The Next Prince, Chapter 37 pg9
The Next Prince, Chapter 37 pg9
He never thought of the other side as a tool, not even once...
The one he watched over, this child, every second was filled with love. He once vowed to give his every breath to Atsawathewathin, but when he started taking care of Khanin, it turned out that he was handing over the entirety of his heart to this child without conditions.
Khanin is the person he wants to protect and keep safe.
“Not like that, Nin... Nin, listen to me.” Tanattai wanted to correct the misunderstanding, a middle-aged man extended his hand to him, but Khanin didn't walk back to him like he used to as a child.
Every time he extended his hand, the child would always run into his open arms. Khanin is a child who is easily understood. Despite being stubborn at times, has there ever been a time when they stayed angry at each other for long? But this time, the child stood still, letting the tears flow, and didn't come back to him like before.
Oh... ugh.”
“Nin... if I stayed still with you, you wouldn't be safe. If I had gone to see you, we might not be together anymore.” When the child didn't come, Tanattai had to fix things by going to see the child himself.
“Not safe? Not safe from what...” Khanin wiped his tears, rejecting the explanation that didn't seem reasonable.
Tanattai heard that question and his eyes welled up, the concern that he used to only observe the child from a distance since the day he stepped on Emmaly's soil suddenly washed over his heart, engulfing him in sorrow.
“From someone who wants to kill me...”
“Who?”
“I don't know, don't know who holds a grudge against me. I have to be here to see how the situation develops, to keep you safe.”
“Safe... then you believe that if I am not living with you then I will be safe?”
“Yes, and now Nin you are safe.” Tanattai looked at Khanin and smiled with teary eyes. “I have been watching over you all this time, since the day you declared yourself, every news related to you, but I couldn't make contact.”
“...”
“I am worried, but Nin, you are being taken care of here. If you stay with Atsawathewathin, you will be safe and after the competition. Once the competition is over, I can go see you, Nin.” Tanattai doesn't really know who wants to kill him without any information in his mind, he is just here to follow orders and wait.
For the safety of Khanin, he must not come face to face. Even though he wants to see him so badly, it's for the best.
And how can you be confident that I will be safe? Who told you thatI am safe? Who instructed you to wait? Father, you have to tell me, say who he is.” Khanin stopped crying, stifled a sob with his hands wiping away the tears.
Tanattai's certainty makes Khanin feel that there is something strange, the information that resembles a jigsaw puzzle doesn't fit together at all.
Even though his brain is not ready for processing, Khanin can see that Tanattai is not lying. He knows that Father is confused, sad, and heartbroken about what has happened, and the other side doesn't feel any different from him.
In the deep gaze of the father who used to be full of happiness, there is still a hint of fear when talking about the danger that could happen to him. At the same time, Tanattai looks confident that he will be safe under the care of Atsawathewathin.
But who is it that gives Tanattai the confidence? Who is it that says he will be safe if we don't meet...
“I am trying to take care of myself, so that we can meet one day.” Tanattai is never afraid to die, his past life as a skilled adventurer was full of ups and downs, but now this middle-aged man has changed.
“...”
“Important, I don't want to burden you Nin, making you more confused, you have to understand...”
“I don't know who told you that the Young Prince is safe, but what I can tell you is that information is not true.” Charan's words interrupted Tanattai's train of thought.
“What does that mean? Are there still people targeting the child? Khun Charan... explain.”
“Not long ago, we were still being targeted. I remember. Because there was someone I dealt with before they came after Nin and entered Emmaly, they showed up at the place of the incident... at Jirat's house.”
What is it, Phii Ran, what does it mean, those guys? When did they show up?” Now it's Khanin himself who turned to the person next to him with confusion.
The new information received caused the young man's mind to connect the beginning and the end, but it did not align well with his chaotic mind, only allowing fleeting images to form in his past.
“I saw a man walking hurriedly. Just by seeing his posture, I remembered, so I asked Vetis to trace him. Besides that, there are many other things that have not been told, I still don't have clear information, the time I encountered them when we arrived at Emmaly... at the train station, one of them that we apprehended used poison to kill themselves first.”
“Using poison to kill themselves? How did they do it, Khun Charan, by putting it in their teeth or drinking poison in front of you?” Tanattai's voice filled with sadness, while the story deviated from what he had heard before, the main point being related to Khanin's safety.
“It was hidden in their teeth. When interrogated, one person grabbed the opportunity to bite the capsule in their tooth.” Charan narrowed his eyes, his concern for Khanin's matter causing the happiness of the person once known as a legend to disappear, Tanattai's question clearly pointed out that the other party was familiar with these methods.
“Using poison to kill themselves in this day and age is illegal, but in the past, the state's guards had customs of using this method to make their lords' secrets die along with them.”
“...”
“But it hasn't been used for a long time... almost forty years.”
“...”
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