The two ca back to the throne room and sat down, frowns plastered on their faces.
They’d secured the Blue team’s flag and tossed it into a nearby cabin.
And yet, they had understood the true aning behind the rules too late.
Capturing the flag was only a way to stir the pot, and what happened after was the real deal.
My guess is... the Blue team also understood it.
Raelis sighed.
"Lesson learned."
"Agreed." Clea nodded. "So what now? Should I, as the Queen, send them an alliance proposal?"
"Do you want to defuse the situation?" Raelis asked. "That could work if we put on the right act, but there’s one small problem."
She seed to get it too.
"While we were gone, soone might’ve disobeyed orders and seen that we were gone," Clea comnted, leaning back. "If that’s the case, they’ve likely inford their friends. And if we were to ask around, then they’d definitely know we left."
If soone knew they left, and the alliance proposal went through, soone from Raelis’s team could let it slip that the two were gone, drawing suspicion to the Blue team and ruining the alliance entirely.
Raelis placed a hand over his forehead.
If we take over by force and capture their King and Queen, then we’d be eliminating an entire valuable team off the board, he thought. Also... my team can’t handle the Blue team’s castle alone. We’d be separating our mbers for no reason.
So the conclusion that Clea and Raelis had co to was simple: they had made a mistake.
"Should I... return it?" Clea suggested. "If I can get there in ti and plant it, then soone might think it was so sort of prank."
Raelis chuckled.
"Honestly? I’d say we do sothing else instead."
A faint grin appeared on his face.
"Let’s focus everything we have on tracking. Scouts. Everyone," he stated. "Let’s see who’ll be the first ones to approach the Blue team for an alliance, and then we use that knowledge to plant the flag in the opposite team’s castle."
Clea tilted her head. "And if they rationally talk it out?"
"We’ve already gone down the wrong rabbit hole," Raelis said and slowly stood up. "Betting on their rationality is the least of my concerns. I just want us to avoid the imdiate backlash."
Clea remained silent for a few monts before letting out a sigh.
"Alright, I’ll call everyone in..."
.
.
.
A few hours had gone by, and the idea was set in stone.
The blacksmiths had repaired a few armor sets, and the alchemists made a couple dozen healing potions, which were handed off to the scouts.
Out of the 53 people who could fight, 33 were sent out as scouts, and the others remained inside the castle.
Clea had also gone along with them, but she disguised herself as a soldier since it seed like the ring that the headmaster had given them had the capabilities to alter their appearance.
Since most wore helts, it was hard to identify her, so with that, Raelis waited for good news.
But in the anti, he wanted to deal with a few troublemakers.
He rose from the throne and stepped toward a group of six people.
They were chatting amongst themselves, and when they noticed Raelis approaching, they all burst out laughing.
Raelis didn’t pay it any mind as he stopped in front of them, evaluating them.
One was a snake, the others were sheep.
"What’s your na?" Raelis asked the one he considered a snake.
"Liam," he replied with a slight smirk. "Is there anything we can do for you? ’Your Majesty?’"
"Indeed." Raelis nodded. "I’m curious, why are you all lazing around here? Do you not want to pass the exam?"
Liam tilted his head. "Lazing around? We’re just talking."
As the others snickered, Liam gave an exaggerated bow. "Apologies, Your Majesty... from this mont forth, we shall... pfft.... k-keep quiet..."
The group burst out laughing again, louder this ti.
Raelis stared at them for a few monts, then rolled up his sleeves.
And before any of them could react, Liam was sent hurtling toward the nearby wall, crashing into it.
"Hey! What do you think you’re—"
The candidate’s words were cut off by a fist to the face, then another, and another, until eventually, all six of the candidates remained groaning on the ground, trying to gather their bearings.
Raelis silently walked past them and crouched down beside Liam, grabbing him by the hair.
"If this were not an exam, and I were an actual King, you’d all be dead."
He slowly stood up, still holding Liam by the hair.
"Cooperation is the one thing I require from you, and yet, you go around acting as if you own the place," Raelis said. "What if soone got in and tried stealing the flag while the six of you were busy chatting with each other? Do you even realize what you’re doing?"
The mont he finished his words, Liam coughed out a mouthful of blood, then shot Raelis a glare.
"You son of a bitch. Who the hell do you think you are? You’re nothing but a bastard. Why the hell should I follow your orders?" Liam yelled, his lips curling into a grin.
"Yeah, I asked around. Soone knew you, said you were the black sheep of the Varekan family. Sothing about your parents... or what’s left of them."
He let out a chuckle.
"You should be grateful just to sit on a throne for once. Bastards like you were never ant to lead nobles like us. That’s why, out of everyone here, you’re the only one I’ll never take orders from."
"I see..." Raelis replied plainly, his expression not changing in the slightest. "In that case, you’re of no use to ."
Liam raised a brow. "What? Are you going to kill ? You know the rules forbid that, right?"
"I don’t need to kill you to get rid of you," Raelis said as he tossed Liam to the floor and crouched beside him.
He placed both hands around Liam’s neck and drove his thumbs into precise pressure points.
Liam’s eyes widened, then fluttered shut, his body going limp.
But before he fully lost consciousness, he was t with a wave from Raelis.
"Sleep tight."
And like that, Liam passed out cold.
Because of the pressure points Raelis had pressed, it would take him a while to wake up, even with help from the healers.
But aside from that...
He turned his head to the five remaining candidates, all trembling in fear.
What should I do with the sheep?
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