Netori SSS-Emperor: All Queens Shall Be Mine!-Chapter 51: One Last Tussle

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Locked in the dungeon with the key thrown away, both Robert and William were being watched by the soldiers like hawks gawking at their prey. Not a wink nor a snore, they kept themselves pep with tonics, smokes, and a dash of throat burning ale. Pacing back and forth the circular line of cells, they kept changing their stations to ensure nobody was getting too comfortable standing against a wall.

Shifts changed, and another set of soldiers replaced the first set. Watching it happen quite a few times, both Robert and William grew quite tense. Just a word alone with one of them would've given them enough chance to attempt a bribe, and yet with the shuffling of guards, they couldn't share a word with any.

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Waiting longer and longer to even converse amongst themselves, the two were growing increasingly impatient. Chained with magic sealing binds, they couldn't attempt to escape as another person's shadow. Despite that, Robert seemed confident that one of his informants would arrive to free them soon–just like he had the last time that he'd escaped the dungeons.

"Where the hell is he?" William whispered, his voice growing more agitated with each syllable.

"Shut up!" Fed up with the arrogant prince, Robert would've sliced William's throat himself if he had the liberty. But with his hands tied and his legs locked to chains attached to the wall, the scoundrel had little choice but to listen to William's whinging a while longer.

"Just wait until I'm out of here, I'll–"

"You will what?!" Barking at his apprentice before he could finish his sentence, Robert glared into his eyes. Just another word away from kicking his face in. "You'll do nothing! And you'll die a king of rats in this dungeon, feeding their parasitic existence for generations!"

Glaring right back, William tried to open his mouth, but no longer holding himself back, Robert kicked him in the sides. Getting hurt with no magic to defend himself, the mage groaned in pain and flipped over to the other end of the cell. His limbs bound to the wall, however, he couldn't get too far from his master.

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR?!" William's screams echoed down the corridor but were ignored as much by Robert as they were by the soldiers. The prince was of no importance to them anymore, naught after he attempted to murder the new king.

As his troubled groans grew quieter, one of the soldiers arrived with a bowl of slop and slid it across the floor in the prisoner's direction. The bowl tumbled against a bump in the rocky surface, and the food fell to the floor, but the soldier couldn't have cared less. Surprisingly enough, neither did Robert, as he knew what was truly happening during that exchange.

Waiting for the soldier to walk away, he used his legs to move the bowl closer to himself. Making it skid across the floor, he annoyed the prince somewhat, but before William could complain, a bronze key could be seen slipping out from under the bowl. Knowing well enough that he would be neglected if Robert got the key first, William quickly undid his shoes and grabbed the key between his toes.

"You brat! Give it back!" Complaining through gritted teeth to mask his voice, Robert watched in frustration as William used the key to rid himself of the binds. It only took him freeing one hand to break the rest with magic, and as he sat there a free man, he glanced over to his master–his eyes devoid of any plausible sympathy.

"Guess who's rotting here now, you prick..." Getting off the ground, William kicked Robert in the face. His master hit his head against the wall and rammed his jaw against it quite a bit as well. Unbothered and uncaring, the prince walked over to the door and tried to use the key while the shifts between the guards were changing.

Yet the moment he stuck the key in the lock, the angelic statue facing his cell swung the axe into his cell. Barely missing his shoulder, the angel's weapon mattered little to William, but the screeching sound of a banshee that erupted from the idol forced the prince back into his cell. Hitting the wall as he went flying from the screech alone, William groaned in pain while looking back at the statued angel.

"UGHHH! T-THIS FUCKING THING! HOW DID YOU ESCAPE THESE LAST TIME?!" Turning to face his master with that question, William was met with silence. Not because Robert didn't want to tell him but due to the fact that his jaw had been broken by the prince's kick. Unable to speak, the scoundrel stared at the cell key that was snapped in half by the angel's strike.

The idol wasn't aiming for the prince but the key to his freedom. Destroying it, he'd trapped him in the cell. Any further attempt to escape by trying to get close to it would be met with the same ear-piercing screech. Having heard the scream, the guards came rushing not too long after the attempted escape. Noticing the shattered key and the freed prince inside, they quickly got hold of their alchemancer and flooded the cell with sleep-inducing poison.

'What the hell is this now?!' Getting even more frustrated, William thrashed the inside of the cell for a good while. But with the poison filling his lungs, the prince didn't persist for long, and the next time he would wake up, his hands would be bound again and so would be his legs.

Left to rot in that cell for the rest of his life, with that realization finally setting in, William's mind would race and squabble with itself. And to think his brother was awarded the greatest title which should've been rightfully his? What greater insult could you add to injury? However, as he slumbered for now, it would be the last peaceful night he would ever experience. For what comes next would be a hell worse than hell, at least for him...