A Tale of Strategies For the Throne

Outside the room, Heimos, who had just pressed his hand on the door, stood at the door, silent, his lips pursed a bit.

He stood without moving, neither going in nor leaving. He just stood at the door with his eyes lowered and he didn't know what he was thinking. Thin black hair was scattered in front of his eyes, casting shadows in his eye sockets.

But inside the house, as soon as Garlan's words came out, the whole room fell silent for a moment.

Shermur, who was staring at Earl coldly with a frown, turned his eyes and looked at Garlan, with a look of astonishment on his face.

He never thought about it, never noticed it.

With Prince Gallan's mind, he would have such dark thoughts in his heart.

Earl laughed, and he laughed, one laugh after another.

"I see."

He smiled broadly.

"Sure enough, you think so too. It should be like this. Everyone is like this."

Yes, everyone is like this, not just him, everyone actually has such thoughts.

Everyone is the same——

"Your Highness Gallan, the 'wise prince', is this the so-called 'wise prince' that is praised by everyone?"

He let out a long breath, as if he had let out all the sullenness that had been pent up in his heart for many years at this moment.

"What's the difference between you, who has the reputation of being a 'sage', and me, who is despised by others?"

he laughed.

"There are some people in this world who are born with a halo. No matter how we catch up, ordinary people will only be left far behind and cannot catch up."

"It's okay if this kind of person is not in front of you. Out of sight is out of mind, but when this kind of person happens to be by your side, lingering, and everyone insists on comparing you with him... once Once again, when praising him and praising him, he mercilessly belittles you and reprimands you... Even your parents, teachers, and all elders sigh over and over again, "Why are you so much worse than your elder brother?" 'when……"

"Yes, I know, I know they are actually saying this for my own good, to make me work harder to catch up with my big brother and become better..."

As if recalling something, Earl was smiling, but there was clearly a hint of sadness in that laughter.

He took a deep breath and stopped laughing.

"Your Highness Gallan, you can understand, right? If it were you, you should be able to know what that feels like."

He looked at Garlan and whispered.

"It's like a nightmare that you can never wake up from..."

Shermer clenched his hands.

He suddenly felt a tightness in his chest.

The scene in Earl's words was so familiar, 'You are much worse than His Highness Heimos', 'You will never be as good as His Highness Heimos if you continue like this' and so on, they were all said by him before. Pass.

At that time, he felt that he said such words to encourage Prince Gallan and for the prince's good.

But now, when he looked at Earl's words from the perspective of a bystander, he suddenly realized how cruel his actions that he thought were for the good of Prince Gallan were.

"'It would be nice if my brother didn't exist'... Yes, I thought so, and then I did it. Then, my brother, who had been praised by everyone since he was a child, disappeared, and I became the leader of Menestre City. Lord of the city, everyone admires him, look how good he is."

Earl looked at Garlan.

"But, Prince Garlan, why don't you do this?"

He asked, "Many years ago, there was such an opportunity, and not long ago, there was another opportunity. Obviously, just like me, I thought in my heart, 'I hope Heimos does not exist', but why do you let it go again and again?" A chance to make Heymos disappear'?"

Garlan thought for a while while being stared at by Earl.

"Well...this is probably the difference between you and me."

he replied.

"Difference? No, there is no difference between you and me. We are all the same..."

"I don't deny that everyone has an ugly side, and so do I."

Garlan interrupted Earl.

"I don't deny that in the past, whenever I felt uncomfortable because of Heimos, I wished that 'Heimos didn't exist'."

Without Heimos, he could have successfully completed his mission in his first life, ascended the throne, and then returned to his own world and continued his life.

There is no need to experience rebirth again and again, struggling in this strange world.

"I thought about it, but I didn't do it."

"You thought about it, you did it."

"Earl, that's the difference between you and me."

"We are humans, not gods. The ugly and malicious side is like our shadow. It will always follow us since we were born. We cannot get rid of it. It will follow us until death comes."

Garlan stretched out his hand, lightly tapped the direction of Earl's chest with his fingers, and then took it back.

"Earl, you are right, we are all the same, we all have shadows."

He looked Earl straight in the eyes and said,

"It's just that we made different choices - you chose to let your shadow replace you, and I chose to keep my shadow firmly under my feet."

So that night, he did not stab the boy who was unconscious due to fever with the dagger in his hand.

Staring at those bright and shadowless golden eyes, Earl was momentarily absent-minded.

"...I let my shadow...replace me?"

He repeated this sentence doubtfully, his expression seemed a little shaken.

However, the wavering only lasted for a moment, and the doubt quickly disappeared from his eyes.

"No, that's my decision."

Earl said, his eyes determined.

"I defeated my brother, so I became the city lord. Now, I lost to Heimos, so I became a prisoner."

"Everything in this world is nothing more than success and failure."

"I can see how terrifying Heymos is more clearly than anyone else." He looked at Gallan and said, "Prince Gallan, I think I still can't understand why you want to help your enemy. I I only hope that one day, you will not regret it when you end up with the same fate as me due to Heymos's force."

"...I understand the horror of Heimos better than you do."

There is probably no one in this world who is more afraid of Heimos than him.

He was so scared that he would rather give up the throne than leave.

Thinking about it this way, I feel really cowardly.

Garlan thought so in his heart that he couldn't help but find it funny. .

"Prince, don't be provoked by him."

When Garlan said this, Shermuer next to him couldn't bear it anymore.

"No matter what, His Highness Heymos will not harm you."

Garlan raised the corner of his mouth.

You see, 'Heimos will not hurt him', such a simple thing, so simple that everyone, even Shermer, who doesn't know how to read people's eyes, can see it, but he did it because of what he said in those lifetimes. Heimos was frightened and could not believe Heimos, so he chose to run away.

"Ok, I know."

The boy said with a smile.

"Don't worry, Shermer. I know that Heimos and I are different from them."

If we say that that time when he was a child, he only tried to protect Heimos because he wanted to change the fate of himself and Aaron Landis...

So now, unknowingly, whether it was Earl's trap this time or the matter of stopping Heimos in Meneste City, he had really done it to protect Heimos. All that.

"I know he will protect me."

Garlan said.

"And I will also protect him until the end."

"…………"

Earl didn't answer for a while.

After a long time, he said something in a low voice.

"I also used to... admire my brother..."

That strong yet gentle brother.

The brother who would teach him patiently and teach him how to practice swords step by step.

When he was very young, when he didn't understand anything, he admired his brother more than anyone else...

The man's voice sounded like a sigh at this moment.

Deep, but eventually dissipated in the air, leaving no trace.

It's like everything is coming to an end at this moment.

…………

"Your Highness, aren't we going in?"

The guard standing behind Heimos watched Heimos standing motionless at the door. After waiting for a long time, he finally couldn't help but ask.

"Ahem, no."

Heimos said, taking his hand away from the doorknob and turning around.

"They are talking about something, so I don't want to disturb them. Let's go first."

"Yes, Your Highness."

The young guard was puzzled.

His Highness Heimos rushed here in such a hurry, but why didn't he go in when he got here?

As he thought, he glanced at Heimos secretly.

This sight made his whole body tremble.

"Your Highness, are you smiling?"

"No."

"But……"

"You're wrong."

"…………"

Who are you kidding? The corners of your mouth are raised so obviously.

****

Time is like running water, and ten days have passed by in a flash.

In a blink of an eye, the day finally arrived.

In the early morning, the bright sun slowly rises from the horizon. The prosperous royal city was as before, bathed in sunshine and becoming noisy.

It was like before, but it was very different from usual. On this day, almost all the people got up early, and everyone was smiling and beaming.

The whole city has long been cleaned up, the streets are spotless, the whole city is filled with blooming flowers, and bursts of fragrance fill the streets.

All the temples opened their doors early in the morning, and the priests placed bowls of water on high platforms with their own hands. On this day, all people of Aaron Landis, rich and poor, high and low, can enter the temple and pray to the gods.

In the royal city, there is a tall pole at the entrance of every house, with golden ribbons flying high on it.

In front of the gate of the nobles is a white jade pole with exquisite carvings, a golden ribbon embroidered with gold velvet thread, with fine tassels, and dotted with small gems. It sparkles in the sun and is really beautiful.

Before ordinary portals, most of them made their own wooden poles or bamboo poles, carrying gold ribbons that were either dyed or embroidered.

Aaron Landis The annual festival of the gods has arrived.

This time, there is an additional ceremony of great significance in the Gods Ceremony.

Just when the royal city was getting lively, dew-stained flowers bloomed in the sun on the aerial attic of the royal palace, and green trees stood on the platform.

It leans on a high mountain, with half a hanging garden and half a gorgeous palace, with streams surrounding it.

A tall tower stood on its edge, reaching into the sky.

At the top of the tower is a platform attic, which is almost one of the highest points of the palace. Standing there, you can overlook the entire royal city.

A young man was sitting on a high attic platform, with his hands on his sides and his dangling calves swaying slightly.

He sat here, overlooking the magnificent palace below, overlooking the city full of flowers.

The prosperous royal city is crisscrossed by roads and lined with houses.

Countless people live in this city.

When the wind blows, countless golden ribbons fly freely in the city, as if the entire city is dyed golden like sunshine.

Garlan looked down at the earth, and at the limit of his sight was the horizon where the sun jumped out.

The land stretches as far as the eye can see, with no end in sight.

This is the land of Aaron Landis, and countless people of Aaron Landis have lived on this land for generations.

He raised his head, looked at the sky, and slowly stretched out his hand.

The bright sunlight fell on his white palm, and a few rays passed through his open fingers and continued to fall downward.

The young man just sat quietly, stretching out his hands.

He looked at the sunlight dancing in his palms, watching them in trance.

And at this moment, a footstep suddenly sounded, breaking the silence here.

Someone walked quickly from behind and stood not far behind Garlan.

Then, that slightly deep voice came from behind Garlan.

"If you continue to stay here, those people below who can't find you will make a big fuss."

Garlan did not look back.

"How did you know I was here?"

"intuition."

"Um?"

"I just thought about where I would want to be at this time."

Heimos answered.

So, he came here to find someone.

Garlan smiled softly, and his hand that was open in the sun suddenly clenched tightly, as if he had caught all the sunlight that fell on his palm.

Then, he retracted his hand, propped himself up, and stood up from the edge of the platform.

The young man was bathed in the early morning sunshine, looking down at the ground beneath his feet.

The wind blew from high in the sky and roared past him.

The blond hair scattered on his shoulders flew up like a golden cloud.

All the sunlight seemed to fall into his eyes, making his golden eyes like the golden sun in the clear sky.

He looked deeply at the city beneath his feet, and at the land beyond his sight, for a long time.

Then he turned around.

The white cloak that slipped off his shoulders flew in the air for a moment under the sun as he turned around.

——Those are still extremely immature wings that seem to have just unfolded.

Garlan stepped forward.

In front of him, where the platform ended beneath him, stood Heimos.

He stood in front of Heimos, raised his head, and met his eyes.

The wind blowing over made his forehead flutter, and Garlan looked into those familiar golden-red eyes.

How many times had these eyes appeared in his nightmares.

"Heimos."

He shouted the name of the man in front of him.

He had been afraid of this man.

He had wanted to stay away from this person.

Now, he could finally stand in front of this person calmly and say these words.

He said, "I will be the crown prince of Aaron Landis."

Heimos didn't answer, just looked at him quietly.

"And one day..."

The boy laughed and held his head high.

The sun fell on his cheeks, making his smile brighter than anything else at this moment.

He said, "One day, I will let you serve me willingly."