Reborn Financier-Chapter 24: Hostage

All but Kaidën were afraid. He was interested in what was happening, who was brave enough to not only kidnap the wife of the king but also his two children. The Everwood kingdom wasn’t a weak kingdom. In the entire west continent, comprising 21 kingdoms and 3 empires, the Everwood kingdom was around the top 5 most powerful kingdoms in the western empire.

It was an old and mighty kingdom, thanks to the rule of some of the most outstanding rulers and military generals over time. It stood strong even against adversaries from every direction, as it shared borders with five nations in total: two empires, the Horsen Empire and the Iron Fist Empire, and three kingdoms that were not small.

This small kingdom, Everwood, ruled by the 23rd king, King Edward, was now faced with a massive problem. His wife and children were taken hostage, without even knowing who or why this was happening.

"Hey, Paul, look at this boy. He’s probably so scared that his brain can’t process even the right emotions," the scar-faced man said, smiling at Kaidën, whose face remained the same. Paul immediately busted into laughter saying, "he is probably wishing he was with his mama right now, awwwn so sad".

The queen face glowed disgust, she was angry about how they could treat a child in this manner. But as for kaidën, He didn’t even show any signs of emotions.

"Alright, alright, enough looking around. How about we go inside and get comfortable?" Paul said, escorting them towards the house.

Upon entering the house, they were greeted by a scent of blood and rotten flesh. It was sadistic. But that was only the good side of things. As they proceeded further into the building, signs of human bodies being tortured inhumanly became evident.

Still, wet-looking blood was evident all over the walls, severed limbs lying on the floors with maggots and flies all over them. It was a disgusting sight. This made the kids more afraid and even sent chills down the spine of the queen, who tried maintaining a cool face throughout the entire process.

Heavily armed men were all around, and the location was like a fortress. It was evident that this plan wasn’t a one-day thing. As they were brought into a cage and then locked in, only the gods could have known their fate.

Over at Steven’s side, after getting knocked out by a dent, he and the knights woke up in the inn where they spent the previous night. Their brains were unsettled, and they were completely consumed with weakness, even after so many hours had passed.

Steven was the first to awaken. "Where am I? Why am I so exhausted?" Steven said as he woke up in the inn, completely confused about what was happening.

But not long after, his face grew dim as he was immediately struck by reality. The kids and the queen were gone. It was not a small fit, as if anything were to happen to any of them who were kidnapped, they could potentially lose their heads.

"Hey, wake up, wake up!" Steven immediately went into panic mode, waking the remaining two knights who were still fast asleep.

They also woke up confused for some instances but were also struck by the sad reality, immediately jumping right off the bed. Their first lead was that they had to know who brought them to the inn they were presently at, as the last thing they remembered was chasing after the carriage with their horses until they suddenly fainted and found themselves at the inn.

They immediately went to the receptionist to ask if she knew who brought them there. "Sorry, good evening. Please, we’re from room 43. If you don’t mind me asking, how did we arrive here? We were initially on the street. Who moved us to the inn?" Steven asked as politely as possible.

"Oh, you don’t have to worry too much. They were just some good people who saw you guys knocked out on the streets. It seems they knew you quite well, as the big man carried you and the others in and even placed you guys on the bed," the receptionist said.

Immediately, the knights were scared for their lives because now they had to return to the royal castle with little to no lead on where or who was involved in the royals’ disappearance. Whatever the king said could possibly determine their future.

At the royal castle, Steven and the knights appeared before the king and his sister, Princess Sofia, who were in the plan for the final strike for Lord Aric.

"Welcome, my knights. But where is the queen and the kids? And why have you come so early? Wasn’t the trip expected to take 5 days at least? But you’re back the next day after your departure. Did the queen send you or what?" King Edward said, curious about the sudden change.

"My king, my lady, we’ve come delivering terrible news. The queen and the kids have been kidnapped without any trace. They were kidnapped right in front of our eyes, but it seems it wasn’t your average criminal that was involved. They were well-skilled, and they even knocked us out with a dent," Steven said, feeling sorry but trying to remain composed. He knew that if the worst came to worse, he would lose his life, but he was sure of one thing for certainty: the queen and the kids were safe as long as they were with the young master Kaidën.

"Wait, what do you mean the queen and the kids were kidnapped..." King Edward said softly before his voice rose to a shout. "...What do you mean my kids and wife are kidnapped, what do I pay you for? Why are you here then? What’s your usefulness? You serve no purpose being alive; you couldn’t even fulfill your roles for one day..." King Edward spoke in rage, his eyes red and the once calm and cool king was nowhere to be seen. All that was present was a husband and a father who couldn’t find his family. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"...Guards, take these people out of my sight this moment, lock them up in the dungeon, give them 200 lashes each, don’t give them food and a drop of water until the moment the queen and the kids arrive. And for each day that passes without the arrival of the queen and kids, they shall receive 20 lashes each," King Edward said in rage, not even caring for the lives of the people.

Even his sister, Princess Sofia, whose child was also among the kidnapped, was unable to convince the king to change his decision. Immediately after saying what he said, he stormed off in rage, and only God could tell what was about to go down.

Back at the abandoned home where the queen and the kids were kept, things seemed to continuously become worse. The one who seemed to be the boss of the entire operation was present, and one could tell immediately as even the most brutal of men showed respect to the boss.

Kaidën, the most powerful amongst them, was unable to act, at least for some moments. Kaidën, even though he possessed enough power to put an end to this, just kept avoiding acting. One might wonder what was happening, with both strength and brains, why make people suffer before acting, why blame his age? At least if he spoke once, maybe people would start listening.

But things weren’t so simple. Kaidën feared that getting too involved in this world might have a negative impact. He had the brains and power, but if the gods of this world even knew he was a reincarnation, and from Earth again, things wouldn’t go well for him and his family.

Why? Because the god of Earth is hated by every god in this world. He was a god that loved his people and defended them. He was strong, but yet kind. But the gods from other planets were not ones to sit idle, looking at a wonderfully prospering planet.

They invaded Earth times and time again, but to no avail, due to the strength of the God of Earth. Making them hate him, and hate Earth. Kaidën discovered this hidden truth when the god of Earth sent him a message after his baptism when he was much younger.

Kaidën was a thinking time bomb, destined to be the villain who destroys the world. So, in order to run from the god of Earth and the gods of this planet, he avoided getting involved as much as possible, for him and his family’s happiness...

The boss who seemed to have arrived appeared before them. A familiar face appeared before them. "Hello, did you miss me?"

"It you, so you where the one behind it all, the one who planned everything, not even sparing this little kids" queen Charlotte said, years and anger filled her voice, it was an unexpected blow to her. The least person she would have expected.

"So it was you Lord ..."

To be continued...