Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

"The Duke extends his heartfelt admiration for Her Highness' remarkable journey, witnessing her ascendancy from challenging circumstances to the triumphant ruler of Montford. He acknowledges the courage displayed by Her Highness and accepts her as the rightful ruler of Montford"

"Furthermore, his grace is impressed by her willingness and determination to fight the kingdom's adversaries head-on. As such, he accepts the alliance. In light of the shared goals and challenges faced by our realms, he wholeheartedly declares his support for the proposed alliance".

GASP… after the messenger finished with his message, gasps of awe and shocks could be heard being drawn in from all around the senate. Honestly speaking many of them were surprised by the unperturbed attitude of Duke Redcrest.

Even Cynthia was slightly surprised. As a good friend of Duke Montford, they thought that the duke would be enraged if not unwelcoming towards the new ruler of Castledor. However, far from it, instead of showing her any discourtesy, the duke instead sent her words of praise and extended his hands for the alliance.

This meant that the forces of the two duchies would now march together towards the capital further increasing their chances.

"Your Highness" Alvara who standing beside Cynthia, looked at the latter. A touch of joy of joy could be seen in those shiny black eyes of hers.

"Yeah, I was not wrong about him. Duke Redcrest still remembers the huge debt he owes to my father. A person like him would no doubt even put his life on the line to repay that debt" Cynthia muttered pleased by the answer of the Duke.

.

.

Morning fell and night arrived. After a whole day of hectic work and dealing with the nobles and senate, Cynthia was enjoying a cup of wine as she looked at the beautiful moons hanging in the sky from the open balcony.

She was wearing a light violet coloured negligee and left her hair untied. As the moonlight fell on her pearly skin, she appeared extremely mesmerising and beautiful.

As she crossed her arms while taking in the cold night's wind to settle her tense mind when suddenly a voice rang out inside the room.

"It's such a beautiful night to be moon gazing isn't it? Do you mind if I join you".

Reacting to the voice, Cynthia hastily turned around and looked at the speaker with caution in her eyes. There inside the room, a shadow suddenly wiggled taking a hazy form before materialising into the figure of a man.

The man was lean, decked in black armour and a mask, his appearance couldn't be seen. However, from the sharp glint in his eyes that could be seen through the mask and the fact that he was able to enter the castle that was heavily guarded by the soldiers and even powerful adventurers, left no doubt about this person's skill. The man was unquestioningly an Elite Powerhouse. Novel Fire - novelfire.net

"So the kingdom of Blackthorn couldn't wait any longer to deal with me huh. So who sent you here? Is it your king?"

Cynthia remained calm as she questioned the brazen figure who entered her room. Needless to say, there was only one organisation that could send an assassin of this calibre after her.

"Haha" hearing her question, the man laughed "You are overestimating your value too much, princess of an extinct kingdom. His Majesty is far too busy to pay attention to likes of you. I was sent here by Marshall Cavalier who heard about your recent success and ordered me to bring you a message"

""He first congratulates you for defeating that usueless of a pawn Alstin and taking over Montford with your won effort and secondly, he has a proposal for you. He suggests that you surrender and bow before the red crown, just like what the other nobles and dukes did. That way, you will be able to prevent needless deaths and suffer a crushing defeat. This is the last grace, Blakthorn is willing to show you. You should take up this offer and stop this futile resistance".

In front of this plain provocation, Cynthia remained the very embodiment of calm. She did not take even a second to think and replied with a smile.

"Please thank Marshall Cavalier for his encouragement and benevolence. However, regretfully I have to decline this offer. The land was and will always be of Ellesmere's. As such, I cannot back down from this war. Please tell the Marshall that I am coming to reclaim the capital back".

She did not mask any words and directly said everything that was on her mind. Her words were tantamount to burning the last lifeboat the kingdom of Blackthorn was willing to throw at her.

"Presumptuous" the assassin was immediately enraged by those words "Do you know who you are turning down? The Marshall was benevolent enough to give you another chance and spare your people from further misery yet you refuse his kindness"

How could Cynthia not know about the Marshall? After Blackthorn invaded the kingdom of Ellesmere, the ranks of their army had now become common knowledge to the people of this kingdom.

The rank of Marshall was the second highest rank in the army of Blackthorn second only to the general. That said, in terms of influence and power any of the marshalls far outclassed the dukes of the kingdom of Ellsemere.

Cynthia had no doubt that given the Marshall's authority, he would really keep his word. That is if they surrendered; however, the very notion of it made Cynthia repulsed. She understood very well the implications of going to a war against a nation like the Blackthorn who was far stronger than them.

She did not even need to imagine it as the proof laid out there. With their capital occupied and numerous territories razed, hundreds of thousands of people were displaced from their lands, living the life of refugees.

Numerous more died fighting against the forces of Blackthorn and the remaining ones either surrendered or were destroyed. Going to war again meant that many more would die again. The army, the people who followed her… how many of them would survive until the end?

Even so, it was not enough to deter her. It was not like she was undermining the value of life, it's just that she had far too much blood on her hand and stood on the corpses of numerous comrades, friends and family to reach this point. There was no backing down for her.

"Hmph, I see still stubbornly holding onto ideals that cannot come true. Truly the height of folly. Did you think that just because you raised some army, you could march towards the capital and hope of winning? Haha, forget about this small of a force, even if you have ten times that number of soldiers, you are still no match for blackthorns knight orders"

"It's time you realise that your army is a joke to us. Even if you have killed our agents, it does not matter. Resistance at this point is futile, no matter what you do, you cannot reverse the fate of your kingdom"

The assassin stated with a condescending tone. It seemed that the enemy became aware that they had gotten rid of the spies they placed here.

"Even if that is the case, the victor hasn't been decided yet. The one to have the last laugh will be our side, you can say that to your marshall. And besides, doesn't the fact that he bothered to send a high level assassin as a mere messenger to dissuade me proves that he is wary of us? In that case, we stand plenty chance of defeating you".

At that remark, the assassin's already sharp eyes became even sharper as a killing glint flashed in them for a second. Though it was quickly suppressed by the latter.

"The Marshall wary of you? Hmph, stop dreaming of impossible dreams. Anyway, it seems there is no way to make you back down. Very well then, come to the capital and maybe then you will realise your grave mistake.

"However, at that time even if you regret it, there will be no pardon only complete annihilation. This will serve as an example for all those still holding the heart of resistance. My mission was to bring this message to you. Now that I have received your answer, I don't see any point in staying here"

Saying that, the figure was just about to meld into tiny black particles when…

"Where do you think you are going?" A voice as soft as a cloud, suddenly sounded out.

The assassin immediately raised his guard and turned around. There on the veranda, he noticed two women dressed in seemingly ordinary adventurer's garb aligning against the railing.

'When did they appear there?' Immediately, his sharp eyes went wide and he couldn't help but question in head. He was almost certain that just until a second ago there was no one there and the princess of Ellesmere was completely alone.

However, in that split second when he removed her eyes from her these two women appeared beside her.

Snort… It seemed that the reason why the princess was afraid of him was because she had backup. But so what? Not wanting to waste any more time here, he was just about to turn around when he realised that he was unable to move. His body was refusing to obey his commands.

What?!! Not only that, the assassin also realised that he was unable to activate his skills.

"Did you really think that you were able to enter all the way here based on yoiur skills? If so, then you are gravely mistaken. The princess allowed you to come here"

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