Chapter 228 - A Confession Of a Prince (Part 2)
228 A Confession Of a Prince (Part 2)
The two princes go inside the tent. They saw Javier lying on the bed, with King Edward by his side. The eyes of the king say it all.
“He… He is getting weaker.” Said the king, with tears welling in his eyes.
Justice approach him and squeeze his shoulder, he saw Javier’s face getting paler; Javier stares at Justice while panting. He doesn’t have much time, Javier raised his hand and called for his brothers, reluctant at first, Jason and Justice took glanced for a moment, but finally gives in.
Jason took his hand, and Justice crouched beside him.
“Brother, I think you should rest,” Jason said to Javier, trying to speak as calmly as possible.
“Ugh… Brothers… I am sorry…” A husky voice of Javier resounding in the tent, he is weak and fragile, but he wanted to make things right, “Amelia and her… her family… Convinced me to… To try for the thr… throne…”
“It’s alright, Javier, just rest… I… We understand.” Justice is already choked up, they have their differences, sometimes even hurting each other, for Justice, Javier is still a part of his family.
“No… I… I must… There’s no… Time… About… The rebel… Only… One family that wasn’t the part… Of this…” He coughed and blood splattered all over his face, Justice took some clean cloth and help Javier by cleaning his bloodied face. Jason is already tearing up, while King Edward staring at his dying son in tears.
“What is the name of this family, Javier?” Justice was still as calm as he could, although his mind was already in shambles.
.....
“Darren family, they… they stay loyal to you and in the end become a re... recluse family…” Justice was surprised, they thought Lord Darren was part of this conspiracy, but he will never question his brother’s last testimony, after all, he will never gain anything if he was lying. Prince Javier continued on, “The… The ledger with the list… Of everything… It was inside the loose floorboard in… In the island inn…”
“Alright brother, you can take your rest now. Please don’t talk anymore.” Justice couldn’t take it anymore. He was sobbing while speaking to his brother. “I… I love you, Javier. Even though we have our own fair share of difficult relationships as siblings, I still love you. You’re my brother and the one that always protected me when I was a young boy.”
Javier was smiling, “I still rooting… For Jason though.” Teased Javier while smiling, “I wish mother… and fathers were here… I… I love you all.” He closed his eyes and they feel him drift away. Anne came around to check on his pulse. She felt nothing on him. His body still warm, but there was no life inside his body anymore.
“My condolences, I will leave you with the late prince’s body, for now.” Said Anne, leaving the family to grieve in silence.
Xavier and Henry were waiting for her, Xavier open his arm, and Anne goes into the warm embrace of the werewolf.
“How is he?” Asked Xavier to her.
“Oh, terrible, he… he will be needing our help now.” Whispered Anne, a tear coming down her cheek. “I never met with Prince Javier, but I know what Justice felt and needs to go through right now.”
They sat quietly for a while, until Xavier break the silence, “Did you know my name originally was Javier? My late mother was an admirer of King Edward. She tried to name me Javier, but my father wants his children to have X as the first alphabet of their name.” He chuckles, probably remembering the silly memories regarding his name. “They compromise and gave me a name, Xavier.”
“Javier has his own difficulty, but he also had his own merits. He was in charge of changing the orphanage system, practically saving the orphan from the abusive household or a sh*tty orphanage.” Henry looks into the sky, thinking about Javier.
“Anne!”
The three of them turn around to the source of the voice. It was Vale, coming after Henry asked for his sister to find Vale for them. The primary captain of the magi look into them and asked about Javier’s condition. Anne asked him to go inside the tent, and when he go inside, the royals were grieving in their own way.
Vale holds onto his best friend’s shoulder. “My condolences.”
“How’s the situation in the port?” asked Justice with an empty stare at his own family. He tried to normalize his grief and want to look strong.
“Don’t worry, everything is under control. Just take care of your father right now. He would take this harder than you thought.” Vale said to Justice, giving him time to grieve. “I’ll be outside with the others.”
“Thank you, Vale, and also to Anne, she… she helped us so much.” Justice smiled at his friend, still trying to look stronger.
Vale left the tent and put his hand on his chest. Now, the kingdom will grieve, even though Javier’s died as a traitor, but for the people that know him so well, he will be mourned and missed. Minutes become hours, and hours become days.
They were already back in the capital, the royal family holding a private funeral for prince Javier, while his wife, the former princess Amelia was incarcerated for two major crimes, and Lady Heirim will become a key witness, she will also get into trial in the near future.
Anne was looking at the road while sitting on the rooftop garden in front of her house.
Vale looked at her and a smile appear on his face. “Do you need to wait for any news while staring at the road like that?”
She turn around and saw him, “Only for the news, not for Brom.”
“Good, ’cause I will be so jealous if you’re waiting for him. After all, he goes to the moonlight monster area with Darla.” He gave Anne a cup of moomilk and joined her on the bench.
Brom decided to ask Darla to accompany him into the moonlight monster area, he gave her a tangible reason that she need to be with Justice, helping him through his tough time of grieving.
“We almost caught all the conspirators. That list from Javier definitely helps us so much.” Said Vale to Anne.
“In the end, he helped Justice and protect his family.” Muttered Anne, remembering how shattered the crown prince was at the private funeral yesterday.
“Although, just as Javier said to Justice, Darren family was not on the list. Arthur was so sure that they were packing their things and disappeared permanently from their townhouse.” Vale was curious about this family so much, but then give up and shrug his shoulder. “Oh well, probably they know of how dangerous the island is and moving somewhere in another area.”
Anne tried so hard to agree with his conclusion, but somehow, her guts tell her that this is not the last time they will be meeting with Darren’s family, and she has a bad feeling about this.