Things were getting complicated in front of the traitor, but the idea of allying himself with Dora never crossed his mind. He always thought of her as an unworthy child of a throne she never would fit for, he would.

So, when he saw everything crumbling around her, he didn't pursue further care, moving to seize the chance, dreaming of the moment of the crown being held on top of his head.

He looked around him, towards his fellow accomplices and associates, feeling more safe and confident. If he couldn't overtake this little spoiled child right now, then he didn't deserve to claim the throne of rebels.

And henceforth he started acting, informing all of his men about the hour of move, which he decided to be one hour later.

He sent some men to the vital places of the cruiser. overtaking a princess couldn't be easily done by imprisoning her, as any other force here that didn't align itself with him could use the chance to overthrow him.

So, he needed to take hold and control all the key places in the cruiser, and he estimated one hour for his dispatched men to reach their designated locations, and take control of everything.

That left only one place uncontrolled, and it was the only place in his opinion to be impossible for any force to control the goods deck. The place there was a circus of its own, with much more chaos than any local capital market.

So, he didn't pay attention to that place, even if any force here tried to pull a trick and summon their forces, he was already controlling the moving train, and thus no troops outside his allegiance would set foot inside these trains.

If anyone wanted reinforcements, then he had to wait for hours before they arrived here. During this period, he could easily subdue them, kill the reinforcements, and remained safe.

Sitting on his chair, like a going to be crowned king, he enjoyed the last peaceful minutes, before he would act.

On the other hand, Dora and the others didn't know what was going on, but they sensed something was off. Unpleasant tense atmosphere started to spread all over the commanding deck, and Dora noticed suspicious moves, yet she couldn't tell its source.

She wasn't worried about any move against vital places in her cruiser, as she and Rigo had secured these places before. She just hoped they could emerge victorious, without much losses, in troops and most importantly in the ship itself.

On James' side, Rigo was observing every move inside the commanding deck closely, and he didn't take long to notice the unusual movement of a certain rebellious leader. This man was speaking with many of his underlings, as some went to speak with another leader, while others moved outside the deck, gathering more men, and started to move away from the deck.

"I think I located the traitor," Rigo suddenly said.

"Where? Who?" James hurriedly asked.

"Are you sure?" Islinda asked.

"I'm not one hundred percent sure, but," Rigo paused, as he operated something in his head, before a light was shown on the next wall. A live stream inside the commanding deck started to operate.

"See there?" Rigo asked, as he paused the recording, zoomed in, as he pointed towards a man, a bald man, sitting amidst a group of his men, whispering like being in heated debate.

"What about him?" Islinda asked.

"It's him," Rigo said, "watch his men and their actions," Rigo added, before he played the recording, and this time the screen was divided into many smaller ones. Each screen was paused on a scene, zoomed in on the scene, showing a man whispering to a group of other men. One screen showed the moves of these men outside the deck, gathering more men, and headed towards the armory and the engine decks.

"These men were all that baldy's men, and they all moved after he whispered to them. even part of them are heading now towards vital places of the ship. It's him, there is no one else who has moved there but him," Rigo said, stressing over his conclusion.

"You must know that, once we moved, and we failed, we will alert the real traitor. So, we can't just move based on conclusions!" Islinda said, arguing with Rigo.

"We can't let Dora face him alone, we need at least to warn her," he stressed, while looking at James.

Islinda also looked at him. for James, he didn't care about Dora, but he cared about the traitor. If they didn't root him out here, then his venom would be more toxic later on, and they wouldn't be able to eradicate him this easily.

"Let's just inform her of our suspicions, but not confirm anything to her," James said, before pointing towards the group of men heading towards the vital places of the cruiser, "is it safe to let them move like this?"

Rigo and Islinda, both looked at him with discontent eyes, as they neither approved fully of his meddled decision. James didn't care about their reaction, as he pointed towards the screen again.

"Don't worry, I and Dora had already dispatched men to guard these places," Rigo said in an obvious displeased tone, as he didn't like the current situation and decided to take an action towards it.

"Are you sure they won't double cross us?" James asked.

"I'm sure, as I sent some of ours too with them," he simply added, before he sent a tip to Dora, warning her from that badly.

Rigo knew his leader wasn't that trusty of Dora, as she might flip the sides in one second, but from his old and long expertise, he could say these precise actions were always the instigator for any betrayal.

Trust was always a mutual thing. You might not tell others about your own thoughts, but never shield a life and death info like this from them, or else this simple, hesitant action of yours might instigate enmity, unneeded enmity.

So, he sent a message to her, telling her about the suspicion they had against baldy, and he also gave her many remarks and evidences, the ones they had found so far.

He also, stepping over his authority, sent to her telling directly that these were James' orders to him, and he wanted her to bid her time, but to be also prepared for any sudden turn of events.

Dora received this detailed long message, and after reading it, she glanced shortly towards the baldy, as she knew who he was.

He was once called the right hand of her mother during the old uprising against the empire. Later, he had some stuff to do, and left the position, resigning it in a good heart as she always heard.

However right now she was sure this man had been forced away, and that was like a betrayal, a betrayal he decided to repay in time and place best suited for his desires, like now.

She sighed, as she knew such enmity could have been evaded easily by her mother. As a betrayed one, herself, she knew how bad that man felt back then, how deeply hurt he was, and though she was sympathizing with him, she didn't move to speak out, as it would be far dangerous to do that.

Hatred, rooted for years, and enriched by hate over time, wasn't that easy to be cured, not by words, not by days. This man might not be cured forever, and though she felt bad for him, she wasn't ready to give in, not like that.

They were enemies, and that was the end of it. No matter how she felt about his cause, even if she knew he had some just in it, she wouldn't step down, and let him do whatever he wanted.

She sighed, as she reviewed the evidence again. After she finished, she was sure James didn't know about all that old history between her mother and that baldy, so he couldn't be framing him.

Also, he would never know how dangerous such a man was. As trusting a friend and ally, Dora sent a brief history about that baldy, correcting the danger value of him, making it clear that man was dangerous, extremely dangerous, and any peaceful solution here wouldn't work, unfortunately.

Rigo received the message from Dora, and he didn't know what he should tell his leader. If he told James right here about what he did, he might get a storm of rage from him.

He was facing this dilemma, as the message couldn't be delayed but he had to find the perfect excuse to tell James, or else he and his little help to Dora might backfire at them both!

"what's wrong, Rigo?"

Amidst his conflicted thoughts, the last person he would speak with asked him, noticing his change in behavior. Rigo glanced at Islinda who smiled back while saying:

"Don't worry," she whispered, "James is busy following the men that baldy sent."