"...," Goron knew he had no retreat left. His only option was to drag his own younger brother into hell. At this moment, he calmed down. "Was your purpose in deceiving me to eliminate me?" "Eliminate you? No, that would do me no good, dear brother. I acted out of desperation," Tefiko's tone remained calm, as if stating a fact. "If I waited patiently for five years, I might face Third Sister's pirate army. Do you know what she's been doing lately?" Goron shook his head, calculating the distance between himself and Second Prince. He remembered his brother had shown remarkable intelligence since childhood, though not skilled in horsemanship or combat. Whenever an opportunity arose to charge forward and strike— "She's building her own army, brother. Honestly, I admire her for taking this step before the King's Order. Even I didn't anticipate it. We were so harmonious as children—why did things come to this, forcing us to kill each other?" He took two more steps back. "Take you now, for example. You'd probably want to split me in two with one strike, wouldn't you?" "...," "I know, brother. You're still the same—when you want to kill, even God seems terrifying," Tefiko sighed. "Let me be blunt: I want to end the King's Order. Otherwise, five years from now, I'll face Giasia's fleet. She controlled Port of Emerald Waters years ago, and Goldgrain City suits merchants but not warriors." "I need an army strong enough to withstand the Third Sister's fleet—this cannot be achieved by a mere trading city. Gollon Wimberton, you shall be tried tomorrow for deserting your territory and assassinating the King. Tonight I must return to Golden Spike to prepare before Father's tragic news reaches the Eastern Frontier. I shall mourn deeply and, as the second in line to the throne, be crowned King without hesitation. As for you, you shall be sent to the gallows for the crime of regicide." "You...!" Gollon roared as he lunged at his brother, but the distance was too great. His great sword was intercepted by two Ironclad Guards, then his leg went numb, and a short sword pierced his thigh. Gollon lost his balance and fell to the ground. The crowd rushed forward, pinning him down and binding him so tightly that he could not move.
"Judgment? You dare judge me? I'll expose everything to your supporters and show them what kind of monster you are!" "Of course not, brother," Tifeco said patiently. "The Alchemy Workshop has a potion called' Forgetful Tongue, 'made from lizard venom from the southern sands and mare's milk. Once drunk, you'll be completely mute. Rest assured, it won't cause any pain—it'll taste rich and intoxicating. If you insist on blaming someone, blame our brilliant sister. Without her, I wouldn't have taken this step." He gestured toward the Guard leader, who nodded in salute and dragged the Great Prince out of the chamber. The other Iron Guards followed in single file, leaving only the Second Prince and Scholar Ang.
"Your Highness, the throne is now yours, and I should address you as Your Majesty," said Scholar Ang with a bow.
"You've done well. Once I ascend the Graycastle throne, we shall fulfill our pact. Yet... seeing your brother's tragic state today, I believe certain terms should include a guarantee clause." The scholar's God-like expression instantly darkened. "Your Highness, what you mean—" "Rest assured, I merely wish to avoid betrayal," Tefiko drew a wax pill from his robe. "You've likely seen this before—the pill's shell takes seven days to fully dissolve, roughly matching my round-trip time between the Royal Capital and Golden Ear City. I lured you here with the Kingdom's chief astrologer's offer, and I don't want anyone else bidding higher." "Your Highness... you're joking." The scholar's face turned pale. He clenched his teeth and ultimately swallowed the wax pill.
"Smart choice," Tefiko nodded approvingly. "You go."
Only when the palace was completely empty did the Second Prince's face turn gloomy.
He snatched the porcelain from the low table beside him and smashed it to the ground with a loud crash. A guard immediately rushed in. "Your Highness?" "Get out!" he roared.
"Yes." The other party quickly lowered their head and exited the room, closing the door behind them.
Damn, this shouldn't have happened!
His plan didn't involve killing his father. With King Wimbledon III's favor, he only needed to draw the opponent's attention to Garcia's actions and stop them. His pawn was none other than the Great Prince Goron Wimbledon.
Tefiko was convinced his plan was flawless. He lured the Enlightenment Mentor of Goron—Scholar Ang, who held little influence in the Astrologers 'Guild—into writing a letter to the Great Prince by leveraging his position as Chief Astrologer. The Great Prince fell for it quickly. This aligned with Tefiko's assessment: his elder brother was a skilled warrior but lacked strategic thinking, and was unwilling to relinquish the throne.
The successive letters gradually kindled the Great Prince's ambitions, and Tefiko had already made preparations. When the final letter containing astrological prophecies was delivered, he secretly returned to the capital and informed his father of the Great Prince's potential threat to the throne. Undoubtedly, if this were confirmed, his father would fly into a rage and imprison the Great Prince, sentencing him to either death in prison or exile.
Then, the father would turn his attention to the other children, and Jiashia, who was aggressively expanding his military power, would inevitably become the second nail in the father's eye.
But... how did this happen? When the father heard the information I had disclosed, he gave a sinister smile, drew his dagger, and thrust it straight into his own chest!
Everything happened so fast that Tefiko couldn't stop it in time and could only watch helplessly as her father died.
He slumped helplessly onto the bed, for the first time sensing his own role as a pawn in an unseen chess game. His father's final smile, like a nightmare, sent shivers down his spine. He replayed the entire sequence of events over and over—complete with the autopsy—yet found no clue as to why his father had acted that way.
He had suspected the man might be a decoy, but no clues emerged—neither the hidden wound on his back nor its appearance matched his recollection.
As Goron neared the capital, he forced a calm facade, overhauling the entire plan to shift the blame for King Wimbledon III's death onto the Great Prince. Leveraging his status as the second in line, he secured the throne ahead of schedule. With a smooth coronation, he would be free from territorial constraints, able to mobilize the Southern Duke's forces to pressure Giasia into relinquishing Port of Emerald Waters.
The outcome seemed inevitable, yet Tefiko was gripped by an unease... As if an invisible hand had slipped into the upper echelons of Graycastle's power struggles without his knowledge.
At this critical moment, he had no alternative but to cling to the throne. Tefiko Wemberton swore to himself that if the deception was exposed, he would make the perpetrator pay the ultimate price for provoking a monarch!