Rebirth of the Prime Dragon Master
Chapter 897 The Complicated Situation

Once the judge finished his statement, the hall erupted into an uproar and everyone in the crowdlooked at each other in shock and astonishment. Alexander and Samson stood tall, with satisfiedsmirks gracing their faces, as everything was happening just as they had planned. No one knewwhen Alyssa would reappear, after all. They could make the most of the opportunity to determinethe final result. Anyway, in their opinion, Alyssa would side with the Qi Clan. They were pretty sureabout that.

"I object!” A powerful voice broke through the din. Lucilla protested and looked indignant. "I can'tagree to this. I think the final result should be decided by the princess herself!" She was certain atthis point that this had been part of some kind of secret plot laid down by the Qi Clan.

"Chief Lucilla, you've made your discontent rather obvious. Are you saying that you believe that thefive judges’ assessment is unjustifiable? Or you are just unwilling to admit that the Cao Clan isinferior to the Qi Clan?" Alexander sneered as he looked to her direction.

"Let's not pretend, Chief Alexander. You and I are both well aware of exactly why I'm objecting tothis farce,” Lucilla replied in an icy tone.

"Regardless of the Cao Clan's objection, you do realize that this is all in vain, don't you?" asked oneof the judges as he looked at her doubtfully. "We five judges have made a unanimous decision. Inaccordance with the rules of the Beast Master Contest, no clan has the right to question our finaldecision once we make it. Otherwise, their qualification to attend the next year's contest will becanceled. We're certain such an outcome isn't what you want.”

At such a pronouncement, Lucille felt the fury rising up to her throat. She knew that the judges hadtaken the Qi Clan's side and colluded with them secretly. Yet, they still pretended to be so justifiedand upright. To them, the Cao Clan certainly wasn't a threat.

"Your Royal Highness, as the five judges have made their decision, you're willing to personally makethis official with a formal announcement, aren't you? Your Royal Highness, you agree that the QiClan deserves this victory, right?" Samson implored as he looked towards Woods. His words held anunseen weight. If everyone was certain that Alyssa would take the Qi Clan's side, then it stood toreason that Woods would take their side as well.

"If that's the case, then you should announce it yourselves. Yet, you shall hold responsibility forwhatever consequences that follow,” Woods replied indifferently and abruptly.

Both Alexander and Samson looked at each other after such a pronouncement from the prince. Thiswas unexpected; according to the rules of the Beast Master Contest, the final announcement shallbe declared by a high-ranking member of the royal family. Before she vanished, Alyssa had askedWoods to take over, and left everything in his hands. This meant that Woods should be the one toofficially declare the final decision. But the prince evidently was in no mood to cooperate with them.This could be a big wrinkle in their plan

It wasn't long before the hall's cacophony began to trickle away into silence. That uncomfortablepause grew as everyone threw nervous glances at one another, unsure of what was going on.Someone piped up from just outside the hall. "Here comes Prince Geoffrey!"

"Geoffrey? What's he doing here?" Woods frowned, his face darkened. With Geoffrey's presence inthe hall, complications were inevitable.

And just as declared, the towering, handsome prince entered the hall. Geoffrey's extraordinarypresence flooded the area with interest.

"Your Royal Highness, you honor us with your presence. Please forgive me for not personallycoming out to welcome you in!" Alexander immediately stood and bowed to the prince with deepdeference.

Geoffrey, the second prince of the Timber Deity Empire, was Woods' most direct and strongestcompetitor for the throne.

Every member of the Qi Clan, along with the other clan heads and royal personages, all rose to theirfeet and bowed in obeisance.

"There's no need for such formalities, Alexander. In fact, I must apologize for barging in without aninvitation. I hope I haven't interrupted your meeting,” Geoffrey replied as he held himself withdignity and elegant composure.

"You're most welcome to join us, Your Royal Highness. Actually, your presence is quite opportune.We were just discussing the final result of the Beast Master Contest," Alexander told him with agenial smile.

"Really? I assumed the result would've already been decided. Wasn't the contest concludedyesterday?" Geoffrey asked with an affected air of surprise. But he already knew that. Moreover, hehad heard that the ultimate winner of the competition remained up in the air due to Alyssa'ssudden disappearance. According to his personal network of information, Alyssa had since gonemissing and no one had heard anything from her since she departed the arena. Furthermore, thebeast master from the Cao Clan who Alyssa had spirited away along with her hadn't returned either."Yes, you've heard correctly,” Alexander nodded.

"Well, no wonder I've heard quite a few crazy rumors on the way here. Some said that this year'scontest is not quite satisfactory. More than that, everyone's been confused as to which clan is thetrue winner..." Geoffrey grunted a little, clearly dissatisfied with the situation.

"Ah, that's precisely why I invited Prince Woods, the clan leaders, as well as the five judges toassemble so early in the morning. It's time to confirm that final result on our own, as no one knowswhen Princess Alyssa will return. Before she left, though, she did say that Prince Woods would be incharge of the remaining matters. But... It appears that Prince Woods has decided that the verdict willhave to wait until the princess returns, so..." Alexander purposefully allowed his tone to trail away asthough his hands were tied in the situation.

"Is that so?" Geoffrey then leveled his sights onto Woods immediately. "Woods, if you're the onetasked to deal with this matter, then there should be no reason for you to hesitate like this. It's onlygoing to inconvenience everyone else if you drag your feet. After all, both the Qi Clan and Cao Clanhave been utterly loyal to the royal family. The least we could do is entertain their issue with respect.There's really no difference whichever clan wins in the end, after all. We're all friends here.”

"And I understand that, brother. But you know as well as I do that given sister's personality, this hasthe propensity to be disastrous. If she's unhappy with the result, heaven knows how upset she'd be.We'd be calling a cataclysm down on our heads..." Woods had an expression of exasperatedhelplessness on his face.

At that, Geoffrey's eyes immediately darted towards Alexander. It was as though in a single glance,the two of them shared a conversation without words.

"Your Royal Highness, the fact of the matter is that the five judges have already made their decision.They believe that our clan's beast master, my son Tate, performed magnificently in the last round.Therefore, they've decided that our Qi Clan should win the contest. According to the rules, as longas a high-ranking member of the royal family proclaims this result, it will be made official andannounced to the public,” Alexander explained, gesturing fervently.

"Oh, is that so? Woods, as you're so concerned about upsetting Alyssa, I'll take over theresponsibility from your shoulders and announce the result instead. That way, if anything untowardhappens, I'll take responsibility for it." A cunning smile crept onto Geoffrey's face.

Seeing the smirk, Woods was certain that Geoffrey wasn't here by chance. This was Geoffrey'sintentional attempt at subterfuge, and he was well-prepared for it. Clearly, the Qi Clan had its swayon Geoffrey. They had the leverage for it too; should they win the competition, then the Qi Clanwould likely become the biggest and most vital clan in the Timber Deity Empire. And with all thatmight push its support for Geoffrey, Woods would be in jeopardy.

Still, even though he already divined what was going on, Woods had no way to stop Geoffrey's plandirectly. If he rejected Geoffrey's proposal, everyone might think that he was favoring the Cao Clan.Then, he would fall into an awkward situation and someone might use it against him someday.

For Lucilla and Lucas, the realization that Geoffrey was predisposed to siding with the Qi Clanshocked them. But they were helpless. There was nothing they could possibly do to stop Geoffrey.All they could do was to watch in abject horror as these people made the movements with the aimof trampling the Cao Clan soundly beneath their feet.