TKU Chapter 7: Death

Chapter 7: Death

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: UA

The next day, Hamza had a rare sleep in and woke up when the sun shone on the terrace.

Anes also woke up, but he couldn’t get up. He had not been done so crazily for a long time. Now he felt that his body was broken and didn’t have the strength to sit up. He doesn’t remember when he fell asleep,but before he lost consciousness, Hamza was still in his body. He was kissed, conquered, affectionately called and wantonly hurt. He hugged his lover who had only known him for a month, and then fell into nothingness in his arms.

He opened the blanket and found that Hamza had left many deep and shallow marks on his body. Seeing these, he immediately looked up to see Hamza’s body. Fortunately, yesterday, he was very careful to control himself. He could not leave any marks on Hamza.

Hamza went to wash first and changed into his new clothes. Anes looked at him quietly in bed with a smile on his face.

After finishing everything, Hamza sits down by the bed and hugs Anes gently.

“You seem to be hurt,” Hamza said apologetically. “I’m sorry, I didn’t notice…”

Anes wanted to answer: it was nothing, I have experienced more pain. But he thought about it for a while and realized it was not a good answer, so he said, “It doesn’t matter. As long as it’s with you, it could be more painful.”

At that moment, Hamza’s eyes seemed to set ablaze. He looked down, lifted Anes and finally gave him a hard kiss.

Then Hamza left.

Anes stood at the window, looking at the far away carriage, and went to pour himself a glass of wine. Nothing has changed in the Golden Bough hotel. With his tired body, Anes ushered in a new day.

In the evening, when the number of guests was at its peak, a female slave annoyed a rich merchant. Anes went to negotiate with the guests in person. The slave and the servant boy Ralph knelt in a corner of the room.

Although the slave was beautiful, she was deaf and dumb, while Ralph, a servant boy, was not only deaf and discerning, but also loyal to Anes.

“Is everything going well?” Anes asked softly.

The guest had just broken a cup, and now he broke another and answered the question, “So far, it’s going well. They had dinner together in the evening.”

“Lord Ilfayi is satisfied with him?”

“The appointment is satisfactory. Lord Ilfayi has always been calm, and the gladiator behaved well. He is not rude, and very well behaved.”

Anes nodded. “That’s good.”

“How long do you think it will take?” Asked the guest.

“At least they will go to bed once or twice,” Anes said. “People make mistakes when they are not calm.”

So, after a few whispers, the ‘angry guest’ was soon persuaded to stay by Anes. The night was  noisy and silent at the same time.

Five days later, in the early hours of the morning, the sleeping ones were woken up by a hurried knock on the door.

The servant boy Ralph came through the door and leaned to the side of Anes’ pillow, “The great wizard is dead.”

“When?” He sat up quickly.

“During the first half of the night.”

“Who found him? Do you know how he died?”

The servant boy, with a wooden face, who was used to talking about these things since a young age, “News came from the maid that he died in the bath.”

Anes remembers the bath. The pool is the size of a room, surrounded by opal and white jade. The water is always full of petals or perfume powder. People sitting in the center of the bath can not reach the walls of the pool. If the water is deep enough, people can drown in it.

“Only one of them died?” Anes asked.

“One died,” Raf said. “The other… it is not clear.”

Anes pressed his hand on the boy’s shoulder, “Raf, you go to the back door. Casa is waiting for you. Don’t come back after you leave. When everything settles down, I will send someone to look for you. Do you understand?”

The boy nodded, turned and ran downstairs.

Raf stole a bottle of oil from the back kitchen and was caught by Casa, the chef.

Now it was the time for everyone to have a good dream. Casa, the chef, didn’t want to disturb Anes. He beat Raf and drove him out of the hotel with a stick. There was a lot of noise, which woke up some prostitutes in the hotel, and the owner of the grocery store across the street heard it too. But where would an ugly child like Raf go.

During the day, it was as if Ilfayi’s breath was false. It was different in the evening. The number of visitors who came to look for flowers and willows had obviously decreased a lot, you could see that the whole city had become quiet. No, this was another day, it was time to check the accounts every month. In the evening, Barred’s housekeeper came, he sent people to come regularly every month without any cover up.

The housekeeper and Anes sat directly in the hall and chatted about nothing more than business matters. Occasionally,  about his experience as Ilfayi’s servant, although their voices were low so as to not disturb the other guests.

When the housekeeper left, Anes went back to his room and took out a roll of silk from the cuff, thinner than a finger. He opened the secret letter by candlelight, with handwriting smaller than beans.

The Privy minister Ilfayi is indeed dead. The news has not yet reached the people, but it has spread in the palace.

Ilfayi drowned in the bath, with his new favorite guard beside him.

As long as they are a person, it is inevitable that they will be limp after some indulgence. At that time, Ilfayi was unprepared. In this case, the weak wizard was not the opponent of the weathered gladiator at all.

The male pet failed to escape in time after the murder and was captured alive by the guards. He is now being held in the Privy chamber and being tried in secret. The murder of Ilfayi is a big event, and someone must be in charge of it.

Barred said in the letter that he had made some arrangements to try to find the man as soon as possible so that he could shut his mouth before he confessed.

Finally, Barred asked Anes to meet at a clothing store tomorrow afternoon, where they could talk about their future plans.

Anes burned the silk paper with a candle’s fire. He wandered to the bed, fell down, curled up in a small ball, and sobbed alone in the dark.

 

The next day, as promised, Anes came to the clothing store called ‘Bola Skill.’

The owner is an old woman of nearly 70 years old. It is said that when she was young, she worked as a tailor in the palace of Bola. Golden Bough Hotel cooperated with her for a long time. Anes used to come often to pick clothes.

The boy took Anes to the back room as usual. Now Barred was in the sewing room and no one was with him.

He hadn’t seen him for more than a month, and Barred seemed to have grown old suddenly. Not only has his white hair increased, but also the sparse area on his head has expanded a lot. Anes heard that castration causes you to lose hair, but he thinks that Ilfayi is part Barred’s worry all day long.

Although his face was haggard, Barred’s expression was very strong. He hugged Anes and rubbed his hair like a child, “Anes, good boy, you are amazing! How did you expect to succeed?”

Anes shook his head and said, “I wasn’t sure either, but in general I thought it would work.”

Barred sat on a jumble of cloth, kneaded his knees and sighed, “I was looking for another Gladiator, the red haired yabuyaba. He was one of us from the beginning, and his appearance was more in line with Ilfayi’s taste. I didn’t expect that Ilfayi was in love with a lion.”

The reason is clear to any. He said, “I hadn’t seen Sarin yet at that time, I mean the lion Hamza. If I had, I would’ve been sure Ilfayi would prefer him to the one with red hair. “

“Why?”

“Ilfayi likes the pained and pure type. Simple, kind, stupid, it’s better to have a kind of impersonal temperament.”

Barred laughed, “I’m not laughing at you. You’re not of this type, but Ilfayi likes you.”

“He doesn’t like me,” Anes said with a wry smile. “Don’t you know the difference between a male prostitute and a man’s pet?”

Barred was silent for a moment, patted him on the shoulder, and returned to his seat, “Anes, originally my plan was to buy the Gladiator directly, and arouse his hatred for cruel officials as a slave. You said this was not possible. This would be seen through by the wizard. Fortunately, I took your advice. How on earth did you manipulate the gladiator? How did you know he would be able to move his hand?”

“I’ve never talked about killing anyone, and I don’t know how to do it,” Anes said. “Sarin had no idea of ‘assassinating’ someone, so the wizard could not read the hostility in advance. What I can do is to make Sarin like me more and more and hate Ilfayi more and more. Of course, not everyone will kill for me, maybe most people don’t care about me at all. They are more eager to serve the nobles…. But Sarin is different. To tell you the truth, I don’t have any other skills. The only thing I’m good at is judging people’s hearts. After spending the first night with Sarin, I thought he should be able to do it. If he likes me a little more, he will hate Ilfayi a little more. He will lose control and collapse in silence. Once he suddenly intends to kill at a certain moment, the wizard will have no time to prepare.”

Barred noted that Anes had been calling the gladiator ‘Sarin.’ The old man is well-informed, and naturally can detect some extra emotions in that word. He didn’t want to point it out.

“Probably because he’s Cantari,” Barred said. “Northern barbarians have a tradition of killing for their partners. After being ruled by Bola, they don’t seem to do that anymore, but the thinking is still written in their bones.”

“Probably.” Anes smiles. He never thought it had anything to do with the Cantari tradition. What is it about? What is it about? He didn’t want to go into the analysis, he didn’t want to recall the details.

“Listen, son,” Barred’s voice became more serious as he spoke again. “You can’t go back to the Golden Bough hotel. Here, change into this.”

He took out a pile of clothes and put it into Anes’ hand. This was a set of clothes worn by the goddess of earth mother, a white robe and headdress, soft linen gloves, a jade badge pendant and black yarn for covering the face.

“You put on this dress and go straight through the front door,” Barred said. Just now, a tall believer came in. We have dealt with her. No one will doubt you if you go out again. Go across this street to the temple. On the way, I’ll arrange someone to meet you. Follow them. They will take you out of the city. The guards never check the believers and priests of the Earth Mother God. As long as you don’t speak up, no one will see through it.”

Anes took the clothes, but didn’t change into them. Barred looked at him in a daze and urged him. Then Anes raised his head and slowly said, “My lord,, I’m not going. I can’t go.”

“You must go!” Barred said, “The gladiator is in a black cell! You should know the power of those inquisitors. You have experienced them yourself! It’s still calm because the gladiator can hold on. Once he confesses, it’ll be too late to run!”

“It doesn’t matter, you don’t have to worry,” Anes said. “Sarin doesn’t know anything at all, he will only confess his love for me. Besides, he didn’t know anything about your plan, let alone the several ministers and members of the chamber of Commerce involved. When the case is not available, the Privy Council and the remnant Party of Ilfayi will understand that the situation is done. They will be divided and busy looking for a way back. Then you and your allies can slowly wipe out the roots. It’s going to go well, and you don’t have to worry about extra twists and turns.”

Barred grabbed Anes by the shoulder and said, “You’re right. But it’s not about me, but you! Even if the Gladiator doesn’t know anything, doesn’t he at least know you? He will mention you! This is the same as the princess that time. You didn’t directly deal with the general’s family, but they won’t let you off easily!”

Anes suddenly broke away from him, shook his head and said, “The princess and Sarin are innocent people. I made them weapons! So of course I’ll stay and take responsibility. My Lord, I can’t leave. If I leave, all the people in the Golden Bough hotel will be arrested and interrogated one by one. You and several other adults will also have to face this. As long as I don’t leave, everything is my responsibility. If I leave, things will expand further. Don’t you understand?”

Barred sighed and sat back on the pile of clothes, his expression hidden in the shadow.

His proposal was indeed rash and contradictory. Anes is his shield, which can help him resist all the blame. When he used the princess to deal with the general’s family, he did so successfully. Now he should not forget this.

Anes was silent for a moment, and said softly, “My Lord, you are not afraid that I will be implicated, but you are afraid that I will also be arrested in the black prison, and that I will not be able to stand the trial. I know too much. If I am arrested, you and your friends will not be safe.”

Barred did not answer.

“Last time I could get through it, and this time it is the same,” Anes said.

“It’s not the same. I wasn’t the only one who protected you last time. Ilfayi was also fond of you and made some efforts. He is the one who died this time. The forces under him will not give up. They will fight to the death, and you are their only breakthrough. I can’t protect you this time because… 

Anes helped him finish this sentence, “because as long as you protect me, you are exposing yourself.”

After saying that, he stood up and left the Xinnu costume aside, “You don’t really want to help me escape. Even if I pretend to be a believer, I will surely be caught by your guards. By that time, everyone will recognize that I am afraid and running away. In this way, you will have the first chance. You can control my confession by yourself, and then arrange my death reasonably.”

Barred clapped his hands, and two strong guards pushed the door in, blocking Anes’ retreat left and right.

“This is not good,” he said with a smile. “If there is no scene of ‘escaping with fear of crime and being caught in the street,’ the persuasiveness will be greatly reduced. “

The old man raised his eyes and looked at him. “The effect is not as good, so we can only go back and go with the back-up plan. Don’t be afraid. My treatment will not be too bad. It is much better than the prison in the Privy Council.”

One guard restrained Anes from behind, while another violently tore off his clothes. Anes didn’t resist, and he was no match for these people.

They put the robe on him, it seems that Barred wanted to keep the plot of “pretending to flee” however he can. Then they kicked Anes in the knee socket, knelt him down on his knees, tied his ankles, cut his hands, and rolled up the veil to stop his mouth.