*BOOM*

A huge explosion; it was from the ship’s direction. The explosion was rather big; the closet where Blaze was interrogating Sung blew to bits, even though the bomb went off in the ship which was quite far away from them.

*Gasp* Blaze regained consciousness in a jolt! Blaze was totally disoriented due to the deafening sound of the Explosion. His ears were ringing. No! It was as if his whole head was hurting.

He found himself trapped under the debris, tried lifting it up and away from him but failed. Then he tried to blow away the rubble, he raised his right hand to ignite fire; *spark**spark*, some sparks of fire did emerge, but he wasn’t able to ignite fire.

Trapped under such heavy debris, Blaze felt the one emotion he hated the most, helplessness. Blaze learned every single thing before the age he was supposed to learn them; just so that no one could call him incompetent, so that he would never have to feel helpless. But here he was, trapped, with no way to get out.

He once again tried to lift the rubble up, and failed yet again. He finally gave up, and only now did he notice an excruciating pain in his lower abdomen; Blaze was about to look down as to see what it was, but before that, he heard something, someone.

“He—help.” A call for help, so faint that it had to be a miracle that Blaze could even hear it.

“Help me….” This voice, Blaze knew he had never heard this voice before; but for some reason, this voice felt to familiar. Who was she? “Help me, Blaze!”

*Jolt*

Blaze felt a strong current flow through his whole body; he suddenly felt as if he was brimming with energy. Blaze had no idea as to why, but his mind was telling him to save her; he HAD to save her!!

It seemed like something took over Blaze; he started screaming his lungs out, hitting the rubble above him with his fists. Normally, breaking such a big piece of debris with just hands would be quite difficult even for an experienced ‘Royal Blood’. But for Blaze, the adrenaline had taken over his body; he punched his way right through the rubble, and when he was near getting out, he grasped the ground and pulled himself out.

“Hel----HELP!”, Blaze’s ears were still ringing but somehow, he heard the call for help; he looked everywhere around him; then something caught his eye.

A hand! Poking out from under a huge chunk of debris. There was a bracelet on that hand; a bracelet that was made using blue and white threads, clearly by someone inept and clumsy. Blaze knew that bracelet; Sung Ho wore that.

It was Sung trapped under there. Blaze rushed to save him; he stumbled, nearly fell, but balanced himself.

“Sung! Sung, I’m here! Hold on just a moment, I’ll get you out of there!” Blaze started moving out the rocks above the big chunk of debris. His ears were ringing too loudly; maybe Sung had replied to him, but he couldn’t hear anything other than him own breathing.

Finally Blaze had cleared all the rocks and then he tried to push the rubble away. He pushed with all his strength, and this time he succeeded.

Blaze got all the debris out of the way; and just as he extended his hand to pull Sung out, his very soul was shaken.

The hand that was poking out from the rubble was certainly Sung; but Blaze couldn’t believe that this thing under the debris was Sung. It was unrecognizable; the whole body was crushed. Could it be even called a corpse? It was all smashed into a horrible bloody mush.

Blaze’s legs gave up, he fell on the ground. He couldn’t bear seeing the horrific sight anymore. “SUNG?! Sun……” Blaze couldn’t talk anymore, he threw up; tears started flowing down from his eyes. Blaze started to cough out blood.

After all this time, he looked down, and found a chunk of debris plunged in his stomach. Blaze lost consciousness.

__________________________________________

When Blaze woke up, he found himself on a soft bed; one just like his bed. He looked out the window, and saw a banyan tree.

“The West house?” he mumbled. He knew only the West house of the Royal castle had banyan trees; because the Crown prince hated banyan trees but the Emperor loved them.

Blaze tried to get up hastily, but felt a striking pain in his lower abdomen, “AHH!” Blaze made a sound unknowingly. Then he pulled up the blanket a bit and saw that his stomach was bandaged. So the horrific happening was not just a nightmare. Then he sat up slowly.

“So, you’re finally awake?”

Blaze didn’t look to his right all this time; it was Calix sitting on a chair beside the bed, reading ‘An Enchiridion on Warcraft (part-4): Flanking Manoeuvres, by Zenin Kusukabe’. He instructed a guard to notify others about Blaze waking up.

“How long was I out for?” Blaze asked, with his face downwards, not looking towards Calix.

“Not long; the bomb went off yesterday at the port. Surprisingly, there were no members of the Brethren. It was trap, set only for us. And the people that were there, 5 of them were hired mercenaries and most of them were...”

Blaze interrupted him and said, “They were from the village nearby the port.”

Calix was a bit surprised, “How do you know that?”

“Sung told me.”

“Sung? That young guard that accompanied you in your Debut?”

“Yes.” Said Blaze faintly.

“What was he doing there?

“He lives in that village; he said some of the villagers were loading the ship. I grabbed him and went into a closet.”

“So, you went far enough from the ship to survive the blast, only because of him?”

Blaze felt ashamed, terribly ashamed; he lowered his head even more and answered, “Yes.”

“That’s basically a miracle; I’m starting to think that you are being saved by divine intervention.”

Blaze stayed silent, not a sound came out his mouth. Calix noticed that, “You seem quite upset. Is it because we walked right into their trap?”

“NO!” Suddenly Blaze shouted, “Yesterday, I lost a friend Calix. I lost my only friend. And he died because of me; the trap was set for me! Those villagers, all those people! They died because of me! Because someone wanted to kill ME!”

Seeing Blaze getting so agitated, Calix tried to calm him down, “Blaming yourself is not going to bring any of them back. So, I say, let’s keep calm. The news of your survival in already public. We need plan our next move carefully.”

“Good! Now that they know I’m alive, I can just convince the Emperor that the Crown prince is…...”

*THUD*

The door opened and in came the Crown prince himself, along with the Emperor and Their personal knights.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“And when were you planning to tell us that you somehow survived a knife to the throat?” Ansh asked abruptly.

“Shush now! Now’s not the time for such questions.” The Emperor came to the bed, sad beside Blaze and asked gently, “How are you feeling now, my child?”; he looked very worried about Blaze.

“I have something more important to tell you.” Blaze said hastily.

“Yes, yes. Do tell.”

“No! I need to talk to you in private.”

“Of course, my child.” he said and signalled the knights and Calix to leave the room; They left.

“Only the two us.” Blaze whispered, but Ansh heard it.

“You insolent!” Ansh yelled.

“Ansh! Watch your tone! You might be the Crown prince, but don’t forget! Blaze is also my blood, just as you are.”

“But how dare he tells me to leave the room?! It’s because he thinks I’m the one behind all this, isn’t it?”

“Are you not?” Blaze said adamantly.

Ansh was clearly infuriated by Blaze’s words, but he knew showing his anger could only go against him, “I will not argue with you, boy! I see that you already believe that I wanted to kill one of my own. But just know this; Nila was a daughter to me. I’d rather take my own life, than even harming her!”

Blaze didn’t respond; he didn’t know what to say to that statement. He himself believed that Ansh was someone who cherished his own family with all his heart. Even though Blaze was an illegitimate child, Ansh never once tried to harm him before; he did dislike Blaze, but it was only because he thought that an illegitimate prince would tarnish his family name.

But Blaze could not cling to his past beliefs anymore, as his whole life had turned upside down.

“Then I guess I’ll have to talk to you some other time, your highness.” Blaze spoke again.

Ansh felt ashamed to not be trusted by his own family; his father, the Emperor didn’t fully believe him, the young prince thought of him as a murderer. Thus, he didn’t argue anymore, he decided to leave the room.

“Father. Be done with this as quickly you can. The bodies recovered from the site have already arrived. The knights are waiting for your permission to depart.”

A dark look came over Blaze’s face, he asked, “They’re going to deliver the co…. the corpses to their families.” His voice cracked a bit.

Ansh opened the door, but before leaving he said, “Your friend’s body in there as well.”

*thud*

Now only the Emperor and Blaze were in that room; but just when Blaze was about to speak, Arjuna(Emperor) said, “I know what you have to say. You think that Ansh did it.”

“I don’t think! I know he’s the one behind the attacks!” Blaze shouted instinctively.

“I fathom that I cannot change your mind about that. Can I?”

“……”

“Yeah, I knew that the moment you said you had something to tell me. And I’m not gonna try either; but I do want to tell you. Ansh, even though that stupid son of mine shows his anger and disgust too easily, he still struggles to express the love he has for his family. And that family includes you as well, Blaze.”

“May ask something from you?” Blaze asked hesitantly.

“Tell me what you need, anything.”

“I want be the one to deliver Sung’s corpse, to his family.”

“Fine, but take Calix with you. If you can’t trust Ansh, I don’t think you will trust others easily either. But it seems that you do trust Calix. But you should still be careful; you don’t know what’s waiting for you there.” The Emperor said as he left Blaze alone in the room.

______________________________________

On the way to the village, Blaze and Calix rode their horses side by side. The corpses were being carried in the three carriages behind them.

“Where is Varun? I haven’t seen him since I woke up.” Blaze asked Calix.

“He’s been missing, ever since the explosion.”

“And?”

“….”

“I don’t believe that you didn’t start investigating the moment you noticed he was gone.”

“I did find one thing; but I think its not a good time for you to hear it.”

“Just tell me.”

“I asked Ajay to check the castle logs for any unnatural happenings, and he found something. A letter, sent from East house to Crown Prince’s office. Varun sent it.”

“So, we had a mole in our team? That’s why all those people died? Only because I trusted someone I shouldn’t have?”

“….”

“What do you think? Should we tell their families that? That I am the reason they have lost their family?”

“I…...” Calix stayed silent, as he had nothing he could say to that question.

They arrived at the village at last, and the first thing Blaze could hear was the faint sound of sobbing. But the deeper he went into the village, that sound wasn’t ‘faint’ anymore.

Several villagers rushed out of their homes to see the fallen’s bodies for the last times. The wooden coffins with the corpses were taken out of the carriages for their families to mourn.

Most of them were women and children, as most of the village’s men had died in that explosion. Some men were present here, but all of them were injured; some had broken bones, some lost a limb. And those men were the most fortunate of the men of this village.

They were crying, some were blaming the dead for leaving them. There were some children standing around the coffins; some of them were too young to even grasp the concept of death. Some had lost their fathers, some lost their brothers; and for some, it was their beloved who were gone.

Blaze saw many villagers mourning their dead family members, but when he asked as to who Sung Ho’s family were, he was met with a horrendous news. Ever since hearing after her son’s demise, Sung’s mother had fallen terribly ill. Blaze decided to visit Sung’s family.

A small, old hut; partially broken down. But by the looks, the hut was in middle of being repaired. Blaze entered; the old wooden door creaked loudly. There was a bed on one corner, and on that bed, a woman was resting; it was clear that she was unwell.

“Who are you?” someone asked, a sweet voice. It was a tiny girl, not older than 10.

Blaze answered, “I’m uhhh--- I’m Sung’s friend. Well, I was.”

“His friend? Then why don’t you just call hyung (big brother in Korean), and tell him to come home already! Omma (mother) is really sick you know.”

“Call? Call him? Do you not know?” Blaze was shocked by the little girl’s actions/

“Know what? The neighbour auntie came yesterday told Omma something and then started crying. And she’s been sick since then. I’m taking care of her, but I’m to small to do all the chores na? Tell hyung to come home! I can’t cook food yet; how long will we starve?”

Blaze was speechless, this little girl, she had no idea of the bad news he had come to deliver. She was waiting for her hyung to return, which was never going to happen anymore. How could he ever tell her that?

Blaze’s head started aching, he felt nauseous, tears rolled down from his eyes; he started having glimpses of Sung’s corpse that he had seen just yesterday. He could not control himself anymore. Blaze ran straight out of the hut, knelt down on the ground and threw up everything he had eaten before. His ears started ringing again, his mind was a mess; he was about to scream but was interrupted.

“Hey!” Blaze raised his head up, “Here, drink some water.” It was Sung’s little sister.

“Water?” Blaze asked.

“Yes! Your clothes look expensive, you must have ridden a horse to come here. Hyung says riding horses makes him want to vomit; he said drink cold water helps a lot. So, drink this water.” Said the little girl and offered Blaze a glass full water, and Blaze took it without resistance. He drank it all, in one go; the journey did make him quite thirsty.

“My lord, will we have to deliver the corp…” Calix had come to ask if Sung’s corpse was to be delivered to that hut, but Blaze stopped him mid-sentence.

“SHHHH!” Blaze signed at the girl, and Calix understood.

Then Blaze turned around and talked with the girl, “Your hyung was not able to come this time; so, he sent me to take care of you, and your omma. Will you come with us?”

“Will hyung be there?” the innocent girl asked back.

And Blaze had no answer to that, so he changed the subject, “Are you hungry?”

The girl nodded her head vigorously, “I don’t have much right now, I only have this bun.” He took out a piece of bread from his bag, “You can eat this on the way, and when we get there, I’ll let you eat anything you want. Okay?”

“Promise?!”

“Promise.” Blaze raised the little girl up in his arms, “Let’s go then?”

“What about omma? She’s hungry as well!!” the girl shouted.

Blaze signalled Calix to get the mother into a carriage as well, “Of course we’ll take your omma with us as well.” He carried the girl to a carriage and seated her there. Then he came back to Calix who was helping the knights to get the sick woman to the carriage.

“Calix!”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Get all the villagers on the carriages, we’ll send movers to get their stuff later.”

“Get them into carriages? Sire, you’re not planning to take them all back to the capital, are you?”

“I indeed am. Now. Let’s not waste anymore time, and start loading them up. They must have some carriages here as well, use them if needed. We’re not leaving any of the villagers here.”

“My lord, I’m afraid even you do not possess such authority just bring these many people to the capital. The royal treasurers will never approve.”

“Because of expenses, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll take care of that. They should not have any problems if I pay for their living.”

“But that would worth a few fortunes!”

“So be it! I think I have more than enough to provide for them. Now do what I told you to do; we don’t have all day for this.”

It was evening by the time they left the village, and they arrived at the capital the next day, at dawn. The villagers were surprised to have entered the Capital; and the little girl, she was utterly fascinated. Never in her short life, did she ever leave the village; thus, to her the capital felt like heaven.

Finally, the carriages reached the Royal Castle. Blaze got off his horse and once again pulled up Sung’s sister, “Calix! Get everyone anything they need, and fetch me a doctor for her mother.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“So, red-hyung, this is where you live?” the little girl asked

“Yes! Do you like it?” Blaze replied.

“A lot!! Now I want to eat delish stuff! I’m really hungry na!!”

“Yeah! Of course we’ll eat. But before that, you haven’t yet told me your name. Now tell me, what is the name of this sweet little angel in front of me?” Blaze asked, with a wide grin on his face.

“You look really good when you smile, you know? And its Sarang.”

“Huh?”

“My name dumb-hyung! My name is Sarang!”

The girl said, quite loudly, and she giggled innocently. Her giggles even tickled Blaze’s hurt heart; He laughed, more than he had in quite a while.