The commotion on the streets grew louder due to the symbols on the carriage.

And soon, even those guarding the Palace gates knew about the incoming visitors from the prestigious continent of Veinitta.

Skye held his head high up in the air, as he allowed these lowly women to get a glimpse of his dashing face.

And the more captivated they were, the wider his smile grew.

He looked at the massive palace estate before him as if inspecting it.

Not bad...

It's certainly a lower standard when compared to his father's palace.

but for now, it would do.

In future, he would style the place up a bit and even build several statues of himself there too, since it would soon belong to him.

So why couldn't be re-design the place?

Plus with all the possible mountains of gold and treasure in there, he would have enough money to sustain himself until his own men bring over his properties... which included his gold, wild pets, treasures and so on.

Of course all those things would only be brought over after he had successfully gotten Penelope wrapped around his little fingers.

He and his men scrutinized every inch of the place walls, gates, and surroundings like architects.

So far so good.

"Cobe, remember the plan."

"Yes, your highness."

"Excellent.

Now, we just have to wait for the prey to crawl into the spider's nest." Skye said confidently.

And while he and his men were on their way, several guards also debated on how to address the situation.

.

"Since they're from Veinitta, we should just skip protocol and let them in."

"Yeah... I think we should.

Maybe that's what the queen would prefer in cases like these."

"No! You're wrong!

I don't think she would.

And besides, how are we even sure that they're from Veinitta?

What if they're imposters?"

"That's right!

They could be imposters, so we can't just let them through."

"He's right.

But irrespective of whether they are imposters or not, we should always follow protocol."

"Yes!

We need to always follow protocol."

The guards at the palace gates were all immersed in a heated conversation about the news that they had just heard.

And were now discussing how to handle these guests from Veinitta.

One should know that this was the palace.

So within every minute, over hundreds of maids and servants went in and out daily.

Some went out to buy food supplies, cut wood around the outskirts of the city for firewood... while others went into the palace to cut the grass, do their daily cleaning jobs, sweep the roads within the palace and so on.

In short, there was just too much work involved in maintaining the palace which had over 25 mighty buildings within it, which didn't even include some of the smaller single-floor buildings and sheds around the place.

Be it cooking, cleaning, poop duties, laundry or any other jobs, the palace was always jammed packed every single day.

Additionally, merchants, tailors, nobles, soldiers, and all sorts of people with horses, wagons and carriages went in and out every second.

So those who came in typically gossiped about what was going on in the city, and that was how these guards knew about the matter.

They spoke about the matter for a while, before hearing the stern voice of their leader who was in charge of overlooking their duties at the gate.

Their leader was stern and fierce-looking.

"Silence!

Some of you have really impressed me with the way you were about to handle the situation.

But the rest of you have utterly disappointed me.

In fact, you should be ashamed to refer to yourselves as Caronian Soldiers.

And just in case any of you have forgotten, I would like to remind you all that your behaviour on duty is still being monitored by me.

So if anyone fails to live up to expectations, then they won't have the rare opportunity of training within the Caronian barracks in Baymard.

Is that understood!!!"

"Yes sir!" They exclaimed in unison.

"Alright.

As Caronian soldiers, first off... We must always follow protocol.

Which means that no matter who is supposed to come through these gates, we have to properly search them and note down whatever weapons they have on them.

Be it poison or even a bread blade, it all has to be noted down diligently.

That way, if they're here to meet with the queen or the rest of the royals, we would know how to properly handle their securities.

Secondly, from the list of scheduled visitors for today's date, we don't have anyone coming from the continent of Veinitta.

So these people are probably here unannounced.

With that said, what do we do in cases like these?"

"Sir, we take them to the waiting hall and send word to the queen.

So even if they're from Veinitta, they would have to fill out a form there and wait their turn." Said a young energetic-looking Caronian guard.

"Correct!

If there are people within the waiting room, then they would just have to wait their turn... unless the Queen herself says otherwise.

Is that clear!"

"Very clear sir!"

"Great!

Now stay focused.

They're almost here."

With that, the head guards went back to his small office again to observe their actions from afar.

.

The guard shook his head a tad bit disappointed at the handful of people who dandy thought of keeping to protocol.

Luckily, more than 90% of the guards spoke out about following protocol, which made his heart ease up a bit.

Right now, he would just watch their actions in the shadows.

And if they faltered when those visitors arrived, then he wouldn't mind giving them punishment later on.

After all, when he went to Baymard for training, even the Baymardian king needed to wait his turn when he arrived in the Barracks or any other place.

He never bullied, and always followed the rules to the tee... Unless it was an emergency or absolutely necessary.

It was unfortunate that these people under him didn't witness how strict and disciplined the barracks were.

Because if they had, they wouldn't have even thought about forgetting protocol just because someone was powerful.

For sure, they had redesigned their own barracks here in the Capital city.

And all those who trained in Baymard had the privilege of teaching those who didn't.

But even though change had come, there were still a minority of people who still thought about kissing one's ass if they were powerful enough.

Unfortunately, these people included some of the soldiers in training and the nobles.

Over the years, as Carona grew... So had the dark shadows that had been lurking in the shadows.

Just a while back, he had gone on a mission and saved several women who were about to be smuggled out by some cult members.

And after cracking them down, the weakest of them confessed that some nobles had ordered him to do so.

In short, they were to send the women to the famous Mr. Nopline in Terique.

So with these sorts of things popping up every now and then, one could see that it would take some time before they could purge out all the evil within Carona.

.

'Tru! 'Tru! Tru!'

Several beautifully made red carriage could be seen approaching the palace gates steadily.

Of course, they were Skye and his men.

"Halt!

Please step out of all 12 Carriages and standby for a full body and carriage search.

I repeat!

Please step out for a full body and carriage search."

"_"