Chapter 248 - Hatching Plans (1/2)
XXXX Continent, Seraph Kingdom, inside the Ninth Prince's pavilion.
”An explanation on the war for the throne, huh…” the Ninth Prince muttered as he placed his index finger and thumb under his chin. He then rubbed his chin with both fingers as he asked himself, ”Where should I start?”
For a while, Vanadir pondered over Erea's question. Eventually, after taking another sip of his tea, he went ahead and directly looked at Erea before answering, ”If I were to sum it all up, the war for the throne is more or less a competition wherein only one team survives.”
”Only one team survives?” Erea could not help but repeat the Ninth Prince's words, imagining such a situation in her head. Little by little, her complexion became pale as she could not help but ask him a while after, ”Does that mean that…the people that participate in this war for the throne would ultimately die as well?”
Listening to her response, Vanadir's eyes slightly widened in surprise, wondering as to how she got to that conclusion. After some time, he understood where Erea was coming from as he shook his head. He then told her, ”Ah, not at all. I guess it was my fault for indirectly leading you to that conclusion with my words.”
”To be more exact, only one out of the twelve princes survive in this competition,” he added. Vanadir then continued, ”As for the members of the teams, they're given a lot of safety measures that would allow them to stay safe even if the prince they've allied with dies in the matches.”
Erea could not help but shiver while listening to the Ninth Prince's response. She thought to herself, 'Does a kingdom really have to resort to such measures to nominate who the next ruler would be?'
With this thought in mind, she then asked Vanadir, ”Is there a reason as to why only one prince can only survive in the war for the throne?”
”Quite a lot more than you'd expect,” the Ninth Prince responded before continuing, ”With the other princes dead, there would be no coups led by the other princes who are dissatisfied with the winning prince.”
He then added, ”Second, some of the princes participating in the war for the throne harbor malicious intent towards the prize. By killing them, it would allow the kingdom to continue with its peaceful method of ruling.”
”I understand the first reason, but…” Erea muttered as she pondered over Vanadir's words. Eventually, she continued, ”What if the winner turns out to be a prince with malicious intent? What happens then?”
”Surprisingly, the king himself would be the one to make a move, killing that prince without hesitation,” Vanadir said without batting an eye, which made Erea slightly shiver inwardly. A few seconds later, the Ninth Prince smiled as he said, ”Of course, I'm not like those princes.”
”I see.” Erea processed and organized all of the words said by Vanadir, eventually nodding in understanding.
All this time, Dane was looking at the two converse back and forth while he sipped on his tea. Noticing that the two have finished with their questions, he took the initiative to say to Vanadir, ”Your Highness, I've obtained some great bits of news before coming here.”
”Oh?” In response, Vanadir raised his eyebrows before smiling. ”As expected from my advisor. I knew I could count on you.”
”Anyways, what is it?” he then asked, to which Dane replied, ”Before coming here, this student of mine here was trying to be poached by another prince's team.”
”Is that so?” the Ninth Prince said, placing his index finger and thumb under his chin once more before rubbing. ”Do you know which prince's team it was?”
Dane nodded in response to the Ninth Prince's question before saying, ”Indeed I do, Your Highness. I shall not talk about the person that tried to poach my great student Erea here, but the prince behind this person is the Tenth Prince.”
”The Tenth Prince?” Expecting another prince to be mentioned, Vanadir could not help but stand up from his seat in disbelief. He was not expecting that sort of prince to make a move. Wondering if he had heard wrongly, he looked at Dane and asked for assurance, ”By the Tenth Prince…you mean Sauro, right?”
”Indeed. Prince Sauro Altaris-Seraph,” Dane said as he nodded.
Sensing that his advisor did not lie to him, the Ninth Prince went ahead and sat down on his chair with an aura of slight defeat as he muttered, ”To think that Sauro would come and join in the war for the throne as well. That scheming bastard would definitely make the road to victory harder. Is he aiming for the prize?”
”Uh…” All of a sudden, Erea went ahead and interrupted the conversation between the two of them as she asked Vanadir, ”I apologize for interrupting your conversation with Teacher, Your Highness. I would like to ask though. Who's Prince Sauro? Also, judging from your words, Your Highness, what kind of prize does the war for the throne have to make other princes join?”
Up to this moment, Erea thought that the princes of the Seraph Kingdom were forced to participate in the war for the throne since it had something to do with the future of the kingdom. But after listening to their conversation, it seemed that the princes joining in the war were mostly based on volunteering. Of course, she wondered as to how all of the princes with malicious intent would be killed off if they did not participate in the war, but it did not take long for her to conclude that the Seraph Kingdom had their own methods to do so.
Scratching his head for a bit, the Ninth Prince responded to Erea's words, saying, ”It's fine if you interrupt us. Your teacher would be fine with that as well, no?”
In response, Dane nodded at his words. With that, Vanadir continued, ”Anyways, let me ask you something. Do you know the 12 princes of the Seraph Kingdom?”
Erea shook her head as she let out a soft sigh. She then said to him, ”I apologize for not knowing too much in this area. I'm not someone who likes to dabble in the world of politics…plus I always seclude myself within the Arcana Tower…”
”Hahaha.” Hearing her response filled with truths, Vanadir could not help but lightly giggle as he replied, ”It's fine. It's fine. I just wanted to know if you have any background knowledge.”
”Anyways, the 12 princes of the Seraph Kingdom have only one purpose in life,” he said. ”That purpose is to succeed the current king of the kingdom, King Zeldrion Seraph.”
”As you've heard from Dane, I'm the Ninth Prince of the Seraph Kingdom,” he continued. ”As for Prince Sauro, he's the Tenth Prince of the Seraph Kingdom.”
”His full name is Sauro Altaris-Seraph, his mother being someone who has high prestige in the Altaris clan,” Vanadir started to explain. ”He's well-known for making back-up plans for his back-up plans. In other words, he's a pretty scheming guy. Not to mention, he's also well-versed in the arts of swordsmanship.”