Chapter 288 The Strategy in the battle against the Silver royal family part 1

Author: M_W Cancer 

Obviously, Leo is fully unaware that Barbara is now fully targeting him and that his secret of being the holder of the Red Cube has already been revealed by a mysterious man called Ramos.

At this moment, Leo is walking to the command tent to discuss with the important members of the Mischievous Blue Sword Alliance about the strategy against the Silver royal family. 

Behind him were Cassandra and the others, and further behind were Ethan and Princess Elaine. He really doesn't want to bring them with him, because they were unrelated people and also inexperienced, so they don't have many practical uses. But all of them forced him to bring them with him, saying that they wanted to learn strategies because they don't want to always rely on him. They immediately brought up that what if a situation similar to what had happened back at Floating Mountain would happen once again, would they be left with no choice but to wait until he returns? But what if he doesn't ever return anymore, meaning he's dead, so would that mean they don't have any choice but to admit defeat and not avenge his death? 

It was a pretty strong argument, which made even Ethan and Princess Elaine speechless as they don't know how to respond to the question. 

"Remember what I told all of you before; just stay behind me, watch, and don't make any noises. If you have any suggestions, let's talk about it when it's only us present. As long as we are inside the tent, only me, Queen Olivia, Queen Maria, Madam Silva, and Elder Rain can propose the strategy while only the 20 Elders, 12 Zodiacs, Guardians, Vice-Commanders, and Generals can voice out their suggestions. It is still not your turn to speak in this kind of situation, but one day I'll definitely give all of you the opportunity, understood?" Leo turned his head to remind Cassandra and the others on what to do and not to do. 

"Don't worry, I'll be as silent as a mouse!" Cassandra assured. 

"I'll zip my mouth and not speak a single word as long as we are still inside." Elizabeth said. 

"....." Angel simply nodded her head in response, completely silent.

"I don't have any issue with that." Ash agreed without any problem. 

"I just want to watch you make strategies because you're really handsome when you're serious!" Charlotte teased. 

Hearing Cassandra and the other's reply, Leo felt assured that nothing would go wrong. 

"Then let's go inside," Leo nodded his head before finally getting inside the command tent. Cassandra and the others quickly followed behind. 

The moment Leo and the others got inside the command tent, they were immediately greeted by the important members of the Mischievous Blue Sword Alliance, who were all wearing a grave-looking face. 

"What happened?" Leo who was smart enough to understand that something bad had happened immediately asked. 

"There is... something bad that had happened back at Heart city." Queen Olivia said with a bit of hesitation in her voice. 

Leo's face immediately turned solemn the moment he heard his Master Olivia's words, "What is it?"

"It's about Veronica... the Silver royal family, with the lead of Crown Prince Edward, took Veronica away along with Princess Tiana, who we have just discovered had actually tried to escape from the Silver royal family to join the Mischievous Lion organization." Queen Olivia replied.

Hearing that, Cassandra and Elizabeth immediately turned solemn as they became worried about what will happen to Veronica now that she's in the hand of the Silver royal family. 

"It's not only that," Queen Maria continued the information they have received, "Queen Triana of the Silver royal family has been imprisoned by King Erskine due to a severe crime of treason. It was said that Princess Fiona, the 5th Princess, had discovered Queen Triana and Princess Tiana's conversation about betraying the Silver royal family, hence both of them are now stripped of their status as a member of the Silver royal family."

"What happened was; Princess Tiana has already left Silver Kingdom to go to Heart city to warn you, Leo, about what the Silver royal family was planning to do when King Erskine finally heard the news of their betrayal. But of course, would King Erskine just as easily let that happened? Yes, he indeed let it easily happened, because he had decided to use her own daughter to sneak in Crown Prince Edward to the Heart city and to also easily find Veronica. The moment Princess Tiana and Veronica finally meet, Crown Prince Edward appeared and took both of them away." Queen Maria finished the information they had received. 

"Aside from that, what else happened in Heart city?" Leo asked. 

"It was just a small battle, which was a distraction to let Crown Prince Edward escape without anyone noticing."

"Is this information reliable?"

"Look," Madam Silva step to the side, revealing a seriously injured man. 

"Karl?!" Leo, Cassandra, Elizabeth, and Angel exclaimed at that same time the moment they saw Royal Magical Knight Karl, sitting on a chair while covered in minor injuries. They never expected that they will see Karl once again in such a sorry state. 

"What happened to you?" Leo worriedly asked.

"Cough! Don't worry, I will recover after a day or two of rest." Karl replied.

"Tell Leo the exact event of how Veronica and Princess Tiana were taken by Crown Prince Edward," Queen Olivia said.

Karl nodded in affirmation as he then said, "What happened was; I defended Princess Tiana and Veronica with all that I've got the moment I saw Crown Prince Edward approaching us, but Crown Prince Edward was just too powerful for me to fight alone, so he easily sent me flying far away from them. The moment I finally returned, Princess Tiana and Veronica were long been taken away by Crown Prince Edward. Of course, I didn't give up! I chase after them, but I was unexpectedly soon caught in an ambush. It was only after expending everything I could do was I, fortunately, able to escape and report to you about what happened. I deeply apologize, Leo, for causing you so much trouble. Cough! I should have stopped Princess Tiana when she was still preparing to escape Silver city, hence this could have been avoided." 

Karl finished his words before half-kneeling on the ground and his head bowing to Leo. 

"Stand up, what happened has already happened." Leo said while motioning for Karl to stop kneeling on the ground. 

"But that still doesn't remove the fact that we have caused you and the Mischievous Blue Sword Alliance so much trouble."

"It's no trouble at all because we can always take back Veronica and Princess Tiana once we win this upcoming battle against the Silver royal family."

"The Silver royal family might no longer be that easily defeated..."

"Why?"

"Because the Snow Noble Household might have already decided to help the Silver royal family at this moment," Karl suddenly full kneeled on the ground with his head bowed to almost touching the ground, "I'm deeply sorry!"

Leo was no longer thinking that this problem was just simple the moment he saw Karl kneeling with his head lowered to the ground, "I need you to explain to me in detail everything you know about what the Silver royal family is planning to do with Veronica. Stop apologizing because that will never help us nor them!" 

Hearing that, Karl quickly realized his mistake. He then slowly stood up from the ground. 

"Yes, you are indeed right! I was so worried about Princess Tiana and Veronica, that's why my mind was clouded." Karl said before slowly walking towards the map of the entire Silver Kingdom on top of the table. 

Seeing this, Leo nodded his head as he walked forward, which was quickly followed after by everyone else.

"Silver royal family plans to use Elizabeth and Vernonia to force Snow Noble Household to help them. The reason was because the Snow Noble Household was still hesitating whether to really help the Silver royal family or not, considering the fact that both Elizabeth and Veronica were in the hands of the Mischievous Lion organization at that time." Karl moved his hand towards the Heart city, "Their plan from the start was to take away Elizabeth and Veronica from the Mischievous Lion organization's hand in Heart city while you were busy fighting against the Sword and Magic in Southern Fortress, which I now discovered was actually the Black organization."

"Although in the end, they were only able to take away Veronica, that would still be enough to force the Snow Noble Household to move since Honoris Noble Household has already joined Snow Noble Household together with Skull Noble Household."

"If it was only that though, of course, Princess Tiana wouldn't have resorted to treason. But King Erskine had actually added to his plan to force a marriage between Crown Prince Edward and Veronica in order to make the Snow Noble Household their pawn."

"What do you mean about force?" Leo asked with cold eyes. 

"King Erskine would request the Snow Noble Household again for the help, and if they still hesitate about whether to help or not, then they will show them that Veronica is now in their hands and threatened them that Crown Prince Edward will bed Veronica to force her to conceive his child."

"That..." Cassandra and Elizabeth were both rendered speechless. Isn't that so desperate and merciless? 

"In war, only the winner has the authority to decide what's right and wrong." Ash said. 

"Indeed! This is just how cruel war is. No matter how despicable the method is, as long as it would bring them victory, then they will not hesitate to use that, especially if the current tide of war was against them." Charlotte explained. 

"But what if the Snow Noble Household agrees to lend help? Would that mean Veronica would be safe?" Elizabeth said, but she soon noticed that everyone was shooting her an indifferent look, "Right? Please tell me I'm correct! Right?!"

Cassandra put her hands on Elizabeth's trembling shoulder, "Let's go outside for a bit." She had just experienced escaping from the Crimson Rose Kingdom, so she naturally knows what everyone was currently thinking right now, specifically Veronica would still be force to conceive the child of Crown Prince Edward whether the Snow Noble Household agrees to help or not in order to achieve their main goal, which is to make the Snow Noble Household their pawn.

"But...?" Elizabeth turned to look at Cassandra with tears falling from her eyes. She wasn't a fool, so she of course would be able to understand what everyone wanted to say. But still, Veronica was her best friend. No, she was more than her best friend as she is one of her sisters, so she obviously can't just abandon her, right?

"Let's just put our trust in Leo, he will definitely not let that happened." Cassandra turned to look at Leo, "Right, Leo?"

Hearing that, Elizabeth turned to glare at Leo, "If you let that happen to Veronica, I will never ever forgive you!" 

After saying that, Cassandra was finally able to take Elizabeth away from the command tent. Angel, Ash, and Charlotte also followed after to help console her.