When the moon began to sink, Gerald Wimbledon saw the looming outline of the walls of the King's City in the night.
After a few months, I'm finally back, he thought. The fatigue from the long journey suddenly disappeared a lot, but he still remained vigilant. He reined in his horse and signaled his deputy to go forward and inquire about the situation.
If the plan hadn't changed, Scholar Ang should have replaced the guards with his own men. After his deputy gave the signal, he lowered the drawbridge.
He stared at the front with wide eyes, for fear that he would miss the faint light.
The waiting time was not long, but Gerald felt as if time had frozen. When his eyelids were sore and he could not hold on any longer, he finally saw flashes coming from afar. Two flashes below the city wall, three flashes above, just as the plan had agreed.He breathed a sigh of relief and waved to his men to move forward.
In this way, he was only one step away from the throne.
Gerald rode through the side gate of the city wall, and his deputy walked side by side with him.
Behind him were more than twenty cavalrymen. All of them were silent, pulling the reins and controlling their mounts to move forward slowly.
The material of the walls of the Graycastle Kingdom was taken from the Fallen Dragon Ridge. This grayish-brown stone gave off a dark red luster under the torch, as if it had been soaked in blood. The entire wall was twenty feet wide. In order to build this wall, more than a thousand laborers, slaves, and stonemasons died on the construction site.
Even an army of ten thousand soldiers could not break through the wall, but now he could easily cross it. Gerald thought that any loophole would start from the inside.For some reason, he thought of the New Holy City. Would the seemingly more magnificent and indestructible walls be breached from the inside?
"Your Royal Highness, I have been waiting for you here for a long time." After passing through the city gate, Scholar Ang and his team were waiting at the gate. Seeing Gerald appear, the scholar quickly dismounted from his horse and bowed in salute.
Gerald put aside the distracting thoughts, probably because he was too excited and couldn't help but let his imagination run wild. "You did a good job. Have the guards of the palace been changed?"
"Your Royal Highness, there was an accident in the plan. The Silver Hand Knight, who was originally willing to serve you, was transferred to the Southern Territory three days ago. Now we only have time to change the guards of the palace."
Gerald frowned. This meant that it was impossible for him to bring more than 20 people into the palace. The guards wouldn't stop him, but they wouldn't allow so many fully armed people to enter the royal family's territory.
"Forget it. As long as two people from the team in the bedroom follow me and the rest guard the door and don't let anyone come in and disturb me, it'll be fine." He hesitated for a moment and then made up his mind. Although the plan had changed, the situation was still under control. His father's personal guards would usually stay outside for the night. As long as someone could stall them for a moment, he was confident that he could cut them down with his sword.
After entering the inner city, everything seemed to have returned to how it was when he left. Even though it was night time, he could still recognize every street. This was his territory, there was no doubt about it. Everyone jumped off their horses and quickly walked towards the palace. When they arrived at the gate, more than twenty people spread out according to the new plan and hid outside the palace. As Angor had said, although the guards were surprised that the prince had returned to the capital at night, when Gerald said that he had something important to do, they directly opened the door and let him in.
After all, he was the eldest son of the King of Graycastle and legally the first heir to the throne.
The prince and Angor passed through the garden and the main hall. Ahead of them was the castle where Wimbledon III lived.The scholar raised the torch in his hand and shook it left and right. Immediately, a guard came out of the darkness and knelt down on one knee. "Your Royal Highness, please come with me."
Gerald sniffed. He smelled blood.
Didn't they say that all the guards in the bedroom had been replaced? He looked at the guard by the light of the fire. It was indeed someone he was familiar with – a Knight who supported him to the throne.This made him feel a little relieved.
"Why, did someone enter the castle?"
"Your Royal Highness, His Majesty summoned a maid in the evening. When she came out, she saw our change," the other replied. "Please rest assured, we have taken care of it."
Maid? His father hadn't touched a woman for a long time – since his mother's death.Gerald was a little surprised, but now was not the time to worry about such trivial things. He nodded and said nothing more. He followed the guard into the castle, and the others followed.
For Gerald, he could walk from the beginning to the end of the castle with his eyes closed. He had lived here for more than 20 years, so he knew where the secret passage and the secret door were.However, the purpose of his trip was to persuade his father to pass the throne to him. It was meaningless to sneak into the bedroom. He had to get rid of the guards stationed outside and let his father thoroughly understand his situation. Only then could he sit down and seriously discuss the ownership of the inheritance.
If he couldn't convince him …
Gerald Wimbledon took a deep breath and motioned for everyone to stop. He pulled out the two-handed sword from his back.
The bronze door at the end of the corridor was the only entrance to the bedroom. Behind the door was the outer room, which was also the last line of defense in front of the bedroom. There were usually two or three guards stationed there. In case of an accident, they could rush into the bedroom to protect His Majesty.
Gerald first pushed the door open a small gap, then with a sidestep, he quickly rushed into the room and raised his sword in a fighting posture – but the outer room was quiet and there was no one there. At the same time, a strong smell of blood assailed his nostrils.
An ominous premonition flashed in his heart, and he ran directly to the bedroom.
Then, Gerald saw an unbelievable scene.
Wimbledon III was sitting on the bed in his nightgown, his upper body leaning on the pillow cushion. His robe was open, and a sword hilt was stuck in his chest. Blood flowed down his bulging belly and soaked the quilt.
Standing next to his father was his younger brother, Timothy Wimbledon.
"How … how could this be?" Gerald was stunned.
"Just like you, brother," Timothy sighed. "I didn't want to do this."
He clapped his hands, and a group of armored warriors quickly rushed in from behind the door and surrounded the eldest prince. "This is a chess game, and I wanted to play it according to the rules. Brother, do you know? My sister didn't intend to play this game from the beginning, and of course … you didn't either. Otherwise, why would you hear Scholar Ang's astrological prediction and come all the way to King's City? To tell you the truth, if you didn't come, I would really be helpless. "
"Scholar!"
He gritted his teeth and looked back. Scholar Ang took a step back and spread out his hands: "I didn't lie to you. 'The Apocalypse Star is moving away from the blazing sun' means that the seeker has deviated from the right path, but it also means that the star has fallen."
Gerald now fully understood that from the very beginning, he had fallen into a well-designed trap. The smell of blood at the castle gate was probably not left by a maid, and the reason why the Silver Hand Knight was transferred was also the same. But what made him most desperate was that Scholar Ang, who had taken care of him for more than ten years and taught him to read and write since he was a child, finally chose the second prince – just like his father.
"Timothy Wimbledon! You are both his sons, but he poured so much effort into you, and gave you the best territory. I didn't expect you to be the first to bite him! You are simply a devil from hell! "