Kingdom's Bloodline, page 358
"And it is worth repaying with my entire life."
The discussions from the group of vassals grew increasingly louder. The complexions of the counts immediately turned pale, and Count Hearst even turned his head around with an angry grunt.
Thales returned her gaze in silence.
A second later, the prince revealed a plain smile.
It was a smile just like the one he had from the past. He completely ignored Nicholas' glower from the archduchess' side.
Saroma appeared to be encouraged, because her expression became lively.
Proudly, the archduchess raised her head and addressed the whole hall, "Well, gentlemen, what do you say to this deal?"
Count Nazaire stared blankly at her. He seemed to be shaken by the young lady's determination since he was rendered speechless for a long while.
"My Lady!" Unable to resist any longer, Count Lisban yelled. "Enough of your willfulness! Do you know what you are saying?"
Saroma turned her head around slowly and looked at the regent who had accompanied her for more than six years.
"She's losing this game, losing the bargaining chips as an archduchess." Beneath the stage, Ian looked at Prince Thales with a complicated expression. His voice was not without grief, "She's throwing away everything that we've built for her just to protect you?"
'I really don't understand.' Ian scoffed coldly.
Thales was slightly shaken. He slowly turned around.
"No," Thales spoke up coolly, interrupting Ian. "She has not lost."
In the face of Ian's perplexed expression, Thales inhaled, tugged at his collar, and rubbed the emblem of the Nine-Pointed Star. He then pressed down on the pocket at his abdomen.
An old pair of black-framed glasses was hidden in there.
The prince looked at the stone carving of the Cloud Dragon Spear on the ceiling of the hall. His expression was one of firmness and determination.
"At least when I'm here, she won't lose," he said flatly to Ian.
'She also cannot lose.'
Ian was stunned. "What do you mean?"
But Ian seemed to have understood something. He became nervous. "Thales, what are you going to do?"
Thales subtly raised the corner of his mouth and revealed a smile.
"As I said..." Thales seemed to be filled with all sorts of feelings. He chuckled. "I have a contingency plan."
At the same time, everyone was waiting for the archduchess' response in either astonishment or anger.
It was an important decision that would likely determine the political future of Dragon Clouds City.
The tremors in the young archduchess' hands grew increasingly violent. However, her expression became more and more resolute.
"I certainly know what I am saying, Ciel. Thank you."
Indifferent, Saroma said, "But I am a Northlander, and Northlanders never kick a benefactor in the teeth. I will not do so, even if it is at the expense of my life."
In that moment, every Northlander stared unwaveringly at their overlord, but everyone was in awe.
The archduchess looked coldly at Count Nazaire. "Rather than someday harbor shame as I sit in this position and recall this day—"
However, before Saroma could finish speaking...
"Hahahahaha!"
A loud laugh belonging to someone who did not bother to lower his volume rang out of nowhere in the Hall of Heroes. It interrupted the archduchess' emotional speech, and also shattered the solemn atmosphere.
Saroma, who was about to continue talking, was immediately stunned.
"Hahahahaha."
The brazen laughter repeated itself and echoed in the hall, as though the owner had encountered something really funny.
Similarly stunned were the many vassals. Lisban frowned, while Nazaire turned around, astounded. Even more nobles shifted their gazes unhappily to search for the completely disrespectful, tactless fool.
*Crash—*
A chair was pushed away forcefully. The unpleasant noise of wood scraping against the stone ground rang in an ear-piercing manner throughout the entire hall.
Saroma and the other vassals frowned together and looked in the direction where the noise came from.
The archduchess was stunned. Everyone else, including Ian, was stupefied as well.
A person walked slowly out of his seat.
Footsteps rang.
Count Karkogel narrowed his eyes in puzzlement. Count Hearst frowned, whereas Lyner and Cotterson exchanged glances in surprise as well as bewilderment.
All the people representing Dragon Clouds City did not manage to react to the situation.
Ian stared blankly as the young man next to him stepped out of his seat and walked towards the center of the hall.
The Deputy Commander of the Archduchess' Guards, Lord Justin had a special mission. That moment, his face changed. He extended his hand and held that special guest. "Prince Thales…"
But did not expect the supposedly frail youngster to actually react quickly in that moment—Thales extended his arm to the back with a resolute expression.
*Slap!*
He firmly seized the arm extending towards him!
Under the numerous staring eyes, Thales was seen speaking in an icy tone, "Let go of me, Your Grace."
Before he waited for Justin to respond, Thales took a step nearer and whispered by his ear, "Or watch her fall into an even worse state."
Justin was stunned—the force, which was rarely seen from the prince's hand had caused him utter bewilderment, while the implication in his words caused his heart even more unrest.
The next moment, a tremor suddenly came from the prince's hand, and Justin was momentarily unable to keep a proper grasp on the prince as a result. This allowed the prince to break free of his hold.
The leader of the archduchess' personal guards, the one in charge of maintaining order, the Star Killer, Nicholas shouted in anger, "Justin! Stop him!"
But in a daze, Justin could only watch the prince as he continued to move forward. He did not move an inch. His hand was still slightly numb.
'What power… is this?'
Thales had already walked to the center of the hall and stopped.
He disregarded the angry gazes of the rest and turned to face the archduchess.
Right before the Northlanders, this young man narrowed his eyes. With the most disdainful expression, he frowned and swept his eyes across all the people who were staring at him with a cold glare.
"All of you, have you had enough fun?"
With an apathetic face, Thales said these words to the whole hall. It was as if he was just out on an excursion.
Saroma stared blankly at Thales, who was acting in an unusual manner. She was completely at a loss as to what was happening.
"Young Prince, shut up," the Star Killer spat out in anger. "Otherwise, I will get people to 'courteously' bring you out right now!"
"Stop wasting your breath, Star Killer. Have you not realized what is going on?" Thales let out a cold harrumph and glared at Justin, who wanted to catch up to him. "In this hall, your roars are exactly like the archduchess' prestige. Just a farce."
Once he heard that, Nicholas paused and revealed a resentful expression immediately after.
Thales seemed to be amused by himself. Once again, he smiled. "Hmph… Now, you will listen to me obediently."
But in contrast to his smiling face, his eyes were devoid of any smiles. In fact, there was only a cold, steely look in his eyes.
The Northlanders seemed to have unconsciously realized the prince's "sense of humor".
Together, they looked at the presumptuous prince. Their eyes harbored malicious intent and their fists made loud cracks. Additionally, the sounds of them gnashing their teeth rang incessantly to all those who heard them.
Count Lisban and Nazaire looked at each other in bewilderment. They tacitly confirmed that this was not one of the other party's tactics.
Ian watched his partner in disbelief. 'This was definitely not part of the plan.'
As for Saroma, she looked blankly at Thales, who got out of his seat. She could not say a word.
"We are discussing how to rescue, or perhaps take your puny life. And you think this is so funny, Citizen of the Empire?"
Count Cotterson shifted his gaze and stared at Thales coldly.
Upon hearing that, Thales sneered again. The expressions of the Northlanders grew increasingly unpleasant amid the prince's laughter.
"Have you heard of this story?"
With a cold and detached expression, Thales began to pace. "A gluttonous, lazy fisherman and an opportunist of a woodcutter ate lunch as they sat below a tree… Their families were impoverished, so they had never tasted the flavor of beef. So… So they thought of a way… They imagined the pieces of black bread in their hands as beef…"
The ice-cold eyes of the Northlanders moved with the prince as he walked about.
Thales' voice grew colder with each passing moment. Yet, it was as expressive as before, like a qualified bard describing a scenery in his mind. "Then, they began to discuss, 'Ah, look at this piece of beef in my hands. Should I bite into it horizontally, or vertically—'"
Before he could finish, Thales laughed again.
There was a mocking tone in his laughter, and his words bounced off the four walls of the hall. They also attracted the increasingly insuppressible fury of the Northlanders.
"Hahahaha…"
Count Cotterson could not withhold his anger any further. He gritted his teeth and glared at Thales. "What the hell are you talking about?"
Thales restrained his laughter, exhaled, and shook his head. "Don't you get it?
"Whether it is my life or that piece of beef in their dreams, they're both an unreachable delusion." The prince's expression returned to its previous icy visage.
In contempt, he swept his gaze across the vassals around him. "The moral of the story is, don't be conceited and bite off more than you can chew.
"What do you say, Dragon Clouds City?"
Chapter 323: Good Morning |
These words were like sparks from Eternal Oil when struck. They caused a mighty uproar in the hall.
The vassals altogether displayed angry looks.
"This is motherf*cking…"
"F*ck him…"
"Guards!"
But before the vassals could vent their anger, Thales spoke up again. His voice echoed throughout the entire hall.
"You know, sometimes, I miss Nuven very much." The prince sighed, but his words contained absolutely no respect. "I want to tell him this: Look, this is what you left behind in the once formidable Dragon Clouds City."
Thales turned and raised his head to look at the stone above him. He spread his arms to gesture at the nobles beside him, then shook his head in disdain. "Nuven, your pitiful legacy is a bunch of conservative old men who keep a careful watch over a useless and cowardly little girl, gnawing incessantly on what little bones Dragon Clouds City has left. How pathetic..."
He put on a poker face and said coldly and scornfully, "All of you are."
Count Cotterson's eyes widened. He met Count Lyner's gaze beside him, Lyner was shocked and furious at the same time.
'Is he…'
*Thud!*
Count Karkogel rapped his chair coldly. "You are disrespecting the late king. Do you know that?"
Thales shook his head disdainfully, not providing any response at all.
"Wow." From his seat, Ian stared with his mouth agape at Thales. "And I thought I went too far."
Beside the archduchess, Nicholas stared at Thales in a daze, as though he could not accept the prince's sudden change. At this moment, even the Star Killer, who believed himself to be the one who had spent the most time with Thales, frowned when he saw the coldness in Thales' eyes.
'What is he doing?'
"If this is your plan, My Lady..." Nicholas' already pale face was filled with anger by the fact that he was left out of the loop. He said in a soft voice beside the archduchess, "...Then it is best to stop him before something happens. He is going overboard. If this continues, no one can save him before the enraged Northlanders."
But Saroma only stared at the prince in a daze. She did not reply.
'Thales… You... you...?'
Thales took two more steps and brushed past Monty. The Raven of Death responded by smiling indifferently and coldly. There was malice in his gaze.
"Enough, Prince Thales!" Count Hearst could not help but yell in fury, "The archduchess is trying to save your life, but you—"
"Oh, speaking of that!"
Thales raised his voice as though he had come to a sudden realization. Calm and composed, he turned towards the golden-bearded count.
"It has been six years!"
He shook his head with a scornful expression, as if he found this situation ridiculous, all the while clicking his tongue at the archduchess.
"All of you always thought that you already have a firm hold on this Prince of Constellation and can do anything you want with him, right?"
Thales shook his head. He recalled the Archduke of Black Sand Region and imitated his expression, revealing a cold gaze. "See, this is the difference between us. My life belongs to me. No one can take it away."
Count Lisban stared at the prince incredulously. The prince had never felt so unfamiliar to him. It was as though he was no longer the prince who had always behaved himself.
Saroma's expression changed. At a loss for what to do, she stared at Thales. She could not help but recall what the young man once said.
'"Don't worry about other people, don't worry about other things, don't bear the slightest hesitation or doubt. I will handle everything else."'
'Is this how you... solve the problem?'
Count Hearst clenched his fists so hard that his knuckles let out cracking sounds, and his face was contorted. He showed his fury by enunciating each of his words, "Not bad, Prince Thales. Your Highness, as a Constellatiate, you do have a lot of guts. As for your life, we will know the answer very soon."
Thales sneered. "This is not the first time a Northlander has told me something like this." The second prince exhaled. He paid no heed at all to the eyes around him and exercised his neck. "It has been six years and it turns out my head is still properly attached to my neck."
Like a wild beast whose territory was breached, Count Hearst let out a furious yell!
Deafening curses erupted among the Northlanders. The Archduchess' Guards even had to hold back two vassals who were about to go forward, unable to hold their anger back.
"This is truly interesting." Count Lyner stared coldly at Thales. "My Lady, it seems that your judgement of people is biased."
Saroma went quiet at that moment. She stared sadly at Thales, but she could only see feigned emotions in the prince's eyes.
'Thales… What in the world are you trying to do?'
"Do all of you really think that Dragon Clouds City is really amazing? But King Nuven's era is long gone. The matter with the Alliance of Freedom is our doing. It is premeditated by Constellation."
Thales inhaled deeply and turned to the Northlanders in the hall. He shouted furiously in a manner that would only add fuel to the flames, "And what can all of you do? Northlanders? Dragon Clouds City? Hold endless hearings and bicker in the palace? And boast about accomplishments that do not belong to you with pretentious, florid language, glossing over your incapability and stupidity, and showing off your respectable status?
"I really have had enough of you lot." Thales widened his eyes and his expression became frightening. "I cannot believe that I actually spent six years in the same territory as all of you. It is absolutely ridiculous."
Countless furious yells rang in the air. The passionate Northlanders made vehement suggestions such as, "slaughter him!"
Count Nazaire stared at Thales with a scowl and mouthed his words at Lisban, who was across from him, 'What's going on?'
But the regent only shook his head. He did not know either.
"And what annoys me the most"—Thales sneered, his expression turning cold—"is that six years ago, if it were not for me, all of you, and Dragon Clouds City, would have ceased to exist.
"All of you would not be able to shout like the barbarians you are here, discussing about what you want to do with me..." Thales turned and swept his gaze across every pair of eyes in the hall. He spoke, enunciating each word, "As though all of you actually did it."
The clamor in the hall became even louder.
"Now, if I say… to chop off one of his hands," Count Lyner said, cold and loud, "will any of you raise any objections?"
An overwhelming majority of the crowd yelled, enraged and in agreement. Thales chuckled, not caring in the slightest.
He turned and threw his arms open at the archduchess, who was already at a loss for words.
"Come on, then!"
He was like a warrior who was ready to throw everything into a fight, laughing angrily, but also pleased with himself on the battlefield. "All of you in Dragon Clouds City, I, the Second Prince of Constellation, Thales Jadestar, am here right now! Come!" The teenager shouted. "Chop off my hands or legs, it's up to all of you!"
Three Archduchess' Guards held back the fifth vassal who wanted to charge forward—Count Hudson. Thales did not remember whether he was the Hudson from Sunset Snow River or Spear City.
No matter.
Thales stared coldly at the enraged Northlanders. 'It's almost time, right?'
Ian stared at Thales and knit his brows together tightly. 'What in the world are you trying to do? This is Dragon Clouds City, and you're facing Northlanders. If you continue like this, even if you want to be safely sent to the City of Faraway Prayers, it would be impossible.'
Saroma gazed at Thales with a mournful expression. The prince seemed like he wanted to challenge all the people in power in Dragon Clouds City.
'Yes. At this point in time, there's no longer anyone who talks about the marriage, the dispatchment of troops, or my competence as the archduchess.
'But… But you… Thales!'
Once she thought of this, she could not help but feel a lump in her throat.
Thales roared angrily again, "But all of you must remember!"
