A Tale of Strategies For the Throne

The stars tonight are bright, dotted with the endless dark sky, like a silver river running through the entire night sky.

Tapti was sitting in the room and had finished washing herself. The maid slowly left with a copper basin filled with hot water.

She had put on a loose and comfortable white nightgown and sat in front of the dressing table. An oval crystal bronze mirror was embedded in the dressing table. The edge was wrapped with carvings made of snow-white ivory hollows. The smooth mirror reflected Woman's elegant and beautiful face.

Raising her hand, Tapti took off the hair ornament on her head and placed it on the table. A waterfall of long hair fell on her honey-colored shoulders and neck, and a few strands were buried in her slightly open skirt.

She picked up the dark brown wooden comb and tilted her head slightly, revealing the graceful side of her neck. The pure gold bracelet reflected the shimmer and slipped from her wrist. She just sat under the moonlight, combing her long hair carefully.

The milky white moonstone ornaments on the table reflect a faint blue luster. Among the many gemstones, Tapti only likes moonstone. Most of her ornaments are decorated with moonstone.

It stands to reason that this time of every night is her most leisurely and peaceful moment.

However, for some reason tonight, she felt uneasy.

There was a vague feeling of uneasiness, but she couldn't tell exactly where it came from. She just felt a little panicked, as if something was about to happen.

Tapti frowned and combed her long hair a few more times, but her mind was no longer on it.

In her annoyance, she stopped combing her hair, turned her head, and looked outside through the half-open window.

She recalled the conversations she had with Prince Gallan before returning to her dormitory tonight.

At that time, the prince, who had just washed his hair, sat obediently by the bed and asked her to wipe his wet long hair.

The moist golden hair became more delicate and smooth, glowing like liquid gold under the light, and slipped from her palm. The velvet-like touch made her unable to put it down.

"You were obedient today and went to bed so early."

She said with a smile as she wiped the prince's hair slowly and gently.

For some reason, Prince Garlan's sleep time is always later than the normal sleep time, and sometimes he doesn't go to bed until nearly midnight.

She said this many times, and every time the prince listened to her obediently, but he still turned around and fell asleep late.

She really had nothing to do with him.

Prince Garlan is like a kitten, always very energetic at night and sleepy during the day. Therefore, today, it was rare that the prince obediently asked her to wash up just after nightfall and planned to go to bed, which made her feel a little surprised.

"I should listen to you, Tapti, from time to time."

The prince sitting cross-legged on the bed said this.

"Taputi has been worrying about me for such a long time."

He turned his head and looked at Taputi with his big, cat-like golden eyes, "Over the years, I have gotten into trouble from time to time, which has troubled you. Don't you find it annoying, Tapti?"

Tapti laughed.

She once again wrapped the prince's head with the snow-white towel that had been warmed by the stove, and continued to wipe it a few times.

"Prince." She said with a smile, "Actually, I think it would be nice if you could be more willful."

"ah?"

"Since you were little, Prince, you have always been very sensible. You are so sensible that you don't look like a child anymore. Therefore, I sometimes hope that you will be as naughty as other children." Tapti smiled. Said, "It doesn't matter if you are more willful. I very much hope that you, Prince, will always be a child who will never grow up."

"…………"

"Okay, Prince, your hair has been dried. Do you want to rest now?"

"……Um."

"Then I'll retreat first."

Tapti said with a smile, reaching out to tuck a strand of blond hair that fell in front of Garlan's eyes behind his ear.

"I hope you have sweet dreams, my lord."

After saying that, she turned around and left holding the stained white towel, blowing out the lamp on the table.

"Tapti."

Garlan's voice suddenly came from behind and stopped her.

"What's wrong? Your Highness."

She turned back.

In the dark room, tiny stars fell.

The blond boy sat cross-legged on the bed, his eyes crooked, and he gave her a bright smile.

He said, "Good night, Tapti."

He smiled at her and said, "Tomorrow morning, I want to wear that eagle-wing headdress, okay?"

Tapti was startled for a moment, because this was the first time that Garlan proposed to wear a headdress. Then, she smiled and nodded.

"I understand, Your Highness."

She said, "Tomorrow morning, I will put on your favorite tiara."

…………

Waking up from her memory, she recalled the smile Prince Garlan showed her before she left.

The smiling face was obviously very familiar...but for some reason it made her uneasy.

Tapti sat in front of the dressing table in a daze for a long time, and finally couldn't bear it any longer. She stood up and walked to the window and looked in the direction of the prince's palace.

Because she was a female official serving Garlan, her dormitory was not too far away from the prince's dormitory, and she could overlook it from the window.

The room in her sight had no light and stood quietly in the darkness. The young man inside must have been immersed in sleep.

There was no movement in the room.

Maybe I'm thinking too much.

Tapti thought so.

I'll go to bed early too.

However, just when she was about to look away, suddenly, the starlight in the night sky fell into the window of that room, and a figure was reflected.

Tapti's chest tightened suddenly.

That is definitely not the back of Prince Garlan!

Who is there?

Who dared to sneak into the prince's bedroom!

When he thought of this, Tapti could no longer care about anything else, opened the door and hurried over.

Taking a few steps at a time, she ran to the prince's bedroom. She opened the door suddenly and opened her mouth to call the guards over.

As soon as she raised her eyes, the familiar handsome face that came into view made her words "Here comes" stuck in her throat.

Over the years, she's become very aware.

No matter what happened to the man in front of her, he would never harm Prince Garlan.

...but...what is the current situation...?

"Prince Heimos, what are you doing here at this time?"

She lowered her voice and had anger in her eyes.

"Where is Prince Garlan?"

Heimos, who was looking out the window absentmindedly when Tapti broke in, turned his head and set his eyes on the female official.

Those golden-red eyes seemed to have been immersed in the dark night, much darker and deeper than usual.

He just looked at Tapti, silent, and said nothing.

There was a hint of confusion on that stern face at this moment.

"Prince Heimos!"

Tapti took a step forward and asked.

"……he's gone."

"!!!"

Tapti's chest trembled.

Although Heimos said what he said without making any sense, she somehow understood it all at once.

The smiling face of the prince sitting on the bed before leaving tonight flashed through her mind again at this moment.

[Tapti, tomorrow morning, put on that eagle-wing-shaped headdress for me. 】

This sentence suddenly appeared in his mind, and Taputi's heart moved, and he hurried to the side of the room where Prince Gallan's various accessories were stored.

She opened one of the largest gold boxes, and with the help of the faint moonlight, she saw a neatly folded piece of pale yellow parchment pressed under the headdress of Eagle Wings.

She felt dizzy for a moment, but she took a deep breath to calm herself down and pulled out the paper.

His eyes swept across the unfolded parchment. Without saying a word, Tapti turned around with a solemn expression and hurriedly left here, heading towards the palace of King Camos.

…………

Because he had to deal with the accumulated political affairs, the lights in King Camos' palace stayed on until midnight and were not extinguished.

King Camos went to bed.

But Shemuel did not leave because it was too late. There were several empty rooms on one side of King Camos's palace, and he slept there tonight.

Anyway, this is not the first time that he has stayed here, and not only him, but also all the ministers who are too busy with political affairs, King Camos will allow them to stay one night in an empty room in the side hall.

However, not long after the lights were turned off in King Camos's palace, a female official arrived in a hurry and made the palace noisy again.

Immediately afterwards, Qianqi Commander, who was on duty in the palace tonight, was summoned urgently and secretly into the palace, and left in a hurry not long after.

Soon, the entire palace guard was in action.

The palace, which was originally blended into the dark night, lit up little by little, and the light spread rapidly in the palace.

Countless servants and maids who had fallen asleep were awakened, and they were surprised to find that a tense atmosphere had filled the palace.

Countless guards quickly searched the palace, carefully searching every room, every courtyard, and every corner of the palace.

No one knew what they were searching for.

Is there an assassin entering the palace, and the Guards are searching for the assassin?

Some people speculated, but in the end they didn't get the answer.

The palace was tightly guarded and entry and exit were prohibited, but until dawn, the guards seemed not to find what they were looking for.

After dawn, the aristocratic ministers who went to the palace to participate in political affairs heard the royal order issued by King Camos. Today, the political affairs of the court were suspended for one day. Only if there are really urgent matters, they can enter the palace to meet King Camos.

Everyone who got this order started talking about it for a while, but no one knew what happened in the palace. King Camos could only go back in confusion after he issued this order.

As soon as they returned home, they all showed their special abilities and sent people to inquire about what was going on in the palace.

However, this matter seemed to have been tightly sealed, and no one could find out the truth despite insidious inquiries for a long time.

………………

Half of the night has passed, and it is already bright.

King Camos sat on the high platform with his brows furrowed. The early morning sunlight shone through the skylight on half of his body, causing half of his angular face to disappear into the shadows.

He placed one hand on the warm jade high countertop and tapped the countertop with thick calloused fingers.

The Lion King, who had never known fear while galloping on the battlefield, had a rare solemn look on his face at this moment. He pursed his thick lips, wondering what he was thinking.

A piece of creased light yellow parchment was placed beside him, and the writing on it was clearly visible.

The priest of Shamash was sitting on a chair nearby. Although there was a pile of documents in front of him and he was constantly flipping through them, his mind was obviously not on the documents. Instead, he turned his head from time to time and looked outside the dormitory. , apparently waiting for news that someone had been found.

As time went by, half of the night passed, and there was still no news. Shermer's face had turned livid. He was holding a breath in his heart at the moment, and a ball of anger burned fiercely in his chest, but he couldn't find a channel to vent it, so he could only block it there.

If he caught the little prince now who was so naughty that he cheated on his family, he would definitely reprimand him mercilessly for the whole day.

The female official was standing at the door, her head slightly lowered. Her long hair, which she usually carefully took care of and tied up, was combed together casually today, hanging down from her shoulders.

She turned her head and looked out through the open door. Outside was an endless blue sky.

The sun is bright and cloudless, it is a good weather.

She turned her gaze back to the other side and landed on Prince Heimos standing by the window.

Heimos stood by the window. He had been standing there since he arrived in King Camos' room, motionless, like a stone sculpture.

His face was slightly lowered, and his dark eyelashes drooped, casting deep shadows on his brown cheeks.

The dark shadow seemed to seep into his eyes, making his pupils at this moment like a pair of inorganic dark red glass beads, cold and almost unable to find the life that belongs to a living person.

The thin lips were pursed as tightly as a knife, giving people an almost painful feeling.

He was clearly standing under the sun, but as he stood there, the light did not fall on him at all, as if he had rejected all the light that was thrown at him and driven it away from himself.

Rapid footsteps sounded, but in the blink of an eye, the blond knight changed his usual calm demeanor and rushed directly into the palace of King Camos.

When he rushed in and looked up to see King Camos sitting on the high platform with a sullen face, Keyhos realized that he had rushed directly in front of the king recklessly.

He habitually went to the Guards training ground for training yesterday and stayed there until this morning.

Unexpectedly, early in the morning, he received a message secretly sent by King Camos.

Shocked by the news, he rushed over anxiously, and for a moment lost his sense of proportion in front of King Camos.

Kehos leaned forward and knelt on one knee in front of King Camos.

"Sorry, Wang, I was rude, but now I..."

Because he came in a hurry, he was even out of breath at the moment.

King Camos waved his hand, indicating that he didn't need to say anything more, then raised his hand and threw the parchment beside him to Caihos.

Caijos subconsciously caught it and looked down.

What was written on the parchment was very familiar handwriting to him.

‘I’m sorry, brother king, Heymos is more suitable for the throne than me. I know you won’t agree, so I left. ’

‘The world is big, I think, I can watch it for a long time. ’

‘It’s nobody’s business, it’s my decision. ’

…

The room was so quiet that only the breathing of the people in the room echoed.

Kayhos read Garlan's message, and there was no expression on his face at this moment.

He stood up expressionlessly and returned the parchment in his hand to King Camos.

Then, he turned around and walked to the window in a few steps.

Likewise, he was standing in front of Heimos by the window.

Kayhos suddenly stretched out his hand and grabbed Heimos by the collar.

The only remaining eye was staring at Heimos, and undisguised anger broke out on his face.

"What did you do to His Highness?"

he asked Huymos.

Every word, the tone is cold.

He didn't care at all that his behavior at the moment was for the following crimes, and he didn't care how severely he would be punished for offending the prince. Kayhos just stared at Heimos, as if he wanted to peek into all the things Heimos had done. Something to hide.

This was Caihos's intuition.

His Highness's departure must be because of this person.

Prince Heimos must have done something to His Highness to force His Highness to run away.

He had long vaguely felt that Hermos's attitude towards His Highness was really strange...

Therefore, the way he looked at Heimos at the moment seemed to be breathing fire.

However, what made him feel most angry and unforgivable was himself.

He had obviously noticed something was wrong a long time ago, but he didn't pay much attention to it, causing the prince to leave the palace alone... This was his dereliction of duty!

As the prince's guardian knight, he failed to protect the prince.

There seemed to be a fire burning in his heart, Kehos looked at Heimos coldly.

Heymos, who had been motionless with his eyes lowered, finally made a move. He was not angry because Caihos grabbed his collar, but just raised his eyes and glanced at the blond knight.

The pupils were like cold glass beads, without any emotion.

Cayjos sneered.

Although his face seemed calm, from the way he rudely grabbed Prince Heimos by the collar, it was clear that his emotions were out of control.

And the look from Heimos made the anger he had been suppressing in his heart completely explode.

He raised his hand and punched Heimos in the face.

"Kayhos, stop it!"

Shermer stood up suddenly and yelled to stop Caihos.

However, when a normally calm person loses control, it becomes even more terrifying.

The Burning Sun Knight, who was out of control at this moment, completely ignored the orders of Shamash's priest.

Seeing that his punch was about to land on Heimos.

A glimmer of light flashed across the bottom of Heymos's eyes. He raised his head abruptly, raised his hand, and instantly blocked Keyhos' punch.

A cruel look flashed across his golden-red eyes.

As if suppressed to the extreme, the pair of inorganic glass beads seemed to suddenly shatter, bursting out with a fierce light like a wolf,

While blocking Kehos' punch, Heimos also clenched his right hand into a fist, as if venting something, and punched Kehos hard in the abdomen.

That punch was naturally blocked by Kayhos.

So, next, under the livid expression of Shemuel and the astonished eyes of the female official of Tapti, Heimos and Kehos actually ignored the occasion, the place, and even the return of King Camos. We were there, fighting together so hard.

For a moment, the surrounding air seemed to be ignited by flames, and it was extremely hot.

The muffled sounds of fists hitting flesh echoed in the air one after another.

They are all real, each punch and kick carries fierce wind pressure, and the muffled sound of the punch hitting the flesh is painful just to hear it.

Moreover, those two people had obviously shown real fire, and their eyes burned red like wild beasts.

Just as the two of them were fighting harder and harder, suddenly, an extremely dangerous feeling came over them.

A sound of wind roared.

What followed was a sense of oppression like the top of a mountain.

Both Heimos and Keyhos instinctively jumped back to avoid the place where they sensed danger.

There was a loud bang, and the heavy giant sword struck down heavily at the moment the two people jumped back.

With a click, a deep crack opened in the hard jade ground.

The terrifying force was enough to split a person in half from head to toe.

There was silence in the room.

The two people who jumped back to avoid this terrible blow were still panting rapidly. King Camos, who struck the sword hard with one hand, spoke.

"Have you beaten enough?"

He raised his right arm and easily lifted the giant sword and put it on his shoulder.

His golden brown eyes, like burning charcoal fire, swept across the two of them, and the powerful pressure emanating from him suddenly made the air in the entire room freeze.

"If it's not enough, I'll fight with you."

The Lion King spoke with a very foul look on his face.

"I'm just annoyed. I just want to find someone to give me a good beating. Come on, which one of you will come first? You can come together, too!"

Only the Lion King's deep voice echoed in the room. The other two lowered their heads, panting slightly, and neither of them answered.

After a while, the blond knight standing on the right put a hand on his chest and knelt down towards King Camos.

"King Camos, since there is no news so far, I'm afraid the prince is no longer in the palace."

He said, "Please allow me to go to the royal city to search."

"Well, go ahead."

Camos waved his hand angrily.

Caihos saluted again, then turned around and left quickly.

Immediately afterwards, without saying a word, Heimos bowed slightly to Kamos, then turned and left.

Camos looked irritated and threw the giant sword in his hand onto the table, making a dull bang.

He scolded: "Those two brats gave it a beating and let it out. I'm still holding it in."

If King Camos had been so cursing and calling himself Lao Tzu and kept talking non-stop, Shermer, who always paid attention to the king's etiquette image, would have opened his mouth to criticize people.

But this time, Xie Muer, whose mind was not here at all, stood there with a dark face and said nothing.

The low pressure surrounding the priest of Shamash makes anyone who comes close to him feel suffocated.

…

Tapti was confused.

She felt that she was already a very calm and collected person, but what happened just now left her stunned for a moment.

Kehos, who always treated others with a gentle attitude and calm demeanor, actually attacked Prince Heimos? !

Prince Heimos, who has always been calm and rational in dealing with things and remained calm when faced with problems, actually got into a fight with Keyhos? !

They actually started fighting in King Camos' room——

Moreover, King Camos actually followed suit! It even split a crack in the floor——

This is simply...

Simply...

The female official who encountered this situation for the first time didn't know how to describe it.

The reason why Tapti was so shocked was because it was the first time for her to see the fierce side of these three people with her own eyes.

After all, she has always been with the prince. Whether it is King Camos, Prince Heimos, or the knight Kehos, she is extremely gentle and submissive in front of the prince.

She felt that the scene just now... was like a group of wild beasts that were extremely docile and docile in front of their master. As soon as the master left, they immediately rioted, exposed their fangs, and turned back into ferocious and terrifying beasts.

This was only the first day that Prince Gallan left.

No, not even a day, just one night.

Looking at the deep cracks on the ground, thinking about the scene where Prince Huymos and Caihos fought fiercely...

Tapti became nervous for a moment.

It only took one night to become like this.

What if... one day... three days... ten days...

Even if the prince really runs away and does not plan to come back for a short time...

…………

Ahhhh...

Your Highness Garlan, where have you been?

It is completely unimaginable what a terrible situation Garlan's long-term disappearance would lead to.

The female official prayed in her heart.

Please come back as soon as possible anyway.

You can't leave this place.

Otherwise, without you, these terrifying beasts will completely lose control at some point——