Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The situation is getting out of hand.
Sonia frowned as she strode across the silent palace. She didn’t notice before when she headed out, but now she discovered that there was no one else except for her around the palace, not even the guard who notified her of the meeting. This left the nervous Sonia even more uncertain. She approached Lilian’s room hurriedly, knocking on the door.
“Your Majesty, are you there? Your Majesty?!”
“Huh, Sonia? Come in.”
Sonia let out a long sigh of relief after hearing Lilian’s carefree voice. She pushed open the door quickly and saw Lilian lounging on the table, reading a book with both hands supporting her cheeks. Lilian blinked curiously at Sonia.
“Is anything the matter, Sonia?”
“Your Majesty Lilian, may I know where Madam Serene and Sir Boulder are? Where are the Battle Angels who are accompanying you too? Where is everyone?”
“Huh?”
Lilian stared blankly at Sonia who suddenly asked the ridiculous questions. But she quickly gave an answer.
“I don’t know where Boulder went. As for Serene… I heard that a dangerous nest of monsters was found, so she led the Battle Angels to remove it. As for the guards, they may be rotating their shifts now. I heard Serene mentioning it yesterday…”
“When are the Battle Angels coming back? Your Majesty, is there any way to contact them?”
“Hmm… I don’t know… As for a way to contact them…”
Lilian puckered her brows and pondered deeply. Then, she retrieved an exquisite ornament from her pocket. Sonia let out a sigh of relief at the sight of it.
“My apologies, but could you please get the two archangels to return as soon as possible? We’re facing a critical situation!”
“Okay.”
Even though Lilian didn’t know why Sonia was acting so flustered, she nodded in agreement, lifting the exquisite crystal ornament in her hand. Shortly after, rays shone from the ornament and golden runes appeared above it, gradually merging into a mirror-like object. Sonia was familiar with it as something like a far-range communication device because this was what she saw whenever she communicated with Rhode. Since the device was activated, what was left now was to communicate with the two archangels…
But it was a pity that things didn’t go as well as Sonia hoped for. The instant the runes was about to merge successfully, a mysterious, black radiance suddenly appeared. Lilian shrieked and the communication ritual immediately crumbled. Not only that, but the crystal ornament also cracked and shattered.
Damn it!
Sonia gnashed her teeth. It seemed like it wasn’t a coincidence that Nakvard asked for Sonia now. He must have used some ways to make the two archangels lead the remaining Battle Angels away from Casabianca, as well as transferred the guards away. In this case, it would take no effort at all for him to take Lilian away. In order to prevent accidents, he had even meddled with Lilian’s communication device. But how did he do it?
However, now wasn’t the time to consider this question. Most importantly, what should Sonia do next? Should she hold her ground and wait for the archangels’ return? No, that wouldn’t be reliable because no one knew exactly when they would return. Besides, all of this seemed to be well planned by the parliament. She didn’t expect them to control the place in the name of relieving the guards.
Perhaps I should report this to Master…
“Sonia? What’s wrong? Why are you hurt?”
Lilian asked, walking toward Sonia worriedly and gazing at the blood stains around the chest area. Sonia showed a helpless, bitter smile. Then, she extended her hand and caressed Lilian’s hair gently.
“I’m fine, Your Majesty. It is just…”
Sonia sulked all of a sudden. She quickly ran to the window and looked at the plaza below the palace where a dozen of fully-armored soldiers stood neatly. They weren’t city guards and she knew who exactly they were due to the white armor and cloak that wrapped their bodies. They were the soldiers in the tomb.
I didn’t expect them to be this fast.
Sonia gnashed her teeth, looking at the soldiers quickly moving toward the palace and started assigning watch duties. It seemed like the option of holding her ground and waiting for the return of the angels wouldn’t work anymore. There were only Lilian and Sonia in the entire, majestic palace. With her sword skills, she stood no chance in defeating the soldiers. It seemed like there was only one way left!
“Your Majesty, we have to leave here immediately. The situation is extremely critical. We can’t stay here any longer. I know you have a lot of doubts, but now isn’t the time to explain everything to you. Please come with me!”
“Huh? Ah… Okay.”
Although Lilian displayed a dubious expression, she detected that something terrible had truly happened through Sonia’s serious gaze. Lilian nodded, while Sonia wasted no time. She hurriedly grabbed a few clothes from the closet and dragged Lilian out of the room by her hand. At this moment, Sonia heard footsteps from the end of the corridor. It was apparent that the soldiers had entered the palace. Sonia gnashed her teeth. She thought that she could return to the room and grab the crystal ball to contact Rhode, but she knew that she would be walking right into the trap if she did. She was confident to take down bandits with her strength, but as for the well-trained soldiers, it was an entirely different matter.
“Your Majesty, let’s go!”
Sonia hesitated for a second and eventually decided to forgo the crystal ball. She held Lilian’s tiny hand and they scampered toward the inner courtyard. There was no one. Even though Lilian wasn’t respected in the palace, she was the Light Dragon, after all, and there would more or less be guards standing around. But now, there were no traces of patrolling guards by the corridors and gardens. Not only that, but the female officers and servants who took care of Lilian were also missing. Sonia didn’t know what Nakvard and the parliament did exactly, but judging from this fact, it was apparent that this was premeditated for a long time. Besides, Sonia didn’t hear any rumor about it at all. Nakvard was just too terrifying!
Sonia and Lilian arrived at the garden in the inner courtyard. Of course, they weren’t there to appreciate flowers of the late autumn. Instead, there was a hidden passageway that was connected to outside the palace which only Lilian and Sonia knew. This secret passageway was first discovered by Lilian and after Sonia gained her trust, Lilian told her about it. The duo would occasionally head to Casabianca through this passageway and now, it had become their only route to survival.
As they fled, Sonia informed Lilian about the situation as much as she could. Lilian was baffled. She didn’t expect the parliament to do such a thing. Besides, according to Sonia, it seemed like Lilian’s power was sealed by the parliament since she was young.
Lilian was aware of her own powerlessness. She knew that she didn’t possess powerful strength like Nalea, Siena, Ion, and even Rhode who had just awakened his power. But deep down, she didn’t carry too many doubts as she thought that it was due to her young age. She believed that after she grew up, she would become as strong as them. But never did she expect that her body would be messed with by others.
“Sonia, what should we do?”
Scrambling their way through the path covered with greenery and shrubs, Lilian asked worriedly. This was also the question being asked repeatedly in Sonia’s head. She didn’t have the answer to it. Even though the best solution now was to hide in a safe place with Lilian and wait for the two archangels’ return, where exactly should they seek shelter? Sonia was well aware of politics. As soon as the parliament found out that Lilian wasn’t around, the parliament would have sufficient reasons to seal up the whole city and begin their search. Although Sonia was confident of hiding from ordinary people, she was no longer confident of dealing with Nakvard. If it were in the past, Sonia would still treat Nakvard as an ordinary human. But now, she couldn’t think of him as one anymore. A person like him should have his own ways to track and find them. If Sonia and Lilian continued to stay within the city, they would most likely be captured before the archangels returned.
Sonia’s family was also out of the picture because she knew that her family valued benefits more than anything else. For enough benefits, they could even sell their daughter. There was nothing that they couldn’t do. As for the foxes who exploited the tiger’s might like the Royalist Party, perhaps they might resist successfully for the time being, but they would surely fall if the parliament took serious actions on them.
In this case, the choices left were very limited… Sonia gnashed her teeth at this thought. After a few moments, she said.
“Your Majesty, I suggest that we leave Casabianca.”
“Huh?”
Lilian stared blankly at her.
“Leave Casabianca?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. We can board the floating boat to the Munn Kingdom and seek Her Royal Highness Lydia’s protection. It is too dangerous for us to stay in Casabianca and even the Country of Light. After the parliament finds out that you and I are missing, they will definitely search for us in Casabianca and the entire Country of Light. We have to leave the Country of Light before that happens!”
Sonia said as she made her decision.
