The horse did stop, but by the time Zion wanted to open his mouth and say a few words, the fireballs had already landed on the ground, destroying the rock into pieces. Many of the soldiers hiding there escaped, but a few were still caught in the fire. They burned to death as the sound of their screams reached Zion's ears.

He stared at the scene before him for a long time as if he was frozen in time. His eyes widened as he continued to watch them burn. If people were to look at his expressions, they would think that he was calm even after seeing such a horrific scene, but only he knew how much he wanted to squeeze his eyes shut.

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Zion was an ordinary youth who had joined the FBI after he became famous. During his course as a detective, he had always been the one who was sitting behind the desk most of the time while observing the clues. Of course, he would go out to solve the cases, but that was in earlier days. When he got a promotion, traveling stopped until he was told to sit behind the desk. Only in severe cases would he go out and find the enemy, just like in the last case that killed him.

The number of murder cases that he had solved could be counted on fingers, and even the dead bodies only had knife injuries, nothing worse.

But this was the first time he had seen so many people burning to death. This happened because he wasn't fast enough to solve the case. If only he had the idea that the imposter would go all out, he wouldn't have been too slow and wasted so much time. Their painful screams made his heart uncomfortable as he continued to feel guilty.

Even though he knew he was at fault for this, he still wanted to do something to make himself feel better. This emotion of guilt was something that was eating him alive, and he wanted to do something to get rid of it.

As soon as this thought popped up in his head, he immediately wanted to act on it. He glanced around and found a few soldiers who were still alive. Since he wanted the black-cloaked man to enter the courtroom sooner, he would have to drag these soldiers back. After thinking of this, he glanced at the princess and said, "Can you order them to stop the war?"

Lia rolled her eyes and got off the horse before making her way toward the battlefield on her feet. Zion, who was still sitting on the horse, was stunned after seeing this move and quickly hugged the horse's neck tightly before glaring at the girl. "Give me a heads-up next time, will you?! I don't know how to ride a horse!"

But Lia didn't say anything. She coolly waved her hand without even looking back and walked straight toward the nearest guards. Coincidentally, she happened to meet Martin's group that hid behind another rock nearby. Their faces were covered with sweat as traces of smoke were evident on their skin. It almost looked as if they had stood near a fire for a long time to look like this.

"Stop fighting."

The guards turned to look at the princess and were stunned. They had all heard about how the king had colluded with Princess Lia. Even though they had thought that those scrolls shouldn't be authentic, they were still vigilant. Now that they heard those words from Lia, they couldn't help but glare at the girl with hateful eyes.

But before they could say a single word, Martin squinted his eyes before his glance went at the human servant who was still hugging the horse as his life depended on it. After that, the young soldier closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he glanced at the princess again. "Okay. We will back off."

The fellow soldiers were shocked after hearing those words. Those seniors who were about to scold the princess harshly swallowed their words back and glanced at their temporary commander. They didn't know what this guy was thinking, but they didn't doubt this person. The main reason was how Martin was diligently fighting to protect this kingdom. After seeing how this youth, despite being clumsy enough, was still stubbornly holding on while fighting such a dangerous enemy changed his perception in their minds.

They were almost wanting to consider acknowledging him and training him for the position of the real commander. Even though Martin showed bravery, he lacked in skills when it came to leading. He made so many mistakes that the seniors had to guide him throughout the fight. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for them to be alive.

Now when the youth made this decision to surrender and leave the battlefield, they exchanged glances and put down their swords. They all thought that the youth had considered everything before making this kind of decision.

What they didn't know was that the youth who was highly appreciated by those seniors was currently heaving a sigh of relief after hearing the words of Princess Lia. His thoughts were clear. Since his chief had believed that those scrolls were fake, he would also believe the same. And now that Princess Lia said those words, he assumed that she was sent by his chief to stop this war.

That means something must have definitely happened back in the courtroom. Plus, he was almost close to giving up. He was so tired and guilt-ridden after seeing so many deaths before his eyes that he just wanted to jump in the fire and die. Being mentally and physically exhausted, he didn't think he could continue to go on and on.

So he nodded and asked, "Where should I go then?"

"Go back and guard the king no matter what." The princess finally gave in to the uncomfortable emotion in her heart and decided to leave her father a way out despite what he did to her. She pursed her lips when she thought of how stupid her current action was, but she sighed and said, "Protecting him should be your main priority for now."

The youth didn't know what had happened, but he took the princess's words to heart and vowed silently to protect the king even if he died. After that, he nodded and glanced at his seniors before turning back to the princess. "Then we should head back to the courtroom."

Lia nodded and didn't care about them anymore. In any case, her work was over. Now she had to get back on the horse and ask Zion about what exactly did he do to solve the murder case.