Chapter 007: The Final Choice

After hearing these words, Prince Fischer pondered for a moment before slowly nodding and saying, “You’re right… No matter how you look at it, you’re bound to win in this situation… But I’m not quite sure—how did you manage to do this?”
Oscar smiled faintly, patted him lightly a few times, then said in a low voice, “Your Highness… I think it’s time for you to step forward and explain things to them… Otherwise, they probably won’t understand even if they die.”
With Oscar’s words, a figure slowly emerged from behind the red carpet. He stepped a few paces behind Oscar before bowing slightly and saying, “Young master, Beringer pays his respects…”
Oscar laughed heartily and said, “Your Highness Prince Beringer, I’ve already made you a prince just now. Why be so respectful? But go ahead and meet your old friends—see what expressions they make!”
The man sneered and said, “That goes without saying!”
With that, he stepped forward a few paces, bowed slightly toward the platform, and said, “His Majesty Austin III, Prime Minister Kimberly, Prince Fischer, Duke Green… and all the others… Beringer pays his respects!”
The entire crowd was shocked!
For this person was none other than Duke Beringer, who had previously been on the side of the eldest prince!
Even the old emperor, who had originally planned to ignore everything, couldn’t help but open his eyes. He suddenly channeled his combat energy and shouted at Beringer, “Beringer! The Austin lineage has always been generous to your family! Why did you do this?”
That roar was like a thunderclap, constantly striking at people’s eardrums. Clearly, the old emperor was furious.
Duke Beringer in the distance sighed slightly and said, “Your Majesty… I’m well aware that the Austin lineage has been generous to my family… But my family is a branch of the Royal Family of the Bauhinia Dynasty. From the beginning, it was destined that there could be no compromise with the Gavin Empire. My family has been lurking within the empire for a hundred years just for this moment…”
Hearing this, the old emperor grunted in anger and crushed the armrest of his chair with a single grab!
Clearly, he was extremely enraged, but he couldn’t do anything to Duke Beringer at the moment.

Prince Fischer let out a slight sigh and after a moment said, “Then, Lord Belinger, I want to ask you… how did you guess my plans? Although I initially thought of winning over your family, it seems I didn’t reveal any plans at all!”
Duke Belinger sneered a few times, shook his head, and said, “At first, I didn’t want to side with you, Prince Fischer, because you are far too shrewd—so shrewd that it scares me… The Crown Prince, on the other hand, though ambitious, has only arrogance and pride instead of any real intelligence… Everything he has done today, including the experts he recruited, the military generals he controlled, and even his coup plans, were all arranged by our Plum Blossom Dynasty for him… He always thought he would win, but everything he did was merely paving the way for our Plum Blossom Dynasty! Without the Crown Prince’s efforts… I think we wouldn’t be able to stand here right now… So, Your Highness, I am here to represent the Plum Blossom Dynasty and thank you!”
By this point, his words carried a clear tone of sarcasm.
The Crown Prince naturally heard what they were saying, so his expression became as ugly as it could be.
Hearing Duke Belinger “thank” him, his face turned extremely pale, but as a formidable figure, he stared at Duke Belinger and said slowly, “You say! All the experts I recruited were arranged by you!”
Duke Belinger smiled slightly and said, “Of course… Otherwise, how could you have had the ambition to rebel? Not only were the people arranged by us, but in fact, they are all from our Plum Blossom Dynasty… Come out and meet your esteemed Highness!”
As soon as Duke Belinger finished speaking, more than a dozen figures emerged from among the cavalry. They all bowed toward the Crown Prince and declared loudly, “We greet Your Highness!”
Their voices were full of respect, almost like worship, but everyone could hear the sarcasm beneath!
The Crown Prince felt a tightness in his chest and almost spat out blood!
After taking a few deep breaths, he said coldly, “Good! Very good! You’re all excellent!”
Then, he turned around, his gaze locking onto Duke Belinger like that of a venomous snake, and continued, “You say, the military generals under me were all arranged by you?”

Duke Belinger smiled and said, “What if not? Then how did we end up here? Can’t even Your Highness figure that out?”
The crown prince’s expression grew even darker, but he still spoke slowly, word by word, “Then I’ll ask you again! Was my coup plan also arranged by you?”
Duke Belinger seemed to ponder for a moment before saying, “Oh! If you think that way, then this plan was actually conceived by Your Highness yourself. All we did was help refine it and push it forward! For example, during the attempt to assassinate Prince Fischer outside the city, would you have taken action if our people hadn’t backed you up? And as for this coup, if I hadn’t come to you personally, would you have made up your mind so quickly? So… Your Highness, you’re an excellent puppet… You’ve done so much for our Azalea Dynasty—we’re truly grateful! So go ahead and surrender without worry! Considering everything you’ve done, I think the young master will grant you a reward—somewhere around the rank of baron, I suppose!”
The crown prince surrendering and then becoming a baron!?
“Pfft—”
Seemingly overwhelmed by anger, blood gushed from the crown prince’s mouth, and he stood there, nearly trembling.
The astonished looks from the surrounding warriors and the strange expressions on the soldiers’ faces pierced his heart like needles, shattering his once-unshakable confidence. Looking at the sea of people around him, the crown prince suddenly gave a bitter smile. No matter how arrogant he had been, he must have realized that trying to become emperor at this point was nothing but delusion!
Facing the surrounding cavalry, the crown prince suddenly made the most correct decision of his life.
Stay and fight? Ridiculous!
Admit defeat? Ridiculous!
Try to escape? The ultimate joke!
The crown prince gently grasped the sword at his waist, slowly drew it out, then glanced at the warriors around him with strange expressions. With a light smile, he said, “Gentlemen! We’ve lost! It seems I no longer have the right nor the ability to lead you in building a great empire! But I hope that even after my death, your loyalty to the Gavin Empire will remain!”
With that, the crown prince stood tall, looked in the direction of Prince Fischer, and laughed heartily. “It’s not that I’m inferior to you! It’s just that fate favors you, not me! Fischer! My dear brother! From now on, this powerful empire is in your hands!”

As he spoke, the crown prince suddenly let out a fierce shout. His combat energy burned fiercely throughout his body, and with a violent explosion, all his armor turned to dust! Judging from his combat energy, he must have reached at least the eighth level of warrior! With his combat energy still blazing, he suddenly rushed toward Oscar and Duke Belinger with great speed. Despite the warriors around him being right nearby, none tried to stop him, for they all understood that what the crown prince was doing was merely to reclaim the last dignity of the royal family! As if he had anticipated this scenario, Duke Belinger sneered and said calmly, “Your Highness, let me return the thousand crossbows you gave me now!” Then, with a lift of his hand… a barrage of arrows shot at the crown prince. At first, his combat energy could barely hold back the arrows, but after a short while, it vanished completely. He tumbled through the air like a cork, struck repeatedly by arrows. In the end, his body was covered in so many arrows that he resembled a hedgehog. Yet even then, he did not release the sword in his hand. With a “thud,” the crown prince fell to the ground. But he still struggled to get up, laughed loudly several times, and shouted, “I am of the royal family! How could I die at the hands of these remnants of the former dynasty?” With that, he swung his sword horizontally, and one last surge of combat energy erupted from the blade. Blood gushed from his throat, and his body, now like that of a hedgehog, collapsed to the ground… Both the crown prince’s army and Prince Fischer’s army knelt down almost simultaneously in the direction where the crown prince had died. Even in Oscar’s eyes, a strange expression flashed by… It seemed that in his final moment, the crown prince had earned everyone’s respect with his death!