Chapter 3 - Competing

Morning arrived the next day after staying inside the infirmary for the night.

No one really knew the identity of the two brothers or that they were even there.

As he had promised with the emperor, they will keep his brother safe.

But in return he will be fighting with the son and daughters of the emperor for the throne.

First he gathered information as to he will compete with the general.

The general explained to him the rules made by the emperor and some information .

There were many rules, however killing is not forbidden but it will have some consequences.

There were also rules such as no external help can be provided to competitors but those have some loopholes.

For example, you can just have someone like your ally provide themselves help from outside.

That is why the war for the throne you will be needing both brain and brawns.

Moving on, Aither also gathered some information about the ones he'll be competing with.

There were 9 people competing including him except the one who didn't want to participate.

It was rumoured that she was a princess who wanted to be a general.

As for the 8 there were 5 princes and 3 princesses.

They were all people full of ambitions.

2 of the princess work with their brother while the remaining one wanted to be an empress.

Along with the princess that wanted to be an empress the other three princes were also competing alone.

As for the nobles, of course they already pick the one they would support.

Most of them pick the crowned prince, as he was the strongest and wisest of the 8.

Now back to the present.

Aither was wearing an imperial prince's outfit tailored for him.

It was surprising how fast they made it.

While he was looking at himself in the mirror, a maid arrived and said.

"Please follow me young lord, I will be the one guiding you to the hall."

She spoke in a professional voice, and Aither nodded and followed her from behind.

They soon arrived at a familiar large door.

"This is as far as I can go young lord, I will be opening the door so please enter alone."

"Unn"

The door opened and the people inside all looked towards Aither's direction.

Who was he? Was what they all thought at his unexpected appearance.

Soon the people inside chatted with each other murmuring to themselves curious as to who he was.

"Silence."

Said the emperor and silence fell on the room.

All the people sitting on the long table were officials and they were all gathered here for some reason.

They guessed that it might have some relations towards the unfamiliar man wearing an imperial robe.

"The Imperial Prince's and princesses has arrived."

A loud voice resounded in the place and everyone's attention moved towards the door's direction once more.

Afterwards, 8 people entered and all of them were wearing the same imperial robe and dress.

All of them were beautiful and handsome but Aither didn't pay any attention to them.

They were all going to be his enemies anyway.

"""We Greet the emperor!"""

They all simultaneously said and kneeled on the ground.

Following them all the officials in the room also kneeled and bowed towards the emperor.

"Stand."

And they all returned to their sits. However the prince and princess remained in the middle of the room standing.

After a moment the emperor spoke.

"Now that all of you are here, I have an important matter I must announce."

"As I said before the fight for the throne will start in a months time, that is why I have given all of you the support that you need."

"However, there is something unexpected that has occured and I hereby announce that the man you see over there...."

"Shall be competing for the throne."

At his words the whole place went silent, they were dumfounded by his words.

As for the prince and princess they all had widened eyes and looked at Aither.

That man suddenly appeared and became a candidate for the throne so it was expected they would be shocked.

However they soon regained their composure.

That man won't be a threat to them, he was still all by himself while all of them already gathered their forces.

A months time? How will he be able to gather enough people to compete with him at that short amount of time.

But they weren't conceited, there is still a possibility that he could be a threat.

After all the emperor doesn't make such rash decisions so they still needed to be wary of him.

And so, looking at them, to all the people in the room currently looking at him.

Aither smiled and said,

"Nice to meet all of you, I am Aither and I will also be competing for the throne."

At his introduction, it felt as if all the danger they felt from him disappeared.