Chp.18: Threat.

"You did a good job Mateo. You may leave", Duncan said and Mateo bowed once again since Duncan asked him to leave.

The guards standing outside the office door closed the door and Duncan walked back to his seat behind the desk.

It was obviously a letter from Desmond. Duncan opened it without expecting much from the letter itself.

But the words that he read made him spring up from his seat. His heartbeats increased as he panicked and stormed out of his office.

His guards bowed as he walked out, but Duncan was so panicked and desperate after reading the letter he quickly asked for a guard and called a carriage.

What was actually written there...?

"Has he finally lost it? What is up with him?" Duncan was thinking as he hastily climbed down the stairs.

The building was crowded with knights everywhere and since it was raining outside everyone was indoor.

He walked as quickly as possible.

Thought stroming inside his head and his expressions showing clearly what he was thinking, he made his way from the crowd of bowing knights and servants in the hallway.

"You majesty, I've called sir..." Hilton suddenly showed up and was trying to inform Duncan as he saw that he was rushing towards him.

"Ask him to accompany me immediately." Duncan gave his orders in passing as he walked passed Hilton.

Hilton was dumbfounded since he had already just completed all the tasks he was assigned to do.

"Guess I'll just have to do what I am asked to." Hilton thought as if there was nothing else he xould probably do, and walked to the office room of Gordon.

Duncan continued walking and met Gordon on his way.

"So yeah I am thinking of posting the notice..." Gordon was talking to some knights about official documents when they noticed that the king is walking towards them.

"Greetings you majesty." All the three of them made a bow to Duncan who was in visible rush.

"Gordon come with me." Duncan accepted the greeting of the other knights and dragged Gordon.

Gordon was the second person who was dumbfounded.

"Hey,hey." Gordon tried to reason with Duncan since he wanted to know why he was being dragged but Duncan didn't seem to be in the mood.

He also noticed that Duncan was roaming around without his coat that is supposed to be worn by the emperor when he is working inside the Kalsa building.

Thinking that this might be some genuine rush Gordon quitely and steadily almost ran behind Duncan.

They soon approached the carriage that was already standing outside the main entrance of the building. Duncan and Gordon quickly made their ways inside the carriage and the rain made a sound that was enough to fill the silence.

Shuffling through some papers that Gordon still had in his hands he summoned the courage to talk Duncan.

Duncan was already panting heavily.

"Seems he just stormed out of his office and ran all the way down here. What was the rush though?" Gordon thought for about a minute before opening his mouth and asking for the reason.

Duncan was flushed. Maybe he had a panic attack, maybe something happened to someone. There was actually no reason that Gordon could pick for satisfying his own curiosity and thus he took a deep breath.

"Where are you going in such a hurry?" Gordon asked trying to make it clear that he wasn't necessarily interested in putting his nose in other's business.

"He wrote me a letter." Duncan said right away without showing any signs of frustration but instead worry.

"That's news. Hah." Gordon thought to himself as he prepared himself to ask the next question. "So..."

"Yes is was Desmond." Duncan quickly answered as if he knew what the question was going to be. His eyes focused outside the window.

Although it was barely possible to see anything since the rain made it difficult. But it was as if Duncan was looking forward to reaching somewhere. And this time it felt that time mattered.

"What did Desmond say?" Gordon asked with all his seriousness.

Duncan looked in Gordon's eyes for a few moments. "Did I make a mistake?" He asked Gordon.

His voice was definitely weak. And the question was in itself a truth that Duncan was questioning himself, was questioning his actions and was questioning his existence.

Gordon knew that there was no supposed right answer to this question and thus he took a deep breath and gave Duncan a smile.

"If I say it was a mistake, then 52 nobles who supported this decision would come for my neck don't you think so?" Gordon tried shifting the question.

Duncan gave him a spontaneous smile but the worry in his eyes could not stay hidden from Gordon, his friend since childhood.

"You need to take a breath first Duncan. Otherwise life will always look like a crisis." Gordon said with an earnest tone.

And Duncan knew what he was exactly trying to say. So he thought that he should tell Gordon about what was actually written in the letter.

"He wrote to the queen yesterday." Duncan said with anger in his eyes.

Gordon snapped.

"What did that bastard do?" He asked the question once more crumbling a peice of paper in his eyes.

"He wrote that he visited the queen last night." Duncan said gritting his teeth.

Gordon's temper was rising. "Can't that peice of shit actually give us some break?" Gordon said trying to hide his anger in his polite tone.

"I want to see the queen right away." Duncan said in a desperate tone. He was worried, it was reflecting in his tone.

All the questions that came to him before - "Am I truly married? What if this is a dream? She is a count's daughter, what if she throws a fit since I didn't go to the Eastern palace yesterday?" A lot of such thoughts slowly got tangled into a web of mixed of emotions.

And he kept on thinking and thinking and one thought appeared out of nowhere, "Is she really my wife? Or is she Desmond's? Or what if she is nobody's wife?" These questions now felt like a curse to him.