The Golden Throne

Chapter 266: Crown Prince of Derail

Liu Feng looked expectantly at who was coming from the door. A young man was in the lead. He was about twenty years old, if Liu Feng had to guess. Behind that, there were a few old men and a few middle aged men arriving. 

They all looked at the king with careful and calculating eyes. 

The crown prince locked eyes with Liu Feng, and he bowed slightly. As for the rest of the group, they all bowed a complete ninety degrees. 

“Rise.” Liu Feng said. 

The crown prince then looked at Liu Feng properly. Standing on a throne a little farther away, the only impression that he got from Liu Feng was haughty, powerful, and a little arrogant. All of these induced by the simple atmosphere of the throne room.

“What brings the crown prince of Derail all the way to my capital? It brings to question an insolent boy who dared to disrespect me during my own coronation. Just thinking back to that makes me feel that all of this is a little funny.” Liu Feng smiled.

“Forgive my brother for his offense. He is young, and he did not understand the right etiquette that a prince must uphold. Rest assured, Your Majesty. He is being punished as we speak, and my father ensured that he will be disciplined.” the crown prince said.

“So then. Why did the five of you travel so far to come here?  I assume that just having your brother tell it a week ago would suffice. What happened in this one week for you to come rushing all the way here?” Liu Feng asked.

“We are here because of the incident that occurred one week ago, Your Majesty. It is about the restructuring of the church in your kingdom. We need to talk to you about that.” an old man in the back of the troupe said.

“About the church? I am afraid that this is an internal matter of Aegon, and I would prefer it if no one would intervene. In fact, I do not allow anyone to interfere. I am acting on the words of God himself, and it is not of my concern about what anyone outside thinks about this.” Liu Feng scoffed.

“Forgive me, Your Majesty. I believe that we got off on the wrong foot. But what Damian White promises, he does not renege upon. I fancy myself of having a lot of diplomatic power in my own kingdom, and I would be pleasured to use it to help us right now. I am aware of the fact that Aegon is in the middle of a transition. And the one thing that anyone would need at a time like this would be money. This is going to be simple, Your Majesty. I shall help sponsor your endeavors, but in return, you need to surrender the churches back to the holy city of Jerusalem.” the crown prince, Damian White, said.

Liu Feng’s mouth curled to a smile.

“Ever since I returned to the capital, all of a sudden, the church has become the most audible conversation point there is. In fact, I think that the church is also well aware of what I have done before this one month when I was in Glade. So then, why does everyone keep thinking that I will concede anything at all to anyone?” Liu Feng asked.

“This is not us requesting you to concede, Your Majesty. It is us meeting in the middle. God had chided the high priest of Aegon for his malpractice, and the moment we found out about that, we have ordered him to be permanently removed from the annals of our records, and we shall also take him back for questioning to make sure that he will learn the punishment for disrespecting God.” the same old man said.

“I take it that you are from Jerusalem? I think that is why you do not understand one thing. That high priest will stay here. He will be punished by us, because it is my kingdom that suffered because of it. And after all of that, since this has happened in the presence of the church of Jerusalem, I shall take a visit there as well, and we shall talk about compensation after all of this settles. But nowhere is Aegon ever going to give Jerusalem anything. We have seen that you cannot manage your own churches properly, and wouldn’t want the same mistake to happen again.” Liu Feng said coldly.

The old man’s face changed. He looked at Damian, and back at Liu Feng.

“This is truly not what I had expected. I already spoke to your grandfather, Your Majesty, and he promised that Aegon would give their full support. I am afraid that reneging on that promise would make the kingdom look bad.” the old priest sighed.

Liu Feng’s mouth twitched. 

“Old man, you couldn’t wait to play this card on me, couldn’t you? But do you think that I wasn’t prepared for it?” he thought to himself. But he maintained his smile.

“My grandfather has been senile as of late. I have no idea what promise he made, but all of that is not between the church and me, so the kingdom isn’t concerned with it. My primary concern is my people, and as long as they are affected adversely even a little, this will not go any further. I am sorry that you have had to come all this way for nothing. Please leave.” Liu Feng waved his hand, dismissing them all.

The group all had ugly faces, and they all were about to turn away. Damian, however, was still standing unmoving.

“Your Majesty. May I have a word with you in private? There are a few things that my father asked me to inform you, and this is the perfect time for me to speak with you.” Damian asked.

“I am sure that we can arrange a room. I shall arrive shortly, so wait for me. There are many things that I have to do after this.” Liu Feng said as he got up and left the room through his private door.

Damian then looked at one of the guards.

“I shall take you to that room, Your Highness.” the guards said, and one of them stepped forward to show the way.

Damian was taken away from the group to another part of the castle that was closed off. He was taken to a room with a table and a few chairs on either side.

He was alone in the room for a while, after which, Liu Feng entered the room and sat across him.

“Tell me, crown prince of Derail. What was so important for you to ask me to talk to you personally? This better be good, or I will not be happy.” Liu Feng said.

“Your Majesty. I will not beat around the bush. All of us know the stance that Aegon is taking towards the church of Jerusalem. And it is a very precarious position to be. Jerusalem is moving many, many kingdoms to start taking action towards your own. And now, even Derail was forced to come here and deliver a warning.” Damian said.

“What is your point? Do you think I am afraid of a little city that I can blast off of the world in mere minutes? Tell me something that I care about.” Liu Feng scoffed.

Damian looked at Liu Feng with a little frown. But he continued. “Anyways, Your Majesty. My father has sent me to you to personally request you to come to the gathering near the border so that the both of you can talk about steps that the kingdoms should take to suppress the church and reduce its power.”

Liu Feng chuckled.

“Who would have thought that it would be your kingdom who would take the first step towards all of this? Well, you are the ones who share a border, so it is justified that you will be taking more important steps. But what you do not understand is that I do not profit even a little bit from this risk that you want me to take. And if the church finds out, then they will force your kingdom to collapse, and that will make my kingdom the border for many refugees to enter. That is not what I wish to see right now.” Liu Feng said.

“If that is what you worry about, then there is more reason for you to act now, Your Majesty. I understand that you have incredible wisdom for your young age, but you forget to see that the church has the ambition to swallow all of the kingdoms nonetheless.” Damian said.

“Alright. I will come to this stupid meeting. I don’t know why everyone wants me to go. But after this, we shall have a nice talk on monopolies over trade.” Liu Feng said as he got up to leave.

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