Chapter 30

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

“Of course, I know you won’t let me go,” Richard said. “Because once I leave, you won’t have the perfect excuse anymore. If my guess is right, you were going to besiege the palace using the excuse that Edward had betrayed and killed me. After I died, you would have declared that because of what happened three years ago, I sought vengeance and had poisoned my dear father, His Majesty, the former King Donners. Like this you could justify everything, and you would have become the only master of Blue Lion Kingdom.”

William’s face was slightly stiff. He looked at Richard, as if he had met him for the first time, a trace of panic flashing across his calm face. “You… How do you—”

“How do I know? Oh, that’s because what you did was so obvious. I’ve known for a long time that His Majesty, the former King Donners, was not sick, but being poisoned. The poison that you put in the wine you sent must have been arsenic trioxide.

“However, I think you should sentence the pharmacist who was in charge of this to death, because he did not do a good job. The poison he put into the wine wasn’t pure at all.

“Generally speaking, arsenic is composed of arsenic trioxide, which is colorless and tasteless, making it an excellent poison. Considering the backward development of this world, there is always some amount of sulfur and sulfide during extraction, and this is why the silverware used would turn black. But it’s not a big issue. After all, the former king did not like to use silver cups. The problem is that, apart from having impurities like sulfur and sulfide, the poison that was mixed into wine had elemental arsenic in it.

“As a result, His Majesty, the former King Donners, had obvious symptoms of arsenic poisoning, like skin pigmentation, Raynaud’s disease, etc.

“I have no idea how sloppy the pharmacist you hired is, but I will give you a piece of advice. If you are sick in the future, don’t take his medicine.”

“Since you knew about it, why didn’t you stop me? Did you hate him so much?!” William asked.

“Oh, as the murderer, you still accuse me of being a bystander?” Richard asked rhetorically.

“I…” William was speechless.

“Okay, let me explain it briefly,” Richard said. “I know you killed the king because you are ambitious, and you couldn’t wait to become the new king. The reason why I did not save him is because I have no feelings for him anymore. Yes, I have no feelings for him at all.

“I knew you were the one who had led the massacre three years ago, but the king’s handling of the matter also chilled my heart. I witnessed how someone could be so obstinate, ignorant, arrogant, and unrepentant.

“Have you heard about the concept of the family of origin? That is, the family in which a person is born and raised. If there is a harmonious atmosphere in the family of origin and the parents are rational and positive, the children will develop better. On the contrary, if there is a bad atmosphere and the parents have many shortcomings, their children will be affected too.

“This factor can have a lifelong influence on the children. For example, assertive parents will inevitably raise cowardly children, and controlling parents will inevitably raise overly dependent children. Yet children often think that they themselves are to be blamed for their shortcomings, leading to a low self-esteem.

“The scariest thing in this world is that parents do not need to take an exam to be parents, it doesn’t matter if they are qualified or not. I became a prince without a choice, and the king also became my father. Although I did have some advantage at the starting point, I must say that the king… was not a good father. If I were an ordinary person, I might have gladly accepted everything, but I am not.

“Some people think that it’s normal for parents to manage their children as if they are managing properties, and that children have to obey their parents. But I beg to differ. I’m an independent person with my own thinking and opinion, so if my family of origin had been good-natured, I would have tried to integrate. However, since it wasn’t the case, I chose to be rid of them.

“In other words, if a baby with no cognition meets the parents, for good or bad, the baby ends up being controlled by them due to his limited abilities. But if an adult, who has good moral values, meets his parents and realizes that they are villains who are stubborn, crazy, arrogant, violent and often unreasonable, he has the choice of escaping. Now do you understand?”

William could not quite understand Richard’s words, but his expression turned ugly. He raised his head to glance at Richard, very serious. “My brother, Richard, you are really smart… to the extent of being frightening. I indeed couldn’t kill you. But after what you just said today, I am more motivated to end you.

“I don’t care about why you’re so smart, or why you know so many things, but you must die. Because if you remain alive, I will never sleep well.

William closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them. “You shouldn’t be in this world. Your existence is a disaster to everyone around you. Ever since you were a child, the people you came in contact with—whether it was me, our father, the maids, or the soldiers—everyone was somewhat afraid of you. It was as if you could see through everyone’s thoughts.

“I know you have been researching wizards. Although you have yet to succeed in your research, a legendary wizard may be just like you, so I changed my mind. I will not say that you poisoned our father, instead I will tell everyone that you have become an evil wizard. Since you are an evil wizard, you must die.”

Swoosh. William raised his hand and shouted to the archers. “Shoot him!”

The archers trembled and looked at each other, no one moved. After all, the person in front of them was the second prince of the kingdom, the future Grand Duke. They were mere soldiers, and their conversation just now…

However, William’s mighty presence was not to be undermined. Realizing that the archers weren’t moving, he unsheathed his sword with a clang and said coldly, “I order all of you to shoot him! If you don’t, all of you shall die.”

Swipe, swipe, swipe.

At William’s order, the archers raised their longbows and notched their arrows.

“Shoot!”

Whoosh.

Amid William’s roar, arrows shot out like migratory locusts, aimed directly at Richard, who was tens of meters away. At this distance, even if Richard had been wearing a plate armor, he would have not been able to avoid the arrows, much less with the robe that he wore now.

However, Richard did not panic over the many arrows shooting at him. His lips slightly opened and closed, and a large mass of air in front of him surged and solidified the next moment.

Whoosh.

The tails of the arrows vibrated in a regular motion. Yet as the arrows got closer and closer to Richard, suddenly, they slowed down. They became slower and slower, as if they had encountered some obstacle or entered an invisible force field.

After a while, when all their force was depleted, the arrows remained suspended in the air.

One arrow, two arrows, three arrows.

In the end, nearly a hundred arrows stood still half a meter in front of Richard, but Richard was unscathed.

The Wind Bulwark Spell.

“What the…”

The archers’ eyes widened, and William slowly opened his mouth.

“This- this…”

“Didn’t you say that I’m an evil wizard and therefore you have to kill me? Well, in a sense, you are right. I’m indeed a wizard, but to be more accurate, I am an Apprentice Wizard.”

“Shoot him! Shoot the arrows! Shoot him now!” The voice came from deep within William’s throat, roaring with an indescribable fear.

Swipe, swipe, swipe.

The archers raised their longbows with shaking arms and notched the arrows with difficulty before finally shooting with a high angle.

Whoosh!

One after the other, arrows arced and fell from the air. Some of them directly bounced off, while some of them continued to penetrate into the invisible barrier, and then stopped again. A large number of arrows was suspended on top of Richard’s head.

The site turned deadly silent.

An autumn rain fell, the raindrops hitting everyone. A soul-shaking coldness covered them, and they felt chilled to the bones.

As soon as Richard waved his hand, the air around him returned to normal. The arrows that had been suspended in the air fell to the ground with a loud crack, breaking the silence and disturbing the autumn rain.

Many soldiers were frantic.

A ball of green flames appeared in Richard’s hands and burned quietly in the rain. Richard then raised his hand, and the green flames suddenly rose into the air, higher and higher, until they finally expanded into a large fireball with a diameter of one meter. It exploded in a puff, as if it was sending a signal.

Richard waved his hand again and hurled a ball of bloody flames toward William. Before anyone could react, it struck William’s face, licking his hair, eyebrows, and gorgeous robe.

The flames rose, and William let out a scream of horror. He suddenly fell on the ground, rolling around to extinguish the flame. The soldiers were flustered. They looked at Richard and had the urge to put down their weapons.

Although Richard hadn’t killed a single person, nor showed powerful attacks, no one knew how many more terrifying spells the prince was capable of.

The unknown was the most terrifying of all.

Richard took a step forward slowly, and all the soldiers immediately retreated in panic like an ebbing tide.

Richard smiled. William was rolling on the ground while yelling in fright. In the distance, outside the palace, a black carriage approached quickly.

The wheels spun across the green-stoned pavement, making a thunderous sound.

Boom! Boom!