Bride To His Darkness
Chapter 140: The New King

Chapter 140: The New King

The royal seal maker, who eventually made it to where Lord Viktor was standing, sank to the ground as he could no longer keep up with the punishment. All prying eyes fell upon the middle-aged man who was busy gasping for breath as he remained on the ground, and he couldn’t start explaining where he was forced to begin the frog jump from, cause presently, every part of his body ached, and his legs felt terribly sore to the point he could no longer rise to his feet anymore.

Damien and Lucius exchanged glances, both perplexed as to what was going on and why the royal seal maker would make such a disgraceful entrance. The once quiet hall soon began their endless murmuring, and no one could blame them for it as the Ministers and Courtiers were also eager to know what was transpiring in front of them.

"Sorry we took longer than expected, we encountered mini troubles on the way." Tobias explained to Ivan who looked relieved to see that they had returned. The next to enter the throne room was Herbert who held a small pouch in his grip, and he came to stand beside Ivan, lowering his head in a bow, whilst Ivan patted his shoulder as his way of saying ’I’m glad you’re back and fine’

"Can someone explain to me what is going on?" The Kingdom’s advisor voiced his confusion as he darted a glance between Alistair and Tobias. Everyone was so engrossed in what was happening earlier that they failed to sense the absence of the vampire brothers. Unbeknownst to all of them, the butler and head maid peeped from the door that had been left slightly ajar, refusing to miss the drama that they suspected would take place after seeing Samantha return to the Palace.

"Hey, he’s asking a question." Alistair placed his scythe against the throat of the seal maker, causing his eyes to bulge out in fear. "Won’t you answer him? I’m giving you a chance to confess your evil deed before I send you to your maker."

"Mind your language Alistair, what disgrace are you bringing upon the seal maker?" Emeric stepped forth, his glaring eyes on Alistair, but Alistair who wasn’t in his humorous state at the present moment, pointed his scythe at Emeric, whilst forcing the vampire Prince to back away after he sensed the bloodlust gleaming in Alistair’s predatory eyes. The scars on his face, and the chains around Alistair’s body only amplified Emeric to keep his distance, because from those scars and chains, he knew immediately who was the deadliest one among the two brothers.

"Don’t upset the bad wolf while he’s hungry." Tobias advised Emeric, and he could see the way Hadrian’s body tensed as his eyes shifted from the royal seal maker to Emeric who was held at blade point, looking like a moon caught ghost.

Feeling totally helpless as he gnashed his teeth, Emeric stepped back in defeat.

"Won’t you speak?!" Sending a powerful kick to the seal Maker’s gut, he spat out blood, and that was enough to do the trick as he immediately recovered from Alistair’s kick only to kneel before Lord Viktor, his hands and head on the floor as he pleaded in a sobbing voice.

"Forgive me! I have wronged his Majesty and deserve to be punished for it, but... but the decree is fake!" He confessed out loud, and the throne room erupted with gasps of shock, visible disbelief evident in the eyes of the gathered crowds. "The seal on the decree is also fake! They made me do it! I didn’t want to do it but they made me–"

"WHO made you do it?" Tobias specifically asked, wanting him to be more straightforward with his confession, and when the seal maker lifted his head up, his eyes moved from the Courtiers, to the Ministers, and then to the Four Lords. When his gaze landed on Eamon, panic filled his eyes when Eamon’s murderous stare warned him not to reveal a word, else he would be dead, but eventually, it was of no use, and the seal maker pointed at Eamon.

"He made me do it!"

In unison, all eyes followed the finger to see it was pointing directly at Eamon who appeared just as shocked. The Ministers present could feel their expression drop, and the Kingdom’s advisor gaped in disbelief. The tension in the air was palpable, and the whole revelation was making some of the crowds shiver at what else might be revealed to them.

"Eamon?"

"What sort of joke is this?" Eamon stepped forward, his fury raging like a storm. "Why would I send someone to forge a decree? You’re lying!"

"He’s not, and there’s valid proof." It was Herbert’s turn to step forward. To everyone’s anticipation, he opened the pouch he held, bringing out two letters and handing it to Lord Viktor who read them. "These are the letters that were secretly exchanged between Prince Eamon and the seal maker, you can see his initials below. Some notes he exchanged with Princess Claire were also found."

Hearing the word letter, Eamon’s face was drained of colors as if realizing he had stepped on shit. Letters? But he could swear he burnt all of them! Did the seal maker do this?? Although it wasn’t common for Eamon to sweat, he could feel something wet roll down his back at the thought of this.

Viktor, who had received the notes, read them in silence, and when he was done, he handed it to Damien and the rest to read as well. The look on their faces dropped after seeing what was written in the letter, and it was handed to the Kingdom’s advisor who also wanted to have a look at the letters. His eyes widened as he glanced at Eamon who was presently glaring at the seal Maker, but had stopped when he noticed all questioning eyes were on him.

"The royal seal of every King is destroyed once he is no more." Samantha came to stand beside Herbert as she said out loud, "the late King’s royal seal was burnt three days after his demise, so how do you explain this?" Letting her hand out, Herbert removed the duplicate seal in the pouch and placed it on Samantha’s palm, which she held out for everyone to see. "A duplicate, you blackmailed the seal maker into doing your bidding and had him create a seal that was the exact replica of your Father’s. When you knew your secrets would be exposed, you had him kidnapped and locked in Vesunard."

"Kidnapped?" Eamon’s eyes narrowed in confusion, "I never did–"

"Did I say you? My mistake, I was implying it to your brothers. Since I do not know them physically I decided to have you intercede on their behalf." Samantha explained while stabling her resolve, and when she sensed Eamon wasn’t getting her point, she elaborated it.

"Your brothers had the seal maker abducted and locked in Vesunard. Believe me when I say they did not do it because of you, they had their own selfish intentions in mind." Handing the seal back to Herbert, Samantha took the pouch from him and brought out multiple other notes that had Eamon’s brothers initial on them, whilst she handed it to Eamon. "Here, I’m sure you’d like to know why your brothers haven’t started a feud with you for the Throne."

Gesturing for Eamon to take the notes from her hand, Eamon glanced at his brothers whose faces had turned pale, and he could feel his palms turn clammy as he reached for the letter in Samantha’s hand, taking it from her. Opening the letters, he read them carefully, and his aghast expression certainly didn’t go unnoticed.

"The seal maker didn’t harbor these notes if that’s what you’re thinking, your brothers did." Samantha said, "they were waiting for you to gain full rights to the throne so they can use that evidence against you. For all the times you pushed them around like your puppies. A little tit for tat."

"What– What is this?!" Eamon, whose veins were already popping at the side of his forehead due to anger, lashed at his brothers whose secrets were now exposed to him. "Did you really do this?? You wanted to blackmail me?!! And you call yourselves my brothers?!!"

"Don’t start with that tone, it won’t work on us or anyone else here." Emeric finally snapped, his eyes revealing his hidden hatred towards Eamon. "You never considered us brothers to begin with, brothers don’t turn their own blood brothers into personal slaves! And in case you don’t know, we overheard everything, the conversation you had with Ivan in his cell. We were there, and we happened to have heard what you taught about Mother, about us? And that is why I do not regret a single thing that I planned on doing to you."

"This just got interesting!" Damien murmured, amusement gleaming in his eyes.

"It’s over!" Emeric voiced his brother’s defeat in his face, "we’ve been caught! As for me, I’m no longer in on this, so I accept my crimes!"

"No, it’s not! It can’t be!" Eamon shook his head, as if nearly going insane. "The verdict, they are about to announce me as the king, the people chose me! So it’s not over!"

"To be precise I don’t recall mentioning any name." Viktor stated, and that brought the attention of everyone to him. "While all this is being revealed, why not reveal the next King too?" His gaze returned to the parchment, "the people never chose you, Eamon, they chose Ivan. Ivan is the new King of EmptyHollow."

"What?"

"What?" Ivan, who had lost his voice while he listened to revelation, turned his head to look at Viktor in disbelief.