The beating echoes of the drums echoes into Kai's ears, the murmurs of onlookers hushed but deafening. But that didn't matter to Kai, even though he knew that he was innocent. But he gravely dreaded the thought of being in that conference room, and he prayed that the dragging of him by the guard would last an eternity. But before he knew it, he was thrown harshly on the marble floor of the conference room like a sack of potatoes. His body shaking from the trimmer of him connecting to the hard ground.
The room became silent, and Kai didn't look up, he just lay there on the floor. Too afraid and ashamed to see the looks and everyone's face.
"You!" King Li Wei's voice is the first to break the unfortunately tense silence. "I took you into my home, and treated you like a son. But what do you go and do? You deceived the one person who tried to make your simpleton life better!" Wei's voice boomed off the golden walls of the room.
This was one of the places in the palace that Kai loved visiting with Li Jen. The conference room is just so majestic, with its gold painted walls. With patterns of green jade, and designs of magnificent dragons. Red satin curtains hang low behind the thrones, which was made out of fine gold and decorated with red rubies and red and green backrest and seat cushions. But now, being in this very room he adores. He wanted to be any place else, than the room that always left him awestruck.
"Now you hold it right there your majesty, or your Excellency. Or whatever nonsense you go by!" Kai's head shot up quickly, and he along with everyone else looked in the direction of the voice that belonged to the person that spoke to the king like that. But for Kai, he knew that voice pretty well, and that brought on more dread and fear in his body. A sense of guilt tightens his heart, for bringing shame to that specific person. "No disrespect on my part," The middle age man bowed in respect. "But how dare you say a thing like that. I always ensure that I provide for my family, even when I feel ill on some days. I don't say anything because I don't want them to worry, and I go out and pushed thinking about being an honorable man to support my wife and three children."
Tears flowed rapidly down Kai's cheeks, his fingernails scraped against the marble floors. And for the first time since he had left his father on the road that morning, he held eye contact with him. There are so many emotions swirling around in his father's eyes, and Kai could name them all. There is anger, remorse, confusion, guilt and sadness. But there wasn't any suspicion or malice, and that made Kai cry even more. His eyes moved from his father, and to his brother who was standing beside their father. Zhang hands are in tight fists, which made it feel even more worse. Zhang wasn't his biggest fan, but he wasn't the worst brother either. And by the shaking and fist clenching, he knew that if the Li family didn't punish him, Zhang would surely do it for them. But his thoughts changed, after he looked up and saw the state his brother's face was in. Zhang wasn't looking at him, no. Instead he has tears running down his face, and his stare was directed at the royal family, but mostly at Li Jie. Kai tried so hard to think about what his brother could possibly be thinking, but like always, Zhang was a hard nut to crack. Kai's eyes drifted away, and to his sister who looked like she didn't care if they threw him to the dogs. But Kai didn't expect anything better from May, it would be the happiest thing to ever happen if they struck him down right now. His mother was also there, and Kai took the chance to look at her. Even though she was a crying mess, when he locked eyes with her, she smiled encouragingly at him.
'What have I done? I embarrassed my family, just to help someone who I considered my friend. No, my sister.' Kai sobbed to himself when he looked away from his family.
"My son, that little boy that you have on the ground in chains like he is some kind of wild animal. He loves your daughter like she was his own sister. He talked about her with so much love and admiration every chance he got. And if I should have followed my instinct when it was telling me to come to this rechead place to get my son." Wang Guang cried, his body shaking from the impact of it. But his voice never wavers, and he spoke to the king like they were equals. And that made Kai's heart swell with pride. His father is standing up for him. He will get an earful from it if he makes it out alive, but Kai couldn't be more proud.
"So you knew about your son's act of tretrory!" Wei shouted, getting up off his throne and pointing an accusing finger in Wang Guang's direction.
"Act of tretrory? No, but knowing he was here? Yes." Guang took a step forward, and looked at Kai before looking back at Li Wei. "I was told by my wife that Kai was staying with Li Jen because of studies, I wanted to come for him that very same night, but she cried and reminded me about the ungodly things that started to happen. So, I let it be. When I saw that he didn't come home again, I was in rage. And yet again, I was told by my wife that he went on a trip with your daughter. So like before, I let it be. Days started to pass and I became even more worried even though my wife assured me that he was ok. It wasn't until a day ago when someone spotted me and asked if my youngest son had recovered from his illness. I was highly confused and immediately confronted my wife when she got home, and you know what she told me? She told me that it was just a rumour, she also said that she hears from Kai and that he is coming home in a day's time. Only to hear yesterday that my son has been arrested for impersonating the princess of the dragon's kingdom."
Sue-May hung her head low in shame, her husband didn't cast one nasty look at her. But she knew very well that he was upset, that he was lied to by her.
"You! I asked you if you knew anything about Kai's plan and you said no!" Li Jie yelled, pulling his sword and glared deeply at Sue-May.
"S-she- didn't know." Kai suddenly mumbled, which got everyone's attention. "She didn't know anything. She saw that it was getting dark, and I wasn't waiting for her as usual. Saw me and thought it was Li Jen, I wanted to play along. But I just couldn't lie to my mother, I couldn't lie to anyone."
"But you did!" Li Jie shouted. "You lied to everyone Kai! You pretended to be my sister, while you handed her over to Fong Woo like she meant nothing to you." He said the last part more quietly.
"Is it true?" One of the elders on the Dragon council asked. "Is this boy really capable of working with someone as powerful as Fong Woo? What motive would he have? And what would Fong Woo want with a powerless human like him?"
"Fong Woo might be a madman, but he is one of the smartest people out there. He knows that this bastard is close to my daughter, so he used him to get to her." Li Wei answered.
"Yes, we understand." This time, it was a man who was dressed in a white hanfu with gold designs of the water symbol on each sleeve. His hair is in a bun at the top of his head, with silver Guan over the topknot and a silver hairpin going across it. He didn't carry a sword, but Kai could feel the power radiating off of him. The shocking thing was, Kai can see the aura of a fox around him. And if he was mistaken, he looked like the older version of Qing yuan. "But, what do you think this young man would gain from helping Fong Woo? He isn't a Mage or anything cultivation wise, so what would he gain?"
Whispering can be heard throughout the conference room, as everyone puts into consideration what the Prospector had said.
"G-gold!" Li Wei shouted. "A chance to be in Fong Woo's army. He has always been an ambitious boy, always saying he wanted to join the royal guards when he gets older." Murmurs of yes started to fill the room again, and it made Kai panic.
"You make a valid point, but why would Fong Woo want Li Jen? Am sure he wants to destroy the cultivation world, but wouldn't he come after my kingdom first? Why start with yours?"
Kai looked from one person to the other, all this talking about Fong Woo. Who is he, and why would they think him, Wang Kai, who had never left this kingdom. Would be working for him. 'It's time for me to explain myself, and stop acting like I am actually guilty of something.
"I don't know who this Fong Woo person is! I haven't done anything to Li Jen, she was the one that asked to switch lives with me for one day. Which I had doubts, but agreed to it when she be-"
"Nonsense!" Li Wei yelled, interrupting him. "Li Jen would never do something like that!"
"But she did. She begged me so hard, and I couldn't say no. She was in love-"
"Not another word Kai!" This time, Li Jie was the one who raised his voice.
"It's true, and I won't shut up about it." Kai utter.
"Ah yes, I heard the rumors going around. But I thought it was just meaningless gossip. Because, how could Lee Cheng, the harvester's son, run away with the princess when everyone saw her at the palace. And my son is with her." Wang Guang chuckled. "Well I guess it isn't just meaningless gossip after all. The princess did run away with the harvester's son."
"You!" Li Wei foamed in anger. "Guards, arrest him now!" He moved to Wang Guang.
"Now hold on a minute there second brother Wei, maybe he is right about the rumors. And the boy did mention something about Li Jen being in love, and as a Prospector. I can tell if someone is lying or telling the truth. And I found no lie in his words."
"So, what are you saying, is that you believe his nonsense?" Wei asks in disbelief. "Even after the bethroled between my daughter and your son?"
Kai ears perked up at that. 'So, he's Huang Bao. Qing Yuan's father.'
Huang Bao laughed as he got up from where he's sitting, and walked up to where Wei was standing in front of his throne. "To be honest, I have never seen my son so happy to be around Li Jen, around anyone as a matter fact. Until these few days he came to visit. And you should have known something was off, with how the way he Li Jen acted when you announced that she was going to get married. Especially when she knew it was coming."
Li Wei grinds his teeth together. Bao was right, he should haven't known that something was wrong. But that doesn't change anything, his daughter is missing, and this boy is the only one who knows where she is.
"This doesn't change anything!"
"It might not be Li Wei, but you have no need to arrest this man. Because he hasn't done anything wrong."
Li Wei fidgeted a bit, knowing that he can't go against Huang Bao because he is a Prospector and head of the cultivation council also. "Very well then, but the boy stays in chains. And received the punishment of bani- '' But before Li Wei could finish his declaration, the doors to the conference room flew open and Huang Qing yuan walked in.
He walked up to the center of the room where Kai is sitting on the floor, and stood over him. Not once looking down at him.
"Before you make any rash decision, you should know that Kai isn't just your normal stable boy. And he isn't lying about Li Jen."
Bao looked strangely at his son, a small smile forming at the corner of his mouth. "So you knew that he was Li Jen?"
"Yes I didn't. I didn't know at first, but I knew something was wrong. But after the fire, I started putting it together. And I read his aura, which made me find out something more interesting." Qing yuan said, with no expression on his face.
"And, what is that son?" Bao asked.
"Yes, enlighten me, young prince." Li Wei asks, curious as well. So was Kai and everyone else. Everyone else, except Wang Guang and his wife Sue-May.
"I found out that Kai is actually the so-"
The whistling sound of an arrow piercing something echoes throughout the room, and when everyone looks. They saw Kai with an arrow in his chest, before he burst into flames and then a pile of ashes.
"Mother!" Li Jie shouted in shock. And when everyone looked in the Queen's direction, they saw her with a bow aimed where Kai was sitting.