1783 Understanding

Yan Yating walked out of the building with Long Huan, with Whisker trailing behind with the three puppets.

Shan Wangjiu flew back from where he had run off to and rejoined them as well.

Several of the fighters outside, who had been there to take the second prince away, were now made to submit by the newly arrived Oathbreakers.

The level of strength of the Oathbreakers was on a different scale.

Yan Yating looked at all of them and asked, "Do you wish to fight us, or will you help us?"

Many of the soldiers glared at him, but a few of them looked around, searching for their comrades to see what they were doing.

Once the first person spoke and said they would help, the others followed. However, simple words alone weren't going to help them.

"Speak an oath to aid the Oathbreakers and the Southern Continent's army in to fight against Long Tiankong," Yan Yating said. "Only then will you be allowed to join."

Long Huan watched as the soldiers' eyes widened with horror and they hesitated once again. "Why are you guys hesitating? You already heard what my father did," he said. "Are you still going to fight alongside the man who killed your true ruler?"

As he said that, Long Huan's eyes slowly drifted toward a newly arrived figure.

Long Fangyu floated halfway up the ground, his body bloody and extremely dirty. His disheveled hair and clothes did not fit that of the Crown Prince at all.

Yan Yating took a single step forward to stand between the Second Prince and the Crown Prince. "Your Highness," Yan Yating said with a monotone voice.

"Senior Yan," the Crown Prince said and gave a simple nod.

Yan Yating could already tell something was wrong with the Crown Prince. He looked sick and as though he hadn't had anything to eat for a long time.

"Brother," the Second prince moved beyond Yan Yating even as the man tried to stop him. He stopped once they were merely 5 meters apart.

Before he could act, Long Fangyu lunged for Long Huan.

Yan Yating moved at the same time, having been ready to protect the second prince at any moment.

After hearing the information that the second prince had provided, Yan Yating had become all but certain that his incident was what had forced a lot of the soldiers to give up on the army and defect.

Yan Yating never truly understood what that had been previously as no one was allowed to speak about it thanks to their oath.

Some understanding of the situation had been formed in his mind once Alex forced him to gather everything about the attack after he brought Hannah's portrait to them.

And now, hearing the pieces of information that had previously been blind spots in his understanding, he knew exactly what had happened back then and why the soldiers had defected.

Forcing a group of soldiers to fight their own prince, especially the one that was known to not be involved with politics but instead in scholarly behavior had caused the soldiers to defect.

While not something as bad as the Azure Dragon dying, this was certainly something that too could make a soldier distrust their own higher-ups and Emperor.

As such, now that he had finally seen the Second prince, he wanted to protect him at all times, which he was going to do at that very moment.

Only, when he was halfway forward, he noticed something and slowed down, letting the Crown Prince get to the Second Prince.

Long Huan was attacked by the Crown Prince with a big hug as the Crown Prince grabbed him into an embrace and held him tight.

Long Huan was still in a state of shock, so he hadn't reacted just as quickly. "B-brother!" he finally spoke once taken to a hug.

"I'm so happy," Long Fangyu said as tears streamed down his dirt-filled face. "I'm so happy you are okay."

"I am," Long Huan said. "Have… have you been worried about me all this time?"

Long Fangyu nodded and continued holding his brother.

Long Huan paused for a moment and slowly raised his hands to grab his own brother as well. He gave him a tight hug to let him know he was okay, before pulling him away.

"Brother, are you okay?" Long Huan asked as he was horrified to realize that the blood on Long Fangyu's body had in fact come from a fresh wound that had yet to be healed.

He quickly pulled out a healing pill and handed it over to Long Fangyu.

"Eat this!"

He fed him the pill and watched in relief as his brother's wound disappeared.

As Long Fangyu healed, Long Huan looked past him at the state of battle. He could now see the newly arrived figure aiding Alex's army.

The sudden arrival of the Oathbreakers did little to change the tide of the battle immediately from what Long Huan could see, but they were still of great help.

"Brother, did you hear what I said before?" Long Huan asked. "We need to stop Father somehow. He… he isn't what he used to be."

"No," Long Fangyu said. "He… he is still the same person he has always been. He just doesn't bother hiding who he is anymore."

Long Huan was a little taken aback. He had thought that he would have to argue a little to get his brother on his side, but it seemed that his brother knew quite well about the situation.

"Okay," Long Huan said. "Then you will fight with us, right? If you join us, the other soldiers will certainly find more reason to join us."

"I…" Long Fangyu looked down, not able to look at his brother in his eyes. "I cannot do that. I… I must help father, regardless of whether what he is doing is wrong or not."

Long Huan took a long moment before responding with a single word. "What?"

Long Fangyu held the face of a saddened individual as he continued staring down. "I know what father is doing is wrong, but I can't bring myself to not help him."

"Why?" Long Huan asked.

"Because of Mother," Long Fangyu said, seemingly getting a little bit of his fighting will back. "Because mother helped father. That was her last wish. I… I cannot go against what she wanted to do."

Yan Yating looked at the Crown Prince and sighed.

"You said… you said you knew everything," Long Huan said. "Then do you know what mother did as well?"

Long Fangyu glanced up with a confused look on his face before nodding.

"Then do you know that she was there the day that the Azure Dragon died?" he asked.

The Crown Prince nodded. "Father told me everything after you left last time," he said.

"Then you must know that mother was an accomplice as well. She was there to kill the Azure Dragon's child," he said.

"I do not wish to speak ill of the dead," Yan Yating spoke from the back. "But your mother was more than just an accomplice. She was the mastermind behind the entire thing. It was all her idea. Your father had merely agreed to do it."

The two brothers looked back at Yan Yating.

"She was the most active one there. She was the one who constantly tried to kill His Majesty's child. Your father tried, but nearly not as much as your mother."

"I… didn't know," Long Huan said. "I… I had only thought that father had involved her in some ways."

Long Huan's head snapped back toward his brother. "Did father tell you the truth there too?" he asked.

Long Fangyu nodded after a while. "I don't believe he lied about anything. He was very clear with me about everything."

"Then you must know he is wrong," Long Huan said. "Help us, brother."

"But…"

"It shouldn't matter to you that he's our father anymore. He tried to kill me, brother. He didn't care that I was dead. The person we thought was our father is long gone,"

"But… mother would've wanted us to help him," the Crown Prince said. "Mother, she…"

"Brother! Have you not been listening? Mother isn't a good person either," Long Huan said. "She's just as bad as Father."

Long Fangyu's face changed to anger for the smallest second before a look of horror settled on his face. He fell to his knees with his head in his arms.

"Oh god! You're right," Long Fangyu said. "You're right."

Long Fangyu broke down into tears as what he had always understood, but refused to believe, had finally broken past that barrier and settled on him.

"Here, brother," Long Huan took out something and handed it over to Long Fangyu.

A beautiful black sword fell into Long Fangyu's hands, one that Fangyu recognized immediately as it had been something he held onto since the day he was born.

It was his sword given to him after he was born to be kept by him as the first prince of the empire.

Looking at the sword, tears broke down Long Fangyu once again, as this was the last thing he had given to his mother.

At some level deep in his mind, Long Fangyu had always blamed himself for his mother's death. Had he not given his mother that sword, maybe she would've still been alive.

That guilt he held was what made him want to help his father for the sake of his mother. However, seeing the sword and understanding his own flaw, Long Fangyu wanted to do better.

"You should never stop loving mother, brother," Long Huan said. "But at the same time, you are also allowed to realize that she was a bad person. One does not stop you from understanding the other."