A Tale of Strategies For the Throne

Numerous tall pillars propped up the vaulted roof, and the spacious school hall was bathed in bright sunlight as usual. The wind blowing from the large lotus pond on one side carried the fragrance of lotus flowers across the open hall.

On the soft blanket spread on the ground, all the teenagers sat cross-legged, and a middle-aged scholar was distributing the parchment papers to each teenager one by one.

After everyone received their papers, they didn't read them immediately. Instead, they rolled up the parchment in their hands to cover up the grades on it, and then secretly cast their gazes to the other side.

On the other side of the more special cushion, the blond little prince sat cross-legged, with his head raised, looking at a certain priest standing in front of him with big eyes like amber jewels.

The priest of Shamash stood there, holding a piece of parchment in his hand, which seemed to be Garlan's examination paper.However, he did not give the test paper to Garlan immediately, but frowned and stared at Garlan, as if he was thinking about something.

The awe-inspiring and stern gaze made those teenagers who were just watching frightened. The little fat man closest to him was even more nervous. He looked at Garlan worriedly.

Could it be that His Highness Garlan's grades this time are the worst grades ever?

That's why Master Ximuer showed such a stern expression?

Everyone was thinking so nervously, for a while, the school hall was silent, and the teenagers were all anxiously waiting for the next storm.

But the only child who was in the center of the storm that was about to erupt had no nervous expression at all, as if he didn't feel the tense atmosphere at all, he raised his head, blinked his big eyes and stared Shemur.

The priest of Shamash stared at the blond little prince for a long time, then handed over the test paper in his hand.

Garlan took it and opened it in front of everyone without hesitation.

Everyone gasped, only to see that the grade on the paper turned out to be a 'medium'.

Prince Garlan passed the exam?

His exam paper passed——? !

Almost everyone couldn't believe their eyes. After all, in the past two months, in the weekly test, Garlan's test results have always been inferior, that is, he failed.

Every week today, the priests of Ximuer would mercilessly reprimand Garlan—so they were all prepared for the priests to get angry today.

……

But, wait a minute, since His Highness Garlan passed the exam once in a while, why is Lord Ximuer's face even uglier than before?

All the teenagers looked at each other for a while.

But little fat Tal was heartless and didn't think much about it at all. Seeing that Garlan's grades were as average as his own, he immediately cheered.

"Your Highness, we are the same, we are the same!"

He happily leaned over and showed Garlan his paper.Seeing the prince's paper with the same grades as his own, the little fat man was overjoyed.

"Look, we're all medium-"

All the teenagers: "..."

What exactly did Prince Garlan like about this stupid, fat man who only knows how to flatter?

They were very puzzled to think.

And it was absolutely impossible for them to guess that Garlan chose Tal as a companion because he was the worst of them all...

Hearing Tal's cheers, Shemuer's face became even more ugly.

He looked down at Garlan and said, "Your Highness, knowledge can be learned slowly, we still have a long time, but..."

He paused, and his gaze became more severe.

"This is the school hall, where Solga's gaze is fixed. Under Solga's gaze, deceit is absolutely not allowed!"

On the land of Aaron Landis, when every newborn is baptized, others will bless him—"May the light of Shamash bathe him forever, and may Solga bestow wisdom on him." '

Solga, the god of the sky, is in charge of all knowledge in the world, the god of wisdom, and the god of learning.

It is said that his wise eyes are always watching every school hall on the earth, and students who cheat in the school hall will be severely punished by him.

Garlan tilted his head and looked at Shemuer with his little head up.

"You mean I cheated?"

His eyeballs rolled around, "Well, how about this, Xie Muer, you are here to test me directly. If I answer all the questions correctly, will it prove that I am not cheating?"

Seeing Garlan's determined tone, Shemuer's face softened.

But in the next second, his face darkened again.

Because Garlan said: "You know, I never cared about grades."

The child smiled and said, "So why should I bother to cheat for something I don't care about?"

What he said was so reasonable that even Priest Ximuer was speechless.

The teenagers on the side looked at Shemuer, who was speechless and unable to lose his temper, who was blocked by Garlan's words, and while admiring Garlan, they thought silently in their hearts. with.

Glancing at the smiling child, the expressionless priest raised his hand to wipe off a bit of dust that fell on his sleeve just now.

"It's just a pass, so it's too early to be proud and complacent." He said coldly, "When you can have the grades of Prince Heymos, it's not too late to be proud."

If it was an ordinary child who had managed to achieve some grades, and was hit so coldly by Xie Muer, he would probably wither away.

However, Garlan was no ordinary child, he blinked without showing any sign of discouragement.

To be honest, it is very easy for him to get an honor for this level of examination paper.

It was just considering that it would be too strange to suddenly rush from the lower class to the first class like a rocket, so he thought about it and got a passing grade.

It will be improved slowly in the future.

After all, he used to hide his clumsiness in order to let Ximuer persuade King Kamos to abolish his brother, but now it seems that Ximuer has determined that he has other qualifications and is just lazy, so he puts all his energy into it. Pushing him to study every day, it seems that he must grind this stubborn stone into beautiful jade.

Since this approach is useless, Garlan thinks it's better to give up this way of pretending to be stupid.

What's more, it was deliberate to confront Ximuer like this before. He pretended to be an ignorant child and wanted to embarrass Ximuer in this way, deliberately making Ximuer angry... Now that I think about it, what he did is simply It's like a naive child, saying that he wants to deal with an annoying adult, but deep down in his heart, he vaguely wants to use this method to get the attention of that 'annoying person'...

It turned out that the importance of this person who was like a teacher and father to him had never disappeared in his heart.

"Ah."

Gallan sat cross-legged on the soft cushion, tilted his head and smiled at Shemuer, his little appearance looked so cute.

"I will continue to work hard."

The little prince's rare and well-behaved appearance made Xie Muer a little unaccustomed for a while. He regretted what he said just now, thinking that the prince had started to work hard. He should not question it, but should praise it.

So, the priest coughed lightly, and said something a little uncomfortable.

"Take your time, although it is only moderate, it has already improved."

He went on to add a sentence.

"Don't be arrogant and complacent, you must emulate Prince Heymos."

Then, he began to explain to Garlan the wrong questions on the exam paper.It's just that Ximuer felt something was wrong while talking. Although the little prince was listening obediently, he just felt that something was missing.

He glanced around in confusion, and suddenly realized that something was missing.

Heymos sat quietly on the other side, flipping through the scroll on his lap.

His behavior not only made Shemuer feel puzzled, but also all the teenagers next to him.

In the past, every time Shemur explained the test papers to Garlan, Heymos would go over and stay by Garlan's side, and when Shemur explained the test papers to Garlan, he would whisper in a low voice. Explain it to Garlan in detail, he is much more patient with Garlan than Shemul.

As time went on, Xie Muer also acquiesced in this way.

At this moment, Heymos sat there without moving, and everyone who felt surprised peeked at him and started whispering in low voices.

Some interested people even discovered that this afternoon, the two princes, Heymos and Garlan, seemed to have never spoken a word to each other since they met.

Although Ximuer was a bit strange, he was not a gossip person. After teaching Garlan, he left soon after he still had matters to deal with.

As soon as he left, little fat Tal came over and asked Garlan in a low voice.

"Your Highness, did you quarrel with Prince Heymos?"

Being asked such a question, Garlan subconsciously raised his eyes and glanced at Heymos who was not far away.However, Heymos also seemed to have heard Tal's low-pitched words, and turned his head almost at the same moment.

The eyes of the two suddenly collided.

Garlan didn't react for a moment, and was startled for a moment.

And Heymos couldn't see any expression on his face, he just gave Garlan a deep look, but he turned his head back first, and looked away.

Garlan lowered his eyes, the shadow of his eyelashes fell on his cheek, he pursed his lower lip, and then let go.

He answered Tal softly: "There is no quarrel or no quarrel. I am not familiar with him."

Although his voice was soft, in the silent academy, almost all the teenagers were holding their breath and paying attention to this side with their ears pricked up.

Naturally, those people who were closer to Garlan heard this sentence.Although it seemed to be an understatement, it was like a big stone smashed into a calm lake, causing an uproar among the young people.

Although they didn't dare to say anything clearly, they all made eye contact with each other, and some people got together and whispered together.

Heymos didn't seem to hear this sentence at all, and he was still flipping through the scroll on his lap calmly.

It's just that no one saw it. When Garlan said that sentence, his finger on the parchment paused slightly.

An extremely slight pause that no one can see.

On the surface, the school hall seems to be quiet, but there is an undercurrent raging, and people's hearts are floating.

It's just that the little fat man who couldn't understand the atmosphere at all didn't feel the monstrous waves surging among the young people, he just thought, His Highness Garlan said he was not familiar with Prince Heymos, so how could he be with Prince Heymos? Who is familiar with it?

Of course he is the most familiar with Tal!You know, he was specially appointed by His Highness to accompany you!

Thinking of this, the little fat man was even more delighted, and leaned over to Garlan's side, nodding his chubby face like a chicken pecking at rice, and said, "That's right, His Highness is not familiar with him, He always deliberately behaved better than your Highness, causing you to be reprimanded by Lord Ximuer."

He happily patted his fat little chest and promised: "I am different, I will never behave better than His Highness, no matter what time, I will never surpass His Highness!"

Gallan: "..."

You want to behave better than me, but you don't have that ability, okay?

He complained in his heart, looked up at the sky, rolled the scroll, and stood up.

"I'm going back."

"Okay, Your Highness, see you tomorrow~~"

Still obsessed with rounding up Garlan's words, the little fat man happily waved goodbye to Garlan's back as "Your Highness said he knows me the best."

He didn't notice at all that Garlan got up and left. Not long after, Heymos, who seemed to be immersed in the scroll, also suddenly rolled up the parchment, put it away, and then got up and left.

When the two princes were still there, the school hall was quiet. Now that the princes left, the whole school hall exploded with a bang.Now there is no need to make eye contact, no more whispering, and everyone is whispering to those who have a better relationship with them.

In the past, they used to gather around Prince Garlan and squeeze out Prince Heymos, but later, because Prince Garlan didn't target Heymos very much, and the two princes seemed to have a good relationship, they stopped doing this. practice.

but now……

If the relationship between the two princes has turned hostile, then they must change their approach as soon as possible and express their attitude.

…………

"Garlan."

Just as Garlan reached the long steps, a familiar voice suddenly sounded behind him.

He turned around and saw Heymos standing behind him as expected.

The boy's golden red eyes looked at him deeply, and he opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something. At the same time, his right hand was stretched out to him, as if he wanted to hold his hand.

However, just as Heymos was about to grab his wrist, another hand suddenly came in from a slant, blocking Heymos' hand.

It was a big white hand with thick calluses on the fingertips and the tiger's mouth.

Heymos raised his eyes, and what he saw was the one-eyed knight who always followed Garlan.

The knight who appeared at an unknown time stood between him and Garlan, and raised his left hand against the right hand he extended towards Garlan.

"Kayhors."

Heymos called out the knight's name.

The one-eyed knight blocked his master behind his tall body, stretched out his hand, and separated the distance between Heymos and Garlan.

"Forgive my offense, Prince Heymos."

He says,

"However, this is an order from my master, please understand."

"……Order?"

Kehos stared at Heymos, even with only one right eye left, the knight's gaze was so sharp that it was impossible to look directly at it.

"Yes." He stared at Heymos with that eye and said, "Prince Garlan doesn't want you to come near him."

Heymos' pupils contracted violently.

He didn't speak, just looked at Garlan who was behind Kayhors.

The child turned sideways, most of which were blocked by the knight in front of him, only half of his face could be seen, his lips were slightly pursed, his eyes were lowered, his eyes fell in the air, and he didn't even look at him.

Kyhoes said Garlan didn't want him near him.

Heymos looked at Garlan, his golden-red eyes seemed to be disappearing little by little.Something that existed in the depths of his eyes, at this moment, disappeared little by little with the passage of time.

His pupils, which had been constricted violently just now, slowed down and gradually regained their composure.

It is not so much the restoration of calm, as it is the restoration of indifference.

"I just want to ask why you hate me."

Heymos said, eyes indifferent.

"But now it seems that it is no longer necessary."

Heymos has always been a proud man.

This proud teenager will never allow others to trample on his dignity.

At this moment, he looked at Garlan, his eyes no longer had the softness towards this child in the past, but became very calm, as if looking at a stranger.

The corner of his lips twitched slightly, but he couldn't tell whether it was a mockery or something else.

At this moment, he seemed to have changed back to the boy who just came to Wangcheng, calm, deep, lonely, and could no longer see anyone except himself.

Then, he turned and left, neatly and simply.

…………

【I do not need you. 】

it is good.

From now on, you and I are strangers.