The Outburst and Falling-Out

"Grand Duke Norton! What do you think you're doing?" The Second Prince flew into a rage and slammed his palm down hard on the table before him. The table shattered and crashed to the floor with a bang. He was so furious that he had forgotten the intimate way he used to address Locke as a brother.

"Tell me, Grand Duke Norton. What are you planning?" The Second Prince glared at Lorist with bloodshot eyes.

The great hall fell utterly silent. The dozen or so territorial grand dukes, marquises, and counts present all understood the Second Prince's furious state of mind. If they had not been mindful of the fact that Lorist was a Sword Saint and that the Norton Family's power was unrivaled in the kingdom, the Second Prince would likely have already thrown himself at Lorist and torn him apart with his bare hands...

In two days, the Second Prince would ascend the throne, inherit the Krissen Empire, and hold the grand ceremony restoring the empire's name. Yet under Lorist's orders, the Norton Family Armed Forces had carried out a small-scale massacre in broad daylight, under everyone's eyes, on the busiest part of Imperial Capital's Royal Avenue. Not only had they killed people, they had even cut off their heads and piled them together. This was practically a slap in the Second Prince's face.

When the Second Prince had first received news that the Norton Family Armed Forces had clashed with someone on Royal Avenue and killed people, he had been posing in the palace as a model for several renowned kingdom painters. He intended to have his heroic image painted on canvas and hung on the wall for people to admire, just like the seven deceased emperors of the Imperial Krison Royal Family.

The Second Prince had