Chapter 39 An unexpected Problem Benjamin Hamilton A.k.A Santa, had already gathered 800 or more slaves and refugees from his city on the first three days of arriving at Carona. On the fourth day, he got an urgent message from the 9th prince of Yodan, Bari Maclaine. The 9th prince was a funny one. He was kind, simple-minded, loyal and hardworking. When his half-siblings fought over kingship, he only focused on learning how to run the 2 small cities under his control. His father, king Maclaine, had 6 wives and 2 concubines. With this, Bari had 23 siblings. Actually, he was born a week after the 8th prince, while the 10th and 11th princes were born 4 and 6 months after his birth. So in 1 year, King Maclaine had welcomed 4 princes and 1 princess into the world. The workings of the inner haram were brutal. The main official wife kept getting in her feelings and trying to control the other wives and concubines when she could. If she noticed that her husband favoured anyone more than her, she would try killing them or setting them up. His mother was unfortunately one of these women. His mother had stayed in the king's chamber for an entire week, which made the first wife drown in anger. She then made up a story about infidelity and hired witnesses to testify against his mother. On that day, there were over 100 witnesses. So of course, the king would believe them. And what made matters worse was that his mom never begged or belittled herself in front of him. She only said one sentence, and that was it. "I'm innocent. Do what you want to do." It would have been better if she had screamed, begged or cried her eyes out. But the way she said it made the king afraid that he had made a mistake. Nonetheless, since he had become a laughingstock in the entire Capital, he had to follow through with the punishment. She had no proof; it was her word against hundreds. Even some of the other wives had testified against her. . Very quickly, those emotions left the king, and anger took over his mind. How dare she act proud when she was the one who got caught cheating? Did she take him for a fool? As he looked at the proud woman who stood before him, he decided to go ahead with the punishment. She would have to do the walk of shame. Different empires had different rules. In Arcadina, cheating royals would be locked up in shabby rooms for the rest of their lives or until their husbands forgave them. But in Yodan, it was vastly different. The women would walk a long distance completely nude while having food and rocks thrown at them. After the walk, the cheating woman's marriage would be annulled. That year, the 9th prince had already turned 16 and ran his cities independently. Once he got wind of his mom's situation, he rushed back to the Capital and headed straight for the palace. He looked at his hurt, but prideful mother and anger rose within his heart. For a fact, he knew that his mother was innocent. But sometimes, he wished that she would at least talk or cry like other women did. Instead, she smiled at him and bottled up everything inside. That smile instantly brought him to tears. He loved her with all his heart and thought that if he became strong, he would easily protect her. But he was wrong. He looked at his weeping little sister of 9 years old and hugged her tightly. Tomorrow was the day of the marriage annulment. Early the following day, he held his mother's arm and led her towards the throne room. Within the continent of Pyno, different empires had their own beliefs and non-beliefs. . The empire of Deiferus believed in the Goddess Serena. It was said that she was the one who created the stars, the moon and the land. She blessed the land as well as cursed it. So all marriages were blessed by her ministers. Arcadina for example, believed in the souls of their forefathers being Gods. They would pray and call their ancestors Gods. The empire of Terique believed in the sea god, Carona believed in the god of fertility, and in Yodan, they believed in absolutely nothing. They thought it was ridiculous. If gods existed, where were they? Anyway, once they got to the throne room, the king said some rubbish mumbo jumbo and long story short, he annulled the marriage sent her packing. The king didn't even know his 9th son's name; he was only concerned with the first 5. One of them would likely be the next ruler of the empire. He didn't choose a crown prince yet because he wanted his sons to prove themselves worthy to rule the empire. But this decision only made his haram more deadly and made his sons and wives plot to kill or assassinate each other. Even the princesses fought amongst themselves. His father looked at him coldly as he supported his mother's shoulders, and he in turn, returned the gaze. As they locked eyes, the first wife whispered into the king's ears and sneered at him. "You are to return all the knights under your care and work as an ordinary knight. I will give you 50 gold coins as your inheritance. Be lucky that I even had the heart to give you some. You can choose which town you would like to work in, and I'll have you posted there immediately". His father said. The queen didn't want to allow him to have any knights for fear of revenge towards the disgrace she gave his mother. The look in the boy's eyes was intense. He would definitely kill her if he had the chance. . "I agree. But I also have 1 other request. I want to renounce my sister from being a royal, and I choose to be stationed within the city of Vienna". He replied. Now that his mother had been sent away, he dared not keep his younger sister in the palace. Those women would turn her into a slave, or worse, their punching bag. His father of course approved. The princess was his 17th child. He didn't even know her, talk less of caring about her. One less mouth to feed, he thought. Bari chose Vienna because ever since he ran the territory, everyone over there became his family and friends. He was sure that they would treat him kindly. And unlike most people within the empire, those in Vienna were very honest and somewhat pure. They had also been living far away from the Capital and didn't know much about the dark side of royalty. These people were a breath of fresh air to him. It was the perfect place for the family of three. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚 But at that time, he failed to notice the evil twinkle within the queen's eyes. Had he seen it, he wouldn't have been in this mess right now. . As Santa looked at the message, he knew he had to rush over to Vienna. Sigh... 'Little brother Landon, it appears that he will come, bearing too many gifts this time around.'