--The royal Barn Palace, Arcadina--

Alec Barn looked at his ministers, and was truly disappointed in them.

He knew that they had been bribed by his 2nd and 3rd sons to do this. But how dare they disregard his orders?

He himself was a scheming and conniving person, so he could easily spot the craftiness in those 2 sons of his.

In his mind, his only good son was Eli.

No matter what troubles Connor and James caused for him, Eli had never responded to them.

Eli was always calm, kind and looked rather innocent in Alec's eyes.

But what Alec didn't know was that, his supposedly innocent son, was just too good at hiding his emotions and his schemes... Eli was no doubt the worst of his brothers.

Eli was the male version of a female white lotus.

Alec was also sure that since Eli was already the crown prince, he wouldn't need to go about looking for trouble aimlessly. Hence he trusted Eli more than his other 2 sons.

Deep down, Alec was truly happy that his younger sons had openly challenged his authority, rather than trying to assassinate their brother.

They were still his sons, so he still wanted them to live in harmony.

He believed that none of his children would be as daring as he was back in his days... He was sure that none of them would ever try to assassinate the other.

Did he regret what he did to his family?... Absolutely not!!

As the 1st prince, it was his given rights to be the crown prince of Arcadina. But his father gave the position to his younger brother, Oden.

How could he take this?

He despised Oden ever since they were little. Why was Oden so intelligent?... Where the gods of his ancestors really against him that much?

Oden excelled in both academics and knighthood.

To make matters worse, all the people loved him like crazy... Alec thought that Oden was a fool.

Oden would often go about in the market area, helping those disgusting peasants in doing manual labor.

Sometimes, Oden would also go to the healers mansions and help out in treating ordinary peoples injuries.

F***ing disgusting.

How can a prince touch the wounds of a low life dog?

How was he fit to be the crown prince?

Alec knew that even till now, his people only feared him and never truly approved of him as ruler. .... Even till this day, his brother had still won their hearts.

Why couldn't his brother's memory just die and fade away?.. if he was so smart, how come he died so easily?

Alec didn't regret anything at all.

The strong had always prevailed. That was the way of the world.

Who asked Oden to be so weak hearted?.. Tsk.. Serves him right.

Alec still remembered the day that he killed his father and Oden.

He had slipped poison in Augustus' wine, just before he headed out to kill Oden.

After killing oden, he headed back home to see his dying father.

He looked at his father's dying face and spat on it.

He confessed to the old man and even offered to ease the old fool's pain, by stabbing a knife in his throat.

Augustus was so shocked that he became speechless.

Once he heard Alec say that he had just killed Oden, Agustus closed his teary eyes and died with regret.

Alec sneered as he looked at his father's face. In the end, he had won. He would be the new ruler of Arcadina.

What gods of his ancestors?... If they were truly against him, they would have protected Oden and Augustus from dying.

But since they let his father and brother die so easily, that meant that it was the will of his ancestors for him to rule Arcadina.

And with that mindset, he began his killing spree.

Ever since that day, he had killed all the nobles that opposed him and firmly ruled over Arcadina as a true dictator.

His words were always the law, and no one dared to question them.

But now, his ministers were trying to make him change his mind about Eli? Dream on!!

So to say, they were disagreeing with his choice on who was to be the next ruler?.. hehehe..

He had to say, they had really gotten a lot ballsy over the last month.

He had a nagging feeling that his 2nd and 3rd wives, as well as his sons, had a hand in this mess.

He had to really applaud his 1st wife for her calm attitude about the whole charade.

Although his love for her had died ages ago, she was still Eli's mother. Hence he decided to show her support, because of Eli.

Now that king Barn had aged, he had also added 3 young harlots in his palace.

In this era, prostitution was allowed, because it was believed that it helped prevent the greater evils of rape, sodomy and masturbation.

Since these girls were too low in class to be taken in as wives of a king, he had the apothecary make drugs that would make them baren with time.... Of course these women were ignorant of King Brans schemes.

So of them even dreamed of having a son doe the king, but who would have thought that King barn would be 1 stepahead of them?

King Barn would often ask the stewards and cooks to place these drugs in their foods and drinks.

How could he, the all powerful King Barn have a child with a mere harlot?

Tsk, it would be an even bigger disgrace than what he faced with Landon's mom.

Because of their young and seductive looks, king Barn had been disgusted with the appearances of his first and second wives.

As for the third wife, she was still very slim and very sexy. So she was the only one that still enjoyed love making with King Barn.

After giving birth to their children, his 1st and 2nd wives had lost their flat bellies and their slender figures.

They became larger, and had added lot of weight on their buttocks.

Where was the thin and slender women that he had married?

Actually, his wives weren't fat, they were just curvier.. But in this era, being thin was in vogue, and curvier, heavier women were seen as unattractive.

When he compared the slim harlots to his wives, he began to wonder what he ever saw in them.

A womans place was in her husband's kitchen, house and bedroom.

As his wives, since they never worked a day in their lives, what was the point of keeping them if they became repulsive in his eyes.

'Puiii!!'

He couldn't even stand talking to them, that was why he had given them courtyards far away from his.

He'd rather never make love again than to sleep with those fat pigs.

'So disgusting'

"My king, I truly think that Prince Connor is the best choice for the throne." One of his ministers said.

"He's right your highness!! Prince Connor is an excellent choice"

"Nonsense!! Everyone knows that Prince James is the best choice for kingship"

"That's right!! He might be young, but he has proven himself time and time again!!!"

"No its prince Connor...."

"Prince James....."

Alec sat in his chair and held the urge to jump up and smack all his ministers in the head.

'Proven themselves time and time again?.. How come he never witnessed these miracles of his other sons?'

"So no one is supporting my son Eli?"

King Barn asked coldly, as looked at his ministers who had their faces towards the ground.

"Your majesty, Its n..not that we don't want to support prince Eli..... B..but the people want another prince as the crown prince."

"That's right your highness.... the other day there were thousands of people gathered in the black market who wanted prince Eli removed as crown prince".

"Your highness, prince James in particular cares about the people very much... He gave them gave food and money, for them to take care of themselves"

"Your highness, prince Connor also visited the hospitals and and the poor around the Capital... I think it would be good to give him a chance..."

'Bang!!!'

Alec hit his hand on the arm of his chair, violently.

"So you all are telling me that the prince that I, King Alec Barn chose, is not good enough to rule?" Alec said with a bone-chilling tone.

The ministers shivered with fear at the sight of their angry king.

"No matter what you all say, my choice will always be prince Eli!! ... So I suggest you all think things through thoroughly...hehehe... Anyone who doesn't agree, can hand over his life to me!!!".

Everyone quickly shivering while bowing their heads in fear.

Their king was truly scary when he was angry.

Alec looked at his ministers and sneered.

A bunch of cowards....Fear was, and had always been the only way that he could control them.

"Now, let's talk about the upcoming assignments... How do you all plan to divide the work?"

"M... my lord.... So far, we have lost 5 cities around the border... So we propose that since there are 3 prince's, let each prince head over to each city and try to take them back." A brave minister answered instantly.

"Yes my lord.... As for the other 2 cities, we had already sent letters to City Lord Shannon of the West, and City lord Barrang of the South, telling them about their mission." Another minister added.

Actually, the ministers did this so that if 1 of the other prince's did well in the battle, their king would be impressed and willingly change Eli as the crown prince.

This was their plan B.

"Good..... Let each prince and the 2 city lords be the main leaders in charge of securing the cities.

But it still won't be enough.

Have 4 other city lords and their armies aid each leader to take back the cities.

But let me be clear, If they can't succeed in taking back our territories,.... they should just die there and never come back.

I will not allow useless men to live and thrive in my empire!!!"