted as he went down the Casa Binan. Alfredo Andrada was there in the middle of the night, though Carlos did not know what was about to happen.

"¿Qué está pasando?(What's going on?)" he asks.

"Malalim na ang gabi, mahal na prinsipe. Mas makakabuti kung bumalik na muna kayo sa loob. Hindi ito ang bagay na dapat mong masaksihan." the gobernador heneral said.

"Ako ang prinsipe ng bansang ito, may karapatan akong malaman ang nangyayari." Carlos said with eloquence but the annoyance was clearly evident in his tone. His eyes drifted towards Casa Baliuag I.

It was the same reason why he was wary of Anastasiya in the first place. Carlos knew the Andrada's were involved with the demise of the De Balmens.

Guards surrounded the area, some went inside the residence. It seemed unusual for something at this time of the night. Alfredo Andrada did not meet his eye, the older prince knew there was something wrong.

"Ipinag-utos na hatulan ng parusang kamatayan si Crisanto De Balmen pati ang buong pamilya niya." the gobernador heneral said monotonously.

"Ikaw Heneral Andrada, kanino ka pumapanig?" Carlos asks slyly.

"Bilang tagapagpatupad ng batas, hindi namin obligasyon na mangialam kung sino ang tama o hindi. Mananatiling may piring ang mga mata namin upang ipatupad ang hustisya." Alfredo said. 

Alfredo Andrada resigned the following day after. He resigned because of shame, was it that he let innocent children die or letting one of them live?

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With what happened yesterday, Anastasiya was confined into the sickbed by the nurses. She thought that it was absurd to confine her when she was actually feeling better. It was just a bad dream that actually triggered a supposed episode.

They thought she was actually going insane.

"Dont tell me naniniwala ka sa kanila, Alejandro?" she said icily as he was reading paperwork on the desk in the room they shared.