Help! I'm the Plot Device: Just Here to Save the Heroes

Kitty, Pour Me Another Cup

The room was musty, shadows thick across the floor. As his eyes adjusted, he realized what he had run into-an armoury. Spears lined the wall, swords stacked in racks, shields leaning like sleeping soldiers. Dust coated everything.

Jerry dove behind a tall shelf stacked with halberds, crouching low as Zhao Yuanzhou's footsteps echoed closer, his voice still reverberating like a war drum in the abandoned corridor.

Jerry's pulse hammered.
"System," he hissed, "if he finds me here, just write 'idiot prince accidentally impaled by decorative spear' on my tombstone."

🐱

The room grew colder. Jerry pressed himself further into the shadow of the armour rack, holding his breath as heavy footsteps approached. But it wasn't Zhao Yuanzhou who entered first-it was the Emperor himself. His presence filled the room like a storm rolling in, robes sweeping over the dusty floor. Yuanzhou followed a step behind, his face taut with anger.

"How long are you going to avoid me?" Zhao Yuanzhou's voice cracked like a whip, heavy with years of festering anger.

The Emperor didn't stop his stride. His robe whispered across the stones as he said, calm and cold, "I am not avoiding you, Crown Prince. I am guiding you."

Yuanzhou's lip curled. "Guiding me? You call lies and betrayal guidance?"

The Emperor finally turned, eyes sharp as blades. "That is called tactics. That is how kingdoms are won. That is how an empire survives."

Yuanzhou laughed, short and bitter. "Survives? No-you survive. You thrived on blood and called it duty. You crushed lives and called it foresight."

The Emperor stepped further into the room, his gaze sweeping the old armour and weapons lining the walls. His voice softened, but only in tone, not in meaning.

"Look around you, Zhao Yuanzhou. Every weapon in this room carries a story. Every blade has tasted blood. Every dent is the mark of my enemies' defeat."

He picked up a spear, smooth from age and polish, and with a casual flick of his wrist, tossed it toward Yuanzhou.

Yuanzhou's hand shot out, catching it effortlessly.

"The power. The legacy," The Emperor's voice thundered now. "And still, you whine about what was lost-like a child mourning over spilled wine."

Jerry whispered to the system in his head, "This is beyond family drama. This is war with extra trauma."

Yuanzhou's knuckles whitened around the spear the Emperor had tossed him. His voice shook-not with weakness, but with contained fury.
"You shattered everything. And you expect me to praise you for it?"

"I expect you to understand," the Emperor said, steel in his tone. "When you wear the crown, you will see. Sentiment is a luxury rulers cannot afford. Affection is a weakness that breeds ruin."

Yuanzhou's chest rose and fell fast, rage smoldering in his gaze. His words cut like blades.
"You used me. Used my name... to carry out your butchery. And still, you stand there, telling me it was for my future? Great father."

The Emperor's voice thundered, final and unyielding.
"I did what had to be done. For the empire. For the throne you will inherit. One day, when you sit where I sit, you will thank me. Then you will follow my lead."

Yuanzhou lowered his gaze, silent. Then, slowly, he gave a nod. Satisfied, the Emperor patted his son's shoulder and strode out, his figure disappearing into the corridor.

The chamber grew quiet again. Yuanzhou remained where he was, staring at the spear. His lips twisted into a smile that was all teeth, all poison.

"I will follow your lead, Father."