<h4>Chapter 123: I have cousins too.</h4>


    Rnd was confident that Sigrid was wrong, there was no way his mother’s family could possibly be wedging their way into Benjamin’s marriage. Especially not by trying to marry off one of his cousins to his brother!


    "You don’t believe me." Sigrid stated, it was clear in his eyes that he doubted what she had just told him.


    Of course, these marriage ns were not cemented, they were ns that had been made but unfulfilled.


    She put a hand on his shoulder and looked at him with earnestness. "Rnd, the De-Kensington’s want to keep a firm grip on power. In case you don’t be king and Benjamin does, they want to secure the position of queen. When politics enters the room, family ties tend to be kicked out of the window."


    "Hmph." he responded.


    His body tensed, anger unexpectedly filled his body. He had been so good to the De-Kensington family, twenty percent of the ie from his horse races went to them. He had ensured that at least five of them got seats in the royal court. Whenever his cousins, uncles or grandparents needed money for anything and came to him, her gave without thinking twice. It seemed, he was the only one that considered family as the most important thing above politics.


    Sigrid wanted tofort him so she got on her knees and hugged him.


    "Don’t worry, we will not die and we will be king and queen. Emperor and Empress, as for your brothers marriage, I too have beautiful cousins that can be persuaded to marry him."


    "Benjamin is not the type of man that can be pushed into marrying a woman he doesn’t want. Trust me, my father tried and failed, even his own mother tried to match him with titled young women and failed. I am not very confident as you are about pushing him down the aisle with some helpless female he doesn’t want." He felt the urge to remind his wife.


    Sigrid thought about the cons of the male lead, he was not perfect. "He has at least six bastards, if it was not for his nobility and status as a prince, not many women would be lining up to marry him."


    "They are not his." he moved out of the embrace but kept his hold on her hands.


    There was a secret about his brother Benjamin that not many people were aware of, the bastards that were attributed to him were not actually his. One or two perhaps but not more than that.


    Sigrid blinked in confusion, the knowledge she had and his words were contradictory.


    "My brother," Rnd paused and smiled, "he is a good man no matter what your dream for the future says. He takes in the widows of all his closest friends and knights that die in battle. Those that cannot protect themselves to be specific, he takes them to his estate.


    If the women happen to give birth, he provides a small nest egg for the child and visits regrly. He ys with the children, reads with them and fulfills some fatherly roles in their lives.


    For that reason, a rumor was sprouted that all those children were his bastards and for reasons beyond myprehension, he did not bother to correct the narrative."


    "Wow."


    Rndughed softly, "I know, right? It is unbelievable."


    "It is foolish." She blurted candidly. "He has done a good deed granted but he is royalty and one must not confuse royal blood. Having a bunch of children out there believing that they are of royal blood is how you raise potential threats to the throne.


    It is noble what your brother is trying to do, ying daddy to those fatherless children but the truth must not be distorted. How many times have you heard of bastardsing out of nowhere to fight the heir to the throne?


    Besides, if the fathers of those children died valiantly, the children need to know. They need to remember the legacy of their father’s and perhaps inherit it."


    Her words were not too far from what Rnd did, unlike Benjamin, he helped the orphaned children and allowed them to train and take on the positions their father’s once held when they were old enough. If that was not their desire, he arranged for them to do something else.


    Those children that were known as Benjamin’s bastards were pointed at by others, mocked and called strays in secret, children the royal family did not want. With time, such children would grow resentful.


    "This is why they say the road to hell is paved with good intentions." she mumbled.


    "Hmmm." Rnd bent his head curiously.


    She smiled and said, "I will take care of Benjamin’s marriage. I will see to it that neither his main wife nor secondary consortes for a family strong enough to cause us trouble."


    "Will you be going through the princess of fairynd?" he asked.


    She rolled away from him but he followed, rolling over her and trapping her beneath him, her face pushed down into the pillow. When she raised it, she huffed, displeased.


    "You are heavy." sheined.


    "Ouch! you wound me, I feel attacked." he pushed his entire weight down on her.


    No matter how many times she bucked up in an attempt to dislodge him, she failed and heughed yfully.


    "Get off." she groaned.


    "No." he whispered in her ears.


    Butler Charles entered the bedroom with letters form Stormwind castle and stopped short when he saw the crown princess and his princess ying around.


    He had never seen Rnd ying and something in him told him to turn around and leave, so he did. He closed the door slowly so as not to startle them.


    As he walked away from the bedroom, he whistled happily and went in search of Sir Samuel, for once he wanted to gossip like a fishwife as well.


    **


    On the evening of that day, in thergest town square in the city of Eldoria, a ce that was usually buzzed with lively chatter of merchants and carefree people, arge crowd gathered.


    Heavy silence hung in the air, broken only by the asional murmurs of someone in the crowd every time a prisoner was matched onto a wooden stage.


    The sky was as gray as what was to happen next, the execution of the rebels. Not all of them were to be publicly executed, only the men, fifty three of them. The rest were to be given poisoned wine inside their cells and others were to be hung, their bodies would be dangled on the city walls for three days.


    Eldorians that hade to watch the execution were from all walks of life, their faces were a mix of curiosity, fear and resignation. This day had long been expected, it was dyed by the consorts mourning period.


    Now that it was over, the king did not want to dy the inevitable by a single second. He had note to watch the execution in person but sent the crown prince and princess.


    Rnd had been to a few of these through the years and he was not new to death, he was somber faced as he waited for the men wielding giant swords to bring them down and behead the rebels.