After ringing the bell, Sauran moved his head to make his face soak in blood. What a coward. Even as a joke, he was a Prince.

What to do? Push his head down so he suffocates on the blood?

No, no matter how evil his plan was, killing was too much. Being in the land of the dead would exempt one from the fight to push the throne on someone else. We couldn't lose an important human sacrifice.

"You have some nerve, Sauran! Since you have such a weak body, today I will send you to the world of the dead right here!"

However, the eldest brother showed his usually lack of judgement. Holding his foot over Sauran's head, he dropped it like the blade of a guillotine.

Sauran moved an inch to the left.

Iifu's heel missed Sauran's head by a hair's breadth and hit the tatami mat.

Iifu kept dropping his foot onto Sauran and Sauran kept dodging. Blood splattered from the impact of the shoe slamming into the floor.

I quickly held Iifu back and said,

"Calm down. Ran is also a precious Emperor candidate. If you killed him, we'd only be hurting ourselves."

"Let me go, Sugen. I won't allow that b.a.s.t.a.r.d to go on. I'll smash his tiny head to pieces."

However, Sauran, blood-covered as he was, looked at us with a calm gaze.

"Haha…it's useless.There is n.o.body in this world that is better at avoiding things than I am. Now, there should be even more people coming because of the noise. You three should fight for the throne by yourselves…"

Iifu and my gazes met.

Not only did Sauran ring the bell, but the flooring was stomped upon by Iifu. Yet, n.o.body had came over to check.

The reason was behind us. A person had sneaked in while we were preoccupied.

"How long do you all plan to stay in one corner? Also, do you think acting the idiot will make the Emperor leave the throne?"

The listless person fanning herself with a folding fan was my sister, Ryausha.

She still had grace and beauty even in her leanness. Dressed in her usual cheongsam, her s.e.x appeal was enough that patrons would come flocking if she was in the same red-light district that Iifu was last night.

However, appearances are deceiving. Her strength was recognized by the Emperor, and she was a candidate for the Crown Princess. Above all, she had many strange skills.

"Acting as unseemly as that is useless, Sauran. I have already cleared the area of outsiders."

"…Did you read it?"

"Yep. Don't think lightly of my divination. I can see through all of your transparent plans."

She called herself "The Sorceress."

Ryausha could do many things, but her most prided ability was to see the future. Her accuracy? Bullseye every time.

As for me, I really didn't think she actually had supernatural abilities. I believed that this was all predictions based on gossip or news she heard before.

"Let's just go to the dojo. It'll be easy since you can just watch me lose." She folded her fan and started briskly walking away.

I called out to her, "Wait a second, sister. Who do you foretell to win?"

Without stopping, she replied,

"Who knows? I can only tell that it isn't me. My condolences, Sugen."

Impatient as I was, I had to compose myself. This was one of Ryausha's abilities, psychological warfare. Rather than the truth, divination was a self-fulfilling prophecy; it laid a foundation to make it the truth.

That's why the probability was not one in three. It was still one in four. Don't be fooled.

With no witnesses coming, Sauran left the patch of blood and stood and halfheartedly trudged to the dojo. Iifu closely watched his back so he couldn't escape.

"The one who loses―will be me," I declared.

I clenched my fists, watching my siblings go on ahead.