“Tessa, back off,” said Sabael.

He had run after her the second he had understood her objective. Tessandra might have had the heart to relieve her cousin’s guilt first, but the situation was still much more complex than that. He gently grabbed her arm to pull her away from the body, Nana arriving behind them, equally worried.

In the cave, the voices were getting louder. People who had already recovered from Ashra’s sudden death were now loudly arguing with the Yekara Clan’s people.

“The Princess broke the rule, she murdered her opponent! She has to be eliminated from the competition!”

“Are you insane? Your candidate just dropped dead, who said anything about the Princess killing her? She didn’t even touch her and she suddenly dropped dead like this! It makes no sense!”

“She’s clearly innocent!”

“You’re the one who wanted a death match to begin with! You forced this fight to get to a proper end! So your candidate’s dead, it’s the Princess’ victory!”

“There’s no need for disqualification! It was a fair fight!”

“Your stubbornness killed your candidate!”

The cave’s benches were turning into a complete chaos of shouting. There were three clear sides: those who believed Cessilia had won fairly, those who wanted to free her from Ashra’s death foremost, and the Yekara Clan who were sure this was worth her disqualification. Their plan was now clear: since Ashra hadn’t been able to beat the Princess in combat, they were entirely relying on her death to kick Cessilia out of the competition. Tessandra clenched her fists, furious. Now, if she touched the body again, they’d say she tampered with it to make her cousin appear innocent. Sabael was right; they were stuck in a trap laid by the Yekara Clan.

“...I d-didn’t kill her.”

Cessilia finally turned around to face the Yekara Clan, her eyes still red. All traces of her tears were gone, but she was clearly angry. She’d overcome the terrible experience she had just gone through to be mad at Ashra’s death. She didn’t want the candidate dead, and despite her anger, she was still clear-minded enough to know she was innocent. Although she hadn’t been quite herself, she could remember her fight perfectly, she knew she hadn’t wounded Ashra mortally. Moreover, Ashra had stood back there for several seconds while Ashen had hugged her; it made no sense for her to drop dead when she could probably have resumed the fight.

“She d-didn’t die from the injuries of our b-battle,” she said.

“That’s easy for you to claim,” retorted Lord Yebekh. “However, you have no proof! You’re the only one who harmed our candidate for the last few minutes! Who else could have–”

“Earlier, something s-stabbed me,” declared Cessilia. “D-during our fight, I lost my f-focus for a second b-because something p-pricked my back.”

Without hesitation, she quickly undid the laces of the top of her dress and turned around, revealing her naked back. There was a little red spot in the middle of her back. Something had indeed pricked her, it was obviously an external wound. It wasn’t bigger than a spider bite or a small dart. Tessandra frowned. That explained her cousin’s sudden grimace in the middle of the fight, but there was no way to know where it had come from, aside from a general area near the arena’s stairs. The hole was much too small and whatever had caused this was nowhere to be seen. However, if some projectile had done this, whoever had sent this was good enough to take aim at a moving target, from quite a distance too. They could have used a device to send this without being seen while everyone was focused on the fight itself. It was much too late to find them...

“This could be anything!” retorted Lord Yebekh. “You have no proof!”

“You don’t have any either,” said Tessa. “Nothing proves my cousin killed your candidate when she just collapsed by herself. It could be anything... even a very well-timed assassination.”

“The Princess killed our candidate! Didn’t we all see it? His Majesty tried to step in to stop her, but it was too late! The Yekara Clan requires reparation for the loss of our lady, and for the foreign candidate to be sent back! We don’t want a murderer for a queen!”

“You’re really trying to bark too loudly,” scoffed Tessandra. “Your candidate requested this fight, how could this even be called a murder? She was aiming for Cessilia’s life in the first place!”

“D-don’t you even feel s-sorry for her at all?” suddenly said Cessilia, stepping forward. “Your own kin just d-died and you’re only f-focusing on me b-being eliminated? C-can’t you even p-pretend her death p-pains you?”

Lord Yebekh turned red with anger. Now that she had said this, everyone else in the audience was staring at him like a real monster. It was clear he wasn’t very surprised by Ashra’s death, nor very sorry. He seemed more afflicted about Cessilia’s presence in the competition than his own niece’s passing. Even Safia had gone mute and a bit white behind him. If this had been the plan all along, she wasn’t involved in it.

“A true Yekara will remain proud even in death,” her Clan Leader retorted. “My niece did her very best to serve this clan, and she made us proud, but a fallen soldier has failed their duty. My niece is no different, neither is my daughter. Even in death, she has to serve her clan’s objectives. Now, our candidate is dead, and you have broken the rules of this competition. We want justice for her life!”

“I said no.”

Ashen stepped in front of Cessilia, glaring at the Yekara Clan Leader with all his might. “I’m still your King, Lord Yebekh, and the ultimate decision is mine. I declare the Princess is innocent, and your candidate’s death is not her doing.”

A grin appeared on his opponent’s face.

“Then my King has betrayed his most loyal subject for a foreigner!” shouted Yebekh.

Those words sent a chill down everyone’s back. The tension rose immediately, everyone getting ready for whatever was coming next. All the Yekara Clan members were acting a bit oddly. They were sitting straight, eyes on their leader and tense, as if waiting for some sort of signal or something. Tessandra and Sabael exchanged a quick glance, having noticed the same thing as well. He swiftly took the sword and handed it to Tessa without looking at her, and pulled his sister to come a bit closer to him. Naptunie’s eyes were still riveted on the body, wondering just how Ashra had possibly died.

“Watch your words, Yebekh,” hissed Ashen, getting tense as well.

“Oh, I am watching them, Your Majesty. In fact, I have been watching you for quite some time already! Your Majesty always relied on our clan, but ever since this foreign Princess came, you have been acting odd and ignoring your own subjects!”

“On the contrary. I’ve finally been listening to those I’ve ignored for too long.”

Ashen seemed calm on the surface, but right behind him, Cessilia could feel his tense shoulders. She glanced to the side to notice all those who weren’t from the Yekara Clan had moved a bit away from them. By now, everyone could tell something was afoot.

“...Well, it seems to us, the Yekara Clan, that His Majesty has lost sight of what it takes to lead this Kingdom.”

“Watch what you’re saying, Yebekh!” retorted the Pangoja Clan Leader, slowly standing up. “His Majesty might not always agree with us Lords, but he is still the rightful heir to the throne!”

“He might not be the only one.”

A cold silence followed this. It didn’t take more than a few seconds to understand, but a while longer to accept what they had just heard. However, it was clear Lord Yebekh was very proud of himself. He turned to the people of his clan, and, to everyone’s surprise, a young man came forward. He had a portion of his face burnt, and one of his eyes was covered by a white, foggy veil. For a few seconds, everyone was confused. It was clear most of them had no idea who this man was. He seemed young, strong, and suddenly smiled at Ashen. A smile that meant nothing good.

“It’s been a while... my bastard brother.”

All were shocked.

A brother of the King had survived? Cessilia noticed Ashen’s fist closing tightly. He was clenching it so tightly his knuckles were going white, and he was faintly shaking. He was furious, and not happy in the slightest. She guessed he was completely unaware one of his adopted-siblings had survived. The anger on his face meant this wasn’t his blood brother, but one of those boys his father had adopted, one of his former rivals he had told her about. Cessi knew him well enough. Despite the circumstances, no matter what he said, Ashen would have been relieved to see his younger brother be brought back to life. This wasn’t anything like that. Plus, that man didn’t even remotely look like the White King... They only seemed to be of similar age. She couldn’t remember if Ashen had mentioned what had happened to those three young men, but it was clear now one of them had survived the previous King’s death.

“Surprised to see me?” asked the man. “You certainly don’t seem happy... Your Majesty.”

The irony in his voice was unpleasant, irksome. Moreover, because of his burn, half the muscles of his face weren’t moving when he spoke, making him do strange grimaces whenever his lips moved, and his speech was strangely altered as well. Even a portion of his scalp was burnt, but his hair had been arranged to fall in dreadlocks to the side, and he had earrings on each lobe. They could all guess how handsome he had once been before that horrible burn. Now that he was standing, they could also see how tall and muscular he was. Almost as much as Ashen, and the scars of more burns were visible on his skin that wasn’t covered by his dark clothes. His body frame was the most similar thing to Ashen, showing how they had grown up with similar training...

Cessilia was shocked. Not by the man himself, but by how he had even dared to be here. The Yekara Clan Leader had deliberately brought one of Ashen’s adopted brothers here, since the beginning? This meant they were planning to rebel from the start. She had guessed something was wrong, but now it was clear the situation was way worse than she had thought.

“What the fuck are you doing here...” grunted Ashen.

“I’m not too sure,” said the burnt man, tilting his head. “I heard you’re not doing a decent job at being King. ...I came to see if you needed someone to help you with that. Or replace you.”

The two former siblings glared at each other. Despite his words, and his soft and slow voice, that man wasn’t fooling anyone. He clearly hadn’t come for Ashen’s sake, but to fight him. The deep hatred in his dark eyes and the irony in his voice didn’t leave any room for mistake.

Meanwhile, Lord Yebekh, very proud of himself, turned to the rest of the audience.

“See, good people of the Kingdom!” he shouted, opening his arms wide. “Our King lied! Another one of the rightful heirs to the throne survived! His Highness Prince Rohin is just as legitimate of an heir as Prince Ashen was, and without murdering his own father...”

“You damn bastard, Yebekh...” groaned Ashen. “You were the first one to rejoice in my father’s death when it suited you!”

“You should be ashamed!” shouted the Dorosef Tribe Leader. “You’re one fickle, backboneless, greedy piece of shit! It took years for King Ashen to bring peace to us, end our civil war, and now you’re turning against the savior of our nation!”

“Prince Ashen was the only remaining blood heir to the Kingdom!” added Bastat’s father. “At the very least, he had the support of our people! That man is no more than a boy who was created, formatted by King Ashtoran to be no less of a tyrant than he was!”