“The only thing I agreed to was to speak with the Chancellor, and so I accompanied you. Why, then, did you kill the Chancellor inside the royal capital? Heavenly Arbiter of the Heavenly Alliance—did you dare deceive me?”

The Crown Prince’s intent was obvious.

When the Rabbit Dies, the Hound Is Boiled.

From the Crown Prince’s side of the board, the picture now sketched was too good.

A chance to kill the irksome Chancellor—and to pull up by the roots that still-more-irksome group, the Heavenly Alliance.

If it were Seo Hyo, he would have done the same.

But the opponent was Unhwi.

Unhwi said:

“You are under a misapprehension.”

“Am I.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

At Unhwi’s words, the Crown Prince’s mouth took on a strange smile.

“What am I misunderstanding?”

Unhwi set the Heavenshaking Spiritblade upright before him and answered:

“The former sages said: a warrior’s fate does not abide in Heaven, but at the tip of his own sword.”

“And so?”

“Your Highness may not be a warrior, but you live in a world much like theirs. Perhaps even more cutthroat.”

“So what, and therefore?”

“You prayed hard that Heaven might grant you an opportunity—and along came a fellow calling himself Heavenly Arbiter of the Heavenly Alliance, a chance fallen to earth. Your Highness tried to clasp that one’s hand and hew your fate forward—but you made one mistake.”

“…A mistake?”

“At the instant of choosing, a crooked greed caught your ankle.”

“…Mine?”

“Yes. When the Chancellor’s heart was pierced, Your Highness did not move.”

The Crown Prince let out a dry laugh.

“So that’s your line… Ha. I am the Crown Prince. What unfolded before my eyes was so shocking that I could do nothing at all.”

“No.”

“…”

“The moment the Chancellor’s heart was pierced, Your Highness grasped the situation faster than anyone.”

“…”

“Seizing me on the spot would not have been a bad choice—but the Right Guard General and the Left Guard General grated on you. The two of them were plainly the Chancellor’s men, with ample chance to become future troubles. And many follow them.”

The Crown Prince stroked his jaw, faintly irritated.

“Isn’t it interesting?”

“…What are you saying is interesting?”

“It is hard to resist suspicion that keeps bubbling up.”

“…”

“It is hard to shake it off. Even if proof appears, even if you shake it off, it rises again—that is suspicion. So you waited carefully, and waited again.”

Unhwi slid his sword back into its scabbard.

“And so you cannot take the most ideal result.”

“…”

“In the end, Your Highness has also made a sacrifice. If I might offer a word: not everyone gets to boil the hound.”

Neither the Crown Prince nor those standing behind him could say a word.

Because he was right.

It was broad day, but the sky was draped in darkness, and at some point dozens of people had arrayed themselves behind Unhwi.

Not one of them lacked a mask.

Those iron masks had two horns rising from the brow—unmistakably out of the ordinary to any eye.

Among them, a small-framed man with a white beard stepped to Unhwi’s side.

He did not hide the might he was exuding—it was plainly of the Realm of Martial Divinity.

Every one of those behind him was at least of the Heaven-Earth Apex, and among them two or three at the Unity of Heaven and Man could be seen.

This was, unmistakably, a terrifying force.

Unhwi said:

“I cleaned up one worm. The rest are Your Highness’s share now.”

***

It happened while the Prince of the Blood was reviewing state papers.

Bang!

The door flew open and an official rushed in.

“Your Highness the Prince of the Blood! An urgent report!”

“What is it? What is it that has you in such a fluster…”

“His Highness the Crown Prince… His Highness has gone to the State Affairs Hall!”

“The Crown Prince? What about that is urgent…”

“He did not go alone! He went with people of the Heavenly Alliance… and…”

The Prince of the Blood’s brow furrowed.

“And what?”

“The Chancellor… the Chancellor has passed away!”

The Prince of the Blood shot to his feet.

“What did you say?!”

His face went pale.

This is insane… What is happening!

His mind went white. The promises the Nine-Gate Assembly had offered flashed by.

For the Chancellor, the vice-master’s seat of the Nine-Gate Assembly; for the Prince of the Blood, the present king’s seat…

All of it was crumbling in an instant.

The Left Guard General, the Right Guard General—what were those mad dogs doing that they could not even protect the Chancellor?

“I will go to the State Affairs Hall at once! Gather the troops—call the National Defense General!”

The Prince of the Blood burst out of his office.

On his way toward the State Affairs Hall he could hear tremendous crashes and screams.

Buildings shattering; someone dying—that sound pressed dread upon him, but he had to see with his own eyes.

And when the Prince of the Blood reached the forecourt before the State Affairs Hall, what met his eyes was the worst of the worst.

In the very center of the forecourt stood his nephew, the Crown Prince; opposite him stood an unfamiliar young man with a sword in hand. And behind that man, dozens of masked martial men were arrayed.

The iron masks they wore bore two horns, like demons; the force they were exuding—without a hint of concealment—was beyond imagining.

Even if he was not a martial man, the Prince of the Blood had eyes enough to see.

They were clearly masters beyond the Heaven-Earth Apex.

Among them he could see masters of the Realm of Martial Divinity as well.

What was this, if not a declaration of war.

“Your Highness! What in the world is this!”

At his urgent cry, the Crown Prince slowly turned his head.

His eyes were complicated.

And small wonder.

Unhwi had read him entire. Boil the hound? Precisely.

To speak bluntly, on the face of things Unhwi had deceived the Crown Prince to enter the court of Un’guk, killed the Chancellor, and killed the Right and Left Guard Generals who served him.

And Unhwi’s office was Heavenly Arbiter of the Heavenly Alliance.

That made for the perfect pretext to split the Heavenly Alliance from Un’guk.

And yet those arrayed around Unhwi were not ordinary.

No—by the mere fact they were there, it meant Unhwi had read /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ all of this.

There were two things the Crown Prince could do here.

First: as originally planned, boil the hound—kill Unhwi and slaughter all his force on this spot.

There are ways to kill, one way or another. This is the very heart of Un’guk’s court.

But there would be blood.

If luck was good, three or four might live. If bad, all might die.

And Seol Unhwi, by all accounts, was a vicious one—if pushed to the brink of death he would surely drag the Crown Prince with him as a road companion. The first option ought to be discarded.

Which left only the second choice.

Clasp hands with Unhwi, and brand the Chancellor and the Prince of the Blood there as traitors.

There was a pretext.

The present king of Un’guk, King Unmu, was in his seventies—his movements and mind both frail.

The Chancellor and the Prince of the Blood had been aiding King Unmu’s statecraft—and depending on how one looked, that made a pretext for treason.

The Chancellor was already dead; if the Prince of the Blood were killed here, the Crown Prince would naturally seize the reins of court, and before long ascend the throne.

There was nothing to regret.

And yet a doubt circled in the Crown Prince’s mind.

It was certain this situation had been made by Unhwi.

But after—what then?

He ignored the Prince of the Blood bellowing at the top of his lungs.

He turned his head and looked at Unhwi.

“…How far ahead are you looking?”

“Exactly one step beyond what Your Highness is looking at.”

If the Crown Prince seized real power and ascended the throne, how would he remember this day?

As humiliation—and he might clasp hands with the Nine-Gate Assembly to drive out the Heavenly Alliance.

You accounted for all of that? And looked one step beyond?

Lightning cracked through his head.

At the Drunken Immortal Tower, Unhwi had said it—

That he wanted an absolute ally.

At the time he’d let it pass; now he grasped what the words truly meant.

An even stronger bond between Un’guk and the Heavenly Alliance.

A community of fate.

To be that, to etch the same bloodstain together.

The Crown Prince looked at Unhwi and asked softly:

“What can you give me?”

“Cheonrim’s funds.”

“The backing?”

“Total control of Cheonhae centered on Seongjak Province.”

“Better than the Nine-Gate Assembly?”

“The Nine-Gate Assembly offers borrowed power. What we offer is power we will grow together.”

The light in the Crown Prince’s eyes changed.

At least here, the only one who caught the flow of this conversation was Seo Hyo. He watched the Crown Prince and Unhwi with an odd expression.

To his mind as well, the Nine-Gate Assembly and the Heavenly Alliance were different.

Whatever the Nine-Gate Assembly might offer in time to come—Unhwi’s proposal was overwhelmingly better.

“The terms?”

“A complete alliance.”

“The aftershocks?”

“None. And if there are any—we can cut through, no matter what they are.”

“There will be damages.”

“Are you afraid?”

The Crown Prince did not answer.

“On the road a man walks, regret is nothing but a luxury. Once you choose, to the end—that is the right course, is it not?”

“Right course toward whom?”

“Toward oneself.”

The Crown Prince nodded.

He did not like the group called the Heavenly Alliance, but he did like the existence named Seol Unhwi.

A reason to go together.

Enough.

“Uncle.”

The Prince of the Blood looked at the Crown Prince with a face of despair.

“Your Highness… why… why is the air… like this?”

“I am told that Chancellor An Wigwan and you, Uncle, have been steering His Majesty from behind.”

“W—what?”

“I hear the group called the Nine-Gate Assembly promised you the throne of Un’guk. Is that true?”

“W… what kind of talk is that… Your Highness—no, Unmu… are you, perhaps…?”

“There was intelligence. Those who had disturbed the court of Un’guk, privately trafficked wealth and manpower, and plotted treason—I mean to put them in order today.”

The Prince of the Blood stumbled back. Soon the Crown Prince’s sword flashed.

Puuk!

The sound of a heart being pierced rang across the forecourt.

“You… worse than a worm…”

Leaving that last line behind, the Prince of the Blood collapsed.

Sheathing his sword, the Crown Prince looked to Unhwi.

“Are we allies now?”

“We are.”

Unhwi smiled slightly.

“Then I’ll leave the aftermath to Your Highness.”

Watching the National Defense General charging from afar, Crown Prince Unmu nodded.

Unhwi had said it.

That he would return the way he came, without any damage.

It was only that things had gone just so.

Unhwi’s party slipped naturally out of the royal capital of Un’guk.

And when they had gone deep into the mountains, the white-haired old man in a mask grabbed Unhwi by the collar and slammed him straight into a great tree.

Unhwi knit his brow.

“…What is the meaning of this?”

The Flame King Hwa Munyeom ripped off his mask and growled.

“I should be the one asking. Just what do you think you’re doing.”

“What is it that dissatisfies you so much?”

Hwa Munyeom ground his teeth.

“…Mukse Society has just stepped out in the open. Are you telling me you don’t know what that means?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep