After killing Eros, Haoxuan and I decided to return to the duke's residence and Ziyi decided to assist us.

We arrived at the duke's residence by night, and Prince Simon was already waiting for us there. As soon as I saw him I asked, "Is everything okay? Where is Duke Ashvald?"

Prince Simon smiled and led us to Arielle's room, there I saw her sitting on the bed, and smiling at her father who was gently feeding her food.

She was not tied up, she was not screaming, she was not hurting herself, she was not running, she was normal again. I smiled when I saw her.

The chief looked at me and then at Ziyi, who went to her and handed her the book. The chief looked at the book with a smile before she nodded at me, "Thank you."

I just gave her a nod.

Prince Simon and I along with the others left the room and gave the father and daughter some time.

The chief and Ziyi stood before us and thanked us and suddenly Ziyi spoke, "I want to come with you too."

I looked at Prince Simon who asked her, "Why do you want to come with us?"

"I want to see the capital too, I want to experience what the outside world is like too."

Chief said, "I would ask you another favor, please take her with you too. She should learn the ways of the world too."

Prince Simon and I exchanged glances before he nodded, "Okay."

After a few seconds, the duke came out too and he looked happy and relaxed, he looked at us and smiled, "She fell asleep. I was watching over her, scared that she might wake up screaming again but she didn't. Your Highness, General, thank you. I will forever be in your debt."

Prince Simon smiled, "You know what we want from you, duke, you don't have to be indebted to us for your entire life. You can pay us back by giving us your help."

The duke nodded, "I agree. Your Highness, I swear on my dear daughter's life, who is the most precious thing to me in the world, that I will fight beside you till the end.

All my wealth, resources, army will be ready to fight for you. I shall also help you gather more manpower."

Prince Simon and I looked at each other before we smiled.

I spoke, "We should start preparing for heading back."

However the duke spoke, "Why so soon, please stay back a few more days."

"Not now, duke, we have to leave." Prince Simon said, "Maybe next time I arrive at your residence, it will be as a king."

The duke smiled and nodded, "I understand, I will help you prepare for your departure."

~~

"So who is next?" Prince Simon asked as we travelled back to the capital.

"My brother is coming back to the capital for a few days, I am thinking of convincing him next."

"Ah, yes your brother, the mighty General Marius Xiao, I actually admire him a lot, his no-nonsense personality and his courage to stand for what's right, has made everyone admire him.

His soldiers love him and would die for him and his reputation precedes him."

And these were the reasons why he was killed by the king.

Because my brother was the first one in my family who had enough of the king's tyranny, after what happened to our sister Isolde, my brother could not take it anymore and openly criticized the emperor. He asked for justice, however the emperor couldn't tolerate anyone criticizing him.

The emperor humiliated him and stripped him of his titles, however the emperor knew about my brother's achievements and how people loved him. And more than the emperor, it was Crown Prince Gideon who had a problem with my brother.

Prince Gideon and my brother went to the same academy and had the same teachers, my brother was always ahead of Gideon, he always defeated Gideon in everything, he was praised by everyone and Gideon hated him for that. So after the emperor had already taken everything from my brother, Gideon wanted to take it one step further and take my brother's life.

It was his twisted revenge on my brother for being better than him. In the end my brother was ambushed by him and was killed brutally and his corpse was delivered to our doorstep, it was in such a bad state that we couldn't even recognize him.

What hurt even more was the fact that the one who delivered the corpse was one of Yibo's closest knights, his right-hand man, and my brother was covered with Yibo's drape.

And that was when I had learned that Yibo had betrayed me.

It was another day in my household, after my mother and sister's death everything felt empty, the only hope in my life was Yibo.

And right now I was only going to see him. He was my only refuge.

However suddenly a servant came to my room, "Master! You have to come down."

I turned to the servant and asked, "What happened?"

"It's... it's your brother... the general passed away my lord, they have brought his corpse."

No sooner than I heard that I ran outside my room and saw a body lying on the ground, my father sat beside it with an empty hollow look, and I slowly walked near the body and collapsed against it.

I slowly removed the cloth from its face and once I saw its face my heart sank and I felt my world collapse.

I sat beside my brother's badly beaten and bloodied corpse. His body had so many deep wounds. He was tortured before he was killed and I knew very well who could do that.

All these years he spent serving this nation, after sacrificing his youth and this is what he got.

To be killed by his own countrymen and that too in a brutal manner, all because he asked for justice.

I wiped my tears and noticed the cloth with which he was covered, I recognized the cloth, it was Yibo's uniform, my eyes widened and I looked clearly at the person who had brought the corpse to our home, it was Adrian, Yibo's right hand.

Was Yibo there when my brother was being tortured, when he was killed?

Adrian and the other knights that came with him started to leave and I suddenly walked after them, I wanted to know the truth, I wanted to know did Yibo really betray me? Why were they here and why was his uniform on my brother's corpse.

I followed them but stopped near a corner when I heard them talk, I couldn't hear much of the conversation but what I heard made my heart run cold, "It was good that Commander killed him."

"Zhan!" I snapped out of my daze when I heard Prince Simon's voice calling out my name, I blinked and looked at him, he and the rest were looking worried about me.

"Are you alright?" the prince asked and I nodded, "Maybe we should rest."

"No, I am fine." I spoke quickly, "I am really okay."

"If you say so." he did not look convinced but didn't ask anything anymore.

I closed my eyes and sighed, despite everything I saw and experienced, why is it that I can never truly believe that Yibo could betray me. Maybe I was mentally sick.

I saw him kill his family but I also saw the pain and the anguish on his face and how he killed himself in the end. Was that also ordered by the emperor, but why would the emperor want his most loyal dog to die, or was it guilt and pain that made Yibo kill himself.

Did Yibo really kill my brother or was I missing something. I didn't see him kill my brother so it was hard for me to believe that he really did. Whatever the situation was, one thing was clear, that Yibo knew my brother was going to die and he did nothing to stop it.