Zhan's pov

I turned back and that was when I saw Prince Simon running towards my direction while clutching his hand tightly.

He was already injured.

I could hear the sound of more footsteps behind him, the attack had already happened but at least I was on time. I drew my sword.

Prince Simon finally saw me and stopped, his eyes sharpened when he saw the sword in my hands, his gaze was sharp and he looked at me like I was a predator, he must be thinking that I was with the assassins.

We stared at each other and suddenly many more people covered in black clothes with their faces covered surrounded us.

There were at least ten of them, I raised my sword and pointed towards Prince Simon and ran towards him he prepared himself to fight but instead of fighting him I attacked the assassin behind him.

I stood in front of him, "stay back prince, I'll deal with these people." I said and with that I attacked those assassins, these people were not ordinary assassins. I was familiar with their techniques, they belonged to a clan, a very famous and powerful clan of assassin these people were not that easy to hire or defeat and to be able to hire tens of them, the empress must have really wanted Simon dead this time.

A blade pierced my arm but that did not stop me from attacking these assassins, they were powerful, even though I was by no means a weakling, I was dealing with ten highly trained assassins.

"General watch out." Prince Simon called out from behind me in his weak voice, I looked to my side and saw another assassin lunging towards me, however before I could do anything Haoxuan jumped in front of me and killed the assassin on the spot.

I looked at prince Simon and found him barely standing, he was clutching his wound tightly and was bleeding profusely, he did not look good. He looked like he was slowly losing his consciousness, but the thing that worried me most was that he was slowly moving towards the edge of the cliff.

"Prince stop!" I said as I ran towards him but another assassin came my way, I fought him and saw another assassin heading towards prince Simon, I ran towards the prince and before used my blade to pierce the chest of the assassin that was going to attack Simon. However the assassin still managed to push Simon off the cliff.

"NO!" I said as I jumped after him.

"LORD!" Haoxuan yelled behind me as I fell down the cliff along with prince.

~~

Dark clouds covered the outside sky, as the lightening struck. There was heavy rain pouring outside the cave in which I sat.

I heard shuffling and looked beside me, prince Simon was finally waking up, he was safe.

I put some more wood in the fire and waited for the prince to be fully conscious before offering him some water. He took the water and drank without any argument, after he was done he sat straight and looked at me.

There was still suspicion in his eyes, "general, thank you for saving my life."

"Your welcome prince." I replied.

"I owe you my life, I will do anything in my power to repay the favour." he said.

"There is something that you can do right now prince. There is something I want from you."

He looked skeptical but still asked, "what is it?"

I took a deep breathe and looked at him, "I want to join forces with the rebellion."

The silence that followed my statement was loud, prince Simon was surely taken aback as he looked at me with shock, "what are you talking about General."

"Let's not play dumb prince, you and I both do not have time for small talk and I do not like to beat around the bush, I will say it again I want to join hands with you, I want to join the rebel forces and overthrow the emperor."

Simon's face hardened, "how can we trust you? how do we know that you are sincere and not trying to play us? your family is as loyal to the crown as the Wang family."

"How about I tell you a secret about me, which will give you something to hold over me."

Simon nodded.

"How are your wounds?" I asked and that was when Simon finally checked his body and did not find a single scratch on his body, this left him flabbergasted, "how? I was deeply wounded and poisoned."

"What do you know about the goddess Ankh's chosen one and their healing powers?" I asked and Simon's head snapped in my direction, he must be thinking that this was all dream because he looked at me as if I had grown horns.

"Are you saying that..." he spoke but stopped when I raised my hand and made a ghastly cut on my hand but it healed in no time right in front of his eyes. The chosen one has healing powers and other than that they cannot be affected or killed by any poison or disease, and their injuries heal in no time. And they also have heightened senses and strength than other people.

"The assassin that were sent after you belonged the Silver Echo and the poison that they gave you had was a very dangerous one, everyone knows that the poison that Silver Echo clan uses has no cure known to any human other than the members of the Silver Echo clan. But surprisingly you are well and alive and your bones are intact after falling off of that cliff.

Don't you think that that's not normal?"

Simon took a deep breathe trying to digest the information I gave him. I gave him time to sit with his thoughts. And after sometime he finally spoke, "what about your family? what do they think?"

"I haven't talked to them, but I will talk to my brother, I am hopeful that he will join us too. I can't say that for my father."

"What about the Wang family? You are close with them aren't you?"

"They will never betray the crown." I said as a matter of fact.

"So you will go against your family? Against Yibo? You might have to fight him in future."

"I am ready to do that your highness but I must ask you one favor."

"What is it?"

I looked at him and said, "I swear my loyalty and my services to you, your highness, If you accept me then I will serve you and the people till my last breathe, I will take any blows that come towards you. I will fight all the battles you send me to. The only thing I ask in return is Yibo's life.

Under no circumstances you must order his death, you must never send anyone to kill him or harm him, if you ever feel threatened by him then please tell me, I will deal with him."

"I had a hunch but I will ask you directly, do you love him?"

"Yes." I said without hesitation.

"And does he loves you?"

"Yes." I said a little slowly.

"Then can't you convince him to join us?"

"I love him very much Your highness and I trust his loyalty towards the crown more than his loyalty towards me."

"So you do not trust him." Simon said and I didn't reply to that. "Fine, I will allow you to join us, and I promise you that I will try my best to never harm Yibo, I might even help you to protect him but if he ever became a threat or a hurdle...."

"Then I will take care of him myself your highness." I said without hesitation.

Simon finally smiled and said, "alright then, welcome to the team General." he raised his hand towards me and I shook it firmly.

"Now," he said as he saw that the storm had calmed down, "let's find our way back to the camp."