------White Wood City------
Eli stood at his castle balcony, watching as his little brother's: Connor and James, got off their carriages.
'So they finally came', he thought.
"Zarius, where is Princess Janette?"
"My lord, she is currently within the castle garden."
"Inform her about the arrival of my dear brothers." Eli said.
Infact 3 days ago, his younger sister: Jennette, also arrived at his castle. She had claimed that she missed him and wanted to spend more time with him.
When she had arrived, Eli could see a trace of disappointment and dissatisfaction in her eyes.
Knowing that the assassination attempt had failed, how could Jennette not be angry?
A month ago, when her brothers said that they would assassinate Eli, she was extremely happy and didn't wait to confirm if the assassination attempt would fail or not. Afterall, they had hired the "Golden Lotus" assassins who had a success rate of about 98% in all their missions.
Instead Janette wrote to Eli, saying that she would visit him soon. Her thinking was simple.
If he was still alive by by the time she got there, she would claim that she missed him dearly and wanted to spend more time with him... But if he was dead.....hehehe
After delivering the letter, she got on her carriage 2 days later and headed to White Wood City. In her mind, Eli was already a dead man. She even started practicing her performance for his death in her head.
She could already see herself kneeling over his grave while shedding fake tears and screaming.
'Brother Eli.....why did you have to go?....(sob sob)... why didn't I die in your place? No!.. I.. I won't allow this?... Let me go with you.... I want to be with you brother Eli.....(sob sob)'.
After that, she had also imagined how people would beg her not to take her life and live longer...In her mind, her performance had to be flawless, so she kept practicing in the carriage.
Since it would take a month from the Capital to White Wood, she calculated that her arrival would be faster than that of her little brothers Connor and James....
This was good... Afterall, she too thought of killing their father. So she urgently needed more knights, and funds as well.
She had planned to arrive early and secretly disguise the knights as slaves. Then, she would lead them back to the capital, and into her territory. For her, there was no need looking for another base.
If her father realised that the 5000 knights he gave her, had left the Capital, he would be suspicious. So she could only secretly gather more forces in the capital.
Even though her father had a lot of spies, she thought she could outdo him and secretly bring these men under his nose. (*** stupid girl)
Why couldn't a woman rule a kingdom? Ever since she was a little girl, she had dreamed of being the fist ever queen to rule the empire.
She wanted to make history, but that old foggy father of hers wouldn't even bulge. He was so hell bent on her older brother Eli as ruler of Arcadina.
Wasn't she smart? wasn't she talented?.....So what was wrong in her being ruler? This was not fair, she thought.
Her plan was to wait for all her brothers to kill each other, then, she would assassinate the last man standing.
On her way, she didn't want to contact her other brothers, for fear that the assassination plan would be leaked.
Little did she know that, they too didn't contact her when the assassination attempt failed, because they wanted to tell her in person to avoid other people from finding out about their schemes.
If they're father knew that they had tried to kill the CROWN prince, he would decrease their funds and take away half of their armies.
So, imagine her suprise when he she sees Eli receiving her when she arrives at White Wood city. Do you know how many days she spent planning that fake crying scene? tsk.
She immediately pretended to have missed him and asked him about everything that happened in white wood city.
Eli told her that someone tried to assassinate him, but he doesn't know who it was.
As she heard him say that, her eyes lit up and she smiled....
'So, he doesn't know?' she asked herself as she looked at his facial expression.
Janette had spend these 3 days gathering information.
Apparently, the assassins killed themselves in front of everyone, before they Eli had the chance to catch them. And only 1 escaped.
After constantly digging information from the maids, common folks and every other person she could think of, Janette decided to believe Eli, as all the proof showed that he really didn't know anything else.
Eli went down the castle, to welcome his beloved brothers who also missed him dearly....apparently.
At the site of Eli, both Connor and James smiled widely. If one didn't know any better, they would think that these brothers actually loved Eli.
Eli smiled as well and received them with a hug.
"Little brothers, welcome to White Wood..... how have you guys been? How come you only write to your elder brother once in a year? Dont you miss me?" He said why pouting.
"Elder brother, that's not it... you know that we have to take care of our territories as well... How could you say that we don't care about you?" Connor said while hugging Eli tightly.
"Elder brother, I dont know how you do it.... but for me, running my territory is so hectic. I have to run up and down all day. Of course we miss you..... (sigh).... It's just that there's too much work in my territory right now, so of course I didn't have time to write to you." James said while hugging Eli too.
Three trio spoke while making their way into the castle. As they arrived Connor and James were shocked.
"What is she doing here? Was she the one that leaked information about the assassins to Eli?" they thought.
But they quickly dispelled those thoughts after they found out that she had also arrived 3 days before.
Once everyone was settled in their rooms, Eli went to his office with Zarius his head knight.
He walked towards his bookcase and Zarius pushed it open.
"Vrrruuumm"
There was a staircase, leading to a secret room.
Zarius lit a torch and walked down the staircase with Eli.
At the bottom, there were torture devices hanging on the walls and tables. And at the end of the room, there were 3 cells that held 2 chained up men in them. While the other cell, had a man who was treated as a king.
Eli walked passed the first two cells and finally arrived at the last one.
"Old friend, have you enjoyed your stay at White Wood castle?"
The man looked at Eli and smiled.