Burnt

Seven years ago…

Faust furrowed his brows. He was never afraid to express his disagreement to the Kasai monarch.

"I think it's fruitless, Your Highness… I know your intentions are good but we should stop before anyone finds out who we are communicating with. You cannot risk your crown or your life anymore. After all, we haven't made much progress yet. Perhaps this is not the right time to question the status quo. Let the future generation figure it out and deal with it. In the mean time, we should just focus on grooming your next heir."

"I believe we have already started that by imposing the royal training on Hao," King Mikihisa remained stoic on the throne.

"With all due respect, Prince Hao is really smart but he is also becoming a problem. He doesn't know how to listen. He is mean to the palace staff including yours truly. He lacks empathy and he bullies his brother. He is a privileged little prick with no respect for anyone. You cannot teach good manners in a royal training. On the other hand, his twin brother, Prince Yoh… he may seem a bit gullible and indecisive but he has compassion for other people. You just need to train him well in the arts of diplomacy and he would be perfect as king."

"Faust, as per tradition, Hao is older than him -"

"By three minutes!" The doctor wanted to pull out his hair. "I know trouble when I see one, Your Highness. It looks like you are sticking by the book when it comes to governing your own turf. It's just ironic. Clearly, you are not the type to follow rules. Let me put it this way, Your Highness... You are trying your best to establish harmony among the four kingdoms but you need continuity. You must have an heir who had the same motivation and vision as you. Otherwise, all your efforts will be wasted."

Faust walked to and fro in deep thought. He scanned his surroundings for any palace guards who are eavesdropping on them. Fortunately, the king had sent them all away before they started their conversation. "I might just take Eliza with me back to Kouku when your cruel son's reign would begin," he whispered loudly.

"To Kouku, you say?" the ten year old prince emerged from behind the grand piano. He had been dozing off there but was awaken when the two adults came in. "Father, did I hear him correctly? This despicable man here is from an enemy kingdom?" the young Hao pointed at Faust. "He ought to be hanged, Father, but you knew, right? You knew all along." The prince took a vial from his pocket.

"Where did you get that?" Faust threw him a stern look.

"Oh, I've been to your secret room and mixed my own concoctions there."

The doctor tried to keep his cool. "Young man, I am not sure what it is that you're holding in your hand but that looks dangerous. Those ingredients in my storage are not safe to play with."

The prince slowly advanced to his tutor. "I have always hated you, you know. It was obvious that you prefer my weakling brother over me who is a more rightful ruler. But you!" the young Hao faced the king, "You disappointed me Father!"

King Mikihisa rose from his seat and approached his son. "Hao, I want you to calm down... You don't fully understand what is going on."

"Shut up!" the boy clenched his fists.

"Guards, guards, we have a situation here," Faust calmly called out to the palace sentinels stationed just outside the door." They came running to the throne room in utter confusion.

"Please accompany the prince to his room. He is quite upset," requested the doctor.

The guards held the prince in between them. Surprisingly, he did not punch or kick anyone. He just kept on glaring at his father as he was gently pulled away.

"Oh, before you go, the vial please…" Faust stretched out his hand so that the young Hao could place the bottle on his palm.

With youthful agility, the boy opened the vial and threw the contents to his father's face.The king screamed in agony as the acid burned and melted his skin.

"That's for betraying me, Father! You are a traitor! You are in cahoots with the enemy! I hate you!"

The guards quickly got hold of the screaming prince and dragged him towards the door. More palace sentinels rushed to the scene to aid the king. Faust shouted instructions amidst the chaos in the room.

Present time...

"Fortunately, no one believed the prince. The palace people hated him since he was obnoxious. So Prince Hao was sent over to Mont St. Michel to live with the duke. Partially, to silence him but mostly to teach him some manners. Eliza and I were thrown to the Kasai border to bury the true reason for the king's burnt face. The exile was my idea so that the rumors would die down. I couldn't go back to Kouku. I did not want to cause trouble to King Hideki, too. Communication between the two monarchs stopped abruptly when I was exiled. King Mikihisa believed that the relationship with Kouku had soured because King Hideki did not also make any efforts to reach out to him. So King Mikihisa resorted to sending spies."

Amidamaru was beginning to understand more the purpose of their missions before. He initially thought that the king might just be paranoid.

"As for me, I've gotten used to living at the border. I sold medicines to both Kouku and Kasai customers. I built a raft to cross the Great Spirit's River in the dead of the night in order to transport my goods. I would sell them in nearby towns the following morning. The peace treaty was effective in keeping citizens away from the border so it was good for the business."

"One night, I met that goofball Mosuke by the river. It appeared that he was drinking while working. He got too drunk that he accidentally drove a newly forged sword to his left foot to keep it steady. He was an ardent believer of the Great Spirit so he bloodily limped his way towards the river to soak his pierced foot on the water thinking it had magical powers. He had already passed out when I found him by a tree so I carried him over to my raft and brought him to our quaint house. As I began to tend his wound, he started kicking and throwing punches when I thought he was already knocked out. He was delirious. I had to do what I had to do. I restrained him with the help of Eliza and gave him my experimental medicine. Death would claim him anyway if I cannot give him proper treatment. Well, it worked! He became a friend and a regular customer. He resold my medicines as a sideline to his day job. Things got even better. I made a trading partner in Chikyuu who was selling Kouri butterbur. I spent my earnings on those herbs to produce more bottles of the medicine which I branded as the sleeping potion. A few drops would help you sleep soundly. Drink more than that and you would be induced into a coma-like state."

"That's the potion that was used to put the Kouku palace people to sleep, " Amidamaru repeated his theory earlier.

The doctor nodded. "I did not know who was Mosuke's client but someone did plan the murder of the Kouku royal family and he knew where to get the goods."