The Paladin (The King Eternal Monarch AU)

The Room with the Broken Window

Adam studied the map of the Palace the whole night. It was important to strike hard and fast. Manderly and his underlings had detailed the work shifts of Palace staff and guards.

The only unknown was a large problem - the shifts of the Paladins and the royal guards to the Queen. Everytime they had it down pat, the Paladins would be seen lurking outside their hours and outside their supposed areas.

The days of each Paladin doing their own thing and fighting for royal favour were over. These days, they were a tight, cohesive unit. Thus, highly effective and for Adam, highly frustrating.

With the bookstore owner gone, there was no way to communicate with the spies in the Palace. The area was still cordoned off and he stayed away for fear of being targeted.

He tried to call Manderly again for more details but the vice-director of the CIA was not taking his calls. Adam wanted to break the handphone in two until he realised that since Manderly was still at the Palace clinic, it was not wise to draw attention to himself by picking up his calls.

Absentmindedly, he unloaded and reloaded the handgun that he was going to use. The click of the barrel was satisfying. The only way to power was by spilling blood.

He still had men, he calculated. The men working at the docks. The same men who were involved in the illegal trade of rare earth elements to China and Japan.

Maybe, just maybe, the need for spies at the Palace was over. He had to come out in the open and draw out forces loyal to him. Hadn't Manderly assured him that the Corean people hungered for the true Dragon?

I am the true Dragon, he thought angrily. The female who pretended to be a warrior was no true Dragon. Adam was sure that his cousin's so-called time with the Royal Airforce was just optics. Propaganda to make her look good.

It suddenly occurred to him. It mattered not whether he killed the Queen or North or any of the other Paladins. They were all replaceable, once he was in power. He felt a peculiar sense of calm descend. He had to get some sleep. Tomorrow would be a fruitful day.

330 a.m, the Palace Clinic.

South nodded at the CCTV on the upper corner of the bathroom door. The mission to chloroform all his roommates had been an easy task. Naturally, he had flashed a third finger at the CCTV when East's instructions came on his handphone.

After that show of mock anger, it was easy to pry open the mirror and locate the bottles of chloroform that he needed. There were four bottles. One for each man. From there, all he had to do was administer it.

Right as he finished the last man, the door to the Palace clinic swung open. In walked Dr Alice. South jumped out of his skin.

"What did you do?" Alice hissed at him.

"Uhm, follow instructions," South dropped the chloroform-soaked cloth on the floor.

"In here, I give the instructions," she said. "I smell chloroform."

South blinked owlishly.

"Oh for God's sake. You've been exposed to it for too long," Alice took the cloth from him.

South looked as she opened windows to let the cool night air in. She came back to look him in the face clinically.

"South. South, are you alright?"

He blinked at her stupidly.

"You're not supposed to let any of it near your nostrils," she guided him back to his bed. "Lie down."