A Tale of Strategies For the Throne

In a trance, it seems to be dreaming.

…………

The body sank endlessly... fell down... as if about to fall into the abyss...

Finally, at what point, the falling stopped.

The boy opened his eyes.

The light golden hair stained with blood was scattered around his slightly brown cheeks, and the golden pupils reflected the endless blue sky.

Ah, bright skies...

……… Huge stone statue………

Thin strands of water fell on his hot face, feeling cool.

The water sprayed from the fountain splashed into the pool where white lotus flowers were blooming.

He saw the gentle and beautiful face of the stone statue of the star goddess Isdar, and the water that slipped from her hand fell into the fountain, and she looked down at him, full of compassion.

……

The body was heavy, as if all strength had been lost.

He clung to the stone wall of the fountain pool with one hand before barely standing up.

At this moment, his mind was very chaotic, as if there were countless fragments of memories flying in it, making him unclear where he was and what he was doing.

He saw a long sword discarded at his feet. The sharp blade had been shattered, and even the hilt had several cracks.

He leaned against the edge of the fountain, turned his head, and saw his face in the clear water.

It was the face of a young boy, not more than sixteen or seventeen years old.

She has a slightly brown complexion, a gold ring embedded with amber gemstones is worn on her forehead, and her light golden hair is messily scattered in front of her eyes.

He looked at his hand, the tiger's mouth was split open, and blood was still slowly oozing.

Suddenly there were noisy footsteps outside, as if many people had poured in here.

He turned around.

Not far away, the two huge golden arches were entwined with green olive leaves and intertwined to form an arch.

A tall black figure came from there.

The boy's pupils shrank violently.

A sense of fear surged out of his body uncontrollably.

An extremely dangerous cry sounded sharply in his mind, urging him to run away from that person as soon as possible.

However, his body was exhausted to the extreme, and his hands and feet were so heavy that he couldn't move.

He could only lean on the fountain basin and barely stand, watching the man walk up to him.

The breeze swept over the young man's dark brown cheeks, and lifted the jet-black hair that looked like the darkest night of winter.

When the forehead hair moved slightly, the shadow of the forehead hair falling on the man's eye sockets also shook slightly.

They were golden eyes with the color of flames, but at this moment, under the bright sunlight, it seemed that even a little glimmer of light couldn't fall in.

The shadows swaying in the pupils dyed those eyes like an abyss.

He stared at the young man without a trace of warmth, like the cruelest winter, quenched with poison, with a cold aura like a cobra king, that kind of coldness can almost penetrate into the bones.

The man stood there, motionless, just staring at him.

The young man leaned against the fountain pool behind him, his breathing was slightly rapid, and his vision was a little blurred.

He could only vaguely see a dozen or so people coming in behind the man and surrounding him in a fan shape.

"You have already lost."

Someone was talking to him like that.

He turned his head slightly, and vaguely saw a man in a light blue shirt in his blurred vision.

...that is...Heymos' confidant...

"So, please stop struggling so ugly."

The man in blue said in a slightly mocking tone, "Prince Garlan, how about maintaining your dignity as the royal family of Aaron Landis?"

At this time, under such circumstances, perhaps only this person can continue to speak in such a vicious tone...

The boy thought in a trance.

struggle?

He really didn't have the strength to struggle anymore.

Just standing with his body propped up like this was already his last persistence.

he thinks.

This time, he lost again.

Brown hands reached out to him, cupping his head.

He could clearly feel the slight tingling sensation when the rough fingers brushed his cheek, as if reminding him that what awaited him was another death.

He was powerless to resist.

In the next second, the boy was pressed heavily on the fountain pool, his lower body was still standing, his waist leaned against the edge of the fountain pool, but his upper body was pushed backwards, and most of his golden hair sank into the water of the fountain pool at this moment.

The white bottle was against his lips, and a hand was pinching his chin, forcing his mouth open with such force that it almost crushed his jaw.

Cold liquid poured into his forced-open mouth.

He raised his head, looking at the bright sky, and the compassionate eyes of the goddess looking down on him...

The drops of water falling from the hands of the stone statue of the goddess splashed onto his face, cool, like tears falling from the eyes of the goddess...

…………

The cold liquid poured into his throat, but it was like a cluster of ignited flames, burning up in his throat.

Wherever it passes, it seems that there are blazing flames burning.

The hand holding him loosened, and he fell heavily to the ground.

The boy's slender body curled up tightly on the ground, and he closed his eyes tightly in pain.

The lips that were so pale that there was no trace of blood were parted and trembling, but they couldn't make any sound, as if they couldn't breathe.

His hands gripped his chest tightly, digging out bloodstains on his own neck and collarbone.

He was shaking with pain.

No one spoke, at this moment, everyone was silent.

They watched in silence the last moments of the dying young prince.

Even the man who has always been known for his poisonous tongue kept silent at this moment, and just watched with a complicated expression.

Their loyal master stood in front of them, looking down at the young man trembling in pain at his feet, no one could see the look in Heymos' eyes at this moment.

……

Consciousness is disappearing little by little...

Vision is blurring.

That's fine, this way, he won't feel the pain as if countless flames are licking and devouring the flesh and blood in his body...

...he died at the hands of this man again...

…………

pain.

It hurts...

But there is no one to confide in.

No one is here anymore... There is no one around him anymore...

…………

In the silent courtyard, there was a sudden sound of hurried footsteps, as if someone was hurrying from outside.

Then, as they approached, the sound of footsteps stopped abruptly.

The sudden stop of footsteps brought the courtyard back to deathly silence.

The boy opened his eyes slightly, and saw the familiar figure through the thin slits under the drooping eyelashes.

Brown slightly curly long hair draped over his shoulders, but his burly and tall body was wrapped in a long robe. His blurred vision could no longer see that person's face clearly, and he could only vaguely see that person's eyes.

The man looked down at him with a cold, emotionless gaze.

Just stood there coldly, looking down at him as he was dying.

...Shemur...

you are right.

【You can't beat Heymos. 】

I lost again.

you're right.

I can't beat him.

I have been annoyed, I have been very unwilling, why you betrayed me, why you have to leave me.

……

You just made the right choice.

The trance consciousness finally dissipated completely, and darkness fell in front of him.

The boy lying on the ground closed his eyes and stopped breathing.

The wet blond hair stuck to his cheeks, and the blood oozing from the corner of his lips was still flowing slowly down his pale cheeks.

He is dead.

The throne will belong to Heymus.

Suddenly a strong wind blew up in the sky, and the wind swept across the pool water, causing deep wrinkles, and the white lotus swayed in the wind, as if it was about to fall down in the water waves.

There was silence between heaven and earth at this moment.

The wind also blew through Shemuer's slightly curly long hair standing there motionless.

After an unknown amount of time, Heymos turned around and started walking.

He passed Shemuer who was standing behind him, and then stopped again.

The priest who had been standing silently finally moved.

He stepped forward, walked up to the dead young prince, bent down, and knelt on one knee.

He stretched out his hand, as if he wanted to touch the pale face that still had a little childishness.

But his fingers stopped a second before touching the other's cheek, stagnated in mid-air, as if an invisible barrier blocked his hand.

After a long time, the fingertips hovering over the boy's cheek trembled slightly, and finally fell down.

The blood oozing from the corners of the boy's eyes, nostrils and lips stained Shemuer's fingertips red.

Shemuer knelt on the ground with his head bowed, there was still no expression on his face, his eyes seemed to have lost all their luster, leaving only a dead silence.

"Have you finally stopped covering up, Shemuer?"

The man in blue sneered and said.

"You are loyal to His Royal Highness Heymos, but you have been helping Prince Garlan secretly all the time. Do you really think I don't know? If it weren't for you, this weak prince wouldn't be able to last so long, tsk, it cost us so much long time."

For a long time, this Ximuer had surrendered to His Royal Highness Heymos in name, but secretly helped Prince Garlan escape the trap he had set with all his heart.

He really couldn't figure out why he insisted on doing this even though he was known as a traitor on Prince Garlan's side and was despised by everyone there.

He even faintly detected that Ximuer was secretly planning something that would be detrimental to His Royal Highness Heymos.It's just that this man is too cautious, he can't catch his horse's feet.

This time, it was he who finally managed to transfer Xie Muer away from the royal city, and was able to successfully arrange the killing of Prince Garlan.

At this moment, he is a little proud.

He and Ximuer grew up together, and he has been secretly competing with him, but he always lost to Ximuer more or less.

Now, he finally won once.

He taunted: "Ximur, as a priest of Shamash, you do such a thing that violates the doctrine and tramples on your oath, what qualifications do you have to serve Shamash—"

He stopped abruptly in the middle of the conversation.

The throat of the man in blue seemed to be pinched by an invisible hand, and his voice was stuck in his throat.

The sudden sobs choked his words, and he opened his mouth, showing disbelief in his eyes.

And the others were also petrified at this moment, sluggishly standing in place.

The priest kneeling on the ground was weeping.

The priest of Shamash, who used to be indifferent and resolute, as if he never knew what feelings were, was crying bitterly in front of everyone at this moment.

His originally neat robe was now stained with dirt and crumpled and scattered on the ground.

His originally clean hands hugged the dead boy tightly, and the palms were covered with blood and dust.

The wet blond hair mingled with blood clung tightly to his cheek.

Tears fell from his eyes and fell down on the young man's pale face.

It seemed that he had abandoned him for more than 20 years...or the human emotions that had been sealed deep in his heart for more than 20 years, at this moment, all of them burst out.

Tore him to pieces.

Let him lose control at this moment.

He hugged the dead boy in his arms tightly, weeping bitterly as if he had lost everything, as if he had completely collapsed.

The man in blue was astonished, and a little caught off guard.

Having known Shemuer for so many years, he has never seen this person's complexion change much.

Unexpectedly, the first time I saw it, it was so out of control.

"Ximuer, you, you are..."

For a moment, he didn't know what to say, for the first time in his life, that clever tongue was tied.

"He is dead, you admit your mistake...well... as long as you admit your mistake, I will intercede for you so that His Highness Heymos will not hold you accountable. As long as you assist His Highness well in the future, I will..."

He was talking stammeringly when he suddenly heard a clang.

That was the sound of a sharp knife being unsheathed.

He turned his head and saw that his young master had drawn his sword from his waist.

The unsheathed snow-white blade reflected a cold light in the sun.

The man in blue was taken aback, then hurried forward to stop him.

"Wait a minute, Your Highness." He said anxiously, "Xiemuer's intelligence and bravery have always been on par with mine. It would be a pity to kill him like this. Please give me some time, and I will persuade him to surrender to you... ..."

"It's useless."

The deep voice interrupted the man in blue, and pushed him away with one hand.

Heymos said, "You can't persuade him."

The cold golden red eyes stared at Shemuer's back, even under the bright sunlight, his eyes were always sunk in the thick darkness.

Light does not enter, shadow follows.

He said: "Since you are loyal to him, go with him to the kingdom of the dead."

Li Jian turned his head, and a cold light flashed in the air.

Heymos didn't even turn around.

He just stood sideways like this, holding the long sword instead and stabbing back.

The sharp blade pierced Shemuer's back.

That drop of dark red blood rolled down from the tip of the sword that pierced his chest, staining the pale corners of the young man's eyes red.

Heymos pulled out his sharp sword and inserted the bloody blade into the scabbard.

He strode forward without looking back.

The black cloak flew behind him like the unfolding night.

The man in blue followed his master and left, but at the end, he couldn't help but look back.

A wind blew across the courtyard, brushing the priest's brown hair over his shoulders.

Beneath the stone statue of the goddess Isdar, the dead priest knelt there, guarding the prince who seemed to be sleeping in his arms.

…………