“What I want… I want what my father wanted… I want the Empire to stay in Mother’s hands. I don’t want anything for myself. I am happy where I am, how I am. I don’t want power. I don’t want influence. I just want mother to be happy…”

“Even if she hurts you? Even if she treats you like a stranger?” Azekiel asked. The boy didn’t seem to have even an ounce of hate for his mother despite all she did.

“Yeah. Even if she kills me, I don’t want the Empire to fall into someone else’s hands. I don’t want the last shred of my family to fall… I don’t want to lose everything. I want her to be safe.”

“You can still keep her safe by gaining the power for yourself. So why not have it all?”

“Because if I do that, it’ll spoil the legacy of my father. The world will say that I betrayed my family. My father’s name… It’ll be sullied. Just for Power, I can’t let the family go through that. It’s better if she retains the power and I disappear. That’s why I didn’t resist even when I was commanded to leave.”

“I was happy where I was, even if I’m here all alone. So, there’s your answer. Will you help my mother? Will you save her from all the enemies lurking in the darkness?” The young Prince asked, finally gaining some semblance of emotions in his frozen eyes.

Even though Azekiel asked so many questions, that was all because of his curiosity. In essence, he was just here to help the kid’s mother. Even if he hadn’t asked, he would’ve done the same since that was his blood oath. That’s why he had wasted so much time and effort to get here. It wasn’t to fail.

“Fine. I’ll help your mother retain her power, and I’ll take out all the enemies. Come with me.” Azekiel stood up and walked to the black horse that was waiting in the distance.

Raphael and Lia also walked with him.

“So that’s why he wanted to help her. It’s not because he is an idiot. It’s because he cares about his family’s name more than his life.” Lia walked to the left of Azekiel, still thinking about the answers of the kid. “Then again, it’s quite idiotic to be attached to something like a name.”

“He’s a good kid. Maybe we can help him here,” Raphael also presented his point of view. “Since we’re already here, we might as well help him more.”

“If we have time, yeah.” Azekiel reached the horse. He held the reign of the horse before climbing on it.

“Give me your hand.” He reached out his hand to the kid, only to realize that the kid wasn’t near him. The kid was still standing near the carriage, facing him.

“Now, why isn’t that idiot coming here?” Azekiel asked in frustration. It was like he was wasting time for no reason. However, it was only when he saw a trail of blood trickling down the lips of the young boy that he realized something was wrong.

The boy dropped to his knees. Azekiel also got off the horse, running to the boy. However, before he could reach the boy, the boy fell face first to the ground, revealing an arrow being struck to his back.

“A hidden Archers!” Raphael yelled, noticing another arrow coming straight for Azekiel.

“Fuckkk!” Azekiel called his Gauntlets, blocking the arrow with his hands, before shooting energy bullets to the assassin who was hiding behind the trees.

Clack~

Even though the Assassin hid behind a tree, using it as a shield, that didn’t appear to protect him enough.

Not long after the bullets reached him, a figure appeared behind him. “Azekiel grabbed the assassin by the throat. He was so enraged that he wanted to kill the assassin right away, but he let him live. He dragged the bandit back to the body of the young boy.

“Is he breathing?” He asked Raphael.

Raphael shook his head. “No signs of life… He is dead.”

Azekiel’s grip started tightening, making the assassin cry to be freed.

“Who sent you?!” He had already killed the Bandits! He was sure that the assassin wasn’t a part of the bandits. Moreover, he wasn’t here before either.

The bandit had his face covered with a black mask, but it was evident that he was in pain. Especially since Azekiel still had his Gauntlets.

“I won’t tell you! If I do, she will kill me!” The bandit cried to be freed.

“She will kill you? You’ll have to survive me first before having a chance of being killed by her.” Azekiel replied in a deadly tone.

He didn’t even repeat his question again. He simply held the left arm of the man, before pulling with full force.

Azekiel tore off the arm of the assassin, making him scream like a dying pig.

“I’ll enjoy it.” Azekiel smiled before stomping the feet of the assassin under his shoe, crushing his feet.

The assassin screamed even louder, which appeared to be impossible until recently. His face was deathly pale as he experienced the pain like never before. It was worse than an instant death. In fact, he preferred death over this pain.

“I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you!” The man yelled. “I’ll tell you everything! It was the Queen! She sent me here! She sent me to kill the boy!”

“What?” The revelation came as a surprise even to Azekiel, who hadn’t expected this answer. The boy’s mother sent an assassin to kill him.

“Why would she do that? Wouldn’t it give her enemies an opportunity to blame her? Why is she helping her enemies by giving them a reason?!”

“I don’t know! I just know why she would do that! All I know is that she asked me to kill the child if the bandits failed!” The Assassin answered as his throat turned hoarse.

“If Bandits failed to kill? That means… She knew the bandits were going to attack the kid? So she knew about the scheme against her? That means it was a trap! She wanted her enemies to succeed but not to give them a chance to attack her!” Azekiel exclaimed, finally realizing why the Queen would have the Young Prince killed.

“Since the King is dead, I’m sure she feels her throne is in danger from the other Nobles.” Raphael also understood everything now. “Since she can’t kill the Royals without a good enough excuse, her only option was to create an excuse for herself with this.”