Discreetly the General's son

Chapter 4 - The Minister's Verdict

“Hear the Verdict, everyone, the criminal, Sawyer Brown accused of stalking and harassing Ms Ola Fredrick is sentenced to Death by Guillotine. Guards take him away.

The guards hauled Sawyer away.

The minister rushed over to Smith, “I handled things quite well, Sir.” expecting to get praised but Smith kicked him hard, “What were you doing when girls were busy getting harassed in your city?”

He quickly knelt down, “please spare my life, Sergeant. I deserve to die.”

Smith lifted Ola up, still scooping her in his arms, “Take care of this quietly.” 

With that he walked off.

Jill and Sawyer Brown's residence.

A young lady rushed towards a thatched mud hut, knocking on the door violently.

“Jill! Jill! Are you home? Come out, this is urgent.”

The woman kept knocking till the door opened, revealing a fairy in her late 30s, Jill Brown.

She was the most beautiful woman in the small town, popular for her striking look, her ocean blue eyes, jet black hair and slender body.

So many men pursued her, asking for her hand in marriage, offering her riches, wealth, and all kinds of goodness but she rejected all of that saying she had devoted her life to raising her nephew, Sawyer.

She was content with her life and did not care for extravagance or the lavish life offered to her.

“I don’t know what you are on about, I am certain that you don’t have to break my door down to alert me.” Jill yawned.

The loud knock that was powerful enough to tear her door down and the hollering from her was the reason why she came down from her room. It was too late  in the night to attend to anyone’s shenanigans.

Martha hit her lightly, “You are here sleeping when Sawyer has been sentenced to death at the magistrate court.”

“What!” She yelled in shock.

“It’s true. They said he stalked and harassed a girl sentenced to a sergeant and the Sergeant influenced the magistrate to sentence him to death by guillotine."

“Are you sure it’s my Sawyer because he would never do such a thing!” She argued. 

Sawyer was a sweet and transparent boy. She had raised him like her own son since she was twenty years old, and they developed a great bond.

He never hid any of his activities from her, she knew about his desires, his dream job and even his girlfriend.

When he rushed home earlier in the evening, he had told her that he wanted to spend the rest of the night with his girlfriend and she approved of it. 

Now her nosy neighbour was saying something that she could not believe.

“My eyesight may be poor but my ears are the sharpest, every word I hear is true. The whole town is talking about it because this is the first death sentence since the establishment of the town.”

“I think you got the wrong person, Martha. You need to go home and rest,” Jill said dismissively and she turned to go back to her room.

“Ola!” Jill stopped in her tracks on hearing that name.

“That’s the name of the girl that accused him.

“Did you say Ola?” Jill asked. 

Her eyes changed and Martha saw it at once, she had stopped at once. ‘Yes, I told you I wasn't lying…”

She didn't wait to hear what Martha had to say next before she rushed inside, grabbed her scarf and a necklace then she dashed out, brushing over Martha like wind, down to the magistrate court.

The lantern in the minister's office was still on, and it was heavily guarded by fierce men. 

Jill moved close to the entrance and spoke to one of them. “Good evening, Brothers, I am here to see the minister."

“Who are you?” One of the men asked her, 

“I am Jill Brown, I heard my nephew was sentenced to death and I am here to appeal to the minister about it,”

Minister Cook heard this from his office and immediately asked his Aide to go outside and tell her to leave.

“The Minister is not here.Leave at once.” The aide ordered.

Jill could see the minister's shadow inside, it was obvious that he was trying to chase her away. She fell on her knees, pleading, “I will wait for him here.”

“You are not going to see him tonight. Go back home!”

“My little nephew was falsely accused, I fear that I do not have the guts to return to my house. I cannot walk back home knowing that that boy who is like my son is on death row.”

She cried.

“I hope the minister is magnanimous enough to understand this worried mother’s tears and have mercy on me.” 

“Come back tomorrow if you wish to see the minister."

“My knees are strong enough, I shall kneel here till the minister comes.” He had decided to chase her always but she was not going to go home, knowing he was still in the office,

“I see you have decided to be stubborn about this. Do as you wish!” the aide replied to her and went back inside.

Jill remained on her knees till it was dead in the night. The minister was ready to go home then he asked his aide, “Is she still outside?"

“Yes, my lord.” 

“Ask her to come in.” He ordered.

The aide lowered his back and he went to fetch her. The minister waved his hand, asking him to excuse them.

When they were alone, the minister stood up from his seat and went close to Jill, “I can't believe the day that the fairest beauty in Shanty town would finally need my help.”

He ran his fingers down her face like a greedy tiger would when it  finally laid his hands on his delicate prey.

“Your nephew is somewhat in my favour because he had put you in my den.” he chuckled. “That rascal got in trouble with that wicked Sergeant and that got the fairest fairy that would not spare me a glance kneeling before me.”

He chuckled out loud. Jill had openly taken pride in being a single woman, it was time to take that away from her.

She was so irritated that she could not even find a response for him. 

“I know what you are here for, but to get what you want, you have to become my concubine. It’s only customary for a family to sacrifice something important to escape the death penalty.”

The law usually says one thousand liang of silver, we both know you cannot afford that. Be my concubine and I am willing to pay that price for you.”

Jill shut her eyes, there was no way this crafty man was going to reinvestigate this case but she was not going to let Sawyer die. 

She did not suffer for more than fifteen years just for him to die this way.

“If I agree to this, let me send one last message to my nephew and he must not die. He must live!”