29. The Confession

"NOOO!" Meng Huo exclaimed with terror and snatched the cup from Han Xin's hand, spilling half of the content.

"What are you doing?" Han Xin asked, his eyes wide open in front of the sudden move.

"You can't drink it!"

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" the king shouted angrily as he slammed his hands on the wooden table loudly.

Sensing a rumpus was about to break, Han Xin reached his hand towards Meng Huo, "give me the cup, it is okay."

"No," the horrified man shook his head in negative, "it is poisonous!"

"HOW DARE YOU!" the king shouted again; so Han Xin tried to pacify Meng Huo.

"Everything is okay, Meng Meng. Give me the cup, there is no poison."

"Don't you trust me?!" The soothing attempt failed miserably.

"No, you get me wrong-"

"You don't trust me... you will never trust me again... but I will never let you get hurt," Meng Huo said with a sad smile and attempted to drink the wine.

Seeing what his love was about to do, Han Xin darted forward and hit the cup off from Meng Huo's hand before he could drink it.

"Are you crazy?! It was poisonous!" Han Xin yelled at Meng Huo in a moment of madness, forgetting all about the plan.

It was only a careless remark, but the king understood their game immediately. Still, as retreating was out of question, he silently reached for his sword which was resting on the corner of the table.

Pat!

The sound was heard as Zhu Lei hit the sword off the table with the tray she was holding. Because of the fact that she promised Meng Hua to keep an eye on Meng Huo, she disobeyed the order to accompany Meng Hua and exchanged positions with another maid to be present in the dining hall. As she was eminently alerted, she saw when the king reached for his sword, so she took action swiftly.

"My prince! Ge!" she shouted at the distracted duo as she kicked the sword even farther.

Hearing the warning voice, Han Xin drew his sword out and threw it towards the king with killing accuracy and speed. The sword penetrated through the king's shoulder and pinned him down on the chair.

"Arrgghh!" the king yelped with pain, then called out to his servant-looking guards, "KILL THEM!"

However, nothing happened.

Knowing the king was a cunning man, Han Xin already placed enough men around to disarm the king's men.

"YOU... HOW DARE YOU!" the king shouted, seeing his men were all unconscious on the floor. He tried to save himself from the sword, but failed.

"Me?" Han Xin pointed a finger to himself, "it should be me who asks this question. How dare you come to my palace and try to kill me and your son. Oh, I should have said 'your slave', my apologies."

"What?!" the king fidgeted uncomfortably, "YOU WORTHLESS BASTARD! YOU BETRAYED ME! I WILL KILL YOUR SIS-"

He couldn't continue as Han Xin rushed to him and pushed the sword into the wound. "If you say one more rude thing to Meng Huo, I will kill you immediately," he threatened the king.

The king was a smart man. He saw the determination in the prince's eyes, so he wisely decided not to provoke him. In order to raise the chance of his survival, he changed the topic to learn what Han Xin was after.

"So, you organised the dinner to set me up, ha?"

"Yes," Han Xin answered coldly, "I knew you wouldn't resist to kill me like my brother. You old stupid man, how can you think we would trust you ever again?" he let out a sardonic laugh, shaking his head.

"Look-" the pinned man started, but Han Xin cut his words.

"How is your son though? I heard he is very much alive unlike what you told us."

The king laughed despite the pain, "very well, but are you aware that you are married to your brother's killer?" the old man tried to channel Han Xin's anger on the slave so that he could run away.

Han Xin smiled triumphantly, "I know everything as you should have noticed it already," he said care-freely, then added "by the way, we are not married and my father is not sick."

The king clicked his tongue irritated, but didn't comment on the prince's words. As he was bleeding hard, he had to focus on his survival. Looking at Han Xin, he asked "now what? Will you kill me?"

Han Xin shrugged, "hmm maybe."

"It would create a war, you know that right? Do you dare?"

"I have confidence," the prince smirked as he sat on the table in front of the king's chair, "if you confess everything you did, I can reconsider letting you go though."

The king puffed, he knew Han Xin was lying, but he was willing to take the chance. "I poisoned your brother to death and tried to do the same to your father and you. Now what?"

Han Xin ignored the last part of his words, "you didn't use Meng Huo to poison us, then what was his role in your plan?"

The king looked at Meng Huo who was sitting on a chair like a broken doll, his head hanging low, then he moved his gaze on Han Xin again before saying, "that thing was the only flaw in my plan."

Hearing him calling Meng Huo as 'thing', Han Xin pushed the sword again, making the king yelp.

"Now I see..." the angry man rubbed his chin, "you wanted him to marry me so that when you killed us, you could claim the throne. Is that right?"

"What else?" the king snorted in between his clenched teeth, "then I would kill that bas- him too."

Han Xin nodded with a sigh, then he turned his head towards the paper folding screen at the other end of the room, asking "is it enough?"