contemporary romance
The king of the realm, ignoring their complicated feelings, motioned weakly for them to get up.
The seven princes felt a strange force beneath their knees lifting them up.
The king of the realm continued, "There were many... surprises... that occurred during this hunt. It was only thanks to your eldest and ninth brothers that I survived unscathed."
The crown prince bowed. "Father, that's nonsense! It would have been trivial for you to deal with the stampede even without your assistance."
The king of the realm waved a hand curtly. "That the two of you were able to make it back was impressive enough. If no one has any objections, I'll consider both of you winners of this year's hunt."
The eighth prince called out, "Hold on, Father! I acknowledge my eldest brother's contributions, but what did my ninth brother do?"
The ninth prince was always in last place; now that he had suddenly risen to the top of the standing, the eighth prince was feeling threatened.
The crown prince replied, "Our ninth brother rushed back with his master and has been working hard to repel the beasts. It's all thanks to his master that we were able to muster our defenses and save the lives of our guards!"
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The crown prince turned to the king of the realm. "Father, I have to object to my being crowned the victor of the hunt. To be frank, my life was saved by the ninth prince's master as well."
The other princes all looked toward Zhang Lie with shock. Just what had happened while they were absent?
The ninth prince shook his head. "No, eldest brother! If not for your guards defending the camp, none of us would have survived."
With the wave of a hand, the king of the realm announced decisively, "We'll deal with the matter of the victor and the prizes later. For now, bring forth my wayward son."
The guards called out, "Summon the prisoner!"
The flap to the golden tent lifted. The second prince was escorted in between two guards. His hair was messy and untied, but his eyes were gleaming like a wolf's.
The crown prince shouted, "Second brother, do you acknowledge your crimes of attempted fratricide and patricide?!"
The second prince inclined his head to the sky. "I made a bet and lost—that's it. The crime I'm most guilty of is not seeing past your false veneer! Father, you truly are a skilled actor. You were hiding your strength all along while the rest of us thought you were growing old—but it turns out that we were all mistaken."
The crown prince shouted again, "Insolence! Do you have no shame for your crimes?!"
The second prince chuckled coldly. "There's nothing I regret. If you were in my position, eldest brother, you would have done the same. Of course, if I were like these other trash behind me and far from the throne, I wouldn't bother trying to go for it. I'd just sit tight and wait for you to be crowned king, eldest brother, then live a happy life as a prince."
The princes standing behind the second prince all began to berate him.
"You bastard, don't lump us in with the likes of you!"
"Clearly, you're the trashiest among us!"
"You call us trash, but you're the one who failed to execute your plan and kill us all!"
Everyone turned to the last speaker, the eighth prince, who raised his head to the ceiling of the tent and didn't meet their gaze.
"Father, you truly are a skilled deceiver. All of us failed to see through your disguise for over a decade—I was in too much of a hurry, indeed." The second prince sighed. "And the sudden appearance of the ninth prince's master—the king of the realm is the king of the realm, I suppose. As long as you remain alive, the world will protect you."
The second prince believed that Zhang Lie's sudden appearance was thanks to the will of the world—and Zhang Lie found this explanation surprisingly plausible.
After all, the king of the realm was essentially being protected by the entire world, and many plots and schemes against him would be dissolved by what seemed to be a series of coincidences. Even in his old age, the world and the realm at large was still protecting him.
When the ninth prince was being chased by superior-grade lifeforms and found his way to Zhang Lie, their chance encounter could be chalked up to random chance—or a manifestation of the power over fate that the king of the realm possessed.
If the ninth prince hadn't met Zhang Lie, even if he managed to escape the superior-grade lifeforms chasing after him, he would still have been killed by Wang Jian. If the ninth prince hadn't brought Zhang Lie back with him, Zhang Lie wouldn't have participated in the hunt.
If the will of the world really had made a move, that suggested the king of the realm would have perished in battle without Zhang Lie.
Was he unable to take down a disaster-grade lifeform alone? Zhang Lie frowned as he thought back to the fight. Surely not—the king of the realm might have had a hard time, but he should have been able to win easily.
In that case, could it be that there were some future incident awaiting the king of the realm? Perhaps there was still a strong enemy lying in wait, hoping to kill the king of the realm when he thought himself safe...
The interrogation of the second prince was still ongoing when Zhang Lie snapped back to his senses. The king of the realm mused, "Are you dissatisfied?"
The second prince snorted. "Of course! If I were some distance away from the throne, I wouldn't have minded, but I'm just one step away! I can almost grasp victory—all to be stymied by my eldest brother. Why shouldn't I try to claim the throne for myself, then?"
The crown prince frowned. "Why didn't you attack me directly, then? Why do something so foolish?"
The second prince sneered. "Eldest brother, if you were to die, who would become the prime suspect? Surely not the third or fourth princes, nor the ninth prince, farthest from the throne. No, I would be the suspect—I would be the prime beneficiary of such a crime, after all. So why not set my sights on the throne directly instead?"
The crown prince sighed. "You're truly ambitious."
The third prince cried out, "Second brother, you didn't use to be this way. What happened to you?"
The fourth prince folded his arms. "Second brother, is power so important that you would scheme against your family like so?"
The second prince snorted. "Ridiculous. Would either of you give up the throne for this so-called fraternity?"
The crown prince continued gravely, "It's all because of those foreigners, isn't it? I've told you not to get too close to them—who knows what their true plans are? They're not trustworthy!"
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