Chapter 571: Chapter 334, Please Abdicate Your Throne
The old King’s face was full of disbelief.
He truly did not understand what was happening before him.
His incomprehension stemmed from two factors.
For one, he did not comprehend why his most valiant son would rebel.
For another, he did not grasp why the rebellion would succeed.
This ‘insurrection’ was, undoubtedly, successful. Old King Altai had no mental preparation for this; he knew nothing.
And his son, Prince Eureka, had personally led troops into the great hall, with the roar of the kingdom’s last remaining Knight Titan audible from outside.
Without question, these military forces were following Prince Eureka’s command.
This already signified that whatever Prince Eureka intended to do in this great hall today, he would succeed.
Looking at the expressions of the other people in the hall, apart from a few who looked very panicked, not Understanding why things had come to this point, at least half of them wore faces of solemnity and tension, without too much surprise.
Clearly, what Eureka did was not just a simple betrayal, but a coup that had garnered widespread support.
In other words, even without soldiers marching in, he would still be the loser.
In a very short period, King Altai came to this realization and let go mentally.
Since nothing he did would change the situation anymore, what else was there to say?
At this moment, he just had one question that he wanted to be answered:
“Eureka… From the day you were born, the entire palace celebrated, adding one more outstanding descendant to the royal family. Although you won’t inherit the throne of this nation, won’t become its ruler, you are still a master of this land, and you must shoulder the responsibilities that are yours.”
“I watched proudly as you grew day by day into the embodiment of valor.”
“We have always ruled this nation with wisdom and strength. I wholeheartedly hoped that your older brother would embody wisdom, while you would become this nation’s most outstanding strength. Together, you would lead Panbos to prosperity.”
“Until the alliance came, they destroyed the order we had established in this world and wanted to destroy our nation. Eureka… What on earth were you thinking? I don’t believe you acted out of fear, because of terror; my son would not do so. What drove you to choose to betray your father, betray your homeland?”
Toward the end, King Altai leaned forward slightly, his emotion increasingly intense, and his kingly presence surged.
Standing in the center of the great hall, Salihoovich sighed softly.
They say no one knows a son better than his father, but it seems that’s not always the case.
In the course of Prince Eureka’s life and growth, he had faced many challenges, but he had never experienced real failure.
And this failure right now was too profound for him.
It was like a little skiff, only used to a gentle breeze and light rain, suddenly having to endure the most ferocious storm upon the high seas.
After his defeat and capture, Prince Eureka’s mentality had somewhat collapsed.
The core reason he could be persuaded was that the prince had been frightened.
It was fear that drove him to ultimately side with the alliance. This was a fundamental premise, a collapse of his past convictions.
But… that doesn’t matter. Over a long period of interaction with Prince Eureka, Salihoovich had already helped the young prince to construct a new set of beliefs.
Salihoovich looked at Prince Eureka, whose expression was very determined, clearly not intimidated by his father the King.
Eureka took a deep breath and said, “Father, you are mistaken, I have never betrayed my homeland.”
“For a person, the foremost identity is that of a human being, a citizen of the Empire, a subject of the Divine Emperor; only secondary is the so-called Heijian Star person, a Panbos person.”
As he spoke, surprisingly, many around nodded in agreement.
This wasn’t entirely due to Salihoovich’s brainwashing.
Don’t forget, Heijian Star has always been an Empire World. Although the state religion wasn’t directly regulated here, there were still many churches established. People were routinely taught that the Empire came first, the Divine Emperor above all.
Only, in the long span of the past, this hadn’t been given much heed. If the Empire was first, then it was first, if the Divine Emperor was above all, then so be it—they were all too far away, and anyway, didn’t affect the power and status of the many kingdoms of Heijian Star itself.
However, now, they suddenly realized that all of this was not so distant after all.
“The alliance had been recognized by the Empire as the ruler of Heijian Star, this is clear cut in the documents issued by the Holy Terra Central Government. Why should we exhaust everything to fight against the alliance? Why fight a war against our own kin, against our overlord, a war that we could never win? Isn’t this an egregious mistake, if not what else could it be?!”
“Father, tell me, what is the actual meaning behind our fight?”
“You always said it was for the nation, but our ‘nation’ itself is a false proposition. Being human beings, we should fight for the Empire under the call of the Divine Emperor, but it is the alliance that represents the Empire, not us.”
“For the people of Panbos? But no matter the people on Rage Owl Star, or the Luman Kingdom that had practically been governed by the alliance a year or two earlier, the lives of the people there are far better than those of our Panbos citizens.”