Chapter 9 : The smart King.

An old woman with white shoulder-length hair, who had been quiet finally spoke.

She was Chan-yeol, king Choi's mother. She found the boy adorable and found it hard to see him dying.

The king became even more enraged. He had just chased Yeli's backer Ari a minute ago, and yet another backer popped out of the blue.

Another thing that made him furious was that he was not going to kill Yeli and Joab until they had told their hideout and the moment he heard his mother's words he was about to say, "I'm not going to kill them, I just want to threaten them to tell me their hideout." which would have caused a lot of damage.

"Mom... shut your mouth! do you want me to drag you away just like your granddaughter Ari?"

His words were cold and hostile which made Grandma Chan-yeol tremble with fear and shut her mouth.

Afterward, he took the initiative to warn the others not to stand for Yeli and Joab.

"Let me warn you, I don't want to hear anyone spouting nonsense again backing those two, or else you will end up in the same fate as them."

He painstakingly spoke coldly enough to make everyone shudder.

Indeed everyone who was preparing to say some good words for Yeli and Joab immediately withdrew.

"Yeah...It's not a good idea to stand for an outsider. After all, the dangers these people could have brought would have affected all of us."

Dae-seok said calmly this time and he tried to look smart.

There was one more thing that made king Choi's displeased.

What was that?

Yeli's expression remained composed with zero traces of fear or panic. Only Joab looked a little worried, but the fact was that he was not worried about himself but for Yeli.

"No one can stand for you now. You'll definitely die. You messed up with the wrong person. However, do you have anything to say before I ordered the soldiers to kill you?"

Said the king.

He was just trying to find out if there was still a chance to know Yeli and Joab's hideout without using too much effort.

Yeli sneered and said indifferently.

"Do you take us for fools? You killed our brothers 3 years ago. At least I have an idea that you're ruthless. How can we come here unprepared? We're prepared to die. That is the reason why only 2 of us have come here. We already figured it out and you can kill us, at least the rest of our brothers are safe. We sacrificed ourselves by coming here. But I have to warn you killing two of us won't be a simple task. Get ready to lose some lives."

Everyone was astounded and dumbstruck they didn't expect Yeli to be so arrogant even on the verge of dying.

Normally, people would beg for mercy.

They didn't expect Yeli to even threaten the king. King Choi was enraged by his fearless words.

But he couldn't act rashly. After all, his main target was Yeli's wealth, not Yeli's life.

"Punk you're too daring and arrogant. Do you think you can even fight back with just one man with you?"

Kim Dae-seok asked in disdain.

"Kid you're on our turf and you're outnumbered. What's giving you confidence that you can win? Why do you think it won't be simple to kill you two?"

Elder Jun, an old man with long eyebrows asked in puzzlement.

"I didn't say we will win probably you're the one to win and It seems like you're all foolish here, in that case, I won't bother with you anymore."

Yeli said because they couldn't sense that something was amiss.

Everyone was jaws dropped.

"What did he say!?"

General Park Dae-seong who had been quiet for a long time finally asked in shock.

'What is giving him the confidence to talk like that?'

'Is he out of his mind? He even called us foolish, he even seemed calm and composed with zero traces of fear on his face.'

Even Joab was astounded. Honoured Prince was too much fearless.

"You're too arrogant!!"

King Choi roared. However, he found the boy extraordinary.

From his speech, he was ready to die for his men. King Choi's plan would not work. Keeping Yeli in jail would not bring any good results. Yeli would not speak up and reveal his hideout.

'Should I Just kill him? It will bring me nothing. Should I keep him in prison? Useless! Threatening has failed!

What about sending spies...It won't work after this incident they'll become more cautious.

What should I do then?'

King Choi was deep in his thoughts.

Luckily there was still another option.

He finally glared at Yeli and smiled.

"I like your courage, It's extraordinarily rare. How can I kill that important person? How about becoming my merchant for the time being? I will give you everything you want"

Even though king Choi said this he didn't mean it.

Since things had escalated to this point. Yeli would not feel safe moving with his people into Jiuhon.

So king Choi was trying to make Yeli trust him and feel safe before agreeing to Yeli's request.

King Choi could be considered a smart king. He had a very high IQ incomparable to most hundreds of kings.

Everyone was stunned. They didn't understand why the king was tolerating such an arrogant young man.

"Ah. your highness, what's wrong with you? Everyone has witnessed this boy's severe arrogance. Why have you suddenly given him another chance and even a chance to become your merchant? Talking of which, this kid will bring insecurity to this kingdom. He is obviously here with bad intentions."

Kim Dae-seok complained.

Merchants were highly valued in Jiuhon. If someone was lucky and became the king's merchant, he would undoubtedly enjoy several benefits and live his whole life in a lap of luxury.

"Hah Kim Dae-seok you're indeed a fool. Everyone can tell that Prince Yeli is not a traitor."

King Choi mocked and several other people nodded their heads slowly in agreement.

Even though a few moments ago he was pleased with Dae-seok's behaviour, the threatening game he was good at was now over.

On the other, Yeli gradually changed his impression of king Choi.

One of his weaknesses of Yeli was that he trust people easily and once he trusted someone he would forget all previous happenings.

However, Yeli was a Honoured Prince, how could he become someone's else lackey?

Moreover, he already had enough wealth with him and if he went to his home any day, he would become extremely rich. Since Abaki Kingdom was known as the land of gold and the land where its dust was gold.