I'm Trapped Inside a Prince as the Most Powerful Entity-Chapter 74: Broken Crown, Hidden Secrets

Eric’s surprise refusal to let the System take over his body really shocked Adam. Inside Eric’s body, Adam’s silent, inner self shook with unbelievable anger.

’You complete fool!’ he yelled, a flood of silent rage aimed at the Prince. ’Give me my body, now! You’re pathetically weak! How can you possibly beat him? You’ll get us both killed, you worthless human!’ But Eric, beaten up and confused on the throne room floor, couldn’t hear Adam’s desperate, proud outburst. All he could feel was his own pain and a new, stubborn determination.

The [System Interface] tried again. Its robotic voice was calm and logical, cutting through Eric’s pain. [Host Eric, you need to understand the situation. Your current energy and fighting skills are clearly not enough to beat this human attacker. He is stronger, faster, and more experienced.]

Eric, his face pressed against the cold, bloody marble, managed to whisper a reply, not in his mind this time, but a very low, pained sound that barely moved the air. "No... I... I will fight him." His voice was weak, but there was a strong thread of defiance in it.

The Imperial warrior, who had turned back to King Noor IV, heard Eric’s faint voice. His head snapped down. His already scornful look turned into a stern, almost judging expression.

He reached down, grabbed Eric by the front of his shirt, and easily lifted him from the floor like he was a toy doll. Eric’s head spun, and fresh pain shot through him.

"Your prince broke the sacred rules, King Noor," the warrior announced, his voice loud and authoritative.

"Are you really unaware that he attacked the Prince of the Roland Kingdom? All the Kingdom is protected by the Emperor! The Emperor has said that any unprovoked attack on a royal family member of another nation, while the Emperor is present is a direct sign of disrespect to the Emperor himself! It’s an insult to Imperial law!"

Saying this, the warrior changed his grip. His huge, armored hand closed around Eric’s left shoulder with crushing force. He lifted Eric higher, completely off the ground.

As the warrior stood to his full, massive height, Eric dangled helplessly, his shoulder screaming in pain from the immense pressure. Eric, even though he was dazed, noticed that the warrior was even taller and broader than his own father – a true giant in golden armor.

Without any more warning, the warrior then pulled back his arm and threw Eric with careless ease, not at the wall, but straight towards King Noor IV and the royal throne.

The Royal Guards watched, their faces twisted with helpless anger. Their hands gripped their sword handles so tightly. But they stayed frozen, unable to move because of the unwritten rule that people from the Empire couldn’t be touched.

Eric flew through the air and crashed hard into his father’s throne. The old, gold-covered wood splintered and cracked, the throne breaking into two jagged pieces and collapsing in a heap of broken royalty.

Eric slid from the wreckage to the floor. A fresh trickle of blood came from the corner of his mouth, mixing with the blood already matting his hair.

The Imperial warrior then pulled out his own sword, a massive, shiny blade. Its polished surface reflected the grim scene. He pointed it not at the fallen prince, but at King Noor IV.

"You and your misbehaving son will be judged by the Emperor and a council of all the kingdoms," he announced, his voice cold and final.

"Therefore, you both must go to the Imperial Capital to answer for these actions. The Emperor himself will decide your future, and the future of Estoria." He paused, letting the threat sink in.

"If you do not come, if you dare to ignore this order, it will be seen as an act of open war. And the Emperor himself, with all the power of the Empire, will make sure that your family name, your entire bloodline, is wiped from this kingdom, forever. Estoria will cease to exist."

King Noor IV was already very worried about the problems inside his kingdom – the whispers of traitors, the drain from the investigation.

Hearing this new, terrible demand from the Empire made his worry ten times worse, crushing him with its weight. The problems in Estoria seemed small compared to the Emperor’s anger.

The Imperial warrior, having delivered his message and brutally made his point, put his massive sword back in its sheath with a sharp metallic sound. Then, as suddenly as he had appeared above Eric, he vanished. He just winked out of existence like he was never there.

King Noor IV, seeing the warrior gone and the immediate danger to himself lifted, rushed to his fallen son. Eric was now lying face down on the floor among the pieces of the shattered throne.

As the King reached Eric’s side, he knelt and gently, carefully, lifted his son’s upper body. Anger, and a deep, helpless fear were clear on the King’s usually calm face. "Eric!...Eric, are you alright?" the King asked, his voice hoarse with emotion. He cradled Eric in his lap, his royal clothes getting stained with his son’s blood.

Surprisingly, despite the pain and shock, Eric was still conscious. His eyelids fluttered open. A tiny bit of relief touched the King’s heart. The Royal Guards, their duty briefly overcoming their fear, hurried over to stand behind the King in a protective half-circle.

Eric opened his mouth, his voice weak, barely a whisper. "Father... I... I hid something from you."

The King let out a deep, shaky breath, his hand gently stroking Eric’s blood-matted hair. "Now is not the time for that, Eric. Not now. First, I need to get you treated. We need to stop this bleeding."

Royal Guards, their faces grim, stepped forward. They carefully and gently lifted Eric from his father’s lap and began to carry him away from the scene of destruction, towards the royal doctor’s room. The King followed closely behind.

Eric was quickly treated by the Royal Magician, who was a skilled healer. With quiet magic words and a gentle use of healing energies, the bleeding stopped, and the cut on his head closed quickly. It left only a faint, tender scar that would soon fade.

Later, after the immediate medical help, Eric lay in his own bed in his room. His mother, Queen, sat by his side. Her face was pale, her eyes red from unshed tears, and her hand held his tightly.

His father, King Noor IV, stood beside the bed, looking down at Eric. His face showed a mix of relief, anger, and a deep, constant worry. The Royal Magician, after making sure Eric was stable, bowed respectfully to the King and Queen and quietly left the room, closing the door softly.

Seeing that the magician was gone and they were alone, Eric slowly opened his eyes and looked at his father. "Father," he said, his voice still weak but clearer now, "I... I didn’t tell you the whole story before. About what happened."

The King was surprised by this, though not completely. When Eric had arrived at the palace with so many rescued people, in all the chaos and relief, he had sensed that his son was holding something back, that there was more to the story.

He just hadn’t known, hadn’t even imagined, that things would get this bad, involving a direct, brutal attack from the Empire and the Emperor himself. The King didn’t want to put more pressure on Eric, who had just been through something horrible. He said nothing, just tilted his head slightly, listening carefully to whatever his son had to say.

Eric took a shallow breath and spoke again. "Father, when I went with Alina to the Spider Syndicate’s hideout in Crestport, the one under the abandoned shop... the mission to find her parents... I found some very important, very dangerous information there."

The King’s ears perked up. His look sharpened, but he stayed silent, leaning forward a little, without thinking, to hear Eric better.

Eric continued, his voice getting a bit stronger. "I found out that the Spider Syndicate’s main headquarters, their main base for this whole area, is located deep inside the Roland Kingdom."

The King himself was extremely shocked by this news. The Roland Kingdom was their old rival, always causing tension. The idea of the sneaky Spider Syndicate having its main center right under their noses... it was a scary thought. Now, a few more pieces of the terrifying puzzle started to fit together. The attack on Eric, Karlos running off to Roland...

Eric spoke again, looking straight at his father. "Father... I went to that hideout. The main one. In Roland."

The King was even more deeply shocked. His eyes widened. "What do you mean, you went? To the Roland Kingdom? To a Syndicate headquarters?" The meaning of this was huge, terrifying.

Eric looked at his father, a hint of the earlier pain in his eyes. "Actually, Father, the girl, Alina, whose parents I was looking for... she has a special power. She can teleport herself, and others with her, almost anywhere she can picture in her mind." Eric had mentioned Alina’s ability to his father briefly before, when he first quickly told him about the rescue from the Baron.

But hearing it again now, in this new, horrible situation, the King instantly understood how Eric and the girl could have both gone to the Roland Kingdom, getting past borders and without being seen.

The King, his voice full of deep, urgent concern, asked the question that was now burning in his mind, the question that might explain the Imperial warrior’s brutal accusations. "Eric... did you... did you fight with anyone from the royal family of the Roland Kingdom while you were there?"

Eric himself looked troubled. Confusion and a deep, familiar frustration crossed his face. He had no clear, conscious memory of what happened after the [System Interface] took control of his body during those critical moments. He remembered arriving in Roland, finding the hidden entrance, facing Oliver... and then bits and pieces of an overwhelming power that wasn’t his own.

The details of specific fights, especially anything involving Roland royalty, were hazy, almost gone, taken over by what the System did. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

Eric deeply, bitterly regretted again and again letting the [System Interface] use his body, allowing him to take credit for all system achievements.

He silently, fiercely promised himself that from this day on, he would never let the [System Interface] control his body again, no matter how bad the situation. He had to find his own strength, his own way.

Inside Eric’s body, Adam sat, boiling with almost explosive rage. The Imperial warrior’s humiliation of the body he was in was absolutely, completely unbearable to him. It was a personal insult of the worst kind.

The [System Interface], Millennia, stood before Adam’s furious inner self, trying to calm his blazing anger. [Master, please, calm your energy. I am trying my best to convince Eric. He is... sensitive, weak-hearted by your standards. That is why he cannot stand what happened. If I keep trying, if situations get dangerous enough, Eric will eventually agree to give up control again. He has no other real choice to survive.]

But Millennia’s logical, calming words had no effect on Adam’s current state.

He kept replaying the scene, over and over: the golden-armored warrior grabbing Eric’s head, his head, and smashing it into the hard ground.

Adam felt as if his own skull had been slammed into the marble, as if he himself had suffered that ultimate humiliation. It was an unbearable stain on his pride.

As he thought this, a huge, suffocating amount of raw, wild energy began to radiate from Adam’s inner self. It was so strong that it began to visibly warp the "sofa" he sat on and made the very air of his inner world crackle.

It was so overwhelming that it even began to suffocate the [System Interface], Millennia, whose usually stable, ghostly form flickered unsteadily.

Seeing this, the [System Interface] stayed silent for a few seconds, then said, its robotic voice perhaps a tiny bit less calm, [Master, please. Your current emotional state is... not stable. Calm down. This level of energy output is not good even in this inner world without causing problems.]

The scene shifted back to Eric’s dimly lit room.

Eric, looking at his father’s anxious face, finally answered the King’s important question. "Father," he said, his voice barely above a whisper, heavy with a burden he didn’t understand, "I... I don’t remember."

Hearing this, Eric’s father, King Noor IV, was profoundly, deeply shocked. His mind raced, trying to understand his son’s new power along with this strange memory loss. He wanted to say so much, to demand answers, to hear every detail from Eric.

But thinking about what had just happened a short while ago in the throne room – the brutal display of Imperial power, the terrible threat to their kingdom, to their very existence – Eric’s father stopped himself.

The pressure was already immense. He took a deep, calming breath. The King was lost in thought, a tangled web of secrets, danger, and unknown things tightening around him and his troubled kingdom.