Chapter 32: The Devil's Bargain

Chapter Warning: Violence.

Strong hands gripped Jian Li's arms and wrist. Tall, intimidating silver geared soldiers have been ordered to restrain the wild flailing King, shouting desperately to get the royal doctor to treat the former King. But by the looks of it, the nobles and the servants does not care about him anymore. He was not being obeyed, instead, he was avoided. Scared to even look at him in the eye.

Deverus took a step, ordering the soldiers to dispose of the feared King: "Take him to a different dungeon outside the castle." Afterall, having the King see his favorite attendant tortured half to death would disturb his heart, it might end up stirring the power inside him and it might cause more trouble for the palace. More unwanted ruckus to happen.

The soldiers began to drag the King by the arm, forcibly pulling him to step outside the Grand Hall.

Jian Li who couldn't do anything against brute strength only accepted his fate peacefully and calmed himself. He perfectly walks in a relaxed manner, trying to recall the right order of events that has happened on the midnight.

Just before they would turn to a hallway leading outside the palace, Jian Li would notice a faint, constantly disappearing dark maroon lines on the golden walls. In his curiosity, he inspects longer as they walk. All his life, the perfectly clean and sparkling walls of this part of the hallway does not have any marks of this kind. Anything different that was added inside the palace are immediately identified by him because ever since then, his eyes would get tired of the everyday occurrence to only live inside this palace and nowhere more, he had memorized everything inside of it.

'Marks?' spared him extra glances by the wall, his brows furrowing.

Following where the other marks were, he squints his eyes to see further. 'It comes from the last passageway. The dungeons?'

"Where are all of you taking me?" Asked Jian Li to the soldiers that was carrying him away outside on the pouring rain.

"To detain, sir." Said the man on his left.

Stepping out outside the palace, the loudness of the rain and its droplets would abuse them. From all the noise and thunders, Jian Li yells at them, his wet hair flying with the wind. "This is foolish! Why would you imprison me?! For what reason should i be imprisoned?!"

The man clutching on his right arm grew a nerve on his temple. He sudden halt made the pack stop in their tracks. His arm made a full swing on the air and attacked. "Just shut up!"

"Gah!" His stomach immediately crumpled from the sharp pain a heavy blow of fist that struck his core. The King grew dizzy and his knees weakened, almost falling down but the armoured guards immediately caught his arms for him not to fall down.

"Hey!" Shouted the man on Jian Li's left to the soldier who punched the King on the guts.

He sighed, laughing and continuing to drag Jian Li. "Haha, that felt good."

The soldier on the left sweated hard in this weather, feeling the King's hand tremble in anger. "You're looking for death, you know he's still the King, right?!" He panicked, worried that something strange will happen on the water that was falling down the sky.

"More like, temporary. If he'll be publicly executed after King Hongwu's burial, the second Prince will eventually take the throne instead." He explained but the soldier at the left still felt the want to cower because the once well respected candidate for the throne is now being treated this way. The kindhearted soldier muttered a soft sorry beside the King, which the huffing Jian Li heard even with the hard pouring rain.

The soldier scoffed. "And it's not like he'll remember us."

Well, that's what he thought. Jian Li, is an observant person. His eyes would never lose its sharpness, he could identify from faces to voices easily. From footsteps, and even identifying a figure from behind. His sense of observation is way too sharp and his mind has capacity to memorize anything that he want. Memorizing scent and voice also comes in his forte.

He was brought on a small, joint building of the palace. From there he was dragged on an underground facility. Jian Li looks around while his frail body trembles from the coldness of the wind outside. Old bricks laid on the ground, and orange lamps was lit every five steps that they take. A long passageway was in front of him to tread on, cells by the side were empty as well. The cells were empty but there were people inside, they were sitting there in bones.

The sight of white bones and rats made his body shiver even more, even the soldiers who should be accustomed to this sight shifted their eyes forward to not see anything related to human corpse.

The pack of soldiers with Jian Li within it halted infront of a big, empty cell, the keys jingled on the soldier's grip and a soft clack of the lock was heard, the bars of the cell creaked open.

Jian Li and the two guards that was holding him threw him inside the underground cell, dust flew off the ground when his wet body slumped down the floor, an inner lamp was lit and the soldiers have taken their leave, making sure that they have double locked the cell before coming up to the palace again.

He scans the room; he gets a table and a huge cell with a built in lantern on the wall, and one lamp placed on the low wooden table. He took a seat by the corner of the cell and sighed, meditating with his eyes closed as he tries to think what will be his next move.

After moments of collecting composure to not shake and shiver, the body heat that seeped on the wet golden robes stabilized, he grips his aching abdomen, feeling a sting from the punch he received from the soldier. The meditating King snapped his eyes open when a soft thud alerted his ears. He raised his head and stood up, cautiously walking near the bars. He watched the shadow getting closer to his cell, anticipating for a certain person to arrive. He thought that maybe this time it was finally Aren to come and save him.

But in his dissapointment, a white clothed servant was ordered to aid him by the higher-ups. As always, they wore a veil. Jian Li was still shocked that the head servant wasn't around. He sighed.

"My Majesty, i have brought you your garments." Said the servant, slipping a white gown and a bottle of ointment with the robe through the thick bars of the cell. Jian Li received it with both his shaky hands, still shivering from the coldness of air.

"Thank you." Jian Li softly said, feeling dizzy from the strong rain outside, it was affecting his system, he felt drained and tired. In his sleepiness, he could smell a faint scent of sandalwood under his nose that relaxes him.

"It was nightshade." Spoke the servant bravely.

"?" The other one who couldn't understand only raised his head to look at the white veiled servant who was looking down at the floor.

"I was ordered by Lord Deverus to serve poison on His Majesty's cup and King Hongwu's wine. The toxic has a light smell, he told me to wash the glass with it. His death might be because of the toxic plant and not your doings."

'As i thought so.' Jian Li minded.

"I am aware." Said the King. But still, he was angry that Deverus, his father's long time friend planned an assassination for both of them.

"Also, he said that I should use the same preparation to the second Prince, Jian Morfran."

Just before the King could ask a question, the servant looked around in a rush. "I must go. I am not supposed to stay any longer. Please be patient My Majesty. Everyone waits for your return." Said the servant quickly before bowing deeply.

"Thank you." Jian Li nods, wholeheartedly grateful for the servant's honesty and bravery to speak up the truth.

"Please be well." Said the servant before going away back in the surface.

Jian Li was silent and only listened to the muffled sound of the rain from above. Although, it has weakened now, which also helped him normalized his condition.

He doesn't know what to do, he doesn't know how can he control water. Next steps were still unclear but he needed to think ahead, he needed to be advance in situations like this. He need to collect his head before coming to a solution.

He went around carrying the clothes and the ointment, putting it down on the cold and dirty floor. Jian Li gets the lamp and places it by the corner of the room, picking up the table and lifts it.

The soldiers on guard was surprised with the loud clang coming from the King's cell. The soldier who punched Jian Li early smirked immediately, shouting from afar: "Hey! You won't break out that cell by a wood!" Then he laughed mindlessly, not a trace of fear in his face. He thought that, afterall, the king might get punished and Jian Li's also way younger than him.

Jian Li grew a nerve on his forehead. 'I know that, you imbecile.' he thought as he picked up the broken pieces of wood on the floor. 'Good thing the wood was already rotting old, very easy to break.'

"Either we make a duplicate key, or fire. Yes, both." Jian Li talked to himself to entertain his lonely self, afterall his servant wasn't beside him to chat with him.

Setting a pile of broken and sharp wood on the center of the room, he picked up the lamp and tilted it for the wax to drip down the dry wood, once a big part was thinly covered with wax, Jian Li lit them with the fire from the lamp, making a small bonfire in the middle of the cell to keep his body warm.

"What's that smell?" A soldier spoke, sniffing around their post. "Smoke? I'll go check it out." The kindhearted soldier from before told the three other soldiers in guard at the underground prison, then left his spot and visited the King that was completely relaxed inside his cell.

"What's going on?" He spoke in a low voice, looking down at the light and ooh-ing at the fire on the floor.

The standing Jian Li sighed and leaned at the wall. "I was cold and made fire." His sharp voice echoed around the room, sending chills to the soldier's body.

"Oh." Then he thought, 'Well, he's not the king if his brain is dim.'

"Tell that brainless goon i am not going nowhere, it's stupid enough to hit an iron bar with wood isn't it?" Smiled Jian Li from far away, but still, the soldier felt the intense gaze of hate through his skull.

"A-ah yes, Your Majesty." He sweats and backs off, unable to meet the King's eyes.

Jian Li sighed, scaring off the soldier. "Leave the King be and be a good dog to a deceiving man."

The soldier felt somehow guilty at what he was doing, imprisoning the King over the royal advisor's orders? Really? Still, he did not utter the word and only obeyed the King's order with a deep bow before going back to his post. Noticing the fact that the atmosphere underground was far more colder than the stormy weather outside. He shook at the presence a King truly has.

Jian Li sighs and disrobed himself, the wet and heavy golden clothes slumping down the floor. Beside the fire that was increasing its warmth little by little, he removes his boots and silk socks, putting the wet garments aside.

His inner garments wasn't that wet so he just waited for the slight parts to dry, as well as his skin to warm up beside the fire. He needed to be strong, he couldn't be a depressed man, he has to protect himself.

But being strong wasn't easy. He sighs. His father was killed, and they say it was because of him and his bizarre control of water. He killed King Hongwu with something he doesn't know he was capable of using.

He looks at his palms, worried about the things anything he might do with them. He shook his head while the droplets of his wet hair flew in all directions. He thought that it will be for the best if he didn't try out anything with his powers for now, doing so might cause another wave of strangeness to happen again. Who knows if his powers will act up around people and accidentally wipe them off the face of the earth? It was only lucky that he altered the course of the water that he accidentally threw.

In the first place, how did he even summon that power?

All the thinking made his head hurt, he gave up and picked up the fresh and dry white gown then wore them on both of his shoulders. Almost forgetting to do so, he picked up the bottle of ail that the servant thankfully gave him. Opening it, he smelled a nice scent of wood, he felt all fuzzy by sniffing it next to the fire, it was truly relaxing. Amazingly, when he rubbed the bottle's substance on his bruised abdomen, he felt the coolness spreading on his stomach, and he couldn't feel the soreness of his muscles a bit better.

Wrapping up the aiding session of his easily broken body, he scoots closer to the fire and closes his robe, tying them tightly by the side. He stretched his bare feet near the fire and warmed them, thinking of how quiet it was of not having Aren by his side for almost a day and a half now. Having someone by your side for years for every day and every hour had made one day for Jian Li miserable, like a boy who patiently waits for his parents he felt scared being all alone all of a sudden. The turn of the happy events scared him.

Thinking of what's next to do, he makes a back-up plan if they plan to imprison him any longer. All well and warm, Jian Li stands up and walked across the cell barefoot, gripping the lock and looks at how he could undo it. Firstly, forcing it is out of the options, he wasn't that strong to destroy it, furthermore, cause a noise isn't the best choice for the men that was guarding the prison.

Even though he was small and thin, it wasn't enough to fit through the cell's gap between the bars. His only choice was to study the lock's mechanism and its key's length. Thankfully, he paid attention of what the key's form looks like when they used it to lock him up and memorized it.

Apparently, there are two locks that are keeping him from escaping, one was easy to duplicate, and the other one seems difficult.

He has to sculpt one wooden key carefully with nothing but sharp rocks, meanwhile, he has to carefully unlock the other one with his hairpin. Thankfully, Jian Li was taught by Aren its ways on how to do it simply. Thinking of his servant caused his energy to feel down. But he does know that Aren will not standby the moment he hears about this. He believes Aren will find him.

While sitting beside the fire, the King slowly carves his way onto the wood from piece of table he got from breaking it just until he heard footsteps incoming. As quickly as he could, he hid the key inside his white robes and blew the wooden fragments of his carvings off to the fire setting them in a nice blaze.

Deverus and two of the guards escorted him infront of the cell, they were not opening the cell's lock in fear of the water that could attack them again, being careful as it is.

"Your Majesty." Called Deverus to the seated King beside his peaceful fire.

Jian Li stood up and walked not too closely to them. "How is my father?"

"The royal doctor proclaimed him dead the second he arrived. He was cold and not breathing. His heart was left no pulse after you struck him with your otherworldy... powers."

Jian Li was left deeply hurt that he was the main reason of his father's death. He still couldn't not believe it, he could not face the fact that he has killed someone and it was his own father. He was in terror of himself.

Even if he is scared, he has to accept it and keep the strength of a king his father told him to be. "It was not only I." He said, as he faces the confused Deverus. "You took part of my father's death. You poisoned him. I am aware of it all."

'How?! How did he?!— be composed Deverus. He is no threat. Dispose of him quickly.' Deverus' thoughts suggested, trying to face Jian Li in a cold manner.

"I am not sure of what you're talking about." As Deverus rejects Jian Li's claims, the two soldiers from before was also growing baffled by the conversation of the two.

'The royal advisor planned to kill King Hongwu?' they thought, yet as much as they want to leave from this exchange, they were ordered to guard Deverus.

"It was nightshade wasn't it?" Jian Li's words shocked Deverus who tried to fool himself that Jian Li was bluffing about knowing of the crime he did, but he really figured about it. How?

As if he could read minds, Jian Li answered the question that was lingering inside his mind. "One of your accomplice spoke to me, about you ordering them to put poison on the royal's glasses." Deverus gritted his teeth, feeling extremely betrayed after all threats he made to get the servant working under him.

"You also tried to poison me, and even my little brother. So what? To keep the throne all to yourself?" Jian Li stares at him with his cold blue eyes, in exemption that it actually feels like it could burn Deverus' body alive. "What's your plan now that i remained alive?" Jian Li continue to question him.

"Have you have any more plans to take me down?" Asked the King to the silent advisor.

Then he began talking again: "When I was being dragged out of the palace, i saw faint streaks of marks by the wall. Tell me what was it that you planned in the shadows?"

Seeing the man with shut lips, he picks up his boots and rubbed its soles with his thumb. "The blood on the carpet. It was unmistakably blood, how do you explain this?" He glares.

"Admit, Deverus." Jian Li takes a step forward that made the three back off. "Admit to your crimes and i might lower the sentence of your imprisonment." He spoke with authority but Deverus laughed at his face.

"As if you're in the place to talk Your Majesty?" Jian Li did not like the face the man was wearing.

Then Deverus continues. "You're the one who bears heavier crimes between us aren't you?"

The taller man scoffs and looks down on Jian Li as he steps forward. "Fine, it was I. I wanted to kill all the royals." Jian Li's eyes twitched in anger.

"I can take you down having that many witnesses from the Grand Hall. How about you? How do you plan to support your claim about the King's advisor poisoning his own bestfriend for so long?" As if a black cloud seethed behind Deverus, the smell of evilness outraged the King but still, he tried to be calm in all his might.

Jian Li spoke. "That attendant from before, and both the soldiers on your back. They witness your confession of crimes."

Deverus looks on his back to see the soldiers who quickly turned down their heads, this behavior made the man chuckle. "Do you really think they'll cooperate with someone who's in the brink of getting executed?" He laughed maniacally that echoed around the whole underground prison.

"Tell me, boy, do you love your brother?" Deverus asks with a violet glint on his eyes.

Jian Li nods, thinking of his stubborn brother. "Yes. I treasure my brother."

His smiles disappeared and his voice was filled with threat, he pokes his finger on Jian Li's forehead. "Try talking about exposing me and I will kill Morfran in a flash you wont even know when." His deep and rough voice made Jian Li shiver.

He furrowed his brows, he was wrathful at how Deverus turned to be a traitor afterall. "I thought you fancied my brother? You've been around him ever since.. why- how could you say that to someone who has been like your son for years?" Jian Li was enraged, the soldiers sweats at how things were getting heated.

Then Deverus madly laughs. "Why, for the name of my plan to take the throne! Waiting to take control of your baby brother was worth it. Look, he's completely my puppet now." Deverus mimics a puppeteer moving the strings with his fingers then laughs mockingly in front of Jian Li.

He sighs to quieten his laugh. "He is easy to fool."

"Why you—?!"

Deverus cut in and spoke. "Make your statement to the public that you killed the King and peacefully surrender the throne to me if you don't want your brother to resent you in the afterlife for letting him be killed just for you can be King." Deverus' eyes widens, gesturing his hand to his chest. "Jian Li, surrender the crown and kneel before me!" He desperately shouts, trying to make a deal with the King.

Jian Li grits his teeth and leans to Deverus just by the cell's bars. "Do not use my brother for your self professed fantasies. Revealing truth is the only way to justify my father's death. Deverus, you have sinned."

"I am the king of Jian kingdom, and I will bow for no one."