Chapter 1490: Orphan and Widow

The Golden Crow Crown Prince hurriedly said, “Absolutely not! Even though my second brother and I have some conflict, we are still brothers after all. Now that I have just risen to the throne, if I immediately target my own family, what will other people think of me?”

All those present were important figures from the Fiend King Court, and anyone who could achieve such a position was naturally intelligent. They all sneered inwardly when they saw his act of brotherly affection.

If we even believed something like that, wouldn’t we be utter fools?

Sure enough, Chief Attendant Wu Fa immediately said, “Your majesty might still carry brotherly affection, but the Second Prince might not be as gracious as your majesty! The late Fiend Emperor already decided to pass the throne onto your respected self and even took you into the Imperial Tomb, and yet the Second Prince actually dared to send assassins into the Imperial Tomb. Now that the late emperor is no longer here to keep him in check, will he not go even further out of control? With the late Fiend Emperor’s tacit approval, the Second Prince’s troops have made a name for themselves, and he became one of the Fiend Races’ four great generals. Who knows how many soldiers and leaders he has who are loyal to him?!

“At this point, even if the Second Prince resigned himself to his fate, would his subordinates do so? They would definitely incite him to take up arms. If that happened, the Fiend races would be divided by internal strife. Brothers would turn against brothers, fathers would be separated from sons. As the ruler of the Fiend races, you cannot make your decisions solely based on brotherly affection and allow more of the common people to suffer.”

The others in the room all shivered. They were all a part of the Fiend King Court’s upper echelons and knew that Chief Attendant Wu Fa had always been at odds with the Second Prince. In the past, the two of them had even fought in the morning court session due to a personal conflict of interests. They hadn’t expected him to immediately want to settle things as soon as the opportunity arose!

Sigh, it seems that it’s still best to offend as few people as possible. Otherwise, you’ll be doomed without even knowing the reason why.

Still, they had to admit that Wu Fa had a glib tongue. He was actually able to paint internal conflict between brothers as something incredibly righteous, almost as if not doing so would be a terrible crime instead!

Sure enough, the Golden Crow Crown Prince said excitedly, “Chief Attendant, what you say makes sense. I almost made a huge mistake based on personal relationships.”

The five generals below exchanged a look, seeing the strange expressions in each other’s eyes. They all knew the Crown Prince was putting on an act, and he himself knew he was acting too, but they had to perform in the play with him.

Commandant of Guards Wu Li coughed and said, “In that case, I believe decisive action in a complex situation would be best. We should apprehend the Second Prince before he has a chance to react to the situation. Otherwise, if he finds out that the late Fiend Emperor has passed away, things might become troublesome.”

Just then, Heichi Fei said, “When the late Fiend Emperor was here, his power alone was enough to prevent anyone with wild schemes from doing anything. Now that the late Fiend Emperor has passed away, though, those scoundrels might become restless. However, the Golden Crow royal family’s prestige has already become deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, so they will likely use one of the princes as their catspaw. The princes are still young and can easily be swayed and controlled by these people, which might cause your majesty to fight with your own family. As such, this old subject suggests protecting the princes first, to prevent them from being exploited.”

The others present shivered. This guy really was vicious! Not only did he want to deal with the Second Prince, he also wanted to seize all of the other princes within his net in one go! He had referred to it as ‘protection’, but they all knew it actually referred to keeping them under control. For all they knew, some of the princes could even lose their heads amid the chaos.

Imperial Secretariat Director Lei Xin finally couldn't take it anymore and said seriously, “That may cause too much of a commotion. The three King races, Peacock, Golden Peng, and Elf, might not stand by idly.”

Wu Li said, “The Great Golden Peng King has already died; what could that junior who remains do? The Great Elf King is currently in prison and cannot do anything. The Peacock Wise King is under house arrest and no longer has his previous influence at all.”

Lei Xin said with a frown, “Even so, the three King races’ power still cannot be disregarded. They still play a critical role in the Fiend King Court. Even if the late Fiend Emperor were still here, he could not completely ignore their voices.”

Ma Tian and the others all voiced their agreement. As the late Fiend Emperor’s trusted aides, they did support the crown prince’s ascension to the throne, but they didn’t approve of any plans that were too extreme.

The Golden Crow Crown Prince spoke up. “Regarding the three King races, there is no need to be too worried. Shi Zhentian and Hu Qianxiao will help us keep them in check. Their races are powerful and have always desired the positions of the three King races, so we can make use of that to keep the others in check.”

The others were startled. So the crown prince had already made preparations to exploit the Lion and Tiger races to keep the three King races in check!

Over the past few years, the Lion race and Tiger race had rapidly grown in strength. That was why they were no longer content with their lower positions. Such thinking was completely expected. However, the two races that normally didn’t get along couldn’t possibly have expected that they would both end up being used by the crown prince.

The Golden Crow Crown Prince swept his sharp gaze across those present before asking, “Are there any other objections?”

Seeing as he had already arranged everything properly and had actively come up with a plan, what else could the others say? If they really voiced any other opposition, they wouldn’t necessarily be able to leave the room again. Even the grandmaster Elder Wu was watching them carefully!

Thus, no one opposed the Golden Crow Crown Prince. He nodded in satisfaction and said, “Then I will leave the arrest of my second brother to Sir Commandant of Guards and General Ma. Uncle, please move with General Wu to protect my third brother. Sir Chief Attendant and Prosperity King, the two of you will protect my fourth brother. Director Lei and Palace General, protect my fifth brother…”

He thoroughly and methodically assigned each of them tasks. Naturally, he assigned more men to deal with the Second Prince. Quite a bit of the other generals’ Golden Crow Guards ended up being transferred over to carry out that task.

Elder Wu had the highest cultivation among them. Additionally, Heichi Fei, Commandant of Guards Wu Li, Chief Attendant Wu Fa, and the like were core members of the crown prince faction; the five generals’ relationship with the crown prince was also quite good normally. As such, even though not all of them were fully willing to go through with the plan, they didn’t dare speak up.

Next was the matter of the Third and Fourth Prince. They were already adults and had their own subordinates, so they couldn't be looked down on either.

The final subject was the youngest prince. Even though he had the Second Empress supporting him, she was just a woman. Furthermore, he was still too young and there was no chance of him succeeding to the throne. That was why Director Lei and Palace General, who were the least loyal, were tasked to deal with him.

After arranging things, the Golden Crow Crown Prince opened the door and looked toward the exterior of the palace. “I must congratulate all of you on your victorious return here ahead of time. I will definitely remember everyone’s contributions today.”

The others were shaken. Today’s affair was rather aggressive, but if they completed their tasks, they would become the Fiend Emperor’s most trusted aides. Previously, they had always needed to step aside for various old monsters, but in the future, the entire structure of the court would be controlled by them.

After realizing that, even those with unhappy expressions became a bit more excited. They all cupped their hands in greeting and left with renewed fighting spirit.

…

By the time Zu An’s group arrived at the Fiend King Court, the city gate was already closed, not permitting entry or exit.

Not even Qiao Xueying’s identity as the Elf Princess was enough. When shereturned, she said angrily, “The ones at the city gates are managed by Commandant of Guards Wu Li. I will remember this!”

They had already noticed that more and more places in the city had begun with flames. The sounds of fighting had become more and more intense. They knew that something major was definitely happening inside the city.

Zu An quickly said to Yan Xuehen and Yun Jianyue, “I have to enter the city because of the Elf and Snake races. This matter isn’t related to you guys, so I don’t want you to take the risk…”

Yun Jianyue cut him off before he could even finish. “Damn punk, what are you saying? We’ve already gone through so much together. Do we need to be that polite to each other? Even if I didn’t care about you, I’d have to help out little sis Yu here.”

Yan Xuehen didn’t say anything, but her act of taking Yu Yanluo’s hand already declared her stance.

Qiao Xueying looked worried. The three’s relationship was far better than she had imagined! Things would be a bit tricky now.

When he saw their decision, Zu An dropped all pretenses. If the soldiers wouldn’t let them in, they would just force their way in.

The guards of the Fiend King Court were competent, and it normally wouldn’t be so easy to trespass, but because the main force had already been transferred away from the city gate, it wouldn’t be too difficult for them to go through at all.

…

Meanwhile, in the South Alley, where high officials and nobles gathered, a beautiful woman held a little boy tightly in the depths of the youngest prince’s manor. She watched the slaughter happening outside, her expression grave.

𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

The cruel scenes unfolding made the little boy’s voice tremble a bit as he said, “Mother, I’m scared…”