War Of Freedom- Fallen (book One)

Ch 2: The Reflex Of Heart

"Your Majesty, I am the culprit here. I forced them to steal," Jadenyx confessed.

Everyone was surprised. He was too! What did he utter?!

"Is it? After seeing this unfortunate perfidy, does it matter who did it? All four of you are going to be punished anyway," The azuraei concluded with a wave of his hand.

"Please, Your Excellency. Just give me one chance to explain." Jadenyx was still stupefied by the gush of words coming out of his mouth, as if they had committed suicide by jumping off. Soon he would be too if he didn't succeed in whatever his subconscious mind was cooking.

"I will give you one chance. ONLY ONE!" The azuraei's words were loud and clear. He pointed his index finger at Jadenyx's face. A one-of a kind glittering golden ring, embedded with sapphires and diamonds, reminded Jadenyx of who had the power. He knew with one snap of those fingers, he could be wiped off the empire.

"Thank you, Your Imperial Highness. Thank you so much!" He bowed.

Izanat, Sashalia and Lucantis exchanged looks of perplexity. This wasn't part of their plan. Neither was the azuraei's presence.

The actual problem was that he had no reason to defend himself. He rummaged through his mind to find something but gave up when nothing struck. And when he thought he was doomed, he blurted, "Your Excellency, it's all because of my father!" He immediately regretted every word he uttered. He didn't expect these words to jump off at all.

"What?" Theidroc gaped at him. Then he gave him a look that read he would kill him if he uttered even a single word of nonsense. Jadenyx gulped.

"Where to start?...." He tapped his slender fingertips on his chin. "Your Majesty must have known how my respectable father's leisure activities are..."

The king nodded.

It was a tricky start. "Those weird activities were under his hook till a few months ago. Yes, he lost few bets here and there, but that was the limit."

"A casual drink every now and then is alright. Recently, he started coming home drunk. And made our mornings insufferable with his hangover. He ran through out the mansion clutching his head. He yelled at the servants for allowing the sunlight. And he also stumbled into poker. Did he win? Not at all! He used the free coin available in the mansion. Then took from the treasury lockers. Slowly, slowly, he depleted all the treasures..." He knitted his eyebrows, rubbed his temples to look as pathetic as possible, and even tried to produce a fake tear.

The azuraei keenly observed his face, making him more uncomfortable than he already was. "I see. You cooked this plan to replenish the reserves?" His tone reverberated throughout the room like thunder in the sky.

"No, Your Majesty. There is more to the story," Jadenyx blurted out of fear. Instead of running away, fear made him do things.

"Go on."

"One night, I heard a commonition outside the mansion. Mother wasn't there. So, me and my sister, we ran to see what happened. There were two carts of strangers in the front yard and in the middle of the crowd father stood. He was gossiping with them. He ignored us and took them to tour the house. I thought he wasn't in danger and went to bury myself in my work."

"Suddenly, he started yelling at everyone. He assigned work, commanding them to do this, to do that. The crowd obeyed him. Two people came to stand behind me, two behind my sister and waited for our orders. A few ran into the kitchen, washed all the utensils, and did the laundry too. A few swept the floor and few others dusted all the furniture. It was every noble's dream, Your Excellency. We were enjoying everything reaching our feet without moving an inch."