The resplendent armor reflected the flickering torchlight as if mirroring the beating heart within.

Racks of various weapons lined one wall, while opposite, there were only two enormous portrait paintings.

The room’s mistress appeared somewhat youthful, but her cold eyes were as sharp as steel. A pale blue dress outlined her young, slightly curved figure, her dignified posture like that of a freshly ripened forbidden fruit. The sound of skin and silk rubbing together stirred the most primal desires.

The young girl flashed a radiant smile, watching the man in the center of the room who was observing the portraits.

"How is Cousin Glenda doing? I’ve been quite concerned about his well-being, hoping that Dreya’s barbaric atmosphere hasn’t troubled his noble health."

Upon hearing the young girl’s sweet voice, the man, cloaked in a magnificent robe, smiled back in greeting.

"The lord is quite well, Your Majesty Lina. He is very satisfied with everything in Dreya. It’s just... he misses Your Majesty Lina, and the promised wedding date, and hopes you have made preparations for the marriage. Devonrayla is far from Dreya; the dowry the lord brought cannot be kept for long. The same goes for the trade agreement between our two nations."

Lina narrowed her eyes, smiling bashfully.

"I’m grateful for my cousin’s concern. Recently, the bandits around Dreya have grown rampant, and I’m truly overwhelmed..."

The man walked over with a smile and stood in front of Queen Dreya.

"The lord’s patience is limited, Your Majesty Lina Deria. If the lord is saddened, Dreya’s ’bandits’ will grow even more rampant." Without waiting for a response from Lina, the man turned and left the room.

As the smile faded, a murderous intent caused the flame in the torch to waver. Lina stretched out her hand, flexing her fingers, which cracked loudly in the air.

An elderly knight entered.

"Your Majesty."

"The dogs of Devonrayla are growing impatient."

The old knight, with his upright bearing, bowed his head.

"Your Majesty, you need not bother with those scoundrels."

"If I don’t bother with them, what about the food? Supplies, money, everything that Dreya operates on requires others’ charity."

"We could plunder and conquer, as we have done before."

"Once Dreya had five thousand conquering knights, countless elite warriors, but now? Face the reality, Eplon. The war state can no longer afford to wage war."

The old knight sighed helplessly, "Then you shouldn’t gamble with your own future."

Lina moved lackadaisically, ripping her dress as thin as paper, and redressed in her armor. "Sooner or later, I have to marry someone. It doesn’t matter who, as long as Dreya survives. Don’t worry, Eplon. Devonrayla values Dreya’s sovereignty; Dreya won’t fall but will lie dormant within another’s carcass."

"I will resurrect Dreya."

"The founding fathers and your father would never wish to see you like this."

Lina, clad in her new armor, took down a great sword from the weapon rack and chopped the chair where the envoy had been sitting into two.

"They are dead, all of them. Dreya is my only home, and I will give everything to defend it."

"That envoy, do we need to keep an eye on him?"

"Never mind that; aside from our knights lacking the ability to perform surveillance, he’s just a pretty puppet controlled by Glenda. Without power, I could crush him with one hand. The real power resides in the shadows; Devonrayla has recently gained a clever individual. A nuisance, to be kidnapped if we had direct contact."

Outside the window sill, a small void floated waveringly, its contours resembling a swaying tentacle.

Lyle and Echel, hiding at the edge of the window sill, looked at each other.

"I feel like Mr. Reed is going to explode."

"If it was up to me, I’d start killing right now. But first, go back to him."

Dreya underwent significant changes, heading in a direction the founding father Reed was reluctant to face.

Lyle and Echel relayed the intelligence in great detail to the waiting Reed, looking anxiously at the silent knight, fearing he might storm the tower right then.

As the report went on, Lyle could hear Reed’s breathing growing heavier.

Until that sentence, "They’re all dead."

Turned into a sigh.

Reed leaned against the wall, watching the flames rise above the bustling streets.

"Lina has grown into a fine ruler," Reed’s voice was far from reassuring, "That’s good, she has made her choice, and I... respect her decision."

Echel immediately took issue with this, as he and Reed would often boast about their granddaughters to each other, and although it hadn’t become a shared hobby, he had long placed Reed’s granddaughter Lina on the same pedestal as his own Kayla.

Putting himself in their shoes, if Kayla were forced to marry someone because of Liveser, enough said, draw the bow, old man. I’ll turn you all into gourd skewers.

"Have you lost your mind! You’re handing your granddaughter over to some shitty family from who knows where."

"Devonrayla isn’t some shitty family; that’s where I came from," Reed said wearily. "I was once a member of the Devonrayla family, the clan leader back then was my brother. But I despised that cowardly family, took my kin to the wilderness, and founded a country, which is Dreya."

"Lina’s choice is, in a way, an acknowledgment of her ancestry."

"To hell with acknowledgment of ancestry, did death take away your balls too? I really misread you; you’re just like a turtle, tough on the outside but yielding on the inside. Bottom line, your granddaughter, will you look after her or not! If you won’t, I will!"

"I’ve said it many times, Echel, do not interfere with the living, the dead should act like the dead. My granddaughter isn’t a puppet for you to manipulate."

"Fuck off, you’re insane! I’m doing this for her good!"

"Good or bad! It does not need judgment from an outsider like you!"

"Fuck you! I’m going back to Liveser right now to take my troops and wipe you out, then snatch Lina back!" Echel, fuming, prepared to leave.

Reed immediately lunged at him, "I’ll wipe you out right now!"

Watching the two grapple with each other, Lyle quickly intervened. The people of Dreya around them didn’t find it strange; this was a country that revered martial strength.

"Oi, come on old king, kill that old immortal, and Dreya would be completely annihilated," cooed the voice of Pigeon by Lyle’s ear, who sat on the eaves enjoying the sight of the scuffle.

"Don’t stir things up, Pigeon, come help separate them."

"No need, Mr. Lyle, Dreya is about to be done for, let the dead king have his moment."

Hearing Pigeon’s words, the two of them stopped fighting.

Echel looked at his subordinate.

"What did you say? Dreya is going to be done for?"

The parrot appeared at Echel’s side, delivering the intelligence gathered by the Night Owl Squad.

"That envoy from Devonrayla, after leaving the tower, didn’t return to the embassy, instead, he met up with another group clad in armor and black hoods, gathering covertly in the basement of the Church of the Holy Light. Thirty minutes later, the envoy returned to the Devonrayla embassy."

"If it was only to put pressure on Dreya, such extensive measures wouldn’t be necessary. Devonrayla is plotting something else. It’s not just about taking Dreya; but then again, what could be more serious than taking Dreya."

Pigeon cheered merrily, "See, I told you, Dreya is done for."