《A new horizon》8. Enemies
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"Come with me." Robett said as he went inside the hall. His sister came near him and said in a very low voice
"Thank you."
"You are welcome. I am not sure what kind of brother I was before, but I will try to be the best brother to you as I can be." Gawen said while looking at her. Erena heard that had wet eyes instantly. Gawen, seeing such a strong reaction from her sister, felt a bit weird.
"What's up with this girl? Though I lost my memory, it shouldn't ignite such a strong reaction from her." Gawen thought as he entered the hall.
He saw his father sitting on a small throne at the end of the hall. This was his first time at the Hall and seeing the surroundings it didn't look appealing at all. At least to Gawen. Maybe it was because he had seen many good Halls in the series so he got a little disappointed.
Even his mother sat beside his father as she too followed him when his father called. As Gawen stood near his father with his sister, his father directed the guards to leave and close the Hall.
"Father, is there something important?" Gawen asked.
"You have shown lightning fast acceptance for a person who lost his memory." Robett said. Gawen stiffened a bit when his father mentioned that. He did show acceptance at a fast pace. It was because he knew he needed to adapt quickly or else he and his whole family would die.
"Uhh... father, I am trying to show confidence to people to let them know I am alright. I am sure rumors might have been flying around recently. I am still confused inside." Gawen said, trying to defend himself.
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"That's pretty bold of you. But I have to say I like this new you. Quite bold, observant, sharp and even compassionate." Robett said.
"It took so less time to judge me?" Gawen asked.
"I am your father, boy. Besides, I don't need to use my eyes to judge you. I didn't get to sit on this throne for nothing." Robett replied. Gawen shrugged his shoulders accepting his father's words.
"Why did you call me father and that too in such secrecy." Gawen asked as he was sure his father had some ulterior motives.
"I think I know who tried to assassinate you." Robett said in a grave tone. Both his mother and his sister looked unsettled hearing this. Only Gawen looked unperturbed. For all he knew, he was alive because of the assassination and was grateful for the it. He was grateful that he was assassinated.
"You don't look fazed?" Robett said as he saw the calm eyes of his son. He was surprised that there was no fear nor anger.
"Will it help?" Gawen replied. Robett gave a smirk to that.
"Smart boy. Your memory loss might not be all that bad for you. At least you have grown up. We caught a person sneaking away from the whorehouse, the night that woman tried to poison you. The poison isn't locally made so it came from far south. The boy who we caught after much torture gave us a name. The woman who you so easily took to your room came from that whorehouse." Robett said.
"Who was it?" Sybelle asked as she looked more anxious to know the name, paying no attention that his son brought a woman from a whorehouse. Her son was almost killed and her anger knew no bounds.
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"House of Frey." Robett said in a very low and serious tone almost like a whisper. Gawen hearing that name had his eyebrows creased but he didn't show much reaction. This surprised Robett. He could see Erena and Sybelle both getting anxious but Gawen, who was the protagonist of the story, showed the least reaction.
"What? Are you not angry? Don't you want to take revenge?" Robett couldn't help but ask.
"What's the point? You got the confession out of torture. You probably killed the person after getting the words. For all I care, he could be saying a false House name to distract you and could have just given the name for the safety of his family or even just to fool you to remain alive. His words means jackshit to me." Gawen said with a straight face. Even though he didn't know how politics or criminology worked, he at least came from modern times.
Such kinds of confessions were common in his world and he has seen such things on television a lot. Though he could never gauge the real world from the eyes of a virtual life, he could at least use that as a reference.
"Bravo my son!! Bravo!!" Robett said as he clapped his hands. He seemed extremely happy from the words of his son.
"Why are you happy? If what Gawen said is right then we don't know the identity of the enemy at all. This was a waste. My son is still in danger." Sybelle reprimanded her husband as she felt the real culprit was still out there.
"Mother, there will always be enemies. But that doesn't mean we need to kill all of them. We just need to deter them. If they aren't deterred we need to control them. And if they still don't understand, we need to destroy them. There are no eternal friends. Just eternal benefits." Gawen said. He knew how this world worked and here only iron fist rules over everything.
All other things were just trickery.
Robett was smiling more when his son spoke those words. All his life he cared about his son. But he had grown out to be not much of a man. But today his son's words gave him hope. A hope that their House wouldn't fall in future.
"Good answer my son. Didn't expect that a poison will take all the poison out of you. The saying that only poison can cut the poison holds true it seems. You can go now with your sister. I am sure you would love to see the scene around. Just don't go far." Robett said as he felt his son was being poisoned by his overprotective mother.
"Thank you father." Gawen said as he bowed to his father. He and his sister started walking out and as he came to the door he stopped and looked back. He then said
"Just so we are clear. Since that boy had spoken that House's name, I will destroy them with my hands even if they aren't responsible for whatever that happened to me."
Saying that he walked out of the door, freezing his family members on their spots.
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