"Count Losi! Damn traitor, how dare he—!" Amperein, watching the battle from the top floor of the castle, roared in fury, "I will kill him, and his son! Minister, where is my minister?"

"Your Majesty, Lord Cologne said earlier that he was going to... handle some matters," after a long while, the Captain of the Guard hesitantly replied, "But I think he probably won't be back."

"What did you say?" The Lord of Dawn abruptly turned around, panting heavily as he stared at the latter.

"You agreed at the time," the Captain of the Guard said, steeling himself, "Besides Lord Cologne, there were also Lord Whiteland and 'Golden Hourglass' Neil—Your Majesty, now only I am here."

Only then did Amperein notice that there were only the Captain of the Guard and a few lonely servants left in the huge hall.

He instantly understood the meaning of "probably won't be back."

"Another traitor!" The Lord of Dawn gritted his teeth and slammed his scepter on the ground, "One or two are not enough, there have to be three or four... My career is ruined by this bunch of traitors!"

Their departure had indeed been agreed to by him, but what reasons had they used? One said he was going to check the defenses of the stone walls, and another said he was going to the inner courtyard to supervise the maids' war preparations. These were originally their duties, but now it seemed that they were simply excuses to avoid danger!

Could it be that before the enemy had even launched an attack, his ministers had already prepared to flee?

"Your Majesty, those cowards will be punished sooner or later, but the most urgent task now is to evacuate this place as soon as possible!" The Captain of the Guard advised, "Those mercenaries won't be able to delay for long. Even with the guards, they can only hold off the enemy for about half an hour. It'll be too late if we delay any longer!"

"No, I want to see the betrayers pay the price!" Amperein pushed the other person away, "Go to the dungeon and bring me the head of Otto Losi!"

"But..."

"That's the king's order!" he shouted hoarsely.

"As you wish, Your Majesty." The Captain of the Guard had no choice but to take a step back and bow in response.

After his only subordinate left, Amperein only felt his fingers trembling slightly, and his eyes seemed about to burst open, even tinting his entire vision with a faint red.

He slowly sat down, holding on to the chair, staring at his hands, wishing he could tear this group of traitors to pieces with them!

It's all over.

When the mercenaries on the city walls inexplicably fled in droves and handed over the stone walls, the defeat was already doomed. Count Losi's rebellion was just an insignificant stroke. But he didn't understand why Count Losi was willing to risk losing his eldest son to betray him? Why would Hoferd Quinn's ambition alone receive the unreserved support of the other two families? This didn't make sense at all—although the three major families of Radiance City were regarded as a whole, their respective interests were not entirely the same. In a situation where a slight mistake would lead to eternal damnation, he couldn't think of anyone who could make them trust so much.

Amperein discovered that neither this city nor the three major families were as well understood by him as he had thought.

In the end, he didn't wait for the Captain of the Guard to return.

Pushing open the door of the hall was a team of warriors he had never seen before. The weapons in their hands were still dripping with blood, and their armor was also splattered with a lot of blood stains. But judging from their expressions, they were not at all tired or relaxed after a bloody battle. Their relaxed appearance was more like they had experienced a street fight.

The half an hour that the Captain of the Guard claimed they could hold out for had not even lasted for a quarter of an hour.

The difference in strength between the two sides was too great.

Then he saw the usurper, Hoferd Quinn, who had once vowed to always assist the Moore family.

In addition to Count Quinn, the other two traitors also walked into the hall, along with their heirs: Ouro Tocar and Otto Losi.

Seeing the latter, Amperein knew that the revenge he wanted was also impossible.

"Why is this happening—"

"Are you surprised that Otto is still alive?" Ouro interrupted him, "It's not too difficult to hide two warriors in the secret passage of the palace, and besides, ordinary iron gates and fences can't stop their actions at all. As for how they entered the castle district, you have to ask the guards. I think that under the panic, those guards probably didn't care much about counting how many people there were in the acrobat troupe."

Amperein's pupils shrank sharply. If the other party was not bluffing, wouldn't it be equal to being able to kill into his bedroom at any time?

"That's right, just like you thought." Ouro spread out his hands, "If it weren't for the King of Graycastle needing to create a sensational dispute, you would have probably had your head chopped off by them a long time ago. To be honest, you have disappointed me too much, Your Majesty... I thought you imprisoned Otto just because you were angry for a while. I didn't expect you to use him to threaten Count Losi, and even wanted to kill him." Saying this, he sighed, "I originally thought... even if we couldn't be friends, you wouldn't forget the past."

"Are you talking about Roland Wimbledon? So all of this is his conspiracy?" Amperein didn't pay attention to the second half of the sentence at all. All his attention was attracted by the King of Graycastle in Ouro's mouth, "Do you know what you are doing! You are helping a devil—not only betraying the vows of your ancestors, but also offering your kingdom and people to him with both hands! It's simply extremely stupid!"

He angrily pointed to Hoferd Quinn, "And you! Do you think you can really sit on this throne? The fact is that you are just a puppet! Haven't you thought about the reason why he launched this rebellion! If he wasn't trying to annex the Kingdom of Dawn, why would he repeatedly oppose me? Don't forget, these people can easily overthrow me today, and one day they will also easily push you into the abyss!"

"You're wrong," suddenly a woman's voice sounded from outside the door, "The reason he wants to do this is just because of two things. One is to save Otto, and the other is to protect the witches."

"Absurd—" Amperein was about to scold the other party for their impudence and ignorance, but the voice suddenly got stuck in his throat, "You, you are..."

The person who came looked very weak and needed the support of others to barely stand. But even so, it could not hide her outstanding appearance. That head of golden hair and familiar face reminded him of a person who only existed in his memories.

"Andrea Quinn," however, the other party's answer confirmed his guess, "Long time no see, Amperein."

In an instant, all the questions in the Lord of Dawn's mind were answered. Why the Tocar family was so firmly supporting Count Quinn, and the reason why Count Losi took the risk—there was indeed a person who could gain the trust of both families at the same time, because their children had all been infatuated with each other.

The anger in his heart was extinguished, replaced by a sense of powerlessness like everything was over. He murmured for a moment, and the only sentence he managed to say was: "Why?"

Why did you choose them in the end, instead of me?

If it was fate that he was defeated by Roland Wimbledon, why did even you betray me? I could have given you more than they could, if it wasn't for that accident, this kingdom should have been half yours.

Andrea seemed to see through his thoughts, "Because I am a witch, Amperein, a fallen person that you want to exterminate in your mouth."