Secret Visit

The next day, Amon woke up early in the morning and wore the cloak and mask he had prepared the day before. The entourage from Yu had already arrived and settled in the palace yesterday. As he had expected, the entourage was accompanied by a royal princess. He had heard from the maids that the princess was in her late teens.

'If she was any older than I wouldn't be so sure that there was going to be a marriage alliance.' Amon thought as he looked around for any servants before leaving his room quietly. He had already decided to support Prince Huang since he was the least powerful among the princes and would rely on him heavily. So, he didn't have to guard himself of betrayal.

Amon finally reached the walls of the inner palace and easily climbed over it with his improved physique. He had learned from Meng that there were people in this world that practiced martial arts and could jump 30 feet in the air or run as fast as a horse but these kinds of people were very rare and usually served as the emperor's secret guards.

'Even if the imperial guards see me, I can outrun them but that's the worst case scenario. Right now, there shouldn't be any guards around here.'

As he thought, Amon reached the prince's residence without encountering any guards. He was still vigilant since there was a chance of being discovered by someone and being mistaken for an assassin. Fortunately, no one saw him as he entered Prince Huang's residence. He went the same way he had gone through yesterday and saw Prince Huang playing Go alone. Prince Huang seemed to have sensed his arrival and looked up before smiling and said,

"So, what bring Eunuch Li to my residence? Or, did you mistake my place for my brother's?"

Amon removed the cloth covering his face and sat down opposite to the prince. He didn't greet the prince as he should have on meeting royalty since he was already trespassing and going through the greetings wouldn't make his offense any lighter.

"If I wanted to meet the other princes, I wouldn't have come here like a thief."

Prince Huang laughed when he heard Li's reply. "Then, why did you come to meet me?"

Amon was already tired of the meaningless conversation with the prince and directly got to the point.

"Do you want to be the emperor?"

The smile was instantly wiped off Prince Huang's face when he heard Amon's question.

"Are you saying you are capable of making this Prince the Emperor? Even the crown prince doesn't have the confidence of being able to sit on the throne that you seem to have."

Amon knew the prince was trying to see through him but he was confident of his plan.

"Of course, no one is capable of saying who will sit on the throne in the end but you will have a better chance of sitting on the throne with my help than without."

"How do I know that you aren't working for one of my brothers?"

"If I was one of the princes, I wouldn't bother playing with you like this."

Prince Huang was surprised after hearing Amon's reply but then started laughing. His laughter didn't have a hint of joy but was filled with sadness and anger.

"You are right. If I was one of my brothers, I wouldn't send you to take care of this powerless prince. But, why do you want to help this prince and not one of my brothers?"

"I am not helping you. I am helping myself."

Prince Huang was surprised again after hearing Amon's reply but then laughed.

"You are being honest. Wouldn't it be more advantageous if you won my trust?"

"We don't have the luxury of time to build trust between us. So, we will work on the basis of mutual benefit."

Prince Huang agreed with him.

"Very well. If you manage to make this prince Emperor, I'll do everything in my power to fulfill one of your wish."

Amon was surprised that Prince Huang would agree so easily and even give him an oath. But, he quickly regained his calm and replied,

"I'll help your highness get revenge for your mother's death and I hope your highness will keep your word."

Amon saw the change in the facial expression of Prince Huang before quickly becoming normal and knew that he had correctly guessed the reason for why this prince wanted to become the emperor. After that, they decided that they would meet again at the same time in order to not alert the other prince's and Amon returned to his residence before someone woke up and realized he was missing.

...

"I don't think that Eunuch is trustworthy your highness."

A hidden guard appeared and kneeled in front of Prince Huang. He had heard the exchange between Prince Huang and the Eunuch and had wanted to kill the eunuch multiple times during the conversation but stopped himself. He felt the Eunuch was very cunning and keeping someone like that by your side would be very dangerous.

"As he said, the relation between us has nothing to with trust. He knows that he won't be valued by the other princes so he came to me, a powerless prince that would rely him. He even managed to guess the real reason why I want to become the emperor. This prince doesn't have the confidence of making someone like him a subordinate, so if he is willing to help this prince in exchange for a promise than I have nothing to lose."

Prince Huang moved a piece on the Go board and continued, "He seems to have a strange confidence that he will be able to make this prince the emperor. As long as I'm able to sit on the throne and give my mother justice, I don't care even if I die the next day."