Chapter 153: An identity to be cautious of
When Lawrence spoke thus, the expression on his face was very bizarre. It was a slightly manic one that seemed anxious to see the world plunged into disorder.
“Bryan, I’m going to stay in Valen City for now. You can come find me in the house we dropped Lisa off in. Where can I find you if I need?” Lawrence was in a great mood as he turned his head to look at Han Shuo.
Han Shuo was silent for a moment and then told Lawrence the address of Emily’s hotel, leaving quickly afterwards and not paying attention to anything that happened after.
The hotel that Emily was staying in wasn’t one of the Dark Mantle strongholds, thus Han Shuo wasn’t afraid of Lawrence finding his way there. When Han Shuo made his way back to the Dark Mantle stronghold, metallic horse hooves clopped endlessly on the path to Calvert’s house. It looked like Clark’s death had indeed had a great impact on the entirety of Valen City.
Han Shuo didn’t linger here at this moment and didn’t care to find out whether or not Lucky had succeeded in eliminating Calvert. He masked his traces as he swiftly made his way to the Dark Mantle stronghold.
He easily found Emily after reaching the stronghold. When she saw him, she waved her hand and dismissed Chester. Her beautiful face was grave as she said to Han Shuo, “I know of Lawrence’s identity.”
She was a senior executive of the Dark Mantle alright. Han Shuo looked happily at Emily and said enthusiastically, “Wonderful, just who is that guy? His status seems quite high!”
“You! You better mind your tone and language when you interact with him in the future. This person could have a drastic impact on you.” Emily glared huffily at Han Shuo and then whispered an incantation. A boundary formed within the room and enclosed Han Shuo and Emily within it.
“The members outside won’t hear my words when this boundary is in effect.” Emily said gravely.
Han Shou was quite surprised to see Emily take such precautions. He asked a bit anxiously, “Alright, stop playing it up, just who is Lawrence?”
Taking a deep breath in, Emily sighed lightly and said, “He should be the third prince.”
Starting in fright, Han Shuo looked at Emily with some incredulity. “You’re joking! The king only has two sons. Every citizen of the Lancelot Empire knows of this. How could there be a third prince? Besides, everyone knows that Lawrence is obviously the son of the finance minister, how could he possibly be the third prince?!”
“I mean it.” Emily reached out a hand to pinch Han Shuo when she saw that he didn’t believe her. She explained, “This is actually one of the royal family’s scandals. The finance minister, Eevee, has some problems in that area, and can only look at his beautiful wife, Alice. Eevee’s relationship with the king is quite good, and the king met Alice at one of Eevee’s private banquets. The king was conquered by Alice’s beautiful looks, and the two finally walked together because Eevee was functioning inadequately in addition to the king making purposeful moves.”
“Eevee detected this because Alice became pregnant. The king himself then put in an appearance and explained the matter to Eevee. Since the deed had been done, and the king was still the king in the end, and Eevee knew that he couldn’t say anything to Alice and thus silently accepted this.”
“Because the fallout from this matter would have been too severe, both sides have concealed it until now. Those who truly hold power within the capital have some sort of understanding towards this matter, but no one dares to talk about it openly that Lawrence is the son of the king and Alice. Lawrence has been raised in the care of his ambitious mother since birth, teaching him the tenets of ruling and the knowledge he should know when controlling a kingdom.”
“Lawrence knew of his status since young, but his potential is extraordinary and he has uncommon social graces, so he has a good relationship with even his adoptive father. It’s a pity that due to his illegitimate status, he can’t enter the royal family. The king also feels quite guilty about this and thus treats Lawrence very well. He often meets with Lawrence privately to express his affection, and it’s rumored that the king is very satisfied with Lawrence as well.”
“Of the other two princes, one of them is fierce and general material, the other is extremely crafty, but is wishy washy about making decisions. It looks like neither of them are ruler material. Because the king’s health is starting to decline, he too may feel that he doesn’t have much time left and thus has been walking closer to Lawrence lately. It’s been said that the king has the desire to reveal Lawrence’s identity and have him inherit the throne.”
“However, the mothers of the other two princes hold great power within the Empire. If the king acts rashly, he’ll lose control of the situation and thus hasn’t made a move yet. As the king becomes weaker and weaker, a storm is starting to brew within the Empire. That old fox Candide doesn’t want you too close to Lawrence, likely because he’s also worried that Lawrence’s identity will affect your future path.”
These words had an extreme impact on Han Shuo. He’d never thought that Lawrence would have such a lofty identity. If all went smoothly, then he could absolutely become the next king of the Empire and hold all of Lancelot in his hand, deciding the fate of anyone within the Empire.
Emily understood that her words had had a huge impact on Han Shuo when she saw him take a breath in, his eyes continuously dancing. When she saw that he had sunk into deep thought, she didn’t disturb him and only stood there, looking at him, waiting for Han Shuo to sort out his thoughts.
After a while, Han Shuo nodded and said with a smile to Emily, “Alright, I understand the particulars of this matter now. Don’t worry, I know how to handle my relationship with Lawrence.”
“Our Dark Mantle has never intervened in the complex situation of the power struggle within the royal family, and simply takes orders from the king. We normally don’t get involved before the situation has cleared up and the king has given definitive orders. The fact that that old fox would give you a subtle hint after your first mission means that he values you greatly.”
“He also means the best for you. The more you know about this matter, the more disadvantageous it is for you. I understand you too well and know your strength and ambitions. This is why I’ve told you such a highly classified matter. As for how to grasp the situation, I leave that to you.” Emily stared at Han Shuo as she continued explaining.
“I know you mean well. Heh heh, I know what to do. Oh, I forgot to tell you. I killed Clark. Valen City should be engulfed in chaos by now.” Han Shuo smiled faintly at Emily.
It was Emily’s turn to have shock written on her face after she heard these words. She looked at Han Shuo with incredulity, asking with extreme shock, “What, what did you say? You said you killed Clark?”
Nodding, Han Shuo said firmly, “Yes, I killed Clark, but someone helped me with it and I only did it through an ambush. Don’t be too surprised.”
Breathing out slightly, Emily was still quite surprised. She shook her head and said, “We’ve investigated Clark’s strength and he’s a solid earth rider. He reached this level at such a young age. His potential is extraordinary, and to think that he would die so easily after being ambushed by you. It looks like you’re keeping quite a few things from me.”
“No, I’m really not hiding anything from you. Just that an archmage necromancer appeared halfway through, and my colleague helped us with Clark. We’ve received great help from his strength, otherwise we would’ve never succeeded.” Han Shuo smiled wryly and quickly summarized what had happened.
Emily’s expression grew even graver after she finished listening to Han Shuo. She murmured, “Necromancers are rare enough already, an archmage necromancer is like the feather of a phoenix or the scale of a dragon. I wonder which faction this necromancer belongs to?”
“I’ll need you to investigate that.” Han Shuo smiled.
“Come and make a trip with me, we need to find something.” Emily pondered for a bit and then wrapped herself with a nearby fur.
“What are we doing?” Han Shuo walked up to Emily and tenderly adjusted a corner of her clothing.
Smiling coyly at Han Shuo, Emily cackled like a little girl planning on playing a prank. “Clark’s just died, so the entire Valen City must be in an uproar right now. The Gryphon Legion must be in a busy panic right now and searching through the entire city for you two. What we need to do is stir the muddy the waters and make things even more confusing.”
“Heh heh, that’s wonderful. I find that I like doing bad things. Perhaps I was a killer or an arsonist in my past life.” Han Shuo smiled faintly.
“You’re also quite a villain in this life.” Emily rolled her eyes at Han Shuo, taking down the boundary and walking outside together.