Chapter 53
“I asked you here because we have a serious problem on our hands,” Boss said, standing up and leaning across the small table in the dimly lit room at his followers. They all exchanged nervous glances. The poisoned tea that the boss had given to Prince Orion didn’t kill him, it only made him sick for a while. So far, all of their efforts to kill the prince had failed, and now they only had a few months to get rid of him before he became king. “Prince Orion has already begun training his own warriors, and I can tell you, they’re not going to be pushovers.”
“What do you mean, Boss?” Bryan asked.
“I’ve trained with Prince Orion,” Boss said, “I know how he pushes himself to his limits and beyond. He’s doing the same thing to his warriors. We are seriously running out of time.”
“I don’t think you tried hard enough, Boss,” Mac said accusingly.
“What was that?” Boss struggled to keep his voice steady. Mac stood up.
“I think you’ve spent so much time around Prince Orion that you’ve got a soft spot for him. After all,” Mac continued before anyone could raise any objection, “you snuck into Prince Orion’s bedroom at night. You could have pierced his heart before taking off.” Boss stared at him. “Or how about that time you threw him over his balcony? Why did you just break his wing? Why didn’t you slit his throat before tossing him over? How about those ‘deadly’ majaka leaves? You should have shoved them down his throat! And what about all that time you’re with him and you don’t make a move at all?” Mac breathed deeply. All eyes were on Boss.
“First of all,” Boss said, his voice rising, “I don’t want to get caught! If I’m caught, I’ll have to hide forever. If I want to rule the world someday, then nobody can know that I’m the one who killed their prince! I didn’t have time to attack Prince Orion with that animal calling for his bodyguard. I wanted it to look like an accident when I threw him over the balcony. He’s never been too good at levitation. How was I to know he was practicing levitation with Prince Joshua every evening? As for the leaves, if it was just the two of us, I might have been able to shove the leaves down his throat, but I had to consider the girl. If she saw me do that, I’d never see the light of day again!” Boss took a deep breath, “Think, you idiots! Why do we hold our meetings here in this dump instead of in a public restaurant? Or maybe we can plan Prince Orion’s assassination in the palace right under his nose!” Boss angrily flopped back in his chair.
“Have you tried fire, Boss?” Mac asked, changing the subject, “I got him good with a flaming spear when he was little.”
“But you didn’t kill him, did you, Mac?” Boss glared accusingly at his follower.
“I thought I did,” Mac looked down at his hands, “How was I supposed to know a six-year-old could survive something like that?” He looked up, “Besides, that little incident gave him pyrophobia, didn’t it?”
“Yes,” Boss sighed, rubbing his head, “but Prince Orion overcame his pyrophobia three years ago, thanks to Prince Joshua.”
“I’m sure your brother meant well,” Natalie touched the boss’s arm affectionately “After all, he-,” Boss grabbed Natalie by the throat and pushed his face into hers.
“He is not my brother!” Boss screamed at her, “He’s the son of that filthy telblec king! I am not telblec!”
“But you are jisbae, Boss,” Bryan stated. Boss released his grip on Natalie and turned to face Bryan, a ferocious look in his eyes. “Doesn’t that mean you have telblec blood in you somewhere?”
“I am a jisbae because my father was a jisbae,” Boss’s voice was shaking, “I have no telblec blood in me! Do you understand?!”
“Y-yes, sir,” Bryan shrank away from Boss. Taking a deep breath, Boss sat back down in his chair, drumming his fingers.
“Not only have we failed, but the telblec king is now highly suspicious of me, and won’t let me anywhere in the palace without an escort of guards flanking me. I won’t have another chance to get alone with Prince Orion,” Boss sighed. “Does anyone have any ideas?”
“I do, Boss,” Mac spoke up. “How about we don’t attack Prince Orion?” Before Boss could voice his anger, Mac continued, “We wait, see? We wait until he’s at the alter, becoming this great king that everyone thinks he’s supposed to be, okay? If we don’t attack for the rest of the year, the guards and warriors won’t be expecting anything. There will be lots of people at the event, right? It would be easy for one of us to show up and shoot him in the back of the head while he’s standing still, having a crown placed on him.”
“You may have something there, Mac,” Boss said, thinking. “But since there will be so many people there, the one who shoots Prince Orion will get caught. Are you volunteering, Mac?”
“Huh? Me? No!” Mac stuttered, taken aback.
“ Don’t worry, Mac,” Boss said calmly, “You’re a poor shot anyway. We want to use someone both dependable and disposable. Until then, we wait and watch.”