At present, Donald Drake is jointly suppressing the kingdom’s rebels with Samuel Harper. After this battle, there should logically be some rewards, but Charles Carter reckons that Donald Drake still won’t give up the power base he has painstakingly built.

Such actions clearly show this man has ulterior motives. Now that Henry Lewis has suggested bringing him and his troops into the capital, everything becomes clear.

However, Charles Carter lacks any fondness for Donald Drake. After figuring out the key point, his brows furrowed and never relaxed. Fortunately, he soon realized that Donald Drake was merely being used by Henry Lewis as a tool for killing—once used, he likely wouldn’t meet a good end.

Thinking of this, Charles Carter couldn’t help but glance up at Henry Lewis again. He saw this prince sitting upright, back straight, not moving in the slightest, the corners of his mouth slightly upturned, as if everything was under his control.

Suddenly curious, he wondered, “If I had just refused outright, what would have happened?”

He voiced the question, and saw Henry Lewis chuckle lightly and say, “If Charles were unwilling to agree, then today I’m afraid you wouldn’t escape a bloody disaster!”

Charles Carter’s eyelid twitched, and his left hand unconsciously reached for his weapon. As one of the Eight Colonels of the Western Garden Army, he was naturally a military man, and usually wore his armor and carried his weapon even on the training grounds.

After leading Henry Lewis back just now, even though he invited him into the inner chamber, he hadn’t taken off his armor or weapons. Having survived many bloody battles, he had some confidence in his martial skills.

Although Henry Lewis was tall and strong, with a robust appearance, after all, he was a pampered noble who had grown up deep within the palace, never having suffered hardship or faced the dangers of battle. Wasn’t this kind of talk a bit too arrogant?

“It seems that agreeing to ally with this crown prince earlier was a bit impulsive! With such arrogance, it will be hard for him to accomplish great things…”

Just as this thought arose, he saw Henry Lewis raise his arm. The left arm lifted and then swung down sharply. Charles Carter almost didn’t see what happened before Henry Lewis’s arm stirred up a swirl of golden clouds, and then a crescent-shaped force shot out, with a crack, slicing the desk in the room cleanly in two.

Charles Carter’s eyes narrowed, and his hand immediately stopped moving. He stared in silence at the now-halved desk.

This didn’t frighten Charles Carter, but it did startle Paul Carter, who looked at Henry Lewis in utter disbelief, unable to imagine how the prince he had served for so long could possess such skills. That move just now—most people would think only immortals could perform such divine arts.

Only Henry Lewis knew that what he had just done was hardly any kind of divine art. It was simply gathering the energy within his body into a crescent-shaped blade and releasing it to strike a target.

Even so, it was still a bit difficult for him at his current level. To perform this ‘Half-Moon Slash’, he had to mobilize all the dragon energy within him and unleash it, and would normally need to use a weapon to do it freely and lethally. Doing it barehanded was mostly for show; in terms of real power, it wasn’t much. The reason he could split the desk just now was because he used all his strength—he could only do it once.

Moreover, that strike just now, cutting the desk, was already his limit. If he had really aimed it at Charles Carter, at most he would have injured the armored warlord. So he was only demonstrating his abilities; if he truly wanted to kill Charles Carter, he wouldn’t use this move, but something more practical—a punch!

Don’t underestimate Henry Lewis’s fists. With his current strength, even if Guan Yu brought out the Green Dragon Crescent Blade, he could wield it like a propeller.

Besides, in such a cramped room, using weapons would be even more inconvenient. If Charles Carter reacted quickly enough, he should have run out at the first opportunity. But now, there was no need for that effort—one could say Charles Carter’s choice had saved him from a deadly disaster.

At this moment, Charles Carter was thinking the same thing. Looking at the desk, he didn’t think he was any tougher than that piece of furniture. It seemed that if this crown prince wanted his life, it really wouldn’t be difficult.

But this thought made him feel uneasy—the other party’s actions showed that the crown prince valued him highly, so much so that if he couldn’t have him, he’d rather kill him to avoid future trouble.

Just from their earlier conversation, Charles Carter realized that even the Grand General James Harris wasn’t taken too seriously by this prince, yet he himself was given such importance. Should he be pleased, or troubled?

Besides that, there was also the technique Henry Lewis had just displayed. If he wasn’t mistaken, he had seen similar abilities before…

“The crown prince also knows the arcane arts?”

This question made Henry Lewis pause in surprise. He hadn’t expected Charles Carter to recognize it, but thinking deeper, he immediately understood: Charles Carter had personally led troops against the Yellow Turban Army, and those rebels who knew a bit of Daoist magic had probably used similar techniques.

“Has Charles seen it before?”

Ever since the two had agreed to cooperate, Henry Lewis had started addressing Charles Carter by his courtesy name.

“The Zhang brothers once used a kind of sorcery—whenever a black wind swept through, the soldiers caught in it would, at best, vomit endlessly and lose all strength, and at worst, die instantly, their bodies turning green as if poisoned—extremely formidable!”