Be My Princess

Angel smiled. "Lady Josephine is right. My relationship with Miss Natacha Irung should not be considered as a negligible connection… After all, it is still possible that I am the one who gave away that information." He humoured. "So if we take into consideration that Lady Josephine and I are the two persons susceptible to have provided that information, we can come up two hypotheses:

"The first and less likely one is that the information was extorted from us without our knowledge. And the second and more plausible one is that we deliberately gave away the information.

"The second hypothesis raises yet another important question: 'For what purpose?' What would be the motive that drove Lady Josephine or me to do such a thing?

"If we assume that Mr Adolph Irung is the mastermind behind all these cases, we can think that the only logical motive he had was to get his daughter to enter the royal family as the crown princess. This would eventually make me the most likely accomplice in the execution his plans, but not explain why this recent video has been leaked by the same hacker after almost everything has been revealed in the press conference held by Mr Irung on behalf of his daughter."

Angel looked around the Throne Room. The expressions in his audience were mixed. But it gradually seemed like he was getting the high-counsellors to ponder the plausibility of a direct connection linking all five incidents.

"You will agree with us that there is no logic in that course of actions. This is the reason why we concluded that there must be a mastermind who has been using Mr Adolph Irung as a smokescreen in order to mislead everyone," Angel continued. "This conclusion brought us back to the two main interrogations in this case… Who and why?

"We were finally able to find answers to both these questions when we discovered that the Throne was never the real target of these attacks through the media. I was."

Luke Tshisol made another round to distribute files containing copies of the statements of all of Adolph Irung's connections as to their involvement in each incident while Angel continued.

"Releasing pictures of the crown prince with a woman who was not chosen by the Throne, then revealing that the royal family is playing host to a maiden chosen in respect of the late king's oath. Arranging to get the crown prince's 'woman' to appear in an important royal event, then releasing a video of that very woman threatening to end her life while blaming it on the crown prince. And now releasing a video of the crown prince beating up his cousin allegedly in the fit of rage…

"All these manoeuvres have succeeded at destroying the image of the crown prince before the entire kingdom, and at getting the High Council to request for a change in the crown."

David Kakes stood up once again. "Is Your Highness implying that a change in the crown is the actual motive behind all these incidents?"

"Yes, Mwant Kakes." Angel respectfully replied.

"But who would want for the crown prince to lose his position? And why?" The Head of the High Council questioned, sceptical.

"I believe that the best way for us to answer these two questions should be for us to wonder who would benefit the most from my stepping down from the throne." Angel simply answered. "Who would be most likely to be chosen by Mwant Yav in my stead?" He added while giving the royal consort and her son an implied look.

Josephine looked around the room and noticed that all eyes were now set on her and her son. She once again feigned indignation and stood up.

"This is now edging into ludicrousness. I will not tolerate being accused on the basis of groundless presumptions!" She let out.

"I will agree to the fact that our hypotheses are no more than presumptions at the moment, but I don't think they should be qualified as groundless, Lady Josephine." Angel calmly replied to the royal consort before turning back to the king. "When we started suspecting that there could be a true culprit hiding behind Mr Adolph Irung, we decided to keep him and all his contacts under surveillance. And we were rather surprised to see Prince Francis' personal guard meet with the hacker less than ten hours before the video recording of our tussle was uploaded on the internet."

Josephine lost a bit of her countenance at Angel's revelation but still sustained his look. "That proves nothing." She let out with an air of defiance.

"If Mwant Yav allows for it, an additional investigation can be conducted to either corroborate or refute our conclusions." Angel requested.

"Granted."

"Your Majesty!"

"It cannot be denied that the results of the RIS investigation supervised by Prince Angel give reason to suspect that there is something greater than what we were first led to believe at the root of everything that has happened in the past ten weeks." The king said in reply to Josephine protestation. "And wouldn't further investigation actually help at clearing your son and yourself of all suspicions, Lady Josephine?"

Short of argument, Josephine sat back down. Things were no longer going the way she had envisioned they would.

"But Prince Angel, all these revelations still do not explain the cause of the last incident involving Prince Francis." The king pointed out.

"Your Majesty is right. And before I get to give my statement on the incident that took place ten days ago, I request that the maiden be called to give hers first." Angel entreated. "My own statement will come as a follow up on that." He explained at the address of the high-counsellors.

The king looked at the royal secretary and nodded.

"We call to testify, Changadim Kat Sama!" The royal secretary declared

The guards standing by the entrance of the Throne Room pulled the swings of the panelled wooden double door open to make way for Kat to come in. The young woman nervously walked up to where the princes had stood before her and curtseyed.

"Changadim Kat, it has been stated in Prince Francis' testimony that you were present at the Forest Palace on the night the incident displayed in this video recording took place. Can you confirm that statement?" The royal secretary questioned while holding up a tablet device on which the video was being played.

"I can," Kat replied.

"Is it also true that you had gone to the Forest Palace not knowing that you would be meeting with Prince Francis?"

As Kat explained, Luke Tshisol distributed copies of the WhatsApp conversation feed between Angel and her taken from her phone.

"Can you explain to everyone present in this room what happened after you reached the Forest Palace on that night?" George Chang asked further.

"When I reached the Forest Palace, I noticed that all the lights were off. I thought that Prince Angel was running late so I let myself in.

"The moment I got inside, I sent a text message to inform the crown p… I mean, Prince Angel that I had already arrived. And as soon as there was an indication that my message had been read, I received a call from Prince Angel. While I was answering the call, Prince Francis walked in and confessed to me that he was the one who had invited me there. Because I wanted to first hear Prince Francis out in order to later be able to clarify the misunderstanding with Prince Angel, I ended the call without talking to him."

Kat paused for a moment, still having a hard time reminiscing the events of that night.

"When I sat with Prince Francis to hear the reason he had called me to the Forest Palace, he started to question me on my feelings for the crown prince, insisting that he knew that I had fallen in love with him."

Francis raised his head and looked at Kat with a feigned expression of surprise.

"As I refused to give him an answer, he became more and more persistent to the point where I felt uncomfortable pursuing the conversation. When I tried to leave, he stood in my way, grabbed me by the wrists and suggested that I might become more inclined towards him if we got… physical."

At that, Francis stood up. "That's not true!"

"Prince Francis!" The king interjected.

The king looked back at Kat and she continued: "I pleaded that he let me go and he released me…"

Suddenly, tears started to roll down her face. "But… when I reached the door… he grabbed me from behind and placed a cloth on my face… I… I tried to break free… but he was too strong… and that cloth had a really weird smell… I don't know what happened after that… all I can remember is coming through when Prince Angel had already brought me back to my bedroom in the West Wing."

Francis stood back up. "Why are you lying, Kat? Did Angel coerced you into giving a false statement?"

"Prince Francis!" The king called again.

"But Mwant Yav, this is just an attempt from Prince Angel to find a way out of punishment for his actions. If it is indeed what happened, why didn't the maiden say anything before?" Francis vehemently argued.

King Angel II lifted his hand to silence the prince. "I am the one making the ruling here." He reminded him. "Changadim Kat, the statement you have just made carries a very grave accusation; thus, I must take into consideration Prince Francis' objection. If what you say is indeed true, why then didn't Prince Angel and you submit the matter to the royal ruling?"

Kat hesitated. The king had a point. But even though her actions could discredit her in front of everyone, she could still not reveal her true motive in deciding to let go of the matter.

"I understand how this might sound irrational to Mwant Yav, but I really believed that Prince Francis had only gotten carried away by his emotions. I know that it does not excuse his actions, but since he seemed sincerely apologetic when he and Lady Josephine came to see us the following morning… I myself wanted to forget about that traumatic incident as soon as possible. For all these reasons, I pleaded with Prince Angel not to bring the case before Mwant Yav, but I now understand that it was not wise of me to do so."

"Do you have any way to prove everything you are alleging?"

Kat's head dropped. "No, Your Majesty."

The king simply nodded. "You may be seated."

Kat went to sit two chairs away from Francis, and while Angel was being called back to testify, the prince gave her an uncanny smirk that sent a chill down her spine.

Following the royal secretary's questioning, Angel stated how he had been informed by the maids that the maiden had gone to the Forest Palace to meet with him as soon as he had gotten back to the West Wing that night. He had received the text message from Kat saying that she had just reached his private residence when he had still been trying to understand what the maids were talking about.

In the need to clarify the situation with the maiden, he had proceeded to call her and, thus, stumbled upon his cousin's confession right after the call had connected. "I had already noticed on different occasions that Prince Francis had started to act strangely towards the maiden; that's why I felt the need to go the Forest Palace ensure that there was no ill intention behind his invitation.

"When I walked into the Forest Palace, I immediately witnessed something rather unusual through the open door to the bedroom. Though the scene seemed intimate, it was obvious that Changadim Kat was lying unconscious on the bed; which, to me, made no mistake on the despicableness of the intention Prince Francis had at that moment.

"My goal in pulling him away from the maiden and hitting him was mainly to ward him off. But he charged against me while I was trying to tend to the maiden, making it imperative for me to first neutralise him before I could help the distressed damsel. And when I made it back to the West Wing with the maiden, I immediately ordered my personal guard to go tend to his injuries.

"I also thought of the possibility that Prince Francis might have just been temporarily swept away by his emotions, but I came to question that when my personal guard later reported to me that not only he had found no one at the Forest Palace, but it also looked as if no one had been there at all that night.

"For that reason, I was very much determined to bring the matter before the king; Changadim Kat's insistence on letting go of the matter is the only reason why I decided to hold back."

It was evident that the high-counsellors were now leaning towards Angel's version of the facts. But the king knew that without conclusive proof to corroborate any of the three statements, neither of them would be taken into account in his ruling. Nonetheless, the confidence transpiring through his son's eyes made him suspect that Angel might have found a way to prove the legitimacy of his actions.

"What you say can fairly justify your actions on that night, Prince Angel. But you must understand that, without providing sustainable proof to corroborate your statement, I cannot make my ruling on the mere basis of your word. And even if Changadim Kat's testimony is in alignment with yours, the fact that days have passed since the incident took place added to the fact the two of you share the same living space makes it impossible for me to discard Prince Francis' suspicion of coercion." The king explained.

"I do have evidence to support what I am asserting, Mwant Yav."

Angel was truly enjoying the confused look on both Josephine and Francis' faces. They had been so confident in their certitude that they had covered all their bases. And how could they not be when they were completely oblivious to a very crucial detail that had secured him an irrefutable piece of evidence?

"But before I present my piece of evidence, I would like to give Prince Francis a last opportunity to change his statement." Angel declared.

"Why would I change my statement when all I've said is the bare truth?" Francis responded in defiance.

Angel nodded, satisfied with his cousin's response. "Karl[1] Tshisol?"

The RIS lead investigator approached and handed Angel his cellphone that had been left in RIS custody as per the rules of confinement.

"There is one important detail I deliberately omitted while making my statement," Angel started as he turned his cellphone on. "The call I made to Changadim Kat was ended neither by her nor at the moment she thinks it was…"

Kat frowned. She was certain to have clicked on the red 'End Call' button before putting the phone back in her pocket. Unless… Touch screens tend to be quite unreliable at times…

"As I said before, I had noticed that Prince Francis was behaving strangely towards the maiden. So when I heard through the phone that he had tricked Changadim Kat into meeting him in a secluded place at night, had the reflex of recording the ongoing phone call."

For the first time, since the beginning of the royal hearing, sparkles of hope lit up the eyes of the queen and of the queen mother. Angel signalled Luke Tshisol and the investigator proceeded to connect the device to speakers before playing the recording.

Colours left Josephine's face when her son's voice filled the quiet room.

"I believe that I will not be exaggerating if I say that I have bested Angel in every way during our dates…"

"This goes without even stating it."

As Francis and Kat's conversation played through the recording, Angel remembered how, on that fateful night, each of those words had pounded in his ears and on his heart, filling him with a dread that had led him to quickly reach breakneck speed on his drive to his private abode.

The recording was also triggering Kat's memory of the incident in all its details. Since the phone was in the pocket of Kat's cardigan, even the muffled sound of her struggle to break free from Francis hold was recorded. To her, it was as if she was projected back to that night and forced to relive all she had felt back then.

As the sound of struggle ceased, Kat silently thanked God for allowing that her loss of consciousness in that dreadful moment was making her memory of the incident less traumatising. A succession of different sounds of fabric frictions followed the sound of struggle; then Francis' voice was again heard.

"I'm sorry it has to happen like this, Kat… But you are leaving me with no other choice. All you had to do was to choose me, but you fell for Angel instead… Don't blame me… You cannot just waltz your way to my cousin after making me fall in love with you… I can never let that happen… You can never be anyone else's but mine!"

The recording then proceeded to the sounds of a struggle, then Angel's voice was heard calling for the maiden. More struggle was heard, then followed the sounds of footsteps and what could be interpreted as Angel carrying Kat to his car. The recording finally stopped a few seconds after the sound of shutting car doors was heard and a dead silence fell on the Throne Room.

When most were shocked by the discovery of the ugly truth behind the incident; Kat was deeply shaken by the dreadful realisation that Francis had not just temporarily lost his reasoning in the throes of heartbreak. From his cold tone, she now understood that it had never been a desperate attempt to keep her to him, but a rather selfish desire possess her by all means.

Even after eavesdropping on Francis and Josephine's conversation the day before, Kat had still believed that the prince had just broken down and made a desperate move after whatever it is had convinced him that she had fallen for his cousin because she could not conceive in her mind that Francis was the kind of man capable of such malice. But now, she was faced with the brutal truth that all she knew about him so far was majorly a façade.

High-Counsellor David Kakes was the first one to speak after the recording had stopped. As he stood up, his two colleagues imitated him and followed him to stand in front of the throne.

"Before Mwant Yav makes a ruling on this case, we, the representatives of the High Council would like to withdraw our request for a change in the crown. Upon analysis of the contents of the recording submitted by Prince Angel, we understand that we are in the presence of conclusive proof of the legitimacy of his actions in the case that concerns us. It is the need to rescue a damsel in distress and to safeguard the integrity of the Throne that drove the crown prince to fend off another member of the royal family; hence, he cannot receive punishment for such action.

"'Furthermore, in the lights of all the investigation findings presented by Prince Angel and Karl Tshisol, the need arises to find out whether there was indeed someone else pulling the strings behind Mr Adolph Irung. Given that Mwant Yav has already granted Prince Angel's request for further investigation, the High Council would like to submit the request that the royal consort, Lady Josephine, her son, Prince Francis, and the prince's personal guard be held in confinement during the course of this new investigation."

"Granted!" The king let out in a tone that resounded like thunder in Josephine's ears.

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[1] Captain