"What did you say?!" The Lord of Dawn pushed away the singing girl in his arms and stood up abruptly.

The woman draped in pink silk, her body vaguely visible, fell to the ground, clearly suffering a hard fall, but she didn't dare utter a cry of pain.

The other servants, performers, and jugglers also lowered their heads in fear, and the entire palace hall became silent.

"Your Majesty..." the reporting minister swallowed hard, "Your Lord High Chamberlain has rebelled."

"Are you sure it's a rebellion, and not wanting to serve those fools outside?" Anpien didn't know whether to doubt his ears or the incompetence of the person handling the matter, exaggerating the words of the monitors tenfold.

He was well aware of the plans of those nobles from outside the kingdom—anyone who returned alive from Hermes had basically witnessed the destruction of the Royal Knights, as well as his own desperate escape. It would be too naive to expect them to remain loyal to the royal family at this time.

It was normal to have unrest, and normal to form factions, and the three major families of the royal capital were clearly their first choice. Anpien had long been wary of this, but he believed that according to the temperaments of the three old ministers, they would most likely remain safe and secure, and stay behind closed doors. After all, the royal capital was still in his hands, and any act that annoyed him would be tantamount to courting death.

He didn't expect that the first problem would actually be with the Quinn family.

Colluding with foreign lords had already violated his authority. Perhaps the old Earl just wanted to leave a way out, or declare his position... But whatever the reason, punishment was inevitable for such an offense. Good Otto. Rossi—he had already been restrained enough not to kill this childhood companion on the spot.

But... what does rebellion mean?

Earl Quinn was in Glow City, without subjects or soldiers. Relying solely on the dozens of guards around him? Don't make people laugh their teeth out, what could he possibly rebel with?

"His Lordship the Earl did contact foreign nobles, but... but not in secret. He sent out invitation letters!" The minister wiped the sweat from his forehead. "He openly invited all the nobles to his mansion, persuading them to pledge allegiance to the Quinn family!"

Anpien was dumbfounded, almost unable to comprehend what he was hearing.

This could indeed be considered a rebellion, but the method was too bizarre!

Instead of looking for helpers from foreign nobles, he wanted them to be loyal to Quinn—did Hofford really know what he was doing?

He had already become a precarious ship that could capsize at any time, how could any nobles agree to this proposal! This approach would undoubtedly antagonize both sides. The Moa royal family would never tolerate such serious provocation, and the stupidity of not seeing the situation would only make those nobles sneer.

But then again, was the Lord High Chamberlain such an arrogant person before?

After being speechless for a while, Anpien finally spoke, "Send my order, have Sir Bakarov, the commander of the patrol team, lead a team to the Earl's mansion to arrest Hofford. Quinn and bring him to see me. The others in the mansion will be temporarily imprisoned for custody. Anyone who resists can be killed on the spot! I want to see what explanation he has for this."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Upset by this news, he was no longer in the mood for revelry. After dismissing everyone in the hall, Anpien couldn't help but slump back on the throne.

He didn't simply want to have fun, but once the surroundings became quiet, the roar of the heavenly fire would constantly echo in his ears.

The war more than a month ago had left an indelible impression on his heart.

No... it wasn't a war, but a one-sided massacre.

His army had no power to fight back.

Knights or serfs, there was no difference when facing the Greycastle's attack.

After returning to the royal capital, Anpien found that he no longer had the courage to confront Roland—the defeat had brought him a setback even heavier than the death of his father.

What was even more despairing was that he knew the Moa family had lost the entire Kingdom of Dawn. What was the consequence of offending a neighboring country with powerful forces? Without a doubt, the other party would eventually annex the territory he had inherited from his father, and he was powerless to stop it!

When he ascended the throne, he was full of ambition, eager to govern this kingdom well, so that the people could live a stable life, and no longer worry about the threats of witches, evil beasts, and other alien creatures. As a result, in just one year, he had become despondent, losing interest in politics and commerce, and only waited for the enemy's army to approach the city and hang him on the city wall.

At the thought of this, Anpien's hatred for the King of Greycastle grew day by day, wishing he could devour his flesh and drink his blood!

If it weren't for Roland. Wimbledon, he should have gone down in history and become a wise ruler!

It was all the other party's fault—the new King of Greycastle had been bewitched by witches!

He slammed the armrest forcefully, and the fire in his heart had nowhere to vent.

When Earl Quinn was captured, he would definitely let him taste what a king's anger was like!

However, by the afternoon, the new minister he had appointed ran into the palace in a panic.

"Your Majesty, Sir Bakarov is dead! The patrol team... was completely wiped out!"

"Wh-what?!" The Lord of Dawn grabbed the other party's collar in shock, "Did they set up traps around the mansion? Or did they hide guards in the mansion?"

"Y-yes, there were hidden guards," the minister replied quickly, "I saw it with my own eyes! Bakarov first asked the Earl to come out, and after being refused, he went directly into the house to arrest him, but he was quickly killed by his guards. Not only that, they also rushed out of the courtyard and fought with the patrol team surrounding the mansion—those people are crazy, they have all kinds of weapons, boning knives, wooden sticks, and even bluestone bricks... In less than a quarter of an hour, the team collapsed!"

"How many of them were there?"

"About... seven."

"Bastard!" Anpien threw the other party to the ground, "Seven people is considered hidden? Even an ordinary merchant in Glow City can gather a dozen guards. Are you scared silly! And the patrol team has one or two hundred people, how could they be scattered by seven guards? Even two hundred wild boars wouldn't be defeated so quickly—are they not even as good as the pigs in the hunting grounds!"

"Your Majesty, those people... are not human, they are monsters," the minister said with a mournful face, "Most of the patrol team couldn't even block one of their moves, it's simply not the kind of power and speed that humans should have!"

Anpien's heart trembled violently.

Such a description seemed familiar.

That's right, he remembered, the assassins who killed his father, the two church witches who called themselves the Pure, had shown him the terrifying power of the God's Punishment Army.

Could it be... that Earl Quinn was colluding with the church?

An uncontrollable rage rose from the bottom of his heart!

"Risus!" Anpien shouted.

A knight quickly walked into the hall from outside and knelt on one knee to him, "Your Majesty, what are your orders?"

"Immediately gather all the mercenaries in Glow City, bring heavy crossbows and rockets, and burn Earl Quinn's mansion to the ground for me!" he roared, "Whether they are humans or monsters, I want them all to be turned to ashes!"

"But... that is the inner city," the knight hesitated, "If it causes a fire, I'm afraid it will be difficult to control."

"Shut up and do as I say!" Anpien roared hysterically, "If you can't burn him to death, you don't need to come back to see me!"

Even the God's Punishment Army would not have the slightest chance of winning against a force a hundred times its size, and with heavy crossbows. Anyone who colludes with the church will only die!

……

The next day, the Lord of Dawn received news from the monitors again. The mercenary group that had been preparing for an entire night had failed to reach the Earl's mansion.

While passing through Sunrise Avenue, the mercenary team was ambushed by a troupe of acrobats.

He was certain he hadn't misheard the minister's report.

A group of street performers suddenly attacked the mercenary, who were caught off guard and suffered heavy losses. And the fighting style of those performers was exactly the same as that of Earl Quinn's "guards."

The only difference was that this time, the weapons in their hands were no longer a mixed bag, but had been replaced by the short swords, iron hammers, and wooden shields used by the patrol team.