Free Web NovelChapter 395: Chapter 395
"I suggest you teach your other two children better, so that we can prevent a nasty situation like this one from repeating itself." Azul stared down at him dispassionately.
Falein bared his teeth with a snarl as he pushed himself up from the floor, rising with the fury of a wounded animal. For a moment, he looked as though he had forgotten where he was entirely. Rage had hollowed out every other thought in his mind, leaving nothing but a violent, suffocating need for retribution. He lunged forward, preparing to charge at Azul like a raging bull. Anger and hatred coursed through him, slowly choking the air from his lungs.
But before he could even reach the prince, two royal guards intercepted him. They seized him by the arms and shoved him back with enough force to halt his advance. Falein struggled immediately, thrashing violently as they tried to restrain him. The guards tightened their hold, bracing themselves as he fought like a man possessed.
"How dare you?" Falein roared, his voice raw with grief and fury. "Unhand me this instant! You have no right to lay a hand on me."
He strained against the guards, muscles trembling with the effort of breaking free.
"You monster!" he spat at Azul. "You killed my son! You killed him for demanding justice for his sister. He did what His Majesty has been unable to do, and you killed him for it!" His voice echoed violently through the large throne room, reverberating off the high stone walls and arched ceilings. The gathered nobles stood frozen in place, watching the spectacle unfold with wide eyes and tight, uneasy expressions.
Then Falein’s gaze shifted. Slowly, his eyes lifted toward the dais where the king and queen sat upon their thrones.
"Heartless," he snarled hoarsely. "The lot of you. Soulless beings." freёweɓnovel.com
His lip curled in disgust. "Your son murdered my child. We all saw it happen. Yet you sit there on your ghastly thrones, doing nothing." His voice cracked slightly, the words scraping painfully out of his chest. "One child has already been taken from me, yet it was not enough for you. You chose to take another."
"You are causing quite the scene, Lord Tomar." Nheera’s voice cut through the room like a blade drawn slowly from its sheath. She spoke coldly, each word deliberate and controlled, laced with quiet warning. "I suggest you control yourself."
Her statement only stoked the fire burning within him.
Falein’s chest tightened painfully, the pressure building until it felt as though his ribs might splinter under the strain. He tried to draw a full breath, but the air refused to fill his lungs properly. The back of his eyes stung as tears threatened to spill, blurring his vision for a fleeting moment.
He had not yet fully processed his son’s death. Grief lurked just beneath the surface but he refused to let it take hold. Anger was easier. Anger kept him standing. Anything else, and he feared he might collapse right there in front of all of them.
And what a sight that would be, watching the powerful Lord Falein Tomar crumble beneath the weight of his son’s death.
He refused to give them the satisfaction of seeing him so broken.
His son’s body still lay sprawled in the center of the throne room, his blood staining the floor beneath him. The crimson pool had spread wide across the floor, turning the sight into something grotesque. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
Arik’s life had been cut brutally short, and his death had been turned into a spectacle for the entire court to witness. It was an offense that could not be forgiven.
When Falein spoke again, he did not look down at Arik’s body. He kept his eyes fixed squarely on the queen.
"You claim that my son was guilty of treason for falsely accusing you of a crime," he said. "How could you declare such a thing when there was no trial? My son should have been granted a fair trial, yet you took that right from him and killed him. He had a witness to support his claims while you had none."
He swept his gaze across the throne room.
"And now everyone here can see the kind of people who rule this kingdom. Prince Azul has committed a great crime against my House," Falein declared, his voice ringing loudly through the chamber. "I demand recompense. And I demand it in blood for the insult done to my family’s honor."
Then he turned his head slowly toward Azul. "Therefore," he said, his voice lowering into something cold and deliberate, "I challenge Prince Azul to a duel."
The words struck the room like a blow.
"Tomorrow," he continued. "At noon. By the Whistling Birch."His eyes locked onto Azul’s with burning intensity. "Come armed."
Shock rippled through the gathered court.
Gasps broke out among the nobles, and several voices erupted into startled exclamations. Even the queen’s carefully composed expression cracked for the briefest of moments, the smallest fracture appearing in her otherwise flawless mask.
It was not unheard of for a nobleman to challenge a prince. But the sheer audacity of it—here, now, in the middle of the throne room, while Arik’s blood still stained the floor—left the entire court stunned.
They had expected grief. They had expected rage. But they had not expected defiance. Especially not from a man who had not seemed this torn when his daughter, Luria, was murdered. The tension in the room thickened until it felt almost tangible.
"If you believed you had the authority to murder my son," Falein sneered, "then I see no reason why you would refuse this challenge. Put your weapon to use. Or is your sword only good for murdering innocent, unarmed men?"
All sense of decorum had long since fled the room. The moment Arik fell to the floor with his throat cut open, propriety had died with him.
The queen opened her mouth, no doubt preparing to deliver some sharp rebuke.
But Falein had no interest in hearing it.
With a violent shrug, he tore himself free from the guards’ hold. They hesitated, exchanging uncertain glances, but did not try to restrain him again.
