Herald of Steel

Chapter 849 Theony and Lord Theony

?849 Theony and Lord Theony

"Men! The time to act is now. Traitors have infiltrated the palace and taken the Crown Prince hostage! We must rescue him!"

Standing on a small raised platform, this was the reason Lord Theony gave the gathered officers, galvanizing them for the attack.

After a bit of discussion with Jupiter, this was the reason they chose to give to the men.

And when Lord Theony first said this, it naturally produced a lot of shocked looks.

'What! When did this happen? Who are these traitors' Many of the men found themselves asking.

But given they were Lord Theony's personal troops, none of them dared to raise any doubts and simply nodded in agreement.

Thus satisfied with this deference, the lord then swung his broad arms to order, "Go! Breach the palace! Capture the traitors and kill anyone who resists! The Crown Princeis waiting for us!"

"Hurrraahhh!" Came the instant loud cheer.

The armored men then soon began to flood out of their barracks and started to make their way towards the palace.

And as the tidal wave of men filtered through the streets and started to converge on the palace gates, fully armored and weapons drawn, it was a sight that initially made many of the palace guards feel incredulous.

"What is that!" Some were so astounded by it that they had a hard time even conceiving this was actually happening.

"Get the Prince! It's a coup!" While the quicker ones knew exactly what was happening, and shouted this.

Finally their worst nightmare had come true.

With Lord Theony openly making a move against the palace, the palace guards instantly mobilized, and soon after, the two sides finally made contact.

"Traitors! Give up and surrender."

But then imagine the palace guards' surprise when right at the gates where they were fighting, they heard the other side chanting this.

"We should be the ones saying this, you bastard!" Some of the men could not even hold their anger as they blurted this out, while other, calmer personnel simply rolled their eyes at the shamelessness on display before going back to the fighting.

Using the relatively narrow gate to the palace, even the small number of royal guards present were able to hold back the tide of men for a while, the formers' great training and experience proving decisive against much of Lord Theony's, almost peasant dressed up as soldiers.

"Let them in. The Prince's orders." Until this order came that is, bore by the messenger sent by the highest officer there.

"What!" And understandably, the man there was confused, perhaps even a bit enraged.

"Let Lord Theony's men in. The Prince's orders." But undeterred by his superior's livid face, the messenger once again repeated, before producing a bit of rolled papyrus as evidence, "Here!"

The officer snatched the light scroll like a hawk before scanning over the instructions.

But what he really was looking at was the unmistakable royal seal pasted at the bottom of that order, leaving no doubt that indeed the order was legitimate, for this stamp belonged solely to the king himself, and was currently held by the Crown Prince himself.

It was an order from undoubtedly came from the Crown Prince himself, and although the officer personally believed the act to be a mistake, he knew he had no other choice.

He had to obey.

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Thus blowing the bronze whistle hanging by his neck, he signaled his men to stand down.

A move that surprised even Lord Theony's forces as they suddenly felt the formation of men fighting them crumble away to make way.

And Lord Theony sensing this opportunity of course did not look a gift horse in the mouth.

He immediately capitalized on it, pushing through the gates and quickly taking control of it, before disarming all the men.

And as Lord Theony entered the premises in the flesh, still unsure of how all this had happened, that samemessenger quickly stepped towards that flamboyantly garbed man and after bowing, invited,

"Lord Theony! The Crown Prince invites you to the palace. Please come in!"

"........" Lord Theony was at first a bit surprised at the request, even bluntly asking, "Philips is not dead?"

Because by his calculations, he should be, so he could not help but worry, 'Did Theony fail?'

"Wha… my lord… what are saying?" While the messenger appeared absolutely ashen at the query, like he had just heard about the death of his entire family.

And by observing the reaction, it appeared to Lord Theony that the Crown Prince was still hale and hearty.

So keeping his queries to himself right now, he simply waved his hand and said,

"Okay. If Philips wants to talk, then let's go. Lead the way."

And it was like that that Lord Theony managed to capture the palace pretty bloodlessly, just like he wished.

And the same story went for Jupiter, who found that the Crown Prince had sent messages to most of the troops and nobles asking them to stand down.

So other than the few zealous hotbloods who did not know what was good for them, most of the other men survived.

And Lord Theony and Jupiter were able to smoothly accomplish their individual task, taking control of the capital just like they had wished.

"Through here!" The messenger led Lord Theony through the corridor housing Philips's private chambers, before gesturing him to enter the room.

*Creak.*

And as the man entered with a few bodyguards, he naturally did not see the man he was expecting.

"Theony! What are you doing here? Where is Philips?" Instead, faced with his son's lone presence, Lord Theony instantly blurted the most reasonable question.

"I…. Philips escaped father! Someone tipped him off!" While Theony in a pretended panicked voice shuted so, pointing his finger towards the window.

Theony, for the briefest of seconds, had thought of revealing his deeds to his father, but then quickly decided against it.

He knew his father and the bombastic earful he was going to get if he were to find out the real reason.

"Escape? How?" But Lord Theony was of course no child who could be hoodwinked so easily.

He wanted details, and then further posed with sharp glinted eyes, "And why are you here? Were you the ones who gave that order to the palace guards? Why are you wearing the Crown Prince's clothes? Where is he?"

"........" To all this, Theony drew a blank.

He could think of nothing that would be adequate enough to convince his father,

Perhaps he might have been able to stitch together something if he had a few days, and even then he would have struggled with coming up with an adequate explanation regarding his dress.

But right now it was all too sudden.

Lord Theony would not buy everything off even his son unless he could not show some such strong evidence.

And thus faced with his very strict father glowering over him, the young man was unable to think instantly of a good answer and suddenly broke.

"I… I couldn't do it. So I told him!" Theony blurted out.

And strangely, as he said this, Theony felt more relieved than scared.

"What!" While, predictably, this got a roof blowing, thunderous shout from the other side.

Followed by Lord Theony stepping forward, and

"Stupid boy! *Smash!*" landing a fully powered heavy punch on his son's face, with his bronze gauntlets still on, a strike which resulted in Theony literally tumbling over, spitting out a jet of blood as he fell

Lord Theony really had not held anything back.

"Why!" He then roared at the top of his lungs, not the slightest bit bothered by his son's swollen face.

"...." But Theony really did not have an answer.

Or at least an answer he would find acceptable.

"Why? Stupid boy! I asked you a question! Answer me!" But Lord Theony was not the type to be simply ignored, as he again roared.

"I… he saved my life. I could not do it." Theony hence was finally forced to reveal the truth.

"Bah! Lair! Do you think I do not know!" But Lord Theony only spat in disgust, before turning to look at his son with blazing eyes, "I ignored your disgusting thing with that brat because I simply did not care. Clearly, that was a mistake. To think you would betray your own family like this."

"Didn't we clothe you, feed you, shelter you?"

"Why would you hurt us like it?"By now Lord Theony's eyes had transformed from soldering to hurt and wounded,

"I… I…" And suddenly seeing this vulnerable side of his powerful father, Theony momentarily did not know what to say.

"I did not betray my family! I would never do such a thing, father." And then suddenly he stood up to claim this in a very strong voice, reasoning,

"I simply did not think the way you were doing this was the best for your family."

"So I decided to change it!"

"Look! By doing it my way, we were able to able to take the palace without any bloodshed. Just like you had wanted!" Theony then pointed, revealing,

"Yes! It was I who sent that note to all the guards ordering them to stand down."

"And because I let Philips escape, he will surely remember it and look at us favorably. "

"So in this way, we can have our feet on both boats."

"If Zanzan wins, we can earn favor by gifting them the capital."

"And if His Majesty wins, the Crown Prince will surely retreat us leniently based on this!"

"It's a win win!"