Chapter VIII: Trouble In Kal Vorum...

"Black Knight, if you care about your kingdom and Lady Nyx, then come to the Garden of Emperors tonight unarmed while the palace sleeps, and come alone."

Those were the words written on a sheet of paper he had found on top of his bed, which was in his mind pretty ominous.

He didn't know who had written the letter, nor who had left it there, but he had figured them to be someone high ranking, for not just anyone would write something like that.

Nonetheless, he listened to the letter's instructions, of course, it wasn't easy, for he had to sneak past the palace guards, but he managed to get past them and enter it.

After arriving at the Garden of Emperors, Donovan walked past dozens of statues of whom he believed to be former Emperors until coming across a short and curvy woman who had what looked like slightly dark skin, and greenish-blue black hair. She was wearing a white gown and veil.

He wasn't sure if this was the person who called him to this place, but the letter did have a trace of perfume on it, and the writing looked a little too neat for a dwarven male.

As he slowly and cautiously approached her, she spoke. "Black Knight, you came."

Her voice was soft and angelic, which had made him loosen up a bit, but it wasn't enough for him to drop his guard. He was still cautious and was prepared to cast magic if needed too.

"Were you the one who wrote the letter?" He asked in a way manner.

"Yes, I was the one." She affirmed as she looked away from the statue and at him.

"Okay, is it alright if I ask you who you are?" Donovan inquired in a respectful tone.

"You may, but I cannot reveal, for I do not know if you are friend or foe." She stated in what sounded like a sad voice, which had caused him to frown.

"What do you mean?" He questioned, traces of confusion in his voice. He didn't want to come off as rude or impatient, but he didn't understand her at all. She had sent him a letter telling him to come here, and then instead of revealing what he needed to know, she was talking to him in a peaceful way like an angel would.

"Tell me, do you love war?" She questioned. She was a little hesitant to ask him that, but had managed to get the question out there.

"No, I don't." He answered immediately. "I understand that wars are things that happen, and are sometimes inevitable, but that doesn't mean I love it, nor do I want it. All I want is to return home, and go back to living a normal life."

He couldn't see this due to the veil, but her lips had curved upwards slightly. "I see, then you're a friend, Black Knight."

"Okay, so can you answer my question?" Donovan requested, still a little confused about this whole ordeal.

"Yes, my name is Camillia Tethras, and my father is Havel Tethras, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Black Knight." She declared with a refined curtsey.

"Havel Tethras?" Donovan said in surprise. "Wait, you're the daughter of the Emperor!"

"Yes." She affirmed with a nod of her head.

"It's an honor to meet you, but why did you want to meet me?" Donovan requested after giving a small bow. He would have done a deep and graceful bow, but he kind of had a feeling that she didn't care about greetings. After all, she did hide her name from him.

"I, like my father, have no wish for conflict, but there are many who do." She stated in a somber tone. "They cannot forget what had happened many years ago, and believe that it's only a matter of time before your leader begins attacking us."

"I see, but what does that have to do with me?" Donovan asked. He was troubled by this information, but he didn't see how he could be of any use. "As unfortunate as it is to hear this information, I don't see how I can be of much help."

"You can be of help by stopping them from taking my father's throne." Camillia proclaimed. "They believe my father has become weak, and have been plotting against him for some time now. I have tried to thwart their plans, but there are too many enemies inside the palace, and I barely have anyone I can turn to for help."

"I..." Donovan said before pausing. He wanted to help, but he just didn't see how he could help really. Even if he did have access to a lot of the palace areas that didn't mean he could go into someone else's room, and start an investigation or anything like that.

"Please, Black Knight. Please protect my father." She pleaded as she clasped her hands in front of her chest.

"I, I will try, but I'm still not sure what I can do in this situation." Donovan said in a concerned tone.

"I understand, Black Knight." She said in response.

"I don't think you do understand. If I go sneaking into someone's room, and get caught, then I could lose my head." Donovan thought with a frown. A small part of him wanted to say this to her, but he had kept his mouth shut, at least on that subject.

"You don't have to address me as, Black Knight, Princess Camillia. You can call me, Fane." Donovan suggested after a few seconds of silence.

"Oh, then you can address me as, Camillia. If we are going to be allies, then we should treat each other as equals, yes?" Camillia said, a little taken back by the change of topics, but not against it.

"I guess," Donovan said with a shrug. His intentions weren't to get on a first name basis with her, but if she was going to treat him as an equal, then he wasn't against that. "anyways, I should probably return to my chambers..."

As he said this, Donovan started to turn around, but before he could turn around completely, she called out to him.

Wait!" she requested, which had caused him to turn back around.

"Yes?" He said in a questioning manner.

"May I, may I see your face?" She asked hesitantly.

Furrowing his brows, Donovan replied with, "Why?"

"No reason in particular, I just would like to see my ally's face." She said sheepishly. He didn't know this, but her cheeks had become slightly, and that was because she was embarrassed by this situation.

"... Sure, but can you promise not to tell anyone what you'll see?" Donovan said in response after pondering the request for a while. He wasn't sure if this was the greatest idea, but so far, Camillia didn't seem like a bad person to him, and he was pretty sure she would keep quiet about this if he asked, so he saw no harm in revealing his face.

"Yes, I promise to keep this between us." She affirmed with a nod of her head.

After hearing her swear not to reveal this to anyone, Donovan grabbed ahold of his helmet and lifted it off of his head.

"You're, you're human." She said in surprise upon seeing his face.

"Yeah." He confirmed as he ran his hand through his hair before stopping at the back of his head and scratching it. "It's a long story, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about this."

"I won't, you have my word, Fane." She stated in an earnest tone.

"Thanks." Came his response with a smile. He was curious now of her face, and was half tempted to ask if she could show him hers, but had remembered that if he saw her face, then he would have no choice, but to marry her.

With nothing else really to be said, Donovan put his helmet back on and said, "I need to go now, but it was a pleasure to meet you, Camillia, and I hope we can see each other another time."

"We can, tomorrow night we can meet again." Camillia avered.

Surprised by this information, Donovan said, "Oh, okay then, I am assuming we will meet here again?"

"No, it wouldn't be wise, but don't worry, I will have the information relayed to you tomorrow." Camillia said with a shake of her head.

"I see, well then, I will see you tomorrow, Camillia." Donovan said before turning around and walking away.

Angel had an irritated expression written on his face as he vented his anger to Jacob and the few envoys that were staying in the same room.

He had hated how that Nyx women ridiculed him, and how the Emperor treated them as if they were the eyesores, but most of all, he hated how that Black Knight didn't react and just stared at him.

If Fane had reacted, then he would have felt some satisfaction, but because he didn't move a single muscle, he felt like he was being looked down on and considered to be not a threat. This vexed him, and made him want to fight Fane the Black Knight even more than before.

"I'm telling you, Sir Angel, that demon has seduced His Imperial Majesty!" An envoy declared in anger. He was a man with silver hair that appeared to be in his late forties, and was the ambassador of the Akaneian Kingdom, which was one of the smaller human kingdoms. "She's manipulating him against us!"

"Yeah, so we must get rid of her!" Another emissary agreed vehemently. He was a little younger than the diplomat of the Akaneian Kingdom, but he nonetheless believed that Nyx was the sole reason why the Emperor was against joining their cause. He had brown hair, and was the ambassador of a kingdom called Palum. It was one of the more larger countries, but was closer to the Demon King's territory, so it was almost always dealing with monsters.

Jacob, who had been silently listening to all of the rantings, couldn't help from rolling his eyes, for he believed they were overreacting, which in all honesty, was a little unbecoming of their statures.

As the other two envoys stated their opinions on the matter, Angel released a sigh of frustration. "I just can't understand why he's so against fighting them! We've offered him tons of resources that he can't down here in return for his help, but even then, he still doesn't want to get involved."

"It's probably because he doesn't want dwarven blood to be spilled in a war that barely affects him," Jacob said in a tired tone, which broke his silence. "I mean, have you looked at this place? It's like an oasis, and doesn't seem to be suffering from any problems."

"Yeah, but what His Imperial Majesty is failing to realize is that if we lose this war, then the supplies from the surface stop coming." The envoy of the Akaneian Kingdom declared in a firm voice. "We are the ones supplying them with wood, food, and a few other things that are extremely rare to get down here."

"Which is most likely why he's remaining neutral in this conflict." Jacob said in a slightly peeved tone. "Think about it, if he sided with us, then the Demon Kingdom will cut off whatever it is they're trading with them, and if he sided with them, wouldn't we do the same?"

"You're not wrong, but that-"

"Kyyyyaaaaa!" Came a scream from outside of their room, which had made the envoy cease talking.

Upon hearing the scream, Angel wasted no time and got off of his bed while grabbing his sword, which was at the end of it, and rushed outside of the room with the others right behind them.

After exiting the room, Angel looked around and saw a dwarven maid with her back against the wall. Directly across from her and laying on the ground was the palace guard who patrolled the hallway.

"What, what happened?" Angel questioned after running over to the maid, and looking around only to finally notice that the door to the room where the other envoys slept was open slightly.

"I-I don't know." She stammered as the female members of the Hero Party arrived in their night clothing.

Angel said nothing, for he was no longer interested in what she had to say. Instead, he was more intrigued by the slightly open door. With his curiosity at an all-time high, Angel approached the door and opened it.

"My God..." Angel muttered upon seeing that the room was a mess, and that the envoys were sprawled all over the place with pools of blood underneath them. "The envoys have been murdered!"