Before the strong middle-aged man could speak, Prince Andre called out, then stepped up onto the platform, swiftly snatching the Scepter of Time from his grip, and turned towards the Queen’s seat.
Seeing the Scepter of Time, symbolizing the King’s identity, taken away, not only did the strong middle-aged man’s eyes suddenly widen, but the crowd in the main hall also erupted with anger, scolding and shouting with indignation.
"Stop! Do you know what you’re doing?"
"You fool! You are not worthy of touching that thing!"
"Put down the scepter!"
"Guards! Where are the guards? Come in and seize him!"
Prince Andre was bothered by the painful shouting in the main hall and instinctively wanted them to shut up.
Unfortunately, Feiliya being captured meant Atifei-01 was not by his side, leaving him unable to silence those people forcefully. Prince Andre had no choice but to sigh, walked with the Scepter of Time to the Queen, and extended his other unoccupied hand to her.
"Mother, may I have the Scepter of Division?"
Staring at the palm extended in front of her, the Queen on her seat was stunned, then asked in confusion:
"Who are you? Why do you look so much like my Andre?"
"I am Andre, mother."
Treating the Queen with seemingly more patience than the King, amid the clamor and noise in the main hall, Prince Andre explained patiently:
"Just consider me as someone from ten years in the future, who needs your scepter to handle some affairs now. Can you give it to me?"
"This... may be difficult."
After a momentary hesitation, a relatively young-looking Queen, who seemed not much older than Andre, clutched the scepter tightly and shook her head:
"The Scepter of Division is very important; it can’t be given casually. Even if you truly are my Andre, you should have a legitimate reason. And how can you treat your father ? Return the scepter to him, otherwise..."
Sigh... what a nuisance. I should have known better than to leave the scepter here; I could have just thrown it upstairs.
After another helpless sigh, Andre ignored the Queen’s words. Instead, he arose, moved to the seat behind the strong middle-aged man, and after a while of exploration, found a strangely calibrated clock, setting all the hands to the furthest point.
As the mechanism succeeded in engaging under the spring’s push, the bustling main hall became quiet.
When Andre appeared again facing the strong middle-aged man, after leaving the seat behind, the old King, with his robe unchanged but his face aged by over ten years, suddenly revealed a relaxed expression.
"Andre, there you are."
Smiling at Prince Andre, the aged King said:
"Today is your day to succeed the throne. As long as you take the Scepter of Time from me, you will be the next King of Crolock Kingdom. Come, let me... hey? Where’s my scepter..."
"Thank you, father, I’ll take it."
After responding expressionlessly, Prince Andre quickly returned in front of the Queen’s seat, and before she could react, snatched the Scepter of Division, then descended the platform with both scepters, heading towards the metal spiral staircase on one side of the main hall.
The attendees in the main hall, seemingly dumbfounded by the "Prince snatching the scepter" act, stared in shock at Prince Andre’s back, not daring to speak. Finally, the old King slammed the armrest angrily and shouted:
"Stop! Andre! What are you trying to do?"
"Andre! Are you rebelling against me?"
"Speak up! What do you plan to do with my scepter?"
No matter how the old King interrogated, Prince Andre continued to remain silent, carrying the two scepters up the spiral staircase, deaf to everything, making his way upwards, until...
"Are you going to see your so-called sister again? The real Feiliya has long been dead! She is now a part of Atifie! Wake up!"
As if triggered by a keyword, hearing the old King’s roar, Prince Andre stopped abruptly. Turning back, he glared at the old King, as if he had a stomachful of grievances ready to burst out.
But seeing the old King remain as he was, unable to truly rise despite his fury, and just sitting on the throne shouting at him, Andre couldn’t help but laugh self-deprecatingly. After shaking his head, he withdrew his gaze and set foot on the metal spiral staircase, leaving the main hall.
Even as he departed from the main hall, the old King’s furious roar continued to echo from below.
"You scoundrel! Get back here!"
"You... come back! As my last son! If you return, I can choose to let bygones be bygones..."
It’s already reached this point, yet he talks about letting bygones be bygones?
Shaking his head slightly, Prince Andre’s metal spiral staircase rose slowly, taking him all the way to the top of the palace, before arriving at the face of a three-meter-high gigantic clock with only the second hand constantly ticking.
After checking the time on his pocket watch, Prince Andre took the scepters seized from the King and Queen’s hands, fitting them over the exposed axle at the center of the clock, aligning them with the corresponding position on the dial as per the current time.
The crisp sound of mechanism engaging reached his ears. As the two scepters touched the dial, the enormous clock, over three meters high, receded backward. It then rolled open clockwise, revealing the secret room hidden behind it.
Before Prince Andre could step into the room, the voice from inside made him shiver.
Sorrow, surprise, pain, disbelief... The weak calling, identical in tone to a certain Princess Feiliya but entirely different in emotion, suddenly resounded in the dark secret room.
"Are you here this time to shut me down?"
"Stop mimicking her voice!"
After a few seconds of silence, Prince Andre said with a look of disgust:
"Atifie, this is my final warning to you: if you truly don’t want to be shut down, stop this nonsense!"
Upon hearing Prince Andre’s warning, the voice in the secret room chuckled slightly, then switched to a somewhat familiar female voice, kindly and softly saying:
"How’s the Queen’s voice then? Of all the voices I’ve used, hers relaxes you the most, and you show your best patience, readily making concessions to me."
Apparently unwilling to argue with "Atifie" over this issue, Prince Andre snorted and said with unfriendly expression:
"Give me your core; I want to take it to Research Area No. 1!"
The voice in the room responded with curiosity:
"Although Atifei-01 is my creation, this imperfect Zero prototype controls a maximal computing power far less than one-twelfth of 01’s capacity. Since there’s a more effective 01 now, why are you risking enabling me?"
"Because Feiliya has been captured; her whereabouts are unknown for now, but I need her to handle something."
Seemingly lacking fondness for this "Atifie" mimicking his mother’s voice, Prince Andre replied expressionlessly:
"Hence, I must reactivate you to channel Atifei-01’s processing power, temporarily dominate the entire Crolock Kingdom, and swiftly retrieve Feiliya. If truly unrecoverable, then craft me another 01!"