I am not His Majesty

That night, Isaac Fate suffered from insomnia.

Although he had long known his inevitable death and had prepared himself mentally.

Yet, facing death, he still felt fear.

Fortunately, his acquired knowledge and his rationality helped him to conceal this fear well.

To die with some dignity.

That was his only luxury now.

Even though being killed as a rebel was far from dignified.

“Ha…”

His wife, sleeping soundly beside him, let out a soft breath.

Fate quickly overturned his previous thoughts.

His other luxury was for his wife and unborn child to live.

To be honest, today, seeing Flax Mounten, one of the Four Azure Knights, prepare to act, his heart was filled with terror.

He was afraid that after killing him, the other party would kill everyone else without a word… Fortunately, someone intervened to disrupt it.

His plan to evoke sympathy was thus able to proceed.

His unwavering dedication to guidance until the last moment should have successfully left a sufficiently deep impression and enough favor with the Crown Prince, right?

No, perhaps he had overdone it.

After all, he had always taught the Crown Prince to be ruthless and cold.

Killing their whole family would be the most appropriate and indisputable course of action.

This made Fate recall his reckless youth, consumed with the desire to prove his talent.

However, could such a strategy truly not have been conceived by anyone else?

Certainly not.

It was just that after others came up with it, they already realized it would bring immense disaster upon themselves.

But he, in his self-proclaimed cleverness, believed himself superior to everyone in the world.

He was truly too foolish.

Yes, he regretted it.

Not a day passed without regret and fear.

It was laughable that a year ago, he actually naively thought he was safe, thinking His Majesty still harbored old affections… and even entertained thoughts of a future life.

The result was his current discomfiture.

Dying himself was one thing, but to also implicate his wife and child…

Dawn broke.

Finally, Fate’s worries could no longer resist the drowsiness, and he managed to snatch two or three hours of sleep.

But this was also good; if his dark circles were too obvious, his image in front of his disciple would collapse.

After giving orders to his trusted old servant as planned, Fate felt another pang of sorrow.

To reassure His Majesty, his knights and servants were all clearly suspicious individuals, with only a handful of confidantes.

After his wife became pregnant, he had to dismiss those suspicious servants and dared not let guards into the house… Perhaps it was from this point that His Majesty deemed him disloyal and decided to eliminate him?

(No, what’s the point of thinking about these things now?)

But he couldn’t help but wonder.

And constantly letting his thoughts wander to where he had gone wrong.

As if by not making mistakes, he could survive.

But everything was about to end.

Servants quickly brought the soup with a paralyzing effect to the table.

He naturally had no intention of actually poisoning the Crown Prince; he merely provided a reason for the action and allowed Flax Mounten to witness everything.

And it wasn’t the Crown Prince who ate first—

Gulp, gulp.

The blonde girl drank all the soup in one go.

“Goo… ha… se…”

Her tongue was completely numb, yet she still gave the Crown Prince a thumbs-up, indicating everything was fine.

Fate and Flax Mounten were both stunned.

The Crown Prince, expressionless, ate all of his un-poisoned breakfast.

Fart couldn’t be sure if this was the blonde girl’s initiative or the Crown Prince’s order, so he immediately prepared a backup plan.

“His Highness Ryan, let’s go for a walk outside.”

He planned to have someone shoot an arrow in front of the Crown Prince.

However, after walking for a long time outside, he still didn’t see his subordinates make a move.

You might ask, if you really wanted to act, was it necessary to be so troublesome?

It was necessary. If it wasn’t his rebellion, but the Crown Prince who acted first without provocation, then the latter’s reputation would be ruined, at the very least burdened with the infamy of wantonly assassinating his teacher and a meritorious minister.

His Majesty also did not wish for the Crown Prince to bear such infamy, which is why he sent one of the Four Azure Knights, whose stance was opposite to the Crown Prince’s, as a witness, intending to increase the credibility of his rebellion.

So he could only rebel.

(Your Highness… you are too kind.)

Fate was not a fool; he had already realized that the Crown Prince simply couldn’t bring himself to act… and was even intentionally obstructing him.

But it didn’t matter, he still had a last resort: to act himself and force Charlton’s hand.

From Flax Mounten’s performance yesterday, it wasn’t hard to see that while the Azure Knights superficially seemed to oppose the Crown Prince, their internal personnel probably wanted to remain neutral.

At least, in terms of achievements, they still had the capital to waver and play for time.

Thus, Charlton, nicknamed “Immovable as a Mountain,” appeared somewhat restless… because he was eager to conclude this mission and avoid any further complications.

This was Fate’s opportunity.

Dismissing his remaining subordinates, pretending to send them to make preparations, Fart quietly pulled a dagger from inside his sleeve—

“Earl Flax Mounten, my teacher is about to instruct me on how to deal with assassination. Please do not be surprised by anything you see.” The Crown Prince said.

“…”

Flax Mounten was stunned.

Fate was dumbfounded.

He could no longer care about anything else and walked angrily in front of the black-haired young man, saying, “Your Highness, did you forget what I said last night?”

“I haven’t forgotten, but as for you, Teacher, I clearly told you that my mission was to investigate whether you were colluding with Duke Jefferies… Please do not take any unnecessary actions that might obstruct the investigation!”

The black-haired young man did not back down.

Fate, however, grew anxious.

How could he not understand the black-haired young man’s plan, but it was impossible to achieve.

He immediately turned his head to Flax Mounten, revealing the dagger:

“Earl Flax Mounten, please observe carefully, I am about to conspire against His Highness Ryan Rowland, please arrest me!”

The black-haired young man glared at Flax Mounten, his crimson eyes full of warning.

But Flax Mounten’s face showed no fear; instead, he seemed eager.

It was known throughout the land that the combat power of each of the Four Azure Knights was comparable to, or even surpassed, that of the leaders of the other five great knight orders!

With Fate intent on dying, the black-haired young man simply couldn’t protect him!

“It’s not good to be so impatient. ‘Immovable as a mountain’ doesn’t mean you should defend as steadily as a mountain, but that you should calmly analyze the situation, not act rashly, and always serve as everyone’s most solid and reliable backing…”

Hearing this clear and pleasant voice, Flax Mounten turned his head in surprise, staring intently at the blonde girl.

“Earl, His Highness Ryan Rowland does not intend to act against Baron Fate; this is his judgment. Please fulfill your duties and bear witness to the end.”

Flora Haggia said solemnly, “Or are you planning to ‘act on your own initiative’ and set the Azure Knights against the Black Dragon Knights?”

“Absolutely not.”

After a deep look at the blonde girl, Charlton retreated to the side.

Seeing that his only reliable support had also backed down, Fate could no longer maintain his composure and turned to look at the black-haired young man.

“Your Highness, do you know the consequences of doing this?”

“Of course I know, but I… am different from that old man!”

Ryan Rowland said firmly.