Chapter 73 - Mastermo Is Being Wrongly Accused

Zhihao stood up but didn't dare look at the man again, and instead, he stared at the pit of fire that was between the stairs and the table on which Hasumi was placed. 

Doji stepped forward and did the same as Zhihao but he didn't wait for a voice to tell him to stand up, because if he did, he would have remained kneeling forever. 

This king was partial towards his sons. Everyone knew that Taki was his favorite and Doji couldn't even hold a candle against him, but this didn't stop the unfavoured son from trying to curry favors. 

"We should start already. It's already late." Doji spoke up and one of the demons who was standing by the side stepped forward. 

This demon looked way older than Doji and Taki. Demons don't age normally, Taki and Doji looked like twenty-year-olds, but were way older than a century. The man in front looked to be around his forties, but if his real age was revealed, Zhihao would have been shocked to death. 

"Let's first check if the vessel is compatible." The middle-aged demon spoke as he moved towards Hasumi. 

Not a minute later, his face twisted into a displeased expression and he instantly glared at Taki. 

"Are you joking with us?!"

Zhihao had no idea what had gone wrong.

"What is this supposed to mean?! Where is the vessel?!"

The demon seemed to want to slander the prince a bit more, but doing so would really not be the optimal decision for him so he tried to hold in his anger and turned his head towards the demon king.

He took a deep breath and tried his best to calm himself down.

"Taki has tried to fool us!"

"This is an empty shell! A hoax! It merely looks like a human!"

Everyone went silent. 

Zhihao was shocked. His first reaction was to look at Alvi who had been carrying Hasumi all this way. Did the bot that was supposed to help him actually trick him???

[Don't look at me!]

[I did nothing wrong!]

Zhihao didn't believe her, but with everyone looking at him, he couldn't just push all the blame onto this little ghost1. 

It was silent, so silent that if he dropped a pin, he'll be able to hear it's resonating sound when it hit the ground. 

Zhihao had to say something, but he was at a loss for words. He had certainly brought along the real Hasumi and if this wasn't Hasumi, where was Hasumi? 

[Say something! Taki is cold and indifferent, but he always speaks up for himself in front of his father.]

Zhihao took a deep breath and tried his best to think straight. There had to be a way out of this.

Once his brain had recovered from its shocked stage, he immediately glared at Doji. He had really been fooled by this rival even after being alert around him. 

Just when had Doji switched Hasumi out? 

Doji didn't seem to notice Zhihao's hostile look, he was immersed in his acting. Zhihao was almost fooled by this man, Doji really looked like he was shocked as well. 

Doji decided to be the first one to speak up, "Taki tried to pull a prank on his highness?"

Zhihao wanted to vomit blood as he heard this. Just what type of a backstabbing rat was Taki calling a brother?!

"How could this be so?" Doji's comment was enough to strike up the start of the whisperings. 

This was indeed very unbelievable and the ghosts who were standing by the sides couldn't help but gossip amongst themselves. Laced along with their voice was an emotion of shock, confusion, and even a trace of happiness as if they were glad something like this had happened. 

"Prince Taki lied?"

"How could he do this?"

"Damn, I didn't expect this."

"I have a bad feeling about this."

"Does he know the consequences of failing today's ceremony?"

"Prince Taki is really..."

"I don't think we'll have to refer to him as the prince anymore."

"What a cunning bastard. He really thought he'd be able to fool everyone?!"

"This is getting spicy."

Most of the things, Zhihao couldn't hear, but the few comments he did hear, sent a shiver down his spine.

He was in big trouble. 

"Taki" The demonic voice of the demon king was heard once again and this overpowered deep voice was enough to silence everyone. 

Zhihao felt his heart go numb along with his whole body. 

There weren't many things Zhihao was afraid of, but this demon's voice made him want to drop on his knees and apologize for merely existing.

Zhihao was silent, he dared not say a word. He was in front of someone way stronger than him and Zhihao wasn't looking for a quicker death. 

"You bought an empty shell? Hahahah..." The demon king chuckled, but even his chuckle was scary as it reverberated through Zhihao's heart. He sounded both amused and angry as if his son had done something so fun and unexpected that he wasn't sure how he should administer the punishment. 

"I-I didn't!" Zhihao stuttered out and immediately regretted speaking up. 

Taki would have saved himself, this was what Alvi had told him, but even if that may be true, Taki would only speak if he had something to support his statement. He would never say something on an impulse. 

"You didn't?" The amusement in the demon king's voice was gone. It now sounded heavy and scary as if the speaker was really angered to the point that he could kill his own son. 

Zhihao stopped. He took a deep breath in as he brainstormed for any clues or evidence that may help him at this moment. 

Suddenly he remembered something. 

Zhihao didn't know if he should laugh or cry as he realized something. It was certainly helpful for him that he had eavesdropped on the conversation between the ghosts. 

He was wrong at blaming Doji.

It wasn't Doji who fooled him, It was Kazan. 

He remembered one of the ghosts saying that if Taki wasn't successful in today's ceremony, he would lose his title of the prince but that should be the least of his worries. There was certainly something worse waiting for him as a punishment for not delivering the vessel tonight. 

There were two people who would want to see Taki hitting rock bottom or at least Zhihao only knew two people who would want to see him ruined. One was Doji and the other was Kazan. It could be any one of the two who had tricked Taki today, but Zhihao believed it to be the handiwork of demon Kazan. 

He had a reason to believe it was Kazan.

Doji had been with him all this way so he was the first suspect, but when one thought about it a little deeper, they'd be able to see that Doji was walking in front of him and had not even gone close to Hasumi so how could he be the one behind this?

Zhihao thought back on Kazan's warning. 

That demon had challenged him and threatened him. He wanted to drag Taki down and from the last threat he had given Taki, he sounded a bit too confident. Zhihao had wondered what that demon was planning, but he had never thought that whatever the plan was, it had already been in motion way before Zhihao realized it. 

Zhihao had been stupid. 

Demon Kazan had switched Hasumi out from the very beginning when he met her in the tunnel. 

To be more exact, it was when the lights went out and Hasumi fell over while running. 

When Zhihao first met Kazan he had wondered how the demon had been able to knock Hasumi out without even having to do or say something, it was because she was completely under his control and was made by him. 

The lights of the tunnel went out and Hasumi ran. On the way, she got abducted, and in her place, there came an empty shell. This was what Zhihao had guessed, but it was still just that and there was no way he could clarify if this was the truth or not. At least not until Alvi spoke up or Kazan came out and admitted to it. 

Zhihao wanted to laugh at himself. He had really been fooled from the start. 

[Say something or you'll be triggering OOC in the next minute.]

Zhihao breathed out a heavy sigh as he looked up at the demon king. It took him every inch of courage he had to do so, but when he finally looked up, the confidence came naturally to him and he knew exactly what he was to say. 

Previously, he couldn't make out the face of the demon and could only see a dark shadow seated high above the stairs, now that he looked again, he could make out a pair of red glaring eyes. Zhihao gulped as he maintained eye contact with this demon king who could very well kill him. 

[Taki doesn't like him. He coldly refers to him as 'father']

[You are doing good.]

Zhihao was a bit relieved after hearing this. Alvi was finally able to seem a bit lovable, helping him out in such a dire situation. Zhihao decided to let go of his dislike towards the bot. She had managed to redeem herself. 

"Father, I'm not lying. I really did bring a real vessel." Zhihao looked down at the unconscious body of Hasumi, "I have no idea who this is."

[What are you doing?]

Zhihao was confident in himself or at least he appeared to be on the surface and this confident appearance won everyone over in an instant. They all believed that Taki would not pull a prank like this and so when they saw Taki being so confident, they were sure that whatever he was going to say next would clear his name. 

The eyes of the demon king who was glaring at Taki turned a bit softer as the redness lowered in intensity, he was now looking at his son in amusement. 

"Someone wanted to dirty my name. Seeing the situation turn out like this, I'd say they really did a good job"

Zhihao smirked and the demon king chuckled as he heard this. 

"You can clear your name?" The demon king asked, his voice sounded strict but there was now a faint mixture of softness in that, almost unnoticeable but Zhihao still ended up catching it. 

This demon king was really partial towards his sons. Just a bit of bullshitting and the demon king was this easily won over?

Zhihao really didn't know what the reaction to his next words was going to be. He closed his eyes and smirked, keeping up his confident facade while his head was in turmoil. 

Kazan had really put him in a really bad position right now. 

"Whoever did this, did a really great job. I'm really impressed. They left me nothing. I can't clean my name out of this so might as well stand here and accept it."

"..."

[...]

The crowd was silent. 

[What the hell are you trying to do?!]

Zhihao waited a minute and he heard no OOC alert, he smiled. He had guessed it right. Zhihao finally understood the type of man Taki was and now he was sure that he'd be able to role play this demon perfectly without any flaw. 

"I have no proof to protect me. I can only hope father trusts me enough to know my innocence."

The demon king did not respond but Zhihao was staring him straight in the eyes, every small change in those eyes did not go unnoticed by Zhihao. This demon king trusted Taki, Zhihao could clearly see it. 

Zhihao couldn't understand why Taki hated this father who trusted and favored him so much, there really had to be something behind their relationship. A backstory that Zhihao was looking forward to exploring.