121 The western hills (1/2)

After exiting his private cultivation room with a smile Hartley was greeted by a glum faced Zhi Ruo, tension clearly written on her beautiful features and bags under eyes as if she was standing in the hallway for days.

The smile melted from Hartley's face as he rushed to her and held both her hands in his asking ”What's going on?”

Seeing the worry on his face Zhi Ruo pulled herself together and smiled weakly, and after a long pause she said.

”The eldest prince has declared me an enemy of the kingdom, he has issued my execution order with immediate effect. The men sent by viscount Sanzu brought a message two days ago that the prince is mobilizing an alliance of 5000 men backed by a saint and a half saint.”

”Oh.” was the only answer Hartley could muster. Unknowingly Hartley had been locked away fro 10 days.

Zhi Ruo looked at Hartley with a frightened face then started to stutter ”I....I....I..should...”

Before she could finish Hartley quickly grabbed her and brought her into his embrace whispering ”don't you dare even think of that, there will be no sacrifice on my behalf, we will face them together, come...let me show you something.”

Tears started to fall from Zhi Ruo's eyes, she couldn't bare knowing that she had brought a calamity to Hartley and felt the only way to save him was giving up her own life. Knowing that if she sacrificed herself Hartley would eventually venture down the heartless path of vengeance without empathy for anyone.

She closed her eyes and saw flashbacks of the Warika province when Hartley had ruthlessly killed and destroyed the homes of thirty odd common civilians without remorse or care because she was in mortal danger.

As they exited the manor hand in hand the first rays of sunshine peaked over the western hills.The atmosphere was muted not even the usually vibrant children were running around. People went about their business in robotic fashion, most staring at the ground while they dragged their feet across the cobbled roads.

Hartley and Zhi Ruo passed the soldiers sent by viscount Sanzu as they were silently sitting and lounging around looking into space dazed as if they had been sentenced to death. Hartley quietly led her towards the entrance of the manor without even acknowledging them.

Every single soldier wore expressions of gloom on their faces, some even mumbled prayers under their breath. A few harbored resentment in their hearts as they watched the couple walk by, cursing Hartley inside because they had literally been sent by viscount Sanzu to die for this boy.

Most of the soldiers knew the shrewdness of Viscount Sanzu and how the politics of the capital worked, he had basically sacrificed these forces edging his bets on the outcome of the upcoming conflict.

The viscount knew he couldn't be seen to entirely abandon Hartley and the western hills in their time of need, it was because of Hartley that he had been recalled to the capital after all. If Hartley chose to save his own life and give up his wife for execution the viscount would be seen as a benevolent figure giving his full support.

But these soldiers knew from the reports they had heard about the lord of the western hills that that scenario was highly unlikely, the expected scenario was that Hartley would opt to fight to the bitter end and in that case these soldiers would end up being the sacrificial lambs in a game of high level politics.

There was only a one percent chance that Hartley and the residents of the western hills would survive and win if they chose a head on confrontation with the eldest prince's troops. That being the case the calculative Viscount Sanzu had no choice but to show his support just in case Hartley managed to pull off a miracle or was saved by a powerful backer, that wasn't out of the realm of possibility in viscount Sanzu's thinking.

If Hartley died the viscount would still be seen as a good ally, standing up to might of the eldest prince out of pure loyalty, but his position would be weakened in the capital dramatically and there was no guarantee that he would be able to keep his position if Hartley was out of the picture, so he couldn't afford to draw the ire the nobles hell bent on taking down the lord of the western hills..

Sat in a red cushioned chair, the messy haired Commander Genk had a scowl on his face and a bulging vein in the middle of his forehead as he slammed the armrest of the antique chair with his huge clenched fist.

”We need to send support troops now, if we wait any longer there is no way we can reach there in time to make a difference.”