An entire night passed by, but Seren didn’t come out of the tower. King Armen continued to kneel in the rain at the same place outside the tower’s main entrance like a sinner was asking for forgiveness. Beside him, Lord Eudes had done his best to make the King as comfortable as possible and had ordered the knights to fetch their king a thick hooded cloak, as he continued to accompany him silently till morning.

Outside the Third Princess’s residence, the chaos had subsided, yet a heavy tension enveloped the people and the entire palace. Luckily, the rain had stopped some time before dawn; therefore, the people doing labor inside the palace had been spared from working under the rain. 

Despite that, the servants running around to clean the mess continued to curse the witch in their minds, while the royals and the nobles who had heard the news were both filled with equal fear and malice towards the youngest daughter of the royal family. 

When the sun shone brightly in the sky, finally, Lord Eudes dared to talk to the King, who had remained motionless for the rest of the night. 

“Your Majesty, shall we head back?”

There was no reply from the King, who only had eyes at the tower’s entrance. Neither drenching in the rain nor the uproar outside could affect the determination of one father to see his daughter. 

“Your Majesty, the dead bodies have been cleared. I will have our men standby to let you know once Her Highness the Third Princess shows up. It’s time for Your Majesty to return. Please take even an hour of rest, and then I will advise the royal kitchen to prepare food inside your chamber. Although we will be missing the morning assembly, it is imperative we face the royal court regarding the status of war… and last night’s incident.” 

Hearing the words ‘royal court’, there was finally a change in the King’s expression. He realized what he would have to face in the royal court. He needed to protect his daughter.

King Armen stood up and looked at Lord Eudes. “Find out who hung those bodies here.”

“The investigation is already underway, Your Majesty,” Lord Eudes said, referring to the knights who took away those mutilated bodies. 

The King looked at the tower gate for the last time and said, “Don’t let anyone enter here. Whoever it is.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

King Armen and Lord Eudes stepped out of the Third Princess’s residence, and behind them, the knights shut the gate of the tower before proceeding to guard it once more. 

———–

All the ministers and officials present in the royal court were talking among themselves about the disaster that happened inside the palace during the night. For the nobles, staying in their family estates, at most, you could see fear and gloating in their eyes, while for those members of the royal family living inside the palace grounds, most of them were injured and had small bandages on their bodies. 

On a normal occasion, they would have excused themselves from attending the royal court due to their injuries. However, in order to demand more from their monarch, they decided to bring the ‘evidence’ of last night’s incident to make their statements powerful enough to move their king.

“His Majesty, King Armen Ilven of Abetha, has arrived!” 

Soon enough, the guards announced the arrival of King Armen. When he entered the royal court, only then did those accusing whispers stop as everyone bowed before him. 

“Your loyal subjects greet Your Majesty the King. May our Abetha forever prosper under your reign!”

In his ceremonial robe, with his dark blue cloak and the royal sword attached to his waist, King Armen stepped forward with a stern and heavy presence. Lord Eudes and one knight followed several steps behind the King, who strode towards the front of the hall without paying attention to anyone. The two stood on either side of the throne as King Armen sat on it. Everyone bowed towards King Armen once more, and it could be seen from the way they reacted which factions belonged to whom. 

From his elevated position, King Armen could see the wounded ones whose expressions were filled with either rage or exaggerated pain, especially the women whose moans and cries sounded as if their limbs were broken instead of getting cut by shards of glass. They looked ready to start a series of accusations towards the Third Princess of Abetha and the disaster she caused. 

Even Queen Niobe attended the royal court today in order to see what decision the King would take but had decided to stay neutral.

Lord Eudes held a scroll in his hand and handed it to the King. On the first item of the agenda, instead of the situation of the war between the five kingdoms, an expected change was made. As the King’s advisor, Lord Eudes could only sigh. Finally, the faction against the Third Princess got a strong reason to corner the King, who had never been easy to deal with. 

King Armen was a strong yet kind king, and since his rule, he had managed to successfully suppress the faction of the high nobles inside Abetha. His reign was unshakeable, and he had the full support of a powerful queen and the common people. In his entire life, King Armen had only one weakness, and that was his youngest daughter.

One of the oldest ministers from the noble faction, the Minister of the Left, came forward. “Your Majesty, this loyal subject has been worried to death upon hearing of last night’s incident. I have painstakingly brought my family’s precious herbs for Your Majesty’s health and have delivered them for our royal physicians to use.” 

The King nodded slightly as he waited to hear the expected. “The Minister does not need to worry.”

“We all gathered here to discuss the serious issue that almost cost the lives of innocents in the palace,” said the Minister of the Left.

The King looked calm, agreeing to proceed.

“The witch—”

Thud!

King Armen slammed the back of the royal sword on the ground near his feet. The elegant scabbard made a heavy, dull sound as it hit the marble floor. 

“The Third Princess,” King Armen corrected.