I stared at my brother in shock. Everything he said was a twisted version of his ideals. I knew Lance wanted to improve the nation, but the way he was currently going at it was twisted. I couldn’t say anything back. It wasn’t until Clive shook me out of my stupor that I realized that the situation was dangerous.

“Let’s go Claire, it’s not safe here anymore.”

Clive forcefully dragged me out of the room. Phillis or Lance did nothing to stop us, but I could feel their cold gazes on my back. It wasn’t long before we arrived at my room. Clive had basically carried me there because I was still stunned from what my brother had said.

“Claire! Claire! Claire!”

“Huh, what.”

“Snap out of it Claire! We have to leave the capital immediately. Your life is in danger.”

“Wait-what. What are you talking about Clive? I can’t leave yet, I need to go save my brother and my father. They’re also in danger!”

“We can’t, Claire. We don’t have the power to go and save them. Uncle Phillis has most likely taken over the entire nation already. The only thing we can do is run away. If only my father was here, we would be able to save them.”

“I-I-I...”

At that time I felt hopeless. I was on the verge of crying, realizing how weak I was. I didn’t have the strength to save my sick father, or Lance. I had tried to become smarter, I had tried to become stronger, but in the end I was still a useless princess who couldn’t do anything for her kingdom. I could only rely on one person to fix everything and that was my father.

“Clive I want to see my father. He’s the only one who can stop Lance right now.”

“We can’t visit him Claire. My mission is to protect you and only you. I will do whatever to protect you, and seeing your father right now is to dangerous.”

“It doesn’t matter! I need to see him, Clive! Father is the only hope of saving our kingdom right now!”

I stared down Clive and I wasn’t going to back down. No matter what, I wanted to see my father because he could save the kingdom from disaster. I continued to stare down Clive and eventually he gave up and agreed with me.

“Ok.Ok.Ok. I give up, we’ll go see if your father can save the kingdom, but if he can’t, we are leaving tonight no matter. My mission is to protect you and i’ll use my life to do it.”

I could see in Clive’s eyes that he was anxious about the entire situation. He was still trying to protect me even though his life was also in danger. I was grateful for Clive being there with me. Even when I was being selfish, he was still willing to help me. If I was by myself, my body and heart wouldn’t be able to deal with this situation, but Clive was there for me. Just him being with me was enough to keep me calm and collected.

“Here take this. You remember how to use it, right?”

“Yeah.”

Clive handed me his sword. Although he was a combat specialist, that didn’t mean he only used his fists in battle. His sword wasn’t used that often, but it was convenient when he needed to hide his skills or chop up meat for lunch.

“How are we going to get to your father’s room? Phillis has probably already surrounded his room.”

“You don’t have to worry about that Clive. Help me push my bed.”

Clive and I pushed the bed away and used it to block the door just in case any of Phillis’s men came. The spot where the bed was placed looked completely normal, but there was a secret passageway under it. The key to opening the door was to use a special type of magic formation to open it. This formation was passed down from our ancestors so only the royal family knew of it.

The floor opened up showing a staircase that led downwards. We walked down the stair, but before that, I closed the door. It was completely dark so I had to use magic to illuminate the area.

“Do you know where you’re going Claire?”

“Of course I do. I know this place like the back of my hand. I would even go as far as to say that I can walk through this labyrinth with my eyes closed.”

“Ok, let’s get going. We need to quickly do this before Phillis’s men come after us.”

The labyrinth was completely made out of stone and had many branching pathways, but that wasn’t a problem. It was wide enough that 2 full grown adults could walk side by side, and as tall as 2 adults stacked on top of each other. So for the 2 of us there was a lot of room to walk.

30 minutes passed by and we had only seen the occasional rodents and spiders. Not only were there rats and spiders, there were also different types of monsters lurking in the labyrinth. We saw a few ghost floating around, a few Living Statues, Vampire Bats, and Flickering Shadows. After 30 minutes had passed, we had our first encounter with a human.

“What should we do Clive?”

“We can only see one person, but there’s probably a lot more in this labyrinth. We can’t risk alerting them.”

“Wait I have an idea Clive. There should be a lot of guards around my father’s room so we need a distraction.”

I began explaining my plan to Clive. It was a very simple, but effective plan. We were going to lure those monsters we had seen, towards the guards. This would cause a commotion and give us a chance to slip into my father’s room.

“What if we get caught in between the monsters and the guards?”

“It’s alright, Clive. There’s a few secret passages up ahead. We can bring the monsters toward the guards and jump into the secret passage.”

“Ok, let’s do this then.”

We ran back the way we came and disturbed the monsters. The monsters were now chase right behind us. It was a dangerous plan but I was confident it would work.

“How much longer until we reach them, Claire.”

“We’re almost there! Just keep running!”

“Hey what’s that sound.” “What do you mean?” “Don’t you hear it? It sounds like clopping or stomping.” “It’s probably just monsters walking around.” “Wait, what is that?” “Holy shit, that’s a whole horde of monsters!!”

“Now Clive!”

I grabbed Clive’s hand and jumped towards a wall. I’m sure Clive was surprised at what I was doing because it looked like an ordinary wall, but it was a door. I drew a small magic formation and casted it at the wall, and it opened. It was a small passageway where we had to crawl, but it was fine because our bodies were small.

“Wow, that was close. How do you know about these passages, Claire?”

“Hehe, my brother Tristan used to play pranks on everyone in the castle, and he would use the labyrinth to escape. He would take me along to play his pranks, and eventually I learned the layout of the labyrinth.”

“Hahaha, your brother seems like a fun person, but in comparison you’re such a grouchy princess.”

“S-Shut up!”

Even in such a serious situation, Clive was still able to joke around. Some people may find his jokes inappropriate for the time, but it really calmed me down. My high strung nerves were able to relax a little bit.

We went through many twists and turns, but eventually we reached an exit. I unlocked another door and walked out of the crawlspace. The area we walked out of was empty, and there clearly wasn’t any exit. We had almost reached our destination.

“There’s nothing here?”

“My father’s room should be right behind that wall over there.”

We walked up to the wall and I was ready to unlock it, but I stopped myself. I could hear someone talking from the other side of the wall. Even though it was faint, I could tell it was Phillis talking.

“Clive, come here. Uncle Phillis is in my father’s room. See if you can hear their conversation.”

“Ok.”

……

“You should tell me brother. I have already taken over the nation, so just give it up. Tell me where father is hiding it!!!”

“N-never. I finally understand why father never told you his secret. I should have never trusted you Phil.”

“HAHAHA! It’s too late to regret it now, brother. I will finally become the king of this nation. Father loved you so much and even raised you to become king, but what can he do now. He didn’t care for me, he had no hopes for me at all, but now i’ll show him, i’ll show all of you that I can be King. HAHAHA!!”

“Hmph, how despicable.”

“Hahaha, if you won’t tell me now, i’ll find another way to make you say it. What if I kill you daughter in front of you. You know what, I have a better idea, I can violate her in front of you. Even though she is still young, she looks gorgeous just like mother.”

“DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE TOUCH HER!!!”

“Hahahaha, what can you even do in your current state, brother. Hehe, i’ll be back and so will Claire. Just wait for the party to start.”

……

I looked at Clive and could see that he was shaking. His fists were clenched so tight that I could feel an intense killing aura from him. I asked him what he had heard, but he hadn’t told me the whole truth. He only told me that Phillis was threatening my father for a secret my grandfather had. It wasn’t until years later that he told me about Phillis plan to violate me. Just thinking about it brings shivers down my spine. I had always thought he was a kind uncle, but he had been looking at my body not as a niece, but as a woman. It was then that we could hear a door open and close. Phillis had finally left and we prepared to enter. But before we entered, I heard my father leave out a loud sigh.

“I’m so sorry Tristan. I’m so sorry Lance. I’m so sorry Claire. If only I had noticed Phil’s evil nature, I could have stopped him.”

The wall opened up and I could see my father. He had changed so much in the time I hadn’t seen him. The last time I saw him was a week ago and he still looked healthy, but now he was basically a different person. His reddish brown hair had almost all turned white and his body was basically skin and bones. He no longer had his imposing body and kingly aura around him. He looked like an old man on his deathbed.

“FATHER!!!”

I jumped into my father’s arms with tears gushing out. He had changed so much and I could tell that he was dying. I didn’t want to accept that. He couldn’t be dying, he was my father. A strong and strict King, but also a loving father. I couldn’t say anything, the tears were coming to fiercely and my throat was becoming dry.

“Don’t cry Claire.”

“F-fath-uuuwwwwaaaa!!!”

“It’s fine Claire. Don’t cry. It’ll be fine. Daddy’s right here.”

My father could only try and console me as I continued to cry my heart out. I don’t remember how long I cried, but eventually the tears stopped coming out. I had cried all of the tears out of my body.

“Greeting, your Highness.”

“Thank you for protecting Claire, Clive. Your father has raised you well.”

“Thank you for your praise, your Highness.”

“I’m sorry to put this on you, but can I count on you to continue to protect Claire.”

“Yes, your Highness. I will risk my life to protect Claire.”

“Good. Claire are you done crying.”

“F-Father…”

“Clive come closer. I have a mission for the both of you. But let me ask you this Clive, where is your father right now.”

“My father is currently fighting on the frontlines against the other nations while also searching for Tristan on the side. Lately the attacks from the other nations have become more fierce, so he hasn’t had time to come back.”

“I see, so you have already betrayed our kingdom, Phil.”

“Excuse me, your highness. Are you saying that Uncle Phillis is helping these other nations?”

“Yes. Over the past years, there would only be the occasion skirmishes once every 5 to 10 years, but the past 3 years, they have been attacking more frequently. I thought it was weird that their attacks increased in intensity, but it makes sense now. Phil has told them what my father has discovered.”

“Father, why is all of this happening? Our nation hasn’t even done anything wrong so why are we being punished? Why!?”

“Don’t cry, Claire. I’ll tell you the reason why all of this is happening, but you must absolutely never tell anyone unless you completely trust them. Clive i’ll allow you to also hear it, your father already knows about this, so eventually you would have learned about it. All of this is currently happening because my father, Vagrand, discovered a secret that pertains to our kingdom’s past.”

“5 years ago, my father discovered the founder of the Kingdom of Key’s secret vault.”

“Y-y-you mean the Locksmith Sovereign. The only person to ever master all 3 aspects of a locksmith.”

“Yes. He had discovered a map that led to the vault, but he couldn’t open it. Since the vault was created by the Locksmith Sovereign, it was extremely difficult to get in to. As he was looking around the vault, he discovered that he needed to find 3 keys to open it. But that wasn’t going to be an easy task, the 3 keys were scattered throughout the world. This is why my father still hasn’t come home after so many years.”

“But what does this have to do with other kingdoms attacking our nation, father?”

“It does, Claire. You may not know it, but during the founder’s prime, he went and stole many kingdoms founding treasures.”

“What are founding treasures?”

“Founding treasures are legendary items that the founders of each kingdom used during their lifetime. Not many know this, but each kingdom wasn’t built on just a single founding treasure. The Spear Kingdom’s main founding treasure is the spear, but another one is his ring that is able to cover the spear in flames, significantly increasing it’s damage. And this exact founding treasure was stolen by the Locksmith Sovereign. The importance of a founding treasure is even more important than the ruler of a kingdom, so that is why many people want to find the founder’s vault where he hid these treasures. But even after so many years of them searching our nation, they still couldn’t find it, so now that they know someone has a clue on the whereabouts, they are trying their best to find your grandfather.”

“Father, how did Uncle Phillis come to find out about this secret.”

“I truly don’t know. When my father had told me about this secret, he had sealed the entire room shut so no one would be able to hear our conversation. The only person I had ever told this secret to was Clive’s father and I would never doubt him. He has been through life and death with me even before I became King. I can only assume that Phil had someone extremely powerful spying my every move. And I hadn’t even suspected him at all.”

“Your highness, what was the mission you were going to give me?”

“Yes, thank you for reminding me. I want you to take Claire and leave the capital immediately. Go and find your father, and tell him to serve under Phil until he discovers everyone working with him. I don’t have much long too live, but tell Jonathan that I trust him to annihilate everyone trying to destroy our Kingdom. Tell him that this is his last mission from me, and that he was a good friend.”

“F-father.”

“Don’t cry Claire. Very soon, Daddy can’t be with you anymore, so I want you to stay strong. I want you to live your life to your fullest and to enjoy it. Can you do that for me?”

“Y-y-yes.”

“Good. Clive, take Claire and leave immediately.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Goodbye, Claire.”

“Goodbye, father.”