Emperor's Reckoning

A chubby figure was standing behind Lyon while exuding a royalty-bearing. With his royal clothing, he walked past him with his hands on his back.

The said figure was none other than Prince Frey, the talented alchemist of the younger generation and also, Princess Aelina's youngest brother.

*clank

The sound of metals was also heard before a couple of guards wearing silver armor revealed themselves from behind Lyon's figure.

"Older sister?" wondered Lyon.

"It's quite rare for you to visit this store of uncle's, do you need a cultivation pill or two?" asked Prince Frey.

"Ah, how rude of me, good afternoon sir Lyon, you sure are looking great today," continued Prince Frey as he averted his gaze toward the young man near him with a sincere smile.

Lyon nodded, "You too Prince Frey, are you taking a walk in the middle of the day?"

The prince nodded his head before he answered, "You can say that, I am in fact about to refine my alchemy art on the third floor, would you like to join me?"

"No," said Lyon and the princess at the same time.

"Huh, what? Really?" the prince was surprised by their answer. Normally people of Luderia would kill for an opportunity like this.

With the old man was still on the third floor, Lyon and the princess nodded without a slight hesitation.

"I see, then good day to you," said the prince with a little bow before walking to the entrance of the pill store.

*tap

As the prince was about to enter, he halted his steps before turning back to face the both of them. "Ah right, Older sister, I have a piece of information that you would like to know."

Princess Aelina furrowed her eyebrows as she asked, "What is it?"

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"It's about the first prince, I overheard their conversation with Duke Armand, things will get pretty ugly even before the competition."

Princess Aelina's expression was still as she let her younger brother continue.

"You know for the longest that the first prince was after the zither sir Lyon brought in the banquet and that he planted some sort of a spy that monitored your movements regarding it."

"How do you know about that?" asked the princess.

"Of course I can't tell you older sister, you should know about that. All three of us have our own way of gaining information," answered her little brother.

She knew that her answer would result in such, but she was willing to try. All three of them had different forces for all she knew. The kingdom was currently split into three factions as it now stood. One under the first prince, Prince Weiss, the second was hers, while the last was Prince Frey.

"Then can you elaborate more? What do you mean by 'ugly'?" asked the princess.

"They are planning to end sir Lyon's life."

The princess opened wide at his statement as she subconsciously averted her gaze toward the young man beside her.

Lyon stood straight as if he heard nothing but a useless warning. He knew that the first prince was less stronger than the woman he had a little spar with.

"Is he asking to die? You know how Lyon could be said on par with little sister Chloe, there is no way he could-?!" Her words stopped as she realized something.

"Well, I will leave you at that," said Prince Frey before entering the store, to which a couple of guards follow suit.

"Aelina, or should I call you Princess Aleina from now on," chuckled Lyon.

Lyon already had an inkling about her identity and he would tease her bit by bit during the stroll. He couldn't resist how cute she was as she tried to hide it despite being in impossible situations.

Aelina bit her lips as she realized a terrible thing. Her mind flashed to the time where she met the first prince during the time of her stroll with Lyon.

"Lyon! Biane and Clemora are in danger!" said the princess hurriedly.

"Yes, yes, I know, you are the princess in which Biane and Clemora are supporting, wait, what?"

She didn't care about her identity being exposed to Lyon since there was an urgent matter. Her eyes turned sharp as she faced Lyon.

"What do you mean?" asked Lyon as he furrowed his eyebrows.

"The first prince is not as gallant as the commoners know him. He is a vicious man, he would do anything to reach his goal, killing, executing, blackmailing, everything necessary" said the princess.

"Don't tell me..."

The princess nodded, "Since he cannot kill you directly in a fight and using his military might would only end up in casualties, then he would use the people near you!"

*crackle

The crackling noise from Lyon's knuckles was heard as he made a fist. His veins appeared on his forearms like little worms as one could fairly see the throbbing. His hair fluttered against the wind almost as if it was floating in the air. Faintly green aura started to surround his body as an aura exceed that of a king was exuded.

The princess took a step back as the result of her body reacted to fear. She could feel that Lyon's bearing was different, he was still him but he was different. (W-what is this?! This feeling! As if I'm looking at father! No, this is even beyond that!) thought Aelina as she gulped.

"He dares to do that?" said Lyon as his tone was deep and one could feel the bloodlust seeping from the words.

*thud

Suddenly a figure fell to the ground nearby. He had golden hair that Lyon couldn't be more familiar with. His battered cloth had stained blood as he struggled to breathe.

*swoosh

With only one step, Lyon already held the figure in his arms, "Jugen! Who!"

*cough

Jugen coughed blood before he said with berated breathing, "Th-there is a group of people armed to the teeth suddenly barged in the mansion, I-i tried to stop them, but I'm sorry big brother, I'm too weak. I can't even protect the two women."

With quick movements from his finger, he cast a spell that almost enveloped Jugen's entire figure. It was like a miracle at work, the bruises and the wounds started to heal up at a ludicrous rate that could be seen by a naked eye.

Under the magic brand, Jugen said softly, "They said, it was an order from the first prince..."

Jugen closed his eyes as he healed up. The process was only enchanting his natural healing capabilities if it's necessary the body will enter the sleeping state on his own.

"Ryona, take Jugen to rest at a nearby inn or in the mansion if it's not in a mess," said Lyon before Ryona suddenly appeared in front of him.

Ryona nodded as he held Jugen and vanished in thin air.

"Kyoko, please follow after them and protect them both, do not follow me," said Lyon to no one in front of him, but he could fairly hear a 'yes' as the wind suddenly change for an instant.

The princess stared at the back of the young man that was covered by greenish mana swirling around him. Even though their distance between each other was not far, she could clearly feel the gap of power between them.

Steeling her heart, she asked, "L-Lyon, what are you going to do?"

Lyon glanced at her as he said, "There will only be two candidates for the throne after I'm done."

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