“…”
After hearing Leon’s words, Prince Andre, covered in snake scales, fell silent for a moment before turning his head to look at Phelia beside him. His lips moved slightly twice, but he didn’t say anything.
“Andre, this is your last chance.”
“I…”
Hearing Leon’s reminder, Prince Andre trembled slightly. Looking at his sister filled with pain, he finally muttered softly:
“I’m sorry… I… I am not a good big brother…”
“…”
Phelia, full of anguish, turned her head and looked at him gently after hearing this. Then she shook her head, extending her arm covered in crow feathers, trembling as she lightly placed it on his shoulder. Though she said nothing, it felt like she had said everything.
And upon meeting her gaze, Prince Andre’s tears welled up, spilling down instantly as he stared with regret:
“I’m sorry! Phelia, I’ve wronged you, and all of you. If only… if only we hadn’t been born in the Crocodile Kingdom!”
Uh… wait?!
Hearing this, Leon nearby was momentarily stunned, feeling like he’d caught onto something, but it was still hazy and unclear.
As for Prince Andre, he hugged Phelia, covered in crow feathers, sobbing uncontrollably and babbling: “It’s all my fault, I was too… If only… if only we hadn’t been born into the royal family, without this cursed lineage, perhaps… perhaps our whole family could have…”
“Hold on!”
Just as Prince Andre was crying halfway through, Leon hissed and then slapped him hard on the back.
“Quick! Repeat what you just said!”
“Huh?”
Right when he was crying his heart out and got interrupted, Prince Andre couldn’t help but feel stunned. He asked bewilderedly:
“Perhaps our whole family could have…”
“Not that sentence! Earlier!”
Earlier…
“If we hadn’t been born into the royal family, without this cursed…”
“That’s it!”
Finally grasping the elusive inspiration, Leon slapped his thigh and immediately pulled Prince Andre’s soul off the ground, loudly asking:
“Tell me quickly, what kind of ‘restriction’ did you sign? Is it like a switch that triggers and can’t be stopped, or does it continuously trigger according to the current state?”
“It’s continuous triggering…”
Andre, somewhat confused, pointed at the three floating blood beads on his forehead:
“These three are the seals of the blood oath, also responsible for executing the blood oath. Apparently, several members died accidentally violating the blood oath in the past, so now, except for deliberate leaks and such situations, it’s changed to this continuous triggering method…”
“There’s a chance then! Now kneel quickly! Immediately announce your surrender to me!”
“Eh?”
“Still don’t get it? All your three restrictions have conditions!”
“While the Crocodile Kingdom exists, you cannot leave; you cannot bear royal descendants; no member of the Crocodile Royal Family can be captured and taken away… Everything hinges on the royal family! Got it?”
“You mean…”
“My point is, I now declare war on behalf of the Thrush Kingdom, capturing the last two members of your royal family, extinguishing the Crocodile Kingdom!”
In the stunned expression of Prince Andre, Leon reminded:
“Only rulers count as royalty. If the Crocodile Kingdom is gone, what makes you royalty? And since no royal members were captured and taken by the Clearing Bureau, can your restrictions still take effect?”
They should… stop?! Following Leon’s logic, Prince Andre couldn’t help but tremble with excitement, hesitantly saying: “This… this seems too far-fetched, right? Can it really work?”
“Will it work or not? You gotta try!”
Supporting the Jade-eyed Maiden, making her kneel in front of him, Leon pulled Prince Andre down to his knees too, setting up the simplest surrender ceremony ever. He then broke off a dry branch from nearby to serve as a ceremonial sword, placing it on Prince Andre’s shoulder, and loudly declared: “I, Leon Lane, during my mission to the Crocodile Kingdom, discovered the hidden sins of the Crocodile Kingdom, thus declaring war on behalf of the Thrush Kingdom, occupying the royal palace of the Crocodile Kingdom, capturing the last two members of the Crocodile Kingdom’s royal family, announcing the fall of the Crocodile Kingdom!”
“…”
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“What are you hesitating about? Don’t you care about your sister’s life? Surrender already!”
“…”
Surrendering is fine, but this ceremony feels a bit humiliating, and usually, even if you really surrender, you don’t have to bow to someone like this…
Looking at Leon urging him repeatedly to surrender quickly, Prince Andre’s mouth couldn’t help but twitch. With no other choice, he had to pull himself together and dragged his sister to bow to Leon.
“I… the third prince of the Crocodile Kingdom, Andre, along with the sixth princess, Phelia, hereby surrender to… the person in front of us, declaring permanent abandonment of the identity of the Crocodile Kingdom’s royal family…”
And as Prince Andre made his declaration, the tricolor blood beads on their foreheads actually started shaking, visibly beginning to dissipate.
It worked! It actually worked!
Who would have thought that such a ridiculous way could bypass the blood oath? The deposed king Andre couldn’t help but stand up excitedly.
However, at this moment, after the tricolor blood beads dissipated halfway, they stopped disintegrating instead of continuing. They remained silently spinning, slowly yet inexorably destroying everything about them.
Still no good, huh? Watching the tricolor blood beads on their foreheads, which were just a little smaller but still relentlessly destroying their souls, the hopeful eyes of Andre and his sister dimmed instantly.
Indeed, such a farcical method couldn’t completely bypass the Execution King Assembly’s restriction. It merely loosened the hand choking their throats a bit, and their fate remained unchanged.
…
“You think it might be because this condition alone isn’t enough?”
Staring at the tricolor blood beads that were half-dissolved, Leon frowned:
“Your two restrictions include not leaving the Crocodile Kingdom and not being taken away by the Clearing Bureau from the Crocodile Kingdom. So… besides the royal identity, might the place itself of the Crocodile Kingdom be one of the conditions of the blood oath?”
???
Meaning… you’ve only completed the “surrender” but haven’t actually “occupied” the land of the Crocodile Kingdom, so it doesn’t fully destroy the Crocodile Kingdom, nor completely terminate the blood oath? With the precedent, Prince Andre instantly understood Leon’s plan and asked, his cheeks twitching: “Are you thinking of destroying…”
“Let’s destroy the entire Crocodile Kingdom!”
(End of Chapter)
