The Third Prince was still young, the emperor could still reign him in and teach him well, but he must be opened to it and hopefully not dismiss him any further…Before it would be too late!

“This King…” The emperor went silent into thoughts again. After a few seconds, he continued, “This King will do as my son says and bring him to court…”

It was a touché subject after all. The Third Prince’s mother had wanted her child to become the next Emperor and now that it may end up that way…

“Then, this son will help you, Emperor father. We mustn’t think that he is like his mother and let’s give him a chance to succeed. But one must not be too lenient on him and remind him of what will happen if he does not take his position well.”

Matthew brought up Prince Liam and how he used his position as Crowned Prince, as a reminder for the emperor.

The emperor nodded slowly at first, then faster as Matthew finished talking, “This King knows well. He is not his mother, and he will have to learn how to be a proper Emperor! Do not go back on your word, my son, and help this King!”

Nodding, Matthew then turned, seeing one of the Empress's maid's going to follow in the direction his Princess had gone in, disappearing out of sight.

Frowning, Matthew walked into the direction too, when the Empress yelled out, "My dear Matthew, come, have some tea with us!"

Ignoring the Empress, Matthew briefly stated that he will quickly return to the emperor, and then ran to catch up with that maid!

***

In a different part of the palace, where there were many guards, something else was happening in this time of confrontation.

The golden eyed man, Nate, had no luck on undoing the seal upon his cultivation base but was now able to move more because of his pressed acupuncture points had slowly become unsealed. It wasn’t much to help him though, as he still wasn’t strong enough to get out of this predicament without his cultivation base.

There were about twenty guards around him at all times, and he had been continuously harassed by what he knows as the True Golden Heir.

Of course, he knew that if he didn’t comply and show that he could mind control and admit that he was behind the emperor’s attack, he still might be able to escape…But, going through so much torture and pain seemed to let his days last longer, which seemed like the only good point in any of this…

He knew that there was no way that he could deny the true heir of the Golden Throne, but since he was in this situation, and most likely going to die anyway, there was no way that he would admit to his deeds. His survival instincts had already kicked in and he just didn’t want his life to end, even though he had admitted to losing his one, true dream.

Nate had been only given one meal a day, making him generally weak now, and his close proximity was not a nice look. His clothes were densely smelling of stench, because he had been unable to release elsewhere, and the True Golden Heir would only use that as another reason to do as he was told and own up to what he had done. If this continued, Nate was sure that he could only last one more week, at most…

But…What else was he to do!?

He was going to be nasty till the end! He would at least make one pay in his death, and that was Band One! Especially since the True Golden Heir had become so nasty to him in return, at least one thing will come of this!

He would be stupid to see that this ‘Band One’ didn’t mean anything to him, obviously they were doing all they could to make him do whatever the True Golden Heir wanted, without killing him. Denying him food, denying him shelter, denying him a blanket at night…As it was, this wood was still the same wood that had been strapped to him when he had first been captured. His neck was really sore, and his arms held slight red spots to the rope that was digging into his skin on the occasion, not to mention the bruising around the rope. His legs were numb, and he felt like he was dying for water. His mind was starting to become strange through all this and he felt like he was losing the war, not the battle, the war! His life was most certainly on the line!

Worried that he was going to let things out in his sleep, or now even while he was awake…His time was running out!

It might not be long before he wished for death, but for now, he was still trying hard not to succumb to dehydration, starvation, pain and exhaustion…

“My condolences.”

Nate widened his eyes to a whispered voice that came out of nowhere. For a moment, being in his state, he wondered if he had heard the words at all, but then another sentence followed from nowhere, “I wish my brother a good future in the underworld.”

It was like a prayer, as though…He was already dead!

“I’m not dead yet!” Nate replied with a sneer, their words were soft, yet his words were as cold as ice.

“He was a lovely boy, then grew to be such a…Nasty old man!”

The soft words held sarcasm, making Nate frown, “Shut up!”

“He smelled particularly bad and…”

“I said, shut up!” Nate said in a normal voice, making the guards narrow their eyes at him.

“Then he went crazy!”

Nate let out a frustration yell, breathing heavily.

After a moment of silence, Nate heard soft laughing and then the voice from nowhere said, “I’ll take over now, there’s no need to worry, dead, little brother.”

Nate was still frustrated and let out a sneer, “Pfft, you aren’t strong enough! Like you…The defensive, run away type of person could defeat what’s in front of you!”

“Says the person who is currently…”

“Shut up!”

Nate took a deep breath in, trying to calm himself down, finally thinking of a strategy. “Let me out!”

“No. I just came to see the view, as far as I’m aware, your future is set in stone, and I don’t even have to get involved!”

“There’s a True Golden Heir, giving you absolutely no hope if you let me get killed!”

Silence filled the room.

Nate looked around him, as much as he could, and still couldn’t see his elder brother, did he perhaps leave?

“True Golden Heir? Does my little brother think I’m stupid!?”

Nate smirked, “Yes!”

A knife went into his side, coming into view, and Nate let out a short, sudden yell.

After a moment of collecting himself to the sudden attack, Nate spat out some blood in his mouth, and said, “You are stupid because you wouldn’t even be able to defeat him, I was no match for him! How do you think I got caught!?”

“I don’t believe you, little brother. Actually, I already anticipated you’d want me to get you out of this, and I couldn’t wait to say…No! Oh, my sweet little brother’s death is imminent, what should I do!?”

“So stupid! He even has the Golden Emperor’s Sword! You think you, by yourself, is going to kill him!? Don’t make me laugh!”

Silence again…

“There has been no True Golden Heir in a century, and, before that, it was nearly a millennium, a myth!”

The voice coming from nowhere was getting irritated, he could doubt Nate’s words beforehand, but knowing about the sword and wanting it for himself, did make him stop to think.

“And yet, there is a True Golden Heir, for once, why don’t we team up to get rid of him!?” Nate asked, it was his only chance. If they could kill the True Golden Heir, then his dreams could finally come back to him!

“Work together? You…And me? My little brother has gone mad! Perhaps, he has already perished!”

“Elder brother!” Nate let out a frustrated breath, hating his stupid sibling, “We have no hope of obtaining the Golden Throne, until the True Golden Heir is dead! We must, must, work together! Otherwise, you should do what you normally do and just hide away! You have less chance of obtaining the throne then I did!”

“Less chance!? I beg to differ, little brother. Even though you use other people to do your bidding, I am two years older than you and I am still alive! You have just done the dirty work for me! I even noticed that our cousin Steven is gone, which I’m guessing was your doing. I just had to wait until you get captured or you get rid of them for me, to finally make my move.”

“Pfft, what move! You are weak, father only showed you how to survive by running away, what a waste!”

“Father taught me stealth, what did he teach you!? Nothing!” The voice from nowhere was mad.

It was no secret that his elder brother, Keith, had been favored, yet it wasn’t something Nate worried about. His father had survived and thought teaching his oldest son the Stealth technique would be more promising. Yet, through this, Keith had become more docile and not as aggressive as Nate had become. Keith couldn’t actually beat Nate in a fight, even though he had always been one rank above Nate their whole lives.

Nate smirked yet again, “I could defeat you, you know this, that’s why you never attacked me since that time!”

Silence once again…

“I was on my way to kill uncle, he has yet to move from the ruins of Golden Haven. I had also just taken Blue Haven’s loyalty off you, after you left. I wasn’t surprised you hadn’t taken Purple Haven’s…It’s a mess…When I found that you hadn’t moved from Green Haven, I decided to come here instead. What a surprise to find you in such a spot, you seemed to belong here! I have said my Farwell, now I’ll take my leave.”

Nate started to breath heavily in worry, this was probably his only chance, how could he make his elder brother believe that there was a True Golden Heir here!

“I’ll prove it, I’ll make him take out the sword the next time he comes here, just watch. Then after he leaves, you must release me, and we will work together to kill him! If you lose this chance, you will never have more hope from now, to become the Golden Emperor! You must heed my words, elder brother!”

The voice from nowhere went silent, that sword most definitely held his attention, he would very much like to see it!

“…When will he be here?”

Nate nodded, silently gaining some hope in his heart, “He has seen me every day, he should be here soon.”

The silence was so long to Nate, as he held his breath. He really wanted to think that he could depend on his stupid brother, even though the thought of it drove him mad. If they could defeat the True Golden Heir, and perhaps in the process, even kill his elder brother, then his dream would be even closer than it was before!

“Make sure he brings out his sword!”

Smiling in victory, Nate put his head down in exhaustion, feeling like he’d gained a huge relief. He was no longer worried about pain or about being captured, he was even looking forward to seeing the Second Prince next…Finally, he felt like his life was his again, that his self that was starting to get buried, was now returning.

All he had to do, was get that sword out, if that sword came out, his elder brother will release him, and they could come up with a plan!

Although the thought of working with his elder brother made him cringe, but it would be beneficial to both of them…Well, only to him actually…Because this will be his elder brother’s last deed, his last fight…His last time of hiding!

With a future in sight, Nate continued to smile, even wanting to laugh. How fortunate!

***