- Secrets Revealed -

Mata was surprised when the woman was able to control a winged beast. It seemed like it was really hard to control a winged beast in the Floor of Death that even Mata, the parasite, was surprised.

They went inside the winged beast, Yadu.

The woman told both Mata and Hockney to wait outside before she entered a room with both Charlotte and Bam. Mata was curious but Hockney warned him to not mind others' businesses a lot.

Inside a whole different room, the woman spoke up again.

"I know you must be curious about lots of things" she said to both of them. "It's just the three of us here so ask me whatever you like."

".....who.......are you....?" Bam finally had the chance to ask.

"I am . I'm who went missing with the two of Thirteen Months series long ago" the woman answered with a grin.

Bam was surprised to hear that. He knew that the woman who turned out to be Garam Zahard who was said to disappear for a long time must be the princess of the deep sea girl, the person whom Bam should meet in order to find his thorn.

"Why.....why would a Princess of Zahard....... here.....?"

Be in a place that Zahard forbid the Zahard Princesses to come?

"I told you. I disappeared with two of the Thirteen Month Series. I betrayed the Zahard Family and have been hiding here" she truthfully answered. "I found out too much truth to stay in the Zahard Family. Like why we ended up being selected as princesses and fighting, why we cannot rise to higher positions, what kind of person our father, King Zahard, is....and, about your existence."

"Y....you know about me?!" Bam was shocked.

"Yes" Garam answered. "But not the person behind you."

The person behind Bam, who else could that be but Charlotte? She had been hiding on her brother's back, uncomfortable and alerted against this Princess of Zahard.

She knew why Garam was suspicious of her and she was worried that this Princess of Zahard might either expose.....or kill her.

Both of the women understand the reason why Garam didn't recognize Charlotte's existence when she recognized Bam's existence, but Bam didn't understand what happened between these two women.

≪ ◦ ❖ ◦ ≫

Meanwhile, the group was quite unlucky to encounter a group of immortal giant beetles that no matter how many times and how hard Yuri beat them, will always stay alive and even increase in number.

After they ran and reached a place with large space, Yuri used her rose petals and temporarily stopped the giant beetles from following them. On the other hand, the regulars who were being carried and stuck together with Evan's red Adam's Glove met with someone who looked alike with Hwaryun.

The woman had her red hair tied into two buns with a pair of red eyes. She also had a bandage on her cheek. She promised them that she was going to show them the way to meet Hwaryun and Raisin so right now, she was leading the group the way to meet them.

"Those guys.....they took the easiest path on their own!" said Endorsi with an annoyed look while crossing her arms. She was referring to both Hwaryun and Raisin. "I knew that she would know about some other path!"

".......I see" Khun responded, though he sounded rather distracted. He was wondering about the twins who were separated from them.

"...what about our guide, Evan?" Yuri asked, glaring at the Silver Dwarf. "Even guides lose their sense of directions here? It feels like it's the time for me to switch guides."

Evan sweated coldly, "....t....this is strange...."

the red haired maiden called Yuri. "Hwaryun told me to ask you for a favor in return of showing the way."

"A favor?"

"Yeah! She said you would certainly do her a favor for showing the way" said the maiden.

"....nothing is ever free. What is it?" Evan asked.

"....actually...."

Altaira, "........." 'Sneaky woman.'

"....what? Who is it?" Evan curiously and cautiously asked.

"He is the ruler of the South City, one who seeks to defy fate and tries to control Shinsu which has lost its owner as if it was his own. ."

"Hell Joe...? What's with that unusual name?" Yuri asked, crossing her arms.

"That's the name of the warlord who's currently ruling the South City. This place is divided into the South City and North City. The North City is ruled by Grand De Lee, while Hell Joe is the ruler of the South City.

Hell Joe, the warlord of the South City, is like a tyrant....so everyone in the South City fears him. He's something of a maverick so he never trusts anyone else. And if he dislikes anyone, he traps them in an eternal prison. They say that he's an evil, lawless man.

Hell Joe used to be a hole repairman in the South City. Here on the Floor of Death, there are special organs called holes, which pull in Shinsu from the outside. Hell Joe is said to have found everything there is to know about holes after working on them for such a long time.....ultimately, Grand De Sah, the previous ruler of the South City, started trusting Hell Joe, then he called him to his castle and appointed him top hole master--"

"Wait" Altaira interrupted the story. He somehow looked bored. "Let me guess, that Hell Joe must have betrayed Grand De Sah right?"

"How do you know about that?"

Altaira let out a tired sigh.

"Don't you know that betrayal is the second name of this tower? That Hell Joe must have used his knowledge of the holes to defeat Grand De Sah. But then again, why does a guide from a FUG cares about that? What is that woman up to this time?"

Of course, he knew the answer. Altaira was simply asking to get the story line back to the right path again. The story between Grand De Sah and Hell Joe were quite obvious that he could figure it out without the maiden telling him. In fact, with the book that Charlotte gave to him, he might know more than what the maiden knew.

The maiden then revealed something big to them, that Hell Joe was actually working together with the FUG where Hell Joe was helping FUG to find the fragment of thorns used by Jue Viole Grace. One of the thorns ended up in Viole's hands, the other one ran to somewhere else that the maiden didn't know and the last one, Hell Joe was still searching for it.

What they wanted was Yuri to defeat Hell Joe before Hell Joe could find the last piece of thorn. They were sure that Yuri will help them since this matter involved the twins, both Bam and Charlotte. She couldn't turn blind eye on them.

Yuri agreed even though she still felt that there was something off with the request. She agreed since she didn't have much choices unless she wanted to find herself and the regulars abandoned in the strange floor. The maiden smiled and cheered while Evan found her decision ridiculous.

"Princess, how could you suddenly agree on such a suspicious request?!" Evan asked her in disbelief.

Yuri glared at Evan, threatening him with her sharp gaze and words, "What else am I supposed to do? Are you going to lead the way? Do you need to be covered in stag beetles to bring you to your senses?"

"Ugh.....!"

Yuri looked at the red haired maiden, "In return, you have to show us the way and take us to Bam and Charlotte, too."

"Sure, got it!" the maiden agreed with a wide smile.

'Speaking about Bam and Charlotte.....both of them must be meeting that person right now right?' Altaira thought as he followed them quietly.

≪ ◦ ❖ ◦ ≫

Garam asked Bam about how much he knew about Zahard. When it comes to Zahard....he didn't really know that much.

"I've never met him.....I've just heard things.....I know that he's an irregular. He entered the tower as an irregular, climbed the tower with Ten Great Family Leaders....."

"That's right" Garam agreed. "He's a great king who attacked the tower and made a deal. An invincible warrior praised by everyone on all the one hundred thirty four floors of the tower. Having endlessly climbed the tower, he pitied people in the tower and decided to become the king of the tower."

If someone asks Charlotte's opinion of that, Charlotte wouldn't say that she needed his pity. Was it really because he pitied the people in the tower? She would believe more if someone said that he was doing that because of his greed or with ulterior motive.

Garam continued, "Since then, he decided to leave his attack on the tower to his descendants. But perhaps because his blood is too strong, he couldn't create any child with any woman. So Poe Bidau Gustang, one of the Ten Great Leaders, proposed something.

Selecting outstanding female children, gradually injecting them with Zahard's blood, and making them compete with each other to climb the tower to make the most talented of surviving princesses Zahard's wife.

This is how the began. Those Thirteen Months Series weapons that they have are tokens proving that they are acknowledged princesses. Whichever princess gathers all the Thirteen Months can become Zahard's wife but no princess has managed to do that yet.

This is the story of Zahard and us princesses that has been passed down for ages.

. The first Zahard princesses were consumed by evil magic of the Thirteen Months and ended up hating and killing each other. When the competition got more intense, the relations between the family leaders also become distorted. Back when I was chosen, even the original goal as a solution had disappeared-- it was just pure competition and murder. Ultimately, princess of Zahard developed into a fight among families that will never be resolved.

Every day, our lives consist of us trying to slash the throats of our fellow sisters. It was hard for me to endure such a chaos."

Bam was lost in words when he heard that.

Garam sounded really tired with the fights she endured as a Zahard Princess. But being a Zahard Princess, Charlotte knew, the only way for her to quit was to die. Beneath the smiles and the beautiful appearance of the princesses, their beautiful appearances like angels covered the cruelness inside them, the cruelness like demons.

From reading some novels, Charlotte knew that a king or an emperor never wanted to see a party or a group getting stronger to threaten his power. What an emperor or a king had always wanted was the balance between his subordinates. To an emperor or a king, no one should be trusted and his position should be maintained and balanced. Realizing this thought, could that be the distortion between the families was also Zahard's plan? To prevent the families to work together? Maybe not. She wasn't really sure about it since she didn't know the exact situation of Zahard Family. She was also bad at politics and she couldn't read someone's mind.

Maybe she should have started to learn politics. But those who participated in politics never ended well.

Right now, Charlotte was worried with Yuri and Endorsi. They were Zahard's bride candidates and if they were caught for working and climbing the tower together with the slayer candidates, they were done for. If Yuri is caught.....if she was favored in Ha Family, being caught and arrested by the Zahard Family.....the head of Ha Family might not accept it. There might be a war if that happens. It wasn't impossible....unless the Ha Family was completely loyal to Zahard that they were willing to die for him.

War was something that will definitely happen. With the irregulars' presences, there was no way war could be avoided. Added by the fact that the tower was a violent place, war was a place to see which party was stronger. It will definitely be happen.

"As this seemingly endless war went on, a genius appeared who seemed like she could end the tragedy. -- she was the ultimate descent, with the blood of two leaders mixed within her. With her Colorless December, she was truly overwhelming. She displayed talents that even feuding leaders had no choice but to acknowledge. Right at the moment when it seemed like she would end this cruel competition-- ."

Bam was shocked.

"....what?!"

Charlotte who was hiding behind Bam while holding his hand gripped Bam's hand tighter. She gripped Bam's hand tightly that Bam turned around to look at his younger sister.

His younger sister was lowering her head, but that doesn't mean he couldn't tell her expression right now. Right now, she was frowning and gritting her teeth. Her golden eyes reflected the flame of anger and hatred knowing the danger that her friends were going to face. Right now, her body was trembling with rage.

'What a cruel move, Zahard.'

"Having gone mad, she murdered everyone from Zahard Family who crossed her path, and ultimately she was trapped in a mysterious labyrinth. I couldn't believe the girl who I admired so much would end up like that. So I risked my life to break in there and meet her" Garam continued her explanation. When Bam heard Garam speaking again, he turned his head around to look at the blue haired woman. "And that's where I heard it from her.

She said from the very start....King Zahard never intended to get married. The reason that he created Princesses of Zahard was actually to wipe out people's complaints. The incident in which all of the first Princesses of Zahard died was also a tragedy manipulated by Zahard behind the scenes."

'The moment when Yuri and Endorsi agreed to be Zahard Princesses, their lives had always been in danger without them aware of that....that there is no way they'll win this life and death competition....none of the Zahard Princesses will know of it.

Being trapped in the lies of the king who was said to pity the people of tower.....'

"Anne Zahard knew about that and went to question him about it. But all she heard were cruel secrets.

Actually, even Zahard.....had a first love whom he couldn't forget."

"A....first love.....?"

"That's right. Her name is......Arlene Grace.

She is the person who caused this whole tragedy to happen and the one who brought you to this world."