A Tale of Strategies For the Throne

…

Under the dark sky, the little child nestled in the hole that he spent a long time digging out of the garbage. There was an opening at the top of the cave. When he lay in the cave at night, he could see the moon in the sky through that opening.

Day after day, year after year, he was alone. Only the bright moon has been hanging in the night sky, accompanying him.

Little children are used to looking at the moon and slowly closing their eyes under the moonlight.

Only in the company of the bright moon can he sleep peacefully. The moonlight shining through the hole shines on his face, as if someone is gently stroking his forehead and coaxing him into sleep.

Even if the moon is hidden behind thick clouds on a cloudy or rainy day, he will feel that his little friend is watching him from behind the clouds and that he is not alone.

Every night, watching the moon fall asleep was the most peaceful and peaceful moment of his day.

In the heart of a little child, the bright moon that has always been with him is the most precious treasure in his heart.

…

It was something that happened suddenly and caught people off guard.

The moon, which had been sitting quietly in the night sky, suddenly seemed to be swallowed up by something invisible. Bit by bit, at a speed visible to the naked eye, it began to lose its original roundness piece by piece.

The child, who was lying in the cave quietly watching the moon as usual at night, suddenly widened his eyes.

what is that?

Who is hurting it?

He opened his mouth and opened his eyes to the limit, staring in horror at the disappearing moon.

No……

don't want!

Don't hurt it!

The child stretched out his hands helplessly, but couldn't grab anything. He could only watch the moon disappear bit by bit in the sky as if it was being swallowed by something.

At this moment, he even had the illusion that his own flesh and blood was being devoured.

His nails dug into the skin of his chest, and the severe pain surging from the deepest part of his body almost made him unable to breathe.

It was a painful feeling that made one go crazy——

The moon that was swallowed by the invisible thing completely disappeared into the night sky. Where it disappeared, there was only a pool of black and red like blood, and the entire earth fell into darkness.

In the darkness, staring wide-eyed at the remaining blood-red traces in the night sky, the child's twisted face was extremely terrifying at this moment.

The most precious friend who had been with him since childhood was killed and eaten by unknown things!

He...lost it forever!

…………

……………………

The young man who was sleeping beside the bed suddenly opened his eyes. Under the light of the oil lamp hanging on the wall, his opened eyes reflected a golden-red luster.

He sat on the edge of the bed, dazed for a rare moment, and then turned his gaze to the bed.

The blond child was sleeping quietly on the bed, his little body curled up in a ball on the soft bed. The fine blond hair fell from the pale cheeks and scattered on the snow-white pillow.

The long cattail-like eyelashes cast a shallow shadow on the pale little face. The child was lying there, breathing evenly even though it was a little weak. His lips were not as pale as they were in the morning. A bit bloody.

As long as this child stays still, he is so cute and well-behaved that it makes people feel soft just by looking at him.

However, when he becomes stubborn, when he loses his temper and ignores him, it also makes people hate him with itch.

Heimos looked at the hand he had been holding.

The child's hands were small, white and soft, completely different from his dark brown and calloused hands.

Just like Garlan and him, the two are completely in extreme contrast.

He remembered the dream he had just had when he was very young.

At that time, he was still very naive and regarded the moon that accompanied him every night as his most important little friend. Therefore, when a lunar eclipse suddenly occurred one day and he watched the moon disappear in front of his eyes, that The pain of this loss made him cry loudly as if he was still very young.

He had never felt so hopeless.

He always clearly remembered the suffocating feeling that his whole heart was squeezed...

Fortunately, the moon returned to its original state not long after that, and he woke up from his extreme panic and grief.

Later, he gradually grew up.

As a child, the feeling of treating the moon like a treasure and treating it as his only little friend has gradually been completely forgotten by me.

Heimos never thought that after so many years, he would actually experience the feeling at that time again.

When I saw that the child's throat was about to be slit with a dagger——

He seemed to be trapped in the time when he was very young again, unable to do anything, watching the moment when the most important thing to him disappeared before his eyes.

That feeling of frustration and suffocation that makes people go crazy with anxiety but can't do anything about it.

An extremely heart-wrenching feeling...

…………

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In another room, King Camos and his subordinate Shermer continued their conversation.

"Heimos' past...?"

Camos did not immediately respond to Shermer's suggestion. He touched the stubble that sprouted on his chin, showing a thoughtful look.

Every descendant of the collateral royal bloodline who comes to participate in the selection of the king's younger brother has gone through an identity assessment to ensure that there is no problem with his or her identity.

Then, after Garlan and Heimos were selected, the Inspection Office directly under the command of King Kamos conducted an all-round investigation into the past of these two princes of Aaron Landis.

Garlan's past was simple. Except for the fact that his skin color was similar to that of his mother, who was a lower-level noble, so he was not favored. He grew up in a similar environment to others. The only slight difference is that because he was neglected, the children of the knights and nobles under the city lord did not get close to him, so most of the child's playmates were children of low-level knights or even wealthy civilians.

The experience of Heimos was very twists and turns.

He is the only child of the previous lord of Meneste, and the current lord of Meneste is the younger brother of the former lord, who is also the biological uncle of Heimos. He has two sons and one daughter.

The previous lord of Menestre had difficulties with heirs and had no children of his own for a long time. When he was nearly fifty years old, he frustratedly asked the royal city to let his younger brother succeed him as lord of the city.

However, an accident happened. When he was fifty years old, his newly married young wife gave birth to a son for him. The lord of Meneste had a son in old age, and he regarded his young son as a treasure and his heart. However, a few years before he could be happy, when his youngest son was only three or four years old, he was suddenly taken away secretly by the maid responsible for taking care of the child. He was never heard from again, and the city lord searched hard for several years but could not find him.

Overwhelmed with joy and sorrow, the old Lord of Meneste fell ill and eventually died of grief without being able to see the lost child for the last time. Naturally, his young and strong brother inherited his position as city lord and became the ruler of Menestre.

Later, five years later, when a close subordinate of the old city lord was resigning from his post and planning to leave the city of Meneste, he passed by the slums and unexpectedly saw Heimos who was very similar to the old city lord.

After many verifications, it was confirmed that Heimos was the child of the old city lord who had been lost for five years and was taken back to the city lord's palace. It is said that the current city lord, his uncle, treats him extremely favorably, as if he were his own son.

...as if they were parents and children?

Having said this, Shermer showed disdain in his eyes.

If they were really like a parent and child, why did Heimos encounter four or five accidents in just a few years after entering the city lord's palace?

Moreover, the Intelligence Department of the Supervisory Office secretly discovered that when the order was issued to the city of Meneste and asked the city lord of Meneste to send qualified Heimos to the royal city, the city lord used various reasons to shirk the responsibility, and even asked Heimo Imos concealed the incident and forbade others to mention it to Heimos.

In the end, if Heimos hadn't keenly sensed something was wrong and seized the opportunity to take the initiative to find the envoy, I'm afraid he wouldn't have been able to come to the royal city.

Shermer has even thought that the things that happened when Heimos was still very young were a little weird.

Why would a maid have the audacity to do something like that?

How did a mere servant successfully abduct a young child from the heavily guarded city lord's mansion?

And why the old city lord became seriously ill and died in less than two years.

...the above are all very thought-provoking.

However, the city of Meneste is a hereditary city, and its economic status is one of several important cities in Aaron Landis, and it is extremely powerful. Moreover, it is not convenient for Wang Cheng to interfere in the internal affairs of other families.

After King Camos pondered for a while, he stood up.

He said: "Let's go and take a look first."

King Camos brought Shemurr to Gallan. It was already late at night, and the oil lamp in the house was lit, and the firelight flickered in the house.

As soon as King Camos entered the house, he saw Heimos still guarding Garlan.

The young man sat quietly by the bed, his eyes falling on the sleeping blond child. His expression was calm and there was no visible expression, but his eyes never moved away from the child.

It wasn't until King Camos entered that he turned his head, stood up, and bowed his head slightly to salute King Camos.

Under the dancing firelight, Camos glanced at the bruises under Heimos' eyes.

He coughed slightly.

"Heimos, you go and rest."

The young man shook his head.

"No need, I..."

Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted.

"This is the king's order, Prince Heimos, please obey the king's order."

Although he did not receive a clear answer from King Camos, Shemuel, who had decided to keep an appropriate distance between Heimos and Garlan, spoke up and said so.

"You need to rest. Your Highness Gallan will be guarded here."

Heimos was silent for a moment, lowered his eyelids, and his eyes were hidden in the shadows, making it difficult to see clearly.

Then, he nodded, turned and walked towards the door.

However, the moment he stepped out of the door, he looked back.

The firelight illuminated the young man's golden-red eyes. He looked at the backs of King Camos and Shemuel that blocked his sight, seeming to separate him from the child. There seemed to be something unknown in his eyes at this moment. something passed by.

Then, he turned around and left quickly.

In the quiet room, Kamos stood beside the bed, leaning slightly and looking at Garlan.

"He's been sleeping?"

"Yes."

The skin of the child on the bed was originally white, but now he had lost too much blood, and his little face was extremely pale, which made King Camos feel extremely distressed just by looking at it.

He touched Garlan's head. The child's skin was so soft that he didn't dare to exert any force.

"It seems a little hot..."

The man muttered like this, lowered his head, and seemed to want to put his forehead against Garlan's head.

However, when the two people's faces were about to touch each other, King Camos suddenly paused and then raised his head suddenly.

"Shemal!"

he shouted hotly.

"yes?"

Shermur's heart skipped a beat, thinking that King Camos had seen something wrong from Gallan.

King Camos stretched out his hand to Shermer anxiously.

He said: "Give me the razor!"

Shermer: “…………”

King Camos: "Quick! Didn't you hear?"

At the urging of King Camos, the priest of Shamash, who had a mysophobia, looked through the small bag on his waist that he always carried with him without expression, took out the razor and handed it to Camos.

He watched Camos rush to the mirror to shave, continuing to look expressionless.

The author has something to say: Shermer: Indifference.jpg