She looked at the scared trio contemplatively. Much like her mother, Xiuying did not want to shed blood unnecessarily. If possible, she liked to resolve things peacefully. But she knew when to draw the line. At the current moment, Minister Linshi and the Imperial Council were their enemies. The Li Family was a powerful deterrent but not almighty. If they were discovered by the Imperial Sentinels and Minister Linshi, another long and painful battle would unfold again. Especially after remembering Minister Linshi's might, Xiuying frowned. That was why they were sneaking around in the alleyways like thieves. If they let the trio go, there was a chance it might come back to haunt them. Thus, Xiuying was unsure.
Xiuying sighed. "Let them speak. I want to talk to them." Tai, Jingyi, and Juan removed their hands, but before she could continue talking, someone interrupted her.
"Where is Elizabeth?" Shirley shouted. "What did you do to her?"
"The heir? What relationship do you have with her?" Xiuying asked.
"We're her friends! Now tell us, what did you do with Elizabeth? I know that you must've been responsible for taking her away!" Shirley seethed in fury.
"To talk Her Highness like that, you must certainly not fear death!" Tai returned. "Speak like that and I'll…"
"Stop it, Tai. It's alright," Xiuying said. "I didn't have Elizabeth taken away. That was under Minister Linshi's orders from the Imperial Council. By now, she's probably on her way to Guanhuang, the Samfeng provincial capital."
"Elizabeth…" Shirley whispered.
"Why did you give Elizabeth the key to the cell? Did you mean for us to escape, Your Highness?" Freon interjected.
As I thought… Ming restrained an urge to sigh.
"Why would you do such a thing, Xiuying?" Qiang frowned.
Everyone turned to look at her, who was embarrassed after having been exposed so openly. She could not help but look defeated. "From our investigations, it was clear that our grudge against the Alzar Kingdom was not justified. There was no reason to have any more people killed over nothing, especially the heir of the kingdom. After hearing from her directly, I felt bad for what the Xingyuu Empire did to her. I decided to give her at least a little hope. Whether she could escape or not was up to her."
"What?" the trio blurted out. The words spoken just now were truly unbelievable!
"The Xingyuu Empire has justification for the war?" Benedict was baffled. This was the first time he heard of it!
"Of course, we did," the princess said. "Why would you think we did not?"
"Well…" the knight felt awkward continuing. He had never really bothered to think about it, to justify the actions of the Xingyuu Empire. After all, breaking the peace treaty and the Ambush of Sanguis Coast was damning! How could the Alzar Kingdom possibly be in the wrong? He wanted to say this, but Tai's grip was frighteningly strong. He feared a single misstep meant instant death!
"As expected, the Alzar Kingdom didn't tell you about it," Ming realized.
"What do you mean, sister?"
"The control of information. The Alzar Kingdom must not have wanted the truth to come out about Empress Mei's assassination. Therefore, they intentionally left their citizens in the dark, to think that the Xingyuu Empire broke the treaty without reason."
Sure enough, it's related to Empress Mei Li somehow, Freon thought back.
"Are you suggesting that the Alzar Kingdom was responsible for assassinating the empress?" Benedict repeated coldly.
"That's what we thought as well," Ming answered, seeing how there was no reason to keep any more secrets. "But that is not the case anymore. We've realized that we were all lied to by Minister Linshi, our Minister of Information on the Imperial Council."
"Lied to? What for? And why?" Shirley was confused.
"We're not sure either," Ming shook her head.
"Do you have any proof of this? I won't believe anything until I see definitive proof," Freon skeptically said.
"It's up to you to believe us," Tai scoffed. "We wasted enough time talking to you. What should we do with them, Your Highness?" he asked Xiuying.
Xiuying showed a wry smile and turned to Ming. Feeling her sister's gaze, the princess carefully thought about it before saying, "What do you three intend to do if I decide to let you go?"
"Rescue Elizabeth obviously!" Shirley said immediately.
"I agree," Benedict added.
"I am partially responsible for getting her in this situation, so I'll do the same," Freon said.
"Then you three should accompany us. We're planning on rescuing the heir as well."
"Sister?" Xiuying was surprised.
Freon narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Why would you want to help her as well? The bottom line is we're still at war."
"As I've said already, the motivation behind the war is non-existent. There is no reason for us to be fighting each other."
"Are you saying I should forgive the Xingyuu Empire for everything it's done to me?" Shirley hissed. "You can forget about that!"
"Even if we let you go, do you think you could escape the stronghold by yourselves? Do you think you could rescue the heir? It's not possible. It would be much more productive to join hands, don't you think?" Ming smiled. "The choice is up to you."
***
About half a day west of the Yunyun Stronghold, a heavily armed caravan was headed for Guanhuang, delivering a very important prisoner. That prisoner was none other than Elizabeth, the heir of the Alzar Kingdom! She was currently chained up in her own cell, weak and tired. The soldiers did not bother feeding her and her stomach was painfully starving. It was like she was less than human. She was completely ignored. Not only that, but she was tied up so tightly that she could not even budge a muscle. There were also cracks in her cell, allowing the cold late autumn air in, freezing the barely clothed Elizabeth to the bone. She shivered uncontrollably and felt a sickness building up. Overall, she was miserable.
She had no idea where she was headed or what awaited her, but she could feel the looming threat of death! The heir of the Alzar Kingdom… What other fate could there be? Even an idiot could imagine what might happen. She wanted to scream out. I don't want to inherit the throne! I am not the heir! Please let me go! But she knew her words would never be heard. Elizabeth felt dead inside. A sense of hopelessness and despair firmly rooted itself in her mind. There was nothing she could do! To be all alone, without friends or family beside her, in her final moments, was a somber thought. For once in a long time, the ugly thoughts of suicide popped up. Yet how could the soldiers not think of that? There was no way out!