After the talk with Arthur, Ethan had a serious thought that night.

What is the difference between humans and monsters whose only goal is to destroy humanity?

He was against Mordu' because Mordu' created monsters to use them against humans and acted like he was the saviour. As long as Mordu' lives, the threat of monsters will never cease and there will be more victims. He wanted to end the suffering.

When he realised that there would not be peace even after the end of Mordu', he was sad deeply.

Is it the nature of humans to be in a conflict of one kind or another?

Since birth, Ethan had seen conflicts. His gambling-addicted father beat his mother to get some gambers for another round. His struggling mother, who had to wake up every day before the sun rose and went to the field to get some gambers enough to live another day, was killed by a mantila. When he became an adult, he entered service at Temple where he either fought with monsters or beat the angry drunkards who made a mess after losing their savings in gambling. Never a day he had lived conflict-free. He once believed it had all ended when Mordu' was gone.

Then, he found out about a new bloody conflict between the siblings for a chair.

"Gosh. What do I do?" Ethan contemplated.

Arthur said it would end if he married Cleo but it was not so simple for Ethan.

Across the mirror, he gazed at the gold rings on his hand with a heavy heart. He promised Leila that he would marry her. "You may be gone but my heart still longs for you. I don't want to break our promise, Leila. I have already broken one promise when I said I would protect you. I failed miserably. I can't break another, can I? But too many lives are at stake." Ethan mumbled alone.

For a quite time, Ethan stood in front of a mirror like a statue and didn't cease his gaze from the gold rings.

"I wish you are still alive. Then, I won't be confused." He longed for Leila.

The sun rose while he was thinking about what to do. A female servant entered his chamber to notify him that Louise invited him to the morning buffet.

"Sir Champion, his majesty asks you to join him at breakfast. I shall accompany you to the dining hall."

"Sure. I will come out after washing my face."

"We will assist you in your preparation, sir Champion. Come in." She called her girls and soon, Ethan saw two more servants come into his room, one with a bucket of water and another with a set of attire. Ethan's usual clothing wasn't proper for a breakfast party with a King so they brought in a new pair.

Ethan was flustered when the girls served to change his clothes. He stepped back into the corner and politely asked them to wait outside as he changed. He wasn't ready and comfortable with the life of nobility where everything was served on a platter. He wasn't narcissistic enough to do nothing but stand there naked and let a bunch of girls dress him up. All of it made him more hesitant to marry into royalty.

"Ah, welcome, champion. I am glad you could join. We have a rare Abeline cheese today. She made it yesterday. You will feel a taste you have never sensed before." Louise warmly welcomed Ethan as soon as Ethan got into the room as if they were friends for a long time. Maria also greeted him with a smile and a small hug.

Ethan looked around the room and saw only a few attendees, commanders of city guards and some ministers. No lords were present at the buffet. Ethan remembered those people staying loyal to their King during yesterday's meeting. He quickly grasped the situation. It was a party to see who was on whose side and his presence just put a weight on one side of the scale.

Ethan took a piece of cheese and reacted to it like he had never had one before. He figured it was better not to let them know his secret meeting with Arthur last night.

"It tastes different, isn't it? It is more heavy on the scent and more flavourful."

"It is."

"Anyway, your eyes are sunken and look exhausted. Did you not get a sleep last night?"

"Well, yes. I am not used to the bedding, so."

"Then, I shall tell them to change like mine. Trust me. It is so soft, you sink when you get on it. You will feel like you are in your mother's cuddle. It will make you sleep like a baby." Louise showed his care toward Ethan explicitly.

"Ah. It is the opposite. I am so used to sleeping on the ground with rocks and dust, I rather want it to be rough and hard."

"I see. Then, I shall tell them to fix it accordingly. Tell me whatever you need, champion. It is my duty as King to serve the champion of God dutifully."

The words of Louise were warm and friendly yet Ethan felt distant. Maybe because it isn't been that long I have known him, Ethan contemplated. He understood Louise wanted to hold onto his title. Louise might not own it by birthright but he shouldn't be regarded as a disposable person when he was no longer needed.

He also understood Cleo's position. As the leader of Revenant, Cleo did the most work to free her people from the tyranny of Temple. By birthright and by everything she did, she was more of a leader than anyone else.

The whole meeting was nothing serious but chatter and small talk. One thing Ethan noticed was how the subjects reacted expressively to every word their King said; they would laugh loudly at a witless joke, and they would praise or compliment to little things Louise and Maria did.

In the middle of chatting, the large mahogany doors opened and another person joined the buffet. It was Cleo.

Ethan was a bit surprised to see Cleo at the private gathering of Louise. The others were the same as him, a bit flustered.

Louise kept his poker face, although quite unnerved, he gestured his cousin to pick a plate and joined them.

"Good morning, brother. When I was about to have breakfast in my chamber, I smelled something lavish through my window so I traced it down. I didn't expect a buffet to be waiting. Mostly, we have our breakfast in our private chambers, so. Why are you having something delicious on your own behind my back, brother? You thought I wouldn't know?" Cleo said with her usual face.

Louise faked a smile and replied, "Well, I am not on my own. The champion is with me. We chatted and caught up with the stories of his great adventures. As for you, I heard you were having a long chat with Uncle Arthur last night so I figured you might be tired and want to rest a bit longer. Guess I was wrong. But you are not late. There is still a lot of food left."

As a third person, watching the siblings fight made Ethan uncomfortable. He didn't understand how they could do it with a smile on their faces. He couldn't. His face showed it all. Ethan, especially, could not meet Cleo in the eyes. If she talked with Arthur last night, it meant she knew about it too.

Ethan found it awkward to see Cleo in a new way. It did occur to Ethan that Cleo was an attractive woman the first time he saw her on the roof of Indra Inn. However, his oath to Mrs Borger forbade his heart to fill with anyone other than Leila. He did not allow anyone to enter.

As the siblings sat across each other, kicking nerves with words, Ethan figured out the seriousness of the situation. "They are going at each other's throat."

"Anyway, I heard you haven't found the Templer. It has been three days. How could you not find him yet when I have given you such manpower, Commander Ludric?" Cleo discredited the commander who was most loyal to Louise.

She found fault in replacing him with someone loyal to her. Ludric was in charge of inner city defense so it was a pivotal position.

"Your Highness, we suspect the Templer has entered the sewers. We have blocked all the openings that lead outside the wall so he won't escape. He is just a rat pushed into a corner now. We will find him soon."

"A rat makes holes and threatens the foundation. Don't underestimate it. Bring him to me dead or alive before the Duke's army reaches. We can't let him make holes below our feet. You have one day left. Bring him tomorrow or Revenant will take care of it." Cleo gave him an ultimatum.

The breakfast ended on a tense note as two factions bit at each other.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Ethan asked Cleo plainly as there was no one around. Cleo took him to her room up the tower after breakfast to discuss the future. From the tower, they could see the view of the market where Louise was preparing for public address. "He is the only Adder left other than you, isn't he? He may just be a cousin but I can tell you two are as close as real siblings."

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"Palace life is different, Sir Ethan. Many think the royalties hold ultimate power but it is not true. We can't live our lives by our own will like a normal person. We live by the will of the lords. These noble clans hold the hearts of their people more than a King. We can't afford to lose their support or the kingdom will break apart. Many lives will be lost. So, I have to compromise. If they want me as their Queen, then, I shall be one."

"There will still be bloodshed. Especially your brother's."

"Palace strifes are mostly confined within the walls of the palace. Ten or twenty people up most will lose their lives. I can lock Louise up in the tower and be done with it. A rebellion is on a different scale. It spills over regions, killing thousands in the process."

"I don't understand why it is so complicated with you nobles. Why can't there be peace? Anyway, do I have the power to stop this nonsense?"

"Yes, you do. Your name holds power beyond any King or Queen. You are the ambassador of God, an incarnation. A link between all, King and commoners, lords and peasants, warriors and knights. Any side you stand on is the side where the light is bright and the wrong is right. The side of truth."

"So, Louise wants me on his side. You want me on your side." Ethan blurted out his frustration.

Cleo felt bad for putting Ethan in their mess. She was ashamed. She couldn't look into his eyes so she stared out the window.

A crowd had already gathered at the market to attend Louise's public speech. A lot more people were heading to the market from the streets all over the city.

"Louise is a good king. People love him." Cleo commented after seeing a huge crowd. Her voice had mixed feelings of pride for her brother and a bit of jealousy.

Her words confused Ethan more. What did she want he couldn't understand. He was closer to her than to Louise. He would choose her over Louise anytime. However, he wanted to understand his options best before he decided on one. He wanted to understand what she truly wanted.

"What will happen if I choose Louise?"

"He will be God's ornated King. All lords and peasants will bow. There will be Peace. For a period. After his death, his GodKing status will be lost and his heir will once again be challenged by lords."

"Gosh. Those noble families. They never rest, do they?" Ethan blurted out his frustration against noble clans for the second time. Is there no other way than marriage, he thought to himself. He glanced at Cleo who was avoiding his eyes by pretending to be watching her brother as she waited for his next question.

"I know marriages are formalities in political play for a princess like you. However, I can't give such a ruthless ploy for the sake of winning a war. I am a man who can't love you. You don't deserve to marry such a man. You don't deserve to be unhappy."

While the two were having serious talks about their future, Luther came up the tower with striking news.

Although they were having a setback with internal strife between Louise and Cleo, their enemy wasn't waiting idly. Duke Ducan had raised a massive army together with Temple to besiege Midlake and end the Adder dynasty. Grand Templer Ordin, the strongest Templer in the world, was to lead the army.

Another army, which Cleo and the commanders from Midlake didn't prepare to defend, was also coming from Easton down to Midlake through the east coast. They were to attack the city from two sides.

The informers in Gambit predicted the armies would reach Midlake in six days.

With little time they had left, the defenders still had many things to prepare, especially for the other army coming from the east. Cleo and the commanders thought imperial army from Indra would have stopped Easton from sending any army for Temple. They were wrong.

Luther rushed up the stairs to break the bad news to Cleo.

When he reached the top, the door wasn't closed so he heard the conversation inside.

"What makes you think I am unhappy to be with you, Ethan?" Cleo boldly responded. "You are a man of honour and a man of power. I am more than happy to be with you. Do you remember that ugly giant Templer whom you defeated before Raul? (ref.ch45) Hammer Hammock."

"The one with mace and red stallion?"

"Yes. I might have had to marry him if I didn't meet you. After the Book of Sahel was stolen, Mordu' madly incinerated the entire island, killing several Templers along with the jungle. To replenish its forces, the Grand Temple of Midlake forced Hammer to enter Templerhood which destroyed the wedding plan."

The story Cleo told was so ridiculous Ethan doubted its authenticity. He believed she was trying to make him feel better. But if it was the truth, he couldn't picture the horror Cleo would face.

"Well, Ben Hammock, the youngest son of Chancellor, continued courting me. He thought it was the chance for him since his elder brother was out of competition. He would always come to me at every party and whisper into my ears about how he would help me regain my honour by talking nice to Mordu' through his father. He is an idiot. You should have seen his face when he found out I was not the girl he thought I was to be. It is so satisfying." Cleo laughed cheerfully at the end of her story. Ethan regarded it that it couldn't be more truthful than that.

"Anyway, I am always grateful to you about it. Without you, I would not have come this far. Before meeting you, I thought about what would I do if I failed to find someone who could challenge Mordu'. I thought about it every day at this spot. I was on the back foot. I had raised an army but no one could end the final fight. I thought of giving up because I didn't want to fight an unwinnable war and risk everyone I cared about, Louise, Luther, Arthur, Abel, and Jonah,.... So, yes. I thought of giving up and marrying one of Hammock's boys or I would kill myself quietly up in this tower at this exact spot we are standing now."

As Cleo continued to tell her story, Ethan got to understand her more and more. He was sad. At the same time, he respected her more for carrying all those weights alone by herself quietly. It must have been difficult, he empathized with her.

"Then, suddenly, I met you at a small desolate village. That night, you came to me as a light to illuminate my world on my darkest nights. I like you, Ethan. I would be more than happy to be with you."

Cleo conveyed her deepest feelings after her story. The feelings she would never share with anyone else. The eyes she avoided to meet earlier became the eyes she stared into lovingly.

The intense stare swayed Ethan's conviction. It fluttered his heart.

Meanwhile, Luther, who heard everything, awaited at the door without entering. The words that moved one's heart hurt another's.

Luther had been concealing his feelings since the age when started to feel love. His obligation as King's guard had contradicted his heart to reveal his feelings to her. To keep himself distant from her, he referred to her only in title. Every day, he reminded himself that he could not have such feelings for her. Yet, every time he met her, it grew stronger.

So, when he heard the true feelings inside Cleo, he finally got the closure he needed.

"That's right. I am never meant for her. I can't even help her. I can't wield a spell. I am useless anyway." He muttered alone.

Luther had felt small after Cleo had found a spell one day. He noticed Cleo didn't need him anymore since that day. His heart was in pain. And that wound which had never healed was opened completely when he saw Centuriworm. He had to be standing helpless while Ethan defeated the behemoth together with Cleo. That night he wailed alone secretly.

Luther recollected the thoughts. He found peace after the closure. Calmly, he knocked on the door and let the occupiers know his presence.

"Your Highness, this is Luther. I have an urgent matter to report. May I come in?"

"Absolutely, what is it?"

"Our informer in Gambit informed us that a massive army led by Grand Templer is heading our way. Another army from Easton had also set out to reach Midlake at the same time."

After hearing the report, Cleo asked Luther to repeat it once again as she couldn't believe what she heard. She was sure that Easton had no army to spare.

"Are you sure? Maybe the Information is wrong."

"No, Your Highness. I suspected it so I waited for other sources. All of them say the same thing. That our ally, imperial army of Indra, was defeated at sea by Mordu'."