The Crown Prince's Bodyguard

40 ♛ The Mastermind

- Lord Villain -

Walking into the small garden at the back of the manor, one would find a forlorn figure resting in an outdoor pavilion. The man sipped his rice wine, fanning himself with a folding fan. He leaned back into his seat to enjoy the gentle breeze on his face in the autumn afternoon. Looking as if he didn't have a single concern in the world.

However, peace didn't last long.

A scrawny servant dashed through the gates of a mansion, his face ashen. A sheen of sweat covered his forehead.

He skidded to a stop before the man and tried to catch his breath. "L-Lord Chen! We're in trouble–"

Before he could continue, his master held up a finger to silence him.

"No," Lord Chen warned darkly. "Do not speak unless you are here to bring me good news."

"B-but my lord–" the boy swallowed, "–the plan has failed and the Royal Army will soon surround this place!"

Lord Chen's posture stiffened and his eyes gleamed red in anger. Throwing his head back, he gulped down another cup of wine and flung it to the ground, watching as it broke into pieces. A raucous laughter erupted from his chest.

"Let him come," he announced loudly. His eyes were of a madman – one who was reckless and fearless. "Let my cousin come. Everybody else is just as useless, I'll kill him with my bare hands."

The witch's plan was thwarted and she had vanished without a trace. Even the group of assassins that Lord Chen hired was exterminated, except for one coward, who revealed the true mastermind behind this whole scheme just to save his own life.

In the end, it seemed like everyone had failed him.

He only had one simple wish – to obliterate the royal family. Despite being born into royalty himself, he was exiled by his own relatives. It was all because his own father – the former Emperor from twenty years ago – was overthrown by his younger half-brother for abusing his powers and being involved in heavy corruption.

At the age of five, he saw how everything unfolded before his eyes. Witnessing his father being sentenced to life imprisonment was bad enough, but exiling and separating the remaining family members was worse than death itself. Years later, when the news of his mother's illness followed by death came, it broke him apart on the inside.

He didn't get to see her one last time before she was gone.

That sadness was soon replaced by anger.

He never defended his father once. He agreed that the old man was heartless and incorrigible, never once looking his wife in the eye and giving her and his children the attention that they needed. However, Lord Chen hated the current Emperor for treating the rest of them in the same harsh, cruel manner; isolating them and ignoring their pleas.

If he had shown them some mercy, maybe Lord Chen's mother would still be alive today.

Moreover, the title of the Crown Prince was taken away from him and given to Wang Li Xun instead – the boy who possessed everything that he would never have.

An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. All Lord Chen wanted was for the Emperor to get a taste of his medicine by taking away one of the things that he held dearest to him — his son.

Thus, Lord Chen had begun to devise a plan to break out of his exiled place. And this got him to where he was today — a hidden hideout that his father's old supporters had provided him. Not everyone was content with the current Emperor, which resulted in them turning to him with hopes of him on the throne — the son of the late Emperor.