A Tale of Strategies For the Throne

The sun has already started to set, and the evening has come, and the maids in the palace began to get busy, delivering delicious food to their masters.

Kaihos followed Garlan back to the residence, entered the arched gate, and walked into the courtyard. Before he got close, he could faintly smell the faint fragrance of lotus flowers coming from the edge of the pool.

The stone statue of the star goddess Isdar stands on the fountain pool, and the water drops falling from her hands splash into the pool water, forming small water circles.

"Are you really going to do that, Prince."

Kaihos stopped in his tracks, looked at Garlan's back and suddenly spoke.

Garlan stopped and turned around.

"Yes."

His bright golden eyes looked directly at his knight, and he answered firmly.

"I'm sure I'm going to do that."

The blond knight stared at his prince with his one remaining eye, recalling the order Garlan first gave him yesterday, also in this place.

Garlan said, Kehos, from now on, don't let Heymos get close to me.

Although he was surprised by this, he didn't say anything, and faithfully carried out the order.

"Prince, the royal palace is a very dangerous place. Although it looks magnificent and gorgeous, there are many dangers hidden under this beauty."

The knight said that although it was his duty to be faithful, it was also his duty to offer faithful advice to his master.

"Although you are the younger brother, I think it is irrational for you to push out an important person who has a good impression of you."

Although Prince Heymos is not valued by King Kamos, the young prince has great potential. In time, he will definitely become a strong man not inferior to himself and Priest Shemuer, and even, Can catch up with the footsteps of the Lion King Kamos.

Therefore, on the road to the throne in the future, Prince Heymos may be the biggest obstacle for the little prince.

But fortunately, Prince Heymos has always been very close to and dotes on the little prince, so as long as this close relationship is maintained, maybe he can use his affection to bind that powerful enemy.

This is the most beneficial approach.

Garlan hummed, and he didn't seem to be angry with Kayhos's objection, but nodded in agreement.

"you're right."

"I did a really stupid thing," he said.

Using Heymos' intimacy with him now, as a rope, to trap that wolf...

This is what is best for him.

"Kayhos, although I can't explain it to you now, I hope you can know that the relationship between me and Heymos cannot be improved."

"I'll never be able to accept him or be friends with him."

Garlan said, his eyes flicked over the tall stone statue of the goddess beside him.

He turned his head and stared directly at Kyhoes with bright eyes, the child's eyes were always so clean and clear.

"So, I know that I will never be able to give the same kindness to that person, but I still have to take advantage of this, pretend that I don't know anything, continue to accept other people's kindness as if nothing happened, let that person give to me, and enjoy that person Treat yourself well... I can't do this kind of thing."

Garlan's answer made Kaihos slightly tilt his head, looking down at the little prince in front of him.

"It is indeed your style."

There seemed to be a bit of complaint in his tone, and he raised his eyebrows and said.

"Don't you think that you will cause trouble to me as your subordinate?"

Garlan was taken aback.

"you're right……"

He looked up at Keyhors apologetically.

"Because my willfulness will cause you trouble, I'm sorry."

Because of his willful approach, it is likely to lead to a difficult situation in the future. In this way, he has indeed caused a lot of trouble for Keyhos.

"There will be trouble...well, there will be a little bit."

The one-eyed knight scratched his head and said so.

"but--"

He suddenly changed the subject, raised a lock of blond hair on his forehead with his fingers, and raised his eyebrows handsomely.

"If you, the master, are not in trouble, how can you show your ability as your guardian knight?"

"……what?"

"If everything goes smoothly, what do you want my subordinate to do? So, if there is no trouble for me to solve, that is the most troublesome thing for me."

"Ah, next I have to try to make myself stronger, and I must not let Prince Heymos surpass me."

Keyhos said that the tone was obviously joking, but it seemed particularly serious when he said it.

He knelt down and touched the ground on one knee.

Malachite-like emerald green pupils were slightly curved, and he stared at Garlan with a smile.

If the little prince was the kind of person who would use lies and other people's feelings to gain benefits and put himself in a favorable position, he wouldn't even face the threat of death in that dark night, He also refused to step back half a step before those refugees and made promises that he couldn't keep.

And he would never come to such a prince.

"It is my responsibility as a subordinate to solve the crisis."

The knight kneeling on one knee raised his head slightly, stretched out his hand to hold Garlan's right hand, and smiled at the little prince.

"So, my prince, please don't worry about anything, just continue to carry out your will like this."

He says,

"—Even if this is a will considered 'stupid' by everyone."

People with the wisdom of Sorga, the god of the sky, are everywhere.

They use their so-called 'wisdom' to calculate in every possible way, in order to obtain their own interests.

People with integrity and radiance like the sun god Shamash are rare, rare in the world.

My prince, you have a heart as upright and strong as Shamash.

Please be sure to keep your innocent heart.

You will be the future king of Aaron Landis.

Please lead Aaron Landis to the light with your wisdom and justice.

…………

........................

Rumors about Prince Heymos and Prince Garlan's feud continued to spread within the palace and gradually fermented.

Everyone began to pay attention to this matter without any trace.

And this doesn't seem to be a rumor. The relationship between the two princes, who seemed to be relatively close, dropped sharply during this period of time. It dropped to freezing point in just two days, and there was no sign of recovery after a period of time.

Up to now, the two princes have very little conversation with each other, and there is no other contact except the necessary and polite dialogue.

Under the palace, an undercurrent surged.

Countless people began to make choices, either explicitly or secretly.

I used to think that Prince Garlan was still young, and the relationship between the two princes was not bad, so there was no need to rush to stand in line, so many people just waited and watched.Now, the relationship between the two princes has turned hostile, and their differences have begun to become clear. Some people who are good at speculators are starting to move around, ready to bet on the two princes and stand in line.

If you stand right, you will be able to become a political central figure above Aaron Landis' royal court in the future.

Obviously, Prince Garlan, who was favored by King Kamos, was even more popular.

Many people even felt that Prince Garlan was young, and children were easier to get close to, easy to talk, easy to fool, and easier to be manipulated.

And Heymos...Although he is still underage, his aggressive aura makes him not a good talker.Under the gaze of those sharp golden-red eyes, it is difficult for people to have the idea of ​​playing tricks in front of this young man.

Therefore, the vast majority of speculators quickly moved closer to Garlan and expressed their favor to Garlan.

But it's not that no one votes for Heymos. After all, Heymos' excellent posture and powerful strength have long been known to everyone. Therefore, although there are few people who vote for Heymos, they are extremely firm and unshakable people.

……

With a bang, the sharp arrow hit the target heavily, and even penetrated halfway through.

Several teenagers watching from the side showed admiration for Heymos who was archery. They had practiced against Heymos in the arena not long ago, and they were not Heymos' opponents together. .

This made them more determined to follow Prince Heymos.

Compared with the few people around Heymos, there were many more people around Garlan.

However, as expected, the arrow shot by Garlan missed the target again, so everyone fell silent.

The archery instructor standing in the middle looked over there and frowned, but said nothing.Instead, some of the teenagers on Heymos' side couldn't help but secretly smiled.But it just so happened that his smile was seen by the people over there.

"why are you laughing!"

A skinny boy stood up and shouted at the snickering boy with an angry look on his face.

And the opponent is not to be outdone.

"Why, I thought of a joke, I can't even laugh by myself?"

"You're clearly laughing—"

—Laughing at Prince Garlan.

The skinny boy choked for a moment, but still didn't dare to say the second half of the sentence.

So the boy who snickered became even more proud.

"Why, can't you tell? You are so lenient."

"you--"

Some people couldn't stand it anymore and began to join the battle.

"Hey, be careful what you say."

"Otherwise, don't blame us if something happens."

For a while, the two sides faced each other and confronted each other.

The people here are all the children of high-ranking officials and nobles, each with their own arrogance, and they are still unruly, even the archery instructors in the middle can't stop them.

When he was about to make a fuss, Heymos suddenly raised his eyes and looked this way. The inexplicable and palpitating look in his eyes made the voices of all the teenagers choke.

However, Heymos didn't say anything, just turned around and left after just looking at it.

As soon as he left, the crowd naturally died down, and those young men quickly followed his pace.

Garlan, who stayed there, was still practicing archery on his own, and turned a deaf ear to those who surrounded him, complaining that Heymos was deliberately trying to save himself.

When the practice was almost done, he left the archery range.

He left, and some people didn't leave. A dozen or so teenagers gathered together, muttered softly, and then smiled.

…………

boom!

The last boy fell heavily to the ground, face down and fell like shit.

The dozen or so teenagers who were majestic not long ago were lying on the ground in a mess, with cracked mouth corners, bleeding foreheads, or bruised arms. Anyway, they looked miserable.

They looked at the Prince Heymos who beat up a dozen of them lightly in fear, and they didn't dare to say anything, and ran away with each other supporting each other.

The boy next to Heymos who had snickered not long ago was also bruised and swollen at the moment. The group of people blocked them, as if they wanted to embarrass Prince Heymos and deliberately beat him in front of the prince , but in the end Heymos easily taught him a lesson and ran away.

Looking at the backs of the fleeing teenagers, he said angrily, "Prince Garlan must have instructed them to do this!"

"Yes."

Several other people also said one after another.

"Your Highness Heymos, Prince Garlan must have deliberately protested against you."

"Not this time, they will do it next time."

"We have to find opportunities to fight back."

"Even Prince Garlan can't bully you like this, you have to let him know how powerful you are."

Heymos said flatly, "No, it shouldn't have anything to do with Garlan."

He knew that Garlan was not this kind of person.

…………

Here, the teenagers who wanted to teach others a lesson but got beaten up gathered together and complained.

"It's abominable."

"It's not that I can't beat him. After all, he is a prince. I'm afraid I'll be in trouble if I really hurt him."

"Yes, that's it."

Everyone said so.

Immediately afterwards, a teenager suggested.

"We can't really hurt him, but we can block him in other ways." He whispered, "I have a good idea."

"Ah? What method?"

The boy lowered his voice and secretly expressed his thoughts.

Everyone looked at each other.

"is this okay……"

"What's wrong, it will make him uncomfortable, but it won't really hurt him."

"Yes, this can only be regarded as a prank."

"Also, we can say that Prince Garlan asked us to do this. King Kamos loves the prince so much, it is impossible to pursue such a trivial matter."

"Tsk tsk, I'm afraid Prince Heymos would not dare to disturb King Kamos with such a trivial matter, so he can only suffer from being dumb."

A boy said hesitantly.

"But His Highness Garlan didn't ask us to trouble Prince Heymos. Wouldn't it be good for us to do this?"

Another patted him on the head.

"You are stupid! Your Highness and Prince Heymos are obviously at odds, and Prince Heymos always pushes him. If he doesn't say anything, he must be very upset. Let's help him teach Prince Heymos a lesson. Don, His Highness will definitely be happy."

Once you are happy, you will be willing to get close to them.

What a way to please Prince Garlan.

"It seems to be right..."

Thinking of this, the leading boy made a final decision.

"Then do it!"

……

………………

The blazing flame, like a huge fiery snake, tightly wrapped the black-haired boy around its terrifying body.

The black water is flowing slowly...

...the smell of scorched flesh came...

The boy who was swallowed by the flames let out a cry of pain that was almost torn apart...

……

The fingers that were burnt to black charcoal stretched out from the flames.

Ugly hands like a demon protruding from hell... as if to grab him and drag him into the flames...

Just like this, slowly stretching towards him...

……

………………

In the dark night, the sleeping child suddenly woke up.

The white moonlight shone in through the skylight and fell on Garlan's forehead covered in fine sweat.

He sat on the bed and gasped for breath, his dazed pupils dilated slightly.

why?

He clutched his chest, his heart beating violently.

It seemed that some ominous omen had struck, making his heart jump with fear.

he thought blankly.

This dream that I haven't had for a long time...why is it suddenly dreamed again now?