As we advanced towards the palace, the soldiers were waiting, drawing their spears, rather than approaching us. That was pretty weird because, in situations like this, soldiers usually run directly at us.

I turned to others and said,

"Don't you think it's kinda weird that soldiers don't attack us and stand there? It doesn't usually happen like this."

General looked at me and said,

"Because they won't attack. For high-level criminals like you and me, the king only appoints elite people. And what I mean by that is..."

Hiroshi said while looking at somewhere,

"Knights."

Then at that moment, an arrow from the entrance of the palace began to fly towards my head very quickly.

I caught the arrow just in time and escaped being shot. Then I immediately threw the arrow on the floor and tried to figure out where it came from.

There were three armored people approaching us. Two of them were boys and the other one was a girl. Unlike the boys, she had a bow in her hand. It was obvious that she had made the shot.

General looked at us again, and said,

"The people you see before you are the Knights of the second Kingdom. Be careful while approaching them, because each one of them has the power equivalent to an elite soldier and each one has a different ability than the other."

It's the first time I've seen a knight like this in my life. Their clothes looked more durable and of better quality than other normal soldiers.

And especially the Knight with the black sword standing in the middle seemed to have a different level of power than the others. He had a pretty scary aura around him.

As soon as they got close enough, they stopped and the knight in the middle started talking,

"Countless times you disobeyed the King's orders, escaped from the dungeon, and damaged the properties. For these crimes you have committed, you will no longer be ordered to forgive.

Surrender or taste death. That's my first and final words to you all."

The General said with a nervous expression,

"Maybe you'd like to explain where you got the sword in your hand first. That sword you're holding belongs to the legendary black swordsman, Sarutoun."

The Knight looked annoyed by his words and said,

"A criminal like you has no right to bear the name of a person like him in his mouth."

"I've known him for a very long time. And I think have the right to mention the name of a man I can call my friend. But I would like to know why you are such angry for me calling out his name?"

"Because he's been more of a great father to me than a friend to criminals like you. So a man like you has no right to say his name."

Then he added,

"Anyway, enough of this nonsense."

And that's when he tried to attack the general.

But I moved in time and held the sword in the air. Now we were facing each other, and the others were looking at us shocked.

"Is this kid out of his mind? Holding a sword like that with a bare hand will only harm your own body!"

The Knight continued to push the sword with all his power. My hands were bloodied and my feet started collapsing on the ground.

But just then, the knight turned to the other woman Knight and said aloud,

"Brienne! Shoot Him! Now!"

As he ordered, she aimed at me and fired an arrow. But at that moment Hiroshi acted quickly and shot the arrow in the air.

The General shouted,

"That's enough!"

Then he pointed his hand with all his fingers facing forward and said,

"One-inch strike!"

The General managed to push them back with the force he used without touching the Knights.

On the other hand, my hands were hurting but I was more affected by the general's movement than by the pain.

I looked at him and said,

"At this rate, we'll waste a lot of time."

"We have to use the power we have now more than time, and you have plenty of it."

He then added while landing me a hand to get up,

"Come on, Kid, you have to get up."

I got up and took a breath. We now had to defeat them and get past them to enter the castle. It was going to be hard, but we had nothing to do other doing the "hard".

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(At the time, Inside the palace)

The preparations were complete, and I was waiting in my room to be called to the wedding hall. Even though I don't want to go.

I was pretty desperate, and my head was filled with so many thoughts. I was going to lose my mind.

But just then my father entered the room with his soldiers and approached me.

He then said in a thick voice,

"It's time, Mila, they're waiting for us."

Even calling me "Mila" instead of "my daughter" proved how serious he was.

I knew that no matter how much I resisted my father, no matter how much I rebelled, I couldn't escape from here. But if I did what my father said, I could have made him a little happy. And maybe I would have been able to save Ryuu and his friends from that dungeon and the execution.

So I did what my father said and followed him.

We were walking slowly into the hall, but it seemed like something was wrong.

I couldn't hear the crowd outside as clearly as I used to. It was as if all the people had been silenced.

I kept walking, assuming that maybe they were silent because of the ceremony.

And when we got to the door of the hall, my father stopped me before I came in and said,

"Mila. Don't forget that I did all this to make you live a more peaceful life. I don't have a bad purpose here, I just want you to be happy."

I didn't give my father any answers. I just waited quietly and didn't look at him.

Then my father gave up on talking with me and opened the doors without waiting too long, and we entered the Hall.

Almost every area of the hall was filled with people. Every person he knew as a king seemed to be here and as I walked, I saw new faces that I didn't saw before.

My father on the other hand was escorting me to the place where the grooming candidate was.

Everyone's eyes were on us, and I could feel it.

Is that what it's like to be a bride?

I've always dreamed of it since I was a child but marrying a person I didn't know, was more of a nightmare than a dream.

I've heard rumors about the prince from most people around here. They would usually say that the prince was very smart, or he is very kind to his people and stuff. And my father knew that too, that is why he wanted me to marry him.

But I wished I had a little more time. Because maybe, I could have known him a lot better and maybe I could have liked him, But I had no choice.

At that time, my father left me with the prince and left there. And after seconds, then the authorized person for the wedding approached us and started the wedding.

But it wasn't that thing that distracted me.

Right beside me, The King of the second kingdom and some soldiers were talking about something. They were telling the king that there were three men who attacked the palace.

Or were they them? How did they manage to escape? And how did they got here?

That's when the authorized person called out to me,

"Can you hear me? Princess Mila!"

"Ye-Yes!"

"Beautiful. Do you accept the prince as-"

At that moment, the castle swung as if it had taken a blow from above.

And when I looked out the largest window in the hall, I saw a shocking sight.

At first, I thought my imagination had misled me, but it was real.

A giant ship, floating in the sky was coming here.