The king took a deep breath to control his trembling hands and squinted his eyes at the man standing before him. He knew he was going to die, so he might as well be prepared for it before the man could give him a big surprise.

"I have one question. Can you answer it?" Rhesus finally asked the black-cloaked man who belonged to who knows which race. The man paused as the energy ball kept glowing on his palms. Just watching it made the aristocrats and Prince Heath tremble. How could someone manage to continue to keep the energy ball intact for so much time? Being a royal, Prince Heath knew that it was difficult to keep the energy ball skillfully on his palms for even a few seconds.

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Heath had water spiritual roots, so his energy ball was rather made out of water that would help him throw powerful attacks. He even had the power to convert water into ice to increase the vitality of his attack, but if someone asked him to keep the energy ball intact for several minutes and even listen to what others were saying, Heath wouldn't be able to do it.

This simple process was so difficult that it required a higher level of concentration just to keep the energy ball circling on the palms. At the same time, it was equally difficult to divide his focus to hear someone's words. The fact that the black-cloaked man was actually doing this made his eyes widened. His face paled as he continued to watch the scene before his eyes.

Just what kind of monster this black-cloaked man was?!

Then he glanced at the king who was already on the verge of dying, and Heath gritted his teeth. What should he do? From what he had heard, he had realized that his brother was rather innocent. It was this black-cloaked man who had instigated everything and created such havoc in their kingdom to destroy everything altogether!

Why?! Heath wanted to know, but more than that, he wanted to make it up to his elder brother who had already lost much of his energy. After taking a deep breath, the prince gripped the sword and squinted his eyes at the imposter as he got ready to jump any minute. He would save his brother no matter what!

At this time, even Edda had woken up and walked inside the courtroom stealthily while observing the king and black-cloaked man. A frown crossed her forehead. After that, she glanced at the council members who poked their heads out and sneaked a glance outside at the king. Then she looked at the most reliable person standing inside the room: Prince Heath.

She carefully scooted closer and asked, "Uncle, what's going on?"

This princess was the culprit who naively thought that the king was the reason why she couldn't find her father, and so she rushed to the palace without thinking twice. But who could blame her? She had such evidence that would look authentic at first glance! Even Prince Heath had become delusional that Rhesus was the reason why things had been going wrong in the kingdom!

When Heath thought about it, he couldn't help but grimace and ignored the princess. He didn't want to acknowledge such a stupid girl as his niece!

She had brought trouble to the entire kingdom! If things would turn out right, which didn't seem to be the case, he would make sure to punish Edda severely!

After thinking of this, Heath took a deep breath and glanced at the scene outside. When the princess saw that no one was ready to answer her query, she silenced and looked toward the black-cloaked man with a frown on her face.

Just then, they all heard the king uttering the words they were all curious about. "Who are you? Why did you do this to us?! We, Dhampirs, have never hurt other races and always maintained a good interpersonal relationship! Why do you want to destroy us sneakily like this?! Just what the heck is your purpose?"

The black-cloaked man's lips curved up. "You don't have to think too much. I just love seeing the destruction."

A chill crawled up Edda's spine when she heard that voice. This was the first time she had heard him, and she was surprised to see that a soothing voice could speak such cruel words! And just what was the king talking about? Where was Princess Lia? She pursed her lips and glanced around only to find that everyone in the hall was holding their breaths as they continued to look at the black-cloaked man.

Just then, they heard a voice of a familiar prince. "Your Majesty, move aside. Let me fight this man while you recuperate!"

And without giving the king a chance to refute, Prince Heath instantly charged his sword with Qi and jumped right in front of the king. He stood before his brother in a protective stance, glaring at the black-cloaked man.

"Heath!" The king was agitated as he looked at his younger brother with anxious eyes. "Don't do this. You cannot fight this man! He's a beast!"

But Prince Heath ignored those words. He pushed the king back and said, "Dear brother, you should observe how I fight and protect the kingdom! You have to understand that you aren't alone anymore!"

Rhesus froze and stared at the prince before him for a long time as his eyes moistened. Long ago, when he had killed his elder brothers, he had never thought of apologizing or even remembering what he had done for the throne. But as time passed, the feeling of guilt kept rising in his heart, making him feel choked up. And now when his youngest brother uttered those words despite knowing what kind of person he was, he couldn't help but feel a familiar emotion of regret rising in his heart that made his chest tighten up.

Just why was he so ruthless? If Rhesus hadn't been so greedy in his youth, perhaps the kingdom wouldn't have ended up like this.

While he was still thinking about his past in remorse, Prince Heath and the black-cloaked man got busy in an intense battle against each other. The former dodged the attack of an energy ball filled with electricity as he charged at the enemy with his sword. At the same time, he made several hand signs as a layer of frost appeared on the surface of his sword. And just like that, he attacked the black-cloaked man, who still didn't have a sword at hand.