A few minutes earlier….

At the eastern gate, the enemy army had already arrived. There were two layers of security at every gate: the first was dozens of soldiers at the gate, and the second was a group of archers perched high above the fortress with bows and arrows in hand. When compared to the millions of enemies wearing black robes that stood guard at the eastern gate, there weren't enough soldiers to keep the gate guarded at all. ​​

Still, Rhesus's soldiers were also well-trained. As soon as they saw their enemies approaching, they drew their bows and arrows before glancing at their leader. As the leader of these soldiers raised his head, he stared intently at the enemies before him. A few seconds later, he opened his mouth to say: "Fire."

Soldiers fired arrows at the same time. It almost looked like the sky had decided to rain arrows on the enemies' heads. The black robbed soldiers on the horses glanced up and quickly backed away from the range of the arrow. As the arrows rained down, most of them were killed, despite their efforts to escape. Blood splattered around as the arrows pierced the hearts of dozens of soldiers at once. They all fell from the horses without being given a second chance to live.

The leader standing at the fortress cheered up after seeing this scene, and without a pause, he fired another command. "Troops, prepare for the war."

Then, before the fortress soldiers could do anything, they heard what sounded like a distant bomb blast. Next, they all glanced up to see an approaching volley of cannons. The speed was so high that the cannons seemed to have caught fire in the air while approaching the soldiers.

The leader and the troops stationed at the fortress were alerted, and their pupils constricted. "Retreat!"

But it was too late to save the situation. Nobody could have predicted how many cannons the enemy would bring with them! When they had gotten the intel earlier, they were told that the enemy forces consisted of only cavalry and infantry troops. Then where did these cannons come from?!

But before they could think of an answer, the cannons hit the main gate, and it was smashed to pieces.

Zion had paused and turned his head to look at the scene earlier, a hint of fear flashing across his eyes. He wanted to do something about it, but he was powerless, and he endured as he watched the soldiers die one after another.

He had no time!

This thought struck him, and he sprinted toward the palace. This time, his expressions remained aloof. No matter what it takes, he was determined to inform the King about the imposter. Today, however, his luck did not seem to be on his side. He was stopped in his tracks by the princess. Lia was able to locate him with ease, thanks to his brief pause. Her face was tinged with anger and anxiety. "Stop right there!"

Zion hesitated for a moment before he came up with an idea and stopped. It occurred to him that walking all the way to the palace would delay things. They had bombed the eastern gate and were on their way to the palace, so he wanted to share some information with them before things got worse.

Therefore, he said, "I'll go with you, but only under one condition. Your Highness, please bring me to His Majesty. Before he can meet his enemies, especially the leader, I must see him."

Lia narrowed her eyes and stared at him for a moment before asking, "What do you mean?"

Zion paused once more before continuing. What if he told her about the case? It wasn't like she hadn't been involved in the case at all. It's possible that she was aware of her brother's plan, which led the original Bradley to take her to prison to silence her.

But a new leader has emerged that changed everything. Then, when another cannon bombed the gate, he looked at her and said, "Let's go. I'll tell you everything I know."

For some reason, his intuition told him that he should trust Lia this one time.

Lia helped him to his feet as he sat behind her and leaned on her for support. "Hold me tight," she said in a low voice before they galloped.

Huh?

Before he could even think about whether it was impolite to touch a girl, the horse sprinted off toward the palace. Zion quickly grabbed her shoulders before he could be thrown off. After he stabilized himself, just as he opened his mouth, he felt a gust of wind entering inside. He got the impression that he was riding at the back of a modern biker girl. A baffled expression appeared on his face as he stared at the princess and struggled to open his mouth. "Couldn't you have warned me?"

"I did, didn't I?"

A few seconds ago? Were those words referred to as a warning? A trace of irritation appeared on Zion's face as he chanted in his mind: "I won't beat up a girl."

Of course, he could only think about this. A fight would have been pointless for him because he knew she would kill him without batting an eyelash. He could feel a dangerous aura around her just by standing close to her.

Zion frowned when he thought of this and looked at the princess with a doubtful look in his eyes. It would be strange for a princess to see bloodshed no matter how much her father liked Bradley and ignored her. From what he had read in the library, the world was at peace ever since the war that had occurred between the humans and the races. It was only recently that he had started to hear about the aspects such as rising criminal cases in the Vanne kingdom. But he was damned sure that King Rhesus would never let his daughter capture the criminals no matter how negligent he would be.

Then what exactly was it that made Lia coldhearted?

He squinted his eyes and studied her form, but he still couldn't figure it out.