"Fake?"

Adorned with a crown, the Princess Royal looked dignified and noble. She was about to become king. Her long-cherished wish for many years would finally be realized.

Looking at Merlin's cold eyes, Lisa shook her head and said, "How can that be? Leon, you saw King Father. When he saw how the Sacred Lion Beast's head ended up, he was heartbroken and even passed the throne to me. Did he look like he was faking it?"

Merlin thought carefully for a moment. Indeed, the King's heartbroken expression was impossible to fake. In other words, the King truly believed that the Sacred Lion Beast's head had been taken away.

If the King did not know, how did the Princess Royal know?

"Lisa, since you don't know that the Sacred Lion Beast's head is fake, what does this mean? Who has the ability to replace the Sacred Lion Beast's head?"

Merlin frowned. The Sacred Lion Beast's head would not be easily replaced. First of all, it was not easy to enter the secret chamber where the Sacred Lion Beast's head was located. One had to be a descendant of the royal family with very strong blood ties.

Besides the King and the Princess Royal, who else had this ability?

"Leon, the truth is, our royal family has a fourth elder!"

"A fourth elder?"

Merlin was shocked. In the tense situation earlier, only three elders appeared. Merlin thought that there had only been three ultimate contenders in the royal family.

Moreover, those three ultimate contenders were seriously injured.

Unexpectedly, the royal family still had a fourth ultimate contender. However, why did the fourth elder not appear earlier? The royal family had almost collapsed!

Lisa continued, "That's right, a fourth elder. That elder never shows up no matter the danger, because he represents the last hope of the royal family. Besides guarding the royal family's Sacred Lion Beast's head, he also guards the most precious royal family treasure vault. Treasures collected over a thousand years are stored there. Even if the royal family is overthrown and the Holy Dragon Empire collapses, the royal family can survive and even rise again one day as long as we have these treasures and that ultimate contender!"

The Princess Royal's expression was also a little complicated. The King had told this to Lisa, who was about to become king. She had to know about this.

Merlin took a deep breath. This was the practice of the royal family for a millennia. Even if the royal family was overthrown, it was necessary to retain its strength. As for the lives and deaths of other people, it was not important at all.

After a long while, Merlin asked in a deep voice, "In other words, it was the fourth elder who replaced the Sacred Lion Beast's head?"

"We'll find out if it was the fourth elder as soon as we ask."

There was a sly smile on the Princess Royal's face. Now, the Princess Royal seemed to be calm and collected no matter what happened.

Merlin nodded. He also wanted to meet the fourth elder of the royal family. Furthermore, he had coveted the almighty beasts' will in the royal family's treasure vault from the beginning. If he could get to it, he could probably improve again.

Therefore, Merlin followed the Princess Royal and walked deep into the palace without any royal guards.

The whole royal palace was very large and there are many hidden areas. After all, the royal family had ruled the Holy Dragon Empire for more than a thousand years. If it was not for the time when Doomsday collaborated with the Candora Empire, the Sacred Lion Beast's head would not have been taken away.

The Princess Royal arrived at an ordinary palace. There was a mechanism on the wall, and a little press made a secret passage appear on the ground.

After entering the dark passage, Merlin could feel that the passage was all the way underground. After walking for a while, a faint light appeared before them as if they had reached the end.

Soon, Lisa and Merlin arrived at a secret chamber. Inside, there was an old man with white hair and a youthful face. He looked energetic and healthy. At that time, his eyes were shut and he did not seem to notice Merlin or the Princess Royal.

"Elder."

Lisa gently saluted the old man. After all, the old man is also an elder of the royal family and the guardian of the treasure vault.

Merlin frowned and looked around. Behind the old man was a thick stone gate with many strange patterns. Presumably, behind the stone gate was the treasure vault where the royal family had stored their treasures in for a thousand years.

"Princess Royal, or should I say, Your Highness. As for the person beside you, you should be Marquis Leon, the one who prevailed over the Candora Trio-Lords and Doomsday."

The elder who had his eyes closed suddenly opened his eyes. There was a sharp color in his eyes, but it soon softened.

Although the elder had always stayed in the secret chamber to guard the treasure vault, he knew what had happened to the royal family.

"Ancestor, we're here to ask you something," the Princess Royal said calmly.

"Oh? What is it?"

The elder's eyes had always been fixed on Merlin as if he wanted to see how Merlin defeated the Candora Trio-Lords and Doomsday. The royal family had been saved by the hands of a single person.

"Elder, it's about the Sacred Lion Beast's head. You should also know that the Sacred Lion Beast's head was taken away by the Candora Trio-Lords and Shadow King and other rebels in the last revolt, but now it is said that the Sacred Lion Beast's head they had was fake. We've come to ask the elder if the Sacred Lion Beast's head was replaced by you." 

After the Princess Royal finished speaking, she stared at the elder closely. Merlin also paid attention to the elder and carefully observed every change of his expression.

However, hearing the Princess Royal's question, the elder merely sighed for a long time and closed his eyes. He shook his head slightly and said, "Who could have replaced the Sacred Lion Beast's head. It has always been there."

"That's impossible. Our scouts have already found out that the Sacred Lion Beast's head obtained by the Candora Empire and Shadow King was obviously fake," Lisa said firmly.

"Of course it's fake. That's because the Sacred Lion Beast's head disappeared long ago," the elder said with a wry smile.

"What? Disappeared long ago?"

Both Merlin and the Princess Royal were shocked by the elder's words. The Sacred Lion Beast's head had disappeared long ago. In other words, the Sacred Lion Beast's head in the underground secret chamber had always been fake?

"That's right, the Sacred Lion Beast's head was defeated. About a hundred years ago, the Sacred Lion Beast's head seemed to have reached its limit. It began to break up bit by bit and finally turned into a pile of dust. We don't know the reason, and it's said that the body of a Sacred Beast would never decay, but the fact is that the Sacred Lion Beast's head really disappeared. That's why, in the past hundred years, the descendants of the royal family had become weaker and weaker, and they couldn't even become full shifters. It was because the Sacred Lion Beast's head had disappeared."

"The Sacred Lion Beast's head is the foundation of the royal family. Its disappearance represents the decline of the royal family. Of course, this news cannot be known to the outside world. Therefore, after consulting with the king at that time, several elders finally used special methods to put the fake Sacred Lion Beast's head into the secret chamber and then sealed some of the Sacred Lion Beast's head unique aura into the body of the fake head, so as to achieve the situation of falsification. Unexpectedly, the royal family ended up this way... "

Merlin and the Princess Royal looked at each other. Surprisingly, the Candora Trio-Lords and Shadow King were fighting for the Sacred Lion Beast's head, but it was actually fake.