Zion heard the hustle and bustle of the city when he was still standing on the narrow forest path that ended behind a small hut. Since he had reverted to his original identity, his clothes were identical to those he wore when he first arrived in this world. There was no point in changing his clothes since all the servants that he had seen in the city were dressed similarly.

Even if he wanted to, he didn't have the luxury of changing his clothes since time was ticking by so fast that he expected the enemies to have attacked the kingdom by now. ​​

He was absolutely correct.

From the forest, he sneaked into the city and saw that almost everyone was on the road. Standing on either side of the road were soldiers wearing golden robes with black-colored straps at the ends and a sword hanging from their waists. The soldiers sternly stared all the citizens at as they pushed the latter toward a gate in the north.

Zion didn't sneak in and join those people. He knew that they were all leaving the central city. The evacuation process must have been started by the king. Only one thing could have caused this: the enemy had launched an attack.

He pursed his lips and stayed hidden inside the hut before glancing at the road through the window. If he wanted to escape, he would have joined them, but right now, he could only think about how to inform Rhesus about the imposter. Prince Bradley, he recalled, was still held in high regard by the king. He didn't want Rhesus to soften his heart during the battle.

But he couldn't trust any of the guards either, since most of them could also belong to the black-cloaked man.

That means unless he told the king about it from his mouth, he couldn't leave this place no matter what!

"What're you doing?" The system popped out suddenly and stared anxiously at his host. "You're going to get yourself killed! The case will be automatically solved if you spread a rumor among the citizens and reveal the evidence to the court officials about the dead body in that brothel forest. The war will start any minute! Just escape first, then we will think about the case later!"

Zion shook his head and said in a low voice, "There's no later. The king is going to get himself killed by the imposter, thinking the latter to be his son! Would it be possible to live guilt-free even if I escaped, knowing that so many people died because I wanted to save myself?!"

The system sighed and cursed his host under his breath. He hadn't known that this case would end up causing so much trouble for them. For him, even if they didn't approach the king at this critical juncture, they could find another way to solve the case. As long as Zion would publically capture the murderer and provide proof to the authorities at present about how the criminal had committed the murder, everything would be fine.

The simple-minded system didn't think it was that necessary to risk life and enter the palace right now. After all, King Rhesus was the authority right now, and that person wouldn't change. If the king died, they would have officials in the court who wouldn't let criminals take away the throne!

Zion could tell what this system was thinking about. He scoffed and said, "Really, you should be given an award for the dullest system in history. Don't you think the imposter must have had his spies even among those officials to guide the court according to his needs?"

'Idiot' was the only word that came to mind when he looked at the system. A shiver went through 007's spine, and he quickly disappeared, not wanting to be bullied any longer by his host.

After conversing with his system, Zion's mood turned foul as he went in the opposite direction, toward the palace.

Speaking of which, Rhesus was also preparing for war as he stood in the throne room. There was a sword hanging from his waist as he wore silver-colored armor over his golden robes. A helmet decorated his head while he walked outside the throne room with a bunch of soldiers behind him wearing outfits similar to the ones standing on either side of the road. But the guards who stood behind the king were also covered in armor. It showed that these soldiers had a higher social standing than others. It was their job to protect Rhesus in any way they could.

An exhausted soldier approached him as he was about to make his way outside the palace. The former's eyes were filled with a hint of worry. "Your majesty, I have some bad news to deliver."

What could be worse than what's already going on? The king thought to himself inwardly but didn't say a single word. He pursed his lips and nodded at the soldier.

"Your Majesty," The soldier wiped the sweat off his forehead and said, while taking out a half-finger-sized scroll, "I have received this news through an official pigeon. According to this, the enemies have attacked the eastern side of our kingdom, wreaking havoc on all the villages. Many citizens are slaughtered, and even the distant royal families aren't spared. Right now, they are heading toward the eastern gate of the central city."

The central city of the Vanne kingdom was surrounded by giant boundary walls. So it was impossible to sneak inside unless they had permission to enter through either of the four gates in four directions.

But after hearing the soldier's words, the king's brows furrowed even more deeply. Zion had kept a scroll in his bedroom that he had read earlier, and he had learned that the dead body kept in the palace's cold room was a fake. After learning about this, he was shocked, but he immediately calmed down, walked over, and went to see the body.

The moment he removed the mask, he realized it had been his son who had cheated him. He almost had a heart attack when he realized that!

Prince Bradley was known for his compassionate heart throughout his life. A rising tide of criminal activity in the kingdom may have inspired his own son to attack him in this manner. Rhesus's son must have found out who his father was before Bradley took over the throne forcibly like this.

Even though Bradley was attacking, Rhesus assumed his son would not go all-out and kill the citizens. But when he heard about how many citizens were killed, Rhesus couldn't help but frown. Just then, another thought occurred to him out of the blue.

The eastern gate was the closest to the city! It meant that they wouldn't even get a chance to stand guard outside the gate before the enemies would attack! He still didn't know how many soldiers his son had!

The light in Rhesus's eyes dimmed. He would have killed himself and given the crown to Bradley had his son asked him earlier. Why did that child feel the need to act in this manner?