"Oi, wake up, you basta*d. This isn't your dad's home for you to sleep."

  Slap! Slap! Slap!

  I opened my eyes to the hoarse voice of the knight waking me up and the painful sting of his slaps.

  Huh? Did I die again?

  I looked around dazed, taking note of my surroundings. I was in a pitch-black room with a small bulb above me, which only illuminated a part of the large room I was in. The room had a brick wall, and I tried to move my arms and legs, but I was chained.

  Why am I chained? Did I die and transmigrate into a slave somewhere?

  Slap!

  "If you are awake, say so, I can't waste my energy slapping you," the knight said.

  I looked at him, and he wore the same armor the knight who dragged me away wore.

  "Where am I?" I asked, trying to figure out why I was knocked out on the street.

  "Are you dumb? You are chained alone with me in a dark place. You are in a cell."

  "Cell? Why am I here? What did I do? I was just walking. Were you the guys who hit me on the back of my head?"

  "Yes, we are the ones who whacked you, and the reason you are here, that's something I don't know, it's King James order."

  King James? Wasn't he the prince in the 2050s? He was also present during Mom's and Dad's execution, he has became the king.

  "Don't tire yourself out, our Majesty will arrive sooner, and you will need your energy to answer him."

  I didn't speak back, my mind started to drift afar, wondering why I was dragged here and if the king knows what happened to Leo.

  "My arms, they are hurting, can you loosen me a bit?"

  Slap!

  "Eh? Do you think I am your slave to order all you want? and you are in a prison assh*t, you are going to die sooner or later, so bear it."

  "Die? What did I do? I didn't do anything, did I?"

  "Oh, for God's sake, shut the fu*k up, won't you?" the guy yelled, raising his hand to punch me, only to be interrupted by the sound of the huge doors opening, and he immediately bowed down to the person who was moving in an electronic wheelchair.

  That must be King James.

  King James was pretty old in age, he must be in his mid-eighties considering his drying-out, crippling skin. He wore a red robe with golden borders on it with a beard grown all the way down to his chest in the color of ginger. He had a ring on his left hand with a red signet. He wore gold ornaments from top to bottom, from long golden chains to anklets.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  "Is this the boy?" the king asked, his aged tone crackling.

  "Yes, your Majesty," the knight next to the king replied.

  "Send Charles away."

  The knight who slapped me bowed down and left in a moment, leaving me alone with the king and his knight.

  "What's your name?" the knight asked.

  "It's Aldon Mack."

  "And how did you know about swirless child?"

  How did they find out I am researching about it?

  "It's for my university research," I blurted out a lie.

  The knight took a look at the king and approached me and punched my face, knocking my teeth out.

  Aggh... I coughed up blood immediately, the heavy punch making me feel dizzy.

  "You are still alive, aren't you? Answer again."

  "I-like-I s-aid, huh, it's for my uni-research," I breathed out, my head feeling the immense pain from the broken truth.

  The knight punched me again. The blunt pain forced me to lose my balance, and I hit the cool floor, my face swollen and hurting like hell, lying on it.

  "Stop it, he might die," the king ordered, and the knight stepped back.

  "Aldon," the king said in a frail voice, which was accompanied by the loud ring in my ears.

  "We know that you graduated from Lockswood University three years ago when you were twenty-one, and since then, you have been unemployed, rotting in your shoebox apartment at Block A, door number sixty-seven."

  "So tell us, why did you want to know about that child, and how did you know about a child who died fifty years back?"

  The last few words of the king sounded clearly in my ears as the ringing sound slowly started to subside.

  "The reason I want to know about Alyss is"

  Whack!

  "Where are your manners?" the knight yelled as he punched my face, breaking my nose.

  My knees lost my balance as I felt the knight roughly lift me up, making me face the king.

  "Answer him, or you will suffer more."

  "Your Majesty...I...the reason I researched...about Alyss is because…"

  cough! Cough!

  "I thought...thought...it's int-er-estin," the half words left my mouth as I was unable to speak due to the growing swell making it hard for me to speak and breathe.

  "Interesting, you say? Hmm, what was interesting about it?"

  I breathed out for a moment, trying to come up with a plausible answer amidst the pain.

  "Let's keep that question aside, why don't you answer this?"

  I fell down forward only to be forcefully lifted upright by the knight.

  "How did you know about the swirless child?"

  "I heard it from someone else," I blurted out, the blood oozing from my nose.

  "Oh, is that so? Who may that be?"

  "From my parents"

  Whack!

  Another sharp punch hit my face.

  "Don't lie to His Majesty, you piece of sh*t."

  "Aldon, both of your parents died four years ago, so stop lying and tell us how you knew about the child, or else my knight will inflict suffering on you."

  "Ok...ay...grhh...I will tell you the truth…" I replied, my entire body throbbing with pain, the knight's arm the only support.

  Should I tell the truth? No, they won't believe it, and if they find out I am Alyss, they might kill me again.

  "I heard it...argh...when two people were talking about it...it...caught my interest, so I tried to research ..ch on it"

  The knight once again tried to punch me, but the king ordered him to stop.

  "Well, Aldon, you are lying again. How can two people know about an incident that occurred fifty years ago? And even if they knew, they won't know the exact date, but you exactly searched for news on those particular dates, so tell me the truth, and we will stop hurting you. How do you know the child and the incident?"

  "I just took a wager and randomly pulled the sheet off the bundle, and it landed on Selune's 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th."

  I felt the knight's knee connecting with my gut, knocking my air out as I coughed blood.

  "Wager, you say? We covered up that incident very well, only a handful of individuals know about that incident." the king said, his frail voice getting deeper

  "Are you an espionage agent from the kingdom of Evergale or from the UEF?"