"You don't look so good." Prince Simon said.

"I am fine." I replied, something that I did not believe myself.

Prince Simon just gave me a look and we continued with our journey, "Before we meet Duke Ashvald, first you have to meet the other members of the rebellion. After meeting them we will head towards the Ashvald estate."

"Understood." I looked around me, we were currently walking in an underground tunnel. Haoxuan was right beside me, he had learned about me joining Prince Simon in the rebellion and he only said that he would follow me in whatever decision I make, he did not ask any more questions after that. Haoxuan had always been like that.

And other than us three there was Stefan, he was Prince Simon's guard, he had been with him for a long time, his family had served Simon's mother's family for ages. Naturally Prince Simon also trusted him with his life.

"Here we are." Prince Simon said as he led me to a slum-like area, there we entered a small hut, and as we went deeper I finally saw the other members.

"Your Highness." they said and then their eyes fell on me and as soon as they saw me their eyes turned hostile. Some of them also reached out for their weapons, sensing the danger Haoxuan stepped in front of me, ready to fight these people.

"Calm down everyone." Prince Simon said as he raised his hand and stood between me and the other people. I looked at all of these people and I recognized them.

Some of them were fallen nobles, some of them were from families who had been declared as traitors and were killed, these were the survivors.

"What is he doing here, your highness?" spoke Ayla Welsher, she was the daughter of a count but her family was framed for treason and everyone was killed, she is the sole survivor of that massacre.

Another person added, "With all due respect your highness you shouldn't have brought someone like him here!" spoke Kairos Falwell, as far as I knew his family was power hungry and worshipped the emperor, they also sold his sister to the emperor who treated her poorly, in the end his sister got pregnant but was hunted by the empress and other powerful families, she came to her brother for help and died after giving birth.

There were countless like these, one of them was someone I knew personally Azarael Calloway, a general who had devoted himself to fight battles for his country, he was a selfless person, people loved him, his soldiers worshipped him, however in return for all his service he was humiliated in the court and all his titles were taken away from him, all because he refused to listen to the crown prince and engage in a battle where his soldiers were outnumbered, and where they would die.

He thought about his soldiers that's why he was discarded.

Prince Simon spoke again, "Calm down everyone, General Xiao is here to join us in rebellion."

There was silence in the group and Ayla spoke again, "How are you so sure that this is not some ploy to catch us! How do you know he truly is on our side! His family is still loyal to the crown and also he is close to that Wang runt!"

"He saved my life." Prince Simon said again.

"That could be a trick." Kairos said.

Simon just looked at everyone, his eyes became stern and he said, "You all have chosen me as your leader, and since you have chosen me as your leader, you should have trust in me as well, I am not saying to blindly follow me but trust me enough to know that I won't be fooled so easily by anyone! I am not easy to trick and if you all have that little trust in me then perhaps you all should have never chosen me."

Silence filled the hall again and Simon continued, "General Xiao will not betray us, just like all of you he has his own reasons to join us, I want you all to trust my judgment and trust me, having him by our side will be very beneficial to us."

They all still looked at me with contempt, but at least they did not try to attack me anymore.

Prince Simon went ahead and told them all about our next move, which was to talk to Duke Ashvald and make him join us. Everyone listened carefully.

Ayla was the first one to speak, "If Duke Ashvald joins us then we would have a significant number of people in our army."

Kairos, "Duke Ashvald is a mysterious person, he never participates in any public events and tries to stay to himself, he is neutral most of the time."

"We still have to try." Prince Simon said, "I and General Xiao will be heading there tomorrow morning."

Ayla and the others looked at each other before she said, "I will come too."

"Me too." Azarael added, "we don't trust him yet."

Simon sighed and nodded, "Fine."

~~

The next day we all headed towards the Ashvald estate. It was a long three-day journey and in those three days I knew very well that Ayla and Azarael hated me. They kept on making little digs, taunts and comments towards me.

Prince Simon warned them countless times before he got really angry and told them to stop, only then did they finally calm down.

Haoxuan was also ready to take out his sword and fight with them, but I managed to calm him down, these people were not on my mind, their comments and taunts didn't affect me in any way, I had more important things on my mind.

On the fourth day we finally arrived at the Ashvald estate, his mansion was huge, as big as a castle and his garden was covered with beautiful flowers, big trees and luscious green grass.

As we walked inside the mansion, I felt like someone was watching us. I ignored that feeling and followed the attendant who took us to the living room and told us to wait.

And after some time finally a man with silver hair walked into the room and greeted us with a polite smile,

"What can I do for you, gentlemen."

Author's note: How is the story so far everyone?

Please don't forget to comment as it helps me a lot by keeping me motivated and also please answer the poll below.