"You must be Braun. Nice to meet you" a smile streaked across his face as he offered his hand towards Braun. He was tall and sinewy. His arms were thick and his body abnormally good. If the man wasn't the cause of this shitshow, Braun would have been impressed.

But the Wismarine in front of him was the supposed mastermind of all of this. Braun recognized him because the man was always tailing Skall Wismar. The muscular scum's name was Amir.

Braun did not shake his hand. He still had enough self-respect. Even if they were supposed to be allies, he will not be his friend.

"Amir right?" Braun stared at his face "Amir is too long, mind if I call you Scoundrel instead? It suits you better."

Amir retracted his hand and sighed. "We are allies, you know. Can't you be a little friendly? We need to work together to catch Princess Lucia."

"Then please excuse my rudeness oh dear ally. I can't help it, you destroyed all my hard work after all." Braun paused and looked at the gloomy sky. "All of it, gone. Dozens of personal visits to the neighboring Kingdoms, the sleepless nights I had planning on how to clinch every damn economic and diplomatic deal, all of those are for nothing. In just one night, you destroyed my life's work." He murmured.

"But now you have Wismar at your back. We are strong and we will.."

Braun interrupted him with a loud laugh. "You will defend us? Or maybe you'll say that you will not give up on us? Lies, Scoundrel, lies." He mocked Amir in his face "Wismar is not as strong as it once was."

Amir tried to rebut, but Braun didn't let him. "Let's not kid ourselves, Scoundrel. Wismar's golden age had passed. Your arrogant isolationist policy had made you weak. Now you are taking Castonia down with you. Well let me tell you something Scoundrel" Braun glared at him "As long as I live, as long as I breathe, I will not let you drag Castonia to the mud."

Amir opened his mouth and tried to talk, but Braun kept his glare. One word, Braun decided, one more word from the Scoundrel and he will stuff that mouth of his with mud. He doesn't care even if the Scoundrel was a head taller than him.

Surprisingly, the Scoundrel kept his mouth shut and just nodded. He went ahead with his men and left Braun's party behind. Good, Braun thought. Now he could focus on his task without being distracted by the urge to beat some Wismarine.

Braun looked again at the sky. It was gloomy like the future of his dear Castonia.

A bolt of lightning dashed across the sky, followed by the booming of thunder. Braun was supposed to be afraid of thunder and lightning. But this time, he was calm.

Droplets of rain fell into his face. It was just a drizzle at first, but soon it turned into a heavy rain. Braun hated the rain. It reminds him of that day his first wife died. That was years ago, but he could remember the scene like it happened yesterday. The bloody body of his wife who was killed by bandits on the road still haunted him. While Braun really did love her, most of Braun's pain stems from the loss of their unborn child. They were travelling to Nirvana that time to find a midwife, but the bandits attacked them. Braun tried to negotiate at first, but the bandits grew tired and just killed his wife. The death of his wife and unborn child was his fault. By hesitating on giving up his belongings, the bandits took the most important thing from Braun.

He tried to remarry multiple times but all his marriages were loveless and he ended up a divorcee every time. It was probably a punishment from the Omniscient for being greedy. In the end, Braun was left alone. He gave up on his fief and stayed in Nirvana where he became the King's right hand. Braun immersed himself in his work. Surprisingly, he fell in love again. But this time, he fell in love not with a woman, but with the Kingdom of Castonia.

Braun did his best to make Castonia strong. He guided King Leopold. He travelled all over the continent just to make deals and connections with the other Kingdoms. And his efforts were not for naught. After decades of hard work, Castonia had become strong despite its precarious location.

But three nights ago, all of his hard work was shattered. The Wismarines tried and failed to kill Princess Lucia Vanadis. Even if Castonia was innocent, the other Kingdoms will still think that King Leopold tried to kill his own guest. This was probably the darkest moment in the history of Castonia.

A single horse galloped towards Braun and mud was splashed into his face.

"What the hell!" he grimaced and tried to find the culprit. But the horse's rider was missing and the saddle was bloody.

Braun clicked his tongue. Although he brought nearly two hundred men from Nirvana, he divided them into four groups to expedite the search. It seems a whole team was annihilated. Lucia couldn't have done this because reports say that she only had two men with her, one of which was a merchant.

So it must be Timothy's doing. He was too fast. Braun had expected that Timothy will come, but not this soon. This just turned into a race to find the Princess first. Honestly, Braun was afraid. He was scared of Timothy. The third Prince of Castonia is currently the most powerful man in the Kingdom and Braun was trying to catch his lover.

Just then, a pair of horses also galloped towards him. He expected that the horses would also be riderless, but he was wrong. Two scouts saluted to Braun.

"Report!" the rain was noisy so he loudened his voice.

The scouts reported to him, but the rain was too noisy.

"What? I can't hear you!" Braun put his hand on his ear "Shout if you have to!"

The scouts tried to report one more time but Braun failed to catch their words again. He lost his temper and grabbed one of them by the collar.

"Report now!" he shouted to the scout's ear.

The man grimaced in pain "We found them sire!" he shouted back.

Braun's eyes went wide. He needed this good news. At last he could accomplish his mission.

"Where?" He let go of the scout's collar and asked.

"A few kilometers west." The scout revealed.

Braun did not waste time and ordered his men to charge. The fifty soldiers behind him rushed towards the direction the scout pointed to. Mud and rain splashed behind them.

*****************************************************************************

"Princess they are coming." Captain Bisham said beside her.

Lucia urged her horse to run faster but the animal was tired. They had been evading both the Wismarines and the King's soldiers for three days now.

"I don't think my horse can make it" Lucia turned to the Captain. She then looked behind "Are you sure somebody saw us?"

"Yes" Captain Bisham answered "I think they are scouts. Their main force will come soon"

As if to confirm what Captain said, Lucia heard the sound of horses. She looked towards the direction the sound came from and saw dozens of horsemen rushing towards them.

"We will hold them Your Highness" Captain Bisham started to turn his horse around.

"No!" Lucia shouted and stopped the Captain "I may not be an expert when it comes to fighting but I don't believe you can buy me a single second Captain Bisham. There are dozens of them. You will just waste your life."

Captain Bisham stared at her blankly "You're right. I'm sorry Princess I wasn't thinking. I'm just afraid that I can't do anything for you this time. I don't want to admit it but they will catch us soon enough."

Lucia gave the Captain a comforting smile "It's alright Captain. You have done your best. I thank you and all those who died for me."

By now, their pursuers are getting closer. Lucia saw the man in the front and she was shocked. It was Baron Braun. Timothy had told her many things about Baron Braun. Tim said the Baron was a patriotic man. He will do anything for Castonia. Tim was right though, Baron Braun will indeed do anything for the Kingdom even at the cost of his morals.

Lucia then lost hope. The soldiers chasing them will catch up soon. She will die here, halfway through Solon. She will never see her father and Holm again. She will never see Timothy again. It's a shame, she was so close. Her death would also ignite a war that will probably hurt the people she love.

"Soldiers at the front!" Lucia heard Escanor shout behind her. She then looked forward and saw dozens of cavalry charging towards them. They are closer than the ones at their back. At first she thought that the soldiers were enemies. But Lucia's heart fluttered after seeing the person charging at the very front.

It was Timothy.