41 THE GENERAL PART V

"I Trust You."

Then the next day, the Ministers requested the 'King' to attend an assembly in the hall.

"What will be the urgent matter that all of you are here today?"

"Your Majesty, we received suspicious letters from an unknown source and the said letters contain treasonous information."

"What is the content?"

The Prime Minister steps forward. He gives the King the letters. The 'King' reads the letters intently and his rage shows as he rips the letters into pieces.

"Audacious! Who would believe such accusation from a letter?!"

"I believe this is not a false accusation, Your Majesty," the Prime Minister says. "Last night, the interrogators to such accused people said you had killed their witnesses and may I know if the action was to protect the perpetrators?"

The 'King' stumped for words as General Sun and the 'Queen' come into the Hall. They greet the King and stay on their knees.

"Your Majesty, we heard we are being the center of everyone's rage. We come to show that we're not afraid to be interrogated and will give our full cooperation," the 'Queen' says.

"General Sun, I don't think that it's necessary to ask questions anymore," the Ministry of Defense says. "The result of the interrogation last night helped us to find the thousand others that perpetrated with him, Your Majesty. We had already executed them," he reports.

General Sun is shocked to hear the news and unsheathed his sword and points it to the Minister. "What did you do to my brothers?! We are being accused of things we didn't do, why did you just simply took their lives without a concrete proof?" The sword is just inches away from the Minister's face but I could see that the General has no intention to swing his sword to anyone there. His rage does not cloud his judgement.

"I think you're mistaken about something, General Sun. Your brothers had been interrogated for days and they had told everything about your plans, you're one greedy human aren't you?" The Minister of Justice steps in.

"Your Majesty, we had also inspected General Sun's residence and found excessive amount of proofs of his despicable plans," the Minister instructed few servants to bring in a chest and put in front of the throne. He opens the chest and makes most of the audience there gasped and starts to murmur.

Inside the chest I could see stacks of gold bars and few land deeds and expensive jewelleries. To my surprised, I catch a glimpse of a jewellery that I used to own before the Ministry closes the chest. The 'King' stands up, he looks perplexed as he looks at both the General Sun and the 'Queen'.

"Your Majesty, it's not what you think. I'm not a traitor!"

"Everyone, leave," the 'King' orders. "My Queen, General Sun, both of you stay."

"Your Majesty, we still have not decided what…" the Prime Minister has not finishes his sentence as the 'King' snaps, "LEAVE!"

The Ministers are hesitant and look at each other. They leave the hall and the Palace Guards close the main door.

"Your Majesty, please strip their titles and expel them from this Nation. Please make a wise judgement, Your Majesty!" I could hear the Ministers say these words repeatedly from outside the hall.

The 'King' looks worn-out, "How did we come to this?" The 'King' asks in a low voice.

"My King, I admitted that I was baffled when I first heard of this accusation. They said that I want my five year old son to become a King and that General Sun is my lover and willing to help me to…" she pauses and looks down. "Kill you. Where will I get the courage to kill the King of this Nation and on top of that, My Husband? All of this totally absurd! I can't believe that they could go as far as to create false proofs to turn us into traitors!" She stands up and looks directly at the 'King'.

"My King, I am not asking this for myself but you should know how loyal General Sun is to you. He has served the King before and now he serves you. If he has treasonous mind, he would have been a traitor long ago, why wait until now?" The 'Queen' defends the General.

I feel like she's not me at all. All the words she said and her feelings she portrayed feel so unfamiliar and distant. I doubt that we are the same person and I'm just watching a stage play.

The 'King' doesn't say a word but looks at the General with a wary expression.

The General looks hurt by the King's expression and he succumbs to his fate. He grips his sword tightly and says to the 'King', "My King, my life is yours." Then he stabs his left chest with his sword right through his heart.

As he says his final words, bloods dripping from his mouth, "Betraying you will never be my choice but having to lose your trust makes my existence no longer valuable in this world." He drops to the floor.

The 'King' runs to his side and shouts, "Call the physician!" He pulls the General to his lap and wipes his bloodied face. "I'm sorry to have doubted you. I trust you. I trust you." He says repeatedly.

The General smiles when he hears the words but the pain takes over and he winches while saying, "Thank you. Say to them that you kill me, Your Majesty. Tell them that I admitted my fault and the Queen is not involved in this," then he closes his eyes and breathed his last breath.

"No!" The 'King' hugs the lifeless body and tears stream down his face.

The 'King' stays there for a few minutes and the 'Queen' comes to him, "My King," she puts her hand on his face, wipes out the marks of tears off his face. She pulls him to his feet and straightens his robe.

"Go," she says.

The 'King' pulls the sword from the General's body slowly and heads to the door.

"Open the door."