His Majesty And I ✔️

Bloody King

Chapter 77

General Feng
Huticah

General Feng gnashed his teeth and wearily observed Hu-go make a fool of himself in front of the king’s court advisors.

“I am the crown prince, the chosen royal son meant to lead you. Now that our father died, it is only proper that I make the true judgement on my father’s death.” Some of the men nodded their agreement to Hu-go’s words. “And I have no doubt in my mind that the case of my father’s death is suspicious to the hilt. How is it possible that my father died at the arrival of his prodigal son who was raised by our enemy? Fellow brothers, in our midst we have the murderer and traitors who committed treason, please allow me to bestow a suitable punishment!”

At that moment General Feng stood. He bowed with his right fist by his waist then began to speak. "What my younger brother has said is sound. However, we must not ignore the tradition of Huticah. When the king passes away, it is tradition that no decisions can be made except when the next king is conferred. Shouldn't we first confer the king, then let him make the judgement? Because for all we know, my younger brother might know that I am the chosen king, therefore he is coming up with false allegations so I can be killed and stopped from taking what is rightfully mine.”

“How dare you! Those are false allegations!” Hu-go protested.

General Feng smirked as he looked at the Huticah Court Chief, who massaged his grey beard and wearily raised his hands to silence the people sitting around the circumference of the tent.

“I have heard you all,” he nodded. “As the chief, I have to be just and consider the tradition left to us by our founding fathers.” He hit the ground with his walking stick, announcing that he had come to a decision. “Very well, bring in the Bestowing chest and let us see who is the rightful king!”

Everyone passed out remarks of being of the same mindset according to the chief.

A guard walked in with the Bestowing chest, a golden box, rigidly locked with a metal and sealed with wax. He handed it over to the chief who raised it to everyone to indicate that it was indeed locked and the seal had not been tampered with.

Placing it on his thighs, he pulled out the necklaced key on his neck, broke the seal and unlocked the chest. When he looked inside, his eyes widened in shock, but he hid his emotions just as fast as they appeared. With solemn eyes, he cleared his throat and took out the tally of the next king, raising it to the rest of the men. “Bow down to your next king!”

Everyone went on their knees, leaving General Feng as the only man standing. Their mission was a success, a monumental achievement, though there were still strings needing to be tied.

It was a few days later that General Feng stood behind the wooden door of the straw hut with stoney walls.  It was just across the river, hidden by the viney trees that were knitted together. They had found it by tracking Hu-go, who had remained meek for the past few days and stayed away from acting suspiciously until he was convinced no one was watching him. That was when he rose before the sun could yawn and ran to the place General Feng had patiently waited for him to lead him to.

“Father, soon they will officially confer General Feng as their new king. When will you come back and announce that you are not dead? He is a traitor and he must die.”

“Son, we both know that I cannot make the reveal until we are sure to what extent he has invaded Huticah, otherwise we might walk into a trap and they will kill me for sure this time.”

“According to my findings, there are not many of them. Do you think they were sent by the emperor?”

“Obviously! Otherwise, why would my son betray me? I bet the emperor put him up to it by threatening him.”