The Lone Prince

Chapter 4 ‐ Betrayal

Hanamaki finally had a plan. It's been three days since he officially became a king.

"No one has crossed the borders?" He asked.

"No, we closed them and ordered knights to bring here anyone who would try to get inside" king Oikawa was helping him a lot. The prince was also having good relations with him. Matsukawa was also getting pretty close to him. Same with Iwaizumi Hajime, Tōru's friend. He could finally admit that he had friends.

But that was not important now. Now his top priority was to get to his kingdom. And he finally knew how to do it. There was an underground tunnel leading straight to the royal garden. If the usurper didn't know how long this tunnel is and where is the outside exit, this was their chance to get inside and kill him.

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"Every entrance is watched?"

"Yes master, we're watching every possible entrance to the kingdom. Even if he tries, he won't get inside" The king nodded.

"Good, if you catch him, bring him straight to me" the servant nodded.

"Sir, what do you plan to do if he doesn't come here?" Servant asked.

"He will, my friend a few days ago said that he is planning something, I don't know what exactly but I suppose that he will come sooner or later. It's only a matter of time"

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Takahiro slowly went through the underground tunnel, he was wearing a cape to disguise himself as much as possible. Matsukawa and Iwaizumi were walking with him. He didn't want to take a whole army with him. It would be risky. So he took two persons he knew he could trust, and Tōru wanted to come too. But king Oikawa immediately disagreed, he couldn't risk the life of his only son.

After a while, they finally saw the exit. A guard was standing there. Hanamaki quietly walked closer to him and killed him with a dagger. He couldn't take the risk that this guard would alarm others. He took the body and hid it in the tunnel. Meanwhile, Matsukawa and Iwaizumi checked if there are other guards in the garden. Fortunately, this was the only one.

They carefully entered the castle. They had to be careful. If they got caught, they would most likely be killed.

They were swiftly killing guards that tried to attack them. King usurper probably already knew about them. They were getting closer to the throne room. Hanamaki wanted to face him alone. And then kill him slowly, painfully, so he would suffer for what he had done.

In front of the throne room, there were a lot of guards. There were only three of them against at least ten soldiers. So it would be three at one and one to share.

They were doing all that they could. Hanamaki was filled with rage. Those people were supposed to protect him. Not fight against him. He got wounded in the arm but managed to kill the soldiers attacking him. He immediately went into the throne room, leaving Matsukawa and Iwaizumi alone outside, and he closed the door.

The usurper was sitting on the throne, looking straight at him. Sword in his hand.

"I thought that you wouldn't get this far, I'm impressed" he said.

"Shut up. This is not your throne. It belongs to me!"

"Oh, believe me, I'm just a pawn in this game for the throne, you should be more careful about people around you" he got up from the throne and started walking towards him.

"What do you mean?" This was weird. Why was he supposed to be more careful about people around him?

But there was no time for him to think about it now. The usurper attached him. Tearing his cape. He managed to dodge the second attack. Now he wished that he was paying more attention to his training.

He managed to injure the false king but it was not a fatal wound. Although it did slow him down a little. Takahiro got hit, and he had a big wound on his side. He had to finish this fight fast.

The usurper tried to stab him again. Takahiro managed to avoid it almost completely, the sword sliced his chest. He was bleeding more with every second. He stopped playing around and pierced his sword through the enemy's stomach and left it there. The false king fell to the ground. He wasn't gonna live for long.

Takahiro walked over to the throne and sat on it. He lost his dagger while doing this, it fell on the floor, a few steps away from him. He wasn't going to live for long, and his death was going to be slow and painful.

Matsukawa entered the throne room. He walked over to the man dying on the floor. Just to be sure, he took the sword out of his body and pierced it through his chest.

"Guess I won't have to pay you after all" he said quietly. He walked over to the dagger and picked it up. He walked over to the throne. "So what are you gonna do now?"

"I guess that I'm gonna die now" he said. Not paying attention to the dagger that Issei was holding in his hand.

"Sorry this has to end like this, maybe in a different world, we could've been friends" Matsukawa said.

"What do you mean by that?" Hanamaki was confused. Why was Issei saying this? Weren't they close? He trusted him.

"I never wanted to be your friend. I hired him to deal with you and take the throne for me, I was only supposed to pay him" he said.

"What? Why did you do that? I trusted you..." Takahiro was shocked. In the span of those few days, he truly believed that he could trust Issei, he even believed that maybe someday they could've been together. One single tear fell from his eye. It was pathetic. Crying after someone ge knew only for few days. But maybe this is how it was supposed to be. Maybe he was never supposed to have a happy ending.

"And it was your mistake. Now I'm gonna kill you and convince everyone that you said that I'm the next king" he stabbed Hanamaki straight in the heart. And then he took out the dagger and just to be sure, he stabbed him again, this time in the stomach, and after that, he left the dagger beside the dead body on the floor.

He took the crown and put it on his head. Now it was time for him to rule.