"All present agree to revoking the Second Prince Qin Ming's heir-status. But a nation cannot go a single day without a sovereign! At present, of the Starlight Empire's imperial house, I alone am the fittest to take the throne and set the empire's order to rights anew! Who objects!" Prince Yan looked to all in the hall.
Wherever Prince Yan's gaze fell, the officials lowered their heads.
Then — there was no telling who moved first.
He dropped straight to both knees on the ground, crying out: "For the Starlight Empire — we beg Prince Yan to take the throne!"
Once one man spoke, more and more would chime in.
"For the Starlight Empire — we beg Prince Yan to take the throne!"
Gradually, all in the hall knelt on the ground, crying out the selfsame words.
Prince Yan laughed aloud, looked to the rites-official, and without the least courtesy seized the scepter and crown outright, then walked toward the throne.
Qin Ming watched this scene; indignant though he was, pinned by the guards, he could only rail without cease.
"Qin Xiaotian, you villain! I'll — you son of a—! Boo-hoo-hoo-hoo…"
A guard took out a restraint device outright and pressed it over Qin Ming's mouth; two cords sprang out of themselves and looped round behind his head, stopping Qin Ming from speaking further.
Qin Ming could only watch, wide-eyed, as this imperial uncle he'd once trusted so deeply — the uncle he'd even sensed had some over-the-line dealing with his own mother — seated himself in that chair.
If a gaze could kill, Qin Ming would by now have tortured this imperial uncle to death 1,000 times over.
Prince Yan — that is, Qin Xiaotian — sat upon the throne, laying the scepter first across his knees, then cupping the crown in both hands and setting it upon his head.
When Qin Xiaotian gripped the scepter once more, he looked down upon the company in the hall.
At last!
Enduring in silence all these years, he had at last sat himself in this seat.
Hahahaha……
Elder brother!
You were very able; Father, in life, thought highly of you.
But there was nothing to be done — I've lived longer than you!
While you lived, I couldn't best you; but you dead, your wife and son can't best me!
"We greet Your Majesty! May Heaven's Glory shield Your Majesty!"
The many officials offered up their congratulations one after another.
And this unlooked-for news would spread outward at breakneck speed too.
……
Half a day later.
In a small dark room, Qin Ming now hung here, hair disheveled; in a mere half-day, no few white hairs had appeared upon his head, his eyes gone vacant.
His mouth still muttered without cease: "I am the one… I am the one… the Starlight Emperor… it's mine… it's all mine…"
Just then, the sound of footsteps came in.
Qin Ming raised his head, and saw the man he now hated most.
"Qin Xiaotian! I'll kill you, I'll kill you!" Qin Ming roared in fury.
Qin Xiaotian looked at him in silence: "Imperial nephew, why must it be so. You could never have held this seat steady; better to yield it to me to sit."
Qin Ming, eyes bloodshot, looked at the man's heavy mockery; perhaps worn out from railing, perhaps calmed at last.
He gazed at Qin Xiaotian and demanded: "Since you never once meant to support me from the start, why put on such a play? Could you not simply have seized the throne outright?"
"No, no, no — a thing like slaying one's brother to seize the throne, that I could never do; the least slip and I'd give people a handle to seize on. And at the time I hadn't yet wholly controlled the various powers of the Starlight Empire — for instance the Sun family, the Governor of the Starlight Central Star Region; the Sun family has always been the imperial house's most loyal watchdog, and never lightly picks a side. So I still needed to wait — wait until I could truly take the throne, until the strength in my hands was enough to persuade those old die-hards. Add to that the existence of that Chu Changhe: if I seized the throne, he would surely stop me, and then he'd hold the advantage of public opinion. So I needed a banner — and you were my banner. To use you to destroy Chu Changhe, and in the course of the civil war to wear down the troop-strength of your trusted men; you two, snipe and clam grappling, and I the fisherman who profits — was that not a fine thing?"
Qin Xiaotian looked at Qin Ming with scorn: "Only, who'd have thought you'd be such unprop-up-able muck, throwing away 300,000 interstellar warships and yet doing Chu Changhe no real harm at all. Let you go on making a hash of it, and the situation would slip past control. So, with no choice left, I could only step forth myself."
Qin Ming woke with a jolt — so from first to last he had been a chess-piece in this imperial uncle's hand.
Suddenly, something came to him, and he fixed Qin Xiaotian with a hard stare: "It was you who helped me prop up the Princes' faction back then — but the root cause of it all was my eldest brother's death in that ambush. Had my eldest brother not died in that ambush, none of what followed would ever have happened. So that thing — it was your doing!"
Qin Xiaotian, with a sinister grin, put a hand to his lips, making a shushing gesture.
The truth stood revealed in silence.
"Heh heh heh…" Qin Ming suddenly laughed, gazing coldly at Qin Xiaotian: "You think that, having seized the throne, you can hold the whole Starlight Empire in hand. Chu Changhe and Zhao Chen and that mess my sister's made — you haven't cleaned any of it up yet; this throne of yours won't sit steady!"
"These are nothing for my nephew to worry over; since I could let you take near 400,000 interstellar warships away, I naturally still have chess-pieces in hand. Otherwise, how do you think I'd dare seize the throne at such a time? For this I must thank you, too, for the half-year you bought me by stalling. A trifling Owl Dragon Legion I hold as nothing — only I never thought that lad Zhao Chen would grow to such a stage as this. But to deal with him, I still have every confidence!" A flash of cold light crossed Qin Xiaotian's eyes.
He looked at Qin Ming: "A pity — none of this will you get to see."
Qin Ming's body gave a shudder; in terror he looked at Qin Xiaotian.
He saw Qin Xiaotian walk slowly in, and draw out a dagger.
"You know this thing, don't you? Back when you slew your father, this was what you used. Now I'll use it to send you off to see your father — this counts, too, as my venting the wrongs done my dear elder brother."
Not waiting for Qin Ming to finish, Qin Xiaotian strode up in a few steps and drove the dagger straight into Qin Ming's chest, ending his life beneath Qin Ming's terrified, furious gaze.
Qin Xiaotian wiped the fresh blood from his hand and walked slowly out of that little room.
And only then did he find that, in the darkness outside the little room, a figure in a black cloak stood there.
"Doctor, soon your work will be shown before the eyes of the world. I hope you won't disappoint me." Qin Xiaotian looked at this cloaked figure before him.
The voice beneath the cloak gave off a strange sound — a little like a mechanical voice, yet with a rasping hiss to it besides.
"The eldest prince is our… test subject; and the Owl Dragon Legion will… become my true first prey. It will surely… satisfy Your Majesty. Your great army will unite… the Starlight Empire, and sweep away every obstacle. In the future… it can even bring the Holy Radiance Empire and the Warhammer… Interstellar Commonwealth both into Your Majesty's hands as well. The Galactic Alliance of old will become… Your Majesty's mightiest empire!"
……
Annual Task
Task One: the death of Qin Ming
Task One complete; the second-stage task will update in 60 seconds