A long precession of soldiers and men on horses filled the misty mountains of the earlier morning. At the front where the men wearing the most ornate of all the armor, and where obviously the generals, while at the back, the siege weapons were being drug along by its crews. It was obvious that this was an army returning from war and by the looks of things and with as much valuable objects that they carried; it had been a stunning success in expanding the kingdom. It would sometimes pass through villages and people would come out to try and get a look at the Prince who had led the military again to another stunning victory, though they were disappointed to find that at the center of the precession where men carried along the Prince's carriage the curtains on either side where closed and the young man was not visible. All that was visible where the advisors riding on horses, whispering into the carriage for to the bored looking young man would was playing with a chess board to at least bless the people by letting them see him.<br/><br/>Yet the young man would just wave the men off, the curtain would be closed as the young man continued to play with his chest bored. One of the old men who advised the young king just shook his head and said, "It seems that sometimes that conquest is the only thing he is good at, or even cares about." Another nodded his head in agreement saying, "Yes he would sometimes do well to stop playing with the army and learn to focus on his own people." Though where you to talk to the average solider marching along, they loved the young man simply because he knew how to take care of the army, and cared for the troops. Plus with him at the head, they almost never lost and casualties where always very low. Even when he had to do some of the fighting himself. It was still his brain that did most of the work. Yet give him a problem that came about within his own country and he was usually quite a dunce, and his advisor usually handled it. Where it not for their wisdom, the large Empire probably would have splintered out of neglect. As such it was strong and untied. Though a unsuccessful campaign, by the young Prince at the orders of his father could change that. He would eventually get beat, and as such unless he learned to take care of his country himself, he was living on borrowed time.<br/><br/>Ryou softly sighed as he again beat himself at chess, never having found a opponent that could beat him pretend military, he never worried about anyone doing it for real. He sighed as he took a bite of grapes and drunk some tea, which was spilled into his lap as he could feel one of the men outside stumble. The young man said nothing, nor yelled. Had it been anyone else, but one of his troops he might have said something, yet as such he was not going to yell at them. They had done good in battle, and he like to have their loyalty. Plus it as only a accident, so he just poured himself some more and drunk the tea. He sat there with a golden statue of a dragon in his lap, as well as two on either side of him. His lithe fingers softly ran over it. The prince had certain affection for dragons, they were strong and powerful, plus they were considered gods by some people. So he had statues of them in his room and on his carriage. He also had one of his black robes, which seemed a bit dirty and certainly lower than his class when combined with the beat up hat that sat across his brow. Even though his advisor kept telling the young man to put on his more ceremonial clothing, he also used his authority as a god head member of the royal family to override them and wore the ones he liked. Though this was usually to the disproval of some foreign leaders, yet they never messed with him, knowing what his armies could do.<br/><br/>Ryou wondered what form what country his advisors would probably have some new princess waiting for him at the palace this time, which would require the silly games that always seemed to come with such types of courtship diplomacy. He mostly ignored them, and it was his playful nature about this that was the only thing that seemed to bother the king about his oldest son. The king worried that his son’s only legacy would be the extending of the kingdom that he did in his life time. Though the reason he was never interested in them and most of the time, Ryou had his ways of being a bit off putting without really meaning to be. The prince even if he was a military prodigy, wasn't exactly playing with a full deck of cards... which was quite obvious by the way he acted sometimes. His personality was one that shifted from manic to depressive with playful frequency though the episodes of either of these two sides were not usually very severe, but it had been the reason he still had very close minder who watched over him unlike his brothers.<br/><br/>As the procession neared the outskirts of the capital city a rider came speeding up with ten members of the Palace Guards. These were the men who like Ryou’s own Imperial Guard had gained the trust of the Emperor too protect the royal family within their own home. At the sound of horses the prince peeked out of the curtain only to be greeted with the sight of one of his advisors talking to the hurried messenger. He knew that the news couldn’t be good if the Palace Guards had come all the way out here to greet him. The men in gold adored armor joined the procession in a closely guarded phalanx around the Emperor’s carriage. It was a development that began to make the young man worry for his father’s safety and the kingdom’s along with it… so much so that when they reached the safety of the Forbidden City walls, that the young prince slipped out of the cart and began to head in the direction of the throne room. With his personal guards right on his heels, the men were finding that keeping the prince safe form himself was just as much a full time job as it was trying to keep him safe from outside threats. They knew though exactly the person the prince was looking for, and so a second messenger was sent ahead into the palace to find them.<br/>