章 32: The Turbulent Barn Family
------White Wood City------
Eli stood at his castle balcony, watching as his little brothers: Connor and James got off their carriages.
'So they finally came,' he thought.
"Zarius, where is Princess Janette?"
"My lord, she is currently within the castle garden."
"Inform her about the arrival of my dear brothers," Eli said.
3 days ago, his younger sister, Jennette, also arrived at his castle.
She had claimed that she missed him and wanted to spend more time with him.
When she had arrived, Eli could see a trace of disappointment and dissatisfaction in her eyes.
Knowing that the assassination attempt had failed, how could Jennette not be angry?
A month ago, when her brothers said that they would assassinate Eli, she was delighted and didn't wait to confirm if the assassination attempt would fail or not.
After all, they had hired the "Golden Lotus" assassins, who had a success rate of about 98% in all their missions.
Instead, Janette wrote to Eli saying that she would visit him soon.
Her thinking was simple.
If he were still alive by the time she got there, she would claim that she missed him dearly and wanted to spend more time with him.
But if he were dead, heh, she would just have to act her little show for him.
After delivering the letter, she got on her carriage 2 days later and headed to White Wood City.
In her mind, Eli was already a dead man.
She even started practicing her performance for his death in her head.
She could already see herself kneeling over his grave while shedding fake tears and screaming.
.
~Oooooooo~
'Brother Eli.
Why did you have to go?
Why didn't I die in your place?
No!
I, I won't allow this?
Let me go with you.
I want to be with you, brother Eli.'
~Oooooooo.
Well, that was her made-up performance.
After that, she imagined how people would beg her not to take her life and live longer.
In her mind, her performance had to be flawless, so she kept practicing in the carriage.
Since it would take a month from the Capital to White Wood, she calculated that her arrival would be faster than that of her little brothers Connor and James.
This was good.
After all, she too thought of killing their father.
So she urgently needed more knights and funds as well.
She had planned to arrive early and secretly disguise the knights as slaves.
Then, she would lead them back to the Capital and into her territory.
For her, there was no need to look for another base.
If her father realized that the 5000 knights he gave her had left the Capital, he would be suspicious.
So she could only secretly gather more forces in the capital.
Even though her father had many spies, she thought she could outdo him and secretly bring these men under his nose.
Why couldn't a woman rule a kingdom?
Ever since she was a little girl, she had dreamed of being the first-ever queen to rule the empire.
She wanted to make history, but that old foggy father of hers wouldn't even bulge.
He was so hell-bent on her older brother Eli as ruler of Arcadina.
Wasn't she clever?
Wasn't she talented?
So what was wrong with her being ruler?
This was not fair, she thought.
She planned to wait for all her brothers to kill each other; then, she would assassinate the last man standing.
.
On her way, she didn't want to contact her other brothers for fear that the assassination plan would be leaked.
Little did she know that they too didn't contact her when the assassination attempt failed because they wanted to tell her in person to avoid other people from finding out about their schemes.
If their father knew that they had tried to kill the CROWN prince, he would decrease their funds and take away half of their armies.
So imagine her surprise when she saw Eli receiving her when she arrived at White Wood city.
She almost puked blood for rage.
Tch.
Do you know how many days she spent planning that fake crying scene?
She immediately pretended to have missed him and asked him about everything that happened in white wood city.
Eli told her that someone tried to assassinate him, but he doesn't know who it was.
As she heard him say that, her eyes lit up.
So, he doesn't know?
She examined his facial expressions again, and after confirming that he was truly clueless, she then smiled broadly.
Heh.
They failed this time, but next time he would be dead meat for sure.
Janette had spent these 3 days gathering information.
Apparently, the assassins killed themselves in front of everyone before Eli had the chance to catch them.
And only 1 escaped.
After constantly digging information from the maids, ordinary folks and every other person she could think of, Janette decided to believe Eli, as all the proof showed that he didn't know anything else.
.
Eli went down the castle to welcome his beloved brothers, who also missed him dearly... apparently.
At the site of Eli, both Connor and James smiled widely.
If one didn't know any better, they would think that these brothers actually loved Eli.
Eli smiled as well and received them with a hug.
"Little brothers, welcome to White Wood.
How have you guys been?
How come you only write to your elder brother once a year?
Don't you miss me?" He said while pouting.
"Elder brother, that's not it.
You know that we have to take care of our territories as well.
How could you say that we don't care about you?" Connor said while hugging Eli tightly.
"Elder brother, I don't know how you do it.
But for me, running my territory is so hectic.
I have to run up and down all day.
Of course we miss you!
Sigh...
It's just that there's too much work in my territory right now, so I didn't have time to write to you." James said while hugging Eli too.
The trio spoke while making their way into the castle.
As they arrived, Connor and James were shocked.
What was she doing here?
Was she the one that leaked information about the assassins to Eli?
Several thoughts ran through their minds in a flash.
But they quickly dispelled those thoughts after they found out that she had also arrived 3 days before.
.
Once everyone settled in their rooms, Eli went to his office with Zarius, his head knight.
He walked towards his bookcase, and Zarius pushed it open.
Drrrrmmmm.
There was a staircase leading to a secret room.
Zarius lit a torch and walked down the staircase with Eli.
At the bottom, several torture devices hung on the walls and tables.
And at the end of the room were 3 cells.
2 had several chained-up men in them, while the other, which seemed very far away and somewhere separated from the others, held a man who was treated like a king in there.
Eli walked past the first two cells and finally arrived at the last one.
"Old friend, have you enjoyed your stay at White Wood castle?"
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