Kitanna
Chapter 88: RUMOUR OF THE BASTARD KING

Chapter 88: RUMOUR OF THE BASTARD KING

[MUSIC RECOMMENDATION: BEAUTIFUL GOODBYE ~ CHEN]

After the arrival of the baby boy, Khelan hosted parties in the palace for days to welcome his first son. Gifts were sent by kings from different kingdoms to welcome the child. Bareea was treated like the most precious gem found on earth, even taking the position of Almaria in Khelan’s heart.

The child was named Labre Morgair.

Almaria was relieved when the child turned out to be a boy. Now the threat she felt about the throne being snatched away from her was no more.

Larel and Kitanna were prohibited from seeing the child; Almaria did not want to risk anything, especially when it came to Kitanna.

"Why do you think she hasn’t made her move yet?" Deonisia asked Almaria after they had visited the baby and Bareea.

"Maybe she realized it was a lost cause?" Almaria answered because that’s the only explanation she could think of. Maybe Kitanna decided to give up after Bareea had a son.

Deonisia shook her head a little; she doubted it was the reason. The little while she had stayed in the palace, she got to know that Kitanna was someone who enjoyed her enemy’s plight. If she was taking her time to attack, it only meant she was planning a great destruction for them. Deonisia kept this to herself and just agreed to what Almaria had said with a nod.

Kitanna did not bother herself when she was banned from seeing the baby, but that didn’t mean she won’t send the infant gifts. Like they say, children bring happiness, and she was glad to have a young blood in the palace, the same goes for Larel.

Standing outside the royal stable, Kitanna watched as Nix was caring for his horse. She opened her lips and said,

"Nix, I remembered something last night." Kitanna whispered to Nix as she watched him brush his most precious horse.

Nix dropped what he was doing and turned to look at the princess; he had told her to keep her revenge aside until she remembers something tangible enough to fight with. Hearing now that she remembered something meant that the princess had been working hard.

"Let’s talk inside." Nix looked around the palace; even walls now had ears, especially when he hadn’t found the actual person who had silenced Lady Aggie and was still watching Kitanna’s every move.

Now inside Kitanna’s room, she opened up to Nix what she saw in her dream. It was the same dream she had a long time ago, before she woke up abruptly with a panic attack. This time, she listened to every word.

"My father found out that Almaria had lied; Khelan was never his son." Kitanna revealed. In her dream, She and Khelan had snuck out of the palace to play deep inside the woods when they got pricked by an unknown thorn which left them sick, and their blood draining daily. The former King had offered his blood to the both of them. Kitanna was revived, but it didn’t work on Khelan. And that was how King Dunstan found out it was foul play. Khelan was not of his blood.

"My father gave Almaria the option to leave with her child; he made up his mind not to punish her or disgrace her. But Almaria used me as bait in front of my father," Kitanna continued.

Nix nodded in agreement to this; the king’s former eunuch Severus had also said the same thing. It only authenticates the memory the princess had just retrieved.

"Good, have you thought of what to do with it?" Nix asked; he was going to stand by her with any decision she made. This was her fight, and she had the right to choose how to punish the people who ruined her family and snatched the throne from them.

Kitanna grinned mischievously, "Have I ever failed to entertain you? I have just the right show." Her eyes flickering with something wicked.

"Let’s put the palace gossip mongers to good use." She whispered.

...

Kitanna sat at the royal garden, her hair flying with the wind as she had let it loose without any pin to hold it together. She held in her hand a bottle of wine jar, and she gulped it, making sure it dropped on her body.

She staggered in the garden like she was very drunk, murmuring to herself. When she noticed from the corner of her eyes maids rushing to help her go back inside the palace, Kitanna turned her face to grin.

"Princess Kitanna, the wind is too much. You will get cold in your body." One of the maids said out loud as the wind was swallowing her voice.

Kitanna rubbed her hand on her hair, ruffling it up; she counted the maids that were there, and it was the same people who mentioned her name during the investigation of Lady Aggie’s murder. She began,

"I am so sad, tonight makes me remember things I should not be saying."

Gurit, who was standing with other maids, raised her face to look at the princess; she inched her ears closer to hear what the princess was about to say. If she was drunk, then she was liable to spill the royal family’s dirty secret.

"Khelan,...is not the king Dunstan’s child, he is not my brother....by blood,...but I accept him," Kitanna knowingly said it out loud enough, then she held her mouth.

"Oh my! What did I just say!" She peeked at the maids and saw their eyes widen in shock. Kitanna took it as a hint to continue.

"I heard he doesn’t have a.. father..." Kitanna staggered a little; this was enough information to raise questions in the palace about Khelan’s actual birth. When she was sure the message had been passed, Kitanna started walking to her quarters.

The maids rushed to help her; she moved her hand and said, "I’m fine. I just want to be alone. I hope I can trust you all with my secret. I only say my mind when I’m drunk." Kitanna rubbed her forehead gently and staggered, disappearing inside the main palace.

The maids who were now left behind in the garden turned to look at each other.

"King Khelan is not the former king’s actual son? That is to say he is a bastard?" One of the maids murmured.

"Shh.. don’t let your lips be the end of you. Remember we can’t say this; the princess was only in her moment of weakness. She had begged us to keep the secret." Another maid suggested.

Gurit sneered, "Who said we can’t say it? Who will know it was us? We just have to tell it to others; the princess doesn’t even remember our faces." She just couldn’t let such hot gossip pass her by. And not just that, she wanted to enjoy the face of Bareea when she finds out that the father of her child was nobody.

"Barea has been flying too high, especially since she put to bed. Let’s make sure she knows her place." Gurit suggested, and other maids had no choice but to nod in agreement.

Kitanna, who was standing not far away from them, turned to smile at Nix, "They took the bait.". Now she just had to sit back and enjoy the show, she won’t have to do much. People treaded on such dirty rumours about the royal family, and when they had a whiff about it. They did everything possible to stain the person’s reputation.

"Sorry, Khelan" Kitanna muttered, the battle will only get messy.

Soon the news started spreading, maids, lower-ranked guards, cleaners, eunuchs, and all servants who worked for the royal family.

What started as a whisper, "Did you know? King Khelan is a bastard," spread through the walls of the palace like a plague until it hit the doors of Almaria.

After her bath, Almaria walked to the closet to get changed; that was when she noticed a white parchment on her table, written boldly with a red ink she read the words through her teeth.

"Whore! Who is the father of your child?" Almaria grabbed the paper immediately, looking round the room to find who was trying to play mind games with her. Her door quickly opened; Khelan rushed inside holding the same type of paper as she did.

Almaria’s heartbeat increased with every step Khelan took towards her.

"Mother, what is the meaning of this?" Handing the paper over to her mother, Almaria read through.

"No bastard blood should seat on the throne!"