69 Dream and Snow

Some time later

After the deaths of the guards and assassins, the bodies had been discovered by someone passing by.

Quickly news of this event spread through the whole country and made its way to those in power.

Dream Family Mansion

The animal skin old man sat in thought in his room as he secluded himself from others after hearing what had happened. 'After so much preparation the plan failed, if the brats of the snow family live through this then the moonlight family will begin doubting our loyalty.'

Suddenly there was a knock on the door, the animal skin old man spoke. "Come in."

When the door opened the black robe old man stepped in and closed the door behind him. "I have sent people out to scout the situation, the prince and princess escaped the assassination at the cost of their guards lives. If the prince is smart enough he would of come to the conclusion that our family is behind this sudden attack, knowing this he will not try to get back to the moonlight family or the snow family until he feels safe."

The animal skin old man nodded his head in response. "It would be an obvious move for us to get rid of all traces of being involved so the prince and princess must die. The prince may be strong and talented for his age but he still has to sleep somewhere and gather food so he will have to show his face, he also has the princess with him which will become a big burdon. Get the allied families to keep a blockade to stop them from returning to the snow or moonlight family and let their scouts search for any signs of the prince and princess."

"Yes, I will inform them right away but why do you think the prince will not return immediately?" The black robe old man responded.

"He is an arrogant fool but he is not completely stupid. After being attacked by low level martial artists and regular civilians his distrust towards others will greatly increase. If he wishes to return so soon with his sister in one piece then he needs to be constantly on guard against everyone. Imagine it... one sighting by a child, man, woman or an elderly person and that could be the fatal cost of his life. Someone matching his description will be passed down to identify him, when we find him we can send more men to kill him this time. Meaning he will find somewhere to hide with his sister and only appear when we let down our guard, to maintain this he will have to make trips to gather food and head back into hiding. This will be our opportunity!" The animal skin old man grinned but then came to another conclusion. "Also be on the look out for them in places where the death count begins to rise suddenly, if forced into such a situation the prince may resort to killing anyone suspicious. Maybe not at first but after being identified once he may begin to kill anyone who is could potentially expose his position."

The black robe old manleft the room to perform his duties while the animal skin old man had a look of annoyance on his face.

He had worked hard to raise those assassins in secret for many years, made promises towards the those who participated in the first ambush to make sure their families were well provided for after their deaths, sent one of his own nurtured doctors away in secret to begin gaining attention and helped towards spreading rumours to catch the princes attention.

All of his efforts ended in failure, his goal to help their pawn to inherit the title of king and lead the country in the name of the Dream family.

Once the child who was born from both the Dream and Moonlight family takes their place as king then all of the other families will be under the complete control of the Dream family and will no longer oppose them.

After that happens then there will be no more trouble from the Snow family and their allies, if they still refuse to bow their heads then they will all die as an example to others!

Within the Moonlight palace

Seated upon his throne the king looked very tired as he looked down upon the leader of the Snow family. "You may speak."

The leader of the Snow family bowed before the king. "Thank you your majesty, there has been no word of the prince and princess since their disappearance. All we know is that there was a rumor about a 'Miracle Doctor' and the prince privately took the princess the see them. However according to our investigation the doctor has completely vanished and anyone involved in the assassination are all dead. The guards that went missing with the prince are all found dead but there are no signs of the prince and the princess."

"So they escaped the assassination attempt and went into hiding... We have no information on who is behind the assassination or where the prince is hiding." The king frowned.

"Yes your majesty, I suspect the Dream family is behind this sudden incident. They have been unusually quiet lately and are highly ambitious, the Snow family have lost many men during previous conflicts with them since the princes were born. Although both families have had a grudge with eachother for decades, the birth of the princes from each family has only served to ignite our conflicts further. We of the Snow family have been loyal subjects to the Moonlight family for a long time and served faithfully but the Dream family are very ambitious. I fear this is just the beginning of their plot to push the Dream families prince to succeed the throne." The Snow family leader looked increasingly distressed as he explained.

The king frowned upon hearing this. "As much as I trust you as an advisor, I must remain neutral in the succession for the throne. That is until there is suspected foul play, the princes are to have enough strength to be able to keep the throne and the wisdom to lead those around them to make the country run smoothly. My plan was to have the two princes hone their skills as they compete against eachother but if the Dream family have interfered then they will be punished accordingly."

"Then shall I begin to gather the family and our allies tocapture the the Dream family right away?" The Snow family leader looked hopeful.

"No, we have no proof of their involvement. We cannot freely act on our own speculations without any proof, especially during this time. It will cause others to think I am being biased towards the Snow family which will cause dissatisfaction among those within the country. Others could say that we are using the missing prince as an excuse to go against the Dream family... what if we act too soon and the prince reappears? What if it wasn't the Dream family behind this attack? Then we had not only accused the wrong people without any proof but also harmed them in the process." The king sighed

"What should we do then my king?" The Snow family leader frowned.

"For now put all our efforts into finding the prince before anyone else and investigate the anything related to the assassination. This event has not only taken the lives of five of the Moonlight families guards but also been targeted towards members of the royal family. I hope there will be results soon!" The king ordered. "You may leave."

"I will get my men to look into it immediately my king." The Snow family leader bowed before leaving the palace.

Getting up from his throne the king threw his cup to the ground shattering it into tiny pieces in frustration. "That fool! How could he just take a trip so far away from the palace without telling anyone? Even taking the princess with him... If they live through this then I will definately punish him for his stupid actions."

While the king was unable to respond to the sudden assassination attempt, the Snow and Moonlight families resources were put towards finding the prince and princess to keep them alive while the Dream families resources were put towards making sure they never come back alive.

The Dream family were increasingly showing their ambitions to swallow the whole Moonlight family to make it their own, at least they still had their prince alive to succeed the throne.

The Snow family were extremely loyal towards the Moonlight family and trusted by the king but now that the prince and princess went missing and could possibly die at any moment their position they have held for so long is beginning to crumble.