The Captain took his stance since he was ready to fight the monster in front of him considering he already expects a defeat followed by his inevitable death but the Prince well he asked "Who put you into this?" It was out of curiosity.
Gill although he cannot see the Prince's face since the Prince has a mask made out of Shadow which appears on his face whenever he doesn't desire to show his face. The Captain was confused to hear that question but he looked at the Count and said "He paid us to do this, we are a shadow mercenary group."
Those words suddenly caused the Count to erupt into madness "How dare you lie?." He asked with anger "When did I pay you for this?" It was an amusing sight to see allies right against each other.
But Estafan asked, "Shadow groups are banned in this country." Captain Gill explained "Of course but do you really think any of the nobles follows the law of the Kingdom? Unlike us commoners, the nobles believe strongly that they can bend the laws to their own image since they are born in that class."
The Prince responded "Yet here you are bending the laws for them to earn money so what difference does it make when both classes bend laws whenever you all desire to do it." Hearing this touched a nerve of Gill but he managed to calm him down.
The Count joined the conversation by interrupting it "So you were tricking me since you accused me of paying you when I did not." But Gill ignored those words and said "Prince, You won't understand my words and the plight of us commoners. We have no choice but to do things which are disgusting, we have no choice but to sacrifice ourselves so our families can have bread to eat. A person like you who was born with a golden spoon will never understand."
Suddenly Gill heard sounds of what seemed like laughter through the mask of the Prince but it suddenly stopped and the Prince said "You are correct." Gill responded "What!"
Estafan walked forward while speaking "You are correct, I do not understand your perspective. I was indeed born rich, born noble, born to be a King." Gill did not understand the point that the Prince was making but he was ready for an incoming attack.
The Prince continued to say "You think of me as a rich man who will never understand your plight but unfortunately for you my mother was a maid who was forced to carry me for nine months and I was born in the gutters." His words were completed as his hands quickly grabbed the throat of the Captain.
The Prince continued to Inveigh "First you come to kill me, then chastise me about you being a commoner or what not and then act like you are some kind of victim.. but unfortunately for you, the world doesn't work like that. You were paid for this so you already knew you would die eventually so just die happily considering you were already paid." He proceeded to crush the throat of the Mercenary.
Perhaps the Prince was in a bad mood because he began to let out a bit of murderous intent which spooked the Count who fell on his knees while shivering.
Estafan suddenly said, "Seems like I accidentally let out something." The bloody aura disappeared but the fear still remained in the heart of the Count who began to plead for his life.
He even used his house name at first hoping the Prince wouldn't do it since Estafan did not have much backing in the political world and killing a Count would cause some issues especially with those who disliked the Fourth Prince already.
But Estafan said "I don't care." Those words sealed the deal but he did continue "You tried to kill me, that's enough justification for me to have your head and the annihilation of your House."
The last words of the Country were all but a long and loud "NOOO!!" His scream was heard across the forest till the head fell down rolling on the ground.
Zayne was lucky since he was able to see his own body while his head fell down before everything went black.
Estafan walked toward the area where the group belonging to the Count stayed, those tents there were drenched in blood of those who served Count Zayne. Estafan punished them all but massacred them since they were guilty of serving a traitor who tried to plot the murder of a Prince.
This sent a shockwave throughout the border along with the Capital. The body of the Count was sent to the Count's household but the ones who brought the body were the Bloodhounds who killed all of them, from servants to even the children as none were spared from the massacre.
The rumours of the Fourth Prince butchering a Noble Household spread across the Kingdom followed by his tales of Conquest.
The common citizens hailed him as a hero for not just being a conqueror but for removing a Noble Household who mistreated the civilians but the Upper Class, they despised him to the core.
Many Nobles wanted to bring the Prince to justice but of course they couldn't since the Count plotted to kill Estafan.
And the King didn't want to bring his fourth son back to the capital for he feared that Estafan could take the throne or worse kill his favourite son Leprian while Leprian wanted Estafan to come so he could have his revenge.
Estafan, who remained at Theon which he conquered, made one of the fortresses his base while the administration was given to a baron who lived at the border.
Baron Hudson was inside the fortress at the Officer where the Fourth Prince did his duties as the commander of his Legion.
Baron asked the Prince "You sure about this, you just gave them a reason to hate you more." Estafan responded by saying "Let them do so. The fish will look at a bait and think it's food before biting into it. Till the point where the food turns into a bait, the fish will probably think of itself as a lucky genius who found easy food but after getting caught it would realise how wrong it was."
Estafan was throwing baits to those who didn't hate him but rather the ones who hated him secretly. He wanted them to come out from the shadows knowing they would die if they tried to disrupt his destiny.