The Martial Unity

Rui sharpened his eyes at the Emperor's ruthless eyes.

The Emperor shared a nuance that he hadn't considered before. In hindsight, Rui wasn't surprised that part of the grooming, education, and raising of royals included instilling a drive to inherit the throne.

In that case, it was true that the royals who had still failed to retain a drive for the throne simply were not temperamentally inclined towards inheriting the throne. In that case, Rui understood why the Emperor had simply dismissed them as candidates for being his heir.

"Regardless of the reason, the fact of the matter is that I do not desire the throne in any way," Rui narrowed his eyes. "You, who claims to know me better than myself, still chose to name me as your unofficial heir. What am I to infer from that?"

"You can infer what you want, my son," The Emperor replied.

The air grew electric.

"Alright then," Rui glared at his father. "What I am to infer is that you stayed out of my life my entire life, and now that you need a good heir for the throne, you have decided to drag me out of my previously normal life and exposed my identity as a prince and crowned me an unofficial heir in order to make me participate in the Kandrian Throne War, win, and become the next Emperor of Harmony."

A tumultuous tension boiled between father and son.

The Emperor met Rui's accusatory glare with clear eyes.

remark escaped his

have uttered is

Rui to fulfill

the sake of the nation?" Rui

stared at Rui, heaving a deep sigh. "A good father would do the opposite. He

eyes. "I am not

"I am a good emperor. An emperor who does what is

eyebrows as his father readily admitted to exploiting his son for politics. "At least you admit it. You're not nearly as

until

pursue my Martial Path while simultaneously running

important role is giving direction to the Empire and ensuring that you push it in the right direction. What that means is that there

throne. I will not be able to explore this world and expose myself to it on my voyage to fulfilling my ambition. I will be unable to partake in any meaningful real battle that will give me the experience I need to refine

the first time since the revelation, the many disadvantages of being Emperor came flooding back

require delicate tending to…"

"Those were indeed around my estimations as well, perhaps even less depending on how much of how large the error parameter centered around your inexperience with

duties of the throne

this day, he had not been shocked

your sentiment, but we both know that's not entirely true," The Emperor smiled. "You cannot begin to fathom the kind of resources that I can get my hands on. Resources so unfathomably precious that Martial Artists would die to get