The next day, at the king's palace.
Sunlight shone through the bedroom windows.
On the bed, King Donners was in a deep slumber under the covers.
After a long while, Donners opened his eyes and stared blankly at the bedroom ceiling.
A long time passed. When he became more conscious, he turned and looked to the side. Butler Deron was standing there. He asked in a hoarse voice, "William… and Richard, have they arrived?"
"Both of them are here. They've been waiting outside for a while, Your Majesty," Deron replied softly.
"Okay." Donners closed his eyes, as if he had fallen asleep again. After another long pause, he opened his eyes, slowly sat up on the bed and said to Deron, "Call them in."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Deron immediately walked to the door and returned after a while. Right on his heels were the two princes.
Walking in front was Prince William, clad in ordinary clothes without any fancy accessories. With sadness in his eyes, he quickened his steps to Donners's bed, knelt slightly and greeted him, "Father, are you feeling better?"
Richard walked behind him calmly with a stoic expression. As he approached King Donners, he glanced at him and said emotionlessly, "My Honorable Father, Your Majesty Donners. Good day."
"Cough, cough!" Donners coughed a few times, his face looking much worse than it had a month ago. First, he grabbed William's hand and patted it. Then he looked at Richard and said, "You… Do you hate me that much? Do you need to keep reminding me of what happened three years ago for this long?"
"I dare not."
Donners sighed and said helplessly, "Pour me a glass of wine and stand with your brother William. I will talk to you two."
Richard's eyes flickered. Without a word, he went to the side, took out a glass and poured half a glass of wine into it. Sunlight shone through the window. Some fine dark particles in the wine glass swirled and sank to the bottom.
Richard picked up the wine glass and walked to Donners. When Donners reached out, Richard saw that the skin on his arm was very dark, as if it had been colored. Furthermore, his palms had a lump the size of a corn kernel.
As Donners raised his hand, its color changed completely from dark to pale white, then purple, bright red, and finally returned to the dark color. This was a typical symptom of the Raynaud syndrome.
As he watched the remaining black particles in the cup sink to the bottom, Richard handed the wine glass to his father and said, "You shouldn't drink too much of this wine, My Honorable Father!"
William turned to him and said strangely, "What did you say, Brother? Father is ill, and his entire body is in pain. He can only rely on wine to relieve the pain, why would he drink less?'"
"Indeed, William is right," Donners said. He brought the wine glass to his mouth, took a big sip, and slowly exhaled. "I can't bear a day without this wine. Speaking of this, it is thanks to William. The wine he gave me tastes much better than the one I was having before."
Richard stopped speaking but shook his head slightly.
Donners picked up the wine glass again and drained it. The color on his face looked better and, due to the alcohol's numbing effect, he felt more energized. Looking at William and Richard, he said, "I thought I could survive this winter, but my condition is getting worse lately. It's very likely that I will go and see your mothers in advance. I called for you today because I want to tell you some things.
"Although Blue Lion Kingdom is small and only has a population of a few 100 000, it's a kingdom after all. So I want to hand it over to a qualified person, and that is William. Of course, Richard, it's not that you're not good… cough, cough… but you're obviously not interested in this.
"So, when the leaves of the birch forest outside the city turn yellow this fall, I will leave the city and spend my last days there. I will die and be buried there. When this happens, William will inherit my throne and, Richard, you will be named Grand Duke and be given a large territory. As long as you don't cause trouble to your brother, you will always live in peace."
As he raised his hand to stop William, who was trying to speak, Donners closed his eyes, perked himself up and slowly continued, "Don't refuse. This is what I have decided. In any case, after my death, I hope the two of you can live well and protect this kingdom. Also…"
The two princes, William and Richard, eventually walked out of the palace after hearing the last words of King Donners.
Outside the palace, two bodyguards, who had been waiting for a long time, hurriedly caught up with them. They immediately split into two groups.
Tap, tap, tap. The sound of footsteps sounded through the palace square, the two groups walking in silence. Upon reaching the end of the path, they started heading in opposite directions. Suddenly, William stopped, turned his head to Richard, and said, "Richard! Brother!"
"Well?" Richard paused with a puzzled glance.
At that moment, there was still sadness in William's eyes, and he looked moody. He said, "My dear brother, after seeing Father like this, I believe we are both now in bad moods. If Father passes away, it will only be you and me in Lion Kingdom.
"The two of us have not sat down and talked in a long time. I'd like to invite you to dinner in my palace today. I have been cutting costs in order to find a doctor to treat Father's illness, therefore dinner will be simple. I hope you don't mind."
"I don't mind." Richard shook his head calmly, and said quietly, "But I have no time."
"Uh, so—"
"Let's talk about it when I have the time, dear brother, Your Highness Prince William. Goodbye." Richard waved, turned around and left. Edward, his Chief Bodyguard, followed him closely and glanced at William warily.
William stood rooted to the spot in a daze. It was only when Richard and his party had walked a certain distance that he shook his head with a wry smile.
"Your Highness!" William's Chief Bodyguard spoke from behind him. Unlike Edward, he was not an aristocrat but a loyal soldier, and he said crossly, "Your Highness, His Highness Richard's behavior is too much. You are obviously being kind, but he—"
The Chief Bodyguard stopped talking suddenly because William was looking at him coldly and sharply.
"Your- Your Royal Highness."
"Remember this." William enunciated every word. "No matter what Richard does or say, he is still my brother. Beside my father, only I, and no one else, can judge him. Do you understand?"
"I understand."
"Good. Go back," William said.
"Your Highness, since His Highness Richard won't attend dinner, do we continue with the preparations in the kitchen?" the Chief Bodyguard asked in a low voice.
William had said that he wanted to cut the cost lately, and he had kept his word. He only had two brunches and a dinner every day, and they were very simple—white bread and some jam.
But because he had wanted to invite Richard to dinner today, he asked the kitchen to prepare something different. He hadn't dared to prepare excessively fancy things either. Obviously, if Richard was not coming for dinner, there was a high chance that…
Unexpectedly, William said, "Let the kitchen continue with the preparations. My dear brother is not coming, but there might be other guests."
"Really?"
"Don't ask too much."
"Yes," the Chief Bodyguard said quickly, lowering his head.