Chapter 436

Unaware of the changes happening outside the carriage, Freckled Prince was currently cowering on the seat inside, eyeing Leon sitting across from him with a mixture of fear and bravado as he scolded:

“Don’t think just because you’re from the Clearing Bureau that you can run rampant!”

“The Royal Family and the Clearing Bureau have an agreement. If… if you do anything to me, not only will the Royal Family hold you accountable, but investigators from the Clearing Bureau will come down hard on you!”

“Ah, yeah, totally.”

Too lazy to deal with Joshua’s feeble threats, Leon was instead stroking a protruding goat horn from his cufflink, carefully inspecting the situation near the Royal Palace.

Looking out through the carriage wall, in the shared soul vision provided by the Black Goat, clusters of flexible flames, varying in depth of color, were calmly flickering as usual. Everything seemed normal on the streets surrounding the palace, with no obvious abnormalities.

It seems the rebels were doing a decent job staying under the radar, leaving the palace completely unprepared and unaware of their movements so far. Everything was going smoothly.

Additionally, over a hundred elite rebel members who had undergone military training had successfully blended into the nearby crowd.

Compared to the steady soul flames of ordinary citizens, the soul fires of these rebels preparing to storm the palace were noticeably more “lively,” anxiously yet excitedly flickering.

Although patrols and sentries prevented them from getting too close to the palace, let alone entering the plaza directly facing it, they had to stay further back on the outer streets.

Since the manpower was already in position…

Leon couldn’t help but clench his fist tightly after glancing at those restless souls and then looking at the still-relaxed palace.

This was solid!

Next, as long as he successfully entered the palace and brought Luke, who could control others’ bodies, inside to “replace” the palace Guard Captain, the pre-prepared rebel members could immediately charge the palace across the square.

Though over a hundred people might seem small, for this kind of “inside-outside cooperation,” it was more than enough. Forming ranks in front of the palace and shouting while rushing in wasn’t called a coup; it was called suicide.

Frequent coup plotters should know that a real armed coup requires a small group of elite forces to quickly seize key targets and threatening officials, finishing everything before anyone reacts. That’s when the deed is done.

The difficulty lies in avoiding defenses, hiding the elite force until they’re close enough to strike suddenly, and after the armed assault, how to suppress opposition and stabilize the situation quickly—not how to break into the palace.

All preparations should be made beforehand. From start to finish, the entire operation should take only one or two hours. Any longer would mean failure.

After all, others aren’t fools. With such an open display of gathering forces to attack the palace, even the dullest commander of the Capital City garrison would surely react.

Tricks like cutting roads or blocking streets are meaningless against organized military forces. At best, they might delay things slightly. Gaining two hours would already be pure luck.

Considering the distance between the palace and the garrison camp, if it took more than an hour and a half to arrive, the old king would be furious enough to leap off his wheelchair, strangle the commanding officer, then strangle himself for appointing such an incompetent person.

So, we need to speed up!

…

After reviewing the plan mentally and confirming there were no glaring oversights, Leon released his grip on the goat horn and flashed a friendly smile.

“Prince Joshua.”

In the midst of Freckled Prince’s puzzled expression, Leon, who usually treated him with disdain, pointed down toward their feet with a gentle demeanor and reminded him: “Your shoelaces are untied.”

And as soon as Joshua leaned down to check, Leon swiftly pulled out a small silver hammer with padded ends from his cufflink.

Luke, the holder of the anomalous item created by the Aquarius Director, could take over someone else’s body after they fell unconscious. However, the director had left an anomalous item in the palace before entering the Dream Realm, which could block such intrusions.

Thus, they needed someone “unconscious” to carry Luke’s consciousness into the palace, allowing him to knock out the palace Guard Captain and use his identity to send away most of the palace guard.

Only with most of the guards dispatched could the over a hundred rebels lurking on the outer streets have the chance to rush into the palace and capture the old king.

As for who would be the unconscious person… who better than Joshua?

…

However, just as Leon swung the small silver hammer to send the Freckled Prince into a deep sleep, something unexpected happened. The carriage they were riding in suddenly slowed down, then violently shook.

Caught off guard by the sudden braking, Joshua, who was leaning forward to look at his shoes, predictably flew off his seat, lunging forward and smashing his head into the empty spot beside Leon, even breaking his nose.

Feeling the intense pain from his nasal bridge and smelling the blood inside his nose, Joshua was about to unleash a string of curses when he heard a dull thud from behind.

Turning around in surprise, Joshua saw someone holding the very same hammer used to ring bells in parliament, slamming it down on the seat he had originally occupied, creating a large dent in the soft leather chair.

Judging by the trajectory of the swing, if the carriage hadn’t braked suddenly, that hammer would’ve undoubtedly smashed straight into his head! “Y-you… you… what are you trying to do?!!!”

Seeing Joshua, now utterly terrified and starting to stutter, Leon couldn’t help but show a sheepish grin.

Even though he had already decided to stage an armed coup and send Joshua overseas to marry a monkey, failing in an assassination attempt right in front of the target was definitely awkward.

“That… uh…”

Looking at Joshua’s horrified expression, Leon glanced at the stuck silver hammer in the seat and said somewhat awkwardly:

“Do you think my hammer is pretty?”

“…”

Pretty?! Are you kidding me? Even a fool would realize by now that you were planning to hit me with it!

Looks like there’s no way to bluff this anymore…

Watching his cheap little brother-in-law, who clearly didn’t believe a single word he said, Leon sighed involuntarily, then grabbed the struggling Joshua trying to pry open the carriage door, silently tightening his fists.

Forget it, I’m used to it.

My luck has always been terrible. It’s strange when plans go without a hitch. But missing this blow doesn’t really matter…

Knocking him out will work just as well.

(End of Chapter)