Azekiel proceeded with Raphael's thoughts. "She let her enemies plot. No... she herself gave them the opportunity to plot by deciding to send the child away! If I'm not wrong, she also had this plan be suggested by one of her men to the Duke!"
" But how will she prove that the Duke was behind it?" Lia asked. "As the Duke thought, the queen has all the motives to kill the young prince since the world knows she doesn't like him. It will start a civil war, and more people will believe the duke."
"Not quite. Since she planned so far, there's a good chance she already thought about that." Azekiel didn't believe that the queen was an idiot to not think what they were thinking, despite knowing the enemies' plan.
If, despite all that, she went along with it, there was certainly something she was keeping for her safety, to prove that she was innocent.
The assassin was already going crazy in his pain, and on top of that, he was in despair since Azekiel appeared to be a crazy man who was talking to himself. The chances of him leaving him were almost non-existent.
"The Bandit!" Azekiel exclaimed, finally realizing what it was. He remembered a bandit talking with the General. If the Queen needed to prove the guilt of her enemies, all she needed to do was capture that bandit!
"If I'm not wrong, she already caught that bandit when we came to this place! She would've acted shocked after finding out about this Scheme. She would probably send guards after the carriage to save her son! That's why she sent the assassin to make sure the kid wasn't alive!"
He glanced back at the dead body of the young prince, who died thinking it was a scheme against his mother. But no, it wasn't a scheme against his mother. It was a scheme against him and the Duke.
"With one stroke, she took out her enemies and the Prince she hated... She removed the biggest obstacle in her path even though it was obvious that she wanted to remove the obstacle in her path, with a single stroke. This stupid kid! He didn't know anything! He made me take a blood oath for that woman!"
"I don't think we can do anything in that case, do we?" Raphael let out a disappointed sigh. "We are under a blood oath. We can't hurt her. Instead, we must help her..."
Azekiel killed the assassin. He had no use for the man anymore. After giving the assassin a Swift death, he tossed his body aside.
For quite some time, he remained silent, staring at the dead body of the young boy.
"If what you're saying is true, we don't have to do anything to fulfill the oath. The queen will already do what we need. The Blood Oath was never a concern. We just need to make sure that she succeeds before our time is up."
Even though Lia hated the fact that they were helping the murderer of her own child, they had no choice. For their success, they needed to side with the devil.
"Don't worry. I will fulfill my oath. I will help the queen achieve what she wants. I will help her get rid of all her enemies," Azekiel picked up the body of the child. He kept the body inside the carriage before he walked away.
He was sure the Royal Guards were going to be here soon. They could take care of the body.
"Since I took an oath to help that woman, that's what I shall do. But I didn't promise anything more than helping her. I didn't promise to keep her alive, did I?" Azekiel grimly stated. He remembered the exact wish of the Young Spirit. It was to help his mother against her enemies. It wasn't about keeping her alive.
"My Blood Oath is complete as soon as I help her. After that, I'm free to do what I want. And I will certainly do what I want."
Azekiel climbed back on the horse and started going back to the city he came from.
He had already decided what he was going to do. Even though he had no relationship with the kid, he still felt extreme anger in his heart. And that anger could only be satiated with blood.
Just as he expected, he saw a large number of guards coming in their direction, possibly going to the Carriage. None of the guards were after him. In fact, most of them didn't even recognize him. They weren't amongst the guards that had been chasing after him before.
In fact, the guards just moved past him as if he wasn't worth their concern. Azekiel also didn't stop.
*****
The Royal Palace was the most secure place in the Empire of Snow. It was the most guarded place in the entire Empire since the queen herself lived here.
Inside the Royal Palace, the Royal Physician was treating the middle-aged General who was hurt because of Azekiel.
He was lying on the bed, cursing Azekiel. He also prayed to see him again so that he could have his revenge. Unfortunately, despite all his anger, he was also fascinated by Azekiel, confused about the attack that was used to hurt him and his men. It was the first time he had seen an attack like that.
He didn't know who the man was, where he came from or why he stole his horse either. All of which were the questions floating in his hand.
"Don't place too much stress on your shoulder for a few days. It should be fine," the physician informed the General. "I'll go check on the others. You rest here until I'm back."
The old physician left.
"What a time to get hurt. I wonder if the kid is dead by now or not. I can't even go meet the Duke."
"Who says you can't go meet him?" A voice filled the room, making the General open his eyes wide.
His lips parted as he tried to move back, "How did you get inside?! Guards!"
Azekiel didn't try to stop the General either. Instead, he also started yelling, "Guards! Come and help the General!"
It was as if he wasn't worried about the guards coming here. He called for guards a few times before stopping. "Oh wait, how stupid of me. How can the guards even come?"
He walked closer to the General, one step at a time. "To come, they would have to be alive first."
"Y-you killed all the guards here?" The General was horrified. He struggled to get to his sword, falling off the bed.
