In the family mansion, Aga welcomed the Grand Duke of Risa, his father, who had returned home after handling government affairs.
As the core of the family, the two father and son finished their dinner calmly and came to the small study. This is the main place where Lord Rizal handles affairs. Outsiders are not allowed to enter easily. Even the cleanliness of the room is personally cleaned and organized by the trusted butler. Those who break in without mercy will be killed by the Duke's Guards without mercy.
As the heir to the Risa family, Aga needed his father's permission to enter this room. He could not break in without permission. After all, he had several younger brothers and cousins waiting for him to make a mistake. But this time the mission failed, and his father took him into this study to give him a chance to make amends.
"Father." Aga stood respectfully in front of the desk with his hands down.
Duke Rizal poured himself a glass of mountain spring water that the servants had fetched from outside the city in the morning. He also poured a glass for his son and motioned for him to sit down. "Tell me the details again."
"Yes." Ajia told the story in detail about the edict sent to the magician that day. He also added his own observations and opinions to the statement. These were things that were not necessary to be spoken out in the palace before, and the emperor did not want to hear them. The Supreme Being was quite obsessed with his own judgment.
But in the small study, Duke Rizal allowed his son to join in these ideas. The two would discuss each other and correct their wrong judgments. This was the Grand Duke's method of cultivating his successor.
Instead of letting the other party think for themselves and getting confused by the wrong results, it is better to participate in the discussion as a facilitator. The latter cultivation method is much more difficult to master than the former one. But Mr. Rizal thought that he had done a good job. At least what he had cultivated was not a yes-man who was obedient and hesitant about doing things.
After the statement of the matter came to an end, Aga said: "Father, your Majesty is really not willing to continue to use his power to deal with that magician?"
Lord Rizal shook his head and said: "According to my understanding of him, he will not take action again. Our Majesty is not a person who will take advantage of a small gain no matter what."
"What about us? We have put so much thought into it. We can't let the Kawei family see our jokes." The reason why Aga is persistent is because this matter is originally a trap for the magician. It was set up by his father. A casual move planned by Grand Duke Rizal.
The emperor issued an edict, which cannot be said to be taken advantage of or from his original intention. This scheming emperor did not take this trivial matter seriously at all, and just allowed his old ministers to do whatever they wanted. Anyway, what you owe today can be recovered with interest another day. This can only be regarded as a small game between the monarch and his ministers.
If the magician obeys the order and comes to the palace, he will naturally have a way to force out everything he knows. Then various accidents will happen, and the magician will regretfully die. As long as this kind of thing works well, Grand Duke Rizal does not even need to come forward and is sure to swallow up most of the benefits.
If the edict should not be followed, there would be even more reason to send out the empire's visible strength and openly list this person as a target that must be executed. Even if the opponent is a well-known figure in the Holy City of Estali, the magicians will not take the risk of offending the empire to defend a person who offends the dignity of the empire and is listed as a mortal enemy.
But after the Fourteenth Prince joined, all these plans failed. If the magician was summoned to the capital, there would be a great chance that the Fourteenth Prince would follow him back, which would be a disaster. If he didn't come, no one would have the guts to send someone to punish the magician. Because it was like reminding the Fourteenth Prince of his own existence, and he would be damned if he didn't cause big trouble.
The Demon Prince was already a natural disaster level scourge to the imperial nobles, and no one thought of confronting him. All the stubborn people in the past are dead. Now everyone, including the emperor, has the idea of looking out of sight and thinking about purity. How can they dare to let him come back.
"I heard that you were full of ugliness when you went this time." Rizalong did not answer his son's meaningless question, but instead talked about another thing.
Knowing that the family's guards could not hide the embarrassment for him, Aga simply lowered his head and said: "My son has lost his temper, please punish me father."
Although he was quite unhappy that the family members, especially his successor, behaved so badly in front of outsiders. But thinking that he was facing the Demon Prince, all his anger cooled down.
As the world knows, His Majesty the Emperor's fourteenth son committed parricide and killed his twin brother. Therefore, he was deprived of inheritance rights by the royal family and expelled from the country. In fact that was just the beginning of it all.
No father would hate his child. Even if he is an emperor, as long as he does not involve regicide and changing the throne, he is just an ordinary father. Not to mention that Azad was only six years old when he did what he did. In everyone's mind, they all believe that there should still be opportunities for education.
But in the end, when the fourteenth prince was expelled from the palace, it was known that the people he had killed included III (3) imperial concubines, V (5) princes, II (2) princesses, and the first echelon of grand dukes. There are VII (7) heirs, Grand Duke I (1), Duke IV (4), the following titles are LXVII (67), and... half of the Guards Corps, VBar (5000) The remaining people.
"Forget it, you were able to survive that night only by luck. All those who had the courage died. It would be too difficult for you to face that person like this."
On that bloody night, the entire palace seemed to be made of flesh and blood. Everywhere you looked was bright red, and everywhere you stepped was covered with stumps. Human life is like the most worthless thing. No matter whether it is noble or low, when they are broken into pieces and scattered all over the ground, they all look the same. If you are not a noble person, the wreckage will be more beautiful.
There was no shortage of brave people at first, and no one took a fifteen-year-old boy seriously. But the instigator was unstoppable. If there were no bodyguards to stop his progress, more nobles would have died that night. And Aga was the one who managed to escape with his life that night.
"Damn it, that bastard!" The father and son cursed at the same time.
As we all know, the predecessor of the Gwana Empire was the first alliance organized by all Homo sapiens species after the Dark Ages. Even if humans later dominate, every emperor will still use marriage to gain the trust of hundreds of races other than humans. Therefore, mixed blood is very common within the empire, although some people insist on pure human blood. But whether it's actually pure or not...who knows.
A major result of the marriage between the royal family and other Homo sapiens races is that sometimes the royal children will have atavism. That is to say, those with non-human bloodline characteristics will either die young or survive a weak childhood and become very powerful. If the maternal bloodline is not pure human, then the possibility of giving birth to such a special child is even greater.
Azad's mother is a succubus, one of the very few demons who form groups in the Lost Lands. But some say that the devil's ecology was the same in the beginning. It's just that the growth opportunities were different, so they became different demon races. As for Azad, everyone thinks that he has returned to his ancestors and become an out-and-out devil.
Thinking of the tragic situation at that time and the humiliation he suffered this time, Aga couldn't help but ask: "Father, are we really unable to do anything to him now that we are prepared? At that time, we were just beaten by him. It was just a surprise."
"You know that in order to resist, the empire's foundation was exhausted. But in the end, it cost the lives of eight great magicians and seventeen great swordsmen, and then the prince retreated in spite of the difficulties. To say that The only sure way to do it is to trick him into entering a magic tower at the Dharma Saint level and rely on the ever-changing traps inside to deal with that person. Otherwise, don’t even try." Duke Risa warned his son.
Even if those who experienced that night survived, few could still cheer up. This son of mine can still maintain the performance expected of an heir to a grand duke, and he is already quite outstanding among his peers. I really can't ask for more.
"Father, what about Your Majesty? What does Your Majesty think of his son?" Aga asked through gritted teeth. Although the family title is "Grand Duke Risa", this position is ranked in the succession of the throne, although it is very low. And of course he saw the intrigue between his father and the emperor.
But Duke Rizal said with some disappointment: "Had he not destroyed half of the Guards Corps and killed many nobles that night, the emperor would not have given up on his son. Before that, no matter how much pressure the ministers were under , the emperor is like a lion guarding its calf, not allowing anyone to touch his child. But in the end, that night, he also became a target.──"
At that time, in fact, most of the older grand dukes returned to their own territories. The core of power in the imperial capital is handed over to the next generation to worry about. Anyway, with the emperor here, it doesn't matter if the tool is himself or his son. But that bloody night frightened too many people. The ministers also provoked an unprecedented reaction afterwards, which made the emperor give in.
"──Only the subsequent punishment of deprivation of title and inheritance rights. But you also know that even after the order of expulsion was issued, the bastard still lived in the palace for more than half a year. So you ask me, what will the emperor think of him? Son; I can only tell you that no matter what, he is still his son. He also cannot allow others to point fingers, don’t even think about it. And..."
Ting Ting seemed to have a turn for the better, Aga quickly asked: "And what?"
"How do you know that what that person did was not the result of our Majesty's indulgence."
"This...how is this possible?" Aga said in surprise.
"Whether this sword is controlled or not, there is still a way to use it with His Majesty's methods. Judging from the results, all the nobles are frightened by the tyranny of the Fourteenth Prince, so they dare not overly force the royal family, because no one can guess What kind of reaction would that His Highness have? For the emperor, could there be a better situation than this?"
Regarding his father's statement, Aga said in disbelief: "Your Majesty, can he do this?"
"The only reason why the chess pieces are not under control is because your chess skills are not good enough. Study hard. Treat all failed experiences as nutrients for your growth, and try to find your own path when you can make mistakes. It is conceivable that in the future It will only be harder, not easier.”
Duke Rizal opened a document with regret. Listed above are several major changes in Lost Land in recent years, and the core of these changes is the magician, Guybrash Tripwood. Is it a good thing or a bad thing that I can't control this man? He couldn't tell.
