The scene of being burned by the fire flashed in my mind, it was shaking too fast, and it was blurry to see clearly. Heimos just shook his head for a second and then woke up.
He frowned.
Why do things flash through my mind that clearly never happened
He was a little puzzled.
However, if Garlan hadn't pushed him away in time, then his end... maybe it really is...
Concentrating his thoughts, Heimos looked down at the uncle who had bowed his head to him, and a coldness appeared in his eyes.
If he had died in the fire, this uncle would have shed a few crocodile tears in front of others, but he would have been very proud.
If he died, or died in the palace, or died in the vindictiveness of a group of children, no one would suspect him, and at the same time, no one would threaten his identity as the lord of the city of Menister. , his son is the only heir to the city of Menister.
How nice.
What a perfect result.
In fact, with his current vision, the city of Menestre is just a mere city, and Heimos is no longer in his eyes.
However, what should belong to him, even if he disdains it, he will not let others.
Especially the foe who is still thinking of his death—
Yes, the enemy.
This is how Heimos defines Earl.
His uncle by name and blood has been making a name for himself for a long time, and he thought that others would be like him and pretend to be a good name.
That's why he wanted to preempt him and press him as his uncle, but he was actually unwilling to bow his head and salute in front of him.
Unfortunately, he never cared about the so-called 'good name'.
That kind of thing is useless.
Heimos glanced lightly at City Lord Ear who was bowing his head in front of his horse, then turned over and dismounted.
He walked forward and passed in front of the Earl City Lord. The dark cloak fluttered behind him and passed in front of Earl who was still bowing his head.
Earl's eyes twitched slightly, then he straightened up and looked at the back of Heimos, who had already walked forward.
At this moment, the tall and tall figure seemed to overlap with a familiar back in his memory.
In a trance, he went back to a long time ago. When he was young, he always looked at that back like this.
He thought he had forgotten.
But at this moment, with the return of that person's son, he once again recalled this unbearable memory that he wanted to completely forget.
his brother...
Lord Earl's hand clenched tightly.
The wide sleeve robes covered his clenched hands, making it impossible to see any abnormality. He calmly followed Heimos's footsteps and walked towards the gate of the castle.
Heimos has strode through the gate and into the hall of the castle.
He looked around this luxuriously decorated hall supported by huge white jade pillars. A group of people were already waiting for his arrival in the hall. When they saw him coming in, they bowed their heads respectfully to him.
Only the handsomely dressed young man standing at the front of the group did not lower his head. He looked at Heimos with a fixed expression, his face was stiff, and there was a bit of stubbornness in his eyes. .
Earl's son, Buck.
his cousin.
Heimos's eyes swept around and fell on Buck with a smile that was not a smile.
Buck only felt a sudden sharp pain in his right hand.
The pain made him feel as if he had returned to a few years ago, when he was easily pressed to the ground by Heimos, who was a teenager at the time, and a shot nailed his palm to the ground.
That made him furious in his heart at the moment, but uncontrollably raised his fear of Heimos.
"Lord Buck!"
The subordinates who followed Buck gave a warning.
Buck woke up from his memory, and under the side glances of everyone around him, and under the gaze of the Guards knights behind Heimos, he reluctantly but had no other choice but to bow to Heimos. head.
"Welcome, Your Highness Heimos," he whispered.
He clenched his fists as he spoke, and a sense of humiliation rose from the bottom of his heart.
Once upon a time, the orphan who needed to rely on him and his father to survive had become a presence he couldn't look up to.
No one noticed that when Buck bowed his head to Heimos, when the Lord of Earl who followed in saw this scene, his pupils shrank violently.
He, who has always been able to disguise his expression perfectly, actually twitched at the corner of his eye at this moment. When he realized that he was about to lose control, he quickly lowered his head and suppressed the resentment that suddenly surged from the bottom of his heart.
again...
The humiliation he once suffered in those days is now once again befalling his son.
…
…
In the room, Lord Earl stared at the middle-aged general standing in front of him.
"Why didn't you report to me, and went out of the city to meet him without authorization?"
He questioned the general who had acted without his permission.
This person is the general of Menister City, and he should have obeyed the orders of the city lord, but this general went out of the city to greet Heimos in the morning, just like that kid's subordinate.
If he had been informed of the news a little earlier, he would have been able to arrange a later move, so that he would not be caught off guard like he was just now.
The general leaned slightly and replied in a deep voice, "Your Highness has already arrived at the gate of the city. I'm afraid it's too late to report to you. In any case, I can't let His Highness Heimos wait at the gate of the city for too long. I can only go out of the city to meet him."
Looking fixedly at the middle-aged general, City Lord Earl's usual gentle expression subsided, his face sank, and he brought a bit of power.
"Don't forget, I am the lord of Menister City."
He stared at each other and said, word by word, with a bit of coldness in his tone.
He is the master of Menister City, and everyone in the city should obey his orders.
"Of course, Lord Earl, I know that you are the lord of Menister City."
The middle-aged general answered without being humble or arrogant.
"However, before I became your subordinate, I existed as a citizen of Aaron Landis, so I don't think it's wrong for me to greet His Highness Heimos."
"...you step back."
The middle-aged general bowed and saluted, then turned around, straightened his back, and quickly left here.
It can be seen that he obviously doesn't care that he offends the Lord of Earl.
After the middle-aged general left, the face of City Lord Ear turned gloomy suddenly. He waved his hand sharply, and with a crisp thud, the vase on the table beside him was smashed to the ground by him and shattered.
His chest was heaving violently, and his mood was clearly fluctuating.
Damn.
That damn bastard!
Why doesn't he die
Why not die in that fire—
With one breath stuck in his chest, the Lord of Earl was almost breathless.
Over the years, without him noticing, Heimos has quietly reached out to the city of Menister.
Little by little, Heimos eroded the city.
By the time he found out, at least one-third of the people in Menister City had been bought by Heimos and fell to Heimos' side.
The general just now was one of them.
The general has even greeted Heimos with great fanfare today without any scruples, showing his position on Heimos's side.
Those bloody traitors!
If it weren't for the fact that the betrayal of Heimos made him more and more uneasy, he would not be desperate this time, using all the pieces that he had lurked in the palace for so many years to cooperate with some people, even at the expense of using In order to take the most valuable piece of the royal knights, he must also seize the opportunity to pull Heimos from the position of the crown prince.
But it failed.
This time, he failed again.
And Heimos suddenly came to Menister City, apparently found out that he was the mastermind behind the scenes, and came to him to settle accounts.
The present Heimos is not what it used to be.
Not only because of his identity as Prince Aaron Landis, but more importantly, his power, his prestige, and his illustrious military exploits have become an existence that no one dares to ignore.
If Heimos were to take his city of Menestre...
Thinking of this possibility, Lord Earl's chest tightened.
He gritted his teeth hard.
Ah... that stupid Prince of Garlan, he's been ruining his good deeds all the time.
This was the case years ago, and it is still the same now!
Didn't the foolish prince know that something happened to Heimos, and he was the one who benefited the most
Why bother
Why do you want to help your enemy!
"Father."
Just as Earl was cursing with a livid face in his heart, his son Buck came out from behind.
Just now he was standing behind, listening to the conversation between his father and the general.
Growing up as an heir from a young age, Buck is not stupid, he also knows that many forces in this city have secretly turned to Heimos.
This time, Heimos suddenly came to Menister City, and he must have bad intentions.
Earl looked up at Buck.
Looking at his tall and handsome son standing in front of him, his expression softened a lot.
"Buck, come here."
He reached out to his child.
Buck stepped forward and knelt down in front of his father.
The Lord of Earl stretched out his hand and stroked his head lovingly.
"Don't worry, my child."
He says,
"You are my child and the future owner of Menister City. I swear to you that no one will ever try to take this city away from you."
"Especially Heimos—that little bastard—"
"Look, my boy Buck, he's going to fall from the heights soon, and he'll never get over you! I swear, he'll always be trampled under your feet! Yes, always—"
While stroking the head of his beloved son, the Lord of Earl kept talking, and there was a hint of madness in his eyes.
He won't let his kids make the same mistakes.
He would not expose Buck to the humiliation he had endured.
…
When Buck left his father's room, it was deep in the night, and the bright moon hung high in the night sky, shedding shreds of silver on the earth.
Standing in front of his father's room door, Buck paused, looked back at the closed door, and frowned.
He felt that his father's mood was very wrong today, and he wanted to ask clearly, but his father let him leave, just told him to stay in the room tonight and not walk around.
Heimos.
Buck said the name silently in his heart.
He looked down at his hand. There was a large scar on the palm of his right hand, which was the scar left by the point of the gun.
Because of this injury, he couldn't go any further for a long time, whether in bowing or swordsmanship.
Therefore, every time he heard the news of Heimos's achievements in the North Army, he was very uncomfortable.
Over the years, his father kept telling him that he was the future lord of Menister, and that Heimos would never be able to take the city from their father and son.
Never think about-
He listened to his father repeating the words to him like obsessed.
Once, he couldn't help reminding his father that Heimos was already the crown prince, and he might even become the king of the entire Aaron Landis, so he wouldn't care about such a city at all.
But after speaking, he regretted it, because at that moment, his father stared at him so fiercely that he was afraid.
"Don't think about it!"
said his father savagely.
"Impossible, don't think about it, it will never be possible!"
"That little bastard doesn't even want to get over you, he can only be trampled under your feet for the rest of his life... Yes, his whole life... "
At that time, his father kept chanting this sentence, and his generous and gentle face was extremely hideous.
In fact, Buck never understood why his father had such a deep grudge against Heimos.
Yes, resentment.
If you are worried that Heimos threatens his position as the heir of the city lord, it is enough to be on guard at most, but his father's attitude towards Heimos is not only contempt, but even with deep hatred.
Buck, full of confusion, left here and went back to his room, but he was destined to toss and turn all night.
When Buck left, Lord Earl sat quietly in his room.
The bright light illuminated his profile, which was a profile with a slight resemblance to Heimos, or rather, a profile more similar to his long-dead brother.
The lights flickered on his face, flickering on and off.
He sat silently, like a stone statue, with heavy eyes.
Big brother.
Because of your existence, I have lived in your shadow all my life.
You are so powerful, generous, and kind, and everyone is admiring you, watching you, and surrounding you.
No one ever saw me.
Even the father and mother are like this, they have always only seen your existence in their eyes.
My brother, as brilliant as you, I am afraid you will never understand the pain of being alone in the shadows and being swallowed up by jealous snakes.
You crushed me all my life.
But, unfortunately, the one who won in the end was me.
I was also the one who finally became the lord of the city of Meneste.
You lost to me.
But why, you still have to keep a child and continue to oppress my child.
Just like when you pressed me.
I don't allow it.
I will not expose my children to the humiliation that I went through.
Big brother.
I beat you in the first place.
Now, no matter what the means, no matter the price... I will let my child keep your child underfoot!
…
"Lord Earl, what you're doing... is a trap for that person, but isn't it too dangerous?"
"Heimos's status is different now. If you want to pull him down, you have to pay some price."
"However, if you accidentally miss, you will really be seriously injured."
"That's what it is."
A cold smile appeared on the corner of the city lord's mouth.
"I want everyone to know that he personally stabbed me, stabbed his uncle, and let everyone know that he wanted to kill his own uncle with his own hands."
He wants to ruin Heimos' reputation and be accused by thousands of people—