Chapter 128: Collecting debt

<Kingdom of Aria: same day, morning>

King Aria looks at his attendant again, "Where is the second prince?"

He tabs impatiently on the arm of his throne in the audience room. Just half an hour ago, the king received the second prince's request to talk about the second faction crisis. 

"There is still no reply, your majesty."

King Aria slams his fist on the throne, "That foolish son! How long is he going to make me wait for him? I have spoiled him too much! If he is just half of what the first prince is, I would not be cleaning after him!"

He lets out a breath of anger. Yesterday, the phantom guild has made its first move in the kingdom after remaining inactive for so long. The headmaster suddenly withdraws the trading agreement for their artifacts. After that blow, the Guild of Clytia also withdraws their mana stone trade agreement which has managed to shake the entire kingdom's very foundation. 

Everything is powered by mana stone, and the kingdom suddenly loses the main supplier. All the business that is heavily reliant on that supply will soon suffer immensely. The king is beyond stressed. It would not be such an issue if those two guilds are from the Kingdom of Aria, but Clytia is a guild from the elves, and the phantom guild is unknown, most likely unregistered. 

The king is racking his brains to understand why those two guilds decide to withdraw their agreements, especially when they will lose so much money.

"Your majesty, it is close to the time for Prince Ethern's verdict."

The king shakes his head, "Just go through with the death penalty since I have pressing matters to attend to. I thought that I would be able to renegotiate more advantageous deals with King Ethern, but who would have thought that he is such a cold-hearted father." 

"Yes, your majesty." One attendant retreats to relay the king's decision.

King Aria stands up to leave the audience room, but he stops when he hears the doors open. The king has been expecting the second prince, but the first prince enters the audience room.

"What are you doing here, first p-"

All the knights from the audience room suddenly draw their swords to point at the first prince. The prince steps on the red carpet in black armor and his knights rush into the room behind him. The footsteps become like the heavy strikes of the war drum. The king becomes paralyzed at his first son's attempt to overthrow him. 

How come he did not hear any screams and chaos if the prince was forced into the palace? The king suddenly realizes and looks at the only attendant remaining by his side. The attendant jumps away with a smile.

"Bad news, your majesty!!! Bad news!!!" The attendant that has gone out to relay the verdict comes back, running from the side entrance that the king would use to enter and exit the audience room. 

He falls to his bum when another attendance points a dagger at him.

The first prince draws his sword and begins to walk towards the king's knights. They continue to step backward, afraid to strike since the gap in numbers is overwhelmingly large. Attacking could only result in death.

"If you step aside," the first prince looks over the king's knights, "You will be spared."

One by one, the king's knights open a path for the first prince to the king. 

"How dare you do this, Micah! I didn't raised you a traitor! Do you realize that you are committing treason? If you back out, I could spare your mother and her family."

The king sternly looks down at the first prince, who is at the bottom of the stairs. 

"Father… Who are you to negotiate with me?" The first prince walks up the stairs, "Who are you to condemn me when you have done worse to the innocent? Not only did you help the church to cover the monstrosities, but you also blamed an innocent man!" 

The prince laughs, "Oh! You also had to blame your most loyal subject, Maquis Rowan. Father… I think I know where my brother's foolishness comes from. You decide to believe those corrupted hypocrites than Vita's direct servants."

Standing in front of the king, the first prince points the sword at him—the king pants in fear.

"Your brother was in trouble! How could you be so heartless to your own brother? If the crown is what you want, then I will name you as the crown prince. Are you really going to send your father away?"

"Heartless? I don't think you should be the one calling me that."

"Doing this so forcefully… Do you think that you will gain the trust and support of the nobles?"

"I wouldn't have done it if that wasn't the case, father. "

The first prince turns to show the king one more time the army he brought. The king's eyes bulge when he looks over to the knights. All of them have different designs of armors and different coats of arms embedded on their chest. They are all the different coats of arms from the noble families that have their own knight order, and among them, the knights from the Marquis Rowan family stand. He slowly turns to look at the attendant who screamed bad news while entering from the side entrance. Watching the attendant's pale countenance confirms his suspicions, making the king start laughing like he is going crazy.

"When did you start planning this?"

"I didn't plan any of this. I am also a chess piece."

The king becomes bewildered by the first prince's comment, "What do you mean?"

"You have touched someone you can't afford to touch."

King Aria narrows his eyes, "That prince who was disowned? Impossible! He has no one backing him! Despite being a prince, he doesn't have a single person in his faction!"

"He has one, father."

"Who?" The king wants to know at least the reason for his death.

"I don't even know how to greet him anymore. The holy paladin? The headmaster of the phantom guild? The young master of the Rowan family? They turned out to be the same person."

---

Listening in the shadows, Cynthia becomes completely shocked at the turn of events. She decides to retreat from the palace since her plan has failed. She walks around the secret corridors of the palace to avoid detection.

'Something is not right… Where are all the demon puppets that came with me?'

She stops and sends the signals to gather the demon puppets. Nothing. She can't feel their presence!

'Shit!'

Cynthia quickens her pace to get out of the palace. Once she is out, Cynthia lets out a sigh of relief. However, she does not slows down and enter the city. 

She turns to a different street but abruptly stops. She nervously chuckles as she starts circulating mana. Kyrie has been waiting for her, sitting on a wooden chair in the middle of the empty street.

'What is this shit? How does he know that I would walk through here? This brat has watched too many wuxia, martial arts dramas...' 

Cynthia turns around and sees people starting to gather on the other side. 

"Cynthia!!! Nice seeing you again! What a coincidence, don't you think?" 

Cynthia looks back at Kyrie, standing up from his seat, "Are you being sarcastic with me?"

"Good thing you still have a redeeming quality," Kyrie smirks, "I came here to collect a debt… I knew you would go to the palace to watch…"

"Ian would still not be able to escape even if you do something about the king!"

"You mean the temple?" Kyrie draws his sword.

Cynthia deepens her frown watching Kyrie staying calm even after mentioning it. 

'I could still get past him since he cannot use mana.'

---

Imogen's body feels stiff and uncomfortable as she walks to the temple. 

"You can do this!" Laurel cheers.

'That f*cking cockroach will have to die when I meet him again!'

Imogen lets out a deep breath as she tries to control her anger from flaring up. Laurel's eyes are shining while looking up and down at Imogen. 

Imogen has been forced to put on a flamboyant and noble-looking white suit. As she walks, the cape with gold intricate designs flutters majestically. Her chestnut hair is tied back with a gold hair clip on the side of her head. As she walks around the streets, her appearance draws the attention of the citizens. 

After getting to know that she is the saintess and on her way to the temple, the curious citizens start to follow. As Imogen gets closer to the temple, her blush is becoming more visible on her face - something that Kyrie would love to take a picture of for blackmailing purposes. 

Laurel cheerfully walks beside Imogen, "Do you remember the lines, Imogen? Do you need me to rehearse to you again?"

Imogen remains silent as she tries to remember why she agreed to do this. She could just clean the entire temple, but somehow, Kyrie has convinced her to avoid the bloodshed that could cause them future problems.

Laurel tugs on Imogen's coat, "I could repeat it again if you want. It would be best to put more emotions when you reveal that the Vicar is the one behind the warehouse case. The part where you point at him as well, make sure to look heartbroken when talking about the victims. Then, release some light magic. I brought some eye drops just in case... Hey! Imogen! Are you listening?"