The prince walked with quick steps to meet his grandfather. This time, Therius acted as if he has managed to escape Emma Stardust's telemancy. He hoped his acting would be good enough to convince the king to release him. Once he returned to his own residence, Therius would be able to make plans to free Xion and later Emma.

Currently, the situation was very dire. He couldn't waste time. He didn't know how many hours had passed and what had happened to Emma in the meantime.

"Grandfather, good morning," said Therius as soon as he arrived at King Cassius' study. His heart was pounding hard when he saw Queen Ygrit and Princess Yldwyn sitting beside the king. Instantly his mind was filled with unpleasant feelings.

What were these two witches up to? he thought to himself.

"Prince Licht," King Cassius looked at Therius closely. "Do you remember what we talked about before you left on that secret mission?"

Therius nodded. "Grandfather wanted me to find General Kaoshin's and Princess Arreya's daughter and bring her back to Akkadia."

"Then?" King Cassius seemed to be testing the prince. He looked at his grandson with a probing look.

"Hmm ... I should marry her to make peace with Taeshi," Therius replied. "That's what you told me to do."

"Do you love Arreya's daughter?" asked the king again.

Therius shrugged. "I don't know her. But I will marry her if Your Majesty asked me to. For peace on our planet."

King Cassius seemed satisfied to hear Therius 'answer but Queen Ygrit's face still looked unhappy, as if she could not accept Therius' explanation.

"So ... for you, the King's order is paramount?" asked the queen, probing.

"Of course, Your Majesty. I will only carry out His Majesty's orders," Therius replied.

"Very nice." Queen Ygrit narrowed her eyes. "His Majesty changed his mind about reconciling with Taeshi after Arreya's people killed the son of the finance minister. It is unforgivable! Taeshi has been showing their resistance openly for the past decade and they felt that they could do whatever they want all this time. Your grandfather thought it is time for them to be taught a lesson."

"What kind of lesson do you mean?" asked Therius, still acting respectful toward the Akkadian's monarchs. He could guess that Queen Ygrit was thinking of a very evil plan against Princess Arreya's homeland. However, he was forced to pretend to look indifferent to Queen Ygrit's words.

Queen Ygrit snorted. "I want Thaesi's capital to be destroyed, to the ground. To show others that we will not let a mere colony to rebel and do whatever they like without showing respect to us. They killed the finance minister's son, stole Kaoshin's body, and kidnapped the hostage princess. Arreya's daughter had also bewitched you to comply with all her wishes. They have gone too far!"

Therius gasped at his grandmother's words. Destroying the Taeshi's capital to the ground?

Princess Arreya and Emma's brother were in the capital... If the capital was destroyed, how would Emma reunite with them?

Therius tried to think hard to persuade his grandmother to give up on this evil plan. He could not allow the Akkadian forces to destroy Taeshi's capital. However, he must not show them that he was doing this for Emma's sake. He must be able to provide a logical reason.

"Grandfather and I have been talking about this. Over the last few decades, we have always experienced small resistance and rebellions. This is quite troublesome and disturbed the lives of our people, especially those on the borders. If we take tough action and teach Taeshi such a strong lesson.. I think all the rebels would find a reason to unite against us. This will only harm us ..." said Therius. He tried to keep his voice flat and devoid of emotion. "As far as I can remember, one of Princess Arreya's nieces married a prince from Pallas. This will be a reason for them to unite and rebel against us. Our people will be the victims."

Queen Ygrit stared at Therius with a sharp gaze. "So .. you still prefer Thaesi to Akkadia, your own country?"

"I will always choose Akkadia, Your Majesty. The reason I do not approve of the plan to destroy Taeshi's capital is that I want to avoid open war. I do not want to see my people suffer because we wage war on our colonies. So far, everything has been going well. The five colonies don't make trouble openly because we treat them well. If we treat them harshly, their pride will be offended and they will do whatever it takes to get their freedom from us. We can win against 2 or even 3 kingdoms... but not five!"

"Prince Licht, I really understand the impact if we do this. I have taken everything into account carefully. After what happened with Emma and Arreya .. I feel that it is no use for us to forgive them," said King Cassius with a long sigh. "I think the grudge from 20 years ago must be resolved today."

Therius's chest was pounding when he heard his grandfather's words. The grudge from 20 years ago must be resolved? In what way?

"If grandfather and grandmother feel very hurt by the actions of Princess Arreya and General Kaoshin in the past, I think only their deaths will be able to satisfy you," Therius said finally. "Please don't kill innocent people if all you want dead are General Kaoshin and Princess Arreya."

"Yes. I want Arreya to die ..." Queen Ygrit hissed. Her voice was filled with hatred. Her eyes glint dangerously. Therius could see how much she hated Arreya.

Therius felt great sorrow in his chest as he conveyed his plan.

"We can demand Taeshi to sacrifice Princess Arreya. If they give her to us to be punished... then we will not destroy their capital. One Princess Arreya's life in exchange for the lives of 10 million people in the capital. That way, we will not incite the anger of the other colonies."

Queen Ygrit clenched her fists. "I want Arreya to die! And I want you to confirm her death yourself!"

Therius swallowed hard. He was right. It seemed, only Princess Arrey's death would be able to satisfy his grandmother.

If Princess Arreya died, then the problem will be solved. But ... what about Emma? Arreya was the only parent Emma had and the girl was longing to meet her mother.

She even wrote it down as her wish on the lantern the other night.

King Cassius waved his hand. "General Moria has already destroyed three Taeshi battleships and is awaiting orders to attack their capital. If you can bring Arreya dead or alive to Akkadia, then we don't have to destroy their capital."

Therius showed absolutely no expression as he bowed respectfully to his grandfather and answered. "Yes, Your Majesty. I will carry out your orders."

He would do anything to save himself and Emma. The important thing was he could get out of the king's palace and use his powers again. The rest he would think about later.

"Go and meet General Moria," said King Cassius, waving his hand impatiently.

Therius was relieved that his lie was enough to convince his grandparents that he had recovered from Emma Stardust's magic. But he didn't want to leave the palace until he could make sure Emma was safe.

"Grandfather, I heard that Princess Arreya's daughter is a powerful telemancer and she managed to control my mind for months?" Therius asked King Therius with an annoyed expression. "Where is she now? I want to punish her. How dare she play around with my mind!"

"She is locked up in the Red Tower," said King Cassius. "She claimed that she is pregnant with your child, so her sentence is postponed."

Therius frowned. "Is that true?'

Oh.. Emma was so close to him all night!

"We don't know yet. Nobody could touch her to examine her condition since yesterday. She is threatening to kill herself if anyone dared to touch her. She was so cunning and got herself a knife from the servant who delivered food for her. Right now, the court doctor is waiting for her to get tired and fall asleep so they could check on her condition. As a last resort, they will fill her chamber with sleeping gas today."

King Cassius' words made Therius's chest filled with great sorrow. He could imagine how Emma didn't get a wink of sleep all night and was always alert to prevent anyone from approaching her. She still insisted that she was pregnant to buy Therius time.