A Tale of Strategies For the Throne

A hug is impossible, not in this life.

Garlan said that he did not want to talk to the guy with the title of "Black Knight" who seemed to be acting coquettishly at the moment. He turned around and wanted to pour himself some water to calm down.

However, as soon as he turned around, a pair of arms stretched out from behind him, hugged him, and forced him back.

Unprepared, he fell backwards into someone's arms.

The strong arms hugged him tightly and powerfully. Garlan pulled a few times and then decided to give up.

"Heimos, you are repaying kindness with vengeance."

As he spoke, he also patted Heimos' hand firmly around his waist several times, making a few crisp snapping sounds.

A low laugh came from the back of Garlan's neck. Heimos laughed, and then, the low voice came along with the heat that passed over the back of Garlan's neck.

"You asked me first, I was just answering you."

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Heimos hugged the young man in his arms. Seeing Garlan slapping his hand unhappily and pursing his lips as if he was angry, he felt his heart soften. I just want to wrap the person in my arms with that soft ball and wrap it in the softest part of my heart.

He lowered his head, his lips almost touching Garlan's ear.

"You want a hug and a kiss. Just lift it up or something. I'm afraid it will hurt your arm, but...it's fine if I lift it instead."

The heat of his breath brushed his ears as he spoke.

The slightly lower sound like the whistling of the wind seeped into the eardrums, a little heavy and a little hot, like a rough feather rubbing and rubbing against the soft flesh.

Garlan's ears were quite sensitive to begin with, and under this double attack, they instantly turned red.

He turned his head and stared at Heimos.

"Don't speak in my ear! Also, don't lower your voice on purpose-"

"I didn't lower it on purpose, that's just how my voice sounded."

Huymos looked back at him innocently.

"The hands also move on their own..."

Garlan chuckled, raised his hand, and pinched Heimos' face.

With a strong effort, his fingers pulled outwards.

So the face that was originally as handsome as the sunset was instantly transformed by Garlan.

If there were any believers of the goddess Avdormir here, they would definitely be jumping in pain when they saw this scene.

However, the boy who unceremoniously pulled the beautiful face in front of him into a distorted shape did not feel at all that he was trying to destroy the beauty.

"Are you going to let go?"

He asked, smiling brightly, but the fingers pinching Heimos' cheek added a little more force.

Heimos: "………………"

His cheeks were pinched and pulled hard, so he couldn't speak at all. He could only let go obediently and let go of Garlan who was held in his arms.

After Gallan, who had successfully escaped, let go, the area where his cheek had been pinched was very red. He couldn't help but raise his hand and rub it to relieve the burning pain.

Heimos sat on the edge of the bed depressed and rubbed his face. Gallan, who was in a much better mood, poured two glasses of water. He drank one glass in one gulp and handed the other to Heimos. .

"Don't think too much." He said, "What you see is just an illusion caused by fear, and it is not real. That kind of thing has never happened at all, and it can't happen. Don't think about it. To scare yourself.”

"……maybe."

Heimos, who had been thinking for a long time and still couldn't figure out what was going on at that time, shook his head and stopped thinking about it. He took the water glass handed over by Garlan and buried the matter deep in his heart.

Perhaps it is indeed as Gallan said, deep down in his heart he still has the fear and fear of what happened when he was young, and he has been thinking about what would happen if he was really burned... That's why he did it Have that fantasy.

He took a sip of water and looked up at Garlan.

"Speaking of which, why did you suddenly appear here?"

Garlan paused.

He couldn't say that it was because he was worried that Heimos would repeat the same mistakes and kill his blood relatives again and be blamed by thousands of people like in previous lives, so he chased him.

He said: "There seemed to be something wrong when you left suddenly that day. I was a little worried, so I chased you all the way."

Not wanting to say more on this matter to avoid being overheard by Heimos, he quickly changed the subject and asked back.

"Brother Wang asked you to come here?"

Heimos took a deep look at Garlan. There were many loopholes in Garlan's words. If he wanted to pursue the question...

He took a sip of water, and the coolness flowed down his throat into his body.

He suddenly remembered that it seemed to be the same when he was young.

At that time, because of Garlan's indifference to him, he also chose to cut off his kindness to Garlan. Who knew that day, when he was in danger, Garlan suddenly rushed out...

Later I found out that Garlan had a nightmare that he would encounter a fire, so he appeared there at that time.

Today's events were very similar to that day. He couldn't help but wonder, could it be that Garlan had some kind of dream and dreamed of bad things, so he hurriedly chased him, so he just happened to be able to Stopped him at a critical moment when he lost control?

If that's the case.

So, are Garlan's repeated dreams a coincidence, or...

…

…………never mind.

Heimos lowered his eyes and drank the remaining water.

He didn't want to investigate the reason.

【I will protect you. 】

This is enough.

Rather than getting to the bottom of things, he cared more about being able to stay with Garlan.

Beyond that, nothing matters anymore.

"Well, King Camos secretly sent me a handwriting, asking me to take Earl to the royal city."

Heimos followed Garlan's words and changed the topic.

"When the royal knight was killed, he secretly planned it and worked with others to set a trap for me. He wanted to frame me in order to abolish my right to inherit the throne."

"There is nothing he can do. He has offended you to death. If you really sit on the throne, he knows that with your retributive character, he and his son will definitely not end well."

Garlan shook his head and muttered again.

"However, he has only been doing small things secretly for so many years. Why did he suddenly do such an impulsive thing?"

"…………"

Because he has been secretly encroaching on the power in the city of Meneste over the years. If he continues, Earl will be ignored by him in the city of Meneste.

When the time comes, he, a city lord who has been ousted, will have no choice but to let the mermaids feed him, so he naturally jumps over the wall to give it a try.

Little did he know that he had deliberately forced him to this point and allowed him to do such a thing.

Facing Garlan's question, Heimos smiled slightly.

"Maybe he saw that I had made great achievements in the Northland and was recalled to the palace by King Camos. He thought that I was going to be entrusted with an important task, so he was anxious."

"Well... based on your achievements in the North, many people probably think that Brother Wang recalled you to the palace because he wanted to make you the crown prince. I think Earl thinks so too."

Gallan paused, looked at Heimos and said, "Heimos, you and I, everyone knows that you are stronger than me. I have never even been on the battlefield, let alone established anything. Merit. But Brother Wang wants to make me the crown prince, do you really not care? Don’t you think Brother Wang is partial and are dissatisfied with it? "

"That's not partiality, Garlan. Although you and I are both crown princes, we are different. Only you are the crown prince he considers, and only you regard him as his brother."

Heimos knew very well that although he had lived in the palace over the years, he had never regarded King Camos as his brother.

He has always treated Camos purely as a king.

"I am not close to him. Apart from the qualifications of the crown prince, I can actually only be regarded as one of his generals. Therefore, it is natural that he prefers his brother to a general. .”

"and……"

The corners of Heymos' mouth raised slightly.

He suddenly reached out and held Garlan's hand.

Before Gallan, who looked up at him, could react, he lowered his head and kissed the corner of Gallan's eyes.

"When it comes to partiality, my heart is very biased, even more so than King Camos..."

The hand holding Garlan was pressed against the side of his chest where his heart was beating.

He stared at the young man in front of him and said softly.

"You know, it's all here."

The originally fair cheek suddenly turned red. Garlan looked at Heimos, who seemed to be coaxing him softly, and was at a loss.

He has said many times that he will not accept Heimos' feelings.

But now Heimos's attitude towards him, and his unabashed expression of admiration... made him really don't know what to do.

…………

King Camos's imperial decree has been issued throughout the city of Menestre. Although it caused a great sensation among the people, under the control of Heimos, the entire city did not cause turmoil.

Earl's external image has always been generous, polite and personable, but his mask is only for people who are also powerful, and he only has a good reputation among the upper class.

For ordinary people and even those low-level poor people, Earl, who has a so-called generous reputation, does not make their lives better. The previous city lord would at least have pity on them and know how to lighten their burden, but Earl City Lord never bothered to care about the lives of those inferior people in his eyes. Therefore, since Earl became the city lord, their life has become more and more difficult day by day, and many people miss the time when the old city lord was there.

Therefore, when Heimos issued an order that because the city lord was temporarily unoccupied, taxes would not be paid for the rest of the year, the people of Menestre cheered with joy, for the city lord had been arrested. The fear has also been reduced a lot.

Especially after learning that Heimos was the son of the kind old city lord, the people in the city no longer had any resistance to him, allowing all temporary orders issued by Heimos to be executed smoothly.

Earl was slowly escorted to the royal city by the knight captain behind him, while Garlan, Heimos and others went ahead.

By the time we rode back to the royal city, it was almost late at night and the whole city was quiet.

When Garlan stood on horseback in front of the majestic palace, he was in a trance for a moment.

He left the royal city this time, thinking that he would not come back here for a long time. Unexpectedly, only about twenty days later, he stood in front of the gate of the palace again.

He looked at all the familiar things and suddenly felt a little homesick.

He left a note and left decisively, knowing that his leaving like this would definitely make Brother Wang and the others sad...

Garlan took a deep breath.

No matter what, he will always have to face it.

If you do something wrong, you have to bear the consequences.

Because it was late at night, most places in the palace were already dark, but King Camos's palace was still brightly lit.

King Camos sat on a snow-white stone throne with an expressionless face. The bright light shone on his sharp and rigid profile, causing a shallow shadow to fall on his golden-brown pupils.

He was obviously not in a good mood at the moment. He sat there wiping a long sword in his hand without saying a word, and his whole body exuded a great sense of oppression.

Shemurr, Tapti, and Kehos, who had just returned to the royal city in the evening, lined up on both sides, standing quietly.

Everyone was silent, as if waiting for something.

Not long after, Garlan walked in quickly.

His eyes glanced at the familiar people in the room, and he paused for a moment, seemingly hesitant, before slowing down and continuing to walk in.

Shermer raised his head and glanced at him, then frowned and stared at him, standing motionless.

Tapti showed a bit of excitement and raised his feet to come over, but in the end he didn't move and just stared at Garlan unblinkingly.

Only the blond knight took a deep breath, took two steps forward, and knelt down in front of Garlan.

"Your Highness..."

He opened his mouth for a long time, but in the end he just spit out these two words.

The last remaining sound seemed to have a little vibrato.

For a moment, Garlan felt even more guilty.

He didn't care at that time and chose to walk away willfully, thinking that he had paved the way for Caijos and the others... but he never thought about whether Caijos and the others wanted to follow the path he arranged.

But now was not the time to apologize to Kayhos and the others. Garlan raised his head and looked up.

The tall and burly king sat quietly above him and stopped wiping the sword in his hand. It was like a majestic lion sitting on top of him, looking down at him with a heavy gaze.

King Camos stared at him with eyes that were as sharp as a knife that was about to pierce through him.

Garlan's heart tightened.

Ever since he was a child, no matter what happened, King Camos would always pamper him and protect him, and the eyes he looked at him would always be gentle and doting.

His royal brother had never looked at him with such a stern look as now.

This time...he was terribly wrong.

Garlan leaned over, knelt on one knee under the throne of Camos, and lowered his head.

He didn't say anything. He knew that he had done something wrong and there was no excuse for it, so he knelt quietly at Camos's feet.

Camos also looked down at him silently.

The atmosphere in the room was extremely solemn for a moment, making it difficult to breathe.

Suddenly, King Camos stood up, reached out and picked up another sword on the table next to him, and threw it towards him.

Garlan subconsciously raised his hand to catch the sword.

"follow me."

King Camos said, still holding the long sword that he had been cleaning just now in his hand, and strode out of the room.

Garlan held the sword thrown to him, stood up, and followed King Camos.

Everyone who was left in the room looked at each other and followed.

King Camos walked quickly to the garden outside. The bright moonlight fell. He stood on the spacious grass. He raised his hand, pulled off the thick cloak behind him, and threw it to Tapti who followed. .

The moonlight shone on his strong arms. He raised his hand, and the sword in his hand was pointed directly at Garlan.

"Come."

King Camos said in a deep voice.

Those majestic eyes were piercing and staring at Garlan.

Garlan lowered his eyes, exhaled a long breath, and then, with a clang, the sword in his hand was unsheathed.

The sharp sword blade reflected the snow-white moonlight, reflecting on his face and in his bright eyes.

He raised his sword and attacked King Camos.

Camos raised his sword and slashed hard.

The force was so heavy that it left no room for error.

The impact of the metal blade exploded into sparks in the dark night. The terrifying force was like the weight of a mountain. It shocked Garlan's wrists to the point of numbness, and he almost let go of the sword in his hand.

And at the moment when Garlan was paralyzed by the huge force and paused, King Camos' body swayed to Garlan's side.

He turned the blade of the sword in his hand, and in turn, the hilt hit Garlan heavily on the back.

The power still didn't hold back and knocked Garlan to the ground in one fell swoop.

Caihos, who was standing next to him, moved his feet and seemed to be about to move, but stopped in place the next second.

He clenched his hands and resisted from stepping forward.

"stand up."

King Camos said in a deep voice.

Enduring the pain in his back, Garlan stood up, grabbed the sword in his hand and attacked again.

Unsurprisingly, soon, he was knocked to the ground again by King Camos.

"Come again."

…

"continue."

…………

"stand up."

…

………………

"King Camos, that's enough..."

Watching Gallan being knocked to the ground again and again by King Camos, the female officer Tapti, who was holding King Camos' cloak, finally couldn't bear it anymore and was about to step forward.

But as soon as she took a step, she was stopped by Xie Muer beside her.

The priest of Shamash shook his head slightly at her. Tapti bit her lower lip and lowered her eyes, unable to bear to look any further.

On the green grass, in the dark night, I could only see the blond boy getting up from the grass again and again, and then being knocked down to the ground mercilessly again and again by King Camos.

The moonlight shone on his arms and shoulders that were already covered with bruises. The boy gasped and stood up again with a slight shake.

The author has something to say: It’s the end of the month, friends, the nutrient solution has expired if you don’t use it~~ [Hard work hint]