Realms In The Firmament

“Lord Ye, I have underestimated you.” The Crown Prince sighed.

Unexpectedly, after Ye Xiao’s speech, the Crown Prince didn’t get angry. His first reaction was actually to sigh.

“Maybe because there has never been anyone who has thought highly of me. It was reasonable that you would never think highly of me.” Ye Xiao spoke calmly.

“It was my fault after all.” The Crown Prince was a bit upset when he spoke.

Yes, he was regretting.

Now he could finally confirm that Ye Xiao… was never the foppish fool described in the rumors.

He had been right. Ye Xiao wasn’t stupid at all, instead, he was too smart!

While his actions seemed to be a gangster’s willful behavior, in fact, every move was made to approach his goal.

Every move and every word was extremely sharp!

Such an able person who was the son of the second most influential character in the military area, from the General’s House, was now standing opposite the Crown Prince.

Step by step, in the Crown Prince’s Palace, he was finally turning hostile towards the Crown Prince himself!

There was no other choice but to collide against each other until the winner and loser were determined.

The Crown Prince just realized that since Ye Xiao had arrived, he had indicated his purpose by showing no respect to anyone and talking like a wild man. His attitude had shown that ‘I am here to break it down to you’!

Earlier, it had been possible to turn the situation around. It had been more harmonious.

If the Crown Prince could have given up his original plan, he could have mitigated the situation.

Yet he hadn’t realized it at all.

Step by step, his men obliviously aimed at Ye Xiao, while at the same time, it made Ye Xiao point his sword at the Crown Prince.

At this moment, there was no chance to turn the situation around!

Guan Zheng-Wen sighed. He could understand the regret in the Crown Prince’s heart!

There was an extreme sense of loss.

The Crown Prince had once told him a story of the time he had been drinking with his father, the King. the King was happy that day and said something meaningful, “Nan-Tian guarding the north can ensure me twenty years of peace!”

Who was Nan-Tian?

Ye Nan-Tian!

Who was Ye Nan-Tian? Ye Xiao’s father!

When the King said that, Ye Nan-Tian had been guarding the north for eight years and it was at peace the whole time.

At that time, the Crown Prince didn’t understand the true meaning behind his father’s words.

Yet now he knew.

Before Ye Nan-Tian took the north, the north was constantly at conflict with its neighbour. It endured attacks from the Kingdom of Lan-Feng all the time and it had become rather difficult to defend the border. The whole kingdom was in an extremely fragile situation because of the northern affair…

Most of the kingdom’s finance resources were used for the war in the north. They were in a terrible situation!

When Ye Nan-Tian took charge of the north, he showed up like a huge mountain that no one could climb over.

From then on, there had been no more suspense to the result of the war in the north!

Those years, the northern affair which had suppressed the King had turned into something he was most proud of!

Ye Nan-Tian could make that happen, but what about Ye Xiao?

The only son of Ye Nan-Tian!

Ye Nan-Tian was knightly, fair and straightforward with formal title and formal flag in his life. Even though he was a typical peerless hero, he could have been framed because of carelessness.

Yet, to them, Ye Xiao seemed invulnerable!

Invulnerable. It was a word which only existed in some compliments or lines of a novel, yet the Crown Prince had related it with Ye Xiao!

Ye Xiao didn’t have a heroic complex like his father.

He could act shamelessly, cheekily, wretchedly or dirty. He could be tough, and he could…

All in all, he could use anything to create positive situations for himself!

That was the Crown Prince’s new assessment of Ye Xiao right now.

Ye Xiao was an extremely dangerous man!

The Crown Prince even had the feeling, [Father said that ‘Nan-Tian guarding the north can ensure me twenty years peace’. If I can recruit Ye Xiao, maybe… there will be no trouble in my future!

What a pity. We have already turned against each other.

The most piteous and annoying thing is that…

I realized the true value of Ye Xiao way after we started fighting against each other!

Becoming an enemy of someone like him is never a wise thing to do. Yet such a stupid thing is exactly what I have just done!]

He looked at Ye Xiao. His heart was completely shaken. Finally, he sighed.

Guan Zheng-Wen also sighed.

He was filled with regret.

[Why couldn’t I think about it earlier?

If he really was just a foppish fool, how come he was so vigorous, walking with wild strides in the Crown Prince’s Palace?

The son of Ye Nan-Tian. The only son of Ye Nan-Tian. How is it possible for him to be a foppish black sheep!]

“Ye Xiao, I hope that you can give me an explanation.” The Crown Prince waved his hand and the others left the table.

A few maids stepped forward and cleaned the table before leaving quickly.

Right now, only Guan Zheng-Wen remained standing besides the Crown Prince.

Ye Xiao frowned, “Explanation? I wonder what sort of explanation you want me to give you.”

The Crown Prince laughed. It was a peaceful laughter and he said, “I need to know whether you are involved in the death of Mu Cheng-Bai or not.”

His face showed that he was tired and a bit cheesed. He said softly, “In fact… You know, even if you are really a foppish lord, I may not be willing to give up on you… You are of great value… But sometimes, a man has to do something he should, even though he doesn’t wish to.”

Guan Zheng-Wen showed a bitter smile on his face.

“Especially… When there is a woman interfering… The reason that my woman is interfering is something related to her personal interests, so it becomes something I have to deal with…”

The Crown Prince sighed, “At the moment, if I don’t take good care of this thing of hers, I will fail in attempting to do many things in the future… Especially when the woman is the one who sleeps with me all the time and has a powerful background that you couldn’t afford to mess with.”

Ye Xiao said commiseratively, “I understand what you are saying. I truly do.”

“So I want to know the truth.” The Crown Prince raised his head and looked at Ye Xiao, “I need an explanation.”

Ye Xiao laughed and said sharply, “Truth? Does the truth really matter? When did you ever need any truth. You didn’t know the truth earlier, yet you still took action. Even if you found out a proof of me having no relation with it, could you possibly let me free?”

The Crown Prince stayed silent for a while.

“So, the truth. It is nothing but trash that you guys can casually step on!” Ye Xiao sneered, “Your highness. If I tell you that I killed that guy, would you believe me? It’s the same if I tell you that I didn’t. Would you believe me?”

“All in all, whether I killed him or not, you won’t let me go. Am I right?” Ye Xiao sneered, “So. I don’t understand what you are thinking. But I know one thing… I know what you want to do!”

“Oh? I wonder what is it that you assume we want to do?” The Crown Prince’s eyes were turning sharper.

“You want a rightful, noble, flawless reason to get me killed, so that you can use the reason to lie to my father! A noble man can be cheated by rightful lies. In your minds, my father must be a noble man like that!”

Ye Xiao went straight to the point, “I am still alive, because… you hadn’t found that reason yet.”

The Crown Prince smiled bitterly.

“As I am standing in the Crown Prince’s Palace… I know that you have found the reason now.” Ye Xiao’s face was distant.

“Yes. You are right. I found it. We got the reason to keep the general out of it.” The Crown Prince nodded.

“Hahaha…” Ye Xiao sneered, “I have one question though. Why do you need a reason?”

The Crown Prince frowned, “What do you mean?”

“You took action against me before, many times!! Did you have a reason then? Any proof? No?” Ye Xiao spoke tauntingly, “Yet you still came after me… Yet you need a reason to finally execute me. Isn’t it ironic?”

“It’s fine. You don’t need the reason. If my father want to avenge me when I died, he will never be stopped by a bloody reason.” Ye Xiao sneered and looked straight into the Crown Prince’s eyes, “I believe in one thing truly… If my father wants to avenge me… I’m afraid that you, the Crown Prince, will never succeed in stopping him.”

As a son of a feudal-time general, he had shown an extremely rebellious and regicidal attitude towards the Crown Prince.

Yet he continued speaking, “You know! What I mean to say is that the reason doesn’t really matter, don’t you think?”

The Crown Prince frowned and coldness flashed in his eyes.

Of course he knew it.

Ye Nan-Tian came to this kingdom to save his son. After that, taking charge as a general was also for the sake of his son, Ye Xiao!

At that time, the King had sworn brotherhood to two men. Two princes with different family names. Others might not know about that, but the Crown Prince knew it for sure.

Ye Nan-Tian had slaughtered thousands of millions of men to get the medicine from Su Ding-Guo in order to save his son’s life.

If his son died this day…

Ye Nan-Tian would never be restrained by anything. To kill a Crown Prince, it was not about whether he dared or not, it was only about whether he was willing to!

It was very possible for him to get what he wanted!

As long as he really wanted to!

“So, what you are doing is actually useless and meaningless.” Ye Xiao stared right into his eyes and spoke, “Your highness, only the thing you did at the beginning was smart.”

The Crown Prince frowned, “The thing I did at the beginning? You mean… Letting the Mu Clan to mess with you?”

Ye Xiao didn’t say anything but only smiled, yet his eyes were showing a colder expression.

…

This is the fourth guaranteed chapter of the week. Two sponsored chapters remain in queue and will be released after the final guaranteed chapter.

Translated by:- Rain

Edited by:- Alpha, Arch