3 Chapter 3: There was a King and...

??? POV:

In Livingstone, there lived a king. He had a wife, some children, unknown amounts of secret lovers, and lots of illegitimate children. One of them was me. I didn't know how many half-siblings I had, but maybe I didn't want to know.

Recently the king began to contact some of his illegitimate children and promised us a better life if we could do some 'errands' for him. Become a body double, poison tester, front-line soldier, and many more. Miraculously I went through all of those and survived.

However, at some point, I realized that the king just wanted to eliminate all the traces of his 'misdemeanor'. In other words, his illegitimate children. I survived, but I knew that he would kill me soon. 

It was not his top priority, but it was just a matter of time. My days were numbered...

"You are trembling." 

A voice broke the silent night. It was from the person who sat beside me, eyes still on the newspaper. The bench was quite long just for the two of us.

"You seem to have... an interesting story to tell. Mind to share it?" 

There was a hint of amusement in her voice. As much as I wanted to talk about my feelings with someone, I didn't want to get anyone into trouble because of me.

"Nothing... Sometimes things are just overwhelming..." 

I shouldn't say it. I definitely shouldn't.

"100$"

"Um... what?" 

I have no idea what did she talked about.

"If I give you 100$, would you tell me? Maybe your day will be better."

"It's not a money problem." 

The conversation got fishy really fast. I stood up and walked away from that suspicious person.

"How about 150$? I don't have 200$ at the moment." 

What the hell, this person followed me?!

"Please stop asking me about that!" 

I tried to run away from her. But everything suddenly turned sideways. I was... pinned face down on the floor by her. I could feel the tip of a gun touched the back of my head. What just happened?!

"Now I'm getting curious. I demand you to tell me."

Maybe this death was much preferable to me than being killed by that bastard king.

"Pull your trigger." 

I didn't resist. I just wanted to end this as soon as possible.

"How loyal. You must be boss's favorite." 

She cracked an obvious joke. It was not even funny because...

"He wants me to die..."

"Then why bother hiding the information?" 

"I don't want anyone to die because of me. They must be monitored me from somewhere..." 

I whispered, hoping nobody but her could hear me.

"That's funny... You were pinned down, gun in the head, and yet, nobody helped you, nor snipped me in the head."

"Uh..." 

Wait, she was right. Maybe nobody monitored me at this moment.

"Forget 150$, I'll give you as much as you need to escape from your boss."

"...But why? Why are you trying to help me?"

What she said sounded so tempting. It seemed too good to be true.

"Why am I helping you? Because my target is the king, not a mere pawn like yourself." 

She suddenly changed the word 'boss' for the word 'king'. Now I understand her objective.

"I have observed you for the past few weeks, so I knew you had a connection to the king. He was not exactly fond of you, and neither did you to him. That's why I believed that you would cooperate with me."

She was right. I wanted to let it all out. I had been hiding it for so long...

I told her everything. Whatever I knew about the king, the castle's weak spot, the kingdom's budget, the illegal money, his plan to kill all his illegitimate children, and everything else I knew when I lived at the castle.

I was very emotional during the conversation. I talked while trembling from time to time. Every time I tried to remember the details of what the king did to me, I got the flashback of every worst moment I could remember. Sometimes I could feel that my heartbeat and breathing got faster. She tried to help me to calm down every time that happened so that interrogation may continue.

After a long conversation, She brought me to a 'temporary hideout' and suggested that I should hide here for a while. It was a small and plain-looking house, but for now, I felt most comfortable here than anywhere else.

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"We need to discuss your escape plan." 

She sorted various documents on the table. Never been I seen so many documents in my life.

"Where do you want to go, your new identity and fake passport, transportation route, etc... Feel free to ask if there's something you don't understand." 

She pulled out a pen gave it to me, telling me to fill the paper.

"No, forget about it."

"Excuse me?" 

"Please let me help you to take down the king!" 

I had decided my path. I should stop the king!

She was confused by my sudden change of answer.

"I'm no fighter, I sell the information, and someone else will do the fighting."

"You took me down easily."

"I could because you were distracted at that time. If we fight fair and square, I have no chance to win against you." 

She shook her head in disagreement.

"And yet, you're braver than me." 

At least, she seemed that way to me.

"For heaven's sake... You faced death on the battlefield. Stop comparing yourself to me." 

Without even looking at me, she recovered the documents and put them back on the shelves. Those were unneeded since I decided not to run away.

"Then, let me protect you! You do admit that I'm better than you in combat."

She looked surprised, not expecting my proposal. 

I should take down the king. If my offer got rejected, Then I would fight the king by myself. I never had the courage to do it before, but now I do. Maybe because I thought I would die soon.

"Well, it's inappropriate for me to decide this by myself." 

"Is that a no?"

"What I mean is we can discuss this tomorrow. I'll take you to my leader. He likes reck... gutsy people like you." 

She almost said reckless, but I couldn't deny that.

"May I know your name? Or is that restricted information?" 

I realized I hadn't got her name even after having a lengthy discussion.

"Yes, it's restricted information. I'll tell you if you got accepted to join."

"I'll give you my new name at that time. I haven't decided any for now."

"You're still going to change your name?"

"I want a new beginning. I'm not the king's pawn anymore." 

She seemed to be pleased with my answer.

Later I got accepted by the leader. He was an outstanding man and loved by everyone. All the members joined this organization because of him. However, I joined not because of him. It was because of Caron. That's her name, the one who saved me that night.

As a congratulation for joining the organization, Caron decorated the news article about my death and put it on the wall. She had a strange sense of humor. Yes, the organization pulled some strings and faked my death certificate. I read the news of my funeral in the newspaper. It was a weird situation, but a welcomed one.

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"I want a new beginning. I'm not the king's pawn anymore." 

That's what I told her, but the truth was...

My reason was something much more cowardly...

I wanted to throw away my past because my name reminded me of nothing but bad memories. Those voices of people who called my name mockingly. The voice of my mother that didn't want me. The voice of the king who called me in a degrading way.

I hated this name. I despised the king's dirty bloodline inside me...

...But more than everything, I hated myself for being unable to do anything about it...

I liked my new name, much more than the previous one. 

When I remembered my new name, it was not the voice of the king or my mother that I heard in my mind.

"Emory, help me with this stash of documents!"

It reminded me of the voice of my friend.

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My freedom, however... was short-lived.

The king found out that I was alive. As punishment for betraying him, the king decided to hunt down Caron, the one who made me betray him. I did plead to the king to do anything but that. Never did I pleading and lowering myself that much before in my life.

The king decided to spare Caron with one condition, and that was...

To kill the entire organization members and leaving only her.

I'm sorry, Caron. I'm sorry for being useless. I'm sorry because I had to take away all your friends, your place to belong, your trust, your everything...

So please... just kill me...

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