Chapter 7 – Goodbye

"Extra, extra! King shot by little girl! Read all about it!"

"May I please have one?"

"One dollar please!"

Len handed over the requested amount of money.

"Thank you, come again! Extra, extra! King shot by little girl!" the newspaper boy continued shouting.

Len sat down on the side of the road and began to read the newspaper. He was dressed in his peasant outfit to avoid attracting people.

When he finished reading the first article, he tore the newspaper apart and let out a roar of anger. 'Everything in the newspaper is false! Rin is innocent! Lies, lies, lies, lies, lies!' Len shouted in his mind. Some passer-by's glanced at him with concern abruptly, but continued on with whatever they were doing.

Len stomped back to the castle.

"Len, we have something important to tell you."

"What is it, mom?" Len sourly asked.

"Me and your uncle… we have decided to get married."

"WHAT?" Len banged the table in fury, rattling the plates of food that were set for lunch.

The Queen looked at her son with concern.

"Don't worry, he's just a bit surprised is all. He'll come to accept it," said Len's uncle, "and Len, may I have a word with you after lunch? In private?"

"Whatever," Len poked at his food.

"Honey, have you decided what we are going to do with the girl?" asked Len's mother.

Len spat in disgust at the word "honey".

"Yes, I have," Len glanced at his soon to be step-dad, "we plan to ban her from the Yellow Kingdom."

"B-"

"I know, isn't it brilliant?" Len's uncle finished Len's sentence for him. He gave Len a "say anything and I'll kill you" face, and Len had a feeling he meant it literally. Len kept his mouth shut during the rest of the meal.

At the end of the meal, the Queen and butler left the room for Len and his soon to be step-dad's private talk.

"Len, you know why I really am here, don't you? You have special relations with that girl, don't you?"

"Why do you want to know? It doesn't concern you."

"Oh, why it does concern me. Greatly. Now spit it out, step-son."

"She's just a friend, okay?"

"What kind of friend?"

"Just a friend! I just know her and get along with her." Len's uncle knew that he wouldn't get very far with this. He could sense the annoyance in Len's voice.

"You know, Len… during the dinner, I saw that girl spying on us at the window. That's why I got the guards to go out there and check for the "murderer". I knew she'd probably be there. Perfect way to put the blame on someone else, don't you think?"

"Yeah, you're a genius," Len said sarcastically.

"…and Len, if you ever snitch on me," the evil man was looking at Len straight in the eye, "I will have you and the people who you've told killed. I'm only giving you a chance because you're my nephew and my step-son…"

Len really felt like strangling this man.

"I'm glad we had this talk. I'll see to it that you'll have the front row seats when your dear girlfriend is being driven away," Len's uncle got up from the table and walked out of the dining room. When he left the room, Len let out a roar of anger that he had been holding in.

Rin was tossed into a carriage. She let out muffled screams.

Thousands of citizens from the Yellow Kingdom were crowded on the sides of the road, shouting hateful words and phrases at Rin.

Rin felt humiliated, terrible, and furious. Her legs and arms were tied tight together, and there was a piece of cloth wrapped over her mouth.

The worst part was that she wouldn't be able to see Len anymore.

The carriage started moving. Rin struggled to sit up, and finally accomplished this after a few tries. She could see the angry and sad faces of the citizens, all shouting hateful things at her. It wasn't too long until she reached the end of the long line of angry people. At least now it would just be peace and quiet…

"RIN! RRRIIINNNN!"

It sounded like Len's voice. Rin glanced in the direction the voice was coming from. She could see a crying Len screaming her name out the window. Rin's eyes started to tear up, and she waddled over to the window. Her anger was replaced with sadness. She bit at the cloth that was wrapped around her mouth until it came loose. It fell to her neck.

"LENNNNN! LENNNNN!" Rin was screaming out Len's voice at the top of her lungs.

"Shut up back there!" she could hear the cold voice of the driver.

She ignored the driver and continued to scream Len's name. She even continued to scream his name when she could no longer hear him anymore.

"I said, shut up!" the driver was pissed, "if you don't shut your mouth, I'll use this!" The driver held up the whips he was using to control the horses.

Rin immediately obeyed. She waddled back to the back of the carriage and leaned against the wall. She started to silently cried, silent enough that the driver wouldn't hear.

...

The saddest part imo so far D:

Evil, evil Len's uncle ):

The story will (probably) get happier from here on. Yaya, good news :D

Review!