"Earl Luoxi! That d.a.m.n traitor, how dare he —!" Appen, who was watching the battle from the top of the castle, furiously said, "I'm going to kill him and his son! Ministers, where are my ministers?"

"Your Majesty, Lord Kerlong said earlier that he was going to... handle some things," after a while, the chief guard hesitated to reply, "but I think... he may not be back."

"What did you say?" The King of Dawn turned suddenly and gasped at the latter.

"You agreed," said the chief guard hesitatively. "In addition to Lord Kerlong, Lord Wirant and 'Gold Hourgla.s.s' Neal also left. Your Majesty, everyone is gone but me."

It was only then that Appen noticed that only the chief guard and several servants were in the huge hall.

He instantly understood what the chief guard meant by saying "may not be back."

"Traitors!" He threw the scepter to the ground and said, gnas.h.i.+ng his teeth, "Traitors, traitors... My reign is ruined by these traitors."

He consented to their departure indeed, but what were their reasons? One said that he was going to check the defense of the stone wall, another said that he was going to the inner court to supervise the maids preparing for war. Those were originally their duty, but they now turned out to be their excuses!

Were his ministers ready to flee before the enemy had launched their attack?

"Your Majesty, those cowards are bound to be punished in the end, but the immediate priority now is to withdraw from here as soon as possible!" The chief guard approached and said, "Those mercenaries won't win us much time. Even the imperial guards could not withstand the enemy for over an hour. It'll be too late then!"

"No, I want to see the traitors be punished!" Said Appen, pus.h.i.+ng the chief guard away, "Go to the underground cell and bring the head of Otto Luoxi to me!"

"But…"

"This is your king's command!" He yelled at the top of his voice.

"Yes, Your Majesty," the chief guard took a step back and bowed.

After his only subordinate left, Appen felt that his fingers were slightly trembling, and his eyes seemed to swell and even his vision was covered by a layer of light red.

He slowly sat on his chair and stared at his hands, hoping to tear the traitors alive!

It was over.

When the mercenaries on the top of the city wall fled for no reason and gave up the stone wall, his failure had been a.s.sured. The rebellion of Earl Luoxi was insignificant. But he could not understand why Earl Luoxi would risk losing his eldest son to betray him. Why would Horford Quinn get the complete support of the other two families? He was unable to explain it. Though the three families in the City of Glow were seen as a whole, their respective interests were not exactly the same. In this challenge which might cost their lives, he could not figure out who would be trusted by them to such a degree.

Appen found that he did not know the city or the three families so deeply as he had thought.

In the end, he did not get the answer of the chief guard.

A team of warriors, whom he had never seen before, opened the hall door. Their weapons were still dripping blood, and their armor was also splashed with blood stains. However, there was no trace of exhaustion on their face. They were so relaxed, as if they had just gone through a street fight.

The chief guard declared that they could resist for an hour, but, in reality, they failed to even hold out for a quarter of an hour.

The rebellon had overwhelming superiority.

Then he saw the usurper, Horford Quinn, who had vowed to always support the Moya family.

In addition to Earl Quinn, two other traitors entered the hall together, along with their successors: Oro Tokat and Otto Luoxi.

When he saw the latter, Appen knew that the revenge he wanted had become impossible.

"Why is this—"

"Are you surprised as to why Otto is still alive?" Oro interrupted him, "It's not too hard to hide two warriors in the secret path of the palace, not to mention that the ordinary iron gates and fences could not stop their actions. As for how they got into the Castle District, you'd have to go to ask the guards. I don't think those guards, in their panic, may care much about the members of an acrobatics troupe ."

Appen's pupils suddenly shrank. "If that's not a bluff, does that mean that they could have entered my bedroom at any time?"

"Yes, just as what you think." Oro spread out his hands and said, "The King of Graycastle needed to create a tribute; otherwise, you would have already been beheaded by them. To be honest, I'm so disappointed in you, Your Majesty... I thought you imprisoned Otto just out of anger. I had never expected that you would use him to threaten Earl Luoxi and even intend to kill him." He sighed and continued to say, "I had thought... Even if we're not friends anymore, you would not forget the days when we were."

"You mean Roland Wimbledon? So that was all his doing?" Appen did not care about the second half of Oro's words, as "King of Graycastle" mentioned by Oro had attracted all his attention. He said,"Do you know what you're doing? You're helping a demon. You not only betrayed your ancestors' vows but also sacrifice your kingdom and subjects to him! You're foolis.h.!.+"

He pointed angrily to Horford Quinn, "And you! Do you think you can really sit on this throne? In fact, you're just a puppet! Haven't you thought about it? Why did he start the mutiny? Why did he fight against me if he were not attempting to annex the Kingdom of Dawn? Don't forget, since these people can easily overthrow me today, they'll easily push you into the abyss one day!"

"You're wrong," suddenly a woman from outside said, "he did it for two reasons, to save Otto and to protect the witches."

"Absurd—" Appen was ready to scold her presumption and ignorance, but his voice was suddenly stuck in his throat, "You, you're..."

She seemed to be very weak and could not stand up without the help of others. Even so, her superior beauty could not be hidden. Her long blonde hair and vaguely familiar face reminded him of a person who only existed in his memory.

"Andrea Quinn," her reply confirmed his guess. "It's been a long time since we met, Appen."

For a second, all the questions in his mind were answered. The reason why the Tokats supported Earl Quinn and why Earl Luoxi took risks— indeed, there was one person who could gain the trust of both families at the same time. That was because both of their children had been in love with her.

The anger in his heart was quenched and replaced by desperation all of a sudden. He murmured for a moment and finally asked, "Why?"

Why did you finally choose them and not me?

If I'm doomed to be defeated by Roland Wimbledon, why did you also betray me? I can give you more than he does. If it were not for that accident, you would have ruled the kingdom with me.

Andrea seemed to read his mind and replied, "Because I'm a witch, Appen. A Fallen who deserves to be killed in your mind."