Chapter 43

Kalena woke up in her bed, barely able to move. She was too weak to do anything, even too weak to feel sadness. The last thing she remembered was the tea Zarkin had given her.

Fighting with unnaturally strong sleepiness, the girl got up and rubbed her eyes. She slept for several hours, judging by how the sun moved. She left the room and saw Zarkin on the way to the kitchen. He gave her a cautious look, not knowing whether to apologize or comfort.

“Are you okay?” He asked quietly.

“I once asked you not to give me any of your mixtures without my permission ?!” She snapped.

"I wanted to help," he excused himself. He followed her all the time, seeing that the mixture was still working. “You don't have to go to the funeral, he would understand.”

“When is the funeral?” Kalena asked turning her head slowly.

“Tomorrow morning.”

Galaspiael's funeral. It sounded scary and unreal. These words did not go together. They did not connect in her mind.

"I'll go," she decided. "I should be with him so many times, and instead I dealt with other matters that I cannot miss this last meeting. I need to take a walk. Alone. Please, let me I can't stand being here anymore!”

Zarkin pursed his lips and shook his head, but he knew his silent protest would be useless.

“Don't do anything stupid. And come back soon, please.”

“I know that I look terrible now because I was crying in my sleep, but believe me, I feel really good” she forced a smile and reached for the brush to get her hair done before leaving.

"I just want this mixture to stop working. I’m afraid you might faint somewhere along the way.”

Kalena's eyelids were still heavy, but she assured him she could handle it.

Leaving home did not make her feel better. She wanted to find a place that she would not associate with Galaspiael and try to calm down there. But literally, every street and every house in the city reminded of him. They walked everywhere together and when he could not leave the palace without protection he asked her to go places for him. She thought that she would have to go back to Port to find a place somehow not connected to Galaspiael.

Kalena went down to the lowest city circle and then a thought occurred to her.

There were places Galaspiael did not visit. She had never seen him drunk. He avoided all inns, and during the palace ceremonies, he was always sober, to be able to go to the studio later on, instead of falling asleep immediately.

*

"In the olden days, someone from the guard was buried with the ruler to defend him even after death.

Jun turned to Samin and nodded hearing these words. In his mind, he cursed himself for not noticing him before. Once again the captain had had proof of his inefficiency.

“Indeed. If we were to perform this ritual now, I would volunteer. Although... I didn't manage to protect him in this world, would I manage in the afterlife? I doubt it.”

Jun wanted to tell Samin that he should take a few steps back but refrained himself. He also should not come to the king's family temple without permission. But Samin was extremely confident, so he thought maybe Galaspiael had agreed earlier.

"Captain, when I’ll be elected as a successor, I'm not going to punish you," Samin began again, "I think the Silver Guard was doing its job perfectly, and even if you haven't seen anything, we have no evidence. I know that pain after loss is terrible, I am still in deep shock myself.”

“How do you manage to hide it so well?”

"I think of the queen and all the subjects I need to look after now, and that helps me. I've always been able to hide my suffering well.”

“You are a really strong man Samin. You would be a great ruler...,” Jun said without looking up. “Do you know already what we will do next?”

“Peace is only temporary. However, I do not think that we will return to the war. And if, it won’t be on the Sekanian side. This alliance is not beneficial for us, I think it is better to look for other allies.

And to betray?!”

“If there is no other way to save your own country, then yes. I do not intend to sacrifice my subjects as if their lives didn’t matter. Where was Sekania during famine fifteen years ago? They also thought about themselves in the first place, and we should do the same. The king must put the well-being of his subjects in the first place, not blindly follow contracts that exist only on paper. People care above all about living the coming years in peace and expect that we will provide them with the best conditions for this. They don't care about alliances, honors, or politics.”

*

The next day there were no clouds or rain. The sun came out, and everything seemed lively as if spring began. The life energy permeated everything. Even Kalena felt it, although from the very morning she felt that her head was bursting from the inside.

In the evening, Okiani, who had already arrived in the capital, began to debate the choice of a new king. There was no procedure that they could follow because they never actually had to choose a successor because he was determined by the order of birth.

Officially, each Okiani was to decide according to his conscience, and all votes were equal. However, those who lived closer to the capital decided that the votes would be converted with different weights depending on how influential Okiani was. For example, owners of larger properties, who inevitably had more responsibilities, were entitled to cast two votes or one, counted as two. It was decided that this would be the fairest and the official meeting was adjourned until the funeral ceremony was over.

Kalena slowly got used to the pain. The whole situation has already managed to reach her and the girl seemed reconciled with reality. Pale and calm, she stared at the half-exposed casket.

Because the king died in the war, the body was to be burned, as was traditionally handled with fallen warriors. Earlier, however, a farewell ceremony was planned according to the traditional Kaitian rite. Crowds gathered under the palace, on the streets, and near the family temple of the Namanya dynasty. Numerous subjects came to say goodbye to the young king. It seemed that his mourning would last longer than after the previous ruler and his wife.

Although Kalena wasn’t a follower of Kaitan’s beliefs and knew about Galaspiael’s religion only what he told her, she was present with all the guards and pretended to pray quietly. She stared at the body in the casket, at one point, even forgetting to move her lips. She stopped blinking for so long that when she looked away for a moment, her eyes filled with tears.

Kalena rubbed them and after that, she had the impression that something was wrong. At first, she couldn't say what exactly it was, but the longer she looked at Galaspiael, the more uncomfortable she felt as if one element did not match the whole picture.

She looked around at the guards who surrounded the casket in a semi-circle, but no one returned her gaze. Then she looked at her body again, trying to figure out what caught her eye.

The ceremony was very quiet, so the girl's thoughts roared, causing an even worse headache. She wondered if Gyeul knew what had happened and whether he would come out today or in a few days.

Gyeul ... Kalena thought back to his portrait, which she once noticed in the palace and reminded herself how unnatural it seemed for her. The man painted on it resembled Galaspiael but in reality...

... it wasn't him.

It was not him! She felt as if someone had removed the blindfold from her eyes. It wasn't him, and the one in the casket wasn't Galaspiael either. 

Everything slowly became clear. Nose way too big, whitened face and neck, rough hands with thick fingers and olive, sunburned skin, the shade of which was visible even despite the whitening procedure.

Kalena remembered her master's hands in every detail. It was the first thing she noticed about his appearance when they first met. She knew what they looked like; they were well-groomed, pale with extremely long and slender fingers. These, however, looked like the hands of someone who had never done writing in his life, and what's more, he worked hard in the sun.

“Wait! Stop! This is not Galaspiael!” Kalena shouted out loud, attracting the attention of everyone gathered in the temple. “Are you blind or what? Look carefully!”

“Stop it!” Zarkin grabbed her hand, but she broke free.

“I'm telling the truth, this man is not him!” Kalena looked at Samin. "I don't know how it happened, but it looks like you brought the wrong body. The real Galaspiael may still be in the Sekania! We have to look for him, I’m sure he’s still alive!”

A murmur of conversations and the sound of muffled sighs ran through the temple. Samin looked Kalena sternly and shook his head.

“Let me congratulate you. You just destroyed the funeral ceremony of your king and master. Go ahead, enjoy well-deserved fame, just tell me, is it worth the price?”

"I didn't destroy anything because it is not him! A real king can still live, he must be found as soon as possible! Your Majesty, look carefully, I’m sure you remember what your husband looked like!”

Lin-Si first looked at Kalena with hope, but seeing the eyes of others, she took a step back and shook her head.

“I don’t know. I'm not sure.”

"This girl's behavior is unthinkable. We shouldn't let her in here at all!” Samin nodded to the guards who came over to Kalena.

“Bastard, what will you get from it?” she asked, with eyes full of tears. “You won't be king anyway, you can't bribe all Okiani!”

“Enough!” He shouted incredibly loudly. "I can't listen to it anymore, how dare you disturb such an important celebration?! How dare you speak to the queen, causing her more suffering! You will not return him his life this way!”

“This is not Galaspiael! Kalena tried to break free from the guard’s hold, and a terrible scream escaped her throat. “You have to believe me! I am begging you, just look carefully! Look at him, you idiots, you've seen the king so many times! I'm telling you the truth! This is not him!” Her voice broke when she was hit in the stomach.

“She lost her mind in despair. It happens.”                   

“He is lying! I am not crazy! You know that he lies only afraid to admit it! This is not a king! Samin, you vile liar I will kill you, I swear I will kill you!” Kalena jerked desperately when she was overpowered, but she couldn't do anything. She was led out of the temple by force.

Even if one planted a seed of doubt in one's heart, no one showed it.

*

When the guard was about to leave the temple, Zarkin broke free from the crowd and quickly ran to Jun's house. The captain had been gone since the morning, and someone else was replacing him during the ceremony. When the boy arrived, the servants told him that Jun was dead. He killed himself by sticking a dagger in his heart.

Zarkin turned back, deciding to ask Rikken for help after getting Kalena out from the cell. He ran to Kalena's house as fast as he could. He knew something about a secret passage to the palace and wanted to look for it.

At first, he did not notice the difference between the body in the temple and Galaspiael he remembered in his mind. He was sure that all the minor changes resulted from the way the body was handled, but something told him that Kalena might be right. He knew her and knew that if Galaspiael's body were there, she would never have arranged such a scene.

It happened so fast that he didn't feel nervous yet.

As soon as he crossed the threshold, five people surrounded him. He stopped in surprise and frowned.

“Who are you?”

“Are you a member of the Silver Guard?” A boy very similar to him, holding a bow ready to shoot, answered the question with a question.

“I am, so what?”

“His Majesty ordered you all gone by sunset.”

“What Majesty?” The moment Zarkin spoke, he felt a burning sensation in his left arm. Furious, he drew an arrow and stabbed one of the attackers in the neck with it. However, he failed to puncture the artery, because he suddenly fell to the ground paralyzed. He raised his head slowly, feeling he would pass out.

“So it's true? Is there a conspiracy... Kalena was right…”

"Only King Samin knows this," he heard a muffled voice, as if from afar. It became dark before his eyes. “But I think she is right.”

It was the last thing he heard before his mind was consumed by nothingness.