126. A Rich man..King maybe.

We did wake before the sun and in incredibly uncomfortable and cold beds.

Even covered with all those layers and a blanket, it was very chilly.

Zephyr's house was silent and cosy.. the bed big enough for 3,and those pillows.. those pillows were amazing!

A dozen fluffy ones surrounded you every morning, making every turn and twist more comfortable the one before.

I found myself thinking and feeling that Emet is home..not just some village and couldn't wait to officially move there. As first guardian to Mai, I'm really only needed in war times and..executions and such.

It was shameful work, which gave me nightmares at first..

It wasn't public ones, but those he wished to dispose of in silence.

I'm sure one day he will attempt to dispose of me and my household.

For even after almost two years of service,

I haven't gotten closer to the snake who, physically weak for sure but smart enough to keep his secrets close to his chest.

Me finding out my brother is alive and degraded each day was covertly done.

With the most careful planning , capturing, torturing, and killing some of his advisors, who poor souls some didn't even understand why they died..but they had too.

If Zephyr were a lesser man , he might have already killed me on his orders.

Since his people disappeared without a trace, I'm assigned to even less work and excluded from even the small council meetings.

He knew somehow, someway.. I had a hand in it.

That's why my plan of riding right beside him and his despicable trash of a brother, while Zephyr cut himself through and rescue Juan, was conceived.

It was a plan full of holes, he was quickly pointed them out, but it was all I had.

Who knows when Chensler gets bored and just ends his life along with any others in his harem.

How long can he survive? How much of my little brother still remained there?

The information now was 6 months old. He disappeared 3 years ago..and by the summer it will be close to 4 years since the last time I laid eyes on him...

But, again, it was all I had.

" We should've packed more layers...let's head to your castle in the ..the city of t-the..

t-he....the capital city man! "

He got angry at me for some reason for his atrocious tick of not remembering names of any kind.

" Civitaas Dei. I'm not going to bore you, but it has quite a history. "

" Why would I learn its history when I don't plan to come back." he was talking to his boots and snorted as if he heard something ridiculous.

" Why wouldn't you? " I had to ask.

He looked up with a very serious expression.

" Why would you? I mean, from everything you told me, it's a den of snakes.

The church rules everyone, makes and remakes all the laws as they see fit, and your king..whathisface, is a weak fool coming from a generation of them, who allowed this to happen.."

Ouch..the King and I had nearly identical blessings, but I saw his point.

" It's Helim, and you can't say stuff like that when we're there or especially about the Pope..Viego.. truth or not.. You're right.. the country itself is a nation of religious slaves. Can't be saved."

I long give up the dream one would imagine a blessed of Ehlite would have.

Saving my country..changing its people.

Nothing in this world is worth anything.. can be accomplished alone.

Those people were raised from a young age to be fanatical supporters of the church. Give all to Ehlite, and he might bless your child.

We, the blessed, might have had the abilities, yet those praised us would tear us into pieces if the church declared it so.

" Tell me about your parents.."

We walked downstairs with everything we had, nobody around but an even grumpier Peril. He probably didn't sleep.

I waited until the grey man scurried away for some hot tea.

" They are.. like Yelena. High society and unpleasant people, kind to your face and talk behind your back. I do want you to meet my distant cousin Heimy, he is not tainted by them.. or at least he wasn't the last time we spoke. "

I wish to once take Heimy away, but his parents were just as fanatical as the rest. If not for my grandmother, he would end up the same as them.

Nifa was smart enough to leave decades before me..she didn't visited often unless paid handsomely and generally left so fast the church didn't even know she was there..her marriage and her memories were enough to keep anyone away.

Blessed or not..in the eyes of the church, their love was unacceptable, and they needed to breed .. For more blessed might be born.

How I wish, I had that courage and took my brother with me instead of letting him stay behind and then only hearing of his disappearance and supposed death.

My parents even erected a monument for his memory, and I refused to even visit.

Only I and Gilly believed he was alive.

" Good..not a long list. Don't worry about me insulting those two cockroaches. I'll be taking some of this coin. " he tapped our bag with his legs full of his gold. " ..and make it disappear like magic. "

We made a beeline towards Malai and my house..for his gold.

" When are you gonna tell them why you have so much money? It's pure lies, Zeph,that 100 gold.. it wasn't some gift! He doesn't even know about Lylly or anybody else in the family!! "

I felt uncomfortable being the only one knowing how his wealth came to find him.

" And that's just the way it needs to stay.." he tapped the table while taking the flagon of hot tea from Peril and poured some for both of us.

" Why don't you just tell them? It's nothing shameful or problematic even... "

" Me training Mai Sakarai's soldiers are more than shameful..but, I did learn something watching them try..and mostly fail.." his smile and eyes were sad.

" Most of them want out but with nowhere to go.. they all just stuck. "

He was begged until he agreed for so much gold that it put some nobles to shame.

He used my house vaults to store it all. He only took 100 or so before and a that bag near his leg now and left the rest untouched.

He taught the commanders and the elite, his style of martial art, but not much later hired for every armed personnel in Malai city.

His martial arts combined with effective swordsmanship made almost 150,000 soliders well equipped into 150,000 well trained ones in a matter of months.

The man loved him. He talked with them, and he ate with them, listening to their stories, keeping everything about himself a secret, building the mystic around him.

At his age, he gained the much older man's respect, and now even the commanders of the army worshipped him like the ranks.

" Mai made a fatal mistake letting you train those men." I remarked.

" I told you before.. being some Lord or King is not my destiny. My wife is. My daughter is, our future family is. Let those snakes squabble for imaginary power, but if they try to take their happiness.." - he had a confident smile very well earned.

".. I will kill them all. No mercy. "

Yes, you might not think it's your destiny.. but what will you do when those who look up to you now will bend the knee once you take the head of Mai?

After all, with his unearthly looks, confidence, and strength.. doesn't he already look the part?