Kitanna
Chapter 244: STRONG FOR TOO LONG

Chapter 244: STRONG FOR TOO LONG

[MUSIC RECOMMENDATION: WASTED ~ YOUNHA

Back at Morado, Chantal walked briskly towards the courtroom where the king and his officials were having a meeting. Upon arriving, he stood at the side with his head bowed; his message was urgent, but he didn’t dare interrupt the king. He held tightly to the parchment he had gotten from the prisoner, Lady Deonisia.

Nix noticed the anxious look on Chantal’s face and continued the meeting but ended it in the next minute. He stepped down from his throne and walked towards the guard, whose face was still bowed.

"Your Majesty, Lady Deonisia finally named the traitor and also his child. I got her to sign it, in case she tries to change her words later," Chantal reported diligently, still with his head bowed.

Nix hummed, "I shouldn’t read it alone; get my grandfather to the bigger room. You there," Nix pointed at the maid who was standing close by. "Call the queen," Nix ordered, and they made their way to the bigger room.

When everyone arrived, including Larel, who had been taking care of Kitanna, the room was very quiet as Chantal opened the parchment to read. They were not scared of knowing the kingdom or man that had killed Nix’s father; their fear was finding out who the man’s child was. As Deonisia had claimed that the child had been living and dining with them, everyone was a suspect.

"Go ahead and read," Nix waved for the young guard to start.

Chantal cleared his throat before he started reading. He had already heard the news from the woman, but he couldn’t believe it. It was someone they were very well familiar with.

"I swear on my life that I will say the truth and nothing but the truth. I, Deonisia, went to the kingdom of Badukeh for help. The one who killed Heiron’s son was Venantius, who is known as the supreme King after his father died.

Hash used to have a hidden relationship with this man, so she hid his son and tried to use him to bring down Morado. The son is nobody else but the young merchant who poses to be related to Khelan’s former wife. Cortez is the name he bears. He is the son of the man you have been looking for," Chantal completed, lifting his head from the parchment to gauge everyone’s reaction.

"Is this true? Lady Hash used to know this man? Has she been using us all along?" Larel was the first to ask. The information was so overwhelming that she couldn’t control her emotions. She knew Cortez was not her brother, and his past life was somehow shady. Seeing how he was found drenched in blood, what she never thought of was him being royal blood and Lady Hash knowing about him all these years.

Kitanna narrowed her eyes; she didn’t say anything. All she did was look at her husband to hear what he was going to say. For some reason, she found everything to be suspicious but she wasn’t going to say it.

Hieron looked at his grandson, who sat relaxed on his couch. Then he said, "Are we going to believe the words Deonisia says? I think we should question those mentioned. Have you received a reply from the letter sent to Hash?" The older man asked.

Nix shook his head, "I haven’t gotten a reply; she said she was going to check her goods. Most of them are at Odel, so I sent the letter to Odel but no reply yet," he remarked.

Kitanna finally spoke, "Deonisia might have twisted the words, but there should be an atom of truth in it. I’ll send a letter to Axilla; she should come back home until everything is settled. If what Deonisia said is really true, they might try to harm Axilla to get to us. But I doubt Lady Hash or Cortez could do that, but we should stay on the safe side," the queen replied, getting a nod of agreement from everyone.

"Chantal, go now and send a letter to Axilla. She should return home before the first cock crows, while we dig further into this," Nix ordered.

Chantal ran quickly out of the place, with a sense of urgency he picked up a quill and parchment scribbling the words for the young girl. They were not always in good terms, but she was also like a family to him. Chantal didn’t want any harm to befall the girl.

Back at the merchant village, Cortez finally came back home. The sun was setting beautifully, casting a reddish glow in the sky as people packed in their goods to go back home and rest for the day.

Cortez stepped down from the carriage, making his way towards the inn. On reaching his door, one of the assistants who served him at home rushed to greet him with a bow, then he whispered inaudibly to his Chief.

Cortez pursed his lips, "Marianne again? It’s okay. You can leave now," he remarked. Walking inside his room, he removed his jacket, wearing only his shirt with two buttons left open. His eyes moved to the door when he saw a shadow hovering just outside his room.

Cortez opened the door to see the hazel eyes of Axilla staring at him, with her position crouched like a small rabbit.

His eyes gazed down at her, and he chuckled. "What are you doing?" He asked in a calm voice.

Axilla gulped; when she heard the carriage come in, she knew it was Cortez. She waited in front of his door but didn’t know the right time to knock, so she had bent down to check if he was sleeping already.

"Welcome back," she muttered under her breath.

Cortez rubbed his temples, "You can stand anytime now," he replied, stretching his hand for her to hold.

Axilla cleaned her sweaty hands on her gown before holding the larger hands of Cortez, which now swallowed her smaller ones. When she stood face to face with him, she craned her neck and asked, "Are you mad at me, I mean about last night?"

Cortez raised his other free hand to flick the girl’s forehead slightly.

"Ah!" Axilla gasped, rubbing her forehead gently.

Cortez smiled, "Who gets mad over something like that? Is that why you’re acting like a tiny rabbit that offended its owner?" He sighed, what was he going to do with this one.

Axilla bit her lower lip; it felt good to be around Cortez. Now that she knew he wasn’t mad at her, she can now comfortably sleep. She pulled her hand that Cortez held gently and turned to leave when she heard him say.

"You won’t tell me how you stood up for yourself without me there with you, so I can praise you?" He asked, resting his side on the wall while he stared at the girl unblinkingly.

Axilla stopped in her steps, turning to meet his midnight black eyes, she gulped; nothing ever passed his ears. Who was she fooling when she thought Cortez wouldn’t know about what transpired today.

"I didn’t want to tell you because I was a little embarrassed," she replied in a small voice.

This statement had Cortez tilt his head to a side; from what he heard from his assistant, there was nothing to be embarrassed about. Axilla had everything under control, and the other woman left in tears except he missed something.

Axilla tried to say the next words without breaking into tears, but it wasn’t possible. The first words she said caused tears to drip down her face, "Cortez - I... wish I had parents." Her voice finally broke, causing tears to stream down her face uncontrollably, no matter how hard she tried. It didn’t stop.

"Hey... hey..." Cortez closed the distance between them, wiping the tears gently from her face.