Chapter 12 Denial.
They gave him the same answers, \'No, your majesty\' and \'We can\'t do something like that?\'. The king sighed, and at that moment, Ethan was already boiling with anger.
He hated the fact that all of them were denying it, he had a feeling that it was one of them or even combined stuff. The king glanced at the men on the floor and voiced out,
"I want you both to tell me the truth, nothing but the truth. Who sent you guys?".
They just glanced at the king, not even a single word oozed out of their mouths. The king uttered once again,
"Who sent you guys?".
They said nothing, they were just glancing at the king. He voiced out once again, this time, in an audible tone of voice,
"Aren\'t you both gonna speak? WHO SENT YOU GUYS?".
"It\'s better you kill us \'cause even if you ask this question from now till tomorrow, we won\'t tell you guys anything". One of the young men voiced out.
The other one said, "We\'ve already been deeply injured, you should kill us here now. As for wanting to know who sent us, just as my comrade had said, we won\'t tell you guys anything...they would just be wasted efforts".
Asher just sat down there with an overjoyed heart, they weren\'t gonna pin the blame on him...they were gonna listen to the instructions he gave to them. But he still considered them as dumb \'cause they allowed themselves to be caught by his brother.
He said something like them not pinning the blame on him if they get caught not knowing that they were gonna get caught. At that moment, he began imagining how strong, Ethan, was.
One of the assassins glanced at, Asher, and their eyes met at that moment. He gave Asher the look of, \'We didn\'t expose you, make sure to keep to your promise, look after our families\'. Asher just nodded his head and glanced away so the chiefs and nobles around wouldn\'t notice and suspect anything.
Ethan that was boiling with anger suddenly stood up, glanced at all the chiefs and nobles, and began speaking,
"Why don\'t you guys say the truth? I have a strong feeling that the person that sent these assassins to capture my son is among you guys. Why don\'t you just reveal yourself to the king? I\'m sure most of you are jealous that I have a son now, that\'s why you wanted to capture him".
Meanwhile, Ethan had no single idea that Asher was the person behind everything, his older brother was behind everything. He knew he and his brother wasn\'t that close, but he wasn\'t suspecting him at all at this moment. He didn\'t know how much his brother hated him.
Ethan\'s utterance triggered one of the average-ranked chiefs to speak,
"What are you saying, Ethan? Don\'t you dare accuse us. I didn\'t even know that your pregnant wife gave birth to a son, the news hadn\'t gotten to me, I\'m just knowing now".
"Same for me too". Another chief uttered, a low-ranked one.
"Ethan, what I can tell you is that, I wasn\'t the one that sent assassins to capture your son. I heard of the news that your wife had given birth to a son, but trust me on this, I wasn\'t the one that sent assassins to capture him". A high-ranked noble voiced out.
They kept making different comments, each of them saying they weren\'t behind what happened to Ethan\'s son. Even Asher said something, this was his statement, \'Brother, maybe none of the chiefs and nobles here were behind what happened to your son\'.
But even with all these, Ethan wasn\'t satisfied, he was still suspecting them. He glanced at the king, and the king uttered,
"Ethan, maybe none of them here were truly behind what happened to your son. Maybe it\'s one of the natives of this kingdom".
Ethan shook his head and managed to sit down. Then the king glanced at the two injured men on the ground and uttered,
"I\'m gonna ask again, who sent you guys?".
They didn\'t say anything, they were just glancing at the king. Then the king voiced out once again,
"OK then, since you both don\'t want to speak, then I think your time ends here, you\'ve even asked for it before. You both would be killed".
The king made that utterance, and there wasn\'t even a single bit of fear on their faces, their faces were just emotionless.
"Ethan had already done the job of killing two of your comrades already, so it\'s time for you both to join them".
Making that utterance, the king glanced at the two knights beside him and voiced out,
"Take them outside and cut off their heads".
Without wasting time, the knights began heading toward the young men. They reached where they were and began dragging them outside like they were dragging large meats.
As the two assassins were being dragged outside for their heads to be cut off, they glanced at, Asher, and gave him the looks of, \'Keep to your promise\'. Asher just nodded his head.
..But was he gonna keep to his promise?
After that had been done, the king glanced at, Ethan, and voiced out,
"Though you are a low-ranked chief, you are a warrior that has helped and is still helping this kingdom in many ways. Sorry for what happened to your son, I\'ll help in whatever way so it wouldn\'t repeat itself".
Ethan only nodded his head. And Asher was sitting there glancing at, Ethan, his hatred for him was increasing.
\'How I wish I succeeded in capturing your son, but you are not an easy one\'. Asher thought to himself.
******
After the two assassins were beheaded, all the chiefs and nobles evacuated the king\'s palace, while Ethan remained there. He and the king discussed for some minutes before Ethan departed from the palace. Though the assassins had been beheaded...he was still unsatisfied.
It was nighttime currently, that same day after all the chiefs and nobles gathered at the king\'s large palace. Ethan and Emma were sitting in the living room and discussing. They were discussing, Aiden, and the meeting that took place at the king\'s palace today.
They migrated Aiden\'s crib to their room, and that\'s where it would be until Aiden was fully grown to stop making use of the crib anymore. No more migrating it to the living room, there was a reason for that.
Little Aiden was lying in his crib with thoughts running through his mind, while Hazel was in her room reading a book. She was reading to forget what happened to her little brother...and normally, she loves reading.
Ethan and Emma just sat down on chairs in the living room and were discussing.
"So, how did the meeting go?". Emma inquired of, Ethan.
"None of the chiefs and nobles admitted to trying to capture my son". Ethan retorted with a bit of stern look on his face, that fact was still making him a little angry.
"Why do you feel it was one of them that tried capturing, Aiden?". Emma inquired once again.
"That\'s \'cause they are jealous I have a son now, I could enjoy some privileges I didn\'t get to enjoy when I didn\'t have a son, they don\'t want that. My rank as a chief could increase, they don\'t want that. Especially the low-ranked chiefs and nobles that don\'t have a son, I\'m sure they are really jealous,
I\'m suspecting them too, it could be one of them. They are jealous I wouldn\'t be in their league anymore". Ethan retorted.
"What if you\'re wrong? What if it wasn\'t one of the chiefs or nobles that tried capturing our son? What if it was one of the natives of this kingdom?".
"Maybe, it could be one of the natives of this kingdom. But I can\'t stop suspecting the chiefs and nobles".
"Does the king plan on rendering any assistance?". Emma inquired once again.
"Yes, he said he\'s gonna be sending two knights to our house everyday to keep an eye on our son and you. I wouldn\'t be around everyday to protect our son, I\'m also a warrior that has lots of things to handle". Ethan retorted.
Emma only nodded her head, then Ethan voiced out once again,
"We\'ll never bring Aiden\'s crib to the living room anymore, it would always be in our room. If his crib was in our room yesterday, the assassins wouldn\'t have found it easy to take him".
Emma nodded her head, then uttered, "Yes, my beloved. What would I have done if they had succeeded in capturing, Aiden? My son? It took me fourteen years to have a son, and they\'ll just take him like that? I would have broken down completely".
..She meant what she was saying.
Meanwhile, Aiden was lying in his crib thinking about what happened to him. He just got reborn into this world, and he almost got captured and killed? At that moment, he discerned something,
\'Seems like my father has an enemy, someone that hates him, someone that envies him, that\'s why my life was put in danger like that\'.