Prince Huang

"The emperor gets weaker everyday and none of the princes are going to let the crown prince ascend easily. If you wait any longer, you won't be able to protect yourself after I'm gone." Meng was talking to a 17 year old boy kneeling in front of him. It had already been nine years since the day he had picked the boy off the streets. Li had grown up quite tall and still had pale skin. He had also become prettier that even some of the concubines in the palace were jealous of him.

"Why are you so pessimistic Uncle Meng? You still have a few decades left in you."

Amon had become a lot closer with the Eunuch Meng since he was the first person he had met after arriving in the world. Meng was his teacher, parent and only close friend in this world.

"I just want you to start making preparations. You could lose your life at any time while you are working here."

Meng was worried about him. Li did not cause any trouble and did his job properly but the boy had no other friends and spent all his time swinging a sword or making strange symbols on paper.

They did no have a lot of time for conversation since the Emperor had started relying heavily on the Eunuch Meng whom he trusted immensely. Because of this, Amon, who had a close relationship with Meng was sought out by the concubines to curry favor and sometimes even the princes would try to bring him to their side.

Amon was also helpless about the situation. It had already been nine years since he had arrived in this world and he was not any closer to completing the task. Everyday, he would practice the sword and work inside the palace. He had also thought of countless ways to complete his task but all of them required him to have a lot more power than what an Eunuch had.

'The emperor is going to die soon. This is the best chance I have of throwing the empire into chaos and hope the others take this opportunity to destroy it. For now, I should choose one of the princes as my master and hope he's an incapable emperor.' Amon seriously thought about which prince he was going to follow.

Currently, there were seventeen princes in the palace all from different concubines but only three were capable of contending for the throne. The crown prince was birthed by the Empress and had a high chance of becoming the emperor if things went smoothly. Amon wouldn't choose the crown prince because he already had a steady foothold and backing inside the palace and wouldn't put much importance on his support.

Next was Prince Yuan birthed from one of Emperor's favored concubines. He had the most power after the crown prince since his mother was from a family of generals. This prince although capable, showed hedonistic behavior so it wouldn't be surprising if Tang Empire was destroyed after he became Emperor especially if someone like Amon with bad intentions was adding oil to the fire. Amon was also sure the prince would value his support since the prince didn't have any Emperor's people helping him.

The last one was Prince Zhao. He was the oldest of the three but was born from a concubine so he wasn't named the heir. His mother wasn't favored as much as Prince Yuan's and didn't hold as much power in court as the other princes but both the princes were wary of him. It was because Prince Zhao held the position of commander of the army and had gone to the empire's borders and fought in skirmishes. Amon had met the Prince before and thought that he was very ambitious compared to his brother. He also had a greater chance of becoming the heir if something happened to the crown prince.

Amon was writing down his thoughts when he heard a shout and the sound of someone falling into the water. He rushed out and saw that a child had fallen into the pond that the Empress used to keep her koi fish. Some of the other servants had also heard the shout and were gathering near the pond. Amon didn't hesitate to jump into the water since he knew how to swim and pulled the drowning boy outside the water and was already trying to force out any water that had gotten into the boy's lungs. The concubines had also heard the commotion and come out from their courtyards. The boy finally started coughing and Amon let out a sigh of relief.

Now, that he looked at the boy clearly, he remembered that this was one of princes born from one of the Emperor's favorite concubines. He was named Huang and was close to his age. Amon remembered that his mother was put to death by the Emperor but he didn't know the reason. The prince had been raised by the maids in the palace. Amon had not considered him a contender for the throne since he was too young compared to the others.

After the brief panic in the garden, everyone returned to their courtyards and the prince was carried away by the servants on the Imperial Physician's order. Amon had no idea what the prince was doing in the inner court garden and had even fallen into the pond.

Later, in the evening, Amon was summoned by Eunuch Meng on Emperor's orders to be rewarded for saving a prince from dying. The reward was pretty generous consisting of a note that could be used to used to gain pardon if the crime wasn't heavy. He also got 100 silver coins although he had no way of using them inside the palace.

'Maybe I can use it to bribe someone with this.' Amon thought.