The Devil’s Cage

Kieran sensed the furious gaze the very moment it landed on him, but he did not care.

He had all sorts of guesses before he came, and what he sensed was just one of many guesses he had in his mind. It was the easiest among everything to deal with.

If the opposite did not do anything upon his arrival, Kieran might be more suspicious and cautious.

‘Growing restless so fast? It seems like the pressure on you is much heavier than I expected,’ Kieran thought in his mind while maintaining his nonchalant look. He maintained his pace as he walked through the two rows of soldiers and made his way into Edatine palace.

Similar to the looks from the outside, the interior of the palace wasn’t as glamorous as expected. It might even look inferior when compared to some manor or estate of some prestigious nobles.

The palace looked very similar to old Marquis Horton’s mansion, the designs and architectural style very reserved.

It was also fair to consider that the architectural style of Edatine VIs palace influenced his closest subjects.

What the superior loved, his inferiors would be found to love it exceedingly. It seemed fitting to apply in this situation.

When Kiean walked up the stairs and into the corridor, he saw that the clean slab paving and the two walls on each side had no decorations at all, no tapestries or paintings, nothing. There were only two sets of armor hanging there for symbolization purposes. A giant chandelier with candles, each as thick as an arm, hung in the middle of the ceiling. The light lit up the whole corridor brightly. He walked down the corridor for several more steps and the grand hall of the palace would come into sight.

Compared to the sorry state of the corridor, the grand hall had a slightly better feel of a palace.

Red and gold streamers hung along the walls, tied to the pillars, which had silver candlesticks embedded on them, by a gold rope. The setting brought out the warm feeling of the rock wall when the candle light shone on it.

Oak wood tables were lined up straight in the middle of the hall and filled with food.

There were also sofas around the hall, providing a space for people to chat during casual times.

Why not put the sofas together?

It was obviously due to the differences of position and identity of the people and their different social circles, especially among the nobles.

“My lord, please wait here for a while. The banquet will start shortly. You can take the food on the table and choose whichever sofa you like,” said the vassal.

After a nod from Kieran, the vassal quickly headed to the door beside the hall—the hall was the place where everyone assembled, not a place for the king to hold meetings or councils.

As a matter of fact, every king’s council hall would be the core of the entire palace, but as a guest, Kieran had no rights to barge in.

Besides, Kieran showed no interest in that place too. He knew what Edatine VI was plotting.

He even had a general idea what the king would discuss with his close subjects in the council hall, but was it important?

Those meaningless conversations were nothing compared to the delicious food on the table. Kieran looked forward to tasting the food rather than listening to what the king had to say.

The roasted meat, which consisted of a fair amount of lean and fatty meat, looked utterly delicious.

Kieran commented in his heart before he strode to the dining table.

Borl, behind Kieran, got stunned for a moment by Kieran’s action.

By spending a long time with the Flaming Devil, he knew how much Kieran was fond of food and he had nothing to say about it.

But he also liked to eat, it was just that he didn’t have the appetite of the Flaming Devil.

The appetite which allowed him to eat like a black hole, it was something Borl couldn’t compete with.

However, never did Borl think the Flaming Devil would still act on his own way even in the palace.

‘Perhaps… he is only going for a little?’

Borl wondered and his hand reached out to his bodyguard, pulling him back.

The reason why the Flaming Devil dared to do it was because of his ridiculous powers.

Should Borl and his bodyguard feast on the food, they might die a horrible death before they even know it.

After all, Edatine VI wasn’t known for his mercy, and he was by no means a kind king.

A king who built his capital like a gigantic fortress had nothing to do with ‘mercy’.

It was important to note that during Edatine V, the palace wasn’t this plain.

There were giant French glass windows, providing an overhead view over the entire city.

The sunlight would also shine through the giant windows, both during sunrise and sunset.

When the wind blew, the streamers would flutter in their unique noise, as if they were singing.

During a storm, the rain that landed on the giant glass window was as powerful as the opening act of an opera show.

The beauty of the night sky was also visible, the vast sky of darkness could be easily captured by the eyes with a slight lift of head.

For the sake of his main mission, Borl did his homework. He had collected many literature works describing Edatine Castle, those writers and poets described the palace of Edatine extensively.

Some even described Edatine Castle as a pearl.

Unfortunately, after Edatine VI ascended to the throne, the ‘pearl’ was long gone and was replaced by an iron pellet!

It wasn’t just sturdy, it hid its fierce glares in the shadow too.

Borl could already make out more than one watch point hiding in the shadows.

These watch points… No, it should be the secret agents of the king. They didn’t just watch beyond the palace, they also kept an eye all over the palace interior.

Borl was certain that the slightest commotion would bring these secret agents out and they would ‘solve’ the problem.

‘Hope things can progress smoothly to-‘

Borl prayed in his heart for a smooth evening but before he could finish his prayers, he noticed that half the food that blanketed the whole banquet table was gone.

‘Since when did it… wasn’t it full a moment ago?’

Borl looked at Kieran, who continued to chew chunks of meat with his furious eating, in utter astonishment, a bitter smile uncontrollably appearing on his face.

He then saw several men coming towards them, in a less than friendly way.

“Here comes trouble,” Borl sighed softly.

Though he hadn’t forgotten his identity, or more precisely, he remembered the deal he had with Kieran.

Before the few men were able to disturbKieran’s eating, Borl and Achen stood in front of them, stopping them from getting close.

“Go away!” the youngest among them shouted loudly.

The young man was dressed beautifully, his presence filled with the arrogance and sternness of a high class noble, but the unknown rage made his rather handsome face look vicious.

“I’m sorry my lord. We are Duke Colin’s follower and guard,” Borl addressed the young man respectfully and stated his identity.

“Duke?”

The young man reacted like he had heard a joke, opening his arms wide and looked left and right.

The people who followed the young man laughed out loud when they caught the young man’s glance.

“Hahahaha!”

“Duke? What a lousy joke!”

“Do you know what place this is?”

“Do you know who you are talking to?”

The men beside the young man laughed out loud as they questioned Borl.

“I don’t know,” Borl replied frankly.

“This is the son of His Majesty Edatine VI!”

“You are speaking to the prince!”

“He is the heir to the entire Northern Lands!”

“And also the future king!”

The introduction given by the others around the young man made Borl frown.

Judging from the attire and the bearing, Borl knew the young man was not some John Doe but never did he think he was talking to the prince, the only son of Edatine VI!

Rumour has it that when Edatine I was building his kingdom, in order to unite the entire Northern Lands, he slaughtered many and his actions were condemned by the Northern Witches, who proceeded to curse him.

“Your kingdom shall collapse overnight!”

“Your bloodline will stop abruptly!”

“Everything that you own will eventually be nothing but garnish for someone else’s splendor!”

…

The overall idea of the curse was something similar.

However, no one believed that the curse worked because back then, Edatine I had the blessings of God of War, but it was also a fact that he had very few children.

No matter how hard Edatine I worked on it, he only got one son, which was Edatine II. The same thing went for Edatine II, whose son was Edatine III. The pattern lasted until Edatine VI and had never been broken before.

Therefore, people started to think the curse of the witches worked, at least a part of it.

Of course, the recent rumours only spread among the people due to the appearance of Lady Calamity constraining the God of War. Before her appearance, no one even dared to think about the rumours.

Therefore, Borl had limited understanding towards the royal lineage, but he knew this prince before his eyes had failed the qualities of a ruler to a kingdom.

The prince had none of the temperament of the heir to Edatine VI, neither did he possess the respective shrewdness.

“Go away!” the young prince shouted again.

If Borl was native, he would step aside obediently but Borl wasn’t.

He scanned the young prince from top to bottom and shook his head a tad.

For the sake of his main mission, he had to keep the promise he made with Kieran and now would be the time for him to perform.

Besides, he strongly believed that what happened in this grand hall would soon enter the king’s ears.

In a short while later, the king, Edatine VI, would be here at the grand hall.

As for the jealousy and rage of the prince before him?

Borl wasn’t worried at all.

He came for his main mission, not for some natives, so his reverence towards a prince was near zero.

However, to Borl’s surprise, within his sight, those secret agents of the king who paid attention to the little encounter did not come forward, not even a single one of them. They stayed in the shadows, as if they were waiting for the show to start.

‘Is there some other communication method that I don’t know off?’ Borl wondered.

The young prince before his eyes was restless.

He raised his hand into the air and his followers surrounded Borl and Aschen.

Borl looked at Kieran, but Kieran did not respond at all.

Kieran was picking up a piece of cut mutton with his chopsticks and sprinkling cumin powder over it.

Without excessive eye contact or words, Kieran’s actions were enough to let Borl know what he should do.

Without a second thought, Borl dished out a punch. He held back and did not hide any weapons in that fist.

Aschen saw Borl punching the man in front of him, so he too followed in swinging his punches like a tornado.

Aschen really wanted to use his halbert but the halbert and the swords were temporarily confiscated when they entered the palace by that cynical vassal.

Bang!

The man in front of Borl fell to the ground after the thud. He might not be good at hand-to-hand combat but that didn’t mean he couldn’t throw a punch, or at least the man couldn’t stop him.

Aschen was even more brutal. His large fish spun in a flurry, similar to a windmill, as he swept his opponent around him to the ground. After Borl struck down his second opponent, Aschen had knocked down all of his.

The bodyguard then looked at the young prince with a ferocious gaze.

For a person as simple as Aschen, regardless of who stood before him, being the prince or the king didn’t matter, he only cared about his boss and Colin, who was on his side. This young prince showed hostility towards Colin, so he must be an enemy! If the young prince was an enemy, Aschen would beat him up fiercely!

The young prince seemingly unable to react to the situation in time. He was quite confident in his followers. It wasn’t just because his followers were decent in fighting, it was also because he handpicked every one of them himself.

He never would have thought the men that he handpicked would be knocked down in a few breaths.

It was only when Aschen walked up to the prince that the prince reacted to the situation.

“WHAT DO YOU WANT?!”

The prince was able to hold back his body from staggering back out of fear, shouting loudly, but it sounded like he was scared inside.

“I want…”

“We don’t mean any harm, dear prince. It is you who tried to pick on our lord,” Borl explained, stopping Aschen before his bodyguard could do anything rash.

It wasn’t until this moment that Borl finally noticed something unusual.

If the secret agents of the king hiding in the shadows did not make a move against him due to the unknown communication method they had, then up until now, after Borl and Aschen beat up the prince’s men and the secret agents still didn’t do anything, things would be worthwhile to ruminate over.

Could it be that His Majesty…

As though he had connected the dots, Borl was struck with shock.

However, he forcefully suppressed the shock back into his heart and used words to prove himself innocent.

Borl sounded righteous and reasonable because it was the fact!

At the same time, Borl’s mind started to spin rapidly.

He had no idea why the king would specifically target 2567. They were fine before this, but he knew he must control the situation under a balanced state, in which he could secure his own safety and prevent things from truly getting ugly with Edatine VI.

They were in Edatine Castle!

Should things go ugly with Edatine VI, it would be the worst for them!

However, the worst had yet to come as Borl thought of something new in his mind: could Edatine VI be related to Broker?

Everything before this was just a disguise and now he finally decided to reveal the hidden dagger?

If that was the case…

Borl’s heart skipped a beat uncontrollably.

After the little confrontation, Kieran had finished the last piece of pastry on the table.

The pastry tasted like an egg cake, it had milk, butter, and sugar added when baked.

The texture was smooth and slightly sweet, as if he was eating pudding. The unfortunate thing was the fire overcooked it a little, making the egg cake less springy.

In fact, it was not just the egg cake that was flawed, all the food served on the table had some mistakes to them.

Though Kieran was used to it, it wasn’t from Starbeck anyway, so it was considered not bad for making it to this level.

‘I want to eat the food you cook…’

The thought came into Kieran’s mind before he turned around and walked to the prince.

Borl and Aschen naturally stepped aside when Kieran came over, standing behind him after he walked past them.

“HOLD IT RIGHT THERE! STOP MOVING!”

The young prince couldn’t hold back his shudders when he saw Kieran walking over. He had no idea why he would shudder, he only felt that the person walking to him was very scary.

He was not as tall or as big as the guard but the prince felt a sense of suffocation under his presence, as though a mountain had fallen from the sky, robbing him of his ability to breath.

“I AM WARNING YOU! I AM THE…”

Bang!

Mustering all his strength, the young prince shouted loudly, but before he could finish, Kieran landed a kick on his face.

After the loud thud, the prince was sent flying backwards and was embedded on the rock wall, like a painting. Two whole seconds later, the prince started to slide off the wall.

Blood spewed from his squashed head.