Chapter 1198: The Beginning
The banquet hall immediately fell silent.
— Father.
— Father.
Three princes and a princess rose from their tables and approached the king.
The eldest Prince, the third Prince, the seventh Prince, and the second Princess greeted him.
With the exception of the sixth princess, the four strongest challengers had already arrived at the kingdom's capital. The sixth princess didn't come, not because she needed to go to the capital the longest, but because something happened in her territory. Due to the emergency, she will be able to arrive in the capital at most tomorrow, and maybe even the day after.
The king looked at his children, then turned his gaze to the people present at the banquet.
Ten seconds later, the king waved his hand to indicate to his children that they could leave.
Su Xiao was looking carefully at the four princes and the princess. There was nothing special about the eldest prince. The small mustache on his chin stood out a lot, and the only thing he left behind was the feeling that he was gentle and polite.
The third Prince was clad in light armor and had a grim expression on his face. He was about the same age as the eldest Prince, but he gave the impression of a determined and reliable man.
The Seventh Prince was a handsome and elegant man. Unlike the previous two princes, he was only 28 years old, so he flirted with the girls in the hall. Of course, he didn't flirt with them for long, because apart from the old men and all the important officials, there were only two young girls in the hall, and they were both princesses.
The second princess might not be young, but she was beautiful. There were several officials constantly hovering around her, trying to please her and make a good impression.
Today, the main characters of the banquet were not the king and his men, but these four contenders.
The king signaled the servants and guards behind him to step back. In such cases, the officials in the banquet hall didn't need to salute the king.
Picking up a glass of wine, he began to slowly walk around the banquet hall, as if he was an old lion that was patrolling its territory.
— Your Majesty.
— Your Majesty, please wait.
— Your Majesty...
Wherever the king appeared, the atmosphere became more lively. The king's attitude towards all officials was neither close nor distant.
After walking around the hall, he went to Su Xiao's table.
Seeing the king slowly walking towards them, the army commander Huslet craned his neck, clearly wanting to find something in the banquet hall.
He was practically not afraid of anything, and the king was obviously his personal Kryptonite.
— Consul Joe Valentine quickly stood up and walked over to the king, becoming an exquisite footman.
Su Xiao remained seated, as did the treasurer.
Army Commander Huslet looked around, clearly wanting to find a way to get out of this banquet right now.
The King, with the help of Joe Valentine, went to the table and sat down in the place that Joe Valentine had occupied earlier.
— Huslet, did you decide to leave when you saw me coming towards you? The king asked evenly.
— How... how is this possible? Your Majesty, you are exaggerating too much.
— Sit up straight. If you dare slip away before the proper time, I'll break all three of your legs.
— Yes, yes, " Huslet said, nodding several times. A cold sweat broke out on his forehead. Rowan Harvey, who was sitting next to him, turned his head away and smiled.
— Rowan, how did you handle this case? The king seemed to notice the smirk on his face, so he decided to pour a bucket of cold water over his head.
— Your Majesty, with the exception of real estate, Hervé Anthony's property was mostly confiscated, but there are...
The king held up a hand to let him know that he didn't have to continue. — If anyone dares to act rashly in the capital, the four of you have every right to grind them to dust.
This seemingly appropriate sentence actually contained several meanings, and the most obvious meaning was that they were supposed to join forces for a while.
They held different positions. One of them was the treasurer, another managed the officials, a third managed the army, and a fourth was responsible for eliminating unwanted people.
Normally, the king would not sit at the table with these four officials, but now everything has changed.
He seemed to be tired of being alone, and since he was about to abdicate, he decided to sit at the table with his most trusted subordinates.
After raising a toast, he happily drank the wine and started chatting with them.
He didn't look like he had one foot in the grave.
The atmosphere in the banquet hall gradually became more lively. After a few drinks with the king, Rowan Harvey and Joe Valentine blushed.
They were just ordinary people.
Su Xiao and Huslet's faces didn't change. This fruit wine didn't really affect Su Xiao at all, so to get drunk on something like this, he only needed to drink more than a few glasses.
While they were making toasts and enjoying each other's company, a knight in armor quickly entered the banquet hall and went straight to the king, after which he quickly whispered something in his ear.
The king's expression didn't change at all because of this report, and after listening to it, he signaled the knight to leave.
— Your Majesty?.. Joe Valentine asked, sensing something was wrong.
— Charlene was killed — " the king's voice was low, but almost no emotion could be seen on his face.
— Just as Huslet was about to stand up, a hand was placed on his shoulder.
It was Rowan Harvey's hand.
— Rowan Harvey lowered his eyes as he spoke, then leaned over and whispered something to the king.
— Well, I'll leave that up to you. Do it as soon as possible.
— "Yes, Your Majesty," Rowan Harvey said, standing up and walking out of the banquet hall.
He had something very important to deal with, and even though the little princess had been killed, this matter was out of his jurisdiction.
The king had real professionals to deal with such cases, for example, the Iron Hand.
— Your Majesty, do we need to seal off the capital? Joe Valentine asked the king quietly. He was completely serious and no trace of intoxication could be seen on his face.
As for the cordon of the capital, in fact, he did not mean in the literal sense the cordon of the capital, but blocking the exit of any officials from the capital.
Other officials might not have been able to pull off something like this, but not Joe Valentine.
— Before... tomorrow morning, " the king replied, and Joe Valentine immediately got up and left the banquet hall.
All the officials and rich businessmen saw this and knew that something important had happened. The king was still in the banquet hall, but two of his most trusted subordinates had left? It could only mean one thing.
— Khuslet, you will go to the front line at once.
— Yes, Your Majesty, " Huslet said. He didn't even bother to ask the reason. The king certainly had a reason for issuing such an order. Huslet was already used to obeying such harsh orders, and it was because of this that he was able to keep a huge army under his control.
He got up from the table and left the banquet hall. Since the king had sent him directly to the front lines, it meant that he wouldn't be able to influence the outcome of the battle for the throne too much.
Because of this order, the third prince's support was greatly weakened, for Huslet had stated from the very beginning that he would only support the third prince.
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