“……” Grolon knew he had no way out. The only thing he could do was drag his dear brother in front of him down to hell together. At this moment, he calmed down instead. "The purpose of you tricking me here is to get rid of me?"
"Get rid of you? No, that doesn't help me at all, dear brother. I'm doing this out of necessity," Tifice's tone was still calm, as if stating a fact. "If I honestly waited for five years, I'm afraid I would be facing the Third Sister's pirate army. Do you know what she's been doing recently?"
Grolon shook his head, estimating the distance between himself and the Second Prince in his mind. He remembered that his younger brother had always been very clever since he was a child, but he was not good at riding, archery, and combat. As long as he could seize the opportunity to rush over and chop him down...
"She is building her own army, brother. Seriously, I admire her. She actually took this step before the Kingship Contest. Even I didn't expect this. We got along so well when we were young, why did we have to get to this point where we had to kill each other?" As he spoke, he took two steps back. "For example, you now, you probably want to chop me in half with your sword, right?"
"..."
"I know everything, brother. You are still the same as before. When you want to kill someone, your eyes become terrifying," Tifice sighed. "Let me tell you bluntly, I want to end the Kingship Contest. Otherwise, what awaits me in five years will be Garcia's fleet. She has controlled Clear Water Port for several years, and Gold穗 City is suitable for creating merchants, but not for nurturing warriors."
"I need an army, an army sufficient to resist the Third Sister's fleet. This cannot be achieved by a trading city. Grolon Wimbledon, tomorrow you will be judged for leaving your territory without authorization and assassinating the King. I have to return to Gold穗 City tonight to prepare before the news of Father's death reaches the Eastern Territory. I will express my deep sorrow and dutifully be crowned King as the second in line of succession. And you will be sent to the guillotine for the crime of regicide."
"You...!" Grolon shouted and lunged at his younger brother, but the distance was too far. His greatsword was intercepted by two Iron Armor Guards together. Then, his calf went numb, and a short sword pierced his calf. Grolon immediately lost his balance and fell to the ground. The crowd swarmed up and pinned him to the ground, kunbang until he couldn't move.
"Trial? You are also qualified to judge me? I will tell everything, let the people who support you know what kind of monster you are!"
"Of course you won't, brother," Tifice said patiently. "There is a medicine in the alchemy workshop called "Forget Speech". It is made from lizard venom and mare's milk mixed from the Southern Sand Land. After drinking it, you will not be able to make any sound. Don't worry, it won't cause you any pain. On the contrary, it tastes mellow and intoxicating. If you have to blame someone, blame our genius sister. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have taken this step."
He waved to the head of the guards. The latter nodded and saluted, dragging the Grand Prince out of the bedroom. The other Iron Armor Guards also filed out, leaving only the Second Prince and Scholar Ang.
"Your Highness, the throne is already yours. I should also call you Your Majesty," Scholar Ang said with a bow.
"You did a good job. When I sit on the Graycastle throne, I will fulfill our agreement. However... seeing my brother's miserable appearance today, I think some agreements should add a guarantee clause."
The scholar's expression changed immediately. "Your Highness, what do you mean—"
"Don't worry, I just don't want to be betrayed," Tifice took out a wax pill from his arms. "You must have seen a lot of this thing. The wax shell takes seven days to completely dissolve, which is about the time it takes for me to travel back and forth between King's City and Gold穗 City. I used the price of the Kingdom's Chief Astrologer to win you over, but I don't want others to offer a higher price to take you away."
"Your Highness... you are joking," the scholar's face turned pale. He gritted his teeth and finally swallowed the wax pill.
"A wise choice," Tifice nodded with satisfaction. "You can go now."
...
When the bedroom was empty, the Second Prince's face darkened.
He grabbed the porcelain placed on the bedside table and smashed it hard on the ground. The porcelain shattered into pieces with a clang. A guard immediately walked in from outside. "Your Highness?"
"Get out!" he roared.
"Yes," the other party quickly lowered his head and exited the room, closing the door behind him.
Damn it, things shouldn't have been like this!
His plan did not include killing his father. With Wimbledon III's favor, he only needed to guide him to notice what Garcia was doing and stop her. And the chess piece in his hand was the Grand Prince, Grolon Wimbledon.
Tifice believed that his plan was impeccable. He used the position of Chief Astrologer to lure Grolon's mentor - Scholar Ang, who was not highly regarded in the Astrologer Association - to write a letter to the Grand Prince for himself. And the Grand Prince was quickly hooked. This was also in line with Tifice's judgment. His dear brother was stronger in combat but not good at thinking, and at the same time, he was unwilling to hand over the throne.
The next few letters gradually aroused the Grand Prince's ambition, and Tifice also made preparations for the next step. When the last letter with the astrological prophecy was sent out, he secretly returned to the King's City and revealed the news that the Grand Prince might force the palace to his father. There was no doubt that once this was confirmed, his father would be furious and throw the Grand Prince into prison, either imprisoning him to death or exiling him.
Then, his father would turn his attention to other children, and Garcia, who was vigorously developing military forces, would inevitably become the second nail in his father's eyes.
But... why did it turn out like this? After hearing the news he revealed, his father showed a strange smile, drew out the short sword he carried close to his body, and directly stabbed it into his chest!
Everything happened too quickly. Tifice couldn't stop it at all and could only watch his father die.
He sat weakly along the edge of the bed, and for the first time, he had the illusion that he was also a chess piece in the dark. His father's last smile was like a nightmare, making his hair stand on end. He thought about the whole thing over and over again, including checking the body, but still couldn't find a clue - why did his father do that?
He also suspected that this person was disguised, but he couldn't find any flaws no matter what, and even a hidden wound on his back was the same as he remembered.
Seeing that Grolon was about to arrive at the King's City, he had to pretend to be calm, change all the plans, push the death of Wimbledon III onto the Grand Prince, and then use his position as the second in line of succession to ascend to the throne in advance. As long as he could be crowned smoothly, he would no longer be subject to the territory's restrictions and could directly mobilize the power of the Southern Territory Duke to coerce Garcia and force her to abandon Clear Water Port.
In this way, the ending was not too bad, but Tifice felt deeply uneasy... as if an invisible hand had unknowingly intervened in the upper-level struggles of Graycastle, and he knew nothing about it.
At this moment, he had no choice but to firmly grasp the throne. Tifice Wimbledon swore in his heart that if he found out whose trick this was, he would definitely let him know what the consequences of angering a monarch would be!
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