Chapter 76: Time To Change The Game

Chapter 76: Time To Change The Game

Thud!

With a harsh thud, the Second Prince’s head was stuck in the muddy ground. Perhaps there was a stone, blood trickled from his forehead when he raised his head.

“I apologize... for brainwashing you... Fiosen Lavaltor...”

Of course, his eyes were gleaming with bloodlust.

But it was not intimidating in any way.

He already looked so pathetic that he could no longer fall lower than this.

Despite that, Ian just narrowed his brows.

“Sir Fiosen, are you satisfied?”

“What?”

“I don’t think it’s enough, so he should do it properly...”

“N-no! It’s enough, Your Highness!”

Fiosen shook his hand in a hurry. He couldn’t believe the royal family bowed like that. To be honest, it was scary to ask for any more.

Ian sighed at his words and looked at the Second Prince.

“He says it’s enough. You can stop now, Brother.”

“...”

The Second Prince stood up with eyes seething with anger. He was overcome with shame, but he couldn’t argue any further.

He clenched his teeth and exclaimed.

“I’m going back.”

Now the three claims were over. There’s no reason for Ian to hold on to him anymore. The Second Prince didn’t want to stay here any longer, so he headed to the royal castle.

And as if he was not interested, Ian turned his back.

There was no need to touch him anymore anyway.

‘You’d better hurry up. The hyenas will be coming soon.’

It was only natural.

Because of Ian, the Second Prince lost both his wealth and his subordinates.

Nevertheless, the Second Prince once ranked first in the past. He had got nothing left, but if they wrung him dry, they would think he had got something they could pick up and gobble up, be it honor or whatever.

And in his current state, he would have no way to stop the attacks of other successors.

‘He’ll look very delicious to the other brothers.’

Now that he had cut off his hands and feet, he was bound to destroy himself soon.

Ian smiled.

“Now, shall we go back?”

After the Battle of Ranking was over, he had nothing to see here anymore.

Ian turned around. The confident steps of the royal family that had no flaws.

The knights followed in his footsteps.

Right at that moment.

“Woaaaahhhh!!”

A thunderous shout resounded.

It was the moment when his name was firmly etched in the citizens’ minds.

***

Truly an utter humiliation.

The apology of the naked Second Prince simply shook Kaistein.

In less than half a day, all the people of Kaistein Kingdom were talking about it.

“Have you heard? The youngest prince defeated the Second Prince.”

“Even though he had the Guardian on his side, the Second Prince was completely crushed. Unbelievable...”

In particular, the faction of the First Princess was engulfed in great shock.

“What did he take away from him?”

“That... He took away everything the Second Prince had with him, not just the palace, and left him naked...”

“Wasn’t our goal for him to bring you the Sword of Domination? Now that it has come to this...”

The elimination of their competitor.

This fact sounded like a bolt out of the clear blue sky to them who were planning a scheme against the Second Prince. But the First Princess closed her eyes tightly for another reason.

It’s a ring.

The Ring of Promise stolen by the Second Prince was a problem.

‘It fell into the hands of the youngest?’

It was the very thing that had been reining the First Princess. It would never have happened if she hadn’t fallen for the trick of the Second Prince during her naive childhood.

Good thing the object disappeared from the hands of the Second Prince, but the First Princess bit her nails without the nobles of her faction knowing.

‘Don’t tell me... the youngest induced this situation for that.’

But it couldn’t have been possible.

Not only King Eloin but also the queen didn’t know about it. It was a secret that only the Second Prince and the First Princess knew.

Yet, she strangely felt uneasy.

‘It will be a problem if the youngest finds out the secret of the item.’

It might become a serious situation.

The youngest was the very person who even made the Second Prince apologize naked.



‘I must bring it before he can identify it.’

The First Princess stood up with a determined look. She was going to meet Ian and negotiate.

And so did the Third Prince.



‘Who will win if Galon and those guys fight?’

The pride of the empire that had been threatening Kaistein. He was looking forward to a fight with them.

And in the meantime, Ian.

“This is Sapphire Palace, Your Highness.”

He had arrived at the palace of the Second Prince.

***

The first thing Ian did when he arrived at Sapphire Palace was to open the warehouse.

“Move all of these to the Crystal Palace.”

“Al, all of them?”

“Yes.”

From the artworks decorating the palace to the gold coins.

It was to empty every single thing the Second Prince had collected so far. It’s practically no different than plundering. The Sapphire Palace quickly became empty in no time.

Ian immediately gave the next order.

“The attendants will stand by as they are, and only the people I point out will change their assignments to the Crystal Palace.”

Ian chose ordinary servants who had nothing to do with the Second Prince.

The remaining Second Prince’ troops he had used were all planned to be exploited or cleaned up. The secret troops, in particular, who were hiding as attendants, were of separate use.

“Can you find them?”

Seeing Ian’s gaze, Fiosen’s eyes flashed as if telling him to leave it to him.

“Of course. You can tell right away by looking at their hands.”

It wasn’t difficult to find them. In the past, it would have been impossible because of the Second Prince. As long as the palace was in Ian’s hands, all would go smoothly.

The troops were quickly separated by the knights.

The number alone was 100.

Nathan soon asked.

“Your Highness, what are you going to do with them?”

“I will send them to Duke Lavaltor.”

“!”

Lavaltor duchy had always lacked hands to take on the barbarians in the north. With only a hundred people, Duke Lavaltor might have thought they would pee on their frozen feet. However, they were the troops chosen and selected by the Second Prince.

‘They are enough to deal with the barbarians of the north.’

They had intelligence as well as assassination skills. Of course, he wanted to send them to Helgaia, his own territory.

‘There is no one to watch over them. But the Lavaltor duchy is different.’



It was the place where the best knights of the royal family stayed.

No matter how much the Second Prince’s troops struggled to escape, they would have no choice but to fight as they were told.

Ian’s explanation brightened Fiosen’s face, and he shouted.

“I’m sure my father will appreciate it.”

Rather, he would welcome them with open arms. Fiosen expressed his deep gratitude to Ian for helping the duchy as well as getting his revenge.

Perhaps because the prince might become his brother-in-law, his favorability on Ian was at its peak.

And the great aristocrats were people who took care of their families more than the royals.

Even more so Lavaltor.

They were the first people in the peerage to overthrow the royal family if the king became incompetent and the country fell into crisis. Fiosen must have been thoroughly educated.

However, after briefly watching Fiosen’s fond gaze toward Ian, Nathan asked with an uncharacteristically cautious expression.

“You have to get ready to leave for the mission. You can’t let your guard down just because he’s in second place.”

The Second Prince, who was ranked first, was relegated to second place due to the previous incident.

But Ian was eighth in the line of succession to the throne, under one princess and four princes. In other words, he usurped the Second Prince’s rank and jumped from the bottom to the top at once.

‘Well, I’m not going to be satisfied with it and let my guard down.’

“The Battle of Ranking is still just beginning. You never know when your position will change, and as your ranking is high, some hyenas might come flocking with their eyes on Your Highness’ position anytime.”

“Now that we’ve just finished the Battle of Ranking match, we won’t have to worry about attacks for a while.”

Once the Battle of Ranking was over, a little respite period was given for recovering power.

And even if he won the Battle of Ranking, if he failed in the competition, it would be all for naught.

He could be deprived of his successor position altogether.

“The support and benefits that one can get if they are in second place will be different.”

So, the first thing to do was to complete the mission.

Of course, now there was a more important thing on the list.

“Just be ready to leave for now. We still have work to do.”

“What? What are you going to do?”

“That’s...”

It was right at that moment.

“Your Highness, I found it.”

Galon came back from his task. The task given to him was to search for the woman the Second Prince was hiding.

The Achilles’ heel of the most threatening opponent, the Third Prince.

Ian hurried to move with a glint in his eyes.

“Guide me.”

It was time to change the game of the kingdom.