"The imperial jade seal in your hands is a fake one, isn't it?" Francis asked in a cold tone as he peered at the imperial jade seal
Lucas was holding in his hands.
Lucas then began tossing the imperial jade seal between his hands. "What do you think?" he flatly asked.
Francis screwed his eyes slightly. His intuition was telling him that something seemed quite amiss. Yet, as the arrow was on the
bow and poised to strike, he didn't have the time to think too much about it. For as long as Lucas was dead and he himself
became the new emperor, Matthew wouldn't be able to do anything to him.
"Lucas, are you aware that you have committed one more crime—forging the imperial jade seal?!" Francis accused him, waving
his hand and gesturing for all of the guards to attack Lucas together. At that point, he believed that it wouldn't make a difference
even if Lucas was still alive. By doing this, Lucas could be killed and his blood could be used to pay respect to the flag, because
it would become a good omen for his enthronement.
The Regal Guards moved one after another and stood with the palace guards. The head as well as the deputy head of the
palace guards respectively stood on one side of Francis, awaiting his orders.
Putting her hands against the tower wall, Harper leaned forward slightly, trying to take a good look at everything with such
interest in her eyes. "I've heard before that a throne is always built on a pile of bones. But it is not until I see it with my own eyes
today that I believe it's true. It could even be considered humiliating for one to take the throne without stepping on bones."
"As the saying goes, a general achieves renown over the dead bodies of ten thousand soldiers, let alone an emperor," Matthew
said, pulling Harper into his arms. "I'm beginning to get bored just watching from here. What do you say we do something to take
part in it too?"
"Feel free to make this farce end sooner," Harper replied, looking at the discomfited Francis. He had always appeared so gentle
and civilized before, but right now, he looked extremely disheveled. That being said, it didn't really do anything to his charming
appearance whatsoever. It was a bit unfair. A handsome man, no matter how disheveled, would still be handsome.
Casting Harper a glance, Matthew suddenly snapped his fingers. No one else knew what it meant. But it seemed as though his
fingers had magic power, stopping everyone in an instant, because Francis had been captured!
Harper was left utterly dumbfounded when she saw Ken, the head of the palace guards, put his sword on Francis' neck. "Stop,
all of the palace guards."
All the palace guards immediately obeyed Ken's order. Now that Ken himself had told them to stop, they all stopped whatever it
was that they were dong. Seeing that, the Regal Guards stopped as well, as if they had been extremely frightened by the
unexpected scene.
"Ken works for you?" asked Harper in surprise.
Matthew answered gently, "You have only met three of my four strongest guards before. Ken is the fourth one."
As it turned out, the head of the palace guards was actually one of the four strongest guards under Matthew's command. If the
late emperor were to find out about this, he would jump out of the imperial tomb because of anger, and he would curse Matthew
for going too far, as he had trusted Ken till the end of his life.
"You have so many talented followers around you, darling!" Harper said, giving him a thumbs up. No wonder many people feared
Matthew so much. After all, people whom they thought they were familiar with might turn out to be their enemies in the blink of an
eye.
"I have a lot of capable men around me. I will introduce them to you one by one some other day. Joshua Qi, the general of the
Black Flag Army, is an extremely capable man as well."
Harper couldn't help but chuckle upon hearing that. Of course, she knew that the general who was able to command the entire
Black Flag Army would by no means be a simple man. Even if she wanted to, she couldn't pretend not to know. "Let's get
downstairs. The situation is already under control. It's time for us to go down," she insisted.
"Okay,"
Matthew replied. Wrapping his arm around Harper's waist, he leaped off from the gate tower and landed on the ground in front of
Francis. Francis' face had been completely devoid of color. "I didn't expect that the head of the palace guards would be your
man, Uncle Matthew."
"There's a lot of things you do not know," Matthew replied indifferently. "Over the years, you've worked hard in the dark, using
your poor health as an excuse. You incited the other princes to fight against one another and you even managed to keep your
father from finding out. You're the most patient prince I've ever seen."
"You must be kidding me, Uncle Matthew. As for patience, I believe Lucas is the most patient one. As the true heir to the throne,
he pretended to be a playboy for years, discreetly wandering among various powers. Even the courtiers were fooled into thinking
that he was actually a playboy. I honestly feel ashamed of my inferiority to him in terms of patience," Francis said, shifting his
gaze toward Lucas. Lucas had been on good terms with Matthew for many years. Nobody had ever given it much thought,
because he had always pretended to be a playboy without showing any interest in national affairs. It was not until that point that
Francis realized that maybe Lucas had made up his mind to ride on the coattails of Matthew since the day he became friendly
with him. Even though the late emperor had been very afraid of the great power Matthew possessed, Lucas had never changed
his stance.
"Thank you for your praise, Francis. I also admire you. Despite your poor health, you have stirred up quite a bit of trouble in the
Bright Dynasty. If it weren't for your evil intention on Aunt Harper, it would probably still be unknown who the throne will go to,"
Lucas said with a smile. Truth be told, Harper was Matthew's taboo. Lucas had figured it out from the moment Harper became
the hostess of Matthew's mansion. However, Francis never really understood it. That was the reason why he lost the game.
"Do you think you have won?" Francis sneered. "Uncle Matthew, whose life do you think is more important, mine or Harper's?"
"Your life is worthless!" Matthew stated in a cold and ruthless voice. In his eyes, Francis' life was as worthless as weeds!
Francis didn't get upset with his answer. Instead, he simply smiled and said, "Uncle Matthew, in that case, you can't kill me then.
After all, no one other than me has the antidote to the poison in her body."
"Poison?" Matthew asked, squinting his eyes and turning his head to look at Harper.