Episode 120 - The King’s Roar.

Last Chapter: King of Zene is furious at Eugene and everyone arrived just in time. Musician Hal is forgiven. Louis concerned for Aedelak's pale face. Friendly training is discontinued and they can go back to Xenperia. Arie broke news to the King that Arie had passed.

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‘Non...sense?’ Everyone froze on their tracks.

The King's roar was too heavy for Aernest, who didn't have his noise-canceling headphones on. Ramon saw Aernest flinching from the corner of his eyes and without hesitation brought Aernest’s headphones to his brother’s ears.

At the same time, Eugene and the rest were deeply confused about the King’s refusal over Sir Ario’s death.

When the Zene knight trainees heard and saw the King’s reaction, they all stepped forward. They had a glimmer of hope that Sir Ario was alive when they heard the King refusing Arie’s words. With that came a feeling of relief as they believed that the people from Xenperia and the Royal messenger who came yesterday were mistaken about the situation that happened.

Commander Kal’s reaction was the second biggest in the room with the King being first place. He moved directly in front of the King and blocked him from the people down the set of stairs. Everyone could tell that Commander Kal was flabbergasted and irritated but no one could reason why that was.

Commander Kal’s blocking had little to no effect as everyone had already seen the King’s body and voice shaking with anger. Everyone in the room had their mouths shut out of fear that the King will erupt again.

Everyone, excluding the Crown Prince who tugged on Eugene’s coat as he was eager to know how everyone came to the conclusion that Sir Ario had passed away. There was no one in the palace who didn’t know how important Sir Ario was to the King. Even though the King had always oppressed Sir Ario in public, everyone knew that only good gifts were given to Sir Ario. If the King had truly disliked Sir Ario he could have kicked Sir Ario out of the palace, but he didn’t because Sir Ario was someone very special to the King.

The Crown Prince tugged on Eugene’s jacket again before leaning in and whispering to her, “Hey! Where did this nonsense about Sir Ario come about? Or are you purposely provoking His Majesty, hm?” His voice had hint’s of anxiousness when he asked.

Eugene exhaled and turned to stare at the Crown Prince, “What do you mean purposely provoke?” Her face showed ‘Do-you-think-we-have-that-much-time-on-our-hands?’ when she asked him this.

The Crown Prince’s face flushed from her face. But he didn’t give up and asked again, “You, You’re really not provoking His Majesty?”

When Eugene nodded her head, the Crown Prince’s eyes widened.

With a shaking voice, he asked, “So, so you mean Sir Ario has…”

Eugene nodded again and turned to the King and Commander Kal. The King’s intense reaction was real. From his reaction, Eugene could come up with two possible answers. One was that Sir Ario was alive and dandy. And two was that the King didn’t know of Sir Ario’s passing.

Normally she would lean towards the former but because Commander Kal’s reaction was weird, she was leaning towards the latter answer. The weird reaction first began when Arie started becoming emotional. It was as if Commander Kal had wanted to block what Arie was going to say. As if he didn’t want the King to know.

All of a sudden, there was a big commotion from above. The King had pushed Commander Kal out of the way and was glaring fiercely at Arie! The King had wanted to punish Arie for coming up with such nonsense and deliberating making him angry but paused when he saw the crushed look on Arie’s reddened eyes.

There was no need to say no more.

Tightly clutching the armrest on his throne, the King began to ask, “Where. From where did you hear this from?” Arie’s grief was genuine, however, he was unwilling to believe in his words. First of all, it was an outrageous claim. If Ario had passed away, he would have been the first to know if not second.

Arie didn’t dare look at the King and remained in deep thoughts. Even he could tell from the King’s reaction that there was something wrong. The King wanted to know who told him this but he was afraid that the King wouldn’t believe him if he had said that it was the Royal Messenger who told them this. Not to mention, he didn’t want to implicate Duke Marleigh and Duke Rodriguez who confirmed the Royal messenger’s words yesterday.

Everyone but Commander Kal, who was appeasing the King and repeatedly telling the King to calm down, was silent. The King paid no heed to Commander Kal and only waited for Arie to talk.

When roughly a minute had passed by, the King could no longer take it anymore and shouted in anger, “WHO TOLD YOU!” As his sentence ended, a loud slam to the armrest could be heard.

Arie jumped in fright and trembled in fear. The King saw that Arie was determined to not say anything and was about to demand an answer from him again when Duke Rodriguez and Duke Marleigh stepped up at the same time, “It was I.”

The three words resounded throughout the room and it became deadly silent afterward. The King slowly turned to the two additional but unexpected voices.

First, anger flashed through his eyes. But then came, hesitation and speechlessness as he stared at the Duke’s resolute eyes.

Eugene confirmed her suspicions after seeing the King's reaction. ‘He didn't know.' She thought as her gaze shifted from the King to Commander Kal. He was wearing an expression she couldn't put her finger on. For the time being, all she knew was that Commander Kal was aware of Sir Ario's incident but had chosen to remain silent and kept it away from the King.

But then…what about the Royal messenger? Why didn’t he keep his silence? The deeper Eugene thought, the more suspicious everything seems.

It was at this moment when Commander Kal broke out of his facade, and with an unsightly villainous face, he threatened, “Shut. It.” he said in a bass tone, as he glared murderously at Duke Marleigh and Duke Rodriguez.

The room temperature dropped to 0 degrees following Commande Kal’s threat. Murderous intent from Commander Kal aimed towards every single person in the room. No longer was he putting up a face, no longer was he the kind righteous Commander of Zene, as right now, he was looking to kill everyone in this room, like a true villain.

The ones standing closest to the King and Commander Kal were Dea and the others. It was more suffocating the closer they were, compared to those who were at least 10 meters away. Sweat was dripping out of Arie’s sweat glands as a rush of adrenaline pumping through his body was telling him to run away! Just that, it was impossible for Arie and the others to even take a step back as their bodies were rooted heavily to the ground from pressure.

Aernest and Aeselak who stood 10 meters away were also heavily affected although not as much as Arie and the others. Because they didn’t have tolerance towards these types of things, their bodies were trembling from the oppression coming from above. Only when Eugene and Aedelak moved in front of them to block them from Commander Kal’s eyes, could they finally breathe again.

Just like Eugene and Aedelak, Duke Marleigh and Duke Rodriguez stepped forward to block the children away from Commander Kal.

Aernest held his throat as he coughed. Hearing this, Eugene reached out to Aernest and patted his arms without turning around, “It’s alright. Just inhale and exhale properly.” she comforted with a calming voice.

But inside, she wasn't calm in the least because her whole body was tense from the danger. Her hand that reached out to Aernest clutched his jacket tightly.

Upon the set of stairs, The King moved away from Commander Kal in weariness and speechlessness. It was now that he understood what had happened.

The King pointed in accusation at Commander Kal as he stuttered with his words, “Y, you!”

Commander Kal reached out to grab the King’s arm as he tried to refute the Duke’s words, “It’s not! It’s not true Your Highness Majesty!” He lightly shook the King’s arms and continued, “Please do not listen to such nonsens-”

Not waiting for Commander Kal to finish his words, the King pushed Commander Kal away with all his strength!

“SHUT IT!” The King glared murderously at Commander Kal! ...His face was red from betrayal and anger!

Commander Kal froze in place as he stared at the King with widened eyes.

It was the first time the King has ever rejected Commander Kal. Even the Crown Prince was shocked and surprised when he saw the fury behind his father’s eyes. But more than shocked, he was worried for his father.

“Your, Your Majesty.” Commander Kal reached out again only for his hands to be slapped away.

The King glared and roared murderously, “SHUT UP! SHUT YOUR MOUTH RIGHT NOW!”

His anger boiled up as his chest heaved. All of a sudden his hands reached to his head that was throbbing in pain as he clutched his hair harshly. The King moved back and forth as he glanced nervously at everyone in the room.

‘What… Why?... Why!’ He screamed in his head as his face flashed different types of emotions. What went wrong? Where did it go wrong? These words repeated in his head as his consciousness started fading away.

“...Ar..Ario.. Ario..” He mumbled repeatedly like a broken record as he started to lightly hit his head. Whilst shaking his head to get rid of the pain, he kept moving back slowly until the back of his knees hit the throne, forcing him to sit down once again.

The Crown Prince’s eyes trembled seeing the state his father was in. Though it was weird to have any good emotions for the man, his heart yearned for him as he was still his blood father. Unable to help it, for the first time in years, he called out, “Royal.. Royal F, Father...” The word ‘Father’ was a taboo that got him punished throughout his young age. He had crossed the line the King set out many times when he was younger that he knew better than to not use the word ‘father’ if he didn’t want to be bedridden for the night.

Unconsciously, his heart still looked up to the King who was his father. If his father wasn’t in this state, he wouldn’t have known that he still had good emotions towards this man.

Just then, the King suddenly froze in place as he turned silent. As if his body was done processing the pain as if his thoughts were done analyzing. He was in a state of tranquility, like the calm before the storm. Already, everyone in the room could tell that something was up, however didn’t dare step up because of Commander Kal’s blockage.

It was then when a heartbreaking scream that carried an intense terror rang out throughout the room, “ARGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!”

It was a scream of the mouth, the lungs, and a scream of the eyes and soul! As if he was willing to abandon everything, the soul-crushing scream that bypassed everyone’s ears hit everyone deep in their hearts.

Commander Kal kneeled in front of the King and with a panicked voice, he called out, “Your majesty! Your Majesty!!” His hands reached the King’s knees as he shook the King heavily.

“ARHHHHHH!” The King clutched his head that felt as if a bomb had exploded and messed up his insides. His hands unconsciously and continuously hit his head harder and harder so that the external pain could relieve the pain he was feeling internally.

Yet, the more time passed by, the more futile it became as Ario’s image kept flashing by his head.

The Crown Prince’s body moved forward unconsciously as he shouted in terror, “Royal Father!” But before he could take another step further, Eugene held him back by his jacket.

“Let go! Why are you stopping me!” The Crown Prince roared at Eugene in panic as he attempted to get rid of Eugene’s hands.

However, Eugene held on as her eyes narrowed down in refusal to let go, “Look at the King’s eyes. He can’t see reality or dreams right now.” Basically meaning that the King was not sane and that it was dangerous to go anywhere near him.

The Crown Prince’s eyes reddened as he bit his lips. After a few seconds, he stopped struggling and didn’t rush forward anymore.

Commander Kal raised his voice, “Your- Your Majesty! Please stop!” But it was all for naught because, as Eugene predicted, the King lost his ability to distinguish between truth and fantasy and began punching Commander Kal to vent his anger. His heart couldn't take the agony any longer, and he went insane from the feeling of being suffocated.

Commander Kal took the King’s hit for a while until he could no longer bear it. Finally, he shouted out for help. His shout, especially the words he said, made everyone raise their guards in alarm!

“GUARDS! BRING MY FLUTE!” he shouted out loud and clear! Like the King, his eyes were fuming in anger as he didn’t know what went wrong. He had intentionally kept every hidden and away from the public but only to find out that the Duke had already found out about what he had wanted to keep hidden. Because he was unsure of how much the Dukes from Xenperia knew, he decided to take the best course of action.

Eugene’s heart skipped a beat and she glanced nervously at Commander Kal, ‘Flute? Why flute?’

But before she could speculate further, Duke Rodriguez, Duke Marleigh, and Louis shouted in unison, “Stand behind!”

In shock, everyone took a step back and crowded behind the three. This action didn't pass Commander Kal’s eyes as he suddenly turned their way. There were surprise and doubt that filled his eyes, but at the end, his lips couldn’t help but raise slightly.

Eugene furrowed her eyes and noticed Arie and the others standing way too close to danger. Seeing that Ron had been daydreaming ever since he got to the audience room, Eugene tugged on his jacket hard and indicated for him to do something.

Without a second wasted, Ron shouted towards the group, his shout was loud enough for them to momentarily suppress the oppression coming from Commander Kal, “ARIE!!!”

Before Arie could get up, he was already dragged by Dea and Con towards Ron and the group for shelter. The answer they wanted to hear from the King never came but instead confirmed by the King’s intense reaction. Already in their hearts, they understood what was going on, particularly Dea and Con, who were the smartest of the group.

Within a few seconds, a rush of guard started flooding into the audience hall. Two guards walked past Eugene and the group and headed towards The Commander and the King. The rest of the guard stayed behind them as if threatening them that they would attack if they made any suspicious moves.

However, not long after Zene’s guards came in, a loud shout followed by a huge commotion could be heard outside the audience room.

There was a brief pause before the large door to the audience room was reopened. Following that, at least 20 men rushed in. Eugene and the others were filled with enthusiasm because the men were dressed in the one and only camouflage clothing worn by military personnel!

‘Wait a minute… Weren’t Xenperian soldiers forbidden to enter the palace?!’ The excitement that had flashed by Eugene’s eyes soon turned into one of shock!

‘Isn’t this declaring war?!?!’ She thought quietly as her mouth gaped open.

Eugene shook her head, ‘No! No! No!’ that’s not the point. She turned to Commander Kal and stared at him in horror, ‘The flute… Is he going to use that to hypnotize the King?’ Eugene frowned, ‘Or will he hypnotize, everyone?’ As soon as she thought of this, she turned to the Crown Prince sharply.

“What’s going on!” she asked with her voice slightly raised! She stared straight into the Crown Prince’s trembling and confused eyes.

“I… I don’t know..” he shook his head.

Eugene’s eyebrows twitch and she hissed back, “What do you mean you don’t know? Do you not know what your Commander is going to do?!” She was unwilling to believe that the Crown Prince didn’t know!

The Crown Prince shook his head again, “I really don’t know!”

Eugene sucked in her breath when she saw the Crown Prince’s conflicted emotions. It was true, he simply didn’t know. It was then that Eugene had a faint inkling. ‘Was it possible that he was also hypno… thized?’ she thought as she turned her body slowly towards the throne and Commander Kal who was holding his flute.