The scenery around him seed to be spinning, making him dizzy and disoriented.
"Panic." Hughes could only feel his breathing becoming difficult.
"Rember this feeling," Joseph V said as he looked down, his sharp eagle-like eyes fixed intently on his son with an unprecedentedly serious tone, "because once you sit in this position, this feeling will surround you at all tis. It will make you panic, breathless, like a mountain pressing down on you, forcing you to crawl forward."
Hughes’s forehead beaded with sweat, which rolled down in large drops, uncertain whether it was because of the sensations Joseph described or the implications of his words.
"Your Majesty."
Holding back his panic, Hughes hurriedly stood up from the throne and retreated to one side.
"I know you have many questions." Joseph V sat back down, his voice returning to its calm deanor, "There are so things I should tell you about now."
Hughes imdiately bowed to listen attentively.
"I know you have grievances about the fact that I have yet to appoint a Crown Prince, allowing the internal strife within the Royal Family to persist, but I did this for your sake. If I really made you the Crown Prince, you would end up like your elder brother."
Hughes was the Second Prince, and he had an extrely talented elder brother who, tragically, died young—an unexpected casualty in what seed to be an insignificant military operation.
After a lengthy investigation, it was deed an accident.
Hughes was shocked, "So it wasn’t an accident?"
"How could it have been an accident," Joseph V scoffed.
"But we are the Royal Family, the supre cklenburg Family. If even the heirs to the Royal Family cannot be protected, can our hold on the Imperial Throne remain solid? Will we still be able to rule over the vast Galaxy Empire?" Hughes asked incredulously.
"That’s why our hold on the Imperial Throne is not solid."
Joseph V’s imdiate response made Hughes collapse to the ground in shock.
"So that’s it..."
"Hughes, I am dying, and I hope you will not make the sa mistakes I did," Joseph said, a trace of regret appearing on his aged face. He recalled his brother’s words from years past.
His brother had said he would surely regret it.
His brother had accused him of digging at the roots of the cklenburg Family.
How laughable that he had looked down on his brother’s cowardice, decisively instigated a coup, and only after his coronation did he understand his brother’s difficulties.
But did he regret it?
No! He would never regret the things he had done.
Not even in death.
While Joseph V might not have been suited to be a monarch, he was certainly a mastermind, soone who would never admit defeat.
Having plotted for so long in the shadows against the Seven Guardian Dukes, the Cabinet, and the Military Departnt, how could he possibly concede defeat.
...
In the end, Hughes did not know how he managed to leave the Imperial Palace. When he passed through the crystal-clear, suspended corridor made of ice, he could barely stand, luckily supported in ti by his loyal aides waiting there.
"Your Highness, you look very pale, should we call for a doctor?"
"No need!"
Hughes quickly composed himself, returning to the calm, aloof deanor of the Second Prince.
"Inform the Elder Council that His Majesty is unwell and will not be making an appearance."
"Yes!"
The aide imdiately sent the orders through the work terminal.
"Your Highness..." The aide hesitated, a trace of uncertainty on his face, "There is one more matter."
"Speak, what is it?"
"Duke Murphy has been released."
"What?" Hughes exclaid, his face draining of color.
"Duke Murphy has been released and is temporarily confined to his private residence in the Noble District. There are soldiers guarding the outside, and without a transit order, no one can enter or leave."
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