Kingdom's Bloodline

*Sizzle!*

That instant, the irritatingly-bright light suddenly went out amid a loud noise!

*Thud!*

The sound of a person ramming against another rang in the room.

Thales’ Sin of Hell’s River was activated in the darkness, and he became more sensitive to light, but he did not manage to catch what had happened. However, he felt the pressure on his neck disappear. Dean’s dagger left his carotid artery and windpipe.

*Clank!*

The dagger fell on the ground with a clatter.

Thales tried his best to move an inch backwards. Like a man who just grabbed hold of a life-saving plank, he seized his own throat in unrecovered shock. As the Sin of Hell’s River relieved the pain in his neck, he breathed hard.

*Clank!*

The sound of the bed crashing against the closet was clear, and it was followed by the sound of intense fighting.

"No!"

When Thales lifted his head in the next second, he discovered to his shock that the bald mercenary had already gotten his neck in a headlock. A pair of arms stretched out from behind him and yanked him back hard!

Dean tried hard to cling to the bed frame, and he stepped firmly on the ground to maintain his balance. He refused to let his enemy drag him down. At the same time, he turned his head around in shock.

"Quick Rope, what are you—"

He could not continue speaking.

The reason was, at some unknown point of time, Quick Rope had locked his arms tightly together to strangle Dean!

Thales watched the scene in shock, unable to understand what was going on. With Hell’s senses, he saw Quick Rope pressing himself firmly against Dean’s back with a resolute face. He used his left arm to lock Dean’s neck while he withstood Dean’s struggles and resistance. His eyes shone with a lively, rarely-seen spark!

Under Dean’s disbelieving face, the calm Quick Rope locked his right elbow with his left arm, and used his right palm to press against the back of the mercenary’s head.

"You know, Dean..."

Quick Rope was almost pressing against the back of Dean’s ear. He spoke in a cold tone Thales had never heard before, "Most of the information about Moriah Walton’s filled with all sorts of errors and loopholes."

While he endured the immense pressure against his neck, Dean’s face turned savage, but there was also a hint of pain in him. However, the battle-seasoned man instantly moved. He released the bed frame, and at the same time he stomped on the ground with both of his legs, hurling his entire body backwards!

*Bang!*

Quick Rope’s back crashed hard against the closet!

Nonetheless, Quick Rope’s hold of Dean’s neck remained firm. The two of them were still unseparated.

On the bed, Thales saw Quick Rope’s entire body being pushed against the closet by Dean. He even had both of his legs in the air.

Thales was so shocked that he forgot to breathe.

It was not the "accident" he imagined would happen.

’No.’

"He did learn some skills from the Star Killer, but his results from those lessons were horrible..." Quick Rope’s face was contorted. He clenched his teeth tightly, speaking as if he had an immense weight pressing down on him.

Dean’s puzzled look slowly disappeared, and shock grew more prominent on his face.

’No.

’No...’

In the scuffle, Dean whose face was red, gritted his teeth and swung his elbows. He struck the person behind him hard!

*Thud!*

The dull thud of an elbow coming into contact with a man rose into the air.

Quick Rope shivered slightly, but his expression remained unchanged, as though the heavy blow was just Dean helping him scratch an itch.

Dean’s face became even redder. He was glaring at the spot before him, and his cheeks twitched.

In the next moment, Quick Rope instantly used both of his legs to clamp down on Dean’s waist and stomach from behind!

"He may have looked up to the life of a mercenary, but he was never the man spoken in the legends. He’s not one of those protagonists who’ve experienced many battles..." Quick Rope’s expression grew more solemn and severe. The arms he used to lock down on Dean’s neck trembled slightly. It was stretched taut like a bowstring, and his tremendous strength could be vaguely seen in every inch of his body.

Thales stared at the scene incredulously. He had long since held JC’s dagger in his hand, but the two scuffling men and his chaotic thoughts made it hard for him to make a call. The sharp tip of his dagger kept moving back and forth furiously between the two of them.

"He may have accepted a good education, but his mastery of the Orc language is terrible, and he doesn’t know how to create all those schemes in the political scene..." Quick Rope continued to grit his teeth. He still had his arms locked around Dean’s head and neck. His right palm was pushing forward while his left arm was pulling backwards. With those two forces moving against each other, he maintained a strong pressure on the mercenary’s throat.

Conversely, the bald mercenary’s struggles were becoming weaker.

He hit backwards with his elbows, scratched and tried to grab Quick Rope with his arms, but it was all in vain. His body crashed and scratched against the closet violently. He exerted strength in both his legs multiple times to ram his enemy against the closet.

Unfortunately, all those tactics did not affect Quick Rope’s resolute gaze and his decision to kill Dean.

A few seconds passed.

The anger and hate in Dean’s eyes started to fade. They were replaced with fear.

Despite that, Quick Rope did not let go.

He did not...

His expression was still firm while his arms remained locked around his enemy’s vitals. It looked like he had his arms wrapped around a lover he would absolutely never let go, as though his arms would be locked around Dean’s neck until the day the world ended.

Quick Rope lowered his head, and with much difficulty, said, "And... the woman he loved..."

His voice was filled with sorrow.

As he noticed something at the last moment, Dean lifted his head in fear and looked at Thales, who had his dagger raised in front of him.

Simultaneously, Quick Rope looked up as well from behind that bald man. He moved his gaze to the Prince of Constellation.

Thales endured the gazes of the two pairs of eyes. One of them was filled with incomprehensible regret, and the other with sorrowful determination.

Finally, the quick scuffle and shocking encounter came to an end.

Dean shuddered one last time, and his expression froze during his final moments.

His eyes slowly fell shut, and his hands fell limply to his sides. His knees gradually collapsed, and with Quick Rope on his back, both of them slowly slid down the closet.

The victor was decided.

For a short period of time, only two sets of breathing could be heard in the room.

One of them was cautious, and the other was filled with the fear of someone who had just escaped death.

"That woman..."

Quick Rope lowered his head, hiding his expression in the shadows.

"She’s not a whore," he said as he panted. There was a slight quiver in his voice.

"She isn’t."

Quick Rope remained locked around Dean’s body for a few seconds even though Dean’s face had lost all signs of vitality.

Then, Thales exhaled slowly and put down his dagger.

Thales gulped despite his dry throat.

"Quick Rope, where did you learn that killing move?"

Quick Rope suddenly registered what was going on and came back to his senses, recovering from his fight-to-the-death state of mind.

He sighed at first, then curled the corners of his lips to gently poke fun at the prince.

"Thales, judging from your expression, you already know the answer, right?"

With a dazed expression, Thales stared at Quick Rope who was sitting on the floor. He watched as Quick Rope slowly removed his arms from Dean’s neck and removed his legs from Dean’s waist as well as stomach. He then freed himself from Dean, who was no longer breathing.

A shocking answer rose in his heart.

’No.’

"War is the art of deceiving the enemy..." Thales muttered.

In his mind he saw that rare, exciting, and memorable, thrilling fight. It was the one that happened not long ago at the borders south of Eckstedt, in the Land of Barren Rocks in the City of Faraway Prayers.

It was the Star Killer against the Raven of Death.

At that time...

Quick Rope let out a bark of silent laughter in the darkness.

"The one you used earlier was the Inextinguishable Blaze, Terende’s favorite killing move." Thales looked incredulously at Quick Rope who got to his feet slowly. He watched him lean against the closet while he swayed. "He only passed it down among the White Blade Guards in Dragon Clouds City during King Nuven’s time..."

Thales tightened his grip around the dagger.

His stare was locked on Quick Rope, the novice mercenary who was optimistic, happy, and greedy. Plus, he never forgot to promote his business.

"You..." Thales’ tone was filled with anguish.

The next second, Quick Rope stretched his limbs and breathed in deeply. It seemed like his mind had just been released after it had been stuck in a fighting state. He seemed to be nervous and in grief at the same time.

"It’s about time that I reintroduce myself to you, Thales."

He put on a bright smile like the one he had when they first met in the desert, and he stretched out his right hand to Thales.

The Prince of Constellation stared at his opponent’s hands doubtfully, then took a step back.

With indescribable feelings in him, Thales examined the person in front of him.

The man appeared to be less than thirty. His face was covered in freckles. He had a head full of red hair, and he had a Camian accent. Be it his looks and his mannerisms, no matter how Thales looked at him... he appeared to be a young man.

Quick Rope first pulled his hand back awkwardly. Then he wiped his palm on his body as if he was trying to console himself before he laughed and said, "Moriah Bolton Nuven Walton, also known as Quick Rope."

At that moment, absolute silence ruled over the room.

Dean lied on the ground silently; Quick Rope just smiled, and Thales was frozen to the spot.

For a few seconds, only the moonlight graced the small place with its presence.

Thales stared at that man before him blankly. He was the first person Thales saw when he opened his eyes after fainting in the Great Desert.

’Quick Rope.

’Moriah...

’And Dean from the Secret Room.

’How could it be?’

The doubt and puzzlement in him was not reduced, instead it became more complicated. Everything was jumbled up together, and he could not tell his thoughts apart.

"You know..."

Quick Rope groaned gently as he poked at the body on the floor. "When I was working for a heartless aphrodisiac dealer, I heard him saying that there was a group of strong mercenaries living at the borders of the Three Kingdoms of the Mystery Sea, and over there was an insightful man with unique fighting skills. Judging by his looks, he seemed to be someone of noble blood in Northland..."

Quick Rope shrugged and looked into Dean’s lifeless eyes. With cryptic emotions, he sighed and said in a whisper, "At a certain level, he had the correct plan, but he possessed the wrong intelligence."

Silence continued to permeate the room.

At the next second, Quick Rope patted his own butt and stepped over Dean’s body. Then, he smiled so brilliantly and happily as if the one who just killed Dean cruelly was not him.

Thales took a wary step back in the face of the "acquaintance" who just got him out of trouble.

His gaze swept past Dean’s corpse on the floor.

"Speaking of which, I was going to take a dump." With the help of the moonlight, Quick Rope turned and took two coils of coarse, thick rope as well as loose leaves from the closet. He was still smiling, appearing not to mind Thales’ reaction at all.

"Shall we go together?"

He happily handed Thales a coil of hemp rope. "Don’t worry, there’s no need to line up. There are two pits!"

However, Thales looked at him with mixed feelings. He did not say a thing.

JC’s dagger was still in his hands.

No one knew how the Prince of Constellation felt at that moment.

In the silence, Quick Rope seemed to realized just how grave the situation around him was, and he took back the hemp rope, feeling abashed.

"Haha, I was just pulling your leg." Quick Rope exhaled, then tucked the rope and loose leaves back into the closet in resignation. He lifted his low-quality oil lamp, which had been extinguished a long time ago.

"Laugh, Thales. Laugh."

In that suffocating silence, the Prince of Constellation moved his gaze away from Quick Rope and spoke laboriously, "Why?"

Thales felt as if he could hear the walls of his throat scratching against each other due to how dry they were. "How?"

But Quick Rope interrupted him.

He still chuckled in that optimistic, happy, and simple manner. It seemed like he could easily solve all the problems he had run into.

"Why? Because..."

Quick Rope, the true former Prince of Eckstedt, son of King Nuven, Moriah Walton, leaned comfortably against the closet and showed Thales his full set of white teeth. Thales, however, was immersed in a strange emotion.

"Because life is a burden heavy enough on our shoulders, Thales, especially for me and you."

With his bright smile that gave others something to think about, Quick Rope continued to speak.

"You need to smile so that the burden will become lighter."