--White-Wood city--

Standing by the walls of White-wood castle, a silhouette calmly looked over the city.

The man had dark black hair and an overconfident smile on his face.

However, hidden deep within his inky black eyes, a hint of anxiety flickered within.

Eli Barn looked at his most trusted knight, Zarius, who was kneeling with one knee.

When Zarius arrived earlier, he gave a letter to Eli while doing his salute.

"Is it done?"

"Rest assured, my lord.

We made sure that his highness Landon was poisoned with 'Nalat Wisp' before he left the Capital," Zarius replied.

"Perfect.

How long will it take for my bastard brother to die?"

"My lord, this poison is a slow deadly one.

There is no cure for this poison.

So in 5 months, he should be dead

And by then, no one would even suspect my lord for his highness Landon's death.

I left no evidence, my lord."

"Hahahhahahahahhah.

Good!

Zarius, you have done well.

That stupid brother of mine is the disgrace of my royal family.

Even if they found out I did it, so what?

Father wouldn't care much.

Heh.

He's already a dead man walking.

After Il, everyone would think he got killed fighting over food or something."

Zarius looked at his lord in confusion.

Why had his lord gone through all the trouble just to kill Landon Barn?

Everyone knew he would die sooner or later.

So why the rush?

"My lord, why?"

Eli looked at Zarius and smirked.

"I need his land as a secret base for my knights.

I plan to be king within the next year and a half.

So the sooner that good-for-nothing of a brother dies, the better.

As for father, he would never suspect me of anything.

So I'll take advantage of that and kill him when he least suspects it."

A trace of violence flashed in his pupils as he spoke.

Zarius looked at his lord in surprise. It was a genius idea.

Even if they killed Landon Barn, they wouldn't let the empire know.

By doing so, they could secretly use his territory as a base to gather and train more knights.

King Barn sent his officials as spies to all parts of the empire.

There are tons of spies in Eli's territory.

The only way to train or get more knights without the king's knowledge was to use Landon's territory.

It was the perfect location.

King barn had made his officials leave Baymard so as to prove that he wouldn't support the territory.

The king believed that Landon would never pose a threat to him.

So he didn't see the need to send spies over there, making Baymard the ideal location.

Also, King Barn had made sure that no one controlled more knights than he did in the empire.

If the king knew Eli wanted to train and gather more knights, it wouldn't be long before he guessed what his son was up to.

At that point, King Barn would definitely kill Eli.

The funny thing is that Eli is already the crown prince and his father's most favoured son.

So doing all this was really unnecessary.

Greed is a fatal human flaw, after all.

Zarius' entire body trembled while looking at his lord, Prince Eli.

'His highness sure is vicious,' he thought.

"What about the assassins we caught earlier?" Eli asked.

"My lord, 5 of them killed themselves, but 2 survived and 1 escaped.

From what we gathered, your second and third brothers are working together to get rid of you, my lord." Zarius replied

Eli smiled coldly

"So they plan to get rid of me first before killing each other over the throne?

Hmm, not bad brothers."

"My lord, should we send our men to retaliate against them?" Zarius asked.

Eli shook his head in refusal.

"No need.

Doing so would only alert my father and make things difficult for us as well.

Don't forget our new goal. We have to get everything done within a year and a half.

Anyway, what harm could those cubs pose to a full-grown beast?

Heh.

Let's see how long they can keep this up.

I don't mind being the star in their little play.

Hahahahaha."

Eli laughed and opened the letter in his hands.

"My sister Jenette wants to visit me from the Capital.

My, my, my.

This family just gets better and better," Eli said with a smile.

"My lord, do you think she knows that the assassination attempt failed?" Zarius asked

"I doubt that she would know.

I'm sure my brothers haven't seen her yet and won't pass such serious information on paper.

Most likely, she is just probing to see if I'm still alive.

I should reply here, no?

Zarius smiled and replied.

"It's only proper, my lord."

Eli smiled while looking over the city once more and thought

'It won't be before I rule the entire empire. By then, all of them would surely die."

--Drapern City---

In a well lit fancy room, three men were engaged in a secret meeting.

Two of the men were sitting down while the other was half-kneeling as a form of respect.

"Are you sure the rest killed themselves?" asked Connor Barn

"Yes, your highness.

While escaping, I saw it with my own very eyes," the assassin replied.

"You may leave."

"Yes, my lords."

After they were sure that the assassin was gone, they both looked at each other deeply.

"Second brother, what do we do now?

If father hears about this, he won't let us off!!" James Barn exclaimed anxiously.

"Relax, I'll send first brother a letter saying that we want to come over for a visit.

It would be better to be absolutely sure that he doesn't suspect us of it."

"I agree," James replied

"Also, it would be best for you to stay in my territory for the time being.

If he really knew, he would try to assassinate us together.

So we have to be prepared."

They both nodded and decided that this method would be the best way to find out whether Eli knew or not.