Kingdom's Bloodline, page 554
Thales’ face turned red in anger!
“But you are the baron of the kingdom, you are stationed in the territory of Constellation, and you hold the power to command the regular soldiers of the royal family.” The prince suppressed the anger in his chest. His cheeks were flushed red.
The baron sneered. “Great. Let me guess. You must be thinking ‘Just you wait until I become king’, am I right?”
Thales clenched his fists even harder.
“Don’t be too surprised by how I got to know what you’re thinking.” Roman laughed coldly, and softly said, “Because all good-for-nothings think like this.”
When he finished his words, Roman straightened his body and walked away from Thales, who had a very dark look on his face. The prince was left to shiver in the wind all alone.
Ricky walked over from the side. He glanced at Roman’s back, then at Thales, who looked indignant. He suddenly realized something, but he only shook his head.
“I suppose this is goodbye, Your Highness.”
Thales suppressed his anger and turned in his direction. Ricky revealed a faint smile.
“Don’t forget your Sin of Hell’s River. We expect a lot from you in regards to your future.”
Thales clenched his fists. “Samel, his face also bears a brand. If I remind Williams that Samel also got out of the Prison of Bones with your help, do you think Williams will throw him back into prison?”
Ricky was somewaht stupefied by the question that seemed to come out of nowhere, but he soon registered what happened.
“Yes. Maybe.” Ricky shrugged and smiled. “But can you bear to see that happen? After Samel suffered for years in your royal family, is this how things will end for him?”
Thales inhaled deeply and closed his eyes. ‘I see, so that’s how it is.’
Ricky glanced at him skeptically before he finally raised his eyebrows and walked to his mercenaries.
As he listened to the sound of the prisoners, detained one after another in the distance, Thales clenched his fists for the last time before he immediately unclenched them.
“Yodel.” Thales closed his eyes and spoke to the air softly, “I need your help.”
A few seconds later, a weak and hesitant voice traveled from the air. “I cannot kill Williams.”
Thales suddenly opened his eyes! “No. I do not want you to show yourself.”
A puzzled grunt was heard in the air, but Thales only watched their backs as the Royal Guards were tied up one by one, and he said softly, “No matter what happens, do not show yourself.”
Once he said his final word, he did not wait for Yodel’s reply. Thales strode forward and caught up to Roman and Ricky.
“Hey, pretty boy!”
Williams’ back froze.
“And you, dum-dum!”
Ricky stopped walking.
Under the strange gazes of the people around them, both of them turned around at almost the same time, and frowned as they looked at Thales. However, this time, Roman creased his brow a little. He thought that the prince seemed a little different.
“We need to talk. The three of us. In private.” Thales strode towards them, and waved and gestured at the others to return to their work. “It’s just that I’m hungry as well. It’s best if you could get me something to eat and drink.” The teenager’s footsteps were very exaggerated, while his tone was casual. He ordered the people around as if he was at home.
Roman and Ricky glanced at each other, as if they could not register what just happened. Thales strode forward and put his hands on his waist. He looked arrogant. A few seconds later, the Legendary Wing exhaled. He looked at Thales as if he was staring at a lunatic.
“We’re in battle. We have no time to satisfy your desires to parade your royal wealth.” Roman shook his head disdainfully, and he said Thales’ honorary title stiffly, “Your Highness.”
Thales burst into laughter. With his hands still on his waist, he pointed at Roman cockily.
“No, you’re not in a hurry to help the camp, because everything is under control.” He turned to the other side and pointed at Ricky. “And you’re not in a hurry to leave, because you’re not worried.”
The area fell into silence again. The atmosphere around them was rather awkward, it seemed like the prince’s terrible sense of humor had completely destroyed the mood, maybe even destroyed it a little too much.
After a few seconds, the Legendary Wing did not want to attend to Thales anymore. He sneered, turned around, and walked away. Ricky shrugged and revealed a mocking smile before he turned around and left.
“Let me say this once: nice try, child.”
When he saw them walk further away, Thales sighed. “Must I be blunt about it?” The situation changed after what Thales said next. “Or should I tell everyone after the battle that both of you are actually in this together?”
At that moment, Roman and Ricky’s backs shuddered, and they stopped walking! The few cavaliers who stood closer to them seemed to have heard something, and they glanced in their direction with confusion.
Thales sighed. He stepped forward and lowered his voice as he approached them slowly. “I’ll also tell them that the Legendary Wing is the culprit and mastermind behind the disaster that struck Blade Fangs Camp since last night.”
One second… Two seconds…
Finally, on the third second, Roman and Ricky, who were rooted to the spot, turned around simultaneously to look at Thales raising his eyebrows.
At the moment, their expressions were beyond words. The teenager walked to stop before them. The wind blew the sand gently while the sun rose in the east. Roman, Ricky, and Thales stared at each other. This was the atmosphere between them, and this was how they mingled with each other at that moment.
A cavalier approached them from afar to remind Roman. “Lord Baron, we must set off—”
But the Legendary Wing turned his head around, something that was unusual for him, and said in a rarely-heard, violent tone, “Do whatever you are supposed to do!”
The officer was frightened and stepped back before he ran away as far as he could. Many of the cavaliers and mercenaries who glanced over also looked down subconsciously.
Roman took a deep breath and turned around to look at Ricky. His voice was irritable and unhappy. “What did you tell him?”
Ricky’s face grew livid with rage. He gritted his teeth and said, “I said nothing!”
But at the same time, Thales blurted out quickly, “He told me everything.”
Ricky turned around and glared at Thales incredulously and furiously.
‘…What?’
Thales looked resigned as he shrugged. He showed a thumbs-up at the leader of the mercenaries. “Just letting you know: nice try, Ricky.”
Roman’s face grew unpleasant. He glanced at Ricky, then at Thales. The Legendary Wing inhaled deeply. He felt that he had nowhere to vent the strength he gathered in his arms.
What followed immediately afterwards was the filthy teenager deciding to sit down in front of the two grown-ups who were so still they almost look like they had been petrified. He made sure his legs were crossed.
“Now, can we talk?” Thales puffed out his chest. Then, with his face still badly bruised, he said to the two men with the strange expressions, “Get me something to eat and drink.”
‘…What?’
In that moment, rage filled Roman’s handsome face, and he had an expression that seemed to say “How dare you?”
Ricky glared at him so hard that it felt as though his eyes were about to leave his eye sockets.
“Oh.” Thales seemed to recall something. He patted his thigh with a cocky expression, and after he turned around to point at the Royal Guards prisoners who were detained, he added, “Same for them.”
Chapter 479: Exclusive Possession |
The fire in Blade Fangs Camp grew weaker, but black smoke continued to rise from it.
The subordinates of the Legendary Wing stood in formation and bewilderment as they watched the prisoners next to them gobble down their food. The mercenaries, on the other hand, stood in a corner warily and kept their distance.
“What happened?” Tardin stuffed a piece of field ration into his mouth desperately. He did not even bother to wash it down with water. “Does this count as… our last meal?”
As he ate, he glanced at a remote spot below the sand dune. There were three figures there: two adults, and a teenager. The former two stood stiffly, while the smaller figure sat cross-legged on the ground. He was also gobbling up his food as well.
Next to Tardin, Beldin shook his head and continued to gorge on the field rations. “Does it matter?”
Barney Junior picked up a piece of hardened bread with a contemplative look in his eyes. “I can’t think of anything worse than what happened today.”
Zakriel sat a little further away from them, chewed on a mouthful of jerky, and watched the three figures in the distance warily.
“If I were to be… thrown… into the Prison of Bones…” Quick Rope devoured his food with tears all over his face. “I should at least leave no, sob… can I have a bite of your jerky? Thanks… sob, I mean I want to leave no…. f*ck, it tastes horrible… leave no regrets, sob…” His heartfelt crying made everyone frown.
At this moment, Barney Junior put down the bread in his hands and asked quietly, “Why did you come back?”
All the Royal Guards froze, only Quick Rope remained busy stuffing himself.
Barney Junior looked up at the Knight of Judgment. “Are you assuming that we will return to the way we used to be after taking down some enemies together?” There was a spark in the vanguard’s keen, fiery eyes. “You think everything will still be how it used to be? The brotherly bond? Our camaraderie?” Beldin patted Barney Junior on the shoulder with a troubled expression. The latter let out a bitter snort.
Zakriel did not speak. He merely gazed into the distance without moving. The wounds on his face and shoulders were discernible under the daylight.
“So, what are you up to?” Barney said sarcastically. “Do you still want to kill the prince?”
The Knight of Judgment jolted slightly.
“You still refuse to tell us anything, even though we already know his secret?”
Beside him, Beldin sighed. Intending to convince the former to stop asking question, he said, “Barney.”
Zakriel remained silent, as did every other Royal Guard. Meanwhile, Quick Rope had shamelessly finished his own food, and proceeded to sneakily reach for the other people’s food, but his hand got swatted by Tardin.
Eventually, the Knight of Judgment raised his head with a dazed look in his eyes. “Barney… stop asking questions.”
Barney was startled at first before he clenched his teeth immediately after. “You bastar—”
But he was interrupted.
“Do you know that there used to be a calamity with no physical form and had an everlasting existence? Because it lives in every single person’s thoughts.”
In that instant, everyone including Quick Rope was dumbfounded.
“Even one as wise as Prince Tormond and as valiant as the Hero Raikaru were powerless against it.” The Knight of Judgment stared into the empty sky. There was an undefiable chill in his voice. “When it comes to certain things, the fewer the people who know about them, the safer Constellation will be, ” he finished. All that was left was a lingering silence and the endless desert wind.
However, the atmosphere among the three people under the sand dune a distance away was drastically different.
When Thales laboriously ripped apart his fifth jerky, he could feel the sharp, blade-like coldness radiating from the two pairs of eyes above him. It forced him to chew the jerky hastily and wash it down with water.
The prince wiped his mouth clean with his sleeve, completely unconcerned with his own image. He winced when he accidentally touched the swell inflicted by Quick Rope.
The Legendary Wing, and the leader of the mercenaries watched him eat. One of them had his hands behind his back, while the other stood with his arms crossed. The two men exchanged glances. They were growing more and more impatient.
Thales gave a loud belch and began to speak before he was torn into shreds by their glares.
“The key.”
Once they heard that, both Roman and Ricky were startled.
“What?” Ricky asked, puzzled. What Thales said next made his expression change.
“The key that unlocked Black Prison and opened the exit. If I remember correctly, you told Stake earlier that you have coincidentally found another key outside the camp?”
The prince watched the gradually changing looks on their faces closely.
“But when you told me that fate is a bigger prison, and you have the only key to unlock it…” Thales narrowed his eyes and gestured to the Legendary Wing, whose expression darkened with every passing moment. “I could not help thinking: what if there is truly only one ‘key’?”
At that second, it felt as though someone had struck the air heavily with a hammer. Ricky furrowed his eyebrows tightly. The Legendary Wing stood still dazed.
Thales let out another belch. “Ah, I overate, sorry. So, I followed the clue, retraced our footsteps, and recalled everything that happened.”
The teenager slowly moved his finger to point at the exit of the Prison of Bones, which had already been closed a while ago. Thales’ eyes lit up.
“And guess what? Every strange detail and discrepancy became interrelated.”
The prince wore a smile on his face. There was a hint of lightness and dramatic flare in his tone of voice. Nonetheless, the other two men obviously did not have much sense for humor, because they did not find what he just said funny. They merely looked Thales coldly. As it appeared, they were not in a very good mood.
Thales glanced around, wiped the smile off his face awkwardly in front of his unresponsive audience, and gave a dry chuckle or two.
“Ricky, when you got out of the prison, instead of taking flight immediately, you stayed here and waited unhurriedly for the ‘right moment’?”
The mercenary leader’s face became increasingly grim.
“Meanwhile, Sir Williams, you were supposed to lead a group of light cavalry to find in the desert, but somehow, you arrived here out of sheer coincidence.”
The Legendary Wing’s face gradually darkened before him. But Thales went on, delivering one sentence after another, and he startled the two of them.
“After Williams arrived, he did not even bother with my presence. Instead, he discreetly yet anxiously pressed you for the result of your ‘mission’, and also asked about an ‘accident’.”
The teenager looked at Ricky, seemingly pleased with himself.
“Before the overwhelming presence of an army of cavaliers, you, without being conscious of your actions, used me as a your leverage, even though, technically, I am no longer your hostage. You used me to threaten the infamous Legendary Wing in a haughty manner. Perhaps because you were not threatening him at all, but you were reporting back to your employer?”
Thales inhaled deeply and narrowed his eyes.
“Just now, I deliberately mentioned the Prison of Bones to the both of you.”
Roman and Ricky were startled again as they recalled the incident earlier.
Thales sighed.
“Williams, you were indifferent to the strange fact that he appeared in the desert with prisoners from Black Prison, and disregarded the question of how Black Prison was infiltrated.
“Ricky, you were similarly completely unconcerned about Samel, who wears the same brand as the others, as if you were confident that he would be able to get out of this in one piece despite the fact that his identity has been exposed.
“Also, both of you seem to have forgotten about the damn exit of the Prison of Bones that we just came out from. See?” Thales waved the jerky in his hand and took a bite. “There are too many suspicious and strange things about this, and so, the truth became plain and clear.”
In the beginning of the their conversation, Roman and Ricky would still exchange glances, share their frustration and anger, and even intended to interrupt Thales. However, as Thales went on, his reasoning became more solid, and they stopped directing their gazes at each other. Instead, they stared at the ground in bewilderment.
Thales held the tip of the jerky he just bit into, and pointed at Ricky before he pointed at Roman.
“The two of you were in this together from the start, right from the moment you effortlessly obtained the key to Black Prison, to this moment when he stands here and watches Blade Fangs Camp burn.”
After finishing his long speech, Thales looked at the two men, who looked petrified, and nodded contentedly at last. He picked up a waterskin and took a mouthful of water.
The two men were silent. Time ticked by as though centuries had passed. Eventually, the Legendary Wing closed his eyes and heaved a long sigh. He extended a hand to Ricky, palm up.
Meanwhile, the leader of the Disaster Swords glared at the teenager resentfully with a grimace. He took out a green rectangular rod from his bosom, one that Thales recognized right away.
‘The key.’ Thales smirked.
“As expected of a product from Renaissance Palace.” Roman took the key to Black Prison from Ricky in a stone-cold manner. “You are born cunning.”
Thales raised his eyebrows and put what remained of the jerky into his mouth.
“No, this is just the most basic of all observations and deductions,” he mumbled as he chewed. “I think any ordinary person can see it.”
Roman’s expression became even more unpleasant when he heard these words. Beside them, Ricky heaved a long sigh.
“A key?” He began to laugh in resignation, he shook his head, and snorted. “Hahahahahahaha… All because of a goddamn key?”
Ricky stopped laughing. He clenched his teeth and huffed before he looked at Roman with frustration and resentment.
“That’s why I told you that you shouldn’t neglect this detail just because very few people know the truth about Black Prison. We should at least stage a theft, but because of your bloody pride…”
