In Pieces

Chapter 31: The sad truth behind the bridal carry.

It took Kai less than a quarter-hour to reach General Kear's residence. All lights were already out, and he had to knock for ages till somebody finally opened the doors. By that time, Kai was already gritting his teeth in anger.

Without a word, he pushed the sleepy servant away and barged into the hall. General Kear came down the stairs, looking very surprised.

"Your Highness, is something wrong?" he asked in his usual slow manner. General Kear had always annoyed Kai with his habit of dragging out vowels as if he was too lazy to speak.

"Where is General Minn?" Kai decided not to beat around the bush.

General Kear raised his eyebrows.

"Pardon me, Your Highness, but how would I know that? Shouldn't he be at his residence at this hour? Or are you implying that General Minn spends his nights in my company, Your Highness?"

Kai winced at Kear's words and got even angrier. Without saying another word, he made his way further down the hall, planning to turn this whole mansion upside down to either find Adnan or at least discover some clues about his whereabouts.

Suddenly he was blocked by several burly guards with long spears.

"Where do you think you're going, Your Highness?" Kear smirked.

"I'm going to search your residence, General Kear. Let me through. That is an order," Kai spat out.

"What if I respectfully decline, Your Highness?" At this point, Kai could clearly hear the mocking in the General's voice.

"You dare?" Kai was livid.

"I dare," General Kear shrugged. All of the sudden, he dropped any pretense of any politeness. "Do you have an army behind you? Do you have the power to make me submit? Once you take the throne, you might be able to barge in on honest people unannounced. But so far, I just see a weak boy who is throwing a tantrum."

"Wait and see what will happen to you once I take the throne," Kai narrowed his eyes.

"Oh, I doubt that it will ever come to that. Your uncle will invent some other bullshit reason for you to stand down, and you will obey just like a little bitch you are."

Kai leaped towards Kear and was about to throw a punch when the guards blocked him yet again. Now, there were suddenly even more of them in the hall.

That was when Kai realized that he shouldn't have come alone. If Kai activated his spiritual power, he would have no problem dealing with the guards, of course. Unfortunately, his powers were still very unstable after the recharge. He feared he would summon too much by accident and blow away half the city in the process. So he had no other choice but to temporarily back down.

"Your Highness," General Kear gave him an amused look. "Why are you making it so hard for yourself and for all of us? Just join us in overthrowing your uncle and his ridiculous rules, and you will be able to sit on that fancy throne in no time."

"And be your puppet Emperor?" Kai snorted. "I already told you what I thought of your offer."

"Yes, you were... very explicit, if I remember correctly. But we don't really need you now, do we? It's easy to find someone else who would take your place and do exactly what he's told to do."

"Good luck with that," Kai turned around to leave. He had no interest in continuing this conversation. Besides, he didn't want to waste any more time.

If he wanted to threaten Kear and find Adnan, at this point, he had no other choice but to ask help from the most despicable person to ever exist. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and Kai's father had always told him that compromises were important.