Voyage Of The Villainess

"You imbecile son of mine!" Emperor Krazeri's voice boomed like thunder as soon as he met his son, the crown prince and the future prince of the empire.

"Father?" The prince trembled as he held his swollen right cheek, which the emperor struct with the back of his sword.

"What-what did I do?" The crown prince's voice trembled. 

"You really don't know what you have done?!" The emperor couldn't contain his anger as he struck the prince once again.

"You're a humiliation to my kin!" The emperor angrily shouted. "Why did I have a foolish son like you ?!"

The prince cowered as he protected his head to receive another strike from his father, the emperor.

But the emperor, seeing his worthless son, massaged the temples of his head.

"After all the effort I did to tie the Marina duchy to us! You broke the engagement just like that!"

"I don't love her, father!" The prince stood firm. "She hurt Hyun Jae, I just did what I needed to do!"

Suddenly Aadel felt the air was living in his body. He held his neck as he gasped for air.

The hand of the emperor was glowing with violet lifa as he pointed it towards Aadel.

"Love?" sneered the emperor, his face contemptuous. He was now much more dissatisfied with his sorry son. "You can't become the most powerful with such frail notions as love! I established the Hacien empire with my own strength and intellect!"

"Fa-father." Aadel was starting to lose color on his face as he had more difficulty in breathing.

"Even if you're gone, there is still your brother that could ascend the throne!"

"Your majesty," the commander of the Hacien Royal knights, Eagle Aeron Colderon bowed curtly. "The saintess is still undeniably close to the crown prince. We could still have many uses for him so that the saintess would be tied to us."

There was a brief silence filling the room. "Very well." The emperor brought down his hand. And the prince was able to start to breathe properly again.

He desperately gasped for air as he coughed terribly. 

"Bring this fool out of my sight this instance! And call for Oliver!"

"Yes, your majesty." Commander Aeron bowed as he helped the crown prince to get up and assisted him to go outside.

---⚓⚓⚓---

An hour later...

Back at his chambers, the Crown Prince Aadel gritted his teeth as he started throwing and destroying everything his hands could get off.

"Ahhh!" He slammed both his fist to the table.

"It's that cursed woman again!"He bit his lips, blood trickled down from it. "Father almost killed me because of her!"

"Really?" 

Prince Aadel turned around when he heard the voice of the person he hated the most. His half-brother and...

"Oliver. What are you doing here?" 

Those eyes...Even though they had the same golden eyes and had the same father but they were never the same. Oliver is the son of the king was a secret only known to a few trusted individuals. To explain his golden eyes it was said that he came from distant relatives of the king, still making him a royalty.

But those eyes...

Oliver's eyes were always looking down at him while Prince Aadel couldn't help himself but burn with rage with this. He clenched his fist trying his utmost to calm himself. 

No matter how much he looks down on him, as long as he is the crown prince, Oliver is still beneath him. And once he becomes the emperor, the first thing he would do is to gauge that mocking eyes off him.

Oliver was leisurely sitting on the wooden table near the window. On top of the table, there was a chessboard where the pieces were neatly aligned.

"You got quite a beating again this time from him," Oliver said his expression remained calm as he moved the pawn that was in front of the white queen.

"You..." Prince Aadel tightened his clench. "Just tell me, what are you doing here?" 

Oliver this time moved the opposite black pawn. "Tell me, your highness, if you will be given a choice to choose between Hyun Jae and the throne, what would be your choice?"

Prince Aadel brow's furrowed. "What are you talking about?"

This time Oliver moved the white bishop. "It was just a simple question. Your highness, will you choose Hyun Jae or the throne?"

"I will choose both!" 

'What? What am I saying? Why did I answer...'

{'Your highness, you are really working hard, here I bake some bread for you.'

'Your highness!'}

Prince Aadel's heart beat faster when memories of him being together with Hyun Jae flashed.

"I see..." Oliver's expressionless face formed a grin. "So your the same as him. Your both greedy." He moved the white queen.

"May I ask, why would you choose both?"

"You are unusually talkative this time, did something happen too with your audience with father?"

"Yes." Oliver's hand froze midway. "He told them that once you became completely useless, I should dispose of you to prove anyone that I would be the next worthy man in the line of the throne."

Prince Aadel completely stiffened when he heard Oliver's remarks. Fear and anger started to swirl inside him.

"And you know that I could easily do that to you, brother." Oliver moved the white queen, making a complete checkmate to the black pieces.

"And to want both the throne and Hyun Jae. I don't think that would be an easy task for you to do brother. But if you want, I could help you fulfill that?" Oliver stood up as he started to walk towards Aiden.

"You will help me?" Prince Aadel n asked with wariness.

"We both wanted Hyun Jae's happiness," Oliver said, which made Prince Aadel furrow even more.

"But there is something I'm worried about?"

"You are worried about something?" Prince Aadel scoffed.

"The Saintess has one job to do and you know it very well," Oliver said.

"That's to defeat the Demon King." 

They both turned serious in the matter.

"That's right. In this matter, I have a proposal with you. The Demon King Cult. Show everyone your capability and destroy them at all cost."

"This..."

Oliver did not allow him to talk and continue. "Surely, if the demon king resurrects, they will be the first to become his subordinates; therefore, while we don't know how or where the demon king will be born before that happens, this is one of the ways that we can decrease his forces."

"And you want me to do all of that alone?"

"Of course not," Oliver answered. "I would aide you in the shadows, but all the glory would be yours, and his majesty would undoubtedly be pleased with such feat; what are your thoughts?"

As Prince Aadel sat in deep thought, the chamber went silent. Although he knew something was wrong with this, his pleasure at the prospect of being able to aid Hyun Jae while also pleasing his father stood out the most to him.

In the end, he extended his hands towards Oliver. "I accept your proposal."

Oliver held Aiden's hands as well. "You make the right decision brother,"

"What do I need to do?"

The light passed Oliver's golden eyes. "Three days from now, Hyun Jae will go to Hellarez to purify the territories there, but there have been rumors of a large number of the Cult staying there, so I want you to accompany me there to investigate. Don't worry, I already have his majesty's consent."

'To Hellarez...that rumored country of the fallen. But for Hyun Jae, if that's what I needed to do,'

Prince Aiden's eyes became determined. "Very well, let's do that. Let's go to Hellarez."

"You made the right decision, brother.." Oliver flashed a smile, masking his intentions.