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nBenjamin Hamilton A.k.A Santa, had already gathered 800 or more slaves and refugees from his city, on the first three days of arriving Carona.

nOn the fourth day, he got and urgent massage from the 9th prince of Yodan, Bari Maclaine.

nThe 9th prince was a funny one.

nHe was kind, simple minded, loyal and hardworking. When his half-siblings fought over kingship, he only focused on learning how to run the 2 small cities under his control.

nHis Father, king Maclaine, had 6 wives and 2 concubines.With this, Bari had 23 siblings.

nActually, he was born a week after the 8th prince, while the 10th and 11th prince's were born 4 and 6 months after his birth. So in 1 year, King Maclaine had welcomed 4 prince's and 1 princess into the world.

nThe workings of the inner haram was brutal.

nThe main official wife, kept getting in her feelings and trying to control the other wives and concubines when she could. If she noticed that her husband favored anyone more than her, she would try killing them or setting them up.

nHis mother was unfortunately one of these women.

nHis mother had stayed in the kings chamber for an entire week, which made the first wife drown in anger.

nShe then made up a story about infidelity and hired witnesses to testify against his mother. There were over 100 witnesses.. of course the king would believe them.

nAnd what made matters worse was that, his mom never begged or belittled herself in front of him. She only said one sentence and that was it.

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"I'm innocent.. do what you want to do

"

nIt would have been better if she had screamed, begged or cried her eyes out... But the way she said it, made the king afraid that he had made a mistake.

nBut since he had become a laughingstock in the entire Capital, he had to follow through with the punishment. She had no proof, it was her word against hundreds. Even the some of the other wives had testified against her.

nVery quickly, those emotions left the king and anger took over his mind. 'How dare she act proudly when she was the one who was caught cheating? Did she take him for a fool?', he thought.

nAs he looking at the proud woman who stood before him, he decided to go ahead with the punishment.

nShe would have to do the walk of shame.

nDifferent empires had different rules. In Arcadina, cheating royals would be locked up shabby rooms for rest of their lives.. or until their husbands forgave them. In Yodan, it was vastly different.

nThe women would walk a long distant completely nude while having food and rocks being thrown at them. After the walk, the cheating womans marriage would be annulled.

nThat year, the 9th prince had already turned 16 and ran his cities independently.

nOnce he got wind of his moms situation, he rushed back to the Capital and headed straight for the palace.

nHd looked at his hurt but prideful mother and anger rose within his heart.

nFor a fact, he knew that his mother was innocent... but sometimes, he wished that she would at least talk or cry like other women did.

nInstead, she smiled at him and bottled up everything inside. That smile instantly brought him to tears. He loved her with all his heart and thought that if he became strong, he would easily protect her.

nBut he was wrong.

nHe looked at his weeping little sister of 9 years old and hugged her tightly. Tomorrow was the day for the marriage annulment.

nEarly the next morning, he held his mothers arm and led her towards the throne room.

nWithin the continent of Pyno, different empires had their own beliefs and non-beliefs.

nThe empire of Deiferus, believed in the Goddess Serena. It was said that she was the one who created the stars, the moms and the land. She blessed the land as well as cursed it. So all marriages were blessed by her ministers.

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nArcadina for example, believed in the souls of their forefathers being Gods. They would pray and call their ancestors Gods..

nThe empire of Terique believed in the sea god, Carona believed in the god of fertility, and in Yodan, they believed in absolutely nothing... they thought it was ridiculous... if gods existed, where were they?

nOnce they got to the throne room, the king said some rubbish mumbo jumbo and long story short, he annulled the marriage sent ter packing.

nThe king didn't even know his 9th son's name, he was only concerned with the first 5. One of them would likely be the next ruler of the empire.

nHe didn't choose a crown prince yet because he wanted his sons to prove themselves of being worthy to rule the empire.

nBut this decision only made his haram more deadly and made his sons and wives plot to kill or assassinate each other. Even the princesses fought amongst themselves.

nHis father looked at him coldly as he supported his mothers shoulders.....he in turn, returned the gaze.

nAs they locked eyes, the first wife whispered into the kings ears and sneered at him.

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"You are to return all the knights under your care and work as an ordinary knight... I will give you 50 gold coins as your inheritance...Be lucky that I even had the heart to give you some... You can choose which town you would like to work in, and I'll have you posted there immediately

". His father said.

nThe queen didnt want to allow him to have any knights for fear of revenge towards the disgrace she gave his mother. The look in the boys eyes were strong. He would definitely kill her if he had the chance.

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"I agree. But I also have 1 other request.... I want to renounce my sister from being a royal.. and I choose to be stationed within the city of Vienna

". He replied.

nNow that his mother had been sent away, he dared not keep his younger sister in the palace. Those women would turn her into a slave or worse their punching bags.

nHis father of course approved. The princess was his 17th child. He didn't even know her, talk less of caring about her. One less mouth to feed, he thought.

nBari chose Vienna because ever since he ran the territory, everyone over there became his family and friends... He was sure that they would treat him kindly... And unlike most people within the empire, those in Vienna were very honest and somewhat pure. They had also been living far away from the Capital, and didn't know much about the dark side of royalty.

nThese people were a breathe of fresh air to him. It was the perfect place for the family of three...

nat that time, he failed to notice the evil twinkle within the queens eyes. Had he seen it, he wouldn't have been in this mess right now.

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nAs Santa looked at the message, he knew he had to rush over to Vienna... sigh

n'Little brother Landon, it appears that he will come, bearing too many gifts this time around.'

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