Chapter 59

The palace, Havila.

"I know that several of you are bitter and sad because this stranger had been crowned as your king," Lailah started, pointing at Ja Lia as a reference to the word 'stranger.' Ja didn't bat an eye. He knew he could trust her. He just stood beside her. His eyes occasionally leaving the converged citizens for Lailah.

"But there are few things you do not know that I'm very willing to let you know before I leave your midst for as long as possible," she continued, avoiding Ja Lia's gaze. Ja had shot an ogle at her because of the last phrase. She hadn't told him that she would be leaving Havila, though he remembered her making some allusions to it several days back.

Plus, twould be quite illogical of her to leave Havila after he had just been crowned. Like, he had just been crowned ten minutes ago, and she was fashioning bad news already?

Ja allowed himself to ignore the anger swelling within him. He watched as her words reeled on.

"Your new King, Ja Lia, has passed all his tests, even though the hate and odds were so appalling."

Ja didn't know why she was making these unnecessary pauses. As interested as the chiefs were in what she was saying, was he too.

He could see contempt in the faces of the citizens. They didn't even hide it, despite the fact that he was a crowned king. Their newly crowned king, for that matter.

Lailah's voice kicked him out of his thoughts again.

"Well, the majority of you would attribute it to the fact that he's a stranger, right?"

There was an echo of affirmation to the question she had asked, though the chorus was forced and had a threat permeating it.

Lailah looked through the crowd. All she could see were brainwashed people. None of them seemed to be thinking out of the box. They seemed to her to be the stereotyped masses screwed down in several cases. She smiled as usual and continued, "What if I said your new king, my husband, isn't a stranger?"

The murmur was swallowed by a strange wave of silence at that. Then almost immediately, the murmur found its life again.

Ja tried to hold Lailah in his gaze to figure out if she was playing another trick with the people. But Lailah didn't look at him. To him, that was a punishment that he would bear, since both of them lived together.

"How many of you here know the history of your land?"

The murmur, which had been borne from one corner of the vast space to the other, seemed to be strangled by an unseen force.

The men had their ego tucked at that. Their faces wielded strange expressions. Their rude countenances fell.

"What a shame. The king should behead you all," Lailah threatened, but none of the men would say a thing. Twas a wonder that they could be so quiet. But that was just a charade. Immediately, one of the men from the crowd shouted, "Why should we believe a cunning Nymph?"

And that gave life to the rest, who kept the noise growing and growing till it towered over all of them, even over the great Lailah.

Ja Lia was tempted to remove his crown and hurl it at the annoying and stubborn citizens. He was frustrated. Didn't have the strength for drama. But he kept his cool because of Lailah's recent tale. That's if she would be able to end it.

Lailah turned towards Ja, and Ja sought that opportunity to make facial signals, but she looked past him and beckoned at one of the happy chiefs.

As soon as the chief stepped forward, standing before Lailah, the noise took a turn and began to dwindle. Silence wandered around, at least for the time being.

"Tell them the story of your land," Lailah ordered the chief. Though her voice was calm and reflective, he had taken it as an order.

The chief hesitated for a while, but the unusual silence gave him no choice. He started, "Our land was owned by the Chinese at first, but we seized it from them and subjugated them."

He paused, as though he was being forced to tell the story. Though Lailah was smiling at him, he felt like a spear was put to his throat. A psychological pressure.

"Tell them about the first king," Lailah urged. Seated in her face was a rich smile. The populace no longer took an interest in Lailah but the chief. They could eat him up with their curious gazes.

"The first king was a product of both one of our men and a Chinese woman. The child born to this couple was Jin, whose helmet we worship."

Lailah nudged the chief backwards and turned to the crowd. She took a glance at Ja and looked away. Her face was lit.

"Now, my last question, people, is for your king." She turned to Ja and shot, "What is your surname, your highness?"

Ja was trying to look through her face, then he might get what she was trying to do. Even he was confused. He didn't know what his surname had to do with being a king. A king of the strange land.

"Jin," Ja muttered, looking away from Lailah to the crowd. Then suddenly, something seemed to occur to him. A new but deep thought. Why hadn't he had thought of it until then?

Trying to process the new thought, Lailah hopped on, "I'll leave you to process that."

She scanned the group. Then she looked by her side to the chiefs and Tzu. Jim wasn't there. They hadn't heard anything from or about him since the other day.

"It's a sham!!!" one of the men called in protest. He continued, his large lips lagging behind the words, "It's a fake story. To fool us."

But then one of the chiefs stepped forward and called, "Guards!!! Seize him."

The chief pointed at the citizen who had just protested. The guards were off to work.

"Who again is too dumb to understand the urgency of this? Let me hear, and the person will be beheaded by order of our king, Ja."

The other chiefs looked in surprise at the sudden change of that chief. That chief who had been the hottest foe of Lailah and Ja. The emperor was the husband of his sister.

Since there was no more movement or call, the chief continued, "Even I loathe Lailah for all she has caused but then twas as if the gods allowed it. The information she has just given today about our land, everyone has been ignoring it. Now the truth is here, yet your foolishness seals your eyes."

There was rage in his eyes. Then finally he raised his voice high, "Now bow to your king at the call of the guards. Remain standing if your head is too heavy for the body to bear, and we'll have it so."

He signalled the guards, and they blew the trumpets.

There was a murmur at first, but then, one after the other, the people began to bow before Ja Lia.

All the people bowed before Ja. Even the chiefs and Tzu. Ja only stood there wondering if he was in a trance.

Then he lost it when Lailah walked to the front and bowed to him. His heart missed a beat.