The 161th chapter “glory!” (part 1)
960 year of the Roland Empire: during the summer festival day, the capital fell into chaos and Prince Long (Crown Prince) rebelled against the imperial court. Gathering his forces, he and his supporters besieged the palace. In order to fend off the traitors, Son commissioned the Temple to aid in the defense of the royal family. With the help of the temple and the police department, Son turned the tide with minimal reinforcements and created a miracle with the showcasing of the Martial Dragon Spear.
Prince Long loudly shouts out: “I lost because fate did not choose me.” Pausing, he points at Prince Son before continuing: “Even so, I request that I be buried under the flag!”
With these words, he sheathed his sword and gently slit it across his neck. Following their master, dozens of his most loyal subordinates followed suit and ended their life as a sign of loyalty.
As for the remaining rebel forces: Marquise Solomon surrendered and Earl Raymond of the Rowling Household was captured in battle. While 4,000 of the rebel forces were killed in the ensuing fight, only 6,000 remained alive to be sent to the dungeons. In 3 days, the rebellion was squashed and the peace restored.
Volume 15 of the Empire’s Chronicle record, 6th chapter: The Regent life tale.
Regarding this coup on the official record of the empire, there wasn’t any mention of the eldest son of the Rowling Household. In fact, there wasn’t a single word that could relate to Du Wei or anything involving his role in the battle that took place. Just like that, historians had no choice but to remove all of his deeds from this event due to being pressured from the higher ups.
Bucket after buckets of water, the stains marking the great battle that took place in the central square was finally washed away after 3 days. Now, the palace guards and the police forces patrolling the city streets are all walking around with faces of immediately threat.
Previously when Prince Son revealed the Dragon Martial Spear, both Du Wei and the Crown Prince knew there was no chance of victory left for the rebellion.
The reason is that the kneeling knights in the central square was just like a piercing needle that shot right through the Crown Prince’s heart. Suddenly, different from his prior mistakes, the Crown Prince made one correct decision that day.
Should he continue the fight? Watching the kneeling Knight in the square, the Crown suddenly raised his sword with an icy feeling in his heart. Trembling, he actually turned around to give Earl Raymond a glance and said,
“Raymond, we lost.”
Having said that, this Prince suddenly puffed up his chest and cried out: “I am royalty, I will die before surrendering!” Then pointing his sword at Prince Son, he shouted: “It’s not that I am not your match, it’s just your fate is better than mine!”
With that, his sword moved and gently swiped across his neck. With blood dripping, his body softly fell off his horse and onto the ground.
Despite the fact that Earl Raymond was close enough to stop this, he didn’t because in his mind, he knew their time is over.
Subsequently, the scene fell into chaos. With the morale of the rebel forces in tatters, Prince Son took the chance and ordered the remaining soldiers in the palace to charge out. Not missing the opportunity, the police forces all pressed in.
With Marquis Solomon surrendering, Earl Raymond nearly escaped after a path was opened up by Captain Alpha. But this great general gave up in the last minute.
In one fell push, he forced his guards aside while covered in blood. Throwing down his sword, his expression changed to that of a true aristocrat as he spoke his next words:
“Members of the Rowling Household will not run like ragged dogs!”
With that said, this great n.o.blemen did not move even when he saw how the pursuing troops came rus.h.i.+ng towards him. Still standing there with pride despite being restrained with ropes, he looked up at a black figure standing on top of the palace walls. Then with a cold smile, he lowered his head and turned back to look where the Crown Prince died. With eyes full of difficult emotions, he sighed before saying: “A branch doesn’t compare to a seedling.”
And the Coup d’état finally came to a certain end with the capture of Earl Raymond.
“He in fact shouldn’t have committed suicide.” Du Wei looked over at where the body of the Crown Prince laid.
Below, the corpse of the Crown Prince is covered in a flag of the Thorn Flower symbol. According to tradition, no matter the offense, a member of the royal family must be buried with this royal symbol.
Even if the person in question orchestrated a rebellion, this practice cannot be changed until they are formally charged.
Right now, Prince Son is standing beside Du Wei, his expression so plain that none could read his mind. But when he heard Du Wei’s words, this young Prince suddenly turned to face Du Wei and said: “Oh, what did you just say?”
“I said, he in fact shouldn’t have committed suicide.” Du Wei smiles wryly: “Unfortunately for him, he doesn’t truly understand the spirit behind chivalry…… As he saw how so many knights kneeled before you when you held up the Knights Spear, he got cold feet.”
After a pause, Du Wei continues: “Knights care about loyalty above all else. The spear in your hand may have been a sacred relic, but they did not surrender to you when they kneeled. On the contrary, when you pulled out the sacred spear, the spirit a knight should have been fully invoked in his subordinates. If so, they would have fought even harder for him if he didn’t give up. Although they no longer had the advantage, but if they put their life on the line and pressed on, the chance of them coming out on top is not small…… What a pity, because he didn’t understand why, he thought everyone was kneeling to you, but in truth, they were only kneeling to the sacred spear.”
Du Wei looked deeply Prince Son: “I really starting wonder how your brain managed to calculate all of this, especially the part where your brother would give up when you pull out the spear.” Prince Son dodges Du Wei’s gaze. With a smile, this young prince replied: “In the end, n.o.body in this world can be certain of the outcome. But I do know my brother’s personality, so I can be certain of his reaction at the very least.”
Du Wei keeps his silence. Lowering his head, he recounts everything in his brain before speaking again: “First you drag the Temple into the water with you, then the Magic Union. Thinking it over, I still can’t understand. Why didn’t you stop your brother before the rebellion started? You are clearly more capable than your brother.”
As Du Wei said these words, his gaze was so strong that it was like shooting lighting out of them. Without saying a word, Prince Son turned around and slowly walked away.
“Since you already know the answer to your question, why ask me?”
Du Wei stood there speechless. Watching the backside of the young prince as he slowly walked away, Du Wei inwardly felt that the person in front of him was more scheming and devious than any other person he met up till now.
Sighing, Du Wei then mutters to himself in a low voice: “You didn’t stop him and intentionally allowed the coup to take place. If he didn’t jump out like this, how can you get rid of him fairly and take control justifiably….”
Once he said these words, his mind started to think: “It seems I should stay away from politics.”
After Prince Son walked a few steps in front of him, this guy suddenly paused to turn around. With a faint smile, he said: “You’re not coming?”
Smiling in return, the two men looked at each other with different thoughts in mind.
Within the palace, the king’s guards had long replaced their elegant looking armors used for the celebration. Swords, axe, and s.h.i.+eld, all kinds of weapons were being pulled out of the armory, fully ready for battle. As Prince Son and Du Wei walked through the halls, this young prince started to issue out numerous orders to his subordinates one after another.
Du Wei speculated at this time that the police forces outside should have taken over the defense of the capital by now.
Following Prince Son around for a short while, the two finally came up to a tall standing structure with gold plated guards standing outside. Stopping in their steps, Prince Son faced the guards and said: “I want to see my father.”
The chief of these gold plated warriors hurriedly saluted upon contact: “Your highness, his majesty has been waiting for you. He left words that you are free to go in the moment you arrive.”
Prince Son faintly smiles as he gave Du Wei a glance: “come on then, let’s go.”
The Gold plated Warrior leader steps forward to stop them. With a pained look on his face, he said: “This….. His Majesty only called for only one person and that’s you.”
Prince Son’s expression immediately changed. Unlike his usual gentle features, his face now showed a glimmer of dominance and dignitary only seen in those of great power. Feeling his body being pierced by this overbearing gaze, the leader of these guards involuntarily took a step back and quickly lowered his head, too afraid to even make eye contact.
Retracting his gaze, Prince Son did not speak or look at the guards anymore. Pulling Du Wei with one hand, the two openly walked into the building.
Filled with cold sweat, this guard leader had no will to resist or stop the young Prince.
He may be a senior officer in the palace guards, but even he is not dense enough to not catch on that after this meeting, the ruler of this place will change!
In that case, why should he go against the future ruler’s will?
And who else wouldn’t be aware of this fact? Backing away as the two walked by, the commander of security further behind them quickly followed up and took over the job of guarding the building. Unable to do anything, the gold plated warriors could only back off and watch their jobs be taken over by the new soldiers.
Despite being surrounding by tall columns on both sides and richly decorated walls, this luxurious building seemed lifeless compared to the rest of the palace.
Taking in a deep breath, Du Wei could somehow catch a whiff of decaying smell in the air.
Hmm, this must be the heart playing tricks on him. Yes….. This is nothing but his imagination! Du Wei kept reminding himself this important point as he picked up his pace behind Prince Son.
Continuing forward, some servants had already pushed open a large door at the end of the hallway awaiting their entrance. Coming in, Du Wei can see the emperor half lying on top of a square shaped giant bed. Unlike the previous demeanor he had before the battle, this once mighty rule now looked powerless and short of breath.
“Son, you have come……” After these clear words, his pace quickly picked up and a rapid cough ensued. Struggling to pull himself up, he waved his hand to dismiss the servant nearby.
“Father.” Prince Son kneeled down on one knee without making eye contact: “Brother has pa.s.sed away.”
“You…… Did very well.” Old emperor’s expression turned yellow as if his spirit had run dry of energy.
It’s just that after this simple dialogue, the parent and son couple seems to have come to an understanding and no longer spoke.
For a long time, the only sounds coming out of the room was the rapid gasps and bellows coming out of the old emperor.
Quietly kneeling behind Prince Son, Du Wei secretly lifts his eyes to sneak a peek at the old emperor. Surprising him, Du Wei can only see the face of an old dying man spending his last days in bed. No longer the fierce lion in his glory days, the old emperor before him only had the look of someone facing defeat and shame….. But something is not quite right…
EH? But that posture is clearly that of someone on ALERT!
Yes… The look coming out of the old emperor right now is not of someone celebrating in joy; instead, it is of someone on high alert.
As if time itself had frozen in place, the two seems to be testing the other’s patient. In Du Wei’s case, his eyes were much sharper. Try as he like to hide the weapon under his robe, Du Wei still managed to see how tightly the old man was gripping onto the sword hilt.
Finally, after a long long time, the old emperor suddenly sighed. His voice had a hint of difficult complexity in his tone: “Did you come here to request for my abdication also?”
Prince Son did not reply.