Chapter 84: Hidden Network

Basil had already known that Darius was going to reveal the mastermind behind everything and had mentally prepared himself for the confrontation and the ugly political fallout that was bound to shatter the court today. But he had never expected his own identity to be dragged through the dirt and ripped apart in front of the entire council. He had never imagined he would stand face-to-face with the man who claimed to have sired him, or hear the horrific truth of how he had been planted into the royal family like a silent weapon. To think he was a Thorn. Basil let out a bitter scoff, the thought of it feeling like acid burning through his veins. He slowly lowered his gaze, his thoughts drifting back to the hospital right after he had asked Leo to introduce him to the one in charge of their operations.

He had thought he was chasing a political plot to secure Darius’s life and maybe get himself out of the corner the mastermind kept shoving him into. What he had never anticipated was that he was actually hunting the very bloodline that had created him. After Basil made it clear to Leo that he would not trust a single word or directive moving forward unless he was introduced to the individual heading the operation, Leo had no choice but to concede, calling in Tractor.

To their surprise, Tractor was more than willing to meet with him. But Basil had been unprepared for the sheer scale of the man. Tractor dwarfed even Marcus, the heavy-set guy who accompanied Leo, looming like a wall of iron and muscle. It seemed almost impossible for a human being to possess such an imposing frame. There was something intimidating about his sheer size, but Tractor’s straightforward and jovial manner made it clear that he was not there to threaten Basil. He was there to explain exactly what had happened and why his people had become involved.

During their initial briefing, Tractor laid out the origins of their shadow network, known across the underbelly of the realm as the Reaper Force. He explained that their allegiance to Darius stemmed from a debt left behind by their former leader. Before his death, the founder of the Reaper Force had received an unpayable favor from Darius, prompting him to bequeath everything he had built, including his entire venture, private armed force, and intelligence network, to the prince. Their standing directive was absolute: ensure Prince Darius’s protection and execute his orders without question.

When news of Darius’s catastrophic accident reached them, the Reaper Force mobilized immediately. Utilizing their deep-cover intelligence streams, they quickly pinpointed Field Marshal Thompson Thorn as the architect of the crash and the broader treason. The Reapers already had men planted in all the high-ranking households and had an insider directly within the Thorn estate, a high-ranking butler who served as their primary informant. Through this revelation, Basil learned just how far-reaching the Reaper Force truly was.

Their reach extended into every major household and every corridor of power, silently monitoring the movements of the kingdom’s elite without ever raising suspicion. Basil couldn’t help but ask if they also had someone planted in the palace, but Tractor told him there was no one there now, although there used to be. Darius had made sure all of them were removed when he takes over the Reaper’s Forces.

The revelation left Basil stunned and unsettled.

To think there was such a vast, secret organization that was powerful enough to infiltrate the households of some of the most powerful people in the kingdom and had been gathering information from within for years and Darius was in charge of them. When he asked why Darius didn’t want the palace to be spied on, all Tractor could tell him was that it was not his place to say. Basil could ask the prince when he woke up, which only unsettled him further.

What exactly could they be hiding from him?

Their investigation had also uncovered the man who had run Darius over.

The Thorns had intended to execute the driver to destroy all evidence, but the Reapers intervened just in time, extracting the severely injured man before he could drown and placing him in a secure medical facility, where he received intensive treatment and their original strategy was simple and clinical. With the failed hospital assassination forcing the Thorns to accelerate their timeline, intelligence from the butler confirmed that the council intended to rush a trial and frame Basil for treason the moment he returned to the palace.

To counter this, the Reapers planned to leak their gathered documentation directly to the press and bring the recovered driver forward to expose Thompson during the council session.

Everything changed when Darius unexpectedly regained consciousness. None of them had expected him to wake up amidst their planning.

Even after being told that his body was still too weak and that he had only just regained consciousness, Darius refused to remain behind while everyone else went after the man responsible for what had happened to him. He insisted on being part of the operation, personally orchestrating the confrontation in the council chamber. He demanded to be the one to deal with Thompson Thorn directly, enraged that the Field Marshal had dared to put him in a hospital bed and throw the kingdom into chaos. Neither Tractor, Leo, Basil, nor the medical team could dissuade him. He was still profoundly weak, his body ravaged by weeks of immobility, but his resolve was unyielding.

In the end, his private doctor had no choice but to grant him the necessary hours of clarity and strength, administering a heavy dose of morphine and localized neural stimulants, a potent chemical mixture designed to temporarily mute his agonizing injuries and force his nervous system into heightened alertness. Darius knew the clock would run out the moment the stimulants wore off, leaving him exposed to the full, unmitigated brunt of his unhealed injuries, but he accepted the cost without hesitation.

Basil sighed, pulling himself out of the dark spiral of memories, and approached the king. William hadn’t moved from his seat, still staring blankly into the empty space where Thompson Thorn had fallen. The sheer weight of the collapse, the betrayal, and the brutal revelations had broken him, leaving him looking far more exhausted and defeated than Basil had ever seen him.

Basil’s expression softened as he came to a stop beside the king. "Father, I think you also need some rest," he said quietly. "Let me handle things here. I’ll make sure everything is taken care of and come find you."

King William slowly turned his head, his dull, hollow eyes staring at Basil without a flicker of the sharp authority he had always carried.

He offered a single, feeble nod, then braced his hands on the arms of the throne and forced himself to his feet. He swayed slightly, and Basil instinctively stepped forward, placing a steady hand on his arm to keep him from losing his balance. Basil turned to another palace guard standing near the wall. "Escort the King to his private quarters," he ordered softly. "Make sure he gets some rest."

"Yes, Your Highness," the guard replied, stepping forward to assist the monarch.

Basil watched them leave, his eyes trailing the old man until the heavy wooden doors clicked shut behind them. Once the room was entirely empty, Basil let out a long, heavy sigh.

It was the first time in his life he had ever seen his father look so utterly defeated.