"Take your seats!" Only after everyone had sat down again did the king slowly speak. "I have gathered you all here today for the contest over the heir apparent position. All the princes and their guardians have arrived, so let us begin."
The contest for the heir apparent position was simple.
Lots would be drawn to determine the opponents, and then the guardians would fight to the death.
Whoever emerged victorious in the end would become the heir apparent.
Although some princes had already lost any hope of becoming heir apparent, they still had to participate in the matches. Moreover, the more matches they won and the better they performed, the better the islands allotted to them would be.
If they refused to participate outright, the islands they were ultimately assigned might be tiny islets with only a few thousand inhabitants, or even fewer than a thousand.
Such islands lacked resources and had limited prospects for development. For any prince, that was an unacceptable outcome.
Thus, even knowing they had no hope of the heir apparent position, these princes still did not give up. They drew upon every connection they had to invite guardians to lend them a hand, hoping to win a few more matches and secure a better future for themselves.
Baoyu Kingdom had more than forty princes in total, of whom thirty-two had reached adulthood. As for the underage princes, they could only blame their poor luck for being unable to participate in this battle for the heir apparent position.
"Go on. Draw whatever you get," Zhou Qing said blandly.
To him, it made no difference whom he drew.
If he wanted to obtain the heir apparent position, he would have to face them all sooner or later.
The thirty-two princes immediately stepped forward to draw lots.