Subtle changes

Huajin was bustling to complete all the necessary preparation for the upcoming countries meet which was only a weeks away. Under eldest prince instrutction and crown prince support the result was about to be grand.

Being the second large and powerful country their pride was at stake. Post houses for each envoys had been renovated and refurnished. With the news of lord of valley coming along all the people of nobility, high ranked ministers and royals were given thorough intsructions and warnings.

The crowd of huajin was also in great clan our to see both lord of the valley and crown prince of Nanling. The entire medical sect and physicians were in furor carried small hope to receive her blessings.

Eldest prince was proud like peacock at the work he had accomplished and at the results after the complete of preparation. He had managed to gain numerous praise from both crowd and the people above. With the help of his consort mother he was also able to pull some of the old royals under his banner.

Currently in terms of supporters he was equal to Shiyou but was very cautious as not to butt heads with the other party. After receiving the note from one of his spy he no longer care for his fathers acknowledgement. He had tightened his resolve to grab the throne by force than the impossible approval he was dreaming of.

His intellect might not be par to Shiyou but definetly the second best. As soon as he received the foul information he had a meeting with his trusted ones. Taking the advantage of this bustling moment he had managed to pocket big funds to prepare his uncles army.

Beside that other funds were also allocated from his supporters, consort mother and sister to buy several mercenaries from around the world adding the numbers to hundreds. He was waiting for that small spark of opportunity to proceed with his plan.

Shiyou who was more dipped into his own preparation was unknown to this happening or the subtle changes around him. Like how the numbers of servants inside the palace had increased more than it should have, or how the harem seemed to be flowing with more eunuchs and maids.

Xiuzhi was shaken to his very core from the news so was his mother and sister becoming fully aware to hope for familial warmth was just illusion and step towards the deep cliff of death. The current Xiuzhi was well aware only seating on that throne would enable his and his family safety.

Noble consort Cheng too was bitter inside hatred filled to brim in her heart. Her husband who had once promised her all glory and love had been planning to make their son, daughter and herself sacrificial pawns. Had the emperor not asked for the edict with the previous she would have perhaps married to other noble. Where she needn't be the second nor her children.

She cursed and realized her silly self and big dreams which were nothing more than illusion. All the viscious battle and struggle inside the harem was nothing but source of entertainment for her maniac husband. Life was too short keep on being stupid thus like her son she no longer dreamt of impossible things and was more focused on snatching the throne which was now the only talisman of their lives.

Under the disguise of not feeling well she had stopped seeing the emperor for sometime and even managing to insert the mercenaries in form of eunuchs and maids. The harem was now swarming with battle hardened people and waiting to dye the entire place red.

The empress was busy to the top of her head as the entire harem was under her command. With her daughter already performing poor she didn't want the repeat of the same situation nor she had time for usual bickering's with other consorts failing to sense the changes in the harem which for sure was going to come back and bite them.

While the newly appointed royal princess under the guise of training princess had managed to gauze for their possible friend and foe along with several inside informations. Very cleverly like her mother she had managed to latch their people in form of servants.

General Cheng also was preparing a lot inside even managing to bribe the gatekeepers of both capital and the palace. His men were flowing inside like river as merchants, labores, commoners and so on. Being a great general was coming handy and useful the secret army he had been training with the support of his nephew and sister had managed to enter some of the forces belonging to other party. With the recent demand and adding of people in other party's army made the infiltration more easy. Acting as the spy the information they sent was indeed valuable than tons of gold which was yet to be noticed by their nemesis.